scholarly journals Input Substitution, Productivity Performance and Farm Size

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Sheng ◽  
Alistair Davidson ◽  
Keith Fuglie ◽  
Dandan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
D.I. Gray ◽  
J.I. Reid ◽  
D.J. Horne

A group of 24 Hawke's Bay hill country farmers are working with service providers to improve the resilience of their farming systems. An important step in the process was to undertake an inventory of their risk management strategies. Farmers were interviewed about their farming systems and risk management strategies and the data was analysed using descriptive statistics. There was considerable variation in the strategies adopted by the farmers to cope with a dryland environment. Importantly, these strategies had to cope with three types of drought and also upside risk (better than expected conditions), and so flexibility was critical. Infra-structure was important in managing a dryland environment. Farmers chose between increased scale (increasing farm size) and geographic dispersion (owning a second property in another location) through to intensification (investing in subdivision, drainage, capital fertiliser, new pasture species). The study identified that there may be scope for further investment in infra-structural elements such as drainage, deeper rooting alternative pasture species and water harvesting, along with improved management of subterranean clover to improve flexibility. Many of the farmers used forage crops and idling capacity (reduced stocking rate) to improve flexibility; others argued that maintaining pasture quality and managing upside risk was a better strategy in a dryland environment. Supplementary feed was an important strategy for some farmers, but its use was limited by contour and machinery constraints. A surprisingly large proportion of farmers run breeding cows, a policy that is much less flexible than trading stock. However, several farmers had improved their flexibility by running a high proportion of trading cattle and buffer mobs of ewe hoggets and trade lambs. To manage market risk, the majority of farmers are selling a large proportion of their lambs prime. Similarly, cattle are either sold prime or store onto the grass market when prices are at a premium. However, market risk associated with the purchase of supplements and grazing was poorly managed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 825-832
Author(s):  
James M. Alin ◽  
◽  
Datu Razali Datu Eranza ◽  
Arsiah Bahron ◽  
◽  
...  

Seaweed-Kappaphycus-Euchema Cottonii and Denticulum species was first cultivated at Sabah side of Sebatik in 2009. By November 2014, sixty one Sabahan seaweed farmers cultivated 122 ha or 3,050 long lines. Thirty Sabahan seaweed farmers in Kampung Pendekar (3.2 m.t dried) and 31 in Burst Point (12.5 m.t dried) produced 16 metric tonnes of dried seaweed contributed 31% to Tawau’s total production (51 m.t). The remaining 69% were from farmers in Cowie Bay that separates Sebatik from municipality of Tawau. Indonesian in Desa Setabu, Sebatik started in 2008. However, the number of Indonesian seaweed farmers, their cultivated areas and production (as well as quality) in Sebatik increased many times higher and faster than the Sabah side of Sebatik. In 2009 more than 1,401 households in Kabupaten Nunukan (including Sebatik) cultivated over 700 ha and have produced 55,098.95 and 116, 73 m.t dried seaweed in 2010 and 2011 respectively. There is a divergence in productions from farming the sea off the same island under similar weather conditions. Which of the eight explanatory factors were affecting production of seaweeds in Sebatik? Using Cobb Douglas production function, Multiple Regression analysis was conducted on 100 samples (50 Sabahan and 50 Indonesian). Results; Variable significant at α = 0.05% are Experience in farming whereas Farm size; Quantity of propagules and Location — Dummy are the variables significant at α 0.01%. Not significant are variables Fuel; Age; Number of family members involved in farming and Education level.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oluwakemi Adeola Obayelu ◽  
Emem Ime Akpan

Food insecurity dynamics of rural households in Nigeria was assessed using a panel data. Results showed that 44.4% of households that were food secure in the first panel transited into food insecurity in the second panel, while 32.5% that were mildly food insecure transited into food security. Furthermore, 25.7% transited from moderate food insecurity to food security, while 38.2% transited from severe food insecurity to food security. About 35.1% of households were never food insecure; 11.4% exited food insecurity 28.0% entered food insecurity; while 25.48% remained always food insecure. Having primary education, secondary education, dependency ratio, household size, share of non-food expenditure and farm size explained food insecurity transition. However, the likelihood of a household being always food insecure was explained by gender, female-to-male-adult ratio, marital status, primary education, secondary education, dependency ratio, share of non-food expenditure, farm size, access to credit and access to remittance.


1973 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-437
Author(s):  
Sarfaraz Khan Qureshi

In the Summer 1973 issue of the Pakistan Development Review, Mr. Mohammad Ghaffar Chaudhry [1] has dealt with two very important issues relating to the intersectoral tax equity and the intrasectoral tax equity within the agricultural sector in Pakistan. Using a simple criterion for vertical tax equity that implies that the tax rate rises with per capita income such that the ratio of revenue to income rises at the same percentage rate as per capita income, Mr. Chaudhry found that the agricultural sector is overtaxed in Pakistan. Mr. Chaudhry further found that the land tax is a regressive levy with respect to the farm size. Both findings, if valid, have important policy implications. In this note we argue that the validity of the findings on intersectoral tax equity depends on the treatment of water rate as tax rather than the price of a service provided by the Government and on the shifting assumptions regard¬ing the indirect taxes on imports and domestic production levied by the Central Government. The relevance of the findings on the intrasectoral tax burden would have been more obvious if the tax liability was related to income from land per capita.


The study was conducted using purposive cum random sampling technique and two hundred respondents comprised of 100 each borrowers and non-borrowers were selected from two block of district including marginal, small and medium categories of farm size. Primary data were collected through personal interview technique and required secondary information was taken from the record available at district and block level. Simple tabular and functional analysis and Garrett ranking were done to draw inferences. As per the result obtained from the study, no much difference was seen between the resource use efficiency of borrower and non-borrower farms and constraints faced by borrower. Since banana is a cash crop and it needs initial costs for its establishment, and after harvesting the crop regular source of income was generated by selling of suckers (seed) plant and its fruits. It’s by-product, leaves, etc. also used for various purposes. Minute inspection of the analysis showed that finance played important role for initiating the cultivation of banana crops showed the resource use efficiency that there is no considerable difference found on sample farms of borrower and non-borrower categories. Constraints faced by majority of the farmers were mainly delay in disbursement of loan and lack of the repayment period insufficient and improper management for withdraws on KCC.


Author(s):  
T. Movchan ◽  
V. Artеmov ◽  
D. Bulysheva

It is recommended to implement forecasting management models in the area of land use and protection by applying linear programming methods to optimize the size of farms, which land is located in different natural and economic zones. Analysis and assessment of land use in natural-economic zones is a type of management activity for deep understanding of the dialectic of a managed object development and true assessment of its moving forces. This enables to simulate the situation of land use, to identify a specific goal, to choose the means to achieve it and to obtain the optimum result. The implementation of the proposed forecast models of the optimal farm size is carried out by linear programming in three ways (northwest corner method, minimum cost method and What-If analysis method, that uses Solver, a Microsoft Excel add-in program). The implementation of the above approaches is based on the example of four farms and five natural-economic zones. The obtained solutions show that the best result is attained by using Solver for What-If analysis method, a Microsoft Excel add-in program. The northwest corner method gives the worst result, but this is the simplest solution. The minimum cost method depends on the researcher qualification and produces the result that is most often found between the results obtained by the northwest corner method and the "Solver" procedure. When using the method of the northwest corner a program of consideration of different options for the distribution of land resources and the choice of the optimal solution was developed. This allows to find an optimal result of land allocation according to the result, which is similar to the result of the procedure "Solver", but it is more adapted for the direct participation of the researcher in the process of solving problems. There is an opportunity to improve the result by changing the original data, which simulates the forecast of the distribution of farm land in natural-economic zones, while minimizing production costs. In the absence of access to computers, the solutions obtained by the northwest corner and the minimum cost methods can be improved by the potential method.


2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
LALISA ALEMAYEHU DUGUMA ◽  
IKA DARNHOFER ◽  
HERBERT HAGER

SUMMARYA study was conducted in Suba area, central highlands of Ethiopia, to assess the net return, land and labour productivity, and the return to scale of cereal farming practice. Seventy-five farmers belonging to three local wealth classes (poor, medium and rich) were randomly selected and interviewed about inputs and outputs related to cereal farming for the production year 2007/2008. Farm soil properties were investigated to check the variability in soil quality among the wealth classes. Benefit:cost ratio (BCR), net returns and annual profit were used to indicate the worthiness of the cereal farming activity. The return to scale was estimated by using the Cobb–Douglas production function. The results show that cereal farming is a rewarding practice, with the rich households gaining more profit than the poor. Farm size was the most important variable that affects the net return. There is an increasing return to scale. However, it is unlikely that farmers will have more land than they own at present because of the land shortage problem in the country caused by the increasing human population. Thus, attention should be given to minimizing the costs of production through proper regulation of domestic fertilizer costs and increasing labour productivity especially for the poor and medium households. The use of manure and compost as an additional fertilizer should also be promoted.


Food Security ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Ndoli ◽  
Athanase Mukuralinda ◽  
Antonius G. T. Schut ◽  
Miyuki Iiyama ◽  
Jean Damascene Ndayambaje ◽  
...  

AbstractThe world is challenged to meet the food demand of a growing population, especially in developing countries. Given the ambitious plans to scale up agroforestry in Africa, an improved understanding of the effect of agroforestry practices on the already challenged food security of rural households is crucial. The present study was undertaken to assess how on-farm trees impacted food security in addition to other household income sources in Rwanda. In each of the six agroecologies of Rwanda, a stratified sampling procedure was used where two administrative cells (4th formal administrative level) were selected in which households were randomly selected for interviews. A survey including 399 farmers was conducted and farmers were grouped in three types of agroforestry practice (i) low practitioners (LAP) represented by the first tertile, (ii) medium practitioners (MAP) represented by the second tertile and (iii) high practitioners (HAP) represented by the third tertile of households in terms of tree number. Asset values, household income sources, crop production, farm size, crop yield, and food security (food energy needs) were quantified among the types of agroforestry practice. A larger proportion of HAP households had access to adequate quantity and diversity of food when compared with MAP and LAP households. Food security probability was higher for households with more resources, including land, trees and livestock, coinciding with an increased crop and livestock income. We found no difference in asset endowment among types of agroforestry practices, while farmers in agroecologies with smaller farms (0.42 ha to 0.66 ha) had more on-farm trees (212 to 358 trees per household) than farms in agroecologies with larger farms (0.96 ha to 1.23 ha) which had 49 to 129 trees per household, probably due to differences in biophysical conditions. A positive association between tree density and food security was found in two out of six agroecologies. The proportion of income that came from tree products was high (> 20%) for a small fraction of farmers (12%), with the more food insecure households relying more on income from tree products than households with better food security status. Thus, tree income can be percieved as a “safety net” for the poorest households.


Author(s):  
James Lowenberg-DeBoer ◽  
Kit Franklin ◽  
Karl Behrendt ◽  
Richard Godwin

AbstractBy collecting more data at a higher resolution and by creating the capacity to implement detailed crop management, autonomous crop equipment has the potential to revolutionise precision agriculture (PA), but unless farmers find autonomous equipment profitable it is unlikely to be widely adopted. The objective of this study was to identify the potential economic implications of autonomous crop equipment for arable agriculture using a grain-oilseed farm in the United Kingdom as an example. The study is possible because the Hands Free Hectare (HFH) demonstration project at Harper Adams University has produced grain with autonomous equipment since 2017. That practical experience showed the technical feasibility of autonomous grain production and provides parameters for farm-level linear programming (LP) to estimate farm management opportunities when autonomous equipment is available. The study shows that arable crop production with autonomous equipment is technically and economically feasible, allowing medium size farms to approach minimum per unit production cost levels. The ability to achieve minimum production costs at relatively modest farm size means that the pressure to “get big or get out” will diminish. Costs of production that are internationally competitive will mean reduced need for government subsidies and greater independence for farmers. The ability of autonomous equipment to achieve minimum production costs even on small, irregularly shaped fields will improve environmental performance of crop agriculture by reducing pressure to remove hedges, fell infield trees and enlarge fields.


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