Linear Programming-Based Cropland Allocation to Enhance Performance of Smallholder Crop Production: A Pilot Study in Abaro Kebele, Ethiopia

Smallholder farmer crop production is a mainstay of the Ethiopian economy. A series of agricultural extension programs have been implemented since the 1950s in an effort to improve smallholder productivity. In this study, we argue that the limited attention that is given to cropland allocation by smallholders is one key driver of low performance of crop production as well as a key factor in environmental degradation. Drawing on data from a household survey of 75 randomly selected households in Abaro Kebele, Ethiopia, combined with focus-group discussions, key informant interviews, and secondary data sources, we use linear programming to highlight the impact of cropland allocation decisions on the performance of rural smallholder crop production systems. We find that under current land use practices households are not able to meet their consumption needs. The average profitability of farms under the current cropland allocation is also significantly below the estimated level of profit that could be realized by reallocating cropland while using linear programming. Additionally, survey results suggest that low crop production performance (in terms of meeting both household food crop production needs and profit goals) is the primary reason why households do not participate in conservation efforts and sustainable resource management practices. This study suggests that linear programming-based cropland allocation modeling might be applied to enhance the profit performance of smallholder crop production, help meet household food crop production requirements, and thereby promote the sustainable utilization of environmental resources.

Download Full-text

The impact of Maize (Zea mays L.) and it uses for human development: A review

International Journal of Scientific World ◽

10.14419/ijsw.v5i1.7585 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 93

Author(s):

Monday Sunday Adiaha

Keyword(s):

Crop Production ◽

Zea Mays L ◽

Standard Of Living ◽

Wet Milling ◽

Food Crop ◽

Industrial Utilization ◽

Health Related ◽

Food Crop Production ◽

Animal Diet ◽

The Impact

Corn possesses significances nutrients, minerals and vitamins, which provides nutrition in animal diet as well as man. Its health benefits have been countless since the prehistoric era. Maize has been revealed to have the potential to sustained human health-related cases, raise standard of living of farmers, served as a soil fertility indicator crop, generate income and increase food-crop production for the increasing human population. Industrial utilization of maize has been shown to include: wet milling, production of bio-fuel, ethanol and other sub-byproducts.

Download Full-text

An Investigation of the Impact of Food Aid on Food Crop Production in Zimbabwe

Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences ◽

10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p77 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Calvin Mudzingiri ◽

Clainos Chidoko

Keyword(s):

Crop Production ◽

Food Aid ◽

Food Crop ◽

Food Crop Production ◽

The Impact

Download Full-text

Agricultural Training and Its Impact on Food Crop Production in Cameroon

Journal of Socioeconomics and Development ◽

10.31328/jsed.v2i1.740 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Mbu Daniel Tambi

Keyword(s):

Agricultural Production ◽

Crop Production ◽

Control Function ◽

Jel Classification ◽

Civil Society Organizations ◽

Economic Policies ◽

Food Crop ◽

Food Crop Production ◽

Agricultural Schools ◽

The Impact

Agricultural training has an important position in agriculture development, food security and poverty alleviation in Cameroon. The objectives of this study are to examine the impact of agricultural training on food crop production; determine the factors influencing agricultural training, decompose the effect of agricultural training type on food crop production, and recommend relevant economic policies on the basis of our analysis. Using data from the 2007 MINADER and data from the 2007 Household Consumption Survey, we used the control function model to estimate our result from STATA 13.0. We observed that the 2SLS, Control Function without interaction and Control Function with interaction results revealed that household agricultural training strongly correlates with food crop production. Also professional, workshop and on the farm training strongly affects agricultural production, with probability points of 2.6, 0.3 and 2.8 percent of increasing agricultural production respectively. Farm training becomes a high priority for increasing agricultural production. There are considerable opportunities to take advantage of agricultural training in terms of increase in cereal productivity. The decision makers, civil society organizations and stakeholders operating in agriculture should multiply agricultural training in both former and informer training, through the creation of agricultural schools, workshop/seminars and on the field training. JEL Classification: I25, D13, Q12

Download Full-text

Examining Farm Management Practices and Implications for Food Crop Production in Semi-arid Ghana

Strategies for Building Resilience against Climate and Ecosystem Changes in Sub-Saharan Africa - Science for Sustainable Societies ◽

10.1007/978-981-10-4796-1_15 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 265-289 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Effah Kwabena Antwi ◽

John Boakye-Danquah ◽

Kwabena Awere Gyekye ◽

Alex Owusu Barimah ◽

Isaac Botchwey ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Crop Production ◽

Management Practices ◽

Farm Management ◽

Food Crop ◽

Food Crop Production ◽

Semi Arid

Download Full-text

A multiobjective DEA model to assess the eco-efficiency of major cereal crops production within the carbon and nitrogen footprint in China

10.21203/rs.3.rs-17654/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Zhongdu Chen ◽

Chunchun Xu ◽

Long Ji ◽

fuping fang

Keyword(s):

Crop Production ◽

Management Practices ◽

N Fertilizer ◽

Environmental Cost ◽

Cereal Crops ◽

Staple Food ◽

Food Crop ◽

Corn Production ◽

Impact Reduction ◽

Food Crop Production

Abstract [Background]Agricultural production systems are facing the challenges of increasing food production while reducing environmental cost, particularly in China. Understanding the eco-efficiency of the staple food crop production contributes to sustainable agriculture. In this study, the eco-efficiency of rice, wheat and maize production within the carbon (C) footprints (CF) and nitrogen (N) footprint (NF) at a province scale based on 555 farm survey data from China was measured in which a combination of life cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used. [Results] The results showed that the synthetic N fertilizer applications and CH4 emissions dominated the CF of crop production, while NH3 volatilization was the main contributors to the NF in the grain crop production process. Based on DEA-based sustainability performance assessment results, the eco-efficiency of major cereal crops production were all found to be inefficient (eco-efficiency <1). An increase in yields had only limited effects on improvement in eco-efficiency of rice, wheat and corn production because the yield increase potential rates were very small (0.1~3.4%), and there were no significant differences in increase potentials of yields between provinces. From a perspective of environmental impact reduction potential rates, GWP (22.7~25.1%) was more important for the environmental mitigation target than Nr (10.9~17.9%) in rice production, but the opposite scenario appears in wheat and corn production. [Conclusions] Improving crop management practices by reducing N fertilizer use and adopting water-saving irrigation technology could be strategic options to mitigate climate change and eutrophication and improve the eco-efficiency of the staple food crop production in Chinese agriculture.

Download Full-text

A multiobjective DEA model to assess the eco-efficiency of major cereal crops production within the carbon and nitrogen footprint in China

10.21203/rs.3.rs-17566/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

zhongdu chen ◽

chunchun xu ◽

long ji ◽

fuping fang

Keyword(s):

Crop Production ◽

Management Practices ◽

N Fertilizer ◽

Environmental Cost ◽

Cereal Crops ◽

Staple Food ◽

Food Crop ◽

Corn Production ◽

Impact Reduction ◽

Food Crop Production

Abstract Agricultural production systems are facing the challenges of increasing food production while reducing environmental cost, particularly in China. Understanding the eco-efficiency of the staple food crop production contributes to sustainable agriculture. In this study, the eco-efficiency of rice, wheat and maize production within the carbon (C) footprints (CF) and nitrogen (N) footprint (NF) at a province scale based on 555 farm survey data from China was measured in which a combination of life cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used. The results showed that the CF for the rice, wheat and maize was 0.87±0.32, 0.30± 0.11, and 0.24 ± 0.06 kg CO 2 -eq kg −1 year −1 at yield-scale, respectively. In addition, the NF was 17.11±7.73, 14.26±5.73, and 6.83±1.83 gN-eq kg −1 year −1 at yield-scale for the rice, wheat and maize, respectively. Synthetic N fertilizer applications and CH 4 emissions dominated the CF of crop production, while NH 3 volatilization was the main contributors to the NF in the grain crop production process. Based on DEA-based sustainability performance assessment results, the eco-efficiency of major cereal crops production were all found to be inefficient (eco-efficiency <1). An increase in yields had only limited effects on improvement in eco-efficiency of rice, wheat and corn production because the yield increase potential rates were very small (0.1~3.4%), and there were no significant differences in increase potentials of yields between provinces. From a perspective of environmental impact reduction potential rates, GWP (22.7~25.1%) was more important for the environmental mitigation target than Nr (10.9~17.9%) in rice production, but the opposite scenario appears in wheat and corn production. Improving crop management practices by reducing N fertilizer use and adopting water-saving irrigation technology could be strategic options to mitigate climate change and eutrophication and improve the eco-efficiency of the staple food crop production in Chinese agriculture.

Download Full-text

Role of Linear Programming Based Cropland Allocation to Enhance Performance of Smallholder Crop Production: A Pilot Study on Abaro Kebele, Shashemene Zuria District, West Arsi Zone, Oromiya Regional State, Ethiopia

10.20944/preprints201809.0144.v1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Meselu Mellaku ◽

Travis Reynolds ◽

Teshale Woldeamanuel

Keyword(s):

Linear Programming ◽

Crop Production ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Household Survey ◽

Household Consumption ◽

Optimal Level ◽

Limited Attention ◽

Arsi Zone ◽

Low Performance ◽

Cropland Allocation

Crop production is a major livelihood activity of smallholders in Ethiopia. However, it is often characterized by low performance. In an effort to improve crop production, a series of agricultural extension programs have been running in Ethiopia since the 1950s. Nevertheless, the performance of agriculture is still low. In this study, it is argued that the limited attention given to cropland allocation methodologies is one of the major causes of low performance of crop production and increased environmental degradation. This study used linear programming to examine the role and impacts of cropland allocation methods on performance of crop production. The data for this study was drawn from household survey of 75 randomly selected households combined with focus-grouped discussion, key informant interview, and secondary data. In the current conventional cropland allocation, households were not able to meet their household consumption. The average profitability of farms under current practice was found significantly below than estimated optimal level of profit that could be realized using linear programming. In addition, it uncovered that low performance of crop production (in terms of meeting household consumption demand and profitability) is the primary cause that limited the effort of households to participate in environmental and natural resource management. This study suggests the use of linear programming-based cropland allocation to enhance the profit performance of smallholder crop production, meeting household consumption requirement, and thereby promote sustainable utilization of natural and environmental resources.

Download Full-text

Rainfall Variability and Food Crop Vulnerability in Ndu Sub-Division, North West Region of Cameroon

Journal of Geography and Geology ◽

10.5539/jgg.v11n3p39 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 39

Author(s):

Chiarity Zetem Chiambah ◽

Cordelia G. Kometa

Keyword(s):

Crop Production ◽

Agricultural Sector ◽

Rainfall Variability ◽

Least Square ◽

Primary Data ◽

Food Crop ◽

Crop Species ◽

Maize Production ◽

Food Crop Production ◽

The Impact

Little scientific evidence exists in the context of climate variability and food crop production in Ndu. This study seeks to assess the impact of rainfall variability on food crop vulnerability in Ndu Sub-Division. The primary data were gotten through field surveys. A total of 200 farmers were sampled and questionnaires were administered to them. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were employed to analyze the data. Results were presented in tables and climographs. Formulated hypotheses were tested using the least square regression model to establish the extent of exposure and sensitivity of rainfall variability on food crop production. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to describe the trends of variations in rainfall. Statistically, rainfall accounted for 19.5% of variability in maize production while 50.87% accounted for variability in beans production. Furthermore, 30.1% accounted for variations in potatoes production. From these statistics it was then concluded that rainfall variability minimally affects maize and beans but had a significant effect on maize production in Ndu. The research study also revealed that rainfall shows a decreasing trend. The study recommended, amongst others the need for farmers to adopt more sustainable agricultural practices and the increased use of more resistant crop species that can withstand exposure and sensitivity to rainfall variability. The study concluded that a bottom-up approach should be employed in order to improve on the adaptive capacities of the agricultural sector in Ndu.

Download Full-text