Unexploited Food Production Potentials of New Varieties

2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-186
Author(s):  
Arega D. Alene
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Maize Production ◽  
Efficiency Measures ◽  
Efficiency Decomposition ◽  
New Varieties ◽  
Hybrid Maize ◽  
Recommended Management Practices

The question of whether the intended gains in food production from new varieties have actually been realized by poor farmers has received little or no attention in the literature. This paper used a stochastic frontier efficiency decomposition methodology to derive the technical, allocative and economic efficiency measures for a sample of hybrid maize producers in western Ethiopia. The results revealed considerable underexploitation of the yield and profitability potentials of hybrid maize and indicated that farmers could increase production by an average of 26% if they all adopted the recommended management practices. Furthermore, adoption of the recommended management practices coupled with optimum use of inputs, especially fertilizer, would enable the farmers to reduce production costs by an average of 39%. Education, provision of input credit, and timely availability of critical inputs are positively and significantly related to the efficiency of hybrid maize production.

scholarly journals Technical efficiency of hybrid maize production in eastern terai of Nepal: A stochastic frontier approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Surya P. Adhikari ◽  
Krishna P. Timsina ◽  
Peter R. Brown ◽  
Yuga N. Ghimire ◽  
Jeevan Lamichhane
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Production Model ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Efficient Production ◽  
Stochastic Frontier Approach ◽  
Maize Production ◽  
Socioeconomic Variable ◽  
Older Farmers ◽  
Hybrid Maize

Maize is the second most important crop after rice in terms of area and production in Nepal. This article analyzes the technical efficiency and its determinants of hybrid maize production in eastern Nepal. Using a randomly selected data from 98 farmers (41 from Morang and 57 from Sunsari) in eastern Nepal, the study employed a stochastic frontier production model to find the production elasticity coefficients of inputs, determinants of efficiency and technical efficiency of hybrid maize farmers. The results showed that maize production responds positively to increase in amount of urea, DAP and the area planted, where as it is negative to seed quantity. The study indicate that farmers are not technically efficient with a mean technical efficiency 79 %. Socioeconomic variable age had a negative and significant while the household size had a positive and significant related to maize output. The younger farmers were observed more technically efficient than older farmers. Larger the members in the household higher the maize production. It is recommended that farmers should increase their fertilizer dose and farm size while they should decrease their seed rate for efficient production.

Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management Practices on Growth and Development of Hybrid Maize Cultivar HQPM 1 in Mid-Hills of Meghalaya

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (03) ◽  
Author(s):  
SAMBORLANG K. WANNIANG ◽  
A. K. SINGH
Keyword(s):  
Dry Matter ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Nutrient Management ◽  
Dry Matter Accumulation ◽  
Integrated Nutrient Management ◽  
Graduate Studies ◽  
Green Manuring ◽  
Maize Cultivar ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Hybrid Maize

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2011 on experimental farm of the College of Post Graduate Studies (CAU–Imphal), Umiam (Meghalaya) to evaluate the effect of integration of green manuring, FYM and fertilizers as integrated nutrient management (INM) practices on growth and developmental behaviour of quality protein maize cultivar QPM 1. The data revealed that comparatively higher amount of primary nutrients were added in green manured maize plots in comparison to non green manured treatments. Green manuring also left a positive response on plant height, CGR, RGR leaf area, and dry matter accumulation in plants though the difference between green manured and non-green manured treatments was at par. Treatments 75 % RDF + 5 t FYM ha-1, 50 % RDF + 7.5 t FYM ha-1, 100 % RDF ha-1 and 75 % RDF + 2.5 t FYM ha-1 recorded significantly higher values of all the above said growth parameters over 50 % RDF + 5 t FYM ha-1 and control treatments. At all stages of observations, the maximum dry matter was associated with RDF (recommended doses of fertilizers) which was at par with 75 % RDF + 5 t FYM ha-1, but significantly higher over the plant dry weight recorded from all remaining treatments. A Significant difference in CGR at 30 – 60 and 60 – 90 DAS stage and in RGR at 90 DAS - harvest stage was observed due to various combinations of recommended dose of fertilizer with different doses of FYM. Number of days taken to attain the stages of 50% tasselling, silking and maturity did not differ significantly due to green manuring. However, treatment 75 % RDF + 5 t FYM ha-1 took significantly lesser number of days for these stages than other treatment combinations. The superiority of the treatment 75 % RDF + 5 t FYM ha-1 indicated a possibility of substituting 25% of RDF with 5 t FYM ha-1 without any loss in dry matter accumulation in plants of the quality protein hybrid maize in mid-hill ecosystems of Meghalaya.

scholarly journals Adoption and Dis-Adoption of Sustainable Agriculture: A Case of Farmers’ Innovations and Integrated Fruit Fly Management in Kenya

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 338
Author(s):  
Charity M. Wangithi ◽  
Beatrice W. Muriithi ◽  
Raphael Belmin
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Household Head ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Bactrocera Dorsalis ◽  
Major Threat ◽  
Gender And Education ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Indigenous Methods

The invasive fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis poses a major threat to the production and trade of mango in sub-Saharan Africa. Farmers devise different innovations to manage the pest in an attempt to minimize yield loss and production costs while maximizing revenues. Using survey data obtained from Embu County, Kenya, we analyzed farmers’ knowledge and perception as regards the invasive fruit fly, their innovations for the management of the pest, and the determinants of their adoption and dis-adoption decisions of recently developed and promoted integrated pest management (IPM) technologies for suppression of the pest. The results show that farmers consider fruit flies as a major threat to mango production (99%) and primarily depend on pesticides (90%) for the management of the pest. Some farmers (35%) however use indigenous methods to manage the pest. Though farmers possess good knowledge of different IPM strategies, uptake is relatively low. The regression estimates show that continued use of IPM is positively associated with the gender and education of the household head, size of a mango orchard, knowledge on mango pests, training, contact with an extension officer, and use of at least one non-pesticide practice for fruit fly management, while IPM dis-adoption was negatively correlated with the size of the mango orchard, practice score and use of indigenous innovations for fruit fly management. We recommend enhancing farmer′s knowledge through increased access to training programs and extension services for enhanced adoption of sustainable management practices for B. dorsalis.

scholarly journals Rural Roads Are Paving the Way for Land-Use Intensification in the Uplands of Laos

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 330
Author(s):  
Jean-Christophe Castella ◽  
Sonnasack Phaipasith
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Rural Roads ◽  
External Resources ◽  
Hybrid Maize ◽  
The Impact

Road expansion has played a prominent role in the agrarian transition that marked the integration of swidden-based farming systems into the market economy in Southeast Asia. Rural roads deeply altered the landscape and livelihood structures by allowing the penetration of boom crops such as hybrid maize in remote territories. In this article, we investigate the impact of rural road developments on livelihoods in northern Laos through a longitudinal study conducted over a period of 15 years in a forest frontier. We studied adaptive management strategies of local stakeholders through the combination of individual surveys, focus group discussions, participatory mapping and remote-sensing approaches. The study revealed the short-term benefits of the maize feeder roads on poverty alleviation and rural development, but also the negative long-term effects on agroecosystem health and agricultural productivity related to unsustainable land use. Lessons learnt about the mechanisms of agricultural intensification helped understanding the constraints faced by external interventions promoting sustainable land management practices. When negotiated by local communities for their own interest, roads may provide livelihood-enhancing opportunities through access to external resources, rather than undermining them.

scholarly journals Agro-Economic Evaluation of Alternative Crop Management Options for Teff Production in Midland Agro-Ecology, Ethiopia

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 298
Author(s):  
Fekremariam Asargew Mihretie ◽  
Atsushi Tsunekawa ◽  
Nigussie Haregeweyn ◽  
Enyew Adgo ◽  
Mitsuru Tsubo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Crop Management ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Agronomic Performance ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Weed Population

Teff is an important crop for smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. Improved crop management practices are needed to increase teff productivity and decrease production costs. Here, we used a split–split plot design to evaluate the impacts of different tillage, sowing, and soil compaction practices, and their combinations, on agronomic performance, weed population, lodging, and cost in teff production at the Aba Gerima watershed in northwestern Ethiopia in 2018–2020. Reduced tillage (RT) improved soil moisture, resulting in increased agronomic performance and decreased production costs compared with conventional tillage (CT); however, the weed population was substantially larger with RT than with CT. Row planting (RP) reduced seed cost and lodging but increased sowing and weeding costs compared with broadcast planting (BP). Plant population and leaf area index were substantially greater with BP than with RP during early-stage growth, but this reversed during late-stage growth. Despite labor costs being significantly greater with (WC) compaction than without (NC), little to no differences were observed in the weed population or in agronomic performance. Partial cost–benefit analysis revealed that RT–RP–WC followed by RT–RP–NC was the most economical treatment combination, suggesting that RT–RP–NC could be a labor-effective means of increasing teff production by smallholder farms in Ethiopia.

scholarly journals Integrated weed management practices and sustainable food production among farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-134
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Oyamedan Imoloame ◽  
Ibrahim Folorunsho Ayanda ◽  
Olayinka Jelili Yusuf
Keyword(s):  
Weed Management ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Integrated Weed Management ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Arable Crops ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Self Sufficiency

Abstract A survey was conducted in the Kwara State of Nigeria to study the integrated weed management (IWM) practices by farmers. This was in view of the poor weed management practices adopted by farmers, which is a major factor responsible for low yields of many arable crops in Kwara State. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 480 respondents, and a structured interview schedule was used to elicit information from them. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Factor analysis was also carried out to examine the perception of farmers’ benefits of IWM. Results showed that the majority of farmers (29.4%) were youths, married (89.1%), and involved in medium-scale farming (47.2%). Furthermore, 50.8% of the farmers had primary or secondary education. Although farmers use different weed control methods, more than half of them (54.7%) use herbicides. Most farmers (92.6%) are engaged in the use of IWM, However, 73.5% of them use a combination of herbicides and hoe weeding. Although not properly practiced, farmers perceived IWM as having socio-environmental (29.229%) and techno-efficacious (23.495%) benefits over either hoe weeding or herbicides used alone. The findings suggest a need to train farmers on all aspects of IWM to achieve self-sufficiency in food production in Kwara State.

scholarly journals Sustainable Crop Production, the Concurrent Adoption of Contract Farming, and Managing Risks through Income Diversification

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 973
Author(s):  
Shoaib Akhtar ◽  
Azhar Abbas ◽  
Hazem S. Kassem ◽  
Salim Bagadeem ◽  
Raza Ullah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
National Level ◽  
Contract Farming ◽  
Income Diversification ◽  
Maize Production ◽  
Farm Work ◽  
Economic Price ◽  
Hybrid Maize ◽  
Risk Coping

This paper is aimed at evaluating the factors affecting the concurrent adoption of two risk coping strategies among hybrid maize farmers, namely income diversification supplemented with off-farm work and contract farming in the wake of changing climatic conditions. Climatic changes and food insecurity at the national level have emerged as key risk elements for hybrid maize production due to varying economic conditions. The present paper addresses these risks by examining various sources of risks faced by hybrid maize farmers and develops ideas to tackle these risks. Bivariate and multinomial probit models were employed to analyze numerous factors that influence farmers’ choice of the simultaneous adoption of income diversification (both on and off the farm) and contract farming at the farm level. The results reveal that hybrid maize farmers’ socioeconomic attributes significantly affect their adoption of risk coping tools. Similarly, the climatic, economic (price-related), biological, and financial risk perceptions and risk preference significantly influence the utilization of risk coping strategies in maize production. These outcomes extend our understanding of farmers’ risk preferences and provide parameters for policymakers to forestall diverse risk sources associated with hybrid maize production.

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