Climate change adaptation strategies and production efficiency: The case of citrus farmers in the Limpopo province, South Africa

Climate change adaptation policies and strategies have inevitably become an integral component of agricultural production on a global scale. The evaluative extent to which these adaptation techniques have influenced agricultural productivity is inherently exiguous. Citrus production in tropical regions such as South Africa, is more vulnerable to climate change as the region already experience hot and dry climate, hence the need to implement different strategies for climate change adaption in these regions. This study was designed to assess the effect of adopting the following climate change adaptation measures: planting drought resistant varieties, rainwater harvesting, planting early maturing varieties, integrated pest management (IPM) , changing fertiliser type, and applying drip irrigation to manage climate challenges on the production efficiency of citrus farmers in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The stochastic frontier production function with Cobb Douglas production functional form was used to analyse the productivity of farmers’ vis-à-vis adopted climate change strategies. A survey was conducted and data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire administered to respondents from 235 production units in the five district municipalities of Limpopo. The likelihood ratio tests for profit models showed that farmers were profit efficient considering the identified adaptation strategies. The variables that influenced profit efficiency was price of fertiliser (p 0.010) and water cost (p 0.010). The inefficiency model showed that besides changing fertiliser as an adaptation measure, the other adaptation strategies including IPM, water harvesting and planting drought resistant varieties did not change the profit efficiency of farmers. Therefore, the results indicate that citrus farmers can still adapt to climate change and remain profit efficient.

Revisiting earnings quality and bank efficiency among East African developing economies: do systemic banking and financial crises matter?

PurposeIn this paper, the authors investigate whether the systemic local banking crises (LBCs) and global financial crisis (GFC) impact the association between bank profit efficiency and earnings quality in developing economies.Design/methodology/approachUsing panel data spanning 29 years over the period 1991–2019 for 169 banks drawn from five East African countries, the authors perform difference-in-difference multivariate analyses using the generalised method of moments (GMM) system estimator on a sample consisting of 2,261 bank-year observations.FindingsThe results, which are robust for endogeneity and other checks, show that banks with higher profit efficiency consistently report higher quality earnings. The authors further establish that whereas systemic LBCs contribute negatively to bank earnings quality, the GFC tends to have a positive impact. These results are upheld when the joint impacts of both systemic LBCs, GFC and profit efficiency on earnings quality are considered. The positive influence of profit efficiency and GFC on earnings quality is pronounced under income-decreasing earnings management. The impacts of profit efficiency, LBCs and GFC on earnings quality appear to be non-monotonic and vary across the sampled countries.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's findings are based on banks in five developing countries within a regional economic bloc. Additional studies could focus on other economic blocs for enhanced generalisability of the findings. In addition, some of the variables examined are studied at bank-level, while other variables are at country-level. Finally, the study establishes an association between the variables of interest, and this does not necessarily imply causation.Practical implicationsThe results provide useful insights to bank regulatory and supervisory agencies on the need to exercise increased risk-based scrutiny over bank loan loss provisioning and minimum loan loss reserve requirements. From an audit perspective, auditors need to be cautious and apply an enhanced risk-based audit especially when auditing banks during and after a financial, banking or systemic crisis. Credit rating agencies need to pay closer attention to the LLPs of distressed banks. Finally, bank investors and customers should be cautious when using bank financial statements, since bank managers of poorly performing banks might engage in aggressive earnings management.Originality/valueThe study is perhaps the first to examine the joint effects of systemic LBCs on the association between bank profit efficiency and the quality of earnings in a larger dataset of banks in a developing regional economic bloc. The authors also employ the GMM system estimator in the modelling, which helps address some weaknesses in prior studies.

Stochastic frontier model for profit efficiency of beef cattle farming during the covid 19 pandemic in West Pasaman Regency, West Sumatera Province

Study aimed to estimate profit efficiency and determine factors affecting the profit efficiency of beef cattle farming in West Pasaman Regency, West Sumatera Province. A survey was conducted in West Pasaman regency at October 2020. Respondents consisting of 60 beef cattle farmers were questioned using structural questionnaires. Stochastic Frontier Analysis was used to estimate profit efficiency and factors influencing profit efficiency of beef farm in West Pasaman Regency. Important factors affecting the profit efficiency of beef cattle farming business in West Pasaman Regency were feed price, cost of veterinary medicine, fixed cost, labor cost and number of cattle affecting significant to beef cattle farming profit. The average level of profit efficiency was 39, 4%. Considering the importance of profit efficiency beef cattle farming there is a need for improving level of farmer’s education and experience in beef cattle farming, but farmers should be of productive age.

A Comprehensive Analysis of the Effects of Capital Regulation and Heterogeneity on Bank Efficiency

This article analyzes the impact of capital regulation on bank efficiency using panel data from 165 commercial banks in China from 2013 to 2019. The results indicate that cost efficiency changes slightly and profit efficiency fluctuates greatly. Under the pressure of capital regulation, the profit efficiency of commercial banks with sufficient capital improves, while profit efficiency of banks with insufficient capital decreases slightly, and the cost efficiency of all commercial banks increases. Based on the heterogeneity analysis of banks, it is found that the cost efficiency and profit efficiency of different types of commercial banks differ significantly in response to capital regulation.

Profit Efficiency of Rice Farms in Wet-Season Lowlands in Champhone District, Savannakhet Province, Lao PDR

This study analyzed factors affecting profit efficiency of rice farms in wet-season lowlands in the Champhone District of Savannakhet Province in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic based on a farmer’s decision to maximize profits. The profit efficiency approach has an advantage in that it provides insights into both inputs and outputs. To analyze profit efficiency, the stochastic production frontier model with assumptions about the time period and types of inputs was applied in the study. The study found similar results to previous studies related to efficiency measurements using a stochastic frontier analysis. Rice production and selling prices have positive signs with respect to the rate of return; however, costs of labor, seed, irrigation, fertilizers, and maintenance have negative signs with respect to the rate of revenue. However, the results from the inefficiency model showed the different role of education. The previous studies found that education level did not play an important role in improving rice productivity in Laos, however, the present study found that education level played a significant role in increasing profits.

Efficiency in China’s Banking Sector: A Comparative Analysis of Pre- and Post-Basel II Eras

This study investigates the effects of Basel II and Basel III capital adequacy rules and the regulatory framework adopted by Chinese banking regulators on the efficiency of the banking sector in China during the post-Basel II era (2007–2017) and compares the results with that of the pre-Basel II era (1996–2006). The study finds that both cost and profit efficiency of the banking industry have improved significantly from the pre-Basel II era (1996–2006) to the post-Basel II era (2007–2017). Subperiod analyses show that the risk-based capital ratio (Tier 1 capital ratio) is significantly positively associated with profit efficiency during both pre- and post-Basel II eras. Overall, the “Big Four” national banks and regional commercial banks signal higher profit efficiency during the post-Basel II era.