Beginning farmers' entry and exit: evidence from county level data

PurposeThis paper identifies factors that affect entry and exit of beginning, young and women farmers and ranchers.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical framework is fixed effects regression analysis that uses county level data to evaluate how barriers to entry, access to and use of credit, local economic environment, and climate affect entry and exit of Beginning Farmers and Ranchers (BFRs). The dataset is assembled from several sources matching the Census of Agriculture years for the period of 1997–2017.FindingsResults show that new farmers are more likely to enter in counties with more and smaller farms and with lower farm productivity, indicating that BFRs have the potential to improve the overall productivity in such counties if able to grow and succeed. The results also indicate that the high capital intensity nature of farming is an effective barrier to entry. BFRs are more likely to do better in counties where agriculture is more important to the economy and with more off-farm work opportunities. The net entry is positively associated with higher input/output price index and the use of insurance but is unaffected by government payments and farm and off-farm income. The authors observe substitutability between farming and alternative self-employment for more entrepreneurial young people. Net entry increases with availability of non-real-estate loans but decreases with real estate credit. Thus, for BFRs to acquire the assets needed to reach optimal scale, access to credit remains essential.Originality/valueThe authors are not aware of other work that estimates how barriers to entry and other economic factors including access to credit affect entry and exit of BFRs of various ages and young and women farmers using the Census of Agriculture data up to 2017.

Clinical profile of ocular trauma in a tertiary care hospital of Southern Rajasthan

Background: Ocular trauma is a major cause of preventable visual impairment and blindness leading to permanent loss of vision and deterioration of quality of life. 90% of the injuries are preventable. Aim of the current study was to study the clinical profile of patients with ocular trauma at a tertiary care hospital in Southern Rajasthan. Current study was a cross- sectional, observational study was conducted at Geetanjali medical college and hospital, Udaipur.Methods: After taking a well-informed consent a generalized detailed history of 108 cases (123 injured eyes) was obtained. Assessment of best corrected visual acuity, near vision, intraocular pressure, slit-lamp evaluation and dilated fundus examination was carried out. Then injury was classified as per BETTS classification. Patients with corneal foreign bodies and chemical injuries were recorded separately. Imaging modalities like ultrasound B-scan, CT-scan and MRI were employed wherever required. Results: Number of males (98) was much higher than females (9) in our study. Male: female ratio was found to be 10.8:1. The most commonly affected age group was 21-30 years, this highlights the alarmingly high incidence of ocular injuries in economically active young males. Farming is the primary occupation across India, hence it deserves a special mention. 22% of injury cases in our study were farm- work related injuries. Farmers need to be educated and provided eye protective equipment during high-risk activities. Laws regarding agricultural code of practice should be implemented and followed.Conclusions: In our study, not a single case out of 108 had used eye protection at the time of injury. Every effort should be made to create awareness regarding use of safety measures during driving and engaging in high-risk occupations. This will help prevent sight-threatening complications of ocular trauma and the deleterious impact on quality of life.

Transformation of labor participation on off-farm diversification: insights from rural households in Indonesia

This study analyses the rural transformation and the determinants of off-farm work diversification in Indonesia. Based on employment growth, the study explores the transformation of the labour sector to off-farm work as an alternative income source in mitigating the decreasing carrying capacity of the agricultural sector. Using a panel data set from rural households in Central Sulawesi, the study applied a random logit model to account for the determinants of off-farm participation and economic mobility over time. The results show that crop failure is a key driver of off-farm work diversification which is further compounded by several factors including asset holdings, the age and education level of the household head by 51.1%, 21.77%, 1.59% and 18.59% respectively. These results confirm that ‘these push’ factors are motivating the rural household on off-farm labour allocation, which indicate the implications of economic transformation through the diversification of income sources and labour allocation away from agriculture subsystems in rural areas in Indonesia.

The Effects of Improved Cassava Variety Adoption on Farmers’ Technical Efficiency in Indonesia

The adoption of technological innovations, such as an improved variety, has been widely promoted worldwide to improve agricultural productivity. This study aimed to examine factors affecting farmers’ decision to adopt a new improved cassava varieties (NICV), and to estimate the effects of NICV adoption on farmers’ technical efficiency. This research used cross-sectional data from 300 cassava farmers in East Java, Indonesia. Furthermore, the data were analyzed by probit regression to examine factors affecting farmers’ decision to adopt NICV. Propensity score matching (PSM) procedures and stochastic frontier analysis were applied to evaluate the impact of NICV adoption on farmers’ technical efficiency. The results indicated that adoption was highly influenced by cooperative membership, access to credit, internet access, certified land, and off-farm work. The stochastic frontier analysis, by controlling the matched sample using PSM procedures, demonstrated that NICV adoption positively and significantly impacted farmers’ technical efficiency. Those who adopted NICV showed a higher technical efficiency level than those who did not. This finding implies that improved varieties could be further promoted to increase productivity. The research suggests that there is a need to improve NICV adoption to increase the levels of technical efficiency and productivity.

Revisiting the relationship between farm mechanization and labour requirement in India

In many developing and emerging economies, better employment opportunities in the non-farm sector have increased rural wages due to labour shortages during the peak agricultural season. Increasing wages often cause a substitution of labour for mechanical power, but extensive use of labour-saving technologies may cause labour displacement and have serious equity concerns. Using the household and individual fixed effect estimation approach, this paper analyses the relationship between different types of farm machines and labour requirements in India. The results suggest that a unit increase in the level of farm mechanization increases the demand for hired labour by 12%. Moreover, we find that the level of farm mechanization has a positive effect on women’s participation in farm work, while it decreases the probability of children participating in agriculture-related work. Disaggregated analysis based on types of farm machinery suggests that water-lifting equipment, draft power and tractors increase the probability of male household members working on their farms, while all types of farm machines, except tractors, have a positive effect on female farm labour participation. We also find that the effect of farm mechanization on the demand for hired labour decreases as the size of the farm increases.

Environment and chronic kidney disease in farmers

The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been on the rise worldwide. Epidemiological studies performed primarily in Central America and South Asia have reported high prevalence of CKD among young and middle-aged men working in agricultural communities. The clinical features do not appear linked to any classical CKD risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes, or chronic nephritis. The disease develops and progresses as interstitial nephritis, without showing noticeable symptoms or high levels of proteinuria. Pathologically, the disease essentially represents chronic interstitial nephritis and is termed chronic interstitial nephritis in agricultural communities (CINAC). The potential causes of CINAC include: (1) heat stress-related factors associated with increased ambient temperatures resulting from global warming; and (2) factors connected with exposure to agrochemicals and/or pesticides. Global warming and environmental pollution will undoubtedly pose a significant health risk to farmers, and heat stress during farm work could easily result in the development and progression of CKD. Japanese agricultural regions evidently will not be spared from global environmental changes. For future epidemiological studies, researchers should establish a more comprehensive analytical method that can incorporate additional risk-factor variables, such as occupational history (including agricultural work) and ambient temperature.

Multilevel and Spatially Heterogeneous Factors Influencing Poor Households’ Income in a Frontier Minority Area in Northeast China

Increasing the income of poor rural households is essential for the realization of China’s goal of sustainable development, which entails inclusive and equitable development and reducing the developmental gap between urban and rural areas. We conducted a case study of Wangqing County, a frontier minority area in Northeast China to examine spatial patterns and income differentials among poor rural households in this area. We quantified existing associations between household-level and environmental-level characteristics and income by applying hierarchical linear models. We subsequently applied Geographically Weighted Regression to analyze the spatial heterogeneity of the environmental-level variables and develop an understanding of the interaction mechanism of influencing factors. The results revealed that the distribution of villages, where income levels were similar, showed significant spatial agglomeration characteristics. Our findings also provide empirical evidence that household- and village-level characteristics together determine the income of poor households, but that household-level characteristics determine destitution to a greater extent than environmental characteristics. More specifically, the sex, health condition, and labor capacity of the household head, household size, the dependency ratio, social welfare, and off-farm work are significantly associated with household income. At the environmental level, arable land, the distance to the county center, and the average altitude had spatially heterogeneous impacts that varied in direction and intensity. This systematic study provides a more comprehensive and integrated understanding of the factors influencing the income of poor households in a frontier minority area in Northeast China.

Does cooperative membership impact the yield and efficiency of smallholder farmers? Evidence from potato farmers in Mongolia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of agricultural cooperative membership on potato production and technical efficiency.Design/methodology/approachA combination of propensity score matching technique and sample selection stochastic frontier framework that addresses potential selection bias due to observable and unobservable attributes is used to estimate the effect of participation between cooperative members and non-members. Using a stochastic meta-frontier approach, the technical efficiency of farmers was estimated and compared.FindingsThe empirical results show that the effect of participation in agricultural cooperatives is associated with increased yield and technical efficiency. A comparison of group-specific frontiers indicates that cooperative members perform better than non-members. Cooperative membership decisions is significantly associated with household and farm characteristics (e.g. education, participation in off-farm work, total farmland, distance to market and geographic location).Practical implicationsThe findings of this study demonstrate that cooperative organisations can be an important tool to enhance the productivity and efficiency of smallholder farmers. Successful cooperative models together with training programs designed to enlighten farmers on the importance and tangible benefits of collective action should be used to enlarge participation in cooperative organisations. In addition, governments and development agencies should implement targeted investment and capacity building programs related to irrigation management, gender-sensitive awareness and development of the internal institutional mechanisms in cooperatives for the transfer of knowledge and mutual learning so that all members benefit from cooperatives.Originality/valueDespite the pervasive evidence of the impact of cooperatives on productivity and technical efficiency in the Asian region, this study is probably the first attempt in the crop sector in Mongolia. It provides a rigorous empirical analysis of the impact of agricultural cooperative membership on potato production and technical efficiency through a counterfactual design.