Socioeconomic Determinants of Female Development in the Rural North West Province of South Africa

Women engagement and reward systems are vital for rural development as they have a direct consequence on the improvement, equality, as well as accelerating agricultural productivity generally, and increasing food supply in particular at the local and national levels. The study highlighted the contribution of the Award Incentives and Competition (AIC) programme in enhancing women farmers’ economic strength. It also looked at how influence, change and technological know-how could improve women farmers’ participation in development programmes. It provided an overview of the determinants of female entrepreneurship development in rural North West Province using a quantitative survey method approach. One hundred and fifty-six women farmers, who were randomly selected from all districts in the province and different enterprises out of 520 eligible women farmers, participated in the study. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential (Probit regression) model. Based on empirical data, the Probit regression model estimates suggested that the educational status, creation of temporary and permanent jobs, and extension sources were some of the determinants of entrepreneurial development in the study area. The study recommends that policymakers continue to advocate for education as female farmers need to participate in development programme(s).

Feminization of Agriculture: Do Female Farmers Have Higher Expectations for the Value of Their Farmland?—Empirical Evidence from China

An individual’s expectations for the value of farmland are a manifestation of his or her awareness of farmland rights and interests. Differences between male and female farmers in their use of farmland, employment, education, and rights protection may ultimately lead to differences in the evaluation of land value between the two groups. Clarifying such gender differences in the valuation of farmland and the reasons for them is of great significance for the formulation of policies and scientific research in areas such as the protection of rural women’s rights, nonagricultural employment, and land transfer. In the context of the global “feminization of agriculture”, we start with individuals’ psychological expectations for the value of farmland. We use data on farmland from the 2015 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) and estimate an OLS regression model. The moderating effects model identifies the impact of gender differences on such expectations and the underlying mechanism. We find that (1) rural female farmers’ psychological expectations for the value of farmland are much lower than those of males due to their disadvantages in receiving information through policy publicization and their greater willingness to transfer into nonagricultural employment, and (2), according to the heterogeneity analysis, better educated female farmers and those living in areas with greater economic and social development expect farmland to be more valuable. These conclusions show that female farmers are currently less aware of their economic rights in rural China than male farmers, and that education, policy propaganda, and economic and social underdevelopment hinder their awareness of women’s rights. We propose policy suggestions to ensure women’s educational rights, promote the adjustment of the industrial structure and of policy propaganda, and balance regional economic and social development.

Farmers’ Information Sources and Constraints to Climate Adaptability in Ondo State Nigeria

The study assessed farmers’ information sources and constraints to climatic adaptability in Ondo state, Nigeria. Specifically, the study ascertained the socio-economics characteristics of the respondents; examined the sources of information on climate change adaptability available to both gender respondents; compared the perceived knowledge of climate change adaptability of the respondents; determined the factors influencing respondents’ access to information on climate change adaptability; determine the factors influencing respondents utilization of information on climate change adaptability; and also identified the constraints faced by respondents relating to climatic adaptability. Multi-staged sampling technique was used to select and interviewed equal samples of male and female farmers of 120 respondents. Both the descriptive and inferential analyses were carried out and results showed that the mean age of farmers was 43.5 years, 82.5% of the farmers were married, with an average household size of 7 members. The average years of experience was 12.3 years, average size of farm land is 4.7 hectares. Results showed that farmers had access to information mainly through family and friends (70.8%). Majority of the farmers perceived climate change through higher sunshine intensity (97.5%), the adaptation activity embarked upon mostly by farmers was mulching (97.5%). The major factor influencing respondent’s access to information was electricity (=2.58). The major factor influencing utilization of information was past experience about climate change (=2.47), the major constraint to climatic adaptability were power (=4.28) and poor information on warning system ( =4.27).

An assessment of the Human-Elephant conflict in Sapahi and Kakadi Village of Kolhabi Municipality, Bara, Nepal

This study aims to assess the trend, extent, and impact of Human-Elephant conflict (HEC) in Sapahi and Kakadi villages of Bara district. Direct field observation, Household Survey (HHs), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), and Key Informant Interview (KII) were carried out during November and December 2016 where 11 wards were selected purposively from two village and 50 households from each village. Also, 12 KII and one FGDs from each ward were performed. SPSS 20.0, and MS Excel 2016 were used to calculate mean, percentage, frequency count, and chi-square test was used to determine the variation in people’s perception towards wild Elephant conservation. The total average damage of paddy per year per HHs was 834.1 kg followed by wheat 153.7 kg, and mustard 2.12 kg. The economic value of average annual crop damage per year per HHs accounted for NRs. 22669.70. Among total HHs, 84% of the respondents said that the trend of crop damage is increasing, 10% found no differences in crop damage, and remaining 6% said decreasing. During the last 5 years, 7 people were injured, and 6 were killed. The lighting fire, beating drum, and making noise were the local techniques used by all the respondents to chase away elephant for the mitigation of HEC. The farmers also guard their fields at night time. 60% of the respondents are positive towards elephant conservation and remaining 40% seems no significance for conservation. The compensation scheme for crop damage should be properly implemented in the study area to minimize the HEC. A sustained conservation education program especially focusing on female, farmers, and nomads are recommended to conserve wild elephants, and their habitat.

Nontraditional lenders and access to local agricultural credit markets by beginning and female farmers

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to evaluate if access to local branch infrastructure of the farm credit system institutions (FCS), banks and credit unions (BCU), and alternative financial services (AFS) providers is related to the use of credit from non-traditional lenders (NTLs). The focus is on beginning and women operators who are typically credit constrained and thus more likely to suffer from closures of bank branches and consolidation of traditional agricultural lenders.Design/methodology/approachInformed by Detragiache et al. (2000), the authors specify farmers’ use of loans as a function of their access to credit (measured by the branch density of each lender type) along with operator’s and operation’s controls. The measures of loans by NTLs (number, use, share and lender type) require the use of Poisson, Probit, Tobit and Multinomial Logit techniques. This study utilizes individual producer data from the 2018 Agricultural Resource Management Survey and 2018 county-level branch density data for FCS, BCU and AFS providers.FindingsAccess to credit from FCS is helpful to BFRs only, while access to AFS is associated with the use of loans from NTLs by women but not by BFRs. As expected, access to BCU credit matters for the use of loans from NTLs, with a complementary effect for BFRs but a substitution effect for women’s use of such loans.Originality/valueThere are no studies on local agricultural credit markets in the US that evaluate the implications from changes in access to credit on credit-constrained borrowers and their use of NTLs’ credit.

Female Farmers’ Agricultural Information Needs and Food Production: A Case Study of Imbulpe ds Division in Sri Lanka

The study was conducted to find out female farmers’ agricultural information needs and their impact on food production, in the Imbulpe DS Division in Sri Lanka. Of the female farmers in the area, 238 were taken as the sample for the study from seven selected Grama Niladhari (GN) divisions in the area. Female farmers were selected by using a simple random sampling method from these purposively selected GN divisions. A pre-tested, interviewer-administered questionnaire survey was used as the primary data collection method from March to July 2019. Data analysis was done by using descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis. The result revealed that the majority (62.6%) of respondents were middle aged (40-59 years), married, and belonged to families with 4-5 members. Most respondents (64.3 %) had studied up to junior secondary education level. Their average farm land size is 0.84 acres and they have farming experience of about 15 years. Most of the respondents mentioned that they had obtained higher levels of information needs about improved crop varieties. In addition, female farmers reported that they moderately need information on application of agrochemicals, improved market systems and modern farming technologies. Extension agents and other female farmers act as their major sources of agricultural information and ICT equipment acts as the least important agricultural information source in this area. Moreover, there is a significant positive association between the agricultural information needs and food production. Therefore, providing necessary agricultural information and enhanced utilization of ICT tools for agricultural information sources, and encouraging female farmers to participate in farming societies will lead to enhanced food production in this area.

Musculoskeletal Disorders Analysis Of Indonesian Women Farmers With Quick Exposure Check Method

The role of women farmers in various regions in Indonesia is very much needed because the need for food in Indonesia is relatively high. The working hours also high, with an average of 35 hours per week. Based on the results of preliminary observations using the Nordic Body Map, it was found that the average female farmer felt pain in the back, neck, upper arms, and wrists. This study uses the QEC (Quick exposure checklist) method. Based on this method, several parts of the body assess the onset of work disorders, namely the neck, back, shoulders or arms, and wrists. Apart from that, there are also psychosocial factors, including work speed and stress. In the QEC method, there is an exposure score calculation to determine what action is taken based on the analysis of the total exposure score. This research was conducted by filling out questionnaires in 36 different regions in Indonesia. Based on the questionnaire results, it was found that female farmers in Indonesia had the highest exposure score of 51.33%. This result can occur due to the increased load carried and the length of time worked.

Analysis of power requirement of a small-sized tracked-tractor during agricultural field operations

A low-powered and high-efficiency electric tracked-tractor would be a suitable option for aged and female farmers to accomplish agricultural field operations such as grass mowing, land leveling, and chemical spraying. The purpose of the study was to analyze the power requirement of a small-sized tracked-tractor during agricultural field operations. A lawnmower and a rear sprayer-trailer were attached to the tractor base, and the average power requirement was measured. The forward speed was considered during the field experiment up to 6 km/h for four different operating stages. The torque data were obtained for unloaded and loaded conditions through a wireless data logger, and a GPS receiver was used to measure the working speed of the tractor. A data acquisition module was used to acquire the sensor signals. The average power requirements for the empty platform with the driver, a lawnmower, a sprayer-trailer (150-L payload), and a lawnmower and 150-L payload trailer were 0.93, 1.27, 1.45, and 1.70 kW, respectively. The result showed the lowest power was required for operating only the tractor, and it was about 51.15% of the motor rated power, where the maximum power consumed approximately 85% of the total rated power to operate both of the lawnmower and sprayer-trailer. The average power requirements of the tracked tractor varied due to the different payloads and operating stages. The experimental results presented in this study would provide guidelines to improve and commercialize the prototype of the small-scaled tracked-tractor for practical use on the agricultural fields.

Adaptation Strategy to Climate Change Among White Pepper Smallholder Farmers in Bangka-Belitung, Indonesia

This study aimed to determine the effect of the socio-economic factors on climate change adaptation strategy of white pepper farmers in Bangka-Belitung Province, Indonesia. West Bangka Regency was chosen as a research site because this area is one of the main producer areas of white pepper. Then, 70 samples of white pepper farmers were randomly selected. The cross-section primary data were collected through interviewed directly with farmers in the research location using a list of questions in the questionnaire which had been served by the researcher. The logit regression model was used to analyze factors influencing farmers' adaptation to climate change. This research suggested as follows: 1) government programmes related to accelerating the implementation of climate change adaptation should be prioritized to female farmers 2) knowledge and technical skill of extension agent at local level relate to implementing adapted strategies of climate change must be increased, as well as materials regarding the implementation of climate change adaptation should be part of the agricultural extension syllabus for white pepper farmers.