Consumers' willingness to pay for organic rice: Insights from a non-hypothetical experiment in Indonesia

As in many high-income countries, there is increasing awareness towards organic farming in many low- and middle-income countries. Sustained local demand is an essential requirement for further adoption of organic farming by smallholders, who typically have only limited access to export markets. Until now, only few studies have explored the local willingness to pay (WTP) for organic products in low- and middle-income countries in real purchase situations. This paper analyses the consumers' WTP for organic rice in urban and suburban Indonesia using an incentive-compatible auction based on the Becker–DeGroot–Marschak (BDM) approach. We further study the effect of income and a randomised information treatment about the benefits of organic food on respondents' WTP. Estimates suggest that respondents are willing to pay an average price premium of 20% compared with what they paid for conventional rice outside our experiment. However, our results also indicate that raising consumers' WTP further is complex. Showing participants a video about health or, alternatively, environmental benefits of organic food was not effective in further raising WTP. The results can be used as a basis for the design of alternative awareness measures to increase knowledge, interest and demand for organic food.     

Effects of direct payments on rice income variability in Japan*

The effects of direct payments on rice income variability in Japan are analysed based on a balanced panel dataset of Japanese rice farms for 2012–2016. Firstly, the contribution of income components to rice income variability and the effects of a direct payment reduction are discussed by applying variance decomposition. Secondly, robust regression techniques are used to measure the correlation between direct payments and rice income variability. The originality of this paper is that it disaggregates the effects of payments using a regression analysis of the effects of direct payments on income variability for Japan. This contrasts with the existing literature on this topic, which has largely focused on European Union countries. This paper discusses to what degree the reduction in direct payments increases income variability. The results reveal that direct payments decrease Japanese rice income variability. Indeed, after controlling for various farm characteristics, we find a negative relationship between the amount of direct payments linked to rice production and rice income variability. Finally, the results suggest that reducing direct payments when the rice price is falling would increase rice income variability.     

Cooperative membership and adoption of green pest control practices: Insights from rice farmers

Reducing the use of chemical pesticide while preserving crop yield is a practical strategy that makes agricultural production economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. Although the adoption of green pest control practices can help achieve such a goal, its adoption rate remains quite low. This study explores whether membership in agricultural cooperatives improves smallholder farmers' adoption of green pest control practices, utilising farm-level data surveyed from rice farmers in China. To enrich our understanding, we also investigate how the adoption of green pest control practices mediates the effects of cooperative membership on chemical pesticide expenditures. An endogenous switching probit model and a bootstrap-based mediation method are employed to achieve these goals. The empirical results show that cooperative membership significantly increases the probability of adopting physical pest control practices (e.g. pest-killing lamps or sticky plate traps) and biological pest control practices (e.g. biopesticides) by 6% and 19%, respectively. Cooperative membership significantly reduces chemical pesticide expenditures through its mediation effect on improving the probability of adopting biological pest control practices. There is also a complementary relationship between physical and biological pest control practices in pest management of rice production. The adoption of physical pest control practices significantly increases rice yield, while the adoption of biological pest control practices does not.     

接好断链,实现循环,促进粮食单位产量提高

有效提高粮食单产是保证粮食总产量最积极有效的途径。促进有机质更多地还田,不断保护和提升土壤质量,是最经济、有效、可持续的办法。同时还能达到环境效益、生态效益及社会效益等多重目标。该文提出增加土壤有机质,实现农业生产良性循环的举措。     

中国粮食增产潜力主要影响因素分析

该文从增加粮食播种面积与提高粮食单产两方面,综合分析了影响我国粮食增产潜力的11个主要因素。研究结论认为:粮食单产依然是今后几年影响我国粮食生产的最重要因素;粮食播种面积对粮食生产的影响程度在逐年加强,有可能在不久的将来,替代单产成为第一主要因素。自然环境因素、有效灌溉面积、国家政策、农业劳动力素质、农业机械化水平、生物防控技术和化肥使用量等,也都是影响我国粮食生产的重要因素。     

山西小米、小杂粮开发现状与思考

On the base of the analysis on the production present condition of Shanxi province′s millet and little food grains other than wheat and rice,mainly elaborating the forthcoming historical opportunity to exploit millet and little food grains other than wheat and rice.At last ,putting forward some concrete measures to vigorously produce millet and little food grains other than wheat and rice,realize business management and make it to become a new point of rice of agriculture econony of Shanxi province.     

Rural Bangladeshi consumers’ (un)willingness to pay for low-milled rice: Implications for zinc biofortification

Zinc deficiency is a severe public health problem in Bangladesh. We examine the effects of nutritional information on rural consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for two ways to increase zinc intake through rice, the main staple crop–low-milling that gives rice grains a distinctive light brown color (a visible trait) and sets it apart from the culturally preferred high-milled white rice grain and biofortification of rice with increased zinc content (an invisible trait), which is also low-milled to retain maximum zinc content. Results of our economic experiments suggest that with nutritional information, consumers are willing to pay a premium of 4.6% for zinc biofortified rice compared to non-biofortified rice, when milled at the same level. However, results confirm the strong preference for high-milled rice by Bangladeshi consumers who discounted low-milled rice by 8%–10% even after receiving information on the nutritional benefits of biofortified or low-milled rice. We find that consumers’ WTP for the two high-zinc-low-milled rice types (biofortified and non-biofortified) is positively correlated with being a female, more educated, belonging to households engaged in non-farm activities and with children under 5 years of age. Results point to the importance of nutritional awareness campaigns for increasing zinc biofortified and low-milled rice consumption and guiding the targeting strategy for such campaigns. Given the consumer preference for high-milled rice, this study also points to the need for exploring the rice fortification strategy to address the challenge of malnutrition.     

基于MOA理论的农民技术采纳行为研究——以水稻化肥减施技术为例

目的 随着化学肥料在全球范围的大量使用，所引起的农业面源污染问题不仅对整个生态系统造成的破坏难以估量，还直接影响了农民的切身利益。化肥减施增效技术是目前协调农业生产与环境保护的重要途径，但先进技术与生产应用之间存在不同程度上的脱节现象，这就需要将技术进一步物化，开展对技术“载体”的研究。方法 农业经营主体是肥料施用最直接的载体，农户施肥行为的规范程度直接关系肥料利用的效率及对环境的污染程度，文章以采用化肥减施技术的水稻种植农户为研究对象、从技术增效角度入手、运用MOA理论构建分析框架，借助结构方程模型和mplus7.0软件、对角加权矩阵伴均值-方差校正卡方检验（WLSMV）方法对样本农户技术采纳行为的决策过程进行实证分析。结果 （1）采纳机会、采纳动机、抗风险能力都对农户采纳技术的行为规范在1%的显著性水平上具有正向影响；（2）技术认知对其行为规范的路径系数为负，假设未通过验证；（3）行为规范对行为效益的路径系数高达0.97，行为效益对采纳意愿的系数为0.9。结论 影响农民行为的主客观因素中采纳动机是最显著的，行为执行的规范程度是决定其行为效益最直接、最重要的因素，行为效益又是农民是否继续采纳的重要参考，并据此提出相关建议。     

福建山区再生稻开发与栽培技术研究

通过查阅清流县20多年的再生稻开发与栽培技术研讨的大量试验示范数据、生产调查文档,以及工作总结和典型发言等文字材料,从中收集代表各时期再生稻课题的典型资料整理成文,重点阐述了再生稻的发展历程和研讨成果,了解福建省清流县再生稻的开发和发展成就及再生稻栽培技术。     

稻田甲烷减排：技术、挑战与策略

目的 甲烷（CH₄）是强效温室气体，减少CH₄排放能有效在近期内减缓全球变暖趋势。稻田是作物系统CH₄主要排放源，中国作为全球最大水稻生产国和消费国，在稻米充分供给和粮食安全下如何有效控制稻田CH₄排放存在挑战。方法 文章系统阐述了国内外稻田CH₄排放现状和估算结果，从灌溉、施肥、品种、耕作、栽培等方面综述主要CH₄减排技术及效果，梳理相关减排政策，分析我国稻田CH₄减排面临的挑战并提出对策建议。结果 （1）中期晒田、节水灌溉是稻田CH₄减排的关键手段，优化施肥管理、改进秸秆/有机物料还田方式、生物炭、低排放品种、水稻直播和种养结合等有助于控制CH₄排放。（2）在保障水稻增产和农民增收前提下，应当创新集成现有稻田CH₄减排技术，加大轻简化减排技术研发推广，构建稻田CH₄排放监测、报告、核查体系和低碳激励机制，加强农业绿色低碳政策引导，并明确CH₄减排路径。结论 通过技术优化、研发创新、宣传引导、监测报告、激励机制有助于实现我国稻田CH₄排放的有效控制，研究结果可为稻田CH₄减排政策制定和水稻绿色低碳生产提供参考。