The green revolution in Nigeria: Prospects for agricultural development

This article considers the application of green revolution strategies in Nigeria. The authors discuss the background issues and the genesis of the green revolution before turning to the specific experiences of countries in Indo-Pakistan. The prospects for accelerated agricultural development in Nigeria brought about by green revolution technologies is considered. The authors conclude that the case of Nigeria is conceptually different to that of Asian countries but, with careful planning, green revolution technologies can contribute to sustained agricultural development in Nigeria.     

Impact of instrumental ties,tacit knowledge sharing and affective commitment on absorptive capacity – an empirical study of pharmaceutical companies

Absorptive capacity construct has gained importance since last two decades especially in knowledge intensive environment. The companies invest their time and resources to achieve strategic goals and thus enhance their absorptive capacity in order to deal with new knowledge requirements. Companies largely focus on the macro level processes and mechanisms which are external to their boundaries and ignore the intra company factors critical to absorptive capacity. This study explores the impact of human behaviours related to instrumental ties (INST), affective commitment (AFC) and tacit knowledge sharing (TKS) on absorptive capacity (ACAP). Results of this study based on sample from pharmaceutical companies of Pakistan show significant contribution of human behaviour in development of absorptive capacity. The employees’ behaviours may not be ignored by decision makers in pharmaceutical companies while formulating knowledge strategies.     

Potential for electric vehicle adoption in Australia

Data from the New South Wales (NSW) Household Travel Survey (2014/15 NSW, T. f. (2014/15, 9/15/2016). SA3 Household Travel Survey (HTS). Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B12S3-OIR0hOT3oyYzJnMVp1UWs [Google Scholar]) was analyzed to determine the trip-by-trip range of automobile travel in NSW. The results show that 88% of trips were less than 30?km, which could readily be provided by electric vehicles, consuming a total of 18?GWh in electrical energy per weekday. Even if all electric vehicles were recharged from non-renewable coal-fired power plants, the greater efficiency of electric vehicles would result in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions across NSW by 18% carbon dioxide equivalent (CO_2(eq))_. Additionally, we mapped the average state of charge distribution of the electric vehicles at key times during the day, indicating the maximum net load (for recharging) and/or available energy (for vehicle-to-grid services) across NSW. The results are consistent with other international studies and demonstrate the potential for wide scale electric vehicles adoption in Australia.     

Flying with the Dragon: Estimating Developing Countries’ Gains from China's Imports

As a large trading nation, China competes with importing countries’ domestic and third‐country markets but also creates growth opportunities for exporters. Most studies on China trade shocks or “China shocks” focuse on the impacts of import competition on developed economies. The present paper complements research on China shocks by exploring the other side of the trade exposure to China – China as the largest importer, rather than as an exporter. We analyze the effects of export expansion into China on the local labor markets of the exporting developing countries for the years 1992 to 2018. Using detailed export and employment data, we estimate employment pattern variations in manufacturing industries with exports from other developing countries as instruments for export exposure. We find that the increase in trade exposure to China in the world economy has caused extensive job gains in manufacturing industries in developing countries that were exporters. On average, our estimations show that this trade exposure created approximately 1.5 million additional jobs from 1992 to 2018, which made an important contribution to manufacturing industries in developing countries. Our empirical analysis also shows that trade had stabilizing effects on employment in the countries in our sample generally.     

Integrated rural development in Nigeria: The Funtua project

The Funtua Agricultural Development Project is the oldest World Bank financed rural development project in Nigeria. This article evaluates the impact of the project on the area and its implications as a prototype for rural development in Nigeria. Increased agricultural production has not occurred to the extent and in the direction that the project expected. The project's activities appear to be concentrated on large-scale and progressive farmers rather than on the traditional farmer which could result in increased income differentials and the creation of a ‘landless’ class. The costs of the project are too high for the benefits involved. Extension of the project to other parts of the country would be difficult to organize and manage due to the lack of trained manpower.