Adoption of New Technologies in Ethiopian Agriculture: The Case of Tegulet-Bulga District,Shoa Province

Adoption of agricultural production technologies in developing countries is influenced by a wide range of economic and social factors as well as physical and technical aspects of farming and the risk attitude of farmers. It is important to understand the role of these factors to ensure the development of appropriate technologies and the design of successful development projects. This study examines the impact of such factors on the adoption of single-ox, fertilizer and pesticide technologies as part of a post-drought recovery project in Tegulet-Bulga district in Ethiopia. Models to evaluate the probability of adoption are specified for the respective technologies and are estimated using a logit maximum likelihood procedure, results indicate that the most significant variable affecting the probability of adoption of all three technologies is farm size; the impact is negative for single-ox technology and positive for fertilizer and pesticide use. Economic factors such as income, wealth and debt generally exhibit statistically significant influence on the adoption of single-ox and pesticide technologies as do family size, access to outside information, education and experience. The effect of socio-economic factors on adoption of fertilizer and pesticide technologies is greater in the area which has more access to outside information and off-farm activities (Ankober) than in more ‘self-contained’ area (Seladengay). The impact of the degree of risk aversion of farmers is found to be significant and negative for single-ox technology in both areas, and for fertilizer and pesticide technologies in only one area. The predicted probabilities of technology adoption by an average farmer are found to increase dramatically with the level of education and access or exposure to outside information.     

Market Impacts of Technological Change in Canadian Agriculture

Market impacts of technological change in Canadian agriculture are measured within a computable general equilibrium framework using 2001 input-output data with agriculture disaggregated to six sectors and 13 commodities. Technological change is modeled as productivity rises in the use of intermediate inputs and of primary factors. Impacts on output, intermediate use of output, foreign trade, final consumption, returns to primary factors, and relative prices are calculated for primary agricultural commodities and processed food products. Impacts are summarized as three general outcomes. First, supply managed sectors adjust to technological change differently than other agricultural sectors. In the former, quota rents increase while in the latter, outputs, exports, and final consumption increase along with declines of relative supply prices. Second, large relative price declines for other commodities lead to consumer gains. Third, producer gains increase when the international competitiveness of agriculture increases. Finally, we compare the differential impact of technological change with and without supply management. L'impact que le changement technologique au sein de l’agriculture canadienne a sur le marché est évaluéà l’aide d’un modèle d’équilibre général calculable (EGC) qui utilise des données entrées-sorties de 2001 pour six secteurs agricoles et treize produits de base. Le changement technologique est modélisé en termes de hausses de productivité dans l’utilisation d’intrants intermédiaires et primaires. L'impact sur les extrants, l’utilisation intermédiaire d’extrants, le commerce extérieur, la consommation finale, les rendements des intrants primaires et les prix relatifs sont calculés pour les principaux produits de base agricoles et produits alimentaires transformés. L'impact est classé en trois catégories de résultats. Premièrement, les secteurs soumis à la gestion de l’offre s’adaptent différemment des autres secteurs au changement technologique. Dans le premier cas, les rentes de contingentement augmentent tandis que dans le second, les extrants, les exportations et la consommation finale augmentent et les prix relatifs de l’offre diminuent. Deuxièmement, les chutes importantes du prix relatif d’autres produits de base entraînent des avantages pour le consommateur. Troisièmement, les gains du producteur augmentent lorsque la compétitivité de l’agriculture sur la scène internationale augmente. Finalement, nous avons comparé l’impact différentiel du changement technologique dans les secteurs soumis et non soumis à la gestion de l’offre.     

现代农业是发达的科技型产业

现代农业从根本上说就是科学化,集约化,市场化,社会化的农业,是一种发达的科技型产业,这其中,科学技术是其核心和生命线,没有科学技术的支撑和推动,现代农业也就失去了赖以生存的基础和根本。科学技术是现代农业的第一推动力,主要可从以下三个方面来考察。     

中国农业技术创新模式及其相关制度研究

本文针对农业技术创新过程的特殊性和我国农业技术创新模式与制度发展中存在的主要问题 ,提出了构建未来我国多元化合作农业技术创新模式的总体思路、备选类型以及完善农业技术创新制度与政策的具体建议。     

Technological Change in Illinois Agriculture, 1982-1984

This paper has two main purposes: (1) to develop a method for measuring the extent and bias of technical change which involves the use of non-parametric production frontiers and does not require information on prices or factor shares; (2) to apply this method to individual farm data drawn from a sample of Illinois grain farms for the years 1982 and 1984. The results indicate that technical innovation is land using in nature and that the rate of technical change is related to the size of farm.     

Green Subsidies in Agriculture: Estimating the Adoption Costs of Conservation Tillage from Observed Behavior

Due to payoff uncertainties combined with risk aversion and/or real options, farmers may demand a premium in order to adopt conservation tillage practices, over and above the compensation for the expected profit losses (if any). We propose a method of directly estimating the financial incentives required for adopting conservation tillage and distinguishing between the expected payoff and premium of adoption based on the observed behavior. We find that the premium may play a significant role in farmers' adoption decisions. In an application to the state of Iowa, we find that if a uniform conservation tillage adoption subsidy program were offered in 1992, over 86% of the subsidy program payments would be an income transfer to existing and low‐cost adopters. En raison des incertitudes quant aux gains, combinées à l'aversion pour le risque et/ou aux options réelles, les agriculteurs pourraient réclamer une prime pour l'adoption de méthodes culturales de conservation du sol, une prime qui serait supérieure à l'indemnisation offerte en cas de perte de gains prévue (s'il y a lieu). Nous avons proposé une méthode fondée sur le comportement observé qui permet une estimation directe des incitatifs financiers exigés pour adopter les méthodes culturales de conservation du sol et qui fait une distinction entre les gains prévus et la prime d'adoption. Nous avons constaté qu'une prime pourrait influencer considérablement les décisions des agriculteurs quant à l'adoption de méthodes culturales de conservation du sol. En Iowa par exemple, nous avons trouvé que, si un programme de subventions uniforme pour l'adoption de méthodes de conservation du sol avait été offert en 1992, plus de 86 p. 100 des paiements du programme de subvention aurait constitué un transfert de revenus aux adopteurs existants et à faibles coûts.     

我国农业科技进步障碍因素分析与对策探讨

不论用什么指标来测度我国的农业科技进步程度，其水平都是较低的。我国农业科技对农业增长的贡献率不到40％，农业科技成果转化率不到35％，远远低于发达国家70％－80％的水平。这种过低的农业科技进步水平，一定程度上仍然是制约我国农业增长，农民增收的主要因素。本文从农业科技成果的供给，需求和推广等方面对障碍因素进行了系统分析，并对加强农业科研和科技推广提出了自己的观点。以供借鉴。     

Dual Technological Development in Botswana Agriculture: A Stochastic Input Distance Function Approach

To improve the welfare of the rural poor and keep them in the countryside, the government of Botswana has been spending 40% of the value of agricultural GDP on agricultural support services. But can investment make smallholder agriculture prosperous in such adverse conditions? This paper derives an answer by applying a two‐output six‐input stochastic translog distance function, with inefficiency effects and biased technical change to panel data for the 18 districts and the commercial agricultural sector, from 1979 to 1996. This model demonstrates that herds are the most important input, followed by draft power, land and seeds. Multilateral indices for technical change, technical efficiency and total factor productivity (TFP) show that the technology level of the commercial agricultural sector is more than six times that of traditional agriculture and that the gap has been increasing, due to technological regression in traditional agriculture and modest progress in commercial agriculture. Since the levels of efficiency are similar, the same pattern is repeated by the TFP indices. This result highlights the policy dilemma of the trade‐off between efficiency and equity objectives.     

Production technologies in Ethiopian agriculture

This article examines the characteristics of and choice among two production technologies in Ethiopian agriculture, one with fertilizer and the other without, using 1989–90 farm-level data. For northwest and central Ethiopia, fertilizer usage determinants are estimated simultaneously with technology-specific production functions. For southern Ethiopia, where fertilizer is rarely used, a single production function is estimated. Three conclusions emerge. First, fertilizer use is not significantly affected by a farm's stocks of capital or land. This is consistent with the fact that fertilizer allocation decisions under the deposed Mengistu regime were politicized to the point where farmers had little control over use. Second, fertilizer is associated with a smaller factor share for cattle and a larger share for land, meaning that those who control land may gain relative to the individual farmers who own cattle as the country develops agriculturally. Third, farms without fertilizer in northwest and central Ethiopia tend to be too small, a problem due to population pressures on the land and communal methods of land allocation. This suggests that land allocation institutions should adjust by distributing land to a smaller but more economically viable number of farmers.     

Biased Technological Change and Factor Demand in Postwar Japanese Agriculture, 1958-84

The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of factor substitutions in postwar Japanese agriculture by shedding special light on biased technological change. Such biased technological change is first measured, then associated with the movements of factor prices, and then tested for the Hicksian induced-innovation hypothesis. In addition, a decomposition analysis is carried out in order to quantitatively examine the importance of the biased effects for determining changes in factor-cost shares and factor proportions during the 1958-84 period. A slightly modified Stevenson-Greene model of the translog cost function is employed. This model has at least two important advantages over ordinary translog cost functions. First, it incorporates time into the model such that all coefficients of the ordinary translog cost function may change over time. This is more realistic than the ordinary translog cost function which assumes that all coefficients are constant over the period of estimation. Another attractive feature is that it enables us to test the induced-innovation hypothesis directly. The model is applied to the 1958-84 period by making use of farm-level data. The results show that technological change was biased towards saving labor and other inputs and using machinery, intermediate inputs, and land. This biased technological change is found to be, in principle, consistent with the induced-innovation hypothesis. Furthermore, it is shown through decomposition analyses that the biased technological change had significant impacts on changes in factor-cost shares and factor proportions during these years. The empirical results of this study imply that technological change in Japanese agriculture has, in general, proceeded in a manner consistent with factor endowments conditions since the late 1950s. An implication of this study for agriculture in less-developed countries is that agricultural policies seeking development through technological progress should be carried out so as to take advantage of peculiar factor endowments conditions in the individual countries.     

对特色农业、产业化经营与农业竞争力的理论分析

提高农业竞争力是市场农业发展的主要目标和我国农业应对入世挑战的迫切需要。理论分析表明，发展特色农业可以显著地提高农业竞争力，而特色农业要做大做强做优离不开产业化经营。本文通过对特色农业、产业化经营与农业竞争力关系的理论分析，得出了这样的结论：特色农业 产业化经营=农业竞争力。     

农业技术进步对农户收入差距的影响机理及实证研究

本文从5个方面分析了农业技术进步对农户内部收入差距的影响机制,同时利用1985—2003年的相关数据进行实证检验,结果表明农业技术进步率从整体上提高了我国农村居民内部收入差距,但经历了阶段性的先扩大后缩小的过程。     

A Participatory Simulation to Facilitate Farmers' Adoption of Livestock Feeding Systems Based on Conservation Agriculture in the Uplands of Northern Vietnam

In the mountain areas of northern Vietnam, extensive husbandry of large-ruminants is limited by the lack of natural forage. Since 2000, the Mountain Agrarian System Program has been concerned with this issue and has evaluated technical alternatives aimed at sustainable integration of crop-livestock systems. One alternative consists of feeding systems for largeruminants based on cropping systems with plant cover. Diffusion of information about the new system is supported by a set of interactive communication tools for use between farmers and researchers. A participatory simulation method was developed that combines a compartmental model of the village territory with five technical innovations. Farmers simulate the adoption of the innovations they choose among food-forage cropping systems in rotation or in association, and urea-treated straw. They evaluate the quantity of forage that can be grown for their herd using the chosen set of techniques.

Simulations revealed farmers' constraints and objectives in adopting sustainable cropping systems on the hillsides while maintaining a small animal husbandry system. The results obtained by each farmer provide a useful basis for discussion about the implementation of innovation. This participatory simulation method could be more widely used to facilitate the diffusion of innovations such as integrating livestock feeding systems with conservation cropping practices.     

农户采用水稻轻简栽培技术的行为分析

本文通过对16省25县5643个农户水稻轻简栽培技术应用情况的调查与分析,结果表明,轻简栽培技术的采用率随着农户文化程度的提高有增加的趋势,随着农户种植规模的增加有降低的趋势。种植双季稻的农户轻简栽培技术的采用率明显高于种植单季稻的农户。种植规模、文化程度和季节对轻简栽培技术的影响达极显著水平,其中季节的影响最大,其次是种植规模,最后是农户文化程度。     

Analysis of the Determinants of Adoption of Organic Horticultural Techniques in the UK

The determinants of the decision to adopt organic production techniques are examined by applying binomial and multinomial logit techniques to a sample of 237 horticultural producers from the UK. The analysis indicates that organic horticultural producers are more likely to be younger, run smaller enterprises and be female than their conventional counterparts, and that there are significant non-economic aspects to the decision to adopt organic techniques which may be missed in comparative profitability studies. In addition, the analysis indicates that the registered and unregistered organic producers should not be regarded as a homogenous group, with significant differences in terms of the influence of gender and information sources observed.     

农业信息化带动农业现代化的战略分析

从工业化社会走向信息化社会 ,从农业现代化走向农业信息化 ,是人类社会进步和农业发展的里程碑。世纪之交 ,全球正在进行一场不见硝烟的信息战。发达国家正在力图抢占当代信息科学技术的制高点 ,发展中国家也在制定本国的信息化战略 ,力图在若干重要领域占领信息科学技术的前沿。面对正在激烈兴起的新的科技革命 ,中国已经意识到信息化对于中国的发展是一次难得的历史机遇。在农业发展中 ,中国应当实施“信息跨越”战略 ,确立“信息强国”路线 ,发挥农业信息化和农业现代化叠加时期的叠加效应和倍增效果 ,即加快推进农业信息化 ,带动农业现…     

龙头企业在农业科技创新中的作用及发挥政府的引导功能研究

国际经验表明,随着农业科技创新成果的不断物化,以及知识产权保护体系的不断完善,私人企业在农业科技创新中发挥的作用日益重要.我国的经验也表明,市场化导向的农业科研体制改革,推动越来越多的民营企业涉足农业科技创新领域,建立农业科技研发中心、开展技术创新活动,农业产业化龙头企业开始成为我国农业科技创新活动中的一支生力军.本文以2006年农业部科教司和农业产业化办公室联合对全国29个省(市区)的187家龙头企业技术创新现状的抽样调查为例,描述了龙头企业参与农业科技创新的现状,探讨了现阶段龙头企业在农业科技创新中的基本作用,初步分析了龙头企业的科技创新投入的特点、优势与局限性.在此基础上,对政府如何营造良好科技投入环境,发挥政府科技投入的引导作用,促进形成私营部门与公共科研部门之间的合理分工,实现公共部门与私人部门的有效合作、优势互补,提出了政策建议.     

东北地区现代农业发展模式探析

通过对东北地区农业发展特点和现存问题的分析,提出东北地区农业发展应实行土地适度规模的现代农业发展的模式。要实现现代农业的发展目标,仅靠农业内部是无法解决的,必须实行城乡互动发展战略,即通过促进农村剩余劳动力的转移、土地的合理流动、提高农户与市场对接,以提高经济效益等措施来实现。