Economics of erosion-control and seed-fertilizer technologies for hillside farming in Honduras

With population growth still at very high rates and large-scale commercial farmers and cattle ranchers owning much of the more fertile valley land, small-scale farmers are concentrated on increasingly marginal, steeply sloping hillsides in Central America. The continuing soil erosion and land degradation in these low-input staple crop production hillside farming systems lead many to be pessimistic about increasing the agricultural incomes of these farmers. However, this study shows that the appropriate combination of improved technologies and agricultural policy or alternative production diversification strategies can improve the incomes of small-scale hillside farmers in southern Honduras by over 50%. The technology components considered are stone walls and ditches combined with living tree barriers to prevent erosion of the hillsides, and a package of improved sorghum seed, seed treatment, and modest doses of nitrogenous fertilizer. A whole-farm mathematical programming framework is used to determine the potential farm-level income effects of the soil-conservation and seed-fertilizer technologies. The main conclusion is that erosion-control devices and yield-increasing crop varieties and fertilizer are an effective technology introduction strategy for the erosion-prone hillside landholdings found in many areas of Central America. If policy actions or diversification strategies for disposal of surplus grain are found which are effective in reducing the risk of low income from cereal price reductions in high-production years, adoption of the improved technologies is shown to be profitable for small-scale farmers. Another benefit not explicitly considered would be to slow the very rapid growth of urban poverty in these countries. Sensitivity analysis results indicated that neither risk aversion nor the increased availability of crop land or initial cash have any substantial effects on the predicted adoption level of the improved technologies, or on their income impacts for these farmers.     

LABOUR INPUT DECISIONS OF SUBSISTENCE FARM HOUSEHOLDS IN SOUTHERN MALAWI

The objective of the paper is the presentation of a farm-household model which allows an analysis of labour input decisions of rural households in an environment with risky agricultural technologies and off-farm employment opportunities. Labour input decisions are condensed into a stochastic linear programming framework, and applied to a typical rural household in Southern Malawi. Weak adoption of yield-increasing technologies is explained by different opportunity costs of time of family members and by the risky nature of income generated using traditional or yield-increasing agricultural technologies. The view that land-saving innovations will increase agricultural production is revised. Special extension programmes for family members with low off-farm employment opportunities are proposed to increase the adoption of those technologies. These programmes have the purpose of reducing anticipated subjective income deviations for yield-increasing innovations.     

AGRICULTURAL PRICE POLICY,FOOD AID AND INPUT SUBSIDY REFORMS IN BURKINA FASO

This paper examines the agrarian decline in Burkina Faso that prompted structural adjustment reforms by the World Bank and the IMF in the early 1980s. Official interventions in the cereals, cotton and fertiliser sectors are examined, and an analysis made of regional impacts of the proposed reforms on producers and consumers. Counter-factual simulations with a multi-region, multi-commodity agricultural sector model are used to evaluate three policies: eliminating input subsidies, increasing official market commodity prices, and reducing food aid imports. Model results show that these reforms would improve agricultural-sector performance, but depend on cotton exports to pay for fertiliser, contrary to government self-sufficiency objectives. Relaxing capacity constraints on official marketing operations would also need to be eliminated to achieve reform objectives.     

Will cotton make a comeback in Mali?

With the decline of cotton especially in the marginal cotton areas, farmers have been using more of the cotton‐financed inputs on the cereals. The cotton para‐statal company (CMDT) has made a virtue out of this recommending diversification for these regions. Following the world price spike in 2010, the Malian government responded with a substantial price increase for cotton in 2011 of 38% to rejuvenate the Malian sector. This article looks at the impact of this price policy in the cotton economy and the potential of new cereal technology and marketing strategy to raise incomes and facilitate the diversification. Given the importance of the marketing decision of selling later after the recovery of cereal prices from the harvest collapse, a discrete stochastic programming model was developed for three‐stage decision making. Then, the recent changes in the cotton economy and government fertilizer subsidies were analyzed along with the introduction of the new technology marketing of sorghum. Cotton and maize continue to dominate the economy but the combined sorghum technology marketing increases farmers’ incomes by 16% to 21% and eases the return to normal cotton prices, after the 2011 price spike, as well as the removal of the fertilizer subsidies.     

Demand for Seasonal Wage Labour in Agriculture: What Does Family Farming Hide?

This article draws on the agricultural household literature to understand the dynamics of wage labour on farms in a context of family farming. The recent evolution towards an increased use of seasonal wage labour motivates the original distinction of three types of labour: family labour, permanent‐wage labour and seasonal‐wage labour. Considering the two wage labour types and hiring cost for seasonal workers, our empirical results based on 2000 French data on fruit and vegetable farms suggest that the choice between hiring permanent or seasonal wage labour is not only determined by the seasonality of the activity. Indeed, the characteristics of the local labour market also affect the trade‐off between permanent and seasonal wage labour. This result provides insights on the substitutability of the two labour types, especially when the local labour market is tight. Moreover, the substitution of seasonal‐wage labour for permanent‐wage labour can occur in the agricultural sector as a mean of increasing flexibility as well as reducing costs and commitments. Finally, family labour is found to substitute for wage labour and more specifically for seasonal‐wage labour.     

Compensated optimal response under uncertainty in agricultural household models

This study derives the qualitative properties of a household's optimal consumption, family labour, hired labour and non-labour input choices under price and/or output risk through a Slutsky-type compensation without imposing any restriction on risk preference structure or production technology. These compensated responses provide the underpinning for welfare analysis in agricultural household models under risk. The framework for the evaluation of welfare effects of product and factor price interventions in a setting of output and price risk is developed. The paper also outlines an empirical model for estimation of the compensated demand and supply responses and for validation of the paper's analytical results.     

A methodology to assess the current situation in irrigated agriculture: An application to the village of Tauste (Spain)

Abstract

This paper presents a simple weighted goal programming model which can be used to predict the current allocation of agricultural enterprises in a particular geographical area. Moreover, it also shows how the approach proposed can be integrated into a multiobjective framework to measure the opportunity cost of maintaining the current situation in terms of several criteria relevant from a private and a public perspective. In this way, the opportunity cost of sustaining the current allocation of agricultural enterprises in the irrigated lands of Tauste (Spain) is assessed in terms of gross margin, employment, seasonal labour and water consumption.     

Trends in Agricultural Incomes: An Analysis at the Select Crop and State Levels in India

India's agricultural sector is at a crossroads, facing challenges of stagnation in crop yields, non‐remunerative prices, falling crop incomes and tardy responses from public service systems. There are reports of peasant suicides due to non‐profitability of farming. However, scant empirical evidence is available on changes in real income and wages in the Indian agricultural sector. The present study uses data from the National Accounts Statistics and Cost of Cultivation Surveys to analyse the changes in real income and discusses the underlying reasons. The study reveals that the purchasing power of farmers has remained low and has worsened over recent years. The value of crop output has increased, but a disproportionate rise in input costs has resulted in a fall in crop incomes in several states, with the agriculturally developed Punjab being an exception. Interestingly, real wage rates for agricultural labour have shown an increasing trend, indicating improvement in the welfare of labour.     

Drinking water and off‐farm labour supply: between‐gender and within‐gender bias

In this paper, we use the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) panel data to analyse the impact of drinking water on off‐farm labour supply. A two‐stage least squares (2SLS) multivariate Tobit regression model with random effects was applied. We find that impacts of drinking water conditions on off‐farm labour supply may be greater for women than men but depends on the specific family role or family structure. A strong within‐gender effect exists in households. For example, daughters are not sensitive to water access nor water quality, but householder's spouses are sensitive to water access, and daughters‐in‐law are sensitive to water quality. Our findings suggest that infrastructure development in improved access to safe water has contributed positively to reductions in traditional gender biases, evening the playing field between daughters, daughters‐in‐law, mothers and mothers‐in‐law. We also find that water the infrastructure program may actually encourage off‐farm labour mobility, reducing the supply of agricultural labour and the share of household labour on the farm. Thus, a broader approach to water policy should also include public investment in achieving greater labour efficiency and productivity.     

Strategies to increase agricultural productivity and reduce land degradation: evidence from Uganda

This paper estimates a structural econometric model of household decisions regarding income strategies, participation in programs and organisations, crop choices, land management, and labour use, and their implications for agricultural production and soil erosion; based upon a survey of over 450 households and their farm plots in Uganda. Many factors have context-specific impacts and involve trade-offs between increasing production and reducing land degradation. Government agricultural extension and training programs contribute to higher value of crop production in the lowlands, but to soil erosion in the highlands. By contrast, non-governmental organization (NGO) programs focusing on agriculture and environment help to reduce erosion, but have less favourable impacts on production in the lowlands. Education increases household incomes, but also reduces crop production in the lowlands. Poverty has mixed impacts on agricultural production, depending on the nature of poverty: smaller farms obtain higher crop production per hectare, while households with fewer livestock have lower crop production. Population pressure contributes to agricultural intensification, but also to erosion in the densely populated highlands. Several household income strategies contribute to increased value of crop production, without significant impacts on soil erosion. We find little evidence of impact of access to markets, roads and credit, land tenure or title on agricultural intensification and crop production and land degradation. In general, the results imply that the strategies to increase agricultural production and reduce land degradation must be location-specific, and that there are few 'win-win' opportunities to simultaneously increase production and reduce land degradation.     

Disparate but not antagonistic: Classes of labour in cotton production in Burkina Faso

This paper examines the variety of agrarian classes of labour and the challenges they face in organizing and pursuing their interests. By taking the cotton sector in Burkina Faso as a case study, it analyses how various ‘classes of labour’ organize and mobilize for collective action to raise their claims: poor cotton farmers and workers in the cotton factories. Poor and middle farmers recently came to the fore when they boycotted cotton production in large numbers. The study focusses on the boycott campaign, and more broadly on class struggle and collective action by farmers and workers, on interclass alliances, and on capital's attempts to play the classes of labour against one another. The boycott campaign provides an outstanding case to analyse the interests of the various classes of labour and of opportunities for rural–urban mobilization and alliances across classes of labour. I argue that poor farmers and factory workers along the chain of cotton production can be considered as various classes of labour that are not necessarily antagonistic to one another but, first and foremost, to capital. In order to achieve radical transformation in the agrarian context, what is needed are networks and organizations to establish interclass solidarity and alliances.     

How crop insurance influences agrochemical input use: Evidence from cotton farmers in China

Crop insurance is critical in risk management in global agricultural production (e.g. by helping stabilise farmers' incomes in the long term and reducing risk-bearing costs). In this paper, using field survey data on cotton farmers in Xinjiang, China, we examine the influence of crop insurance on farmers' behaviours regarding agrochemical inputs and aim to investigate the synergy between crop insurance and reductions in fertiliser and pesticide usage. We find evidence that crop insurance significantly negatively affects farmers' use of fertilisers and pesticides, as well as significantly positively affects their adoption of green agricultural technologies (GAT) that can replace or complement traditional fertilisers and pesticides. Moreover, our results reveal that compared with small-scale farmers, crop insurance has a stronger effect on large-scale farmers' use of agrochemicals. Finally, when the insured amount is higher or the relative deductible is lower, farmers are more likely to reduce fertiliser and pesticide usage and adopt GAT. Overall, this paper scientifically identifies crop insurance can improve farmers' agrochemical input behaviour, by reducing farmers' use of traditional agrochemical inputs and increasing their adoption of GAT, which is of great significance for ensuring the safety of the agricultural ecological environment.     

THE USE OF A DECISION MAKER'S UTILITY FUNCTION IN A LINEAR PROGRAMMING ANALYSIS OF AGRICULTURAL POLICY*

A decision theoretic approach to agricultural policy decision making is examined to discover whether a utility function of an Australian Wool Corporation decision maker can be established and, if so, whether this can be used to improve the policy analysing performance of an agricultural sector linear programming model. After discussing the theoretical requirements of the utility function elicitation and the elicitation procedures, the characteristics of the resulting functions are examined. A means for its inclusion in a linear programming framework is described and some analysis of policy is carried out. The general conclusions are that the relevance of the agricultural sector analysis is enhanced by the use of such a utility function.     

Modelling embedded risk in peasant agriculture: methodological insights from northern Malawi

Using a linear-programming model of farming systems in northern Malawi, the conditions under which peasant farm-household models may need to allow for embedded risk are investigated, Tactical, sequential responses to uncertainty are found to be more important to labour-scarce households with limited access to capital and to credit markets. Compared with semi-sequential programming, discrete stochastic programming (DSP) provided more efficient solutions for problems involving embedded risk. There may be intuitive advantages in presenting results from DSP models in terms of a semi-sequential strategy.     

TARGET RETURNS WITHIN RISK PROGRAMMING MODELS: A MULTI-OBJECTIVE APPROACH

An approach to deal with risk in agricultural planning with a safety-first model is presented. The approach, named mean-partial absolute deviation (mean-PAD), is aimed at improving existing safety-first methods by combining an accurate estimation of the probability of failure with multiobjective programming. The logic of the method is explained by a simple example. Although the mean-PAD approach is a multiobjective technique by nature, it can be made operational by using common linear programming codes.     

The future of olive groves on sloping land and ex-ante assessment of cross compliance for erosion control

Under the past Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) olive oil subsidy regime, farmers were eligible for subsidies on the basis of the amount of olive oil they produced. This led to an intensification of production, particularly on flat land, and had in most cases negative environmental effects, such as more soil erosion on sloping land and more pollution. With the decoupling of agricultural support under the newly established rules of the CAP, formalised in 2005, cross compliance measures have become obligatory.In this paper an ex-ante assessment is made of the application of cross compliance for soil erosion control (natural cover crops and terrace maintenance) in hilly and mountainous olive groves in Trás-os-Montes in Portugal. A linear programming model was developed to assess the various socio-economic and environmental effects of four different development scenarios for olive groves. The scenarios were developed on the basis of changing market prices, wage rates and subsidies; their effects included shifts towards intensification, abandonment and organic farming. Simulations considering a minimum return to labour constraint showed very high levels of abandonment, particularly in combination with cross compliance obligations. However, even without this minimum return to labour constraint, abandonment would reach more than 20% in three out of the four scenarios. The model showed that cross compliance obligations could be quite effective in reducing erosion, but that they would depress income in all scenarios as a result of higher abandonment and lower percentage shifts towards intensive systems.     

COMPROMISE-RISK PROGRAMMING FOR AGRICULTURAL RESOURCE ALLOCATION PROBLEMS: AN ILLUSTRATION

This paper presents a novel approach for dealing with risk in agricultural resource allocation decisions by synthesising the conventional Markowitzean, or MOTAD, methods within a compromise programming model to generate ‘best-compromise’ solutions which come closest to an ideal point defined in terms of risk minimisation. This approach can be regarded as the compromise-risk programming model. The purpose here is to show how this ‘hybridisation’ of Markowitz/MOTAD and compromise programming approaches overcomes some of the weaknesses of the traditional approach to handling risk in resource allocation models.     

Does EU rural expenditure correspond to regional development needs?

The EU offers a complex system of rural development interventions as part of its Common Agricultural Policy. A Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (CMEF) has been developed for the programming period 2007–2013 in response to challenges faced with the evaluation of rural development measures in earlier programming periods.Statistical and multivariate analysis of CMEF baseline (regional characteristics) and input (expenditure) indicator data at the NUTS2 subdivision level is used to compare four typical expenditure allocation patterns (Competitiveness, Environment, Rural Viability, Equal Spending) in terms of associated regional characteristics and development trends.The results suggest expenditure priorities are generally in line with regional needs and that there are some positive development trends, for example higher increase of agricultural labour productivity in the Competitiveness Group, while for environmental topics the level of data required remains unsatisfactory for trend assessment. 17% of the regions have a budget allocation pattern deviating from other regions with similar characteristics, which could indicate ineffective priority setting. Consistent CMEF data over multiple programming periods would be desirable to support the relationships found and to facilitate time series analysis, but this seems questionable given that the European Commission has discontinued the CMEF in 2014 with further adaptations for the 2014–2020 programming period underway.     

21世纪以来农业基础设施减贫效应研究

目的 农业基础设施不仅是农业稳定生产的重要基石,也是农村贫困治理的重要手段。探究农业基础设施减贫效应,对未来相对贫困治理和减贫经验总结意义重大。方法 文章运用空间自回归模型（SAR）和空间误差模型（SEM）,分析21世纪以来中国农业基础设施减贫效应及内生机制。结果 农业交通基础设施中的公路密度、河道密度和铁路密度分别显著降低农村贫困发生率1.424、0.03和0.05个单位;农业生产基础设施中的人均装机容量、水土流失治理能力和每公顷塑料薄膜用量分别显著降低农村贫困发生率0.122、0.212和0.011个单位。从控制变量来看,每千人播种面积,农村人均教育水平和人均乡镇卫生院床位数也发挥着积极的减贫作用。由减贫机制可知,农业基础设施主要通过降低农业自然灾害和增加农业产值,进而提高农户收入和降低农村贫困发生率。结论 应尽快完善农田田间道路、农业生产基础设施建设和高标准农田建设,加强农村公共基础设施投入,促进农业增产和农村减贫。     

Labour-saving technologies in smallholder agriculture: An economy-wide model with field operations

Labour-saving technologies are relevant for agricultural development. Yet, as this study shows, they are poorly integrated into agricultural production functions of economy-wide models. We report a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, which explicitly incorporating field operations (e.g. land preparation, weeding or harvesting) in the context of smallholder agriculture. The field operations approach allows to model technological trade-offs in organic and conventional production systems at various stages of the agricultural production process. Simulating a structural change scenario, we compare the performance of the field operations approach with published benchmark production structures by assessing how they replicate empirically observed changes in land and agrochemical use. This benchmark analysis shows that incorporating field operations replicates the observed empirical changes most accurately and allows for more realistic modelling of labour-saving technologies. We use the field operations model to investigate three policy options to mitigate labour shortages in the agricultural sector of Bhutan. Permitting the employment of Indian workers in agriculture has the highest short-term potential in this respect. We find that subsidising agricultural machinery hiring services and removing import tariffs on agrochemical inputs are found to be less effective. Further options for model developments, such as combining field operations and labour market seasonality, are highlighted.