Estimation and use of risk aversion coefficient for traditional dryland agriculture in western Sudan

This paper explores the importance of including risk when modeling subsistence-oriented agriculture in a developing nation. The specific objective is to measure the degree of risk aversion for typical farmers in the smallholder traditional agriculture of the Sudan. The procedure followed is to impute the farmer's risk aversion coefficient through a mathematical risk programming technique. Imputed farmers' risk aversion coefficients were used to validate the model specified and identify, for further analysis, a single risk optimal farm plan for each of the different farm situations studied.     

农户对秸秆深翻还田的选择偏好及异质性来源研究基于黑土地保护视角

目的 秸秆深翻还田是东北地区黑土地保护和修复主要的方式之一,但目前农户选用秸秆深翻还田作业的意愿依然不强。方法 文章基于黑土地保护视角,从技术和政策双层面分解秸秆深翻还田作业的特征属性,以规模户和小农户为调研对象,运用选择实验法及混合Logit模型识别农户选择秸秆深翻还田作业的选择偏好和支付意愿,并探讨其异质性来源。结果 （1）技术层面。行政农机托管能显著提高秸秆深翻还田的作业选择偏好;农户对秸秆深翻还田的成本风险和技术操作规范风险有承受能力,但对病虫害风险有排斥心理;小农户更注重短期产量和效益,倾向于劳动力投入,最高支付意愿为243.60元/hm²（16.24元/亩）;规模户更重视改善土壤质量等长期效益,倾向于资金投入,最高支付意愿为397.95元/hm²（26.53元/亩）。（2）政策层面。以激励为主的政策、作业后补贴以及高强度补贴均能显著提高农户采纳秸秆深翻还田技术的积极性,小农户希望补贴给农户本身,而规模户更倾向于补贴个合作社企业。（3）农户采纳秸秆深翻还田的行为偏好存在异质性,异质性来源为农户的个体特征、家庭经营特征和社会特征及认知等因素。结论 技术层面需优化相关配套辅助技术,大力推进黑土地保护监测数据和技术信息的共享;政策层面政府需完善秸秆深翻还田的政府补偿机制;保障层面需推进行政农机作业托管模式,加强对合作社的规范和监督。     

农户兼业化程度对农业保险偏好的影响机理与实证分析

目的 随着农业结构调整深入推进,农户的收入来源逐渐多元化,文章通过研究农户兼业化程度对不同类型农业保险偏好的影响,为针对性推广农业保险提供依据和参考。方法 以湖北、湖南、河南3省粮食主产区的732份农户调查数据为基础,运用Logit模型和多元Logit模型分析农户兼业化程度对保险种类偏好的影响,讨论种植规模在务农收入占比和保险种类选择之间的调节效应,以是否有固定非农工作将农户分为不同类型的兼业农户进行异质性分析。结果 （1）务农收入占比高的农户偏好传统的物化成本保险,务农收入占比低的农户更喜欢新型指数保险。（2）兼业化程度相同的情况下,大规模农户比小规模农户更愿意保成本、保产量。（3）不同类型的兼业农户保险偏好存在差异,有固定非农工作的兼业农户比没有固定工作的兼业农户更愿意选择新型指数保险。结论 有必要在务农收入占比高、种植规模大、没有固定非农收入的农户中推广传统的物化成本保险;在务农收入占比低、种植规模小、有固定非农收入的农户中推广新型指数保险。     

收入不确定性对节水技术采用动态决策的影响研究——来自政府推广模式的调节

[目的]农户节水技术采用的长效机制对保障长期粮食安全、促进农业可持续发展具有重要意义。[方法]文章基于粮食主产区微观调研数据,衡量农户家庭收入风险,运用Heckman样本选择模型实证分析收入不确定性对农户节水技术初步采用与持续采用行为决策的影响,进一步考察不同政府推广模式在其中的调节效应。[结果]收入不确定性增加会降低农户持续采用节水技术的意愿,不利于节水技术的长期应用,政府推广对农户节水技术持续采用行为具有正向激励作用;从调节效应来看,收入不确定性对农户节水技术持续采用的负向影响可通过政府补贴和技术培训的调节缓解,其中以灌溉基础设施补贴为典型的政府节水补贴发挥了积极作用。[结论]要降低农村居民家庭收入风险,保持农业政策的延续性和稳定性,加强节水教育和技术培训,同时完善配套服务体系,推动农业生产长效节水。     

Credit constraints and smallholder dairy production in the East African highlands: application of a switching regression model

Accurate assessment of farmers' credit constraint condition is important in order to understand the circumstances under which credit would have its greatest impact. In this study a switching regression model was used to determine the impact of credit on smallholder dairy farms in the East African highlands using farm level data from Ethiopia and Kenya. Farmers were classified as credit constrained or credit non-constrained based on their responses from the farm level surveys. No consistent relationship was found between farmers' credit constraint condition and their borrowing status. Most of the variation in milk output per farm was explained by the number of crossbred milking cows in the dairy herd. As credit is likely to facilitate investment in crossbred dairy cows it will have substantial impacts on smallholder dairy farms especially if it is targeted to credit constrained farms.     

Risk preference and optimal crop combinations in upland Java,Indonesia: an application of stochastic programming

A stochastic programming model was used to evaluate the economic performance of a soybean-based farming system in upland Java. The model incorporates farmers' risk preferences, revenue fluctuations and resources restrictions. The results show that (1) changes in risk preference do affect the optimal crop combination, and (2) the typical cropping pattern is rational under the present level of the farmers' risk preference estimated in the study site.     

Farmers’ risk preferences and pesticide use decisions: evidence from field experiments in China

China faces health and environmental problems associated with the use of agricultural chemicals, including pesticides. While previous studies have found that risk aversion affects pesticide use in China, they have focused primarily on commercial cotton farmers. In this study, we consider the case of smaller, semisubsistence and subsistence farmers in a poor and landlocked province of China (Yunnan). We use a field experiment to measure risk aversion and collect detailed data on farm production and input use to specifically ask whether risk aversion affects pesticide use, and whether this effect differs for subsistence farmers producing exclusively for home consumption versus semisubsistence farmers who produce both for home and the market. We find that risk aversion significantly increases pesticide use, particularly for subsistence farmers and for market plots by semisubsistence farmers. Further, this effect of risk aversion significantly decreases with farm size for subsistence farmers, but not for semisubsistence farmers, implying that pesticide use may be used to ensure sufficient food supply for home consumption. Finally, we find barriers to the use of pesticides for subsistence farmers, both in terms of financial constraints and economies of scale. This finding implies that risk‐mitigation strategies, such as crop insurance, may not target food security concerns of subsistence farmers. Given these different motivations for pesticide use, policymakers may wish to consider effective tools to support rural food security for farmers in the poorer regions of China in order to decrease pesticide use.     

Does mixed crop‐livestock farming lead to less diversified diets among smallholders? Evidence from Laos

Malnourishment continues to remain a challenge in developing countries. As the undernourished are largely smallholder farmers, it is widely assumed that farm diversification and mixed crop‐livestock agricultural systems can help alleviate this problem. However, empirical evidence in this context is limited. Hence, we use a two‐year panel's data from Laos to examine whether farm production diversity as well as a mixed crop‐livestock farming system improves household dietary diversity among smallholder farmer. The results from the fixed effects regression indicate that although farm production diversity does lead to a higher dietary diversity, the effect diminishes with continued farm diversification. The counterfactual analysis from the endogenous switching regression reveals that mixed crop‐livestock farming systems do not necessarily enhance dietary diversity. However, we further find that purchasing food from the markets plays an important role in enhancing the dietary diversity of rural smallholder farmers.     

Determinants of farmers' preference for alternative animal health service providers in Kenya: a proportional hazard application

One hundred and eighty farmers in the semiarid Makueni district, Kenya, were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The objective was to assess factors that influence farmers' preference for alternative veterinary service providers following the liberalization of veterinary services. A proportional hazard model was fitted to the data because of its ability to accommodate simultaneously the attributes of both the chooser and the choice. Of the three service providers considered in the study, community‐based animal health workers were the most preferred followed by veterinary surgeons and animal health assistants. Farmers' age and education level were inversely but significantly related to the probability of choosing any of the three service providers. Distance to the preferred service provider was the main choice‐specific attribute with a significant impact on the choice probability. A high preference for community‐based animal health workers was noted suggesting the possibility of poorly trained animal health workers dominating the veterinary services market in remote areas of Kenya. Efforts geared toward the legalization of community‐based animal health workers in Kenya and elsewhere in the developing countries should first address the constraints that hinder the penetration of professional veterinary service providers in remote areas.     

Determinants of the Willingness of Belgian Farmers to Participate in Agri‐environmental Measures

This paper explores the willingness of Belgian farmers to participate in two voluntary agri‐environmental policies. Farmers' contingent behaviour is analysed on the basis of survey data. Derivations based on a conceptual micro‐economic model indicate that decision subject and decision maker characteristics are important for farmers' participation. The model is empirically tested through the specification and estimation of a probit model. Consistency is found between the theoretical framework and the empirical results indicating that both the expected effect on farm production and the farmers' environmental attitude, which is more positive among younger and better educated farmers, are significant determinants of the acceptance rate of agri‐environmental policies. Other variables which influence participation decisions are farm size and previous experience of farmers themselves or of neighbouring farmers with agri‐environmental measures.     

Induced innovation and land degradation: Results from a bioeconomic model of a village in West Africa

This paper introduces a modeling method which simulates a village's response to population and market pressure. The method combines a recursive and dynamic linear programming model with a biophysical model of soil condition and plant growth that predicts yields and land degradation for different type of land, land use and cropping patterns. The linear programming model simulates farmers' plans aggregated at the village level under constraints of risk aversion, food consumption, land area, soil fertility, soil depth, labor and cash availability. Detailed agroecological factors determine Ihe main processes of land degradation. A large number of technological alternatives, representing different degrees of labor and/or land-saving techniques available in the study areas, are introduced, taking into account their respective constraints, costs and advantages. The method has been calibrated for a village located in the sub-humid region of Burkina Faso. Several simulations are carried out to the Year 2030. The results show that population pressure leads to intensification and investment in land conservation practices out not necessarily to better farm incomes. Increasing market opportunities can play a more positive role in boosting productivity, but for the next decades the best way to increase production per farmer is to let farmers migrate from the high-population-density areas to the low-population-density areas because, under the current economic conditions of most Sahelian countries, intensification per hectare is stil more expensive than the fallow system.     

农村生活污水治理受益农户付费行为分析——基于东江源水源地的农户调查

[目的]分析水源地农村生活污水治理中的农户参与及付费行为。[方法]文章运用单边界加支付卡式的改进条件价值评估法（CVM）,以东江源水源地500户农户调查微观数据为基础,采用Heckman两阶段模型分析农户付费行为差异及关键因素。[结果]（1）不同生活污水治理模式下样本农户同意进入付费情景的概率不同,支付意愿也不同,但差距不大;接入城（集）镇处理管网的农户平均支付意愿为8.55元/（月·户）,接入村落集中污水处理设施的农户平均支付意愿为4.42元/（月·户）,采用农户分散处理模式的农户平均支付意愿为5.63元/（月·户）。（2）村集体的参与、农户对水环境的感知变量均对农户付费行为有显著影响。其中,在第一阶段中区县变量、河流水质变化的感知、河流水质变化与污水处理关系认知、是否是集中污水处理设施覆盖村、文化程度、是否是村干部变量通过了显著检验,是影响受益农户是否同意付费的关键因素;在第二阶段中区县变量、本村生活污水处理治理成效满意度、收入通过了显著性检验,是影响受益农户支付水平的关键因素。[结论]应建立县级可持续的农村生活污水处理设施管护机制,明确污水处理设施管护责任主体,划分各主体职责,可...     

A study of economic efficiency of Iranian farmers in Ramjerd district: an application of stochastic programming

An extension of utility-efficient programming to the non-linear discrete stochastic programming method was developed and used in the analysis of the economic efficiency of a sample of farmers in Iran. The results indicate that it would be feasible to increase substantially farmers' total net revenue by increasing their economic efficiency in terms of technical and allocative efficiencies. The study further suggested that risk aversion plays an important role in farmers' behaviour. The sample farmers are risk averse and hence are likely to trade higher expected profits for lower risk. Understanding this characteristic is important for interventions intended to raise farm productivity and efficiency.     

Water pricing policies,public decision making and farmers' response: implications for water policy

The problems caused by water scarcity demand important changes in the criteria and objectives of water policies. The agricultural sector in Spain consumes up to 80% of all available hydric resources and the need to increase the efficiency of current uses of water in the agricultural sector is at the core of the country's national water policy. One alternative would be to resort to water pricing policies with the aim of providing incentives to save water consumption although it would inflict a certain degree of income losses to the farmers and raise the revenue collected by the water authorities. The objective of this research is to analyze the effect caused by the application of different water pricing policies on water demand, farmers' income and the revenue collected by the government agency. To undertake this analysis a dynamic mathematical programming model has been built that simulates farmers' behavior and their response to different water pricing scenarios. Empirical application of the model has been carried out in several irrigation districts in Spain covering varied farm regions and river basins. Results show that the effects of alternative pricing policies for irrigation water are strongly dependent on regional, structural and institutional conditions and that changing policies produce distinct consequences within the same region and water district. Thus, equivalent water charges would create widespread effects on water savings, farm income and collected government revenue across regions and districts.     

Adoption of Food Safety Practices in Milk Production: Implications for Dairy Farmers in India

This study investigates the status, estimates the cost, and identifies the determinants of compliance with food safety measures in milk production in India. The study is based on the cross section primary data collected at the farm level in 3 states of India, namely, Bihar, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh, in the year 2007. These states capture the geographical and institutional diversity of milk production and marketing in the country. The study shows that the status of compliance with food safety measures at the dairy farm level is not encouraging and a lot of efforts are needed to bridge this gap. The adoption intensity of food safety practices shows wide inter- and intraregional variations. This intensity depicts a positive relationship with herd size. The additional cost of compliance with food milk safety measures reveals an inverse relationship with herd size. The adoption intensity of food safety practices has been found to be influenced by the dairy farmers' characteristics. Herd size, education level, expertise in dairying, and integration of dairy farmers with modern milk supply chain have positive influence on the adoption intensity of food safety practices at the farm level. The positive relationship between adoption intensity of food safety measures and farmers' realization of milk price would influence farmers for greater adoption of these measures.     

Labour Migration and Gendered Agricultural Relations: The Feminization of Agriculture in the Ejidal Sector of Calakmul,Mexico

We examine the nature of the ‘feminization of agriculture’ in the semi‐subsistence, peasant production sector of southeastern Mexico, as associated with male labour out‐migration. Presenting findings from empirical work with smallholder producers, we discuss the impact of men's migration to the United States on women's participation in agriculture and gendered relations of agricultural production. In 2007, we conducted a survey of 155 semi‐subsistence, smallholder households in six ejidos. This survey was supplemented by ethnographic research in a single ejido. Our findings demonstrate the need to distinguish between farm labour and management in this sector, and the potentially significant (but focused) changes in the local relations of agricultural production wrought by gendered patterns of labour migration – specifically in tenure, land‐use decision‐making and the management of hired labour.     

社会信任、感知价值对农户秸秆还田技术采纳意愿的影响——基于鄂豫两省样本农户的实证

目的 研究揭示社会信任、感知价值对农户秸秆还田技术采纳意愿的影响机制和效应。方法 文章基于社会嵌入理论和感知价值理论,以秸秆还田为例,利用湖北、河南1 776份农户调查数据,采用结构方程模型（SEM）实证分析社会信任、感知价值对农户秸秆还田技术采纳意愿的影响,并探讨不同分化水平下农户采纳意愿的差异性。结果 （1）社会信任、感知利益对农户采纳意愿具有显著正向影响,而感知风险具有显著负向影响;（2）社会信任主要通过感知利益间接作用于农户秸秆还田技术采纳意愿,感知风险的中介作用不显著,其中介效应分为别为0.165和0.001;（3）从多群组分析结果来看,低水平分化和高垂直分化农户的社会信任对其秸秆还田技术采纳意愿的影响更强烈。结论 政府应构建农户高度信任的外部环境,提高农户多维度价值感知,针对不同分化水平的农户制定差异化宣传策略,以切实增强农户采纳秸秆还田技术的积极意愿,实现秸秆综合利用与生态保护的双重目标。     

Risk-Taking Preferences of Farmers in Northern Thailand: Measurements and Implications

Risk-taking preferences were elicited from small semi-commercial farmers in Northern Thailand using an experimental procedure that included real monetary payoffs of meaningful magnitudes. A total of five sets of lotteries with increasing payoffs were offered. The farmers were found to be risk averters, and their preferences conformed to the hypothesis of increasing (nondecreasing) partial relative risk aversion. Using regression analysis, farmers' expected variation of rice yields and farm size were found to be directly related to a decrease in risk aversion, while the extent of multiple cropping, availability of non-land household assets, and tested mathematical ability were found to be indirectly related to a decrease in risk aversion. The variables expected variation of rice prices, farmers' age, and tested abstract ability scores were not related to risk-taking preferences.     

Supply response in Ethiopia: accounting for technical inefficiency

Few empirical studies of supply response using the profit function have accounted for technical inefficiency. Using farm‐level panel data from Ethiopia, this study examines the effect of incorporating technical inefficiency in estimating the supply response of peasant farmers. Two systems of output supply and input demand equations are estimated and compared: the conventional model in which technical efficiency is assumed and another in which technical inefficiency is explicitly incorporated. The model with technical inefficiency is preferred on grounds of theoretical consistency and improved estimates, although model comparison tests are not conclusive. Incorporation of inefficiency generally increases the magnitudes and the statistical significance of own price elasticities, substantially so in the case of fertilizer and fertilizer‐intensive crops, and alters the priority attached to nonprice factors. An important result is that only the specification with inefficiency reveals a significant effect of access to extension services on output. Only this specification finds that output increases with household size, which one expects as the farms in the sample are largely subsistence and producing for own consumption. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that farmers' response to incentives is considerably restricted by inefficiency, suggesting that the traditional model would overstate response by excluding the efficiency variable.     

Area Yield Index Insurance or Farm Yield Crop Insurance? Chinese Perspectives on Farmers' Welfare and Government Subsidy Effectiveness

We evaluate the performance of area yield crop insurance (AYCI) and farm yield crop insurance (FYCI) using farm-level yield data from China, focusing on their effects on farmers' welfare, and their cost-effectiveness in terms of government subsidy. Given a subsidy rate sufficient to generate a politically acceptable participation level, the price advantage of AYCI may no longer offset its higher basis risk, and consequently FYCI may be preferred by farmers. From the government's perspective, AYCI is the cheapest option to maintain reasonable farmer participation in insurance, but is not necessarily the most cost-effective choice. Our findings suggest that, contrary to an assumption that informs many developing country agricultural insurance programmes, AYCI schemes are not necessarily preferred to FYCI. Decisions on the structure of a national agricultural insurance programme should be based on careful consideration of local conditions.