Returns to investments in small ruminant research in Indonesia The Small Ruminant Collaborative Research Support Program (SR-CRSP) in West Java

Small ruminanl research carried out by the SR-CRSP on management, nutrition and reproduction was developed and evaluated through an Outreach Pilol Program in West Java, Indonesia. On-farm testing indicated that introduction of different management practices could increase birth rale and survivability of Javanese Thin Tail sheep. This article presents results from an assessment of research investments that measures the potential returns from this technological package, with various adoption and spillover effects, weighs the benefits against the research and training costs of the SR-CRSP, and looks at distribution of benefits among consumers and producers of sheep in Indonesia. The rate of return in the most conservative scenario was 19%, with potential short-run benefits exceeding the costs incurred by breeding and nutrition research, and training of 23 masters and doctoral students in 10 years. Market conditions favor producers in the distribution of benefits.     

Productivity and Land Enhancing Technologies in Northern Ethiopia: Health, Public Investments, and Sequential Adoption

The adoption of more efficient farming practices and technologies that enhance agricultural productivity and improve environmental sustainability is instrumental for achieving economic growth, food security, and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa. Our research examines the interaction between public investments, community health, and adoption of productivity and land enhancing technologies by households in the northern Ethiopian state of Tigray. Agricultural technology adoption decisions are modeled as a sequential process where the timing of choices can matter. We find that time spent sick and opportunity costs of caring for sick family members are significant factors in adoption. Sickness, through its impact on household income and labor allocation decisions for healthcare and other activities, significantly reduces the likelihood of technology adoption. Our findings suggest that agencies working to improve agricultural productivity and land resource conservation should consider not only the financial status of potential adopters, but also their related health situation.     

Smallholder dairy cattle feeding technologies and practices in Tanzania: failures,successes, challenges and prospects for sustainability

In Tanzania, milk production under smallholder farming systems is season sensitive, fluctuations of feeds in both quantity and quality being the major driver. A dry season decline in milk production of over 40% due to feed scarcity is a common phenomenon. Adoption of improved feed production, conservation and utilization technologies and practices in dairy farming communities is poor. This review work was based on a key question which states “Why is adoption of improved dairy nutrition technologies and practices in Tanzania still poor despite being promoted for decades?”. We have shown that major opportunities for curbing dry season animal feed shortage include on-farm optimization of production and use of high yielding pasture varieties including napier grass (Pennisetum purperium Schumach.) and leguminous fodder species. Crop residues in particular maize stover needs to be optimized for effective dry season feeding. The major reasons for low adoption of proven technologies include limited technical knowhow among smallholder dairy farmers augmented by limited extension services and technological costs. For enhancing sustainable uptake; we suggest promotion of on-farm research, public-private partnerships and dairy farmers’ cooperative associations. These are vital for facilitating smooth access to information, investment capital, reliable inputs and markets among the smallholder dairy farmers.     

异质性农技培训主体对农户绿色农业技术采纳行为的影响研究

[目的]推广绿色农业技术是缓解生态环境恶化、保障农业高质量发展的重要途径。[方法]文章利用河北省436户设施蔬菜种植户的调研数据,选择5项绿色农业技术（抗病虫抗逆性强的新品种、生物防治、生物菌肥、生物农药和水肥一体化技术）,基于培训主体异质性视角,运用有序Probit模型实证分析公益性和市场性两种不同性质农技培训主体对农户绿色农业技术采纳强度的影响。进一步,基于技术异质性视角,运用二元Probit模型分析两种不同性质主体对农户不同类型绿色农业技术采纳的影响。[结果]（1）农技培训能够显著促进绿色农业技术采纳,其中公益性主体开展的技术培训对农户绿色技术采纳的促进效果更加显著。（2）针对不同绿色农业技术,不同性质主体开展的培训对技术采纳的促进效果存在差异,对商业化程度较高、有用性、易用性、适用性较高的技术（生物防治、生物菌肥和生物农药）,市场性主体的培训对技术采纳的促进作用更强。（3）对于有用性、易用性和适用性不高的技术（抗病虫抗逆性强的新品种和水肥一体化）,公益性主体的培训对技术采纳的促进作用更强。[结论]应加大农业绿色技术培训的普及力度,构建以公益性农技推广机构为主导,其他市场主体为补...     

互联网使用对农户采纳绿色农业技术的影响研究——基于河北省436个设施蔬菜种植户的调研数据

目的 推广绿色农业技术、强化农业绿色发展的科技支撑是实现农业经济高质量发展的根本要求。方法 文章选择了4项设施蔬菜种植户常用的绿色农业技术（抗病虫抗逆性强的新品种、生物防治、生物农药、水肥一体化）,通过计算互联网使用综合得分,运用有序Probit模型实证分析了互联网使用对农户绿色农业技术采纳强度的影响。进一步,结合工具变量法和条件混合过程估计法（CMP）来克服互联网使用的内生性问题,同时检验了社会网络在互联网影响绿色农业技术采纳过程中的调节效应。结果 互联网使用能够显著提高农户的绿色农业技术采纳强度,互联网使用程度高的农户更倾向于采纳多项绿色农业技术;社会网络在互联网使用影响绿色农业技术采纳行为的过程中具有负向调节作用,在影响农户采纳绿色农业技术的过程中互联网使用能够对社会网络产生替代作用。结论 政府应加快推进农村地区互联网基础设施建设,增加农户使用互联网的可行性和便易性;积极开发公益性的绿色技术知识普及、培训、推广和教学软件,帮助农户认识、接受并采纳绿色农业技术;引导农户使用互联网促进产品销售,实现绿色农产品的优质优价。     

The adoption of intensive monocrop horticulture in southern Cameroon

Results from a 1997 survey of 208 households in the humid forest zone of southern Cameroon indicate that African policy makers seeking to intensify agricultural production should focus attention on the horticultural sub‐sector. The survey, which gathered information on horticultural production practices, found that the average expenditure on agro‐chemical inputs by horticultural producers using monocrop production systems was 190US$/ha, which greatly exceeds the FAO reported national average expenditure of 6.50 US$/ha. A logit model of monocrop adoption indicated that the size of land holding per household had a negative effect on adoption, congruent with population‐driven technical change and that increases in unit transportation costs significantly decreased the probability of adoption. These findings suggest that policy makers should target horticultural intensification in areas of higher population density and promote investment in rural roads. The age of the household head had a significant negative and elastic effect on adoption, which in combination with an increase in the cohort of younger farmers in the rural population induced by macro‐economic events contributed to the spread of intensified horticulture. In the study area, roughly two‐thirds of rural households also produce cocoa and the quantity of cocoa produced was positively associated with adoption of intensive horticultural systems suggesting that export crop promotion indirectly facilitated diversification of agriculture. Women's participation in intensive monocrop production was limited and efforts to promote their greater involvement are recommended.     

Producer Willingness to Pay for Precision Application Technology: Implications for Government and the Technology Industry

This paper focuses on the willingness to pay (WTP) for precision application/site-specific management technologies on the part of agricultural producers. We use a contingent valuation survey to elicit WTP for a package of technologies and examine the impact of government subsidies on potential demand. Results suggest that producer WTP is significantly lower than current technology prices, necessitating a 60% government subsidy to induce adoption, on average. Agronomic factors such as soil characteristic variability and soil quality are important determinants of WTP. In addition, how well the technology integrates into current farming practices and equipment also appears important.     

Adoption and impacts of sustainable intensification practices in Ghana

Sustainable agricultural intensification requires the use of multiple agricultural technologies in an integrated manner to enhance productivity while conserving the natural resource base. This study analyses the adoption and impacts of sustainable intensification practices (SIPs) using a dataset from Ghana. A multivariate probit (MVP) model was estimated to assess the adoption of multiple SIPs. Moreover, we used a multivalued semi-parametric treatment effect (MVTE) model to estimate the effects of adopting multiple SIPs on maize productivity. The MVP model results show, among others, that access to market, capital, and information/knowledge would enhance the adoption of SIPs. The MVTE model results show that a higher number of SIPs is associated with higher productivity which is more visible when commercial inputs are used in combination with cultural practices. These results have the following policy implications. First, they imply that good rural infrastructure and agricultural services such as rural road network, village-level input delivery system, input credit, and multiple information/knowledge sharing approach (instead of the conventional singular formal information/knowledge sharing approach) can enhance adoption. Second, the results suggest that promoting an integrated use of technologies, instead of a single technology, would have a positive impact on farm productivity and farm household income.     

Land Tenure and the Adoption of Conservation Practices

We use a logit adoption model with data on 941 U.S. corn producers from the 1996 Agricultural Resource Management Study to analyze the influence of land tenure on the adoption of conservation practices. We extend previous analyses by distinguishing renters according to lease type and by distinguishing practices according to the timing of costs and returns. We find that cash-renters are less likely than owner-operators to use conservation tillage, but share-renters are not. Both cash-renters and share-renters are less likely than owner-operators to adopt practices that provide benefits only over the longer term (grassed waterways, stripcropping, and contour farming).     

Conservation practice complementarity and timing of on-farm adoption

The adoption of conservation practices is a dynamic process. Factors that vary over time can affect farmers’ decision to adopt and adoption timing. We used a duration model to evaluate the farmer's adoption time for continuous no-till (CNT), cover crops (CCs), and the variable-rate application of inputs (VRA). We found that producers who had previously adopted soil conservation practices were more likely to adopt additional complementary practices. Farmers using crop rotation adopted CNT and CCs approximately 48% and 62% faster than farmers without a crop rotation, respectively. The CC adoption time was also reduced by 70% for farmers who had adopted CNT. Complementarities between conservation practices may enhance the benefits from adoption and allow farmers to adopt bundles of conservation practices more quickly over time. This can be taken advantage of in conservation programs by promoting or requiring practices first that enhance adoption of other practices. We also found important heterogeneity in the adoption speed associated with farm management characteristics, producers’ attitudes, weather patterns, and crop prices.     

减量增效技术的选择性采纳与集成推广策略

[目的]基于农户“选择性采纳”特征开展减量增效技术的系统集成与打包推广,是降低推广成本、提高推广效率的重要途径。[方法]文章运用2017—2018年浙江省638户稻农调研数据,基于列联分析、Order Probit与Multivariate Probit模型,从采纳强度和采纳结构两个方面,分析了农户化肥减量增效技术选择性采纳特征及其影响因素。[结果]农户选择性采纳现象十分普遍,且技术属性与资源禀赋共同塑造了选择性采纳特征：（1）采纳强度较低,减肥技术平均采纳强度为1.74项。（2）虽然总体上农户更加偏好资金密集型技术,但采纳结构差异明显,多项减肥技术采纳决策中同时存在替代与互补关系。（3）禀赋约束是决定农户选择性采纳的重要因素,其中劳动力数量、家庭收入等经济禀赋决定了劳动力密集型与资本密集型技术的取舍进而影响了采纳强度与采纳结构,而参与技术培训、加入合作社等社会禀赋则有助于缓解经济禀赋约束。[结论]减量增效技术的集成推广应基于农户资源禀赋异质性,制定更为灵活化、差异化的推广方案。     

The influence of farm input subsidies on the adoption of natural resource management technologies

Farm input subsidies are often criticised on economic and ecological grounds. The promotion of natural resource management (NRM) technologies is widely seen as more sustainable to increase agricultural productivity and food security. Relatively little is known about how input subsidies affect farmers’ decisions to adopt NRM technologies. There are concerns of incompatibility, because NRM technologies are one strategy to reduce the use of external inputs in intensive production systems. However, in smallholder systems of Africa, where the average use of external inputs is low, there may possibly be interesting complementarities. Here, we analyse the situation of Malawi's Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP). Using panel data from smallholder farm households, we develop a multivariate probit model and examine how FISP participation affects farmers’ decisions to adopt various NRM technologies, such as intercropping of maize with legumes, use of organic manure, water conservation practices and vegetative strips. As expected, FISP increases the use of inorganic fertilizer and improved maize seeds. Yet, we also observe a positive association between FISP and the adoption of certain NRM technologies. For other NRM technologies, we find no significant effect. We conclude that input subsidies and the promotion of NRM technologies can be compatible strategies.     

Role of education and extension in the adoption of technology: a study of upland rice and soybean farmers in Central-West Brazil

This paper explores reduced form determinants of the adoption of certain technologies by upland rice and soybean farmers in the Center-West region of Brazil. We merge community level data on the availability and quality of publicly provided infrastructure, principally extension, to the farm level data containing information on farmer human capital as well as land quantity and quality. By using community level measures of availability and quality of extension, we avoid problems of endogeneity of farm level measures of extension use. We find positive impacts of farmer education on the diffusion process, in accordance with other studies. We also isolate effects of the quality in regional extension investment as measured by the average experience of technical extension staff. These results indicate that investments in human capital of extension workers does have a payoff in terms of farmer adoption of improved cultivation practices.     

Policy, technology, and management strategies for achieving sustainable agricultural intensification

Considerable agreement exists among researchers, development practitioners, and policymakers regarding the goals of sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI). They include: achieving agricultural productivity growth, household food security, and improved rural livelihoods and employment, while simultaneously mitigating environmental degradation. However, the multiplicity of these objectives, as well as the choice of approaches to achieving them and the site‐ and context‐specificity of specific technological and institutional interventions, assures that the research and policy challenges to achieving SAI will remain considerable. This article summarizes the contributions of the articles in this Special Issue in four areas of the literature. First, labor market constraints, the labor intensity of specific agricultural technologies and practices, and labor's substitutability, or complementarity, with other inputs are shown to widely influence their viability and related input efficiencies. Second, the articles identify specific tradeoffs and synergistic relationships that arise in the attainment of these multiple goals stemming from technologies, management practices, and policies introduced under specific agroclimatic, market, and institutional conditions. Third, these papers contribute to the literature on agricultural technology adoption by furnishing additional empirical evidence on the determinants and effects of investment behavior and adoption of specific technologies and management practices. Finally, the articles in this Special Issue emphasize that there is no single policy nor technological, management, or institutional innovation that unambiguously promotes SAI. Preferred policies must be contextualized and sensitive to initial biophysical, market, and institutional conditions.     

Access to credit and heterogeneous effects on agricultural technology adoption: Evidence from large rural surveys in Ethiopia

Modern agricultural technologies hold huge potential for increasing productivity and reducing poverty in developing countries. However, adoption levels of these technologies have remained disappointingly low in Africa. This paper analyzes the effect of access to credit on the likelihood of adoption and use intensity of chemical fertilizers using data from large rural surveys in Ethiopia. Using a heteroscedasticity-based identification strategy to address the endogenous nature of access to credit, we find that access to credit has significant positive effects on adoption and intensity of use of chemical fertilizers. However, important heterogeneities are observed. Credit obtained from formal sources is more important for the intensity of use than for the decision to adopt chemical fertilizers. Credit taken with the primary purpose of financing agricultural inputs is more likely to promote adoption of chemical fertilizers than credit taken per se. Furthermore, reported credit effects are larger when estimated against the sample of credit-constrained non-users as compared with the pool of the whole sample of credit non-users. The results remain robust to several sensitivity analyses. Our results yield useful implications for the design, promotion, and targeting of credit services to leverage their effect on adoption of agricultural technologies.     

Population growth,agricultural intensification,induced innovation and natural resource sustainability: An application of neoclassical growth theory

Using a simple neoclassical type growth model including both man-made and natural capital as inputs to production, the theoretical basis for a U-shaped relationship between agricultural intensification and farm household investment in renewable resource capital is established. As development of technology, infrastructure, or markets increase the relative return to investment in man-made capital over natural capital, resource depletion occurs as man-made capital is substituted for lower return natural capital. Once returns are equalized, both man-made and natural capital are accumulated. If labor and these forms of capital are complementary, the output effects outweigh the substitution effects in the long run, leading to net accumulation of natural as well as man-made capital as a result of such technological or market development. Population growth also induces investment in both man-made and natural resource capital in the long run by increasing their marginal products. However, population growth causes declining per capita levels of both natural and man-made capital and production per capita in the long run, if technology is fixed and decreasing returns to scale. The model thus supports the Boserupian argument of induced intensification and resource improvement, as well as the Malthusian argument of the impoverishing effects of population growth. However, population growth may also induce development of infrastructure, markets, and technological or institutional innovation by reducing the fixed costs per capita of these changes, though these developments may not occur automatically. Government policies can play a large role in affecting whether these potential benefits of population growth are realized. In addition, credit policies may reduce resource degradation caused by substitution of man-made for natural capital, by allowing farmers to accumulate man-made capital (such as fertilizers) without depleting their natural capital. Policies to internalize the external environmental costs of using man-made capital will reduce both types of capital and production, indicating a clear trade-off between addressing environmental concerns on the one hand and reducing poverty and promoting resource conservation investments on the other. By contrast, internalizing the external benefits of investments in resources increases wealth and production per capita in the long run. The ‘intertemporal externality’ due to a higher private than social rate of time preference does not justify interventions to promote investments in resource capital; rather it argues for the promotion of savings and investment in general.     

Policies for sustainable development in the hillside areas of Honduras: a quantitative livelihoods approach

In this article, we use data for 376 households, 1,066 parcels, and 2,143 plots located in 95 villages in the hillside areas in Honduras to generate information needed by decision makers to assess the needs and opportunities for public investments, and design policies that stimulate natural resource conservation. We develop a quantitative livelihood approach, using factor and cluster analysis to group households based on the use of their main assets. This resulted in seven household categories that pursue similar livelihood strategies. We use a multinomial logit model to show that livelihood strategies are determined by comparative advantages as reflected by a combination of biophysical and socioeconomic variables. While 92% of the rural hillsides population in Honduras lives on US$1.00/capita/day or less, households that follow a livelihood strategy based on basic grain farming are the poorest because they often live in isolated areas with relatively poor agro‐ecological and socioeconomic conditions. Opportunities for off‐farm work tend to be limited in these areas and household strategies that combine on‐farm work with off‐farm work earn higher incomes. Per capita incomes can be increased by improving road infrastructure, widening access to land, policies that reduce household size and dependency ratios, and adoption of sustainable land management technologies that restore soil fertility. We used probit models to show that the latter can be promoted by agricultural extension programs and land redistribution. Investments in physical assets should be directed toward households that pursue livelihood strategies based on off‐farm employment or coffee production, while agricultural training programs are best focused on livestock producers.     

Production technology option value: the case of rbST in Michigan

Agricultural producers are increasingly required to adjust production practices to satisfy retailer, and ultimately consumer, preferences. This article highlights the option value that underlies decisions related to production technologies using the case of Michigan dairy farmers and recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST). Welfare impacts were calculated for dairy producers when milk production systems which allowed the use of rbST were eliminated from the producer choice set. Those dairy producers using rbST just before its elimination realized a higher welfare loss than those not using the technology. However, significant welfare impacts were found for all dairy producers indicating that all producers valued the option to use this production technology.     

E-Business in the Agricultural Input Industries

A variety of factors are creating pressure for increased use of information technologies and e-business concepts in the agricultural input industries. Understanding where information technology and e-business concepts will add value to the distribution channels for agricultural inputs requires an understanding of the needs of the two primary agents in the channel: agricultural producers and manufacturers. In this paper, a framework for understanding the changes information technology and e-business may bring to the distribution channel is developed. In addition, some of the attitudes of managers toward e-business and the impacts of information technologies for the agricultural inputs industries are considered.     

Does IPM Have Staying Power? Revisiting a Potato‐producing Area Years After Formal Training Ended

Integrated pest management (IPM) potentially reduces pesticide use and costs of agricultural production. However, IPM is knowledge intensive and its spread may dissipate over time due to knowledge required for its effective implementation and to competing messages about pest control. We examine IPM spread and adoption several years after formal intensive IPM outreach efforts ceased in a potato‐producing region in Ecuador. We describe adoption patterns and sources of IPM knowledge in 2012 and compare them with patterns that existed when outreach ceased in 2003. Results show that IPM adoption continues in the area but with a lower proportion of farmers fully adopting all practices and a higher proportion adopting low to moderate levels as compared to 2003. Almost all potato farmers in the area use some IPM practices, reflecting a major increase in IPM use. Farmer‐to‐farmer spread has supplanted formal training and outreach mechanisms. IPM adoption significantly lowers pesticide use and saves production costs for adopters.