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.     

Micro insights on the pathways to agricultural transformation: Comparative evidence from Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa

Most studies of agricultural transformation document the impact of agricultural income growth on macroeconomic indicators of development. Much less is known about the micro-scale changes within the farming sector that signal a transformation precipitated by agricultural income growth. This study provides a comparative analysis of the patterns of micro-level changes that occur among small-holder farmers in Uganda and Malawi in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and Thailand and Vietnam in Southeast Asia (SEA). Our analysis provides several important insights on agricultural transformation in these two regions. First, agricultural income in all examined countries is vulnerable to changes in precipitation and temperature, an effect that is nonlinear and asymmetric. SSA countries are more vulnerable to these weather changes. Second, exogenous increases in agricultural income in previous years improve non-farm income and trigger a change in labor allocation within the rural sector in SEA. However, this is the opposite in SSA where the increase in agricultural income reduces non-farm income, indicating a substitution effect between farm and non-farm sectors. These findings reveal clear agricultural transformation driven by agricultural income in SEA but no similar evidence in SSA.     

Is off-farm income reforming the farm? Evidence from Mexico

Does access to off-farm income complement or compete with agricultural production? This article explores the effect of off-farm income on agricultural production activities, using data from the 2003 Mexico National Rural Household Survey. We first discuss the theoretical conditions under which access to off-farm income may influence production in an agricultural household model. Instrumental-variable (IV) estimation methods are then used to test whether agricultural production activities, technologies, and input use differ between households with and without access to off-farm income. We find that off-farm income has a negative effect on agricultural output and the use of family labor on the farm, but a positive impact on the demand for purchased inputs. There is also a slight efficiency gain in households with access to off-farm income. Findings offer insights into how household production evolves as rural households increasingly engage in off-farm income activities.     

The impact of integrated aquaculture–agriculture on small-scale farms in Southern Malawi

Sustainable agricultural intensification is an urgent challenge for Sub-Saharan Africa. One potential solution is to rely on local farmers' knowledge for improved management of diverse on-farm resources and integration among various farm enterprises. In this article, we analyze the farm-level impact of one recent example, namely the integrated aquaculture–agriculture (IAA) technologies that have been developed and disseminated in a participatory manner in Malawi. Based on a 2004 survey of 315 respondents (166 adopters and 149 nonadopters), we test the hypothesis that adoption of IAA is associated with improved farm productivity and more efficient use of resources. Estimating a technical inefficiency function shows that IAA farms were significantly more efficient compared to nonadopters. IAA farms also had higher total factor productivity, higher farm income per hectare, and higher returns to family labor.     

补贴政策对农户油茶经营供给时间影响实证分析

基于福建省5个县市的216户油茶种植户的微观调查数据,采用截取回归模型定量分析油茶补贴政策对农户油茶经营供给时间的影响。研究结果表明:油茶补贴收入对户主油茶经营供给时间具有高度显著的正向影响,油茶补贴政策很大程度上调动了农户经营油茶产业的积极性;此外,家庭平均年收入、户主从事非农劳动时间、加入油茶专业经济合作组织、户主时间贴现率对农户油茶经营供给时间具有显著的负向影响;具有社会资本、户主懂得油茶经营管理技术则具有显著的正向影响。因此,提出加大不同形式补贴的力度、加大经营管理技术培训的力度、鼓励发展油茶专业合作社、加大技术研发力度的建议。     

Welfare impacts of technological change on women in southern Mali

It has often been hypothesized that new agricultural technologies could have an adverse impact on women because additional labor required of them reduces the time spent and therefore income earned from private-field activities. This study shows that the expansion of cotton cultivation on the household communal fields in southern Mali associated with the introduction of new technologies results in increased payments to women for their increased labor on the cotton fields. Unfortunately, these payments are small compared to the loss of revenue from private-plot production. Thus, the net effect of the expansion of household cotton cultivation is a reduction in incomes of women who cultivate private plots. Short-run policy implications of this study are that improving women's income requires concern with their private - plot earnings. For example, profitability of the private-field crops could be increased with higher input use. In the long run, as land becomes even more constrained, emphasis needs to be placed on institutional changes to increase women's bargaining power so that they obtain larger shares of the new income streams resulting from technological change on the communal field. Institutional changes already occurring in the region, with the apparent objective of increasing women's (and non-household head men's) bargaining power, include organized work teams and the movement toward smaller, nuclear families.     

Technological change and agricultural household income distribution: theory and evidence from China

This article applies a general equilibrium model to analyse the impact of new rice technology on household income and uses agricultural household survey data from China to test the implications of this model. It is shown that, when a new rice technology becomes available, the adopting household will reallocate resources to increase rice production and reduce the production of other goods. Meanwhile, the non-adopting households will do the opposite. Thus, the income from rice becomes increasingly concentrated in the adopting households and income from non-rice becomes increasingly concentrated in the non-adopting households. If only one source of income is examined, the introduction of new rice technology increases the inequality of income distribution in rural areas. But, if the total household income is examined, the distributional inequality is mitigated.     

Nonfarm employment,agricultural intensification,and productivity change: empirical findings from Uganda

This article uses panel data from the Living Standards Measurement Study‐Integrated Surveys on Agriculture for Uganda to assess the farm‐level effects of nonfarm employment on agricultural intensification and productivity change. A sample selection model is used to account for both unobserved heterogeneity and potential simultaneity between agricultural production and nonfarm income. Results show that nonfarm employment can have differential impacts on farm technology intensity and productivity. Nonfarm income is found to have a positive impact on farm hired labor and improved seed intensity; a negative effect on on‐farm family labor use; and no significant impact on fertilizer, soil water management, and joint use of farm technologies. The econometric evidence also indicates that agricultural productivity declines as nonfarm income increases. Taken together, our findings reveal important trade‐offs between nonfarm employment and income and farm productivity growth under smallholder agriculture. The results indicated that targeted policies are required to reduce these potential trade‐offs between nonfarm employment and agricultural intensification and productivity change.     

Partnerships and production: Agriculture and polygyny in Tanzanian households

Women make important contributions to household food production in sub‐Saharan Africa. Women's agricultural productivity is often reduced, however, by inefficient intrahousehold allocation of agricultural resources. Complex marital structures found in polygynous households may complicate resource allocation. Using three waves of the Tanzania Living Standards Measurement Survey–Integrated Survey on Agriculture, we measure the effect of the marital structure, wife position, and plot management on agricultural productivity and input allocations. We find evidence of cooperation within polygynous households. Plots managed by husbands and wives in polygynous households produce more valuable crops, have higher yields, and are more likely to use fertilizer than their monogamous counterparts. Within polygynous households, we observe that plots jointly managed by husbands, first wives, and second wives (together) have significantly more family labor than plots managed by husbands and first wives. This result may provide evidence of different production technologies across plot managers within the same households.     

农户生计资本对新型农业社会化服务采纳行为影响研究

目的 文章旨在探讨农户生计资本对新型农业社会化服务采纳行为的影响,从产业链全过程视角下推动农户新型农业社会化服务采纳行为。方法 基于可持续生计分析框架,利用江西省569个农户实地调查微观数据,构建二元Logitics模型实证生计资本对农户新型农业社会化服务采纳行为作用关系。结果 （1）受教育水平、农业劳动力数量、耕地面积、家庭年收入、是否加入合作社、是否担任村干部、获取农业信息渠道数量对产前环节新型农业社会化服务采纳行为具有正向显著影响;（2）农业劳动力数量、耕地面积、家庭年收入、获取农业信息渠道数量对产中环节新型农业社会化服务采纳行为具有正向显著影响;（3）受教育水平、耕地面积、家庭年收入、是否加入合作社、是否担任村干部、获取农业信息渠道数量对产后环节新型农业社会化服务采纳行为具有正向显著影响;（4）耕地块数对新型农业社会化服务全过程采纳行为具有负向显著影响;（5）距离县城公里数、村庄地形、经营方式对农户生产全过程新型农业社会化服务采纳行为均有正向显著影响。结论 据此提出提供再教育培训,引导劳动力回流;推进“小田并大田”与“宜机化”改造;拓宽农户收入渠道,稳步提升家庭收入;创新农民组织功能,拓宽农业信息渠道;优化服务主体布局,发展多种经营模式的对策启示。     

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。     

Institutional factors affecting wild edible plant (WEP) harvest and consumption in semi-arid Kenya

Pervasive food insecurity and poverty in much of the world drives vulnerable populations to harvest natural resources as a means of generating income and meeting other household needs. Wild edible plants (WEPs) are a particularly common and effective coping strategy used to increase socio-ecological resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa where agricultural systems are often sensitive to environmental perturbations and instability. WEPs are collected across the landscape, from agricultural areas to government-managed hilltops with varying degrees of success and legality. This multiple case study research, conducted in Eastern Province, Kenya, investigates the formal forest regulations and land tenure rights, as well as local enforcement and understanding of those rules, in order to understand their impact on the ability of vulnerable populations to use WEPs as a coping strategy. The results suggest that widespread confusion, trust issues and a strong focus on the commercialization of wild foods are limiting the possible contribution of WEPs to food security and increased socio-ecological resilience. We identify a number of policy changes and extension programs that could better support local communities relying on WEPs for subsistence purposes to improve their adaptive capacity.     

How has microcredit supported agriculture? Evidence using panel data from Bangladesh

Improving agricultural productivity has received a greater attention in recent years amid concerns about rising food insecurity, population pressures, and climate change. Many believe that better access to institutional credit, spanning microcredit as well as commercial and agricultural banks, can help rural households smooth risks, and access inputs and other technology to modernize agriculture and improve farm/nonfarm linkages. We use recently augmented household panel data spanning over 20 years in Bangladesh to examine the effects of rural credit expansion (both microcredit and formal bank channels) on outcomes for agricultural households. We find that microcredit has benefited households with lower landownings, raising agricultural income from activities such as livestock rearing that require less land, as well as nonfarm income diversification for all households, but with the strongest effect for landless or near‐landless households. We do not find effects of microcredit on crop income, but do, however, find that reported supply‐side credit constraints significantly lower crop income. Borrowing by both men and women has contributed to nonfarm income growth for marginal farmers, but only men's borrowing has contributed to nonfarm income growth among higher landowning groups.     

Impact of land fragmentation and non-agricultural labor supply on circulation of agricultural land management rights

This study quantitatively examines the effects of land fragmentation and non-agricultural labor supply on the circulation of agricultural land management rights. The examination is conducted from the perspective of labor heterogeneity and family joint decision-making, using the rural fixed observation point data from the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China. The results reveal that land fragmentation significantly affects circulation decisions of agricultural land circulation. Land fragmentation strengthens the effect of non-agricultural labor supply on agricultural land outflow, and this effect is more pronounced among females. Compared with males, the female non-agricultural labor supply has a greater effect on agricultural land circulation. When non-agricultural labor supply increases, the effect of the female non-agricultural labor supply on agricultural land circulation becomes significant, land outflows increase, and land inflows decrease. In the areas of eastern, central, and northeastern China, the female non-agricultural labor supply has a significant impact on agricultural land outflow. Furthermore, the number of land plots strengthens the effect of the non-agricultural labor supply on the outflows of agricultural land in eastern and northeastern China; this effect is more pronounced for females in northeastern China. The government and related departments should strengthen non-agricultural employment training, and design conditions and policies to promote the orderly transfer of household labor, thus achieving intense agricultural development in the process of human urbanization.     

New evidence regarding the effects of contract farming on agricultural labor use

Contractual agreements between smallholder farmers and agribusiness companies have gained in importance in many developing countries. While productivity and income effects of contracting in the small farm sector were analyzed in many previous studies, labor market and employment effects are not yet well understood. This is an important research gap, especially against the background of continued population growth and structural transformation. Here, we investigate the effects of two types of contractual agreements between large international processing companies and smallholder farmers on agricultural labor use, household labor allocation, and hired labor demand in Ghana's palm oil sector. We use cross‐sectional survey data and a willingness‐to‐pay approach to control for unobserved heterogeneity between farmers with and without contracts. We find that agricultural labor intensity is substantially reduced through the contracts, because contracting in Ghana is associated with the adoption of labor‐saving procedures and technologies. Simple marketing contracts lead to reallocation of the saved household labor to off‐farm employment, whereas resource‐providing contracts lead to a stronger reallocation of labor within the farming enterprise. Household labor is more affected by labor savings than hired labor.     

Heterogeneity in male and female farmers’ preference for a profit-enhancing and labor-saving technology: The case of Direct-Seeded Rice (DSR) in India

Labor-saving and income-increasing technologies may affect women farmers differently from men. However, very few studies explicitly account for women's preferences for new technologies. We carried out a discrete choice experiment with 337 female and 329 male farmers in Maharashtra, India, to measure their willingness to pay (WTP) for direct-seeded rice (DSR) with drum seeder and to understand the gender differences in marginal valuations of key attributes. We used the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) to collect self-reported data on the role and say of women in different domains of decision making. The respective gender roles of women and men in the family and on the farm are aligned with their preferences. Men have a greater say over how the family spends the cash. Accordingly, men tend to have a higher WTP for attributes that increase income (increase in yield) or reduce cash costs (reduction in seed rate). Women contribute a large share of the labor for transplanting rice, much of which is unpaid work on family farms. Women, therefore, seem to value labor saving more. Women in our sample were more interested in the new technology and had a higher WTP for it.     

Does Conservation Agriculture Change Labour Requirements? Evidence of Sustainable Intensification in Sub-Saharan Africa

Population growth, increasing wealth and changing diets require agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa to intensify to meet future food demand and ensure food security in the region. Conservation agriculture can increase yields in the long run and reduce the negative environmental impacts of intensive farming. In changing the mix of resources used and how they are managed, the adoption of conservation agriculture can have a direct impact on farm labour. We study the relationship between conservation agriculture and labour input requirements as observed in five Sub-Saharan African countries. We focus on the amount of work required and the source of the work employed (household or hired, by gender, by children and by production stage). We apply multinomial endogenous switching regression models on a panel of household and farm data from Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. We find that conservation agriculture increases farms’ labour input requirements. Higher demand is driven by more work during the harvesting and threshing stages. Increases in labour requirements are usually met by household labour, not paid work. The workload change is also higher for women than for men, and, in certain cases, is met by children.     

基于农户家庭资源禀赋的灵山县农地流转成因分析

[目的]分析农户土地流转行为与家庭资源禀赋之间的关系,为提高农地节约利用水平提供一定科学参考价值。[方法]文章选择灵山县为例,采用7个行政村4个居委120个农户的抽样调查数据,从劳动力、收入水平和土地资源等方面分析了流转农户家庭资源禀赋特征,并简要分析了流转地块规模及其地理位置特征,最后通过建立二元logistic模型,解析了农户家庭资源禀赋对农地转入行为和转出行为的影响。[结果](1)农户家庭非农收入占家庭收入比重大;家庭劳动力以非农业为主;户主文化程度主要以小学初中为主;距离集市较远的农户家庭耕地总面积比集市周边农户多。﹙2﹚流转耕地主要是破碎,偏远,较贫瘠的地块。﹙3﹚农户转出行为与外出家庭劳动力数,户主文化程度及年龄与呈正相关;地块类型及面积,位置呈也正相关。农户转入行为与农户家庭种植业,畜牧业收入比,农业机械呈正相关,与农户劳均耕地地面积,距离集市距离等因素呈负相关。[结论]目前与农户耕地流转相关最重要的是农户家庭劳动力数,农户非农收入占比和农户家庭地块大小的自然特征,尤其是地块地理位置对农户流转有重要的推动作用。     

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.     

The increasing importance of nonfarm income and the changing use of labor and capital in rice farming: the case of Central Luzon, 1979–2003

There have been sharp increases in nonfarm income among farm households in Central Luzon for the last few decades. This study attempts to identify the effects of the increasing nonfarm income on the use of tractors and threshers and on the employment of hired labor as a substitute for family labor. We found that while the increased nonfarm income positively affects the ownership of tractors, it has no significant impact on the use of agricultural machines due presumably to the development of efficient machine rental markets. We also found that the increased nonfarm income leads to the increased use of hired labor, thereby releasing family labor to nonfarm jobs.