Empirical measurement of credit rationing in agriculture: a methodological survey

Empirical analysis of rural credit market failure has been of key scientific and political interest in recent years. The aim of this article is to give an overview of the various methods for measuring credit rationing that are employed in the literature. Furthermore, the methods are subjected to a comparative evaluation of their specific strengths or shortcomings. Six approaches are distinguished: measurement of loan transaction costs, analysis of qualitative information collected in interviews, analysis of quantitative information collected in interviews using the credit limit concept, analysis of spill‐over effects with regard to secondary credit sources, econometric household modeling, and the econometric analysis of dynamic investment decisions. An explicit comparison with a first‐best solution is impossible in the first three approaches, since they essentially rely on a subjective assessment of borrowers' access to credit, based on qualitative or quantitative indicators. The fifth and sixth approaches allow a rigorous interpretation in the framework of neoclassical equilibrium theory. The fourth approach takes an intermediate position, since spill‐over on segmented loan markets reveals a willingness to pay with regard to the supposedly less expensive but rationed primary source. The approaches are fairly data demanding in general, usually requiring specific data on loan transactions. Even so, most approaches are applicable to cross‐sectional household data. With the exception of the first, all methods surveyed might plausibly be used to empirically detect credit rationing.     

土地利用环境影响评价指标体系研究--以新疆策勒绿洲为例

利用地学遥感信息定性、定量分析和统计分析相结合的方法,研究半个世纪以来塔里木盆地南部策勒绿洲的土地利用变化,探讨绿洲荒漠这一矛盾体之间的相互转化的动态时空过程、特征和机制,这是保护干旱区生态环境、促进绿洲经济与环境协调发展的重要举措.针对干旱区土地利用变化对环境影响定量研究指标体系与研究方法中优化模型所涉及到的关于地学遥感、自然资源、社会经济、环境指标体系进行深入分析,并给出了基本的量化研究方法.     

Is land cover an important asset for addressing the subjective landscape dimensions?

This paper explores which physical landscape components relate to subjective landscape dimensions. The ways in which people describe their surrounding cultural landscape was analyzed through an assessment of their representations of it. A special focus was placed on assessing the role of land cover as a means to communicate landscape meanings regarding a specific geographical region. The methodological framework was built on the basis of a questionnaire survey, multivariate statistical analysis and mapping approaches. This research shows that there is a set of physical landscape components that relate to subjective landscape dimensions which can be disclosed through the assessment of social representations. Enhancing and safeguarding those physical landscape components associated with the subjective landscape dimensions are important aspects in both framing and targeting land cover/use policies and decision making. Results also suggest that land cover can be understood as an important asset for describing landscapes as more than 30% of respondents referred to it when asked to represent the case study region of Alentejo in southern Portugal. This might mean that in addition to objective ecological and biological functions, land cover is also an important asset for evaluating subjective landscape dimensions in line with place attachment and landscape identity. Finally, the ways in which the empirical material gathered here can be used to inform policy and planning are explored.     

Rural Policy Reform and Local Development Programmes: Appropriate Evaluation Procedures

As a result of various political and economic pressures, European policies that affect rural regions have evolved to become more local and participatory, reflecting diverse and rapidly changing circumstances. The experimental LEADER programme has attempted to instigate innovative responses to characteristic rural problems by focusing on very small districts and providing funding directly to local people and their representatives, and this has raised problems in assessing their impact and success in conventional terms. Few accurate statistics are available at such a disaggregated level, and the greater impact of external influences obscures quantitative relationships that could be investigated using conventional cost-benefit analysis. Several illustrative individual LEADER group evaluation studies are used to construct an account of the difficulties involved in use of project outcomes, targets and indicators to describe the qualitative changes resulting from local, integrated projects. The major approaches, of semi-structured in-depth interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis are considered and used to place evaluation in the theoretical context of Habermas's concept of communicative competence. It is concluded that evaluation should be integral to local rural development projects, and that whilst a range of investigative approaches have been used, in contrast there is scope for extension of the range of analytic approaches.     

Consumer Acceptance of Camel Milk in Emerging Economy

Abstract

Camel is considered as an indispensable part of desert eco-framework across the globe. Apart from helping in transport, it is also used for its milk. Camel's milk is used worldwide because of its salty taste. However, it has many beneficial effects such as cure for autism and helps to control diabetes, allergy, and also prevents liver cirrhosis. Objective of this study is to analyze the ways to make people purchase and consume camel milk. In the last few years, awareness about nutritional and medicinal benefits of camel milk has rapidly increased. Consequently, the demand of the product has also increased. Objective of this article is to analyze the consumers’ willingness to buy camel milk before and after knowing its health benefits. It also explores the linkage between lifestyle diseases and consumer’s willingness to buy. We analyzed data in two stages. Initially, we did qualitative analysis with twitter text mining to understand customer’s sentiments about camel milk. Later, primary data was collected through structured questionnaire from a sample of 120 respondents by convenience sampling for quantitative analysis. There is a significant increase in the proportion of people willing to buy camel milk and once they were aware of the benefits, people are willing to buy more after knowing the benefits. People exposed to lifestyle diseases are more willing to buy camel milk. Hence, support of market-based awareness campaigns to stimulate demand for quality camel milk among consumers can be realized through information dissemination and awareness campaign.     

集体林权制度改革社会效果评价——以福建省永安市为例

回顾集体林权改革社会效果研究的背景,介绍了集体林权改革社会效果研究的现状,对永安市集体林权制度改革社会效果的多方面进行了定量分析评价和定性分析评价,并在此基础上进行了综合评价。使人们对集体林权制度改革社会效果有了一个清晰和具体的了解,为决策者继续深化集体林权改革,取得更好的社会效果提供了依据和建议。     

湖北省土地利用变化及其驱动力分析

根据1985年和1995年两个时期的土地资源调查数据，运用数理统计与定性描述相结合的方法，全面分析了湖北省13个市1985～1995年间土地利用的变化情况；揭示了该省各种土地利用类型变化的幅度、速度和区域差异；阐述了这一土地利用变化的驱动力主要是地形、自然灾害等自然因素及城镇人口的迅速增长、第二产业的发展、对土地产品的需求变化和交通条件及政府政策等社会经济驱动力。     

Alternative Approaches to Compensation and Producer Rights

When policies are changed, it is not uncommon for losers to be compensated. Economic theory and quantitative analysis are useful in determining the efficiency gains/losses associated with a policy change, but are little help in deciding what the approach to compensation should be. The amount of compensation varies, depending on, in part, the political clout of the parties being negatively affected by a policy change—compensation is what politicians and the sector demanding compensation can agree on. We formulate four approaches to producer compensation within the context of the Ontario Tobacco Transition Program, where producers would have suffered losses in the absence of compensation. The approaches range from providing zero compensation to providing compensation based on the entire value of the tobacco quota. The Canadian government chose the latter and compensated producers for the termination of the tobacco quota program based on an approach that far exceeded other possible compensation approaches.     

Development as Freedom and the Costa Rican Human Development Story

Amartya Sen's capability approach to development considers individual agency as central in promoting human well-being. The paper argues that the capability approach would need to include more explicitly collective and historical dimensions in order to offer better insights for understanding the process of development. The paper begins by briefly discussing Amartya Sen's conception of development as freedom and the role it grants to individual agency. It then proposes a hermeneutical approach to development. This approach emphasizes that actions are to be interpreted in order to uncover the meaning for which they have been carried out. It suggests that a methodology for such interpretation can be found in a dialectic process between the socio-historical reality and the way individuals appropriate that reality. The Costa Rican case study illustrates that it is the outcome of that dialectic which sets the background against which people exercise their individual agency, and the extent to which this leads to the promotion of human well-being.     

No quick fixes: four interacting constraints to advancing agroecology in Uganda

A century after its inception, agroecology has entered mainstream development debates as a more sustainable alternative to conventional agricultural modernization of relevance not least for improving smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. Agroecology is a broad concept considered to have transformative potential, yet as a research field it has often been technology-centred and focused at the local level. Building on the experiences of Ugandan agroecologists working in an array of agricultural professions throughout the country, this paper identifies and discusses major barriers to agroecology in Uganda. Inductive analysis of qualitative data from interviews and focus groups generated four types of interacting barriers; constraints at farmer level, an agricultural knowledge system favouring conventional approaches, adverse and intertwined political and economic interests, and cross-cutting ideological and discursive pressures. These broad challenges become manifest in the accounts presented, making clear that barriers to and therefore also appropriate strategies for advancing agroecology must be treated as contextual even if a ‘global movement’ is emerging around it. The discussion suggests theoretical lenses for further inquiry into agroecology and its realization in light of these constraints.     

Farmers,institutions and technology in agricultural change processes: outcomes from Adaptive Research on rice production in Sulawesi,Indonesia

International agricultural research centres use approaches which aim to create effective linkages between the practices of farmers, introduced technologies and the wider environment that affects farming. This paper argues that such new approaches require a different type of monitoring as a complement to conventional approaches that tend to favour a quantitative assessment of adoption and impact at the farm level. In this context, we examined monitoring data from an Adaptive Research (AR) project highlighting complementary qualitative analysis. Our emphasis is to capture the improvisational capacities of farmers and to reveal social and institutional constraints and opportunities in a broader innovation system. Our approach provided clear insights into how rice farmers adjusted their practices and how actors involved linked (or not) with others in the innovation system. We also demonstrated how institutions such as policies, religious rituals or service provider arrangements pose conditions that establish or constrain practices aligned with introduced technologies. A broader perspective in monitoring AR therefore provides important additional insights into the factors which shape outcomes in farming communities. To expand outcomes, AR projects should also pay attention to designing and testing new institutional arrangements that create enabling conditions for agricultural innovation.     

景观格局分析法与土地利用转换矩阵在土地利用特征研究中的应用

研究目的:以黄河三角洲为例,研究景观格局分析方法与土地利用转换矩阵在土地利用特征研究中的应用。研究方法:景观格局分析和土地利用转换矩阵。研究结果:近20年山东省来东营市的土地利用主导变化过程是耕地、城镇建设用地、农村居民点用地增加,天然草地大量减少,土地利用类型有向单一化发展的趋势。这种土地利用模式对黄河三角洲地区发展、湿地保护是不利的,应该引起足够的重视。研究结论:将景观格局分析法和土地利用转换矩阵结合,可以快速的对一个地区的土地利用特征进行定性理解和定量分析,为政府管理部门提供数据支持和决策依据。     

Consumer preferences for GM food and other attributes of the food system

While qualitative surveys regarding consumers' attitudes about gene technologies and their application to food production are plentiful, quantitative studies are less so. The present paper reports choice modelling methods to examine the conditions under which Australian consumers are willing to purchase genetically modified (GM) foods, if at all, and examines those preferences within the context of the food system as a whole. This allows us to compare consumer attitudes towards gene technology to consumer preferences for other features of the food they consume. The results of the choice modelling analysis suggest consumers require a discount on their weekly food bill before they will purchase GM food. Gene technology using animal as well as plant genes was found to be more objectionable to respondents than that using plant genes alone, especially among women. Age seems to affect the preferences for a certain type of food, with older people generally more accepting of the use of gene technology.     

Designing intergovernmental fiscal transfers for conservation: The case of REDD+ revenue distribution to local governments in Indonesia

A REDD+ scheme would involve the transfer of financial resources to forested developing countries taking part in it. This paper simulates different approaches to the design of intergovernmental fiscal transfers (IFTs), a possible means to channel a REDD+ international payment to local governments which, in several countries, have a certain degree of authority over forest management. Using Indonesia as a case study, the cost-reimbursement and the derivation approaches are tested. It is demonstrated that both approaches could be used. Using the cost-reimbursement approach, localities with more degraded forests would receive a higher compensation per unit of carbon emission reduction than districts with primary forests. Avoiding further conversion of logged-over areas is associated with higher opportunity costs when compared with preventing the conversion of primary forests. In contrast, the derivation approach sets a fixed percentage and rate to distribute REDD+ revenues and ignores the opportunity costs of REDD+ incurred by local governments. The distribution of REDD+ revenues to eligible local governments is based on an assumed market price of carbon credits from REDD+. This paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for designing the distribution of REDD+ revenues, both for Indonesia and more generically for other developing countries.     

Quantifying the Impact of Scientific Research on Agriculture

With the growing importance of science and innovation for farming, the scope for summary monetary estimates of the impact of agricultural research on productivity suggests internal rates of return of between 7 and 15 per cent, and time lags in maximum impact of around nine years. However, the extent to which the transmission process can be regarded as a ‘black box’ for econometric purposes is considered increasingly inappropriate, since the intermediate steps between research and the impacts of resulting technology adoption are increasingly complex and involve growing numbers of actors, actions and a wider set of policy objectives. Significant difficulties are encountered in quantifying research impacts, including gaps in data for dependent and explanatory variables. New features of the agricultural sector also need to be accounted for, which relate to the role of knowledge engineering, globalisation and the establishment of new impact pathways which are affecting the speed of transmission of innovations. Public support for agricultural research funding is generally justified but returns are not sufficiently high, thus requiring careful reflection on priorities for research investment. Combined use of qualitative and quantitative evaluation approaches can be complementary and more effective than relying on either alone.     

国内外健康旅游研究述评

基于叙述性文献综述法梳理国内外健康旅游的研究脉络,研究发现国内外对于健康旅游的研究内容和方法具有较大差异。国内健康旅游的研究仍处于起步阶段,研究内容集中于资源开发、产业现状及发展对策等方面,研究中多采用定性研究的方法。国外对于健康旅游的研究范围则从单一类型的水疗旅游逐渐向医疗旅游、保健旅游、旅游动机等细分领域拓展,研究方法的选择更加多元,定性、定量以及定性和定量相结合的方法均具有相当的比例。希望通过对国内外健康旅游研究差异的分析,找到国内在该领域研究的不足,为国内未来在健康旅游领域的研究和健康旅游产业的发展提供思路和指导。     

Home‐grown food and the benefits of sharing: The “intergenerational pact” in postsocialist Moldova

The policy literature on postsocialist Europe tends to frame smallholders' practices of food self‐provisioning and sharing as driven by necessity and proposes land consolidation to increase productivity and efficiency. However, these practices generate nonfinancial benefits, which need to be accounted for. In this paper, I test the socio‐economic relevance of these practices in the Republic of Moldova, the country with the highest density of farming households in Europe and whose government has embraced the rural modernization agenda to integrate into the EU economic space. I carry out quantitative estimates using the household budget survey and complement the results with qualitative insights from an original smallholder survey. I find that food self‐provisioning and sharing are positively related to subjective well‐being and that there is an “intergenerational pact,” with home‐grown food flowing from late‐adulthood smallholders to urban‐based young families and the vulnerable elderly. A counterfactual analysis shows that poverty and inequality would be higher in the absence of donated food, especially in urban areas. The preservation of smallholder farming through widespread access to land could thus help fight poverty and provide social benefits vis‐à‐vis land consolidation.     

退耕还林工程效益评价与对策建议——以合肥市郊区三县为例

以安徽省合肥市郊区三县退耕还林作为研究对象,采取随机抽样调查与统计数据相结合、定性分析与定量分析相结合的方法,对合肥市郊区三县退耕还林的生态、经济和社会三大效益进行客观的评价与分析。研究发现:合肥市退耕还林工程在生态效益、社会效益和经济效益上都取得了一定的绩效,但退耕农户以农为主的收入结构没有根本改变,农户增收的不稳定性也增大。并就合肥市退耕还林的后续发展提出了相应的建议。     

Adaptation and change in Queensland’s rangelands: Cell grazing as an emerging ideology of pastoral-ecology

Does the current global political economic framework, or more specifically, the cost–price squeeze associated with primary production, restrict the choices of Australian cattle graziers in moving to more sustainable practices? It has often been argued by primary producers and academics, alike, that current terms of trade have resulted in reduced profitability at the property level, and as such, have made it difficult for landholders to shift to practices which are environmentally sustainable. Whilst there is mounting evidence that this is case, there is also evidence that some graziers have been able to adapt to the prevailing market conditions through an ideological as well as ‘practice’ shift. Findings from qualitative research in Central Queensland, Australia, has highlighted how ‘cell grazing’ departs from the traditional or conventional aspects of grazing which can be described as productivist, to an approach closely approximating Lang and Heasman’s (2004) ‘ecologically integrated paradigm’ [Lang, T., Heasman, M., 2004. Food Wars: The Global Battle for Mouths Minds and Markets. Earthscan, London]. It is argued that cell grazing is, at present, a marginal activity that requires an ideological and cultural shift, as well as an investment in new infrastructure, however, current cell grazing activities may also demonstrate that beef grazing has the potential to be both economically and environmentally sustainable.     

Site selection to test an integrated approach to agricultural research for development: combining expert knowledge and participatory Geographic Information System methods

The sub-Saharan Africa challenge programme is designed to address the problems of failures of agricultural markets, inappropriate policies and natural resource degradation, that contribute to the continuing deterioration of livelihoods and food security in the region. It is seeking to do this by redefining the roles of scientists and farmers through collaborative learning processes, addressing questions about the level, timing, type and formof participation, as well as themost effective approaches andmethods to foster them. The research domains of the programme deal with sustainable intensification of smallholder agriculture, the sustainable management of natural resources, the development of efficient markets, and the promotion of enabling policies. One question that was addressed in designing the initiative was deciding where to work so as to maximize the chances of successful testing of this new approach, so that it would lead to significant reductions of rural poverty. A participatory process was put in place to design a framework to accomplish this site selection, and then to apply it in west, east and southern Africa. A mixture of spatial data analysis and expert knowledge on spatial and non-spatial factors was used, and one primary site in each region was identified to form the basis for the next phase of the challenge programme. Several lessons were learnt from the process, including the importance of adapting themethods to actual conditions, the increased utility of targetting when the quantitative and the qualitative are freely combined, and the continued need for baseline spatial and non-spatial data to improve the targeting of research in the future that is designed to alleviate poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.