Are farmers ‘efficient but poor’? The impact of crop choices on technical efficiency and poverty in Nigeria

We test the ‘efficient-but-poor’ hypothesis by estimating the determinants of smallholders' choice over cash or food crops and whether their crop choice affects technical efficiency and poverty using the national household panel data in Nigeria. We employ the stochastic frontier analyses correcting for sample selection about farmers' crop choice. Our results indicate that smallholders are generally efficient in their resource allocations. A treatment effects model is employed to estimate farmers' crop choice in the first stage and the impact of their choices on technical efficiency and poverty outcomes in the second stage. The results show that farmers' access to free inputs, non-farm income and the use of seeds from the previous growing season are important determinants of crop choice. The adoption of cash crops by food-crop producing households will not generally reduce poverty, although it will improve technical efficiency marginally. However, if cash crops are commercialised, poverty tends to decline.     

Effect of off‐farm income on smallholder commercialization: panel evidence from rural households in Ethiopia

This article investigates how off‐farm income affects crop output market participation decisions and marketed surplus of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. A double‐hurdle model is estimated using three waves of panel data from the Ethiopian Rural Household Survey. Unobserved heterogeneity is controlled for using a correlated random effect procedure and potential endogeneity of explanatory variables using a control function approach. The results show that off‐farm income has no significant influence on household crop output market participation. However, conditional on market participation, additional off‐farm earnings negatively affect the marketed surplus. This indicates that farmers use off‐farm earnings for consumption rather than for investment in agricultural production. Policy measures that promote rural investment may help increase returns to labor for land‐poor households participating in off‐farm work in the process of agricultural commercialization.     

Cash cropping and food crop productivity: synergies or trade‐offs?

The case for promoting export‐oriented cash crops in Africa has generally been based on their direct potential contribution to agricultural productivity and small farmer incomes. A relatively neglected avenue of research concerns the synergistic effects that cash cropping can have on other household activities, including food production. The conventional view that cash crops compete with food crops for land and labour neglects the potential for cash crop schemes to make available inputs on credit, management training, and other resources that can contribute to food crop productivity, which might otherwise not be accessible to farmers if they did not participate in cash crop programs. This article builds on previous research by hypothesising key pathways by which cash crops may affect food crop activities and empirically measuring these effects using the case of cotton in Gokwe North District in Zimbabwe. Analysis is based on instrumental variable analysis of survey data on 430 rural households in 1996. Results indicate that—after controlling for household assets, education and locational differences—households engaging intensively in cotton production obtain higher grain yields than non‐cotton and marginal cotton producers. We also find evidence of regional spill‐over effects whereby commercialisation schemes induce second round investments in a particular area that provide benefits to all farmers in that region, regardless of whether they engage in that commercialisation scheme. The study suggests that the potential spill‐over benefits for food crops through participation in cash crop programs are important to consider in the development of strategies designed to intensify African food crop production.     

Cash crop liberalization and poverty alleviation in Africa: evidence from Malawi

This article uses the case of burley tobacco liberalization in Malawi to investigate the efficacy of cash crop liberalization as an instrument for poverty alleviation in sub‐Saharan Africa. The principal justification for cash crop liberalization is that markets allow farm households to increase their incomes by producing that which provides the highest return to their productive resources and use the cash to buy consumption goods. Using a latent welfare model, we find that households that selected to grow cash crops had higher incomes than those that did not grow cash crops. However, we also find that due to the lumpiness and seasonality of cash crop incomes, higher household incomes, while increasing food purchases did not significantly affect per capita food intake. Irrespective of participation in cash crops, for much of the cropping season rural households seem to rely more on nonfarm income for expenditure and consumption smoothing.     

Climate-resilient practices and welfare impacts on rice-cultivating households in Vietnam: Does joint adoption of multiple practices matter?

Farmers have a long history of adjusting their production practices in response to changing production conditions. Using a multinomial endogenous treatment effects model that accounts for observable and unobservable heterogeneity, this study investigates the adoption and welfare impacts of climate-resilient practices on Vietnamese rice-cultivating households. We found evidence of clear and positive welfare impacts from the adoption of canal irrigation (CI) and the joint adoption of agricultural conservation practices (CP) and CI as the main adaptation strategies to increase water stress. More importantly, although farmers with access to CI systems obtained the highest returns, the joint adoption of multiple practices still had substantially high adoption rates and significantly positive effects on rice yield, rice revenue and household income. Our findings indicate that farms' and farmers' characteristics, market information and climatic conditions are generally the main factors driving rice farmers' decisions to adopt climate-resilient technologies, both individually and jointly. Follow-up policy interventions should focus on improving CI systems and promoting the joint adoption of climate-resilient technologies to improve rice farmers' well-being and enhance their resilience capacity to cope with incoming climatic uncertainty.     

农民合作社减贫的农户收入效应及其异质性——基于内生转换回归模型的实证分析

[目的]农民合作社具有“天然的”益贫特征,在精准扶贫时期发挥了重要作用,研究合作社减贫的农户收入效应及其异质性对于完善和优化合作社产业减贫政策,健全贫困治理长效机制,助力乡村振兴具有重要的现实意义。[方法]文章基于2018年云南、贵州、陕西和甘肃4省欠发达地区1 551份农户的调研数据,利用内生转换回归模型（ESRM）,通过构建“反事实”分析框架,实证分析了合作社对农户所产生的收入效应及其异质性特征。[结果]（1）与未入社的农户相比,入社为其家庭总收入带来了约32.26%的收入增幅。合作社对非贫困农户、高收入分位数农户、中青年农户的减贫增收作用最明显。（2）除了对贫困农户财政性收入影响不显著外,合作社对不同贫困属性农户其他不同来源的收入均有提高,对贫困农户的农业经营性收入影响最明显,对非贫困农户的财产性收入影响最明显。（3）土地面积、生产性资产值、人情往来支出、户主受教育年限、是否参加专业培训、建档立卡户、是否有合作社、主要地理环境均显著正向影响农户入社决策;学生数量显著负向影响农户入社决策。[结论]在积极培育和发展合作社,鼓励合作社由“重数量轻质量、重服务轻规范”向高质量发展转型的同...     

Yield and income risk-efficiency analysis of alternative systems for rice production in the Guinea Savannah of Northern Ghana

Risk efficiency of rice grain yield and returns to farm operators' household resources generated from an improved short‐duration cover crop fallow system were compared with (traditional) natural bush fallow, and continuous rice‐cropping systems. The improved fallow system involved maintaining Calopogonium mucunoides, seeded into a natural bush fallow for 2 years before planting to rice. With no chemical fertilizer application, which reflects farmers' practice in the area, average grain yield for continuous rice (1,185 kg/ha) and the cropping sequence incorporating a natural bush fallow (1,175 kg/ha) did not differ, but were higher for the improved fallow system (1,304 kg/ha). This suggests that nutrient contribution from the leguminous cover crop made up for critical crop N requirements in the improved fallow. Stochastic dominance of grain yield distributions from the improved fallow system, relative to the other two cropping systems, was more dramatic with no N fertilizer application compared to treatments with 30 kg/ha N. Average returns were highest for the improved fallow system, followed by the natural bush fallow‐cropping system, and then continuous rice, under the no N fertilizer treatment regime. With 30 kg/ha N fertilizer, income risk efficiency was less clear (compared to treatments with no N fertilizer), especially between continuous rice and the improved fallow treatment, because of faster N mineralization effects on continuous rice. In contrast, the improved cover crop fallow system completely dominated the natural bush fallow treatment under both fertilizer regimes. Rice production systems that incorporated the leguminous cover crop fallow were superior to the natural bush fallow system, based on both grain yield and average farm income risk‐efficiency considerations.     

农民合作社减贫、增收效应与异质性分析基于中国西部贫困地区农户调研数据

目的 在脱贫攻坚视域中,农民合作社作为产业扶贫的重要载体,为乡村经济和社会发展提供动力,是农村地区反贫困合意、有效的组织化形态,对农民合作社减贫问题进行研究,具有重要的理论价值和现实意义。方法 文章利用2018年云南、贵州、陕西和甘肃4省7县1 393户农户的微观调研数据,采用分位数回归和倾向得分匹配法对农户参加农民合作社的增收效应进行了实证检验。结果 农民合作社可以有效改善农户家庭收入水平,参加农民合作社可以使农户家庭总收入平均提高38.04%;农民合作社对中高收入水平农户、非贫困农户、低学历农户的增收促进作用更为明显;另外,户主受教育年限、是否建档立卡、土地面积、村里面是否有农民合作社、人情往来支出对数、政府补贴津贴对数、是否参加专业培训等7个因素均提高了农户参加农民合作社的意愿,而户主年龄、学生数量、是否有外出务工人员等3个因素会降低农户参加农民合作社的意愿。结论 据此,应继续培育和发展农民合作社,提升农户参与农民合作社的意愿,强化农民合作社与贫困农户的利益联结,注重扶贫资源对于贫困农户获得的便利性。     

A recipe for success? Learning from the rapid adoption of improved chickpea varieties in Ethiopia

Many studies detail constraints deemed responsible for the limited adoption of new technologies among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. By contrast, here we study the conditions that led to the remarkably fast spread of improved chickpea varieties in Ethiopia. Within just seven years, the adoption rate rose from 30 to 80% of the farmers. A combination of factors explains the rapid uptake. Their attraction lay in superior returns and disease resistance. Chickpea was already an important crop for rural households in the studied districts, for both cash income and consumption. Good market access and an easy accessibility of extension services advanced the adoption process. Thus, an attractive technology suitable for rural households in a conducive environment enabled adoption. Our findings prompt us to stress the importance of tailoring agricultural innovations to the realities and demands of rural households, and the need to design and deploy interventions on the basis of ex-ante knowledge on factors potentially determining their success or failure.     

改进可持续生计框架下易地扶贫搬迁前后农户生计对比分析以贵州省贞丰县者相镇安置点为例

[目的]基于改进可持续生计框架,对比分析搬迁前后农户生计现状,厘清易地扶贫搬迁对农户生计的影响,对推动贵州省易地扶贫搬迁农户生计可持续发展具有重要的现实意义,提出提升易地扶贫搬迁农户生计资本量和生计资本稳定性的建议。[方法]文章引入主观满意度对可持续生计框架进行改进,建立适宜易地扶贫搬迁农户的可持续生计评价的指标体系,探究者相镇安置点农户搬迁前后的生计资本持有量变化,并对其生计可持续性及生计资本对生计稳定性的影响进行分析。[结果]（1）者相镇安置点易地扶贫搬迁农户搬迁后生计资本综合值得到一定程度的提升,物质资本和满意度明显提升,自然资本和金融资本下降;（2）者相镇安置点农户搬迁后生计稳定性总体呈下降趋势,但随搬迁年限的增加而提高,生计多样性和收入多样性降低,非农业生计多样性提升;（3）搬迁后农户生计耦合度提升4.059 6%,生计资本与生计稳定性耦合协调度由低度耦合提升至中度耦合。[结论]者相镇安置点农户生计可持续发展水平得到一定程度的提高,各类生计资本指标差异明显,推动搬迁农户生计资本的均衡发展和提高收入多样性,可帮助搬迁农户实现“搬得出、稳得住、能致富”。     

Land use changes to cash crop plantations: crop types,multilevel determinants and policy implications

Cash crop plantation has recently become an expanding global phenomenon. Characterizing the dynamics of cash crop plantations and the corresponding determinants should provide critical references for land use policy. Using aerial photos and geographic information system, this paper investigated the trends of four types of cash crops (tea, fruit, mulberry and nursery) and their relations to other land use changes within Hangzhou region in subtropical China. Results showed that the total cash crop cultivated surface increased by 541.3 ha from 2004 to 2014. Most of the new tea and fruit plantations were established in places previously used as forest and woodland. Mulberry and nursery mainly expanded by replacing paddy, woodland and forest. By combining household survey, geospatial techniques and multilevel regression, multilevel determinants of cash cropping probability and cash crop expansion were quantified. At the parcel level, tea and fruit plantations inclined to occur on hilly land with gentle slope. Mulberry and nursery plantations were likely to be observed in flat areas with low elevation. Parcels covered by high quality soils and with convenient communications experienced greater cash cropping probability. At the household level, households constituted of female and old-aged labor or with low agricultural labor intensity demonstrated high probability of tea and mulberry plantations. Conversely, households constituted of middle-aged labor or with high agricultural labor intensity tended to grow more fruit and nursery. Besides, wealthier households were prone to establish fruit and nursery plantations but were reluctant to involve in tea and mulberry cropping. At the village level, population density was a significant determinant of cash cropping probability, but was an insignificant determinant of cash crop expansion. Greater occurrence of cash cropping was observed in villages with higher proportion of migrant labor and leasing land. Distance to county road and distance to provincial road were identified as negative determinants. Policy was evidenced to be of significant influence on cash cropping probability and cash crop expansion. We argue that a balance should be achieved between cash cropping promotion and natural resources protection in formulating the local land use policy.     

“保险+期货”模式与农户增收——基于全国124个县的多期双重差分估计

目的 “保险+期货”作为我国金融支农的重要创新,对农户实现增收起着关键作用。在农产品价格风险成为农户主要风险的背景下,分析“保险+期货”对农户增收的影响路径和效果具有重要的理论和现实意义。方法 文章基于准自然实验的思路,将“保险+期货”试点视作外部冲击,构建多期双重差分模型,采用2011—2020年中国124个县的面板数据,估计“保险+期货”试点对农户增收的影响路径和效果。结果 （1）“保险+期货”试点对农户具有显著的增收效应,使农村居民人均可支配收入平均提高了2.75%。（2）“保险+期货”试点对农户的增收效应存在异质性,对贫困县农户更为明显。（3）“保险+期货”试点对农户的增收效应是逐年递增的,试点第5年增收效应达到上限。结论 建议稳步扩大“保险+期货”试点、优先在脱贫地区开展“保险+期货”试点,并且积极探索建立收入保险。     

Farm demand for quality potato seed in Indonesia

Seed is the one of the most costly components of potato production in developing countries. Since potato is a vegetatively reproduced crop, diseases such as viruses build up and yield declines as tubers are saved from one harvest for use as seed the next season. Replacing farm‐saved seed with clean seed is one means to increase yield, but information asymmetry between buyers and sellers on seed quality may restrict market supply of this input. In this article we develop a model of the seed market in which clean seed is treated as a capital good providing benefits over several seasons. To determine farm demand for clean seed, we conducted a survey of 182 potato farmers in the major potato growing areas of Indonesia to elicit their perceptions of seed quality from different sources, and derive farmers' “willingness‐to‐pay” for quality potato seed. Results indicate that the effects of information asymmetry on seed supply may be partially offset by the “reputation” of specialized seed producers. Nevertheless, marginal returns to disease‐free seed appear to significantly exceed marginal costs, indicating that improving supply of quality seed will contribute strongly to productivity growth in potato. We discuss several policy options to encourage supply and utilization of quality potato seed.     

Interlinked credit and farm intensification: evidence from Kenya

This paper addresses the potential for interlinked credit/input/output marketing arrangements for particular cash crops to promote food crop intensification. Using panel survey data from Kenya, we estimate a household fixed-effects model of fertiliser use per hectare of food crops, using an instrumental variables approach for addressing the endogeneity of participation in interlinked credit arrangements. Results indicate that households engaging in interlinked marketing programs for selected cash crops applied considerably greater fertiliser on other crops (primarily cereals) not directly purchased by the cash crop trading firm. These findings suggest that, in addition to the direct stimulus that interlinked cash crop marketing arrangements can have on small farmer incomes, these institutional arrangements may provide spill-over benefits for the productivity of farmers' other activities such as food cropping.     

Community‐supported agriculture in the United States: Social,ecological, and economic benefits to farming

In the United States, there is a tremendous amount of interest in community‐supported agriculture (CSA) among farmers, consumers, activists, and policymakers. Despite the attention garnered by CSA and the resurgence of local agriculture, relatively few studies have examined the livelihood opportunities for farmers within local agriculture. This paper evaluates the livelihoods of CSA farmers from the farmers' perspective in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts. Results indicate that although CSA farmers earn more farm income than other farms across the United States on average, they still earn far below the median national income and generally fail to earn a living wage. Despite these findings, CSA farmers stressed the importance of the broader social, ecological, and economic benefits to farming. Although these non‐market benefits are a significant source of well‐being from the CSA farmers' perspective, CSA has largely failed to provide adequate livelihoods for farmers to date.     

目标价格改革对新疆棉农收入的影响机理及实证研究——基于南疆四地州370个样本农户的实地调查

[目的]通过探讨目标价格改革对棉农收入的影响机理,揭示影响南疆四地州棉农增收的主要因素。[方法]从棉农角度出发,基于南疆四地州370个样本农户的实地调研数据,结合当地特有的自然地理、农业生产、社会经济条件以及目标价格政策实施状况,理论分析目标价格补贴对棉农增收的作用机理,并运用多元线形回归模型实证分析目标价格补贴政策等对棉农收入的作用方向和影响程度。[结果]户主受教育程度、是否外出务工、社会关系、棉花种植面积、县域经济发展水平和棉花销售价格等对棉农人均收入均存在显著影响。[结论]基于此,要避免将补贴化为主要的收入保障措施,继续加快土地流转,扩大棉农财产性收入来源,加快新型职业农民培育,发展农民职业教育,加快县域经济发展,多管齐下,破解制约南疆民族地区棉农增收难题。     

互联网嵌入对农户化学农药减量使用的影响——基于PSM模型的计量分析

[目的]在数字农业和绿色农业的双重背景下,探讨互联网嵌入对农户化学农药减量使用的影响,有助于实现农业数字化和绿色化发展。[方法]文章基于四川省712份微观农户调研数据,采用倾向得分匹配法实证检验了互联网嵌入是否会减少农户化学农药使用,并分析了其影响效应在不同农户群体中的异质性。[结果]互联网嵌入对农户减少化学农药使用具有显著的正向影响,其平均处理效应为0.114;互联网嵌入能有效促进小农户、专业种植大户和家庭农场减少化学农药使用,平均处理效应分别介于0.104～0.113、0.078～0.103和0.116～0.128;互联网嵌入对家庭农场减少化学农药使用的促进作用略大于小农户和专业种植大户,而相比于专业种植大户,互联网嵌入对小农户化学农药减量使用的促进作用更强。[结论]应推进农村新基建发展,提升农村互联网普及率,采取差异化的措施,鼓励家庭农场发展,引导家庭农场将互联网技术应用于农业生产,并加强互联网技术宣传与培训,提升小农户和专业种植大户嵌入互联网的能力,以促进农户减少化学农药使用。     

The impact of climate and price risks on agricultural land use and crop management decisions

This article aims to investigate the impacts of climate change and of lower and more volatile crop price levels as currently observed in the European Union (EU) on optimal management decisions, average income and income risks in crop production in Western Switzerland. To this end, a bioeconomic whole-farm model has been developed that non-parametrically combines the crop growth model CropSyst with an economic decision model using a genetic algorithm. The analysis focuses on the farm level, which enables us to integrate a wide set of potential adaptation responses, comprising changes in agricultural land use as well as crop-specific fertilization and irrigation strategies. Furthermore, the farmer's certainty equivalent is employed as objective function, which enables the consideration of not only impacts on average income but also impacts on income variability.The study shows that that the effects of EU crop prices on the optimal management decisions as well as on the farmer's certainty equivalent are much stronger than the effects of climate change. Furthermore, our results indicate that the impacts of income risks on the crop farm's optimal management schemes are of rather low importance. This is due to two major reasons: first, direct payments make up a large percentage of the agricultural income in Switzerland which makes Swiss farmers less vulnerable to market and climate volatility. Second, arable crop farms in Switzerland have by law to cultivate at least four different crops. Due to these diverse cropping systems and high government direct payments risk does neither under climate change, market liberalization nor combinations thereof, play a very decisive role in arable farming in Switzerland.     

Risk preference and optimal enterprise combinations in Kahuro division of Murang'a district, Kenya

Financing smallholder farming has been one of the major concerns of Kenya's agricultural development efforts. Many credit programs have evolved over the years but with dismal performance. In a study that sought to find the best way to finance smallholder agriculture, it became necessary to analyze and document, in the first place, the farmers' preferred enterprise patterns. Any financial innovations would hence address the preferred patterns. Of particular interest was the effect of risk preference on such patterns, which had been ignored in many previous farm management studies. Murang'a district was chosen as a typical smallholder district. Sample farmers, obtained through cluster sampling, were visited and structured questionnaires administered to cover farm events and physical resources of short rains 1995 to long rains 1996. This formed a basis for formulating the farm patterns. A quadratic programming model was used to analyze observed farm plans. The model incorporates farmers' risk preferences, revenue fluctuations, and resource and subsistence restrictions. The results showed that: (1) changes in risk preference do affect the optimal crop combinations; (2) the typical cropping pattern is rational as the farmer meets both food and cash under modest variability of income; (3) insisting on producing most subsistence food requirements by the farmers reduces efficiency and limits the feasible plans.     

Household-level effects of China's Sloping Land Conversion Program under price and policy shifts

This study examined how agricultural households involved in China's Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP) could respond to expected changes in environmental and livestock policies and changing commodity prices. We calibrated a farm household model using 2009 survey data collected in northeast Gansu Province, China, and examined the responses of four different household groups. Household groups were distinguished based on the resources they possessed for either cropping, livestock husbandry or off-farm employment. We also calculated the opportunity cost of converting sloping land from grain crop production to perennial grass production and included the net value of the replacement crop in these calculations. Our model simulations indicated that subsistence-oriented households were most likely to participate in the SLCP, and that SLCP payment reductions could have large negative income effects for this group. Reductions in SLCP payments increased income inequality among households in the study area. Migration- and cropping-oriented households have fewer incentives to participate in the SLCP. With rising commodity prices, SLCP payments need to rise to avoid that subsistence-oriented households reconvert their land from perennial grasses to annual grain crops. Local government policies related to livestock production are being devised in Gansu as a method to lift incomes, and these policies could also have positive environmental benefits by increasing grass production on sloping land. The introduction of these livestock promotion policies had modest income effects but did not alter the area grown with grasses under the SLCP.