Improving the speed of adoption of agricultural technologies and farm performance through farmer groups: evidence from the Great Lakes region of Africa

The article examines the effect of membership in farmer groups (MFG) on adoption lag of agricultural technologies and farm performance in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. We use duration and stochastic production frontier models on farm household data. We find that the longer the duration of MFG, the shorter the adoption lag and much more so if combined with extension service delivery. Farmer groups function as an important mechanism for improving farm productivity through reduced technical inefficiency in input use. We discuss policy implications under which farmer groups are a useful channel to reduce adoption lag, and the means through which improved farm performance can be achieved.     

Will future land based food and fibre production be in family or corporate hands? An analysis of farm land ownership and governance considering farmer characteristics as choice drivers. The New Zealand case

Family farming in various guises has been the dominant ownership and governance system in primary production over recorded history. This outcome has been controlled by farmers and their families, possibly due to tradition, opportunities, personal characteristics, skill sets and the nature of primary production. Of these, it is hypothesised that the farmers’ personal characteristics play a major part in the choice, and continuance, of current ownership and governance systems. Equally as important, they, and therefore the land ownership system, play a part in the efficiency of production systems and improvement of the biological and production environment.The benefits and difficulties of commonly used ownership systems in Western society are reviewed. Using a sample of New Zealand (NZ) farms, a comparison of the managers’ features for owner/operator, partnership and corporate based systems is presented. There were significant differences in many variables including the farmers’ age, education, number of children, asset levels, years on the current farm, and similar, but more importantly, the farmers in the ownership system groups had differing personal characteristics. Significantly, despite the corporate based farms employing more professional assistance, the profit levels were similar across ownership systems leaving the farmers’ characteristics the main factors correlating with system choice. However, governance systems per se are only marginally correlated with production systems and efficiency.As successive generations of farmers are unlikely to have different characteristics, and corporate based systems continue to exhibit similar profit levels, relatively simple family based systems will continue to dominate farm land ownership and control. The trends suggest family farms will increase in size and involve family conglomerates facilitating the management of larger, and in many cases multiple, farms. While currently there are few differences in biological efficiency between ownership systems, given the efficiency benefits of size and scale, this could well change with the increase of family conglomerates. Relative to increasing corporatisation, the continuance of family based ownership and governance will also be of benefit to the environment. When developing land policies, these highlighted relationships should be taken into account. This study is a first to consider personal characteristics relative to ownership.     

农民专业合作社对农地经营权抵押贷款潜在 需求及影响因素分析

研究目的:通过对江苏省徐州、淮安、泰州、南京4市191个非试点村340份农民专业合作社的有效问卷调查的分析,检验了农民专业合作社对农地经营权抵押贷款的潜在需求及影响因素。研究方法:文献调查法,Logit回归模型。研究结果:分析了4个地区的农民专业合作社对农村土地经营权抵押贷款的潜在需求与关键影响因素。研究结论:(1)农民专业合作社对农地经营权抵押贷款存在强烈需求;(2)银行较少为农民专业合作社提供针对性的金融性产品,享受农业政策性保险与贴息贷款农民专业合作社比例较低;(3)这种潜在需求受到年龄、受教育水平、固定资产规模、年贷款申请次数、贷款满足率、银行是否提供针对性金融产品、是否享有政策性农业保险、是否享有贴息贷款以及地区等因素的不同程度影响。     

中国渔业专业合作社运行效率提升研究——基于产业链分工与整合视角的分析

论文以产业链分工与整合的视角分析研究渔业专业合作社这一新型渔业经营主体运行的内在逻辑,通过分析对比渔业产业链的成熟度与对应的渔业专业合作社的发展阶段的关系,结合渔业一、二、三产业产值及其占比的数据得出我国渔业产业链还未成熟、我国渔业专业合作社还处于初级阶段的判断。针对我国渔业专业合作社运行中存在的问题,提出通过加强合作社渔业产业链延伸与整合能力、加强渔业第二、三产业的专业化与规模化、完善市场体系等措施来提升我国渔业专业合作社运行的效率。     

农村金融发展对农民收入影响的作用机制——基于河南省的实证分析

农村金融发展与农村经济增长密切相关。本文对河南省农村金融发展对农村经济增长和农民增收的作用机制进行了实证检验。研究发现河南省农村金融发展水平仍比农村经济发展相比明显滞后,农村金融发展不足是制约河南省农村经济、农民收入增长的重要因素。     

民族地区农村信用社小额信贷可持续发展的思考——基于贵州省长顺县马路乡小额信贷的调查分析

民族地区农村信用社大力推广农户小额信贷是农村信用社生存竞争、改善经营的需要,是解决农民贷款难、帮助农民增收的需要,是促进农村产业结构调整的需要,是规范农村金融秩序、促进农村信用文化建设的需要。但是在推广过程中,由于小额信贷存在资金供求矛盾大、利率低、期限短、额度小、具有一定风险等问题,限制了民族地区农村信用社小额信贷的可持续发展。文章根据民族地区农村信用社小额信贷存在的问题给出相应的对策建议。     

小农体系的现代价值

小农经济虽饱受贬抑却广泛存在。在现代社会,小农经济的存在仍然根植于农业的自然特性之上,它是愈益重视的传统农业文化活态保护和传承的载体。在城市化工业化进程中,小农经济更突显了其社会功能、文化功能和生态功能。     

The Labor-Managed Firm: Permanent or Start-Up Subsidies?

We explore a new argument that seeks to explain the near absence of the labor-managed firm or cooperative, despite a range of inefficiencies attributed to the present-day capitalist firm. We derive the crucial condition for the emergence of labor-managed firms and show that it is unduly restrictive from an efficiency point of view. The policy implication is that public intervention to promote labor-managed firms should primarily be in the form of start-up subsidies rather than in providing permanent tax subsidies.     

新时期农村信用社金融产品创新分析——以漳平市为例

深入分析漳平市农村信用社金融产品创新的现状,发现金融产品创新过程中存在金融产品和服务方式传统单一、产品普遍存在额度小、期限短等问题。结合漳平市自身条件从六个方面提出促进农村信用社金融产品创新的对策建议,主要途径是把握客户需求并细分市场、调整优化农村金融配置资源、营造良好金融生态环境、完善农村金融市场产品线、大力发展中间业务、提高农村信用社人力资源利用效率。     

农村金融联结的风险评价——以山东省大村镇食用菌合作社为例

农村金融联结作为一种解决金融抑制问题的有效途径，已经得到理论证实和实践推广，但对其风险的认识尚处于空白。鉴于农村金融联结涉及多个经济主体的特征及相互利益关系，本文以联结的风险来源为基础，构建了农村金融联结风险的评价体系，对山东省大村镇食用菌合作社联结的风险进行了评价。研究认为，大村镇食用菌合作社农村金融联结风险较低，能够实现农村金融联结的目的。其中有利的自然、政策和产业等外部环境以及龙头企业与合作社形成的稳定联结关系有助于降低联结风险，而参与者间的利益冲突及自身能力约束增加了联结的风险。