Receiving information about rice seeds on mobile phones in eastern India

This article examines how farmers use mobile phones to obtain information about rice varieties in eastern India and investigates if this contributes to rice varietal replacement. The findings show that farmers located farther away from the market were more likely to pay for the calls. Moreover, about 26% of the farmers who had to pay to receive calls purchased seeds of at least one rice variety that they had never planted before, while less than 16% of farmers who received no calls did so. Regression results confirmed that paying charges to receive rice varietal information is associated with varietal replacement.     

Farmer typology formulation accounting for psychological capital: implications for on-farm entrepreneurial development

Understanding and accounting for the heterogeneity of small farmers is critical for informing development pathways to improve the performance of smallholder irrigation. Using multivariate analysis, this study sought to develop farmer typologies in and around irrigation schemes and used these to inform strategies for on-farm entrepreneurship development. The research uniquely integrates psychological capital in defining farmer typologies, to capture individual features of each farmer, otherwise missed by the generic sustainable livelihoods framework literature. The study affirms the need to focus on psychological capital and concludes that heterogeneity among small-scale irrigators should be accounted for in future agricultural and rural development programmes.     

农业劳动价值萎缩与农业体面劳动困境:关联逻辑与双重治理

与其他学者观点不同,在马克思看来农业劳动价值萎缩是资本诞生后工农业和城乡分离必然带来的结果.立足马克思的劳动价值理论分析,农业劳动价值萎缩必然带来的是农民经济收入减少以及由此造成的收入不可预期,而这与影响农业体面劳动的关键因素是一致的,据此农业劳动价值萎缩和农业体面劳动困境之间存在着深刻的关联逻辑.当代中国农业劳动价值...     

新时代中国农业生产力布局调整思路研究

农业生产力布局是降低农业生产成本、提高农业生产效率和满足人民日益增长的关于农产品美好生活需要的重要因素。基于第一产业和农业的地理分布格局演变历程,本文提出目前我国农业生产力布局存在粮食总量保持稳定,但是未来存在安全隐患;农产品生产聚集程度总体较高,但是仍有进一步提高空间;农产品尤其是粮食生产成本较高,需要进一步降低生产成本;农产品市场价格较高且有上涨趋势,需要稳定其价格等四个特征。指出未来农业生产力布局调整应该遵循总量安全原则、比较优势原则、规模经济原则、产业链一体化发展原则,并提出相应的政策建议。     

Improving smallholder livestock farmers’ incomes through value chain financing in South Africa

Separating the commercialisation of agriculture from other programmes to improve access to formal credit for smallholder farmers is a source of dramatic failures of most programmes. Despite the popularity of value chain financing, livestock agriculture remains marginalised. This paper analyses the MAFISA-NERPO Livestock Credit Scheme, a scheme which provides value chain financial products in order to improve the cash incomes of smallholder farmers in South Africa. Evidence shows that more than 80% of participating farmers receive average annual incomes of US$30,000. This implies that this scheme has addressed those factors hindering effectiveness and efficiency of smallholder credit institutions, using value chain finance.     

Off-farm work and food security status of farming households in Ghana

This study assessed the effect of participation in off-farm work on the food security status of farming households in the Northern Region of Ghana. Primary data were solicited from 324 farming households in the Tamale metropolis and Tolon district using semi-structured questionnaires. The treatment effects of both income and food security status were estimated using propensity score matching and double-robust methods. The empirical results suggest that participation in off-farm activities increased household daily calorie consumption. These results have implications for the development of off-farm ventures for the benefit of the farming households.     

Giant clam aquaculture in the Pacific region: perceptions of value and impact

Aquaculture of giant clams was developed in the Pacific region in the 1970s and 1980s, linked to community farming and efforts to develop commercial opportunities, particularly high-value exports. Giant clam industries did not develop as expected, but nonetheless many countries still have giant clam aquaculture programmes. Investigations in three countries indicate that giant clams hold other values, notably cultural value, socio-ecological value, value to tourism, and value through building social capital, and these may explain the continuation of the aquaculture programmes. Understanding and adequately assessing local values is a challenge for development investors, who may be missing important impacts from their projects.     

Who are those people we call farmers? Rural Kenyan aspirations and realities

Rural Kenyan households have different aspirations and income portfolio strategies, including agricultural intensification and income diversification. This article reports on a study that interviewed 624 households to explore rural aspirations and derive lessons for agricultural technology development and transfer. Though few households specialised in farming, many households self-identified as farmers and aspired to increase their agricultural income. Despite the prevalence of agricultural aspirations, few aspired for their children to have a future in farming. Combining aspirations with potential to invest, the article provides suggestions for targeting agricultural interventions. We need to start listening better to those people we call “farmers” to develop and offer innovations that meet their realities.     

Farmers’ perceptions of milk-collecting centres in Thailand's dairy industry

This study assessed farmers’ perceptions of milk-collecting centres (MCCs) in the central and north-eastern regions of Thailand. MCCs can be divided into two groups, dairy cooperatives and private organisations. There were similar perceptions about the role of MCCs among the farmers regarding the basic needs of dairy farmers, but with a stronger focus of economic issues for private organisation members, while dairy cooperative members views were more from the perspective of ownership. The farmers were somewhat satisfied with their MCCs’ performance, except that private organisation farmers were less satisfied with credit services. Policy recommendations are presented.     

Building pathways out of poverty through climate smart agriculture and effective targeting

One focus of agricultural development is climate smart agricultural technologies and practices (CSA). Development practitioners invest in scaling these to have wider impact. Ineffective targeting stymies CSA’s contribution to poverty reduction by excluding many of the poor and/or including those for whom agriculture is not a pathway out of poverty. This viewpoint proposes the need to recognise differentiated livelihood pathways within smallholder agriculture, linked to farmers’ differential capacity to engage in climate risk management. A farmer and livelihoods typology provides a framework to improved targeting of CSA and to identifying where alternative interventions, such as social protection, are more appropriate.