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1 – 10 of 517William M. Fonta, Abbi M. Kedir, Aymar Y. Bossa, Karen M. Greenough, Bamba M. Sylla and Elias T. Ayuk
The purpose of this study is to examine the relative importance of climate normals (average long-term temperature and precipitation) in explaining net farm revenue per hectare…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the relative importance of climate normals (average long-term temperature and precipitation) in explaining net farm revenue per hectare (NRh) for supplementary irrigated and rainfed cocoa farms in Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
NRh was estimated for 280 cocoa farmers sampled across seven Nigerian states. It was regressed on climate, household socio-economic characteristics and other control variables by using a Ricardian analytical framework. Marginal calculations were used to isolate the effects of climate change (CC) on cocoa farm revenues under supplementary irrigated and rainfed conditions. Future impacts of CC were simulated using Six CORDEX regional climate model (RCM) ensemble between 2036-2065 and 2071-2100.
Findings
Results indicate high sensitivity of NRh to Nigerian climate normals depending on whether farms use supplementary irrigation. Average annual temperature increases and precipitation decreases are associated with NRh losses for rainfed farms and gains for supplementary irrigated cocoa farms. Projections of future CC impacts suggest a wide range of NRh outcomes on supplementary irrigated and rainfed farm revenues, demonstrating the importance of irrigation as an effective adaptation strategy in Nigeria.
Originality/value
This paper uses novel data sets for simulating future CC impacts on land values in Nigeria. CORDEX data constitute the most comprehensive RCMs projections available for Africa.
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This study aims to examine the latent capability of alternative-responsible tourism and ecotourism management in sustainable tourism and rural communities' livelihoods in Musina…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the latent capability of alternative-responsible tourism and ecotourism management in sustainable tourism and rural communities' livelihoods in Musina Municipality in Limpopo Province, South Africa, and benchmark the capability with other African countries amid climate change and environmental degradation dilemmas. Hence, the aforementioned objective coordinates with various agrarian locations elsewhere abroad.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature reviews, document reviews, interviews, and focus group discussions were employed to gather data, which was enriched by field observation views. To this end, potential climate change-linked environmental degradation, rural tourism, agricultural, and environmental management issues came to the fore.
Findings
Environmental degradation poses a possible threat to natural resource management, as evidenced by the rural development, ecotourism and agricultural activities within the study region. Thereupon, environmental degradation supplements the probability of adverse effects from climate change and precarious incomes. According to the research, responsible tourism and ecotourism are vital to promoting sustainability in rural localities.
Originality/value
The plenteous biodiversity of the municipality offers a better scenario for sustainable ecotourism in tandem with agritourism efforts to address the identified ongoing and liability issues. These issues have therefore symbolized the need for an adequate and allied tourism strategy to boost the local people in Musina Municipality and, conceivably, throughout the continent.
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Juan David Cortes, Jonathan E. Jackson and Andres Felipe Cortes
Despite the abundance of small-scale farms in the USA and their importance for both rural economic development and food availability, the extensive research on small business…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the abundance of small-scale farms in the USA and their importance for both rural economic development and food availability, the extensive research on small business management and entrepreneurship has mostly neglected the agricultural context, leaving many of these farms' business challenges unexplored. The authors focus on informing a specific decision faced by small farm managers: selling directly to consumers (i.e. farmer's markets) versus selling through aggregators. By collecting historical data and a series of interviews with industry experts, the authors employ simulation methodology to offer a framework that advises how small-scale farmers can allocate their product across these two channels to increase revenue in a given season. The results, which are relevant for operations management, small business management and entrepreneurship literature, can help small-scale farmers improve their performance and compete against their larger counterparts.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors rely on historical and interview data from key industry players (an aggregator and a small farm manager) to design a simulation analysis that determines which factors influence season-long farm revenue performance under varying strategies of channel allocation and commodity production.
Findings
The model suggests that farm managers should plan to evenly split their production between the two distribution channels, but if an even split is not possible, they should plan to keep a larger percentage in the nonaggregator (farmers' market/direct) channel. Further, the authors find that farmers can benefit significantly from a strong aggregator channel customer base, which suggests that farmers should promote and advertise the aggregator channel even if they only use it for a limited amount of their product.
Originality/value
The authors integrate small business management and operations management literature to study a widely understudied context and present practical implications for the performance of small-scale farms.
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Martina, Nurasih Shamadiyah and Riyandhi Praza
Purpose – This study aims to analyze the contribution of revenue and consumption cost of soybean farmers.Design/Methodology/Approach – Data analysis was done by quantitative…
Abstract
Purpose – This study aims to analyze the contribution of revenue and consumption cost of soybean farmers.
Design/Methodology/Approach – Data analysis was done by quantitative descriptive analysis. Data were obtained in the form of numbers then the results of the obtained data were presented in the form of a systematic description. The sample in this study is the entire population of soybean farmers in Muara Batu, Aceh Utara by using census method as much as 50 farmers.
Findings – The results showed that the contribution of soybean farm revenue amounted to 6.94%, non-soybean farming amounted to 48.12%, and out farm activities amounted to 44.94%. This indicates that soybean farming activities are enough to contribute to increase the family revenue. Meanwhile, the average amount of household cost for food is 16,696,800 IDR/Year and for non-food is 8,397,500 IDR/Year. The analysis shows that although the contribution of soybean farming revenue is the lowest than the other farms’ revenue, it is very helpful to the farmers for fulfilling the needs of family consumption cost every year.
Research Limitations/Implications – The object of this research is to study all the farmers who utilize the land for soybean farming in Muara Batu. The research limitations are income contribution and consumption cost of soybean farmers.
Practical Implications – The amount of soybean production produced by farmers is much lower. However, the farmers can still increase their income if the amount of production can be increased by more intensification of soybean farming as tough as the use of superior varieties of soil processing, organic fertilizer on soil, balanced and integrated pest control, and harvesting and post-harvesting to reduce food loses.
Originality/Value – The farmers earned revenue not only from soybeans, but also from non-soybean farm and out farm. Soybean farming activities aim to increase revenues in order to meet the needs of the family that consist of food and non–food consumptions.
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Nurul Aisyah Binti Mohd Suhaimi, Yann de Mey and Alfons Oude Lansink
The purpose of this paper is to measure the technical inefficiency of dairy farms and subsequently investigate the factors affecting technical inefficiency in the Malaysian dairy…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to measure the technical inefficiency of dairy farms and subsequently investigate the factors affecting technical inefficiency in the Malaysian dairy industry.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses multi-directional efficiency analysis to measure the technical inefficiency scores on a sample of 200 farm observations and single-bootstrap truncated regression model to define factors affecting technical inefficiency.
Findings
Managerial and program inefficiency scores are presented for intensive and semi-intensive production systems. The results reveal marked differences in the inefficiency scores across inputs and between production systems.
Practical implications
Intensive systems generally have lowest managerial and program inefficiency scores in the Malaysian dairy farming sector. Policy makers could use this information to advise dairy farmers to convert their farming system to the intensive system.
Social implications
The results suggest that the Malaysian Government should redefine its policy for providing farm finance and should target young farmers when designing training and extension programs in order to improve the performance of the dairy sector.
Originality/value
The existing literature on Southeast Asian dairy farming has neither focused on investigating input-specific efficiency nor on comparing managerial and program efficiency. This paper aims to fill this gap.
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Fissha Asmare, Hailemariam Teklewold and Alemu Mekonnen
This study aims to examine the effect of crop diversification (CD), as a climate change adaptation strategy, on farm household’s welfare in terms of farm income and demand for…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effect of crop diversification (CD), as a climate change adaptation strategy, on farm household’s welfare in terms of farm income and demand for labor. It explores whether adoption of CD is a win-win strategy on household income and demand for on-farm labor. It also examines the determinants of rural household’s net farm income and family labor demand.
Design/methodology/approach
A household-plot level data were collected in 2015 from 929 rural farm households and 4,778 plots in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia. The data comprise farm and household characteristics accompanied by geo-referenced climate data such as long-term average temperature and amount and variability of growing season rainfall. The authors estimate an endogenous switching regression model to measure the effect of CD on the farm household’s welfare, using net farm income and household labor demand as a welfare indicator.
Findings
The results indicate heterogeneous effects of climate variables on farm income between adopters and non-adopters of CD. The study also confirms the win-win effect of adoption of CD with a positive and significant effect on farm income and a reduction in demand for on-farm labor. The results suggest that adoption of CD helps improve the well-being of farm households and build a resilient agricultural system.
Research limitations/implications
As the study used a cross-sectional data, it is limited to show the time effect of practicing CD on the household’s welfare.
Originality/value
First, the authors investigate, to their knowledge for the first time, the existence of synergy or tradeoff in the effect of CD on two dimensions of rural households’ welfare (net farm income and labor demand). Second, they investigate the heterogeneous effect of climate change adaptation strategies on the farm household’s welfare between adopters and non-adopters. This is unlike previous studies that consider climate change adaptation strategies as having a homogeneous effect. However, this approach is inappropriate since the effect of adaptation strategies is different for adopters and non-adopters.
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By examining a case study in Tyrol, Austria, the paper aims to demonstrate the role of farm diversification and the influence of the peasants’ habitus on social-ecological…
Abstract
Purpose
By examining a case study in Tyrol, Austria, the paper aims to demonstrate the role of farm diversification and the influence of the peasants’ habitus on social-ecological resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on a field study conducted in two remote villages of the Ötztal valley, Austrian Alps, this study provides insights into the interplay of tourism and farming and its impact on farm resilience. Qualitative narrative interviews, the so-called farm biographies, served to investigate these issues. Interpretations of data are based on qualitative content analysis.
Findings
The results highlight that farming and tourism are highly enmeshed in the case study area and that the additional income creates room for manoeuvre for the farms to activate their adaptive capability. At the same time, peasant values guide the farming activities. The farms in this study demonstrate a strong farm resilience that is enabled by farm diversification and rooted in their peasant habitus. This positively affects the social-ecological resilience.
Originality/value
In contrast to other studies, which have mainly applied the concepts of social or community resilience to investigate the resilience and vulnerability of rural areas, this study highlights the resilience of farms in mountain areas.
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Devrim Murat Yazan, Davide Cafagna, Luca Fraccascia, Martijn Mes, Pierpaolo Pontrandolfo and Henk Zijm
This paper aims to understand the implementation of a circular economic business where animal manure is used to produce biogas and alternative fertilizer in a regional network of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to understand the implementation of a circular economic business where animal manure is used to produce biogas and alternative fertilizer in a regional network of manure suppliers and biogas producers and to reveal the impacts of five variables (manure quantity, transportation distance, manure dry content, manure price and manure discharge price) on the economic sustainability of manure-based biogas supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
An enterprise input-output approach is used to model physical and monetary flows of the manure-based biogas supply chain. Computational experiments are performed on all variables to identify under which conditions the cooperation is beneficial for all actors.
Findings
The cooperation is profitable for a large-scale farm (>20,000 t/year) if biogas producer (b) pays farmer (f) to receive its manure (5 €/t) or if f sells manure for free and manure disposal costs are >10 €/t. Cooperation is always profitable for b if f pays b to supply its manure (5€/t). If b receives manure for free, benefits are always positive if b is a medium-large-scale plant (>20,000 t/year). For a small-scale plant, benefits are positive if manure dry content (MDC) is ≥12 per cent and transportation distance is ≤10 km.
Originality/value
The paper adds value to the biogas production research, as it makes holistic analysis of five variables which might change under different policy and geographical conditions. The investors in biogas production, suppliers and transportation companies can find correspondence to empirical findings for their own site-specific cases.
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Timothy Manyise, Domenico Dentoni and Jacques Trienekens
This paper aims to investigate the entrepreneurial behaviours exhibited by commercial smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe, focusing on their socio-economic characteristics, and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the entrepreneurial behaviours exhibited by commercial smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe, focusing on their socio-economic characteristics, and considers their implication for outcomes of livelihood resilience in a resource-constrained and turbulent rural context.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used survey data collected from 430 smallholder farmers in Masvingo province, Zimbabwe. Using a two-step cluster analysis, the study constructed a typology of farmers based on their entrepreneurial behaviour and socio-economic characteristics.
Findings
The results revealed that commercial smallholder farmers are heterogeneous in terms of their entrepreneurial behaviours. Four clusters were identified: non-entrepreneurial, goal-driven, means-driven and ambidextrous. Beyond their entrepreneurial behaviours, these clusters significantly differ in the socio-economic characterises (gender, age, education levels, farm size, proximity to the market and social connection) and farm performance (seasonal sales per hectare and farm income per hectare).
Research limitations/implications
The typology framework relating farmers’ entrepreneurial behaviours to their socio-economic characteristics and business performance is important to tailor and therefore improve the effectiveness of farmer entrepreneurship programmes and policies. In particular, tailoring farmer entrepreneurship education is crucial to distribute land, finance and market resources in purposive ways to promote a combination of smallholder farmers’ effectual and causal behaviours at an early stage of their farm ventures.
Originality/value
Researchers still know little about which farmers’ behaviours are entrepreneurial and how these behaviours manifest in action during their commercial farm activities. This research leverages effectuation and causation theory to unveil previously overlooked distinctions on farmers’ entrepreneurial behaviours, thereby enhancing a more grounded understanding of farmer entrepreneurship in a resource-constrained context.
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Arega Shumetie and Molla Alemayehu Yismaw
This study aims to examine the effect of climate variability on smallholders’ crop income and the determinants of indigenous adaptation strategies in three districts (Mieso…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effect of climate variability on smallholders’ crop income and the determinants of indigenous adaptation strategies in three districts (Mieso, Goba-koricha and Doba) of West Hararghe Zone of Ethiopia. These three districts are located in high-moisture-stress areas because of crop season rainfall variability.
Design/methodology/approach
Primary data collected from 400 sample households were used for identifying factors that affect households’ crop income. The study used ordinary least square (OLS) regression to examine the effect of climate variability. Given this, binary logit model was used to assess smallholders’ adaptation behavior. Finally, the study used multinomial logistic regression to identify determinants of smallholders’ indigenous adaptation strategies.
Findings
The OLS regression result shows that variability in rainfall during the cropping season has a significant and negative effect, and cropland and livestock level have a positive effect on farmers’ crop income. The multinomial logistic regression result reveals that households adopt hybrid crops (maize and sorghum) and dry-sowing adaptation strategies if there is shortage during the cropping season. Variability in rainfall at the time of sowing and the growing are main factors in the area’s crop production. Cropland increment has positive and significant effect on employing each adaptation strategy. The probability of adopting techniques such as water harvesting, hybrid seeds and dry sowing significantly reduces if a household has a large livestock.
Originality/value
The three districts are remote and accessibility is difficult without due support from institutions. Thus, this study was conducted on the basis of the primary data collected by the researchers after securing grant from Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).
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