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1 – 10 of over 6000Yupal Shukla, Ramendra Singh, Prabhat Dwivedi and Ravi Chatterjee
The socioeconomically deprived segment called bottom of pyramid lives in extreme resource-constrained environments and is being excluded from having access to many services. This…
Abstract
Purpose
The socioeconomically deprived segment called bottom of pyramid lives in extreme resource-constrained environments and is being excluded from having access to many services. This study aims to investigate the role played by virtual engagement platforms in bringing well-being to base of the pyramid (BoP) customers. This study also uses transformative service research and service ecosystem-based approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses qualitative approach. Data was collected and analyzed through 16 in-depth interviews with BoP service actors.
Findings
Present study explains the role played by virtual engagement platforms as an intermediator between farmers and the service entity. Herein, it may be noted that the role of virtual platforms contributes to the well-being of the BoP community.
Originality/value
The authors’ research work broadens service organizations’ reach by better serving people in the BoP, which ultimately helps in removing unfairness and establishes service inclusion.
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Natchaya Thongrak, Surachai Chancharat and Ploypailin Kijkasiwat
Financial literacy can affect well-being. This chapter aims to assess financial literacy of farmers in Khon Kaen, Thailand. The chapter investigates the relationship between it…
Abstract
Financial literacy can affect well-being. This chapter aims to assess financial literacy of farmers in Khon Kaen, Thailand. The chapter investigates the relationship between it and the well-being of farmers. Data were collected from 354 farmers in the northeast of Thailand. The analysis adopts descriptive statistics and inferential statistics to test the Least Significant Difference as well as using multiple regression analysis. The results show that financial attitudes had a positive influence on the well-being of farmers, while financial behavior had a negative influence. Financial literacy influences the well-being of farmers differently, depending on personal characteristics such as education level, gender and monthly income.
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Xiaoqiang Ma, Jiaqi Wang, Ling Zhao and Jinmian Han
The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the effects of different dimensions of social capital on the well-being of farmers in China’s undeveloped poverty-stricken…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the effects of different dimensions of social capital on the well-being of farmers in China’s undeveloped poverty-stricken areas, and study the equivalent multiple of social capital and income compensation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper opted for an exploratory study using the open-ended approach of grounded theory, including 1,176 interviews with rural households in poverty-stricken areas in China. The data were complemented by documentary analysis. Then an econometric model of social capital and farmers’ well-being was applied to the data.
Findings
The results show that the number frequently visiting relatives, reciprocity, participation and trust level are significantly positively related to the well-being of the farmers, and the level of participation in social capital requires the most income compensation, while the level of trust comes second.
Originality/value
This paper can serve as a template for developing a useful tool that can be fitted to national or regional data for studying the effects of social capital on the well-being of farmers in poor areas or countries and for calculating the concrete equivalent multiple of social capital and income compensation.
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Cinzia Zinnanti, Attilio Coletta, Michele Torrigiani and Simone Severini
This study assesses the potential impact of the European Income Stabilization Tool (IST – a whole farm income risk management [RM] tool) within a farm cooperative specializing in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study assesses the potential impact of the European Income Stabilization Tool (IST – a whole farm income risk management [RM] tool) within a farm cooperative specializing in vineyards and operating in a small area of production. The authors assess the conditions under which IST could improve the well-being of the associated farmers and, at the same time, improve financial sustainability. Financial aspects are of particular relevance since the characteristics of the cooperative cause the management of the tool to become potentially risky.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis relies on a balanced panel dataset to report the production and economic characteristics of individual associated farms. This is the basis for simulating the implementation of the IST as described in the current European regulation. The expected utility approach is then used to assess the potential impact on farmers' well-being under different levels of risk aversion and premiums. The analysis of the IST annual cash flow allows for an accurate assessment of its financial sustainability.
Findings
The results suggest that the IST can improve farmers' well-being under plausible levels of risk aversion and premiums, making most farmers willing to support its implementation. Furthermore, the tool could be financially sustainable even if implemented in a specialized and geographically concentrated group of farms. In addition, the results suggest that the use of strategies such as the IST could help cope with negative annual balances by treating the financial sustainability of the fund.
Originality/value
The analysis adds to previous research on the IST by accounting for farmers' risk aversion. Furthermore, it is the first analysis that simulates the implementation of this tool in a sector-specific and concentrated group of farms. The results provide useful evidence for those subjects planning to implement the IST in small and specialized farming systems.
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Wanglin Ma, Puneet Vatsa, Xiaoshi Zhou and Hongyun Zheng
The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between farmers' happiness and farm productivity, taking maize production in China as an example.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between farmers' happiness and farm productivity, taking maize production in China as an example.
Design/methodology/approach
The conditional mixed process model is employed to account for the endogeneity that inevitably arises in regression models studying happiness and estimate the 2015 China Household Finance Survey data.
Findings
The empirical results show that a higher level of farmers' happiness is associated with higher maize productivity. The marginal return in maize productivity changes unevenly with increments in farmers' self-reported happiness on a five-point Likert scale. Farmers' happiness is positively determined by their age, educational level, farm size, machinery ownership, access to agricultural subsidy and car ownership. Machinery ownership and access to credit are two important factors that improve maize productivity.
Research limitations/implications
The finding suggests that promoting the subjective well-being of farmers is conducive to higher productivity and improved national food security. The results have implications for China and other developing countries aiming for sustainable agricultural development.
Originality/value
Firm-level data show that workers' happiness improves productivity. However, it is still unclear whether farmworkers' happiness affects farm productivity. Thus, this study provides the first empirical analysis of the impact of farmworkers' happiness on farm productivity.
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Martha Blanco, Felipe Montes, Felipe Borrero-Echeverry, Alfaima L. Solano-Blanco, Camilo Gomez, Paola Zuluaga, Hugo Fernando Rivera-Trujillo and Diego F. Rincon
This study aims to identify the most relevant causal factors and the feedback loops of the dynamics between Tuta absoluta incidence in tomato crops and farmers' reactions to the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify the most relevant causal factors and the feedback loops of the dynamics between Tuta absoluta incidence in tomato crops and farmers' reactions to the problem. The authors seek to develop a conceptual model based on farmers' know-how to address crop damage by T. absoluta at a local and regional levels in order to determine how to confront this problem in the tomato-growing region of Sáchica, Colombia.
Design/methodology/approach
Community-Based System Dynamics (CBSD) is a participatory research methodology in which a group of stakeholders identifies relevant variables and the cause-effect relations among them which are then arranged into a causal loop diagram. The authors implemented this methodology in a workshop, focused on the farmers' insights related to the pest situation at the local and regional level, to achieve a causal loop diagram that explained pest dynamics and their potential management.
Findings
The relevant factors for the presence of T. absoluta, seen in the causal loop diagram, vary regionally and locally. At the local level, the pest impacts tomato production, farmers' well-being and their cash flow, while at the regional level, it affects market dynamics and environment and promotes regional coordination among farmers. Farmers propose product innocuity as a key regional objective. They also proposed establishing a planting calendar and census of greenhouses to control the pest throughout the region and the tomato supply.
Research limitations/implications
First, the synthesized model could not be validated with the farmers due to the COVID 19 epidemic. However, the authors held sessions with experts to analyze each result. Second, decision-makers from the local government did not participate in the workshop. Nevertheless, the approach of the workshop was aimed at understanding the mental models of the farmers since they are the ones who decide how pests are managed. Finally, even though farmers showed interest in projects aimed at proposing area-wide, long-term and wide pest control strategies, there is a risk that they will not adopt the proposed changes, due to risk aversion.
Originality/value
CBSD has not been applied to agricultural systems to analyze impacts from pests at the local and regional levels. The results of this study contribute to designing future interventions for pest control in the region, along with the factors which may turn out to be “side effects” or unwanted results. To design pest control interventions at a regional level, a sound understanding of the variables or factors that control the system dynamics at various levels is required. This study represents the first step towards that end.
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Anjani Kumar, Smriti Verma, Sunil Saroj, Amit Mohan Prasad and Avinash Kishore
The Million Farmers School (MFS) program—also known as Kisan Pathshala was launched to impart training to the farmers by the government of the state of Uttar Pradesh (India) in…
Abstract
Purpose
The Million Farmers School (MFS) program—also known as Kisan Pathshala was launched to impart training to the farmers by the government of the state of Uttar Pradesh (India) in December 2017. This study estimates the impact of training on agricultural knowledge of the farmers.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on household survey conducted in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India, during March–May 2019. The authors employed matching methods, the two-stage least square (2SLS)-residual and endogenous switching regression approaches to control for selection bias and endogeneity.
Findings
The results suggest that knowledge outcomes are significantly better among participants vis-à-vis non-participants. The results are robust to different model specifications. Further, the benefits are observed across different regions and social groups.
Research limitations/implications
The MFS program can go a long way in enhancing agricultural know-how and the farmers' economic well-being, bringing a transformative change in the agricultural landscape of UP.
Originality/value
This study is based on a field survey data and analyzes various aspects of the program's impact, design and implementation, and offers implementation advice for greater efficacy in future.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the politics involved in local struggles against forestry extractivism. The forestry sector is dependent on vast areas of land for tree…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the politics involved in local struggles against forestry extractivism. The forestry sector is dependent on vast areas of land for tree plantations. This creates deep-rooted conflicts between global corporations that seek access to natural resources and locals whose way of life requires the use of the same land.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws on a political ontology frame of reference and storytelling methodology to build on testimonies of three small-scale farmers who actively seek to resist forestry plantations next to their land in rural Uruguay. The stories reveal the impossibilities they face when raising claims in the public political sphere and how they lack the means to organise strong collective resistance.
Findings
One of the testimonies reveals how the farmers engage in a form of “politics of place” (Escobar, 2001, 2008) to counter the power of the proponents of forestry and the further expansion of plantations. This form of politics strengthens and politicises the ontological difference between extractive and non-extractive worlds. The farmers seek to build new imaginations of rural living and sustainable futures without the presence of extractive corporations. They fulfil this aim by designing community projects that aim to revitalise ancient indigenous legends, set up agro-ecological farms, and teach schoolchildren about the environment.
Originality/value
The struggles of the farmers indicate the territorial transformations involved in (un)making (non)extractive places and the need to expand the analysis of the politics involved in struggles against extractivism beyond social struggles.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the dark side of supermarket-driven sustainable dairy supply chains. This paper raises questions about the unintended consequences of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the dark side of supermarket-driven sustainable dairy supply chains. This paper raises questions about the unintended consequences of implementing sustainable supply chain management in the dairy food supply chain. It critically questions whether unintended consequences were actually, anticipated, as the course of action taken by retailers reinforces the dominant profitability discourse.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a critical management studies approach, this paper challenges the dominant discourse to shed light on the social consequences of the win-win sustainable supply chain management in the dairy food supply chain. The focus of this paper is on the experiences of farmers, taking their viewpoint of sustainable supply chains rather than taking the perspective of the multinationals who have traditionally been the focus of supply chain management research (e.g. McCarthy et al., 2018; Quarshie et al., 2016).
Findings
The study illuminates how retailers have bolstered their dominant position through using sustainable supply chains to exert further control over their suppliers. The management of sustainable supply chains has been a further catalyst in economically and socially dividing rural communities and creating tensions between dairy farmers.
Originality/value
This paper uses an ethnographic study to provide in-depth stories of the changes that took place within one farming community. It exposes the hidden ways in which the introduction of a sustainable dairy supply chain has created social and economic division, further reducing the collective power of dairy farmers through creating a dual supply chain.
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Rent seeking is endemic to the process through which any policy or regulatory initiative is developed in the USA. The purpose of this paper is to show how farm and other interest…
Abstract
Purpose
Rent seeking is endemic to the process through which any policy or regulatory initiative is developed in the USA. The purpose of this paper is to show how farm and other interest groups have formed coalitions to benefit themselves at the expense of the federal government by examining the legislative history of the federal crop insurance program.
Design/methodology/approach
The federal crop insurance legislation and the way in which the USDA Risk Management Agency manages federal crop insurance program are replete with complex and subtle policy initiatives. Using a new theoretical framework, the study examines how, since 1980, three major legislative initiatives – the 1980 Federal Crop Insurance Act, the 1994 Crop Insurance Reform Act and the 2000 Agricultural Risk Protection Act – were designed to jointly benefit farm interest groups and the agricultural insurance industry, largely through increases in government subsidies.
Findings
Each of the three legislative initiatives examined here included provisions that, when considered individually, benefitted farmers and adversely affected the insurance industry, and vice versa. However, the joint effects of the multiple adjustments included in each of those legislative initiatives generated net benefits for both sets of interest groups. The evidence, therefore, indicates that coalitions formed between the farm and insurance lobbies to obtain policy changes that, when aggregated, benefited both groups, as well as banks with agricultural lending portfolios. However, those benefits came at an increasingly substantial cost to taxpayers through federal government subsidies.
Originality/value
This is the first analysis of the US federal crop insurance program to examine the issue of coalition formation.
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