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The purpose of the study is to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for major chemical fertilizers and revisit the fertilizer subsidy policy in Nepal.

We surveyed 619 households from six districts and assessed farmers’ WTP for urea, diammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MOP) during the fertilizer crisis. Our study elicited the WTP for fertilizers when fertilizers were not available on the market. A modified payment card approach was used to elicit farmers’ WTP.

The study found that farmers who buy fertilizer from agrodealers, buy from gray markets, have bank accounts, are willing to take a risk, have strong or medium economic conditions and incur higher travel costs have a higher WTP for fertilizers. Farmers in sampled areas, on average, are willing to pay 31 percent more for urea, 13 percent more for DAP and 19 percent more for MOP than the government recommended fertilizer price.

The design of the payment card and the estimation techniques used to fit the valuation function are likely to influence WTP.

Overall, literature on households’ WTP for fertilizers in developing countries is scarce. Our study contributes to the knowledge of WTP for fertilizers.

There is an urgent need to develop climate-smart agrosystems capable of mitigating climate change and adapting to its effects. Conventional agricultural practices prevail in Mauritius, whereby synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides are used. It should be noted that Mauritius remains a net-food importing developing country of staple food such as cereals and products, roots and tubers, pulses, oil crops, vegetables, fruits and meat (FAO, 2011). In Mauritius, the agricultural sector faces extreme weather conditions like drought or heavy rainfall. Moreover, to increase the crop yields, farmers tend to use 2.5 times the prescribed amount of fertilizers in their fields. These excess fertilizers are washed away during heavy rainfall and contaminate lakes and river waters. By using smart irrigation and fertilization system, a better management of soil water reserves for improved agricultural production can be implemented. Soil Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK) content, humidity, pH, conductivity and moisture data can be monitored through the cloud platform. The data will be processed at the level of the cloud and an appropriate mix of NPK and irrigation will be used to optimise the growth of the crops. Machine learning algorithms will be used for the control of the land drainage, fertilization and irrigation systems and real time data will be available through a mobile application for the whole system. This will contribute towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 2 (Zero Hunger), 11 (Sustainable cities and communities), 12 (Responsible consumption and production) and 15 (Life on Land). With this project, the yield of crops will be boosted, thus reducing the hunger rate (SDG 2). On top of that, this will encourage farmers to collect the waters and reduce fertilizer consumption thereafter sustaining the quality of the soil on which they are cultivating the crops, thereby increasing their yields (SDG 15).

This study aims to examine the effects of climate change and agricultural technologies on crop production in Vietnam for the period 1990–2018.

Several econometric techniques – such as the augmented Dickey–Fuller, Phillips–Perron, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test, variance decomposition method (VDM) and impulse response function (IRF) are used for the empirical analysis.

The results of the ARDL bounds test confirm the significant dynamic relationship among the variables under consideration, with a significance level of 1%. The primary findings indicate that the average annual temperature exerts a negative influence on crop yield, both in the short term and in the long term. The utilization of fertilizer has been found to augment crop productivity, whereas the application of pesticides has demonstrated the potential to raise crop production in the short term. Moreover, both the expansion of cultivated land and the utilization of energy resources have played significant roles in enhancing agricultural output across both in the short term and in the long term. Furthermore, the robustness outcomes also validate the statistical importance of the factors examined in the context of Vietnam.

This study provides persuasive evidence for policymakers to emphasize advancements in intensive agriculture as a means to mitigate the impacts of climate change. In the research, the authors use average annual temperature as a surrogate measure for climate change, while using fertilizer and pesticide usage as surrogate indicators for agricultural technologies. Future research can concentrate on the impact of ICT, climate change (specifically pertaining to maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation), and agricultural technological improvements that have an impact on cereal production.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine how climate change and technology effect crop output in Vietnam from 1990 to 2018. Various econometrics tools, such as ARDL modeling, VDM and IRF, are used for estimation.

The authors investigated cocoa farmers' access to subsidized fertilizer in Ghana and implications on productivity.

Primary data were sourced from 435 cocoa farmers. Cragg hurdle and two-step Tobit model with continuous endogenous regressors/covariates were applied for the drivers of cocoa farmers' participation in fertilizer subsidy programme and productivity. Propensity score matching (PSM), inverse-probability weights (IPW) and augmented inverse-probability weights (AIPW) were applied for productivity impact assessment of fertilizer subsidy.

All the farmers were aware of fertilizer subsidy for cocoa production in Ghana. Farmers became aware of fertilizer subsidy through extension officers, media and other farmers. Half of cocoa farmers benefitted from fertilizer subsidy. Averagely, cocoa farmers purchased 292 kg of subsidized fertilizer. Many socio-economic, farm-level characteristics and institutional factors determine cocoa farmers' participation in fertilizer subsidy programme, quantity of subsidized fertilizer obtained and productivity. Beneficiaries of fertilizer subsidy recorded higher cocoa productivity than non-beneficiaries. Hence, fertilizer subsidy for cocoa production in Ghana leads to a gain in productivity.

There should be more investments in fertilizer subsidy so that all cocoa farmers benefit and obtain the required quantities.

The authors provide new evidence on cocoa productivity gain or loss emanating from fertilizer subsidy by combining different impact assessment techniques for deeper analysis: PSM, IPW and AIPW.

The modernization of the agro-based industry has encouraged the application of inorganic fertilizers to increase productivity. However, such fertilizer emissions may pose harmful environmental effects in the long run. This study aims to empirically explore the matter by applying the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in the Indian agro-based industry.

The study builds two models considering nitrous oxide emission levels from inorganic (synthetic) and organic (manure) fertilizers to evaluate the safer option for the environment. The validity of an industry-specific EKC (IEKC) is tested for the models considering time series data from 1975 to 2019. Here, the autoregressive distributed lag model is applied for the 45 years long time series analysis to test the hypothesis with respect to inorganic and organic fertilizers emissions.

The existence of the IEKC is rejected by the inorganic fertilizer emissions model. Its U-shaped curve implies that applying such fertilizers will gradually cause degrading environmental effects. On the other hand, the organic fertilizer emissions model supports the existence of an inverted U-shaped IEKC. It proves that organic fertilizers are a better choice for safeguarding the environment in the long run.

Applying the EKC hypothesis on an industrial level can signify whether an industry worsens the environment in the long run. However, very few studies have explored such an application of the hypothesis in the past. Moreover, the literature could not find any previous study exploring the environmental effects of inorganic and organic fertilizers by analyzing the EKC hypothesis. The hypothesis can offer such insights with simplified empirical assessment.

This paper investigates constraints to yield enhancing technology adoptions, highlighting credit using data pooled from the first three waves of the Ethiopian socio-economic surveys.

Direct elicitation methodology is used to identify household's non-price credit rationing status. The panel selection model specified to examine causal effects of credit constraint on adoption variables allows us to tackle self-selection into adoptions and potential endogeneity of credit constraint while controlling for unobserved heterogeneity in both the selection and main equations.

Results show that about 54% of sample households face credit rationing, predominantly demand-side risk rationing. There is a negative association between measures of credit constraint status and adoption variables. The effect is stronger when the demand-side credit rationing is accounted for and when within household variation in credit constraint status overtime is considered as opposed to across constrained and unconstrained households.

Expanding physical access to institutional credit alone may not necessarily spur increased uptake of credit and instant investment by farm households. For a majority of them to take advantage of available credit and improved technology, interventions should also aim at minimizing downside risks.

This paper incorporates the role of downside risk in influencing farmer's decisions to uptake credits and subsequently his/her adoption behaviors. The researcher approached the topic by state-of-the-art method which allows obtaining more reliable results and hence more specific contributions to research and practice.

Upon completion of this case study, students are expected to be able to reflect on strategic industry sectors and the formulation of long-view public policies; understand some of the main biases that affect making decisions in environments of high uncertainty; and build and apply judgment models to support decision-making processes.

Motivated by recent international events responsible for causing supply shock and great volatility in the price of imported fertilizers, Brazil, which in 2022 was responsible for producing only 15% of all the fertilizer consumed by its agribusiness, ran against time by launching a new national fertilizer plan (PNF). The plan proposed to boost Brazil’s national fertilizer industry to fulfil a long-term vision of reducing the country’s external dependence by 2050. While awaiting the first results of the PNF, this case study casts the student participants in the role of Breno Castelães, chief advisor of the special secretariat for strategic affairs of the presidency of the republic, whose role is to recommend the country’s position in the face of external pressures to adopt international embargoes of Russian fertilizers because of its war with Ukraine.

This case study is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students of business administration and public management courses who want to deal with topics such as public policy, judgment and decision-making.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 10: Public sector management.

This article investigates the long-run impact of remittance inflows on agricultural productivity (AGP) in emerging Asian economies (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India, Nepal, Philippines, Pakistan, and Vietnam), employing a panel dataset from 2000 to 2018.

This study initially applies cross-sectional dependence (CSD), second-generation unit root, Pedroni, and Westerlund panel co-integration techniques. Next, it uses the augmented mean group (AMG) and common correlated effect mean group (CCEMG) methods to investigate the long-term impact of remittance inflows on AGP while controlling for several other important determinants of agricultural growth, such as cultivated area, fertilizers, temperature change, credit, and labor force.

The empirical findings are as follows: The results first revealed the existence of CSD and long-term co-integration between AGP and its determinants. Second, remittance inflows significantly boosted AGP, indicating that remittance inflows played a crucial role in improving AGP. Third, global warming (changes in temperature) negatively impacts AGP. Finally, additional critical elements, for instance, cultivated area, fertilizers, credit, and labor force, positively affect AGP.

This study suggests that policymakers of emerging Asian economies should develop an exclusive remittance-receiving system and introduce remittance investment products to utilize foreign funds and mitigate agricultural production risks effectively.

This is the first empirical examination of the long-term impact of remittance flows on agricultural output in emerging Asian economies. This study utilized robust estimation methods for panel data sets, such as the Pedroni, Westerlund, AMG, and CCEMG tests.

Due to the recent disruptions caused by COVID-19, global supply chains are stress tested. The affected supply chains have interfered with market tonnage prices for the yield of perishable products like mangoes that are highly dependent on their quality. This research, through empirical findings, thus determines and comprehends the factors influencing mango quality (size).

A framework is developed for finding the potential factors of quality building on the previous literature and studies on the available topic. The data collection included face-to-face interviews comprising 240 farmers, hired managers and preharvest contractors in India's Jangaon, Rangareddy and Yadadri Bhuvanagiri districts of Telangana state. The data analysis is done using multiple regression, and the outcomes form the basis of the design of the experiments model.

The empirical insights support that the quality of mango is affected by factors such as the number of picking cycles, the cost of fertilizer, the variety of fertilizers used, the variety of pesticides used and pesticide application frequency. The direct implications are the benefit to farmers in improving mango quality and maximizing profit per yield cycle.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first research that has specifically focused on holistically improving the quality(size) of mangoes.

The findings contribute to the perishable supply chain literature, specifically to the mango study, to comprehensively showcase the factors impacting the quality of mangoes and provide guidance to farmers regarding orchard practices.

Financial inclusion and digital finance go side by side and help enhance agricultural activities; however, the magnitude of digital financial services varies across countries. In line with this argument, this study aims to examine whether financial inclusion enhances agricultural participation and decompose the significance of the difference in determinants of agricultural participation between financially included – not financially included households and digital finance – no digital finance households.

This study uses Pakistan’s household integrated economic survey 2018/19 to test hypotheses. The logit model is used to examine the effect of financial inclusion on agriculture participation. Moreover, this study employs a nonlinear Fairlie Oaxaca Blinder technique to investigate the difference in determinants of agricultural participation.

This study reports that financial inclusion positively influences agricultural participation, meaning households may have access to financial services and participate in agricultural activities. The results suggest that the likelihood of participating in agriculture in households with mobiles and smartphones is higher. Moreover, household size, income, age, gender, education, urban, remittances from abroad, fertilizer, pesticides, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables are the significant determinants of agricultural participation. To distinguish the financially included – not financially included households’ gap, this study employs a nonlinear Fairlie Oaxaca Blinder decomposition and finds that differences in fertilizer explain the substantial gap in agricultural participation. Likewise, this study tests the digital finance – no digital finance gap and finds that the difference in fertilizer is a significant contributor, describing a considerable gap in agricultural participation.

Empirically identified that various factors cause agricultural participation including financial inclusion and digital finance. Regarding the research limitation, this study only considers a developing country to analyze the findings. However, for future research, scholars may consider some other countries to compare the results and identify their differences.

The accessibility of fertilizer can reduce the agricultural participation gap. However, increased income level, education and cotton and sugar production can also overcome the differences in agriculture participation between digital finance and no digital finance households.

This is the first study to decompose the difference in determinants of agricultural participation between financially and not financially included households.