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The purpose of this study was to examine socio-demographic factors influencing the use of mobile phones in accessing rice information on climate change adaptation by rain-fed farmers in Tanzania with reference to Morogoro region.

A cross-sectional research design was used to collect data from 400 randomly selected rain-fed rice farmers owning mobile phones. Semi-structured questionnaires were used for data collection in eight selected wards in two districts of Kilombero and Kilosa districts in Morogoro Region, Tanzania.

The findings of the study showed that the use of mobile phones to access rice information on climate change adaptation was statistically significantly influenced by respondents’ sex, age, education level, marital status, farm size, farming experience, radio ownership and off-farm incomes. Furthermore, the use of mobile phones in accessing rice information on climate change adaptation among the study districts was not statistically significant.

This paper provides practical recommendations on how to improve accessibility of rice information through mobile phones on climate change adaptation. Implementation of information delivery system to farmers using mobile phones without ascertaining farmers’ socio-demographic characteristics leads to resource underutilization.

The paper provides appropriate knowledge that is needed in improving access to information through mobile phones by Tanzanian farmers and in other communities in developing countries with the aid of the additional theoretical moderators of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology as the research findings suggest. Moderators’ variables have high influence on farmers’ use of mobile phones on accessing rice information on climate change adaptation.

This paper examines the performance of smallholder rice farms established using improved planting technologies – broadcasting, dibbling and transplanting – under different production systems – rain-fed and irrigation – in Ghana.

Using recent cross-sectional data of 200 smallholder rice farmers from the upper east region of Ghana, this study employed multinomial logit model and descriptive and inferential statistics for the analysis.

The results revealed that rice production under irrigation system contributes significantly to increasing farm productivity and profitability. Rice farmers who adopted dibbling and transplanting technologies under both irrigation and rain-fed production system obtained higher productivity and profitability than those who used broadcasting technology. Adoption of improved rice planting technologies by smallholder farmers is significantly influenced by education, farm size, improved rice varieties, sales outlets, hired labour and percentage of paddy sold.

The sample size is relatively small, even though findings are still very important in terms of policy formulation for improved smallholder farm performance in a developing country like Ghana.

This study calls for collaborative efforts by government, donor agencies and NGOs to establish irrigation facilities and/or expand existing ones, increase sensitization and dissemination of improved planting technologies, as well as intensify the input subsidy programme in Ghana.

To the best of the authors knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on farmers' choice of rice planting technologies under irrigation and rain-fed production systems, and how these technologies impact on smallholder farm performance in Ghana.

Even though many studies identify positive effects of contract farming (CF) on the livelihood of farmers, the use of CF as a tool to increase farm performance is unsettled debate. Information on CF is relatively not available in staple food chains. Theoretical considerations have shown that there are challenges in employing CF in staple food chains such as rice. With the increasing trend of rice CF in Ghana, it is very critical to establish its performance in rice production in Ghana. It is therefore imperative to analyse the impact of CF on the performance of smallholder rice farmers.

A survey was conducted where 350 rice farmers selected through a stratified sampling technique using structured questionnaires were interviewed. Descriptive and inferential statistics including stochastic frontier analyses and endogenous treatment effect regression were used to analyse the data.

The results from the endogenous treatment effect regression model show that CF improves rice farmers' technical, allocative and economic efficiencies by 21, 23 and 26%, respectively. Farm size and CF were identified as common factors influencing technical, allocative and economic efficiency measures of the farmers positively. It further identified age of farmer, educational level and household labour as factors influencing farmers' participation in CF positively.

It is recommended that CF is a good tool to enhance rice production efficiency, and hence, farmers should be encouraged to participate in CF as strategy to enhance the local rice production in Ghana.

The outcome of this study has the potential to influence rice production in the country. The country is a net importer of rice and just about 35% self-sufficient in rice production.

This study is the first to assess performance of CF in rice crop production in Ghana and also one of the few to use efficiency as a performance measure.

The purpose of this study is to estimate the profitability of rice production for irrigated and rain-fed farmers; determine the factors that influence farmers' decision to participate in irrigation and the impact of irrigation on rice farmers' profitability in northern Ghana.

Using cross-sectional data collected from 543 rice farmers in northern Ghana, the study employed both non-parametric (cost benefit analysis) and parametric (endogenous switching regression) approaches to analyse the data.

The empirical results reveal a significant difference between the profits of irrigated (GHS 2442.30) and rain-fed farmers (GHS 576.20), as well as the cost-benefit ratios between irrigators (2.53) and rain-fed farmers (1.37). Also, participation in irrigation was found to be influenced by relatively small farm size and off-farm income; while profitability was influenced by membership in a farmer-based organization, access to agricultural extension services and perception of decreasing rainfall intensity. Irrigation also had a positive significant net impact on profitability of rice production.

The results provide justification for development partners and the government of Ghana through the “one-village-one-dam” policy, to invest in irrigation in northern Ghana in order to improve household welfare as well as build resilience for sustainable production systems.

This study is the first of its kind to provide a robust analysis of the difference in profits of rain-fed and irrigated rice farmers while estimating the determinants of Ghanaian farmers' choice of either of the regimes within a bias-corrected framework.

This study assessed the heterogeneous impact of the Anchor Borrower Program (ABP) on the welfare distribution of rice farming households in Nigeria.

Self-selection bias and treatment endogeneity were accounted for by employing the Instrumental Variable Quantile Regression (IVQR) model. The estimates obtained from the IVQR model were further compared with those from the conventional quantile regression, and quantile regression using Propensity Score Matching. This was to highlight the extent to which endogeneity bias has been purged from the treatment, in order to establish a consistent causal link between participation in the ABP and the welfare of a cross-section of rice farming households.

ABP farmers had significantly higher rice yields across all quantiles of the yield distribution under treatment exogeneity assumption, and in only two quantiles upon controlling for observable confounders. However, this yield gain did not translate to higher Per capita Consumption Expenditure (PCE). The estimates of the more robust IVQR model provided further evidence that the rice yield and PCE of ABP farmers are not statistically different from that of non-ABP farmers across all quantiles of the welfare distribution.

The negligible impact of ABP was relatively higher for lower-yielding households. Thus, implying that, although the ABP is a pro-poor development intervention, the program has not been sufficiently implemented to significantly improve the welfare of the dominant resource-poor farming households in Nigeria.

This study assessed the impact of ABP beyond the conventional potential mean outcome framework by accounting for heterogeneity in treatment effect.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-02-2023-0083

The study aims to examine the impact of farmers’ actual adaptations on rice yields in the upland areas of Yunnan province, China.

The paper employs the simultaneous equations model with endogenous switching to investigate the different effects of adaptation strategies on rice yields achieved by adopters and nonadopters based on the cross-sectional data at farm level.

The results show that farmers’ access to government agricultural extension services significantly encourages rice farmers to make the adjustments in farm managements. The authors find that the adaptation strategies employed by farmers significantly increase rice yields. Adaptations adopted by upland farmers increase rice yields for both adopters and nonadopters, particularly for the nonadopters.

This paper contributes to the existing literature by focusing on farmers’ adaptation strategies to climate change in uplands of Yunnan using the primary household survey data. The results show the effectiveness of farmers’ adaptation adoptions on rice yields in uplands of Yunnan province.

Due to rapid urbanization, rice consumption in Togo has also rapidly increased. Most consumers prefer imported rice over domestically produced rice due to the higher quality of the imported rice. The purpose of this paper is to show that it is possible to upgrade the quality of Togo’s domestically produced rice by providing technical and management support in the form of contract farming.

Cross-sectional data were collected using a multi-stage sampling technique. An endogenous switching regression model was used for data analysis.

The results show that by participating in contract farming, paddy rice quality was upgraded from Grade IV (poor quality) to Grade I (premium quality). The factors influencing this upgrade in the quality of paddy rice grown through contract farming are: the number of extension visits to the farmer, the mode of threshing used by the farmer, and the agro-ecological zone of the farmer.

The data for this study are limited to one country, Togo and this may have implications for generalizing the results for other countries.

This study is original research that contributes to an improved understanding of the impacts of contract farming on the quality of agricultural products produced in developing and emerging economies.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and compare the profit efficiency of custom and self-farming methods of rice production in Taiwan.

This study examines the nature and extent of the profitability and profit efficiency of custom and self-farming based on a farm survey in Taiwan. Furthermore, it estimates the stochastic profit frontier to measure the degree of inefficiency and analyze the determinants of these inefficiencies.

The profitability and profit efficiency of custom farming are lower than for self-farming, and the differences in profitability are more significant for large rice farmers. The estimation results show that the custom farming area and the farmer’s age decrease efficiency and, regardless of the farming style used, larger farms have higher profit efficiency.

This study’s findings show that self-farming is more favorable than custom farming for profit efficiency. This study examined this problem by conducting a regression adjustment for explanatory variables, but did not remove all self-selection bias, which may occur between profit efficiency and the choice of farming system.

Previous studies that measured the efficiency of rice farming often considered cost efficiency by the cost function, and ignored the increased profit from producing high-quality rice. This study used a one-step estimation of the profit frontier function to measure the degree of inefficiency and analyze the determinants of this inefficiency.

Since the end of the latest rice-pledging scheme, Thai rice farmers have had more freedom in selecting marketing channels. Understanding the determinants of farmers' decision-making associated with these channels is of particular interest to multiple stakeholders in the rice value chain. This study aims to examine how economic, relational and psychological factors concurrently underpin Thai rice farmers' decision-making and influence their marketing channel choice.

Drawing on the theory of reasoned action and utility maximization of farmers’ decision making, this study used structural equation modeling to examine data collected from a nationwide sample of Thai rice farmers (n = 637), focusing on their past and intentional use of the three major marketing channels for paddy rice.

The determinants identified include four direct independent variables: attitude, subjective norm (social referents), transaction conditions and economic goals, and two indirect independent variables: past behavior and trust. Multi-group analysis suggests that rice co-operative users were more empowered to consider economic goals and attitude toward the channel, whilst rice miller and local collector users were more likely to be influenced by their social referents and the transaction conditions offered by the channel.

The findings highlight the need for policy to address trust and transparency issues with intermediaries and to empower farmers through the improvement of market access.

The study makes a unique and substantive contribution to the knowledge of farmers' decision-making about marketing channel choice in Thailand and theoretically contributes to the indirect role of past behavior in predicting prospective intention.

Rice is staple food for Bangladeshi people. Although rice markets were liberalized in 1992, the government continued to intervene in this sector. This study examines the farmers’ and private traders’ response in liberalized rice marketing system in two regions. 40 farmers and 20 traders were interviewed by using a structural questionnaire for collecting the necessary information. The liberalization of the rice market, in particular, has been embraced more by the private traders then by the farmers. Although there has been a rapid emergence of private traders, the emergence of a vibrant trading sector that would fill the gap left by the state has been slow. The rice market is segmented with the private traders supplying different market circuits. Farmers on the other have not responded positively due to the lack of capital, lack of storage facilities, lack of market information, dominance of intermediaries and low price during the harvest period. Most of the farmers are unwilling to expand their acreage due to the family requirements of other crops. In rural remote areas where the road infrastructure is poor, private sector marketing activities have not yet emerged. Thus government can foster private participation and market integration by improving the road and storage infrastructure. Furthermore, government needs to take measures that strengthen the agricultural price and marketing information system targeted at both farmers and traders.