Description: Title: Examining Returns to Scale in Smallholder Dairy Farms in East Africa Authors: Gelan, Ayele; Muriithi, Beatrice W. Abstract: The study examined returns to scale in 371 dairy farms sampled from different districts in East Africa. First, data envelopment analysis (DEA) was applied to obtain three types of returns to scale – constant returns (CRS), variable returns (VRS) and increasing returns to scale (IRS). This revealed that 80 percent of the farms were scale inefficient. We find inverse relationship between scale efficiency and their size (measured in tropical livestock units), implying that the prevailing farm inefficiencies were not due to their small size but other farm resource constraints. Second, econo-metric analysis was conducted to explain differences among the farms across the three cases of returns to scale. Zero-grazing emerged as the most important determinant of farm efficiency. The scale efficiency based model fits the data better than the alternative CRS and VRS based econometric models.

Description: Title: Characterization and Assessment of Vegetable Production and Marketing Systems in the Humid Tropics of Ethiopia Authors: Emana, Bezabih; Afari-Sefa, Victor; Dinssa, Fekadu F.; Ayana, Amsalu; Balemi, Tesfaye; Temesgen, Milkessa Abstract: Vegetables are sources of vitamins, minerals and income for those involved in production and marketing. Having first-hand information about vegetable production and marketing system is essential to devise appropriate strategies aimed at enhancing vegetable value chain development. It was in line with this view that a study was conducted to characterize vegetable production and marketing systems at selected sites in the humid tropics of Ethiopia. Data were collected using participatory primary survey techniques augmented with secondary data. While the area cultivated to vegetables has been increasing over the years due to increasing consumer demand, average yields are far below potential. Major vegetable production and marketing constraints include: lack of access to improved variety seeds, high postharvest losses, lack of reliable market information systems, low bargaining power of farmers, low technological know-how for value chain development and upgrading, all indicating critical areas of intervention. Increasing public awareness the nutritional importance of vegetables will critically help in reducing malnutrition while increasing smallholder household income.

Description: Title: Technical Efficiency in Producing Cashew Nuts in Benin’s Savanna Zone, West Africa Authors: Degla, Pamphile Abstract: In Benin, cashew nut represents the second major cash crop after the cotton. It is, therefore, an important source of income in rural areas. Accordingly, we investigated in this paper, the technical efficiency of producers in the management of their cashew orchards. Data were collected on 180 randomly selected producers, in the Central and Northern parts of Benin. We adopted a Cobb-Douglas functional form to estimate a production function using a stochastic production frontier approach. Results show that the cashew nut production in Central and Northern Benin was not optimal. The average technical efficiency score of cashew nut producers was to 0.63 (minimum 0.10, maximum 0.88) with a modal class of [0.70–0.80]. According to these results, the cashew nuts production system in the current settings is very extensive and could be improved through intensive use of labor and capital.

Description: Title: What Determines Adoption of Fertilizers among Rice-Producing Households in Northern Ghana? Authors: Wiredu, Alexander Nimo; Zeller, Manfred; Diagne, Aliou Abstract: Fertilizers remain important in global food production, yet fertilizer application rates in sub-Saharan Africa are far below global average. This study examines determinants of adoption of fertilizers in general and an important fertilizer combination among 820 rice-producing households in northern Ghana. Overall, nearly 67% of rice-producing households use fertilizer. The combination of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK), and ammonium (NH4) fertilizers is the most popular with about 44% adoption incidence rate. Results from Cragg’s two-step regression models show that different sets of factors affect the probability and intensity of adoption. The sets of factors also vary when fertilizer adoption in general is compared to the combination of NPK and NH4 fertilizers. The decisions also vary when whole farm operation is compared to specific farm enterprise. The factors that are found to be important in determining adoption include participation in a fertilizer subsidy program and expectation about yields. Good agricultural practices including, drilling of seeds, and harrowing of fields are also shown to be important determinants of fertilizer adoption. Effective adoption of the combination of NPK and NH4 fertilizers in particular can be achieved by enhancing access to information that will expose farm households to the benefits of these practices and also of complementary technologies such as improved seeds.

Description: Title: Explaining Marketing Strategies among Bolivian Potato Farmers Authors: Larochelle, Catherine; Alwang, Jeffrey Abstract: Improving market access and promoting participation in more lucrative markets among semi-subsistence farming households is crucial for poverty alleviation. This paper analyzes joint decisions about market participation and market choices among Bolivian potato farmers. First, stochastic dominance analysis is used to identify market choices that have high pay-off and limited risk; these are referred to as optimal marketing strategies. Second, a system of equations is estimated to identify factors contributing or restricting market entry, volume sold, and adoption of optimal market-ing strategies. Proportional and fixed transaction costs reduce income-generating opportunities associated with markets for all three dimensions considered in this study. Our analysis also suggests the possible existence of poverty traps since fetching higher price requires liquidity and high volume, while land and farm equipment are needed to achieve necessary volumes of production.

Description: Title: Adoption and Outcomes of Hybrid Maize in the Marginal Areas of India Authors: Raghu, Prabhakaran T.; Erenstein, Olaf; Böber, Christian; Krishna, Vijesh V. Abstract: Smallholder maize cultivation is prevalent in the marginal areas of India, under diverse agro-climatic conditions. Abiotic stress tolerant maize cultivars are expected to be highly beneficial in reducing the production risks and enhancing farmer livelihoods, especially in the face of climate change. Nevertheless, the adoption and production risk implications of any of the crop varietal technologies in the marginal areas of India have not been widely examined. In this paper, we analyse the case of hybrid maize adoption, using data from a survey of 340 maize-growing households from three stressprone regions in India. Hybrid maize adoption varies from 33% to 99% in these locations. A probit model is used to assess the factors determining adoption. The outcomes of hybrid maize adoption are examined in terms of yield and profitability, employing mean-variance analysis. We find a clear superiority of the hybrid technology with respect to yield enhancement, per-unit cost reduction and risk reduction only in one of the study locations. Our findings indicate significant economic potentials for developing abiotic stress tolerant maize cultivars for India’s marginal environments.

Description: Title: Welfare Impacts of Modern Peanut Varieties in China Authors: Huang, Wu; Zeng, Di; Zhou, Shudong Abstract: This article provides some first evidence of the welfare impacts of modern peanut varieties in China using a nationally representative survey. Propensity score matching is employed to address the choice nature of adoption and identify its impacts on peanut yield and multiple sources of income. Impact on income inequality is further simulated by comparing inequality measures using observed and counterfactual income distri-butions. It is found that adoption of modern peanut varieties significantly boosts peanut income and total household income, but increases income inequality. There-fore, household-level welfare improvement with agricultural technology adoption may not meet the governmental goals such as inequality reduction, and complementary policies are called for.

Description: Title: The Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture in Historical Perspective Authors: von Braun, Joachim; Börner, Jan

Description: Title: Adoption and Impact of Black Pepper Certification in India Authors: Parvathi, Priyanka; Waibel, Hermann Abstract: This paper analyses the adoption of organic farming under fair trade marketing practices and its impact on household income of black pepper (piper nigrum) farmers in India. We use a set of panel data, collected from 300 smallholder farmers who plant black pepper as their main crop in 2010 and 2011.The aim of the paper is to investigate the use of panel data for adoption models using the case of organic and fair trade certified black pepper in Idukki district, Kerala, India. We compare two adoption models: (i) a multinomial cross-section logit applied for both survey years separately and (ii) a panel multinomial random effects logit model. The panel adoption model which allows capturing unobserved heterogeneity in adoption decisions was found to be superior over the cross section models. We find that farm size and market distance are the major factors that influence adoption. To measure the differential gain of adop-tion, we applied propensity score matching with multiple treatment effects accompanied by sensitivity analysis to test robustness of impact results. Results show that certified organic farmers have a significantly higher income but participation in fair trade regimes does not generate additional monetary benefits.