Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Tropics and Subtropics (JARTS)
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Factors Affecting Farmers’ Decision to Enter Agricultural Cooperatives Using Random Utility Model in the South Eastern Anatolian Region of Turkey
Get PDFFarmers’ decision and perceptions to be a member of agricultural cooperatives in the South Eastern Anatolian Region were investigated. Factors affecting the probability of joining the agricultural cooperatives were determined using binary logit model. The model released that most of variables such as education, high communication, log of gross income, farm size, medium and high technology variables play important roles in determining the probability of entrance. Small farmers are likely expected to join the agricultural cooperatives than the wealthier farmers are. Small farmers may wish to benefit cash at hand, input subsidies, and services provided by the agricultural cooperatives since the risks associated with intensive high-returning crops are high. Some important factors playing pole role in abstention of farmers towards agricultural cooperatives are gross income and some social status variables. In addition, conservative or orthodox farmers are less likely to join agricultural cooperatives than moderate farmers are. We also found that the direct government farm credit programs mainly should be objected to providing farmers to better access to capital markets and creating the opportunity to use with allocation of capital inputs via using modern technology
A Profitability Analysis of Investment of Peach and Apple Growing in Turkey
Get PDFThis study was conducted to determine profitability and feasibility of fruit farms by investment analysis in Tokat - Turkey. The criteria of Net Present Value (NPV ), Cost-Benefit Ratio (CBR) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) were used for investment analysis. Three different discount rates (10%, 8% and 5%) were used to get the NPV and CBR for peach and apple. The NPV for peach were found to be positive (1113.6 /da; and 2156.2 /da; 805.4 /da). In addition to that, the CBR for peach were bigger than 1 (1.38; 1.43 and 1.51) and the CBR for apple were bigger than 1 (1.23; 1.27 and 1.33). The IRR for peach was 25.05 percent and 22.12 for apple. According to the results that were achieved by the study, it could be conducted that the investment is economically feasible. In the light of the findings of the present study, it can be perceived that the fruit farming can be one of the most important income sources for the farmers growing fruit in the research region in Turkey
Assessing Production Efficiency of Dairy Farms in Burdur Province, Turkey
Get PDFThis study finds that a sample of 132 dairy farmers located in Burdur Province, Turkey, are producing at a low level of production efficiency. Efficiency ranges from 24 percent to 94 percent, with the average being 50 percent. Eighty one percent of the variation in output among the sampled farmers is due to differences in their production efficiency. If a farmer with average efficiency improved efficiency to that of the most efficient farmer in the sample, then the average dairy farmer could realize a 47 percent saving in cost. Two statistically significant factors associated with the variation in production efficiency are identified: the type of feeding system used and herd size. Use of extension programs explained little of the variation in production efficiency
Gender and Rural Poverty in Myanmar: A Micro Level Study in the Dry Zone
Get PDFThe study investigates the poverty incidence, access to resources, and the factors influencing income of both male and female-headed households in the dry zone of Myanmar. A household survey was conducted in six villages with a sample of 220 households in 2003. The Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) method was applied in constructing the absolute poverty line. By applying the absolute poverty line of 252 Kyats per person per day, the female-headed households are more likely to be poor than the male-headed households with or without household size adjustment. Results of the regression analysis revealed that average per capita income of rural households is significantly influenced by 8 independent variables. They are: gender of household head, household size, land holding size, degraded land size, cattle heads, labour force, sources of income, and irrigation water. Moreover, the separate regression analyses were run for male and female-headed households. In addition to the some common significant variables (land, labour, cattle, degraded land, and household size), female-headed households’ income is significantly influenced by training attendance and schooling years of household head. In male-headed households, age of household head, number of income sources and irrigation water are highly linked with the average per capita income. The gender focus rural development strategies should be adopted for promoting the welfare status of both male and femaleheaded households in the dry zone
Influence of Cereal-Legume Rotation on Striga Control and Maize Grain Yield in Farmers’ Fields in the Northern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria
Get PDFOn-farm trials were conducted in 2001, 2002, and 2003 in the northern Guinea savanna of Nigeria to evaluate integrated Striga hermonthica control measures under farmermanaged conditions. These included intercropping a Striga-resistant maize variety with cowpea for 3 years and also cropping this maize in rotation with legume trap crops - soybean and cowpea for 1-2 two years. Intercropping Striga-tolerant maize variety, Acr. 97TZL Comp. 1-W, with cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) consistently reduced Striga infestation in maize relative to continuously cropped sole maize over the threeyear period. Maize grain yield was lower in the intercrop than in the sole maize plot probably due to competition from cowpea. However, because of the high value of cowpea in the intercrop, crop value for this system was higher than sole cropped maize. Legume-maize rotation reduced Striga infestation by 35% after one year of legumes in the rotation and by 76% after two years of legumes in the rotation. Soybean was more effective in reducing Striga infestation and also gave higher maize grain yield than cowpea. The rotation of these two legumes with maize had clear advantage over continuously cropped maize. Farmers should therefore be encouraged to adopt the introduction of grain legumes into the cereal cropping systems of the Nigerian savanna
Identification of Factors that Influence Technical Efficiency of Food Crop Production in West Africa: Empirical Evidence from Borno State, Nigeria
Get PDFThe objective of this study was to examine the determinants of food crop production and technical efficiency in the guinea savannas of Borno State, Nigeria. A stochastic frontier production function, using the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) technique was applied in the analysis of data collected from 1086 sample farmers in 2004. The MLE results reveal that farm size; fertilizer and hired labour are the major factors that are associated with changes in the output of food crops. The effect of land area on output is positive and the coefficient found to be significant (p = 0.01). Fertilizer and hired labour have positive effects on output and their coefficients are significant (p = 0.01). Mean farmers’ technical efficiency index was found to be 0.68. Farmer-specific efficiency factors, which comprise age, education, credit, extension and crop diversification, were found to be the significant factors that account for the observed variation in efficiency among the farmers. The implication of the study is that technical efficiency in food crop production could be increased by 32 percent through better use of available resources, given the current state of technology
Economic Assessment of Hazelnut Production and the Importance of Supply Management Approaches in Turkey
Get PDFTurkey is the worlds leading producer accounting for about 70% of world hazelnut supply. Hazelnut production is the single most important economic activity (monoculture) and income resource of rural households in the Black Sea Region. Hazelnut sector is supporting since 1962. However, due to inappropriate policies a stock problem has arisen in the sector. The Government has intervened to over production problem with various regulatory measures since 1989. However, results of supply response model showed that legal regulations have not any significant effect on reducing over production. Annual rate of increase of hazelnut production was calculated as 4.48%. And long term supply elasticity was found as 0.09 by Nerlove Model. The inelastic supply restricts the interventions on market by support price mechanism. However, high support prices and purchase guarantee keep farmers in hazelnut farming and encourage them to expand their production area. Monoculture is the most destructive factor which reduces all supply management initiatives. Government is both trying to keep farmers income at a certain level by high support prices, and also trying to apply supply control measures. This situation leads an intervention dilemma and creates a vicious cycle in hazelnut sector. Due to importance of Turkey in World hazelnut trade, it is necessary to solve over production problem in order to stabilize domestic and world prices. This research showed that the most effective way to supply control is to differentiate hazelnut farmers income sources in order to encourage them to reduce their production area
Population Levels of Indigenous Bradyrhizobia Nodulating Promiscuous Soybean in two Kenyan Soils of the Semi-arid and Semi-humid Agroecological Zones
Get PDFSoybeans grown in Africa have been selected to nodulate effectively with indigenous Bradyrhizobium spp. populations since Bradyrhizobium japonicum populations are considered absent or in very low numbers in African soils. The major objective of this study was to estimate total population of Bradyrhizobia specific to soybean in two agro-ecologically different study sites, Kiboko in Makueni District, Southeast Kenya (semi-arid to arid conditions) and Kaguru in Meru District, East Kenya (semi-humid climate) . The population of the indigenous rhizobia specific to soybeans was determined using the Most Probable Number (MPN) plant infection technique. In these experiments, the total Bradyrhizobia populations, the population sizes of taxonomically defined slow-growing Bradyrhizobia specific to soybean and the population sizes of Bradyrhizobia spp. specific to tropical Glycine Cross (TGx) varieties were determined for the two study sites. Cowpea, Vigna unguiculata, cultivar Ken Kunde I was used to estimate the total Bradyrhizobia spp. population. Clark soybean, Glycine max, was used to estimate the population sizes of taxonomically defined slow-growing Bradyrhizobia spp. specific to soybean while a TGx genotype, SB12-TGx1869-31E was used to determine the population sizes of Bradyrhizobia spp. specific to TGx varieties. The results of the MPN counts indicated that the total Bradyrhizobia population in Kiboko was between 2.59x104 and 1.89x105. The population size of taxonomically defined slowgrowing Bradyrhizobia in Kiboko was between 2.59x102 and 1.89x103 cells per gram of soil sample while the approximate Bradyrhizobia population specific to TGx genotype was between 7.81x102 and 5.67x103 cells per gram of soil. In Kaguru, the approximate total Bradyrhizobia population was between 1.04x102 and 7.56x103 cells per gram of soil. The population size of taxonomically defined slow-growing Bradyrhizobia was between 1.33x102 and 9.72x102 cells per gram of soil while the approximate Bradyrhizobia population specific toTGx genotype was between 2.37x102 and 1.73x103 per gram of soil. These populations were adequate to give satisfactory results on nodulation and nitrogen fixation in the two study sites
Estimation of Erosion Danger Lands of the Reclamation Fund in Georgia
Get PDFErosion danger of lands of the reclamation fund in Georgia was studied by means of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) (Wischmeier and Smith, 1978), which was modified in the Problem Lab of Soil Erosion and River Bed Processes of Moscow State University (Anonymous, 1982). By the investigation was established that average annual potential soil loss, which was counted by means of USLE, is 10,5 % less than real loss of soil. If for the calculation of the potential soil loss we use only rains which provoke soil erosion, the difference between real and counted soil losses is only 1.77 % i.e. exactness of soil erosion forecast increases 5-6 times
Crop Coefficient of Haricot Bean at Melkassa, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia
Get PDFCrop coefficient (Kc), the ratio of potential crop evapotranspiration to reference evapotranspiration, is an important parameter in irrigation planning and management. However, this information is not available for many important crops. A study was carried out at the experimental farm of Melkassa Agricultural Research Center of Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization, which is located in a semi arid climate. Four drainage type lysimeters were used to measure the daily evapotranspiration of haricot bean, Awash Melka variety on a clay loam soil. Crop coefficient was developed from measured crop evapotranspiration and reference evapotranspiration calculated using weather data. The measured values of crop coefficient for the crop were 0.34, 0.70, 1.01 and 0.68 during initial, development, mid-season and late-season stages. These locally determined values can be used by irrigation planners and mangers at Melkassa and other areas with similar agroecological conditions