1,721,093 research outputs found
From Guesstimates to GPStimates: Land Area Measurement and Implications for Agricultural Analysis
No full textDevelopment goals and poverty-reduction policies are often focused on raising agricultural productivity and dependent on farm household level data. Historically, household surveys commonly employed self-reported land area measurements for cost-effectiveness and convenience. However, as we illustrate here, these self-reported estimates may measure land with systematic error resulting in sizable biases. This has led to the increased use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and other modern technologies to measure land size. In this article, we compare self-reported (SR) and GPS land measurement to assess the differences between the measures, to identify the sources of differences, and to determine the implications of the different measures on agricultural analysis. The results from the analysis of data from four African countries indicate that SR land areas systematically differ from GPS land measures and that this difference leads to biased estimates of the relationship
between land and productivity and consistently low estimates of land inequality. Through the evidence and analysis presented here, we conclude that the more systematic use of GPS-measured land area will result in improved agricultural statistics and more accurate analysis of agricultural relationships, which will better inform future policy
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
is the impact sustainable?
No full textSince the late 1970s dramatic economic changes have taken place in the agricultural sector in the highlands of Guatemala. The introduction of new export crops, such as snow peas, broccoli, and miniature vegetables, has led to yet another agro-export boom. Unlike earlier booms, however, this one has included all but the smallest farmers. The high rate of smallholder participation in the boom, and the initial high profitability of nontraditional exports (NTXs), fueled initial optimism that NTX production could increase smallholders’ ability to accumulate land and so decrease the highly skewed distribution of land in Guatemala, a country with one of the most unequal landholding patterns in all of Latin America. The picture that emerges from the analysis in this paper raises serious questions about the sustainability and equity effects of NTX crop adoption among smallholders in the long run. Two main findings illustrate the problems besetting NTX crop production. First, the land accumulation rates of adopters have dropped dramatically in the 1990s. NTX crop adopters accumulated close to three times more land than non-adopters in the 1980s. Although adopters are still accumulating more land than non-adopters in the 1990s, the gap between the two groups has narrowed substantially. Second, smaller adopters are no longer accumulating land at higher rates than their larger counterparts. In the 1980s the landholdings of smaller adopters grew significantly faster than those of the larger adopters, but this trend reversed itself in the1990s. The advantages smallholders initially had in accumulating land may have been lost as a result of deteriorating agronomic conditions and volatile export markets.Non-PRIFPRI1FCN
Constructing samples for characterizing household food security and for monitoring and evaluating food security interventions: theoretical concerns and practical guidelines: Technical guide: strengthening the household food security and nutritional aspects of IFAD poverty alleviation projects: developing operational methodologies for project design and monitoring
No full textReliable information on household food security is a prerequisite for the accurate and effective design, monitoring, and evaluation of development projects. In part due to the commitment, on the part of many development agencies, to work in marginalized areas, this information is often either not available or grossly out-of-date. But collecting data is not a costless exercise. This guide discusses how random sampling techniques—methods that use some mechanism involving chance to determine which farms, households, or individuals are to be studied—can economize on the costs of gathering information while increasing the likelihood that it will be both accurate and available in a timely fashion
Technical guide: strengthening the household food security and nutritional aspects of IFAD poverty alleviation projects: developing operational methodologies for project design and monitoring
No full textReliable information on household food security is a prerequisite for the accurate and effective design, monitoring, and evaluation of development projects. In part due to the commitment, on the part of many development agencies, to work in marginalized areas, this information is often either not available or grossly out-of-date. But collecting data is not a costless exercise. This guide discusses how random sampling techniques—methods that use some mechanism involving chance to determine which farms, households, or individuals are to be studied—can economize on the costs of gathering information while increasing the likelihood that it will be both accurate and available in a timely fashion.Non-PRIFPRI1; MP18; TCSPFCN
Nontraditional crops and land accumulation among Guatemalan smallholders: is the impact sustainable?
No full textSince the late 1970s dramatic economic changes have taken place in the agricultural sector in the highlands of Guatemala. The introduction of new export crops, such as snow peas, broccoli, and miniature vegetables, has led to yet another agro-export boom. Unlike earlier booms, however, this one has included all but the smallest farmers. The high rate of smallholder participation in the boom, and the initial high profitability of nontraditional exports (NTXs), fueled initial optimism that NTX production could increase smallholders’ ability to accumulate land and so decrease the highly skewed distribution of land in Guatemala, a country with one of the most unequal landholding patterns in all of Latin America. The picture that emerges from the analysis in this paper raises serious questions about the sustainability and equity effects of NTX crop adoption among smallholders in the long run. Two main findings illustrate the problems besetting NTX crop production. First, the land accumulation rates of adopters have dropped dramatically in the 1990s. NTX crop adopters accumulated close to three times more land than non-adopters in the 1980s. Although adopters are still accumulating more land than non-adopters in the 1990s, the gap between the two groups has narrowed substantially. Second, smaller adopters are no longer accumulating land at higher rates than their larger counterparts. In the 1980s the landholdings of smaller adopters grew significantly faster than those of the larger adopters, but this trend reversed itself in the1990s. The advantages smallholders initially had in accumulating land may have been lost as a result of deteriorating agronomic conditions and volatile export markets
Nontraditional crops and land accumulation among Guatemalan smallholders: is the impact sustainable?
No full textSince the late 1970s dramatic economic changes have taken place in the agricultural sector in the highlands of Guatemala. The introduction of new export crops, such as snow peas, broccoli, and miniature vegetables, has led to yet another agro-export boom. Unlike earlier booms, however, this one has included all but the smallest farmers. The high rate of smallholder participation in the boom, and the initial high profitability of nontraditional exports (NTXs), fueled initial optimism that NTX production could increase smallholders’ ability to accumulate land and so decrease the highly skewed distribution of land in Guatemala, a country with one of the most unequal landholding patterns in all of Latin America. The picture that emerges from the analysis in this paper raises serious questions about the sustainability and equity effects of NTX crop adoption among smallholders in the long run. Two main findings illustrate the problems besetting NTX crop production. First, the land accumulation rates of adopters have dropped dramatically in the 1990s. NTX crop adopters accumulated close to three times more land than non-adopters in the 1980s. Although adopters are still accumulating more land than non-adopters in the 1990s, the gap between the two groups has narrowed substantially. Second, smaller adopters are no longer accumulating land at higher rates than their larger counterparts. In the 1980s the landholdings of smaller adopters grew significantly faster than those of the larger adopters, but this trend reversed itself in the1990s. The advantages smallholders initially had in accumulating land may have been lost as a result of deteriorating agronomic conditions and volatile export markets
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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