Exploring the interconnections between climate, farming systems, and income: evidence from five African countries

National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) is a network project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) aiming to enhance resilience of Indian agriculture to climate change and climate vulnerability through strategic research and technology demonstration. Various climate smart technologies has been diffused amongst tribal farmers to mitigate climate changes in terms of very heavy rainfall, frequent and long dry spells, high humidity etc. The present study was thus, undertaken to assess the impact of the interventions of the climate resilient technologies introduced under the NICRA Project on farm productivity and income of the farmers. The total sample size consists of 160 farmers comprising of 80 participants farmers and 80 non-participants farmers from non-project area. The mean rice productivity of participant farmers (3315.56 kg/ha) was higher than that of the non-participant farmers (2395.32 kg/ha). The difference between the mean level of farm income of participant and non-participant farmers was Rs.37419.80. Findings, therefore, indicated that the project interventions had a significant positive impact on the farm income of the participant farmers.

Food security has remained topical over the period and Africa in among the world’s most food insecure regions. Several strategies have been adopted by rural dwellers to improve food security but the situation remains prevalent. One such approach is the adoption of income diversification strategies. This study assesses the effect of income diversification strategies of rice farmers on household food security in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region of Ghana with the use of a semi-structured questionnaires. The strategies of concern include ‘Rice income only’ (R); ‘Rice income plus other agricultural incomes’ (RA); ‘Rice income plus non-agricultural incomes’ (RN) and; ‘Rice income plus other agricultural and non-agricultural incomes’ (RAN). The ‘Rice income only’ (R) were those respondents that did not diversify in any way at all; they cultivated only rice The Multinomial Logit Model was used to estimate factors affecting the choice of income strategies. Being a household head, household size, employable skills and household food expenditure significantly affected choice of diversification. Respondents’ household food security was measured using the household dietary diversity score (HDDS). The mean HDDS was 5.81 indicating moderate food security. The Poisson Regression was used to model the effect of income diversification on food security. All the 3 diversification strategies had a positive and significant effect on food security. The study concluded that income diversification had a positive effect on food security and that attainment of high food security was associated with diversification into non-agricultural activities. The study recommends that farmer-field workshops should be organized periodically in the area to train farmers to equip them with non-farm skills so they can explore other opportunities outside of farming. Also, farmer awareness on the need for crop diversification and livestock production should be intensified in the area.

Livestock and feed water productivity in the mixed crop-livestock system

Direct and indirect impacts of crop–livestock organization on mixed crop–livestock systems sustainability: a model-based study

Purpose: This study examined the effect of farmers’ involvement in aquaculture cooperatives on rural households’ farm income in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Approach/Methodology/Design: The data were gathered through questionnaires administered to four hundred (400) rural fish farming households. The endogenous switching regression (ESR) technique was used to resolve the self-bias of variables selection. For robustness of the results, Heckman selection model was later used to assess the treatment impact while accounting for endogeneity bias resulting from selection on unobservable variables. The heterogeneous analysis was performed to examine the impacts of cooperative involvement on rural fish farming households’ farm income. Findings: Based on the ESR outcomes, the study found that households’ credit access, extension services accessed by household heads, educational attainment by household heads, and household size significantly influence cooperative members’ farm income. However, farm (pond) size, household heads’ age, and households’ farming experience had no significant impact on cooperative members’ farm income. Using the problem confrontation index, the cooperative aquaculture farmers claimed that the deployment of primitive tools, high post-harvest losses, unavailability of improved feeds, high costs of chemicals, and low yield were the most severe obstructions in fish production. In contrast, the study established that the topmost pressing constraints confronting the non-cooperative member farmers were the inaccessibility to credit facilities, low productivity, high post-harvest losses, unavailability of improved feeds, and high costs of chemicals. Originality/value: This study highlighted that technical training, credit access, market outlets, bargaining power, input supplies, and increased prices of their products were the benefits the members derived from their involvement in aquaculture cooperatives in the study area.

The European Union (EU) aims to increase the adoption of organic farming as part of its Farm to Fork Strategy. However, farmers face uncertain adoption outcomes linked with crop yields, production costs, labour requirements and ultimately farm income. Yet, comprehensive large-scale empirical evidence on the economics of organic crop farming in the EU is currently lacking. Therefore, this study assesses the economic implications of organic farming adoption in the EU using methods for treatment effect estimation in combination with a large-scale cross-country dataset. It consists of 151,560 non-organic and 10,531 organic farms from the European Farm Accountancy Data Network, covering seven different crop production farm types, 16 EU countries and 7 years. Our analysis specifically focuses on input costs (crop protection, fertiliser, total crop specific costs), as well as labour input (including contract work costs, and total and family labour inputs) and gross farm income on a per hectare basis. We find that organic farming is associated with significantly lower crop protection and fertiliser expenditures as well as total crop specific costs across all farming types, while contract work costs vary across farming types. We find only minor differences in farm-level labour inputs between organic and non-organic farms. Farm income is smaller for organic farms without subsidies but higher when accounting for subsidies. However, effects are highly heterogeneous across farm types and across space. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the economic implications of organic farming expansion within the EU. These insights can inform both practitioners and policy-makers, facilitating the achievement of regional organic farming targets.

Understanding the impact and adoption of conservation agriculture in Africa: A multi-scale analysis

Economic, social, and climatic conditions affect agricultural production. Those changes are relevant to the rainfed agricultural areas of the Mediterranean Belt, including Spain—the largest producer of olive oil in the world. However, little is known about the effect of the climate on olive production and farmer income. In this study, the correlation between changes in rainfall and total olive production was examined using a long-term dataset (28 years) on conventional rainfed production and tillage soil management. The dataset focused on different olive groves in the municipality of Bailén (Jaén, Andalusia) that have been owned by the same farmer since 1966. The province of Jaén is the region of Spain with the highest production of olive oil and the largest area of olive groves. The data included annual rainfall, production per plot and the price of olives. After calculating missing data to complete the rainfall series, pairwise correlation analysis with nonparametric Spearman's rank coefficients and principal component analysis were used to process the data. The results showed that higher production coincided with increased rainfall during August and December. Therefore, we concluded that the impact of rainfall on olive production is variable and depends on drought intensity and the monthly rainfall distribution. An economic study showed that farmer income was highly dependent on the seasonal distribution of the rainfall among other factors such as the price of olives. Farmer income was low during drought periods, indicating that rainfed agriculture is perceived by farmers as unsustainable due to the resulting highly variable income. This study could help to prevent risks to food security in the future. We recognise that other key factors have also been important influences on the fluctuations in olive production over the years, such as soil properties and plant status. However, cultivating olives without irrigation—depending only on the total rainfall amount and rainfall intensity to supply all of the water consumed by the plants—is very risky too. This research demonstrates that the subsistence of Mediterranean rainfed olive farmers can be highly dependent on the rainfall conditions.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the factors affecting the relative variability in farm and off‐farm income for Canadian farm operators.Design/methodology/approachVariability of farm and off‐farm income is analyzed using a dataset of 17,000 farm operators from 2001 to 2006. Relative ranking of the coefficients of variation (CV) for farm and off‐farm income are compared across farm types and are regressed against factors conditioning the variations.FindingsGreater reliance on farm income results in lower (greater) relative variability in farm (off‐farm) income. Larger commercial operations experience larger farm income volatility because they are less risk averse or they can manage more risk. Diversification and off‐farm employment appear to be risk management strategies for commercial operations.Research limitations/implicationsGovernment payments have a small, positive effect on farm and off‐farm income variability, indicating this support leads farmers to take on more risky activities and/or reduce the use of self‐insurance activities. Results could also be due to the lag between the time of the income reduction and the time in which the aid is received. Further research is necessary to decipher the effects of government support on farm decisions.Practical implicationsThe results on relative variation in the farm and off‐farm income across farm type raises questions about whether government programs should target specific operations.Originality/valueWhile income variation remains a focus of public policy, factors affecting its variability are not well‐understood. Studies have examined the level of farm income and the decision to participate in off‐farm employment but none has examined the variance in both income sources.

Identification of beef production farms in the Pampas and Campos area that stand out in economic and environmental performance

Income inequality of tribal households in Bangladesh: A decomposition analysis

The increased integration of the U.S. farm sector with the nonfarm sector, during the past decade, both domestically and internationally, led to significant implications for farm product prices, input costs, and farm income from developments in international and/or domestic economies. This is true, especially in light of the effects of exchange rates, interest rates, and inflation, all of which are influenced by macroeconomic policies and capital markets, on the farm sector. However, much of the literature in the area of macroeconomics of agriculture mainly focused on the linkage between exchange rates and agricultural commodity trade; relatively little attention has been given to other macrointerconnections such as interest rates, inflation, and income linkages;This study examines the interrelationships between the macrosector and agriculture by incorporating exchange rates, interest rates, inflation, and income linkages in a general equilibrium macroeconometric model. Using this model, the effects of changes in U.S. monetary policies on the U.S. farm sector (particularly on crop prices, livestock product prices, crop production and demand, exports, inventories, livestock production and demand, and farm incomes) are examined through these four linkages;Since the exchange rate is an important monetary factor that influences the agricultural commodity trade, in this study, the exchange rate is endogenized by following the monetary approach to exchange rate determination. The sample period of the study is 1950-1982. The estimated model has good statistical properties. In particular, all the coefficients related to the four macrolinkages are consistent with a priori expectations and, thus, provide evidence for the hypothesis that macroeconomic developments are very important for the hypothesis that macroeconomic developments are very important for U.S. agriculture;The results indicate that the effect of money supply changes on agricultural trade and prices would be magnified if a more complete set of linkages are specified rather than specifying only the exchange rate linkage. Furthermore, the simulation results show that an expansionary monetary policy has a positive impact on the farm sector, since such a policy increases the farm prices and income through the above-mentioned four linkages. On the other hand, a contractionary monetary policy has an adverse effect on the farm sector by decreasing farm prices and incomes.

CONTEXTIn Ethiopia, many agricultural interventions have been introduced for mixed farm types in different biophysical and socioeconomic conditions. The contribution of such interventions to multi-objectives at farm level and beyond remains unclear. OBJECTIVETo derive insights into interaction of multi-objectives on economic profit-, nutrition security-, and environmental performance that are relevant for improvement of farm household living income in Amhara, Ethiopia. METHODSFarmDESIGN model evaluated performance of four stylized medium- and small-scale farm types in a low (Lay Gayint)- and high (South Achefer)- potential district: LG-M, LG-S, SA-M and SA-S. Pareto-based multi-objective optimization was performed to maximize farm profit, livestock density, dietary energy and vitamin A yield, and minimize GHG and soil N losses. Further analysis resulted in 3–4 clusters per farm type with varied farm configurations. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSHigher dietary energy- and vitamin A- yield that meets household and Ethiopian society requirements increased synergistically with profit in three of the four farm type clusters, while LG-S clusters could only increase vitamin A yield substantially with profit. Only LG-M clusters intensified livestock by addition of 4–8 crossbred cows and 1–10 chickens, supported by imported feed and off-farm grazing but face strong environmental trade-offs of increased GHG and soil N losses. Chicken production (eggs and chicken meat) is an option to reduce environmental impact, increase profit and contribute to both human nutrition requirements. In LG-S, SA-M and SA-S farm type clusters, profit was generated mainly from sale of eucalyptus, maize, potato, carrot, finger millet, garlic, beetroot and banana, with eucalyptus accounting at least 35% of the crop profit. Livestock diversification in these clusters also contributed to farm revenue, but always to a smaller extent, due to relatively high management costs. A living income from farming activities was only achieved on SA-M3 as 3.96 USD/capita/day (+0.36 above the threshold). This cluster had a 2.90 ha land area, farm income almost equally generated from crop and livestock production, and successfully met all set objectives except maximizing livestock density. SIGNIFICANCEOur study infers the need to increase land area, expand poultry and rear crossbred cows, and cultivate high value crops to realize a living income solely from agricultural activities. For implementation, current land-use policies should support farm area expansion. The suggested agricultural options, which already align with current Ethiopian development plans, must utilize sustainable measures that will not lead to short- or long-term challenges as higher GHG and soil nutrient mining.

Desertification threatens 24% of the world's land area across 126 countries and affects 35% of the global population. However, mainstream global efforts to combat desertification prioritize short-term vegetation greening over addressing resource constraints and local livelihoods, posing hidden challenges to long-term Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) attainment. Here, we evaluated the socioeconomic trade-offs of China's long-standing desertification reversal strategies and explored the potential benefits of innovative agricultural practices using high-resolution suitability models for major crops and cultivated pasture. Compared with a no-intervention baseline, continuing the Grain-for-Green Program and grazing exclusion under projected 2023-2050 warming and wetting trends would lead to reductions of up to 54 to 55% in grain output, 81% in livestock production, and 61% in agricultural income. Conversely, strategies emphasizing pasture cultivation and crop switching could substantially lower national expenditures on combating desertification while restoring ecosystems, enhancing agricultural productivity and incomes, and conserving water resources. These benefits would contribute 0.7%, 9.8%, and 3.8% toward global progress on SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 2 (zero hunger), and SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), respectively, while exhibiting trade-offs across multiple SDGs. This study provides a reimagined strategy framework for combating global desertification and promoting sustainable development in vulnerable arid regions worldwide.

Average net farm income was $43,762 in 1999 for the 216 farms included in this annual report of the Southwestern Minnesota Farm Business Management Association. This is a large increase from the extremely low levels of 1998 and continues the historical pattern of large swings in farm income . Almost all of the increase can be attributed to the increases in the value of inventories and an average government payment of $44,674 in 1999. (Net farm income is an accrual measure calculated by subtracting total cash farm expense and depreciation from gross cash farm income and adjusting for changes in inventory items.) After subtracting an opportunity cost for equity capital, labor and management, earnings follow a similar but lower pattern. As in previous years, the actual profit levels experienced by individual farms vary greatly from the overall average profit. The high 20% of these farms had an average profit of $132,905 which is an increase from 1998. The low 20% of the farms had an average loss of -$16,562 in 1999 which is better than 1998. Average gross cash farm income in 1999 was $388,731. This was a 5% increase from 1998. Four sources of sales made up more than 70% of total income in 1999: corn, hogs, soybeans, and beef finishing. In 1998, these four sources also contributed about 70%. Soybean sales decreased 21% between 1998 and 1999. Hog sales increased by 6%; corn sales by 17%, and beef finishing by 45%. Government payments of all types increased to $44,674 per average farm in 1999--an increase from $30,021 in 1998 and $12,257 in 1997. As a percentage of total income, government payments were 11% in 1999, compared to 8% in 1998 and 3% in 1997. The average total government payments in 1999 include $11,031 from FAIR transition payments for the 1999 year; $168 for FAIR transition payments for the 2000 year but received in 1999; $11,555 for (emergency) market loss payments; $18,992 for loan deficiency payments (LDPs) for all crops; $423 for the conservation reserve program (CRP); and $2,504 for other payments. Cash expenses increased 6% to an average of $324,802 in 1999. As a percentage of both cash expenses and depreciation in 1999, feeder purchases; seed, fertilizer, and crop chemicals; feed expenses; land rent; and depreciation continue to dominate. Both the average rate of return on assets (ROA) and the rate of return to equity (ROE) increased substantially in 1999 compared to 1998. In 1999 ROA averaged 7% and ROE was just under 7% using assets valued on a cost basis. Using a market value basis, average total equity (of the 185 sole proprietors) was $544,539 at the end of 1999. This was an increase of $33,532 during the year. Average equity has continued to improve since 1986. The average debt-asset ratio remained unchanged at 49% at the end of 1999. Crop yields decreased slightly from the record levels in 1998 for the Association. The average corn yield was 156 bushels per acre; soybeans were at 45 bushels per acre. Results by Type of Farm The 216 farms in the report are classified as a certain type of farm (e.g., hog) on the basis of having 70 percent or more of their gross sales from that category. Using this 70 percent rule in 1999, there are 62 crop farms, 12 hog farms, 34 crop and hog farms, 6 beef farms, and 18 crop and beef farms. (There are 75 farms which do not have a single source (or pair of sources) of income over 70%.) Compared to 1998, all types of farms had better net farm incomes in 1999. A similar story can be seen in the rate of return to assets (ROA). (Assets are valued on a cost-basis for ROA). Using assets valued on a market basis, the average crop farm has a debt-to-asset ratio of 43% at the end of 1999. Farms with 70% of their income from either hogs or beef had an average debt-to-asset ratio of 55% or higher. The report provides additional information on profitability, liquidity, and solvency as well as other whole-farm information and detailed information on crop and livestock enterprises. Also reported are whole-farm financial condition and performance by county, sales size class, and type of farm.