Analysis Of Farmers Research Articles

The Role of Indigenous Land Classification and Management Practices in Sustaining Land Use System in the Semi-Arid Zone of Nigeria

ABSTRACT This study describes the traditional land classification and management strategies employed by farmers and their role in the sustainability of the land use system in the semi-arid zone of Nigeria. One hundred and seventy farmers were selected through a combination of simple and systematic random sampling techniques. Discussions were held with them using a structured interview guide. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study shows that farmers classify their farmlands on the basis of distance from the village and in terms of water supply. The karakara (homestead farm land) surrounds the village, usually more manured, under permanent cultivation and more frequently used for mixed cropping. The gona daji (bush land) is far from the village, not farmed permanently, and less frequently used for mixed cropping. The fadama (wet land) is a low-lying seasonally inundated farm land. It is usually cultivated all year round, sometimes with supplementary irrigation during the dry season. The gona tudu (rain fed land) is upland farm cultivable only during the rainy season. In terms of management there is considerable overlap between the gona tudu, gona daji and the karakara and this is often affected by farmers perceived soil fertility status, type of crops grown on the land, and available resources. The study concludes with recommendations including in-depth study and analysis of farmers' practices which would lead to better targeting of research and extension activities.

The survival of archaeological monuments: Trends and attitudes

This paper describes a Study in two parts. The first records the percentage of archaeological monuments destroyed in a pilot area in county Meath over a quarter of a century from 1969 until 1995. The second presents an analysis of farmers' altitudes to archaeological features, and their knowledge of the legal issues relating lo archaeology on the farm. The first part of the study points to a major and accelerating problem. The second, by highlighting differences between farming sub-groups, has the potential to indicate how the problem might be addressed.

Farmer Preferences and Market Values of Cattle Breeds of West and Central Africa

ABSTRACT World agriculture is based on a small number of animal species and a decreasing number of breeds within each species. Several breeds of West African shorthorn cattle (Bos taurus brachyceros) are now at high risk of extinction due to interbreeding. The West African shorthorn breeds are particularly important resources because of their superior abilities to resist diseases, particularly trypanosomosis, and be productive under high humidity, heat stress, water restriction and with poor quality feed. A study was undertaken in the derived savanna area of southwest Nigeria to determine the prospects for conservation through use and possible improvement of the Muturu, a West African shorthorn breed known to be in decline throughout southern Nigeria. An analysis of farmers' breeding practices and breed preferences confirmed a strong trend away from Muturu and identified the traits farmers find least desirable about the Muturu relative to other breeds. An analysis of cattle market prices found small, but significant, price differences by breed. The best hopes for increased utilization likely in other areas of West Africa, such as southeast Nigeria, where the Muturu is better suited to the farming systems and there is a large market for this breed.

Free trade and deregulated domestic markets: Attitudes of commercial farmers in KwaZulu-Natal

This study analyses farmers' attitudes towards free trade and deregulated domestic product and input markets using a survey conducted in 1996 among 112 commercial farmers in KwaZulu-Natal. Most respondents were in favour of liberalised trade and deregulated domestic markets, but expected a decline in product prices, farm profits and land values. Logit analyses of farmers' personal and business characteristics that influence their attitudes towards free trade and deregulated domestic markets were conducted. Results indicate that improved information on risk management practices and import tariff levels may help commercial farmers to adapt to a changing economic environment and reduce resistance to free trade.

Landcare GIS: Evaluating Land Management Programs in Australia.

Land degradation in Australia is a persistent national problem. Australian governments, in partnership with community groups, are addressing land degradation through initiatives such as the Decade of Landcare Plan and the National Landcare Program (NLP). The NLP has funded over 3500 projects, through various sub-programs since the start of the Decade of Landcare in 1990. The Commonwealth Government is currently evaluating these programs as Australia enters the middle of the decade. To assist this evaluation, the Bureau of Resource Sciences has developed a spatial information system - LANDCARE GIS - to provide an integrated analytical approach. LANDCARE GIS has been used to identify and analyse the spatial relationships between the NLP, land resource condition and land use practices. It presently contains five main categories of data including: details of projects; national and State surveys of land condition; State surveys of landcare groups; surveys of landcare and land management practices; and other resource, biophysical and socio-economic data. LANDCARE GIS is one of the first examples of spatial information technology developed for the evaluation of Australian Government programs and policies. It is able to provide information on the effectiveness of programs and on the strategic allocation of resources within priority areas. A preliminary assessment of landcare activities is described, including (i) descriptions of NLP activities, (ii) the extent to which the NLP is targeting land degradation problems, (iii) a comparison of landcare and non-landcare farmer management practices, and (iv) an analysis of farmers' perceptions of land degradation. Many Australian Government departments are now adding geographic information systems (GIS) to their management 'tool kits'.

Efficacité privée et publique de la gestion du risque phytosanitaire : le rôle de l'information

The analysis of farmers' phytosanitary information use requires the specification of information as an input that is produced and used on the farm. The information input is assumed to consist in a signal that is correlated with (future) pest infestation of the farmers' fields. This signal is received by farmers before they choose their pest applications. The quality of information is measured by the accuracy of the signal in predicting the actual infestation. Using this approach it is easily shown that farmers' attitude toward risk, information quality and pesticide application costs play crucial roles in farmers' crop protection decisions. In order to study farmers' information use decisions we also consider the production cost of this input for farmers. Within this framework, although they appear inefficient from a public standpoint, it is assumed that systematic pesticide applications may be chosen by economically efficient farmers. Showing that the information production cost is likely to be high for a large part of French farmers' population we conclude that this cost is likely to be one of the most determinant factor explaining the current use of systematic pesticide applications by French farmers. Despite their weaknesses, the models developed in this paper provide some guidelines for pesticide use reduction policy design. Within the current European economic context, the use of information relative to pest infestation should result in a decrease in farmers' pesticide uses. This result is, to a large extent, supported by the fact that pesticides appear relatively cheap. As a consequence, the implementation of instruments aimed at the promotion of the use of phytosanitary information could be used as a policy intended to decrease farmers' pesticide applications. However, the promotion of information use can only be viewed as a medium or long term policy. Infortnation use by farmers requires adjustments in quasi-fixed factors (human capital, labour) and/or structural adjustments (creations of public or private firms producing expertise services). It is also shown that farmers' willingness to pay for phytosanitary information is an increasing function of pest application costs. This result implies that farmers' pesticide demand elasticity could be important (in absolute value) in the long run, i.e. due to adjustments in information uses. It also implies that a tax on the price of pesticide would strengthen the effects of policies aimed at reducing the information production costs for farmers.

An Analysis of farmers' Policy Attitudes and Preferences for Free Trade

AbstractThis study evaluates the attitudes of U.S. (Kansas) farmers regarding “free-trade” and “free-market” policy environments. In contrast to earlier studies, non-specific policy attitudes are evaluated. A direct measure of farm program benefits is also included. Attitudes vary significantly with farm and operator characteristics. Support for free trade was shown to decrease with education and experience, to increase for farms with relatively more rented land, and to increase as total farm wealth increased. Support for free-trade was also higher for crop farms. Farms receiving more government payments are less likely to favor a free-trade policy environment.

Towards sustainable management of natural ecosystems on farms? a New Zealand perspective

Abstract Many New Zealand farms still have large remnant indigenous forest patches. This paper discusses constraints and opportunities for the sustainable management of these remnants. First, the paper analyses why the specific ecological situation of the New Zealand vegetation poses severe constraints for sustainable management. Second, results from a case study are presented suggesting that analysis of farmers’ attitudes to remnant ecosystems might provide valuable data for improving existing environmental legislation. Finally, the possible management implications of the new Resource Management Act 1991 and Forest Amendment Act 1993 are discussed. It is argued that these Acts may bring to an end a thousand years of wilful and accidental destruction of New Zealand's natural environment.

An Analysis of Farmers' Incentives to Conserve or Degrade the Land

In this paper, it is argued that an increased understanding of the linkages between farmers' economic incentives to control soil degradation, degradation-induced productivity decline and future farmland productivity is essential for the formulation of effective land degradation and soil management policies. As a basis for the argument, a comprehensive farm-level economic model for the optimum private and social utilization of soil over time is developed. Complexities in the decision process due to environmental conditions and other uncertainties are considered. It is shown that, if farmers are well informed, they will tolerate soil degradation only to the point where the marginal net returns from depleting soil depth, fertility or structure equal the marginal profits foregone from conserving these productive aspects of the soil. Efficiency-related technical progress is found to provide incentives for reduced rates of soil degradation. It is also found that the optimum private rate of soil degradation is not likely to mimic the socially optimal rate unless capital markets and farm input and output markets operate efficiently and competitively. The potential for monetary and fiscal policy to impact on private rates of soil utilization is highlighted as a topic for further detailed investigation. Finally, it is argued that external costs and benefits from farming activity, which have not as yet been comprehensively quantified, may be single most important cause of any differential between the optimum private and social rates of soil degradation.

Joint Adoption of Microcomputer Technologies: An Analysis of Farmers' Decisions

This study presents an econometric examination of the joint decisions of farmers on the adoption of a microcomputer and (or) purchased computers services. The characteristics of a farmer--schooling, age, off-farm work--are shown to be important variables for explaining the odds of adopting purchased computers services only, a microcomputer only, and both computer technologies. Adoption of computer technologies seems to occur in farming operations where they can be expected to greatly enhance the efficiency. Copyright 1991 by MIT Press.

An Analysis of Farmers' Agricultural Policy Preferences

AbstractThis paper analyzes farmers' attitudes toward competing agricultural policies. The empirical work utilizes data on Iowa farmers' opinions of four policies: continuing the current program, targeting benefits to fiscally stressed farmers, mandatory controls, and decoupling. The results show that a farmer's financial situation, size and type of operation, education, and farm experience significantly influence his opinions. Attitudes toward mandatory controls and targeting are most sensitive, and attitudes toward continuation of the current program are least sensitive to changes in economic characteristics. Strong identifiable camps of both support and opposition are found for each policy except the current program.

M. V. Nadkarni. Farmer's Movements in India. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1987.237 pp.,Price: (hardbound edition) Rupees (Indian) 100.00.

This book is a comprehensive analysis of farmers' movements in India with a focus on the movements in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnatka. It examines the economic, social and political aspects of the farmers' struggle for a better deal within regional and national perspectives and evaluates the potential impact of these struggles on economic development in general, and on rural development, in particular. In a most competent way the author has presented the current state of the debate on the subject. He deals exhaustively with the subject of agricultural price policy and argues against the proposition that favourable price-setting for farm products is adequate to alleviate rural poverty. A better way to tackle this problem is to improve the per capita output in the rural sector, since the root cause of the problem is not unfavourable terms of trade but the increasing proportion of land holdings, which are economically not viable. Agricultural price policy is analyzed within the context of class relations, which enables to establish a link between the economic and political demands of the farmers. This analysis leads the author to conclude, that in contrast with the peasants' movements in India, which helped to break up the feudal agrarian set-up, the recent farmers' movements, with a few exceptions, have little revolutionary content. Their leadership has been appropriated by the rich landowners, who have transformed the movements into a lobby for advancing their own interests, within the existing power structure, to the neglect of the poorer peasantry.

Analysis of Farmer's High-yielding Cultivation of Soybean

Analysis of Farmer's High-yielding Cultivation of Soybean

Maximal two-layer exchange through a contraction with barotropic net flow

The gravitational exchange of two fluids with different densities between reservoirs connected by a channel of constant depth and slowly varying breadth is analysed as a problem of internal hydraulics. It is shown that maximal two-way exchange with a net barotropic flow requires the presence of two controls, one at the narrrowest section and a second or ‘virtual’ control lying to one side of the narrowest section. The two controls are connected by a subcritical region, but are separated from subcritical conditions in the reservoirs by supercritical flow and stationary internal bores. Solutions are found for maximal exchange without a net barotropic component, in which case the problem is similar to that first examined by Stommel & Farmer (1953). The Stommel & Farmer analysis is shown to be a rather special limiting example of submaximal exchange, not generally applicable to natural flows. The addition of a net barotropic flow yields a range of different flow types, including maximal exchange, one-layer baroclinic flow, one-layer barotropic flow, submaximal flow governed by a reservoir condition and two-layer unidirectional flow. The maximal-exchange solution is integrated for periodic barotropic flow.

A Programming Analysis of Farmers' Credit Risks

A previous study by Barry, Baker, and Sanint (BBS) showed that credit reserves, valued by farmers as a response to risk, are themselves subject to risk. Their theoretical results, along with empirical evidence from lender surveys, indicated that the portfolio effects of credit risks are important and warrant further study. This paper shows the development and application of a multiperiod risk-programming model emphasizing the relationships between credit risks, business risks, and risk-efficient farm plans. A representative cotton-sorghum farm in south-central Texas is the basis for the empirical analysis. Results show that credit risks arising from lender's nonprice responses to changes in farm income may strongly influence a farm's risk-efficient financial organization, liquidity, and rate of growth for differences in risk aversion.

An Analysis of Farmers' Perceptions of Benefits Received from Farming

Farmers' perceptions of benefits they receive from farming affect their decision making. In decision model development, it is important to have insight into these benefits. This study tests the relative importance of farmers' benefit values through use of discriminant analysis. Benefits received were economic and non-economic. It appears that farmers have threshold security levels. Discriminant analysis indicated that farmer respondents place similar values on many of the benefits. Effective categorization of farmers was not achieved using such factors as debt load, profitability measures, acres, tenancy, age, and their benefit response values. Firm level decision making research by agricultural economists has generally assumed primary goals of either profit maximization or cost minimization. As early as the 1930s, farm management research was characterized as aiding farm managers

Analysis of Farmers' Understanding and Compliance in Paying Agricultural Zakat in Tebedak Village, Ogan Ilir

This article aims to analyze the extent to which farmers in Tebedak Village pay agricultural zakat. The method used in this writing is field research, employing a qualitative approach. The study involved 10 farmers as respondents from Tebedak Village, Ogan Ilir. Data collection techniques included observation, interviews, and documentation. Direct observation was conducted to observe problems and phenomena within the community, particularly among farmers in Tebedak Village, Ogan Ilir District. The study revealed that the majority of farmers in Tebedak Village, Ogan Ilir Regency, had a limited understanding of agricultural zakat due to insufficient knowledge and a lack of socialization from institutions, the government, and village officials regarding various types of zakat maal. Farmers often mistake zakat for infaq and alms, and consider zakat maal as a voluntary act that may or may not be paid. Furthermore, the level of compliance among farmers in paying zakat is not fully satisfactory, as revealed through interviews with the respondents. This can be attributed to their ignorance and lack of awareness about the obligation to pay agricultural zakat.

Studies on the Farmer's Dwellings on Toshima (An Isolated Island of Seven Islands of Izu.)

The authors made an investigation and analysis of farmer's dwelling in Toshima Island, one of the i3olated island of the Seven Islands of Izu. The physical feature of the Island is characteristic because of steep cliff surounding the Island and a poor expansion of level area. Due to strong seasonal winds and rain, villages are located on the hilly part rich in groves of trees. According to the investigation performed, the following results were rea: hed :1. The area of the residential part is 598 sq. meter (180.8 tsubo) on the average and the floor space of the main dwelling average 80.3 sq. meter (24.3 tsub3) which means that houses are small in comparison to the size or the land.2. The length of time after the dwellings were built, is 40.9 years in average.3. The number of room found 4.1 per house and size of rooms per total space of house, 39.4 sq. meters (23.2 Joo) which is comparable to the s'ze of room of forming vil'age in other district but the number of inhabitants was found as 5.4 persons per house, which is less than in el: ewhere. Hence, the usable room space is 7.3 sq. meters (4.3 J o) per person which is larger than the national average of 6.1 sq. meter (3.6 J3o).4. The dwellung of the aged are detached.5. The scale of farming is small and means of production are limited and the size of attached buildings (earthen store rooms, store house and barns) is not large.6. The details of the dwellings, for example, kitchen, water supply, toilet and such things as location of barns, lighting and ventilation should resonably be improved