Crop Income Research Articles

Does Minimum Tillage Improve Smallholder Farmers’ Welfare? Evidence from Southern Tanzania

Conservation agriculture continues to be promoted in developing nations as a sustainable and suitable agricultural practice to enhance smallholder productivity. A look at the literature indicates that this practice is successful in non-African countries. Thus, this research sought to test whether minimum tillage (MT), a subset of conservation agriculture, could lead to a significant impact on smallholder households’ welfare in Southern Tanzania. Using cross-sectional data from 608 randomly selected smallholder households, we applied propensity score matching to determine the effects of adopting minimum tillage on smallholder households’ per capita net crop income and labor demand. Our results indicated that minimum tillage adoption has positive impacts on smallholder households’ per capita net crop income. Further, it reduces the total household labor demands, allowing households to engage in other income-generating activities. However, the adoption rate of minimum tillage is in the early majority stage (21.38%). Thus, we propose the government to support household credit access and extension-specific information to improve the probability of adopting minimum tillage.

Impact of irrigated agriculture on welfare of farm households in northern Ethiopia: panel data evidence*

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to assess the impact of participating in irrigated agriculture on the welfare of smallholders in the semi‐arid economy of northern Ethiopia. Two rounds of balanced panel data for the production seasons 2009/2010 and 2014/2015 collected from 407 smallholder farmers were analysed. Correlated random effect double hurdle models are used to estimate participation and extent of involvement in irrigated agriculture. The household fixed effect with a control function approach was used to assess the impact of participating in irrigated agriculture on welfare outcomes. The double hurdle model results indicate that households with at least one plot owned and located within the irrigation command area positively and significantly affect participation in irrigated agriculture. The fixed‐effect model results also revealed that the area planted with use of irrigation enables smallholders to grow crops more than once a year; to ensure increased and stable production, income, consumption and asset accumulation positively. The finding of this study confirms that the potential role of irrigated agriculture is not limited to improving crop income and consumption of rural households, but also higher production from irrigated agriculture generates surplus products and better chance to integrate with the output market.

Does adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices improve farmers’ crop income? Assessing the determinants and its impacts in Punjab province, Pakistan

The agriculture sector, particularly in developing countries, is the more victim of the impacts of climate change due to less adaptation. The low response to the adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices raises questions about the factors influencing adaptation determinants. Therefore, the present study is designed to explore the adoption of CSA practices and the intensity, assessing through its determinants, and estimating its benefits in terms of its impacts on crop yield and farm income. For this purpose, 420 farmers were interviewed across three agro-ecological zones of Punjab, Pakistan. The study employs multinomial logistic regression to examine the factors that determine the adoption of single to a full package of CSA practices. Further, it uses a two-stage least square estimation technique to control the endogeneity problem and to estimate its conditional impact on crop yield and farm income. The study reveals interesting findings and demonstrates that the adoption of single to a full package of CSA practices is mostly explained by the institutional factors, financial resources, size of land holding, and level of education attained by the farmers. Similarly, more affected farmers due to climatic shocks were more intended to adopt CSA practices. Findings confirm that farmers who adopted a full set of CSA practices gain higher yield 32% and 44% kg/ha, and higher farm income 45% and 48% US$ per ha than non-adopted farmers for cotton–wheat and rice–wheat crops, respectively. Further, the impact of adaptation also varies to the intensity of CSA practices adopted by the farmers. This study suggests effective institutional and policy implications for creating awareness and financial support to the farmers to accelerate the adoption of CSA practices. These measures can enhance the farmers’ adaptive capacity that is needed for the sustainable livelihood of rural masses and food production.

Determinants of Income Diversification among Rural Farm Household in Soddo District, Gurage Zone of Southern Ethiopia

Soddo Woreda is one of the major producers of agricultural product in Gurage zone but, it lacks well-organized and arranged marketing system that highly affects fair distribution of income diversification. The overall objective of this study was to analyze the determinants of income diversification rural farm households in Soddo Woreda. This paper examines the determinants of income diversification among rural households using cross sectional data collected through a multi-stage random sampling technique and selected 200 sample from farm households of Soddo District of Gurage Zone, southern Ethiopia. Both descriptive statistics and rigorous econometric models are used to analyze the data. Multinomial logit model was used to analyze factors influencing households’ participation in off/non-farm income activities. The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), shows that agricultural activities are the most important and basic source of income for rural households in Soddo District contributing crop income 58.16% and livestock income 28.49% summing up farm income 86.7% of total household income with the remaining 13.3% originating from off-farm 3.7% and non-farm 9.6% income activities. About 74% of the sample households involved in off/non-farm income activities and 26% involves in farm income only. The involvement in off/non-farm employment activities and the level of income derived are found to be influenced by human capital related variables (gender and age of household head, number of family m embers, education level of household head, attitude to risk and ), livelihood assets (livestock holding, size of cultivated land, irrigated land, wealth of households, aggregate total crop product) and infrastructure related variable (proximity to market, extension service, access to credit and cooperative). The results imply that these factors need to be considered by policy makers in the planning of agricultural and off/non-farm initiatives in this study area. Keywords: Income diversification, Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI). DOI: 10.7176/DCS/10-10-02 Publication date: October 31 st 2020

Collective farming and women’s livelihoods: a case study of Kudumbashree group cultivation

ABSTRACT This study estimates crop productivity and incomes from crop production for women farmers undertaking collective farming with the Kudumbashree organisation. The method used to collect data on farm incomes broadly follows the CACP (Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices) methodology for calculating costs. The unit of our study will be the Joint Liability Group (JLG). The study aims to delineate the reasons for differential performances amongst the groups and to see whether these groups are successful as a viable alternative to individual farming and whether they can realise the theoretical advantages of group cultivation.

Correlates and impact of crop insurance in India: evidence from a nationally representative survey

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the correlates of crop insurance adoption and estimate the impact on debt and farm income.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used nationally representative data from National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), which consisted of 35,200 farming households. Logit and propensity score matching (PSM) (nearest neighbor, caliper and kernel matching) techniques were used.FindingsWith only around 5% of households insuring their crops and 87% of them not receiving claims, crop insurance in India has failed. Logit model estimates of correlates of adoption indicated that households with larger family size, lower social group, less education, lower standard of living and poor were more likely to be left out of the ambit of crop insurance. Further, propensity score estimates suggested that households with access to crop insurance had significantly lesser outstanding debt with positive effect on input costs and crop income. The authors’ results were in contrast to the risk balancing theory.Practical implicationsResults of our work encourage us to rethink and restructure the crop insurance policy design in India. With credit and insurance markets interlinked by design and as the risk balancing in the farm business found absent, policies to strengthen both the markets are the need of the hour. To encourage more farmers to take up crop insurance, revenue-based indemnity calculation could be tried in India.Originality/valueImpact estimates from three different algorithms of matching were compared and tested for robustness. Consistent average treatment effect on treated (ATT) was considered for interpretation and policy implications. Since the data are from a nationally representative survey, results are believed to be of extreme value to policy makers and insurance providers as it can be generalized.

The Interrelated Impacts of Credit Access, Market Access and Forest Proximity on Livelihood Strategies in Cambodia

Livelihood diversification strategies for households in developing countries are influenced by access to financial credit, to markets and to forests. Understanding their interrelated impacts has important implications for development policy, including for market access, credit provision, and forest conservation. Using a two-round panel survey of 2,417 households in 64 villages in four Provinces in Cambodia and geospatial analysis, we analyze the influence of formal and informal financial credit, market and road access, and forest access on livelihood diversification strategies. Using econometric techniques to control for interrelated effects, we find credit utilization is significant with off-farm business and wage livelihood activities, land transactions, livestock activities, and remittances. Households below the poverty line use credit primarily for consumption and agricultural investments, but above the poverty line for business investment or for buying land, houses, or vehicles. Market access is significant with total income and expenditures, as well as portfolio shifts to off-farm business and wage activities. Forest access contributes significantly to both total income and expenditures in multivariable regressions controlling for credit and market access, and we find evidence that poverty alleviation is maximized when households have both high forest and market access. We do not find that, in aggregate, households near to forests are in a “poverty trap” due to market remoteness, but we do find that they are disadvantaged in pursuing agricultural livelihoods and households with both low forest and market access are poorest. Using the technique of dominance analysis, we find that financial credit contributes more than market or forest access to total income, expenditures, and livestock income. However, market access is more important than credit for off-farm, on-farm and crop incomes. Forest access contributes more to total income than road access when controlling for access to Phnom Penh and is more important than credit for crop livelihoods.

The welfare effects of crop biodiversity as an adaptation to climate shocks in Kenya

Abstract This paper investigates the effects of crop biodiversity on farm income and production risk using a large panel dataset of rural households in Kenya. We consider three different metrics of in situ (on-farm) crop diversification (richness, evenness and concentration). We apply a partial moments-based model to test the effects of each strategy on welfare defined as expected crop income, variability (variance) and downside risk (skewness). Our comprehensive econometric approach differentiates climatic shocks, weather and climate change. The results suggest that the benefits from greater diversification in terms of enhanced land productivity and lower production costs could surpass the foregone benefit from greater efficiency associated with more concentrated production systems. Crop richness and evenness each reduce exposure to crop income risk, especially for more vulnerable farmers who produce below the expected revenue threshold. Farmers who rely on greater crop specialization, on the contrary, are more exposed to crop income risk.

Using Artificial Neural Networks and Remotely Sensed Data to Evaluate the Relative Importance of Variables for Prediction of Within-Field Corn and Soybean Yields

Crop yield prediction prior to harvest is important for crop income and insurance projections, and for evaluating food security. Yet, modeling crop yield is challenging because of the complexity of the relationships between crop growth and predictor variables, especially at the field scale. In this study, an artificial neural network (ANN) method was used: (1) to evaluate the relative importance of predictor variables for the prediction of within-field corn and soybean end-of-season yield and (2) to evaluate the performance of the ANN models with a minimal optimized variable dataset for their capacity to predict corn and soybean yield over multiple years at the within-field level. Several satellite derived vegetation indices (normalized difference vegetation index—NDVI, red edge NDVI and simple ratio—SR) and elevation derived variables (slope, flow accumulation, aspect) were used as crop yield predictor variables, hypothesizing that the different variables reflect different crop and site conditions. The study identified the SR index and the slope as the most important predictor variables for both crop types during two training and testing years (2011, 2012). The dates of the most important SR images, however, were different for the two crop types and corresponded to their critical crop developmental stages (phenology). The relative mean absolute errors were overall smaller for corn compared to soybean: all of the 2011 corn study fields had errors below 10%; 75% of the fields had errors below 10% in 2012. The errors were more variable for soybean. In 2011, 37% of the fields had errors below 10%, while in 2012, 100% of the fields had errors below 20%. The results are promising and can provide yield estimates at the farm level, which could be useful in refining broader scale (e.g., county, region) yield projections.

Korarima (Aframomum Corrorima) Value Chain Development in Ethiopia: A Review to Exploit the Investment Potential

Ethiopia is a country endowed with different ago-ecological zones suited for agricultural diversification particularly cash crops like Korarima. Being engaged in cash crop investments through efficient value chain development gives much relief against common agricultural risks like production risks and financial risks. This spice has wide range of benefits: it has economic benefits in terms of cash crop income, self-employment for women and youths and multifaceted health benefits in terms of medicinal and nutritional values being it is common in day to day dish of citizens. Though this spice has economic, health, and other benefits, the potential level of cash crop investment is still untapped by farmers and investor. Hence, reviewing the production and value chain status of spice sub-sector including Korarima and showing appropriate policy implementations towards increased investment is demanding. In this regard, exploiting the potential of spice sub-sector has to consider not only the production level but also value addition strategies that will engage many actors and participant farmers. That will overtake conventional production and value additions to further improve the performance of spice sub-sector. DOI: 10.7176/JAAS/66-04 Publication date: July 31 st 2020

Cash Crops and Food Security: A Case of Tea Farmers in Burundi

Food security is a genuine challenge in developing countries. To combat food insecurity, various means and strategies are being mobilized. The promotion of cash crops in rural areas is one of the main strategies for improving food security. Accessibility to subsistence staples and stable living conditions for rural farmers are made possible by the relatively high and permanent income from cash crops. This paper addresses the issue of food security by discussing the power of tea crop incomes in a rural tea farming area in Burundi. A survey was conducted in 2019 among 120 smallholder tea farmers in two communes located in the Mugamba natural region of Burundi. The results show that the tea plant contributes significantly to food security for both tea farmers and non-tea farmers. By complementing other livelihood resources, tea incomes improve the food security of smallholder tea farmers. In addition, tea incomes ensure the resilience of smallholder tea farmers during lean seasons and against various shocks. Besides, the perennial nature of the tea plant provides a pension for smallholder tea farmers in their old age.

Welfare Impact of Moringa Market Participation in Southern Ethiopia

Increasing demand for Moringa stenopetala suggests that great opportunities exist for a supply-side response amongst rural smallholder farmers, especially in Southern Ethiopia. It needs evidence to understand whether or not smallholders farmers participate or if they benefit from participation in these new market opportunities. This study analyzes the welfare impact of smallholder farmers’ participation in Moringa market (measured in terms of crop income, per-capita annual consumption expenditure and per capita daily calorie intake) in Segen area people zone of Southern Ethiopia. Cross-sectional data from 385 randomly selected smallholder farmers were used in the analysis. Endogenous Switching Regression(ESR) model that accounts for selection bias was used in impact assessment. This was further expanded with the generalized propensity score (GPS) approach to evaluate the effects of level of market participation on the response of the outcome variables. Results from ESR shows that demographic, institutional, socio-economic, and market factors affect participation decision and welfare of the farm households. Overall, Moringa market participation have a positive and significant impact on rural farmers welfare, with substantial differencial impacts between groups. Results from GPS, also shows the same as the welfare of the households has increased with the level of Moringa market participation. Policies aimed at reducing the transaction costs of accessing markets, promoting the tree via different medias, working on rural institution capacity building, encouraging and assisting Moringa associations, designing appropriate support from different stakeholders, encouraging market linkages among diverse market players, and providing farmers with the chance of attending basic education are critical to the improvement of household welfare.

Diversification is in the Detail: Accounting for Crop System Heterogeneity to Inform Diversification Policies in Malawi and Zambia

Crop diversification is a common agricultural policy objective. However, the determinants and impacts of crop diversification are heterogeneous and depend on a range of crop-specific characteristics. Index-based measurements of crop diversification, common in the agriculture economics literature, are unable to account for this heterogeneity. Using two national panel surveys from Malawi and Zambia, we develop a multinomial treatment effects model to examine the determinants of adopting seven discreet cropping systems and their impacts on maize productivity and crop income stability. The results of this approach are compared to those obtained when using a Gini–Simpsons index. Differences between the two empirical approaches highlight the importance of accounting for cropping system heterogeneity when conducting analyses of crop diversification to inform policy. For example, in Zambia, we show that levels of output market competition have no significant effect on diversification when diversification is measured as an index. However, at a cropping system level increased private trader activity is associated with a reduced probability of adopting subsistence-oriented cropping systems and an increased probability of adopting more productive and commercialised systems.

Climate change adaptation impact on cash crop productivity and income in Punjab province of Pakistan.

Assessing the current farm-level efforts of climate change adaptation is essential to distinguish their usefulness and implying policy level advance measures for future. The present study investigated cotton farmers' climate change adaptation and its impact on increasing cotton productivity and net cotton income in Punjab province of Pakistan. A pretested and well-structured questionnaire was used for data collection of 480 cotton farmers from three major cotton-producing divisions of cotton-wheat zone of Punjab, Pakistan. Logistic regression analysis approach was used in this study to find out the factors of adaptation and propensity score matching method employed to identify connecting adaptation impact on cotton productivity and cotton income. Empirical estimates of this study indicated as owing to some external and internal constraint farmers were limited focused on adaptation while conscious about adverse effects of climate change. Usage of required and recommended types of fertilizer, variation in planting dates, and changing varieties of crop were main adaptation strategies implemented by cotton farmers. Cotton farmers' adaptation decision was significantly influenced by some major factors as weather forecasting, market information, easy access to agricultural extension services, farming experience, and education of cotton farmer. Farm-level increase in cotton productivity and net cotton crop income was direct while overall increases in national output and improving rural area farmer well-being were indirect and significant outcomes of implementing climate change adaptation of cotton farmers. Cotton farmers were using various combinations of adaptation strategies and achieving more benefits regarding their crop productivity and net returns. Findings of the study suggest need for larger investment in farm-level extension services, farmers' schooling, and develop climate change institutional setup for enhancing farmers' adaptation capability to increasing cotton productivity, improving well-being of farming community, and securing agriculture from future climatic uncertainties. Future policies must deal with farm-level limitations of advanced adaptation measures like making available information and sustaining sponsoring soil conservation practices, launching climate smart varieties and advanced adaptation measures based on various agro-ecological zones.

Farm income, inequality, and poverty among farm families of a flood-prone area in Bangladesh: climate change vulnerability assessment

This paper examines the farm income differences, income inequality of farm households, parameters of income variability that ascertain vulnerability levels, and cost-income variability of agricultural crops in four districts of Mymensingh division in Bangladesh. Six hundred farm households from Mymensingh division were used as the source of data for the current study. The results of the analysis show that per capita income difference is significant in farm household among the districts, and agricultural income variation play an important role in per capita income. Higher income from agriculture contributed lower income inequality in the districts, even though employment income is dominant in most of the districts and highest income inequality is found in Netrokona district. Rice is the leading crop in most of districts, except Mymensingh where income share of other crops is high in the total agricultural income. Remittance income shows the higher income inequality among the districts that are lowest in employment and then agriculture. Agriculture is a primary contributor of inducing income disparity of farm households. In this context, we found that the key variation of agricultural income comes from aman HYV and boro HYV rice crops. The cost and income of these rice crops was largely calculated based on the enhanced yields, higher irrigation, and chemical fertilizer and hired labor use per hectare land. By using the lognormal distribution under two scenarios (baseline, yield loss), we estimated the poverty rates resulted from the yield loss of rice production due to potential climate change impact in different districts. The unexpected yield loss of rice by climate change impact leads to the projection that poverty rates in Jamalpur and Netrokona districts would increase. It is, therefore, recommended that proper management of agricultural farms, crop diversification, and appropriate technology interventions are necessary to reduce income inequality and losses of farm income from climate change impact.

Are farmers using cropping system intensification technologies experiencing poverty reduction in the Great Lakes Region of Africa?

AbstractThis study evaluated the poverty reduction impact of the adoption of cropping system intensification (CSI) technologies using the endogenous switching regression (ESR) model in the Great Lakes region of Africa that comprises Burundi, eastern DR Congo, and Rwanda. The study data came from a household survey of 1,495 sample households interviewed between October and December 2014. Results indicated that the adoption of the CSI technologies had increased crop yield, crop income, and per capita consumption expenditure in the region, resulting in poverty reduction. Among the three countries, eastern DR Congo witnessed the highest poverty reduction (13% points) followed by Rwanda (6% points) and Burundi (2% points). Considering the adoption rate and size of the target population in each country at baseline, an estimated 180 thousand poor individuals had escaped poverty due to the adoption of the CSI technologies. This presents important evidence in favor of promoting CSI technologies as part of poverty reduction strategy. Given the large population size that remains poor even after adoption, we suggest that research‐based poverty reduction strategies such as the CSI technologies should be complemented with development interventions.

Impact of Cash Crops (Cocoa, Rubber Tree) on the Farmers’ Life Quality in Abengourou Department (East of Côte d’Ivoire)

Like Côte d’Ivoire forest area, Abengourou department has not escaped anthropic pressure. The forest in this area was the scene of intense Cocoa farming activities. However, due to the weaknesses and constraints observed in the Cocoa sector, it has been seen that from years 1990 - 2000, most of the farmers have abandoned their Cocoa farms in favor of a gradual conversion in Rubber farming. In fact, this crop is considered to be a new booming income crop that tends to improve and guarantee the farmer’s life quality. This situation leads to an amalgam for the growing of Cocoa or Rubber. This study aims to determine the impact of Cocoa and Rubber farms on the farmer’s life quality in Abengourou (Côte d’Ivoire). Thus, field missions, documents analyze and directive surveys of farmers, cartographic and statistical processing have made it possible to establish correlations between Rubber tree or Cocoa farming and the farmer’s life quality. It follows from the correlations, that after analysis, the Rubber tree would have a positive influence on the farmer’s life quality than Cocoa. Moreover, Human Development Index (HDI) was measured respectively between the Cocoa and Rubber growers in the study area. The HDI of the Cocoa farmers is 0.455 and that of Rubber is estimated to 0.461. So, it is confirmed from these analyses that, in 2016, the growing of Rubber improves the farmer’s life quality more than that of Cocoa in the study area.

Impact of Cash Crops (Cocoa, Rubber Tree) on the Farmers’ Life Quality in Abengourou Department (East of Côte d’Ivoire)

Like Côte d’Ivoire forest area, Abengourou department has not escaped anthropic pressure. The forest in this area was the scene of intense Cocoa farming activities. However, due to the weaknesses and constraints observed in the Cocoa sector, it has been seen that from years 1990 - 2000, most of the farmers have abandoned their Cocoa farms in favor of a gradual conversion in Rubber farming. In fact, this crop is considered to be a new booming income crop that tends to improve and guarantee the farmer’s life quality. This situation leads to an amalgam for the growing of Cocoa or Rubber. This study aims to determine the impact of Cocoa and Rubber farms on the farmer’s life quality in Abengourou (Côte d’Ivoire). Thus, field missions, documents analyze and directive surveys of farmers, cartographic and statistical processing have made it possible to establish correlations between Rubber tree or Cocoa farming and the farmer’s life quality. It follows from the correlations, that after analysis, the Rubber tree would have a positive influence on the farmer’s life quality than Cocoa. Moreover, Human Development Index (HDI) was measured respectively between the Cocoa and Rubber growers in the study area. The HDI of the Cocoa farmers is 0.455 and that of Rubber is estimated to 0.461. So, it is confirmed from these analyses that, in 2016, the growing of Rubber improves the farmer’s life quality more than that of Cocoa in the study area.

Analysis of household food expenditure patterns. A case of Shamva district Zimbabwe

The study was designed to analyse the food expenditure patterns of smallholder farming households. Income and expenditure data were collected from 281 randomly sampled farming households in Shamva District. Descriptive statistics (mean and frequency) were used to analyse the income sources and main expenditure categories. The Ordinary Least Squares regression was used to model the determinants of household food expenditure. The results indicated cash crop, food crop and livestock sales as the major farm income sources. Remittances, wages, salaries and pensions were the major non-farm income sources. Statistics showed that 64% of the cash income was obtained from farm activities. Food expenditure accounted for over 60% of total expenditure. Household size (p<0.05), dependency ratio (p<0.05) and income (cash crop income, food crop income, livestock income and non-farm income) positively affected household food consumption. Age of household head (p<0.01) negatively affected household expenditure. The research results highlight the need for government to channel more resources towards improving smallholder agricultural productivity as the major household income source to foster demand-led agricultural growth and development in rural areas. By implication, this will similarly help to inform policy makers on appropriate instruments to improve income, food security and wellbeing of the farming households.

CROP-LIVESTOCK INTERACTION IN RURAL HOUSEHOLD OF BANGLADESH

This study examined the crop livestock interaction in agrarian zone of Bangladesh. Quantitative data were collected with a questionnaire from a sample of randomly selected 458 respondents through personal interview. Two categories of respondent participated, such as old conservational agriculture research or farmer group and new conservational agriculture research or farmer group. Simple and direct questions with different scales were used to obtain necessary information. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The result showed that 54.15% of the farmers were range between 31 and 35 years of age, and their educational level was mainly in primary level (31.66%) in all categories. The farmer’s family usually consist of more than six family members (42.58%). In rural household farmers used both own and lease land for crops production. Crops grown within the study area includes rice, wheat, jute, pulses, oilseeds, maize, vegetables etc. Livestock reared by respondent included cattle, buffaloes, sheep and goat, while their wives and children rear local chicken, duck and pigeon. Among annual household income crop provides 59.88% whereas livestock provides 13.23%. Extension services in the study areas of agricultural production should be provided in order to increase their level of production and greater crop-livestock interaction.