Determinants Of Farmer Participation Research Articles

Determinants of Farmers’ Behavior towards Land Conservation Practices in the Upper Citarum Watershed in West Java, Indonesia

Erosion and pollution in the Citarum River have reached a very worrying stage. To overcome this problem, the government has launched the Citarum Harum program. One of the policies synergistic with the Citarum Harum program is the application of soil and water conservation principles in farming seasonal crops in the upper Citarum watershed (UCW). Historically, policies and programs for developing pro-conservation farming in this area have been carried out for at least three decades but have not been effective. Increasing the effectiveness of policies requires the existence of suitable instruments. Therefore, it is necessary to have a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the attitudes and behavior of farmers in applying soil and water conservation. This study aims to identify the factors influencing farmers’ probabilities and participation in applying soil and water conservation techniques. A double-hurdle approach is used to identify determinants of farmers’ participation and intensity in applying conservation practices. The data were collected from samples of 244 farm households’ growing seasonal crops out of 499 farm households sample in the Bandung and West Bandung Districts. The results show that the determinants of farmer participation and intensity in the application of conservation lie in the ability to finance, land tenure and utilization, and the physical condition of the land. The level of education only affects participation opportunities, even if the increment is significant. In the future, conservation priorities must be more directed at a vegetative approach through developing synergistic perennial crops with particular efforts to convert vegetables on the sloping lands to perennial crops.

Determinants of Farmer Participation in the Vertical Integration of the Rwandan Coffee Value Chain: Results from Huye District

This paper presents results on socio-economic factors influencing decision to participate in cooperative and intensity of coffee in Huye District of Rwanda. The analysis uses primary data collected from Huye district with representative sample size of 230 comprised both non-members and members of cooperatives. The study used Probit regression model to test the status of decision to participate and Tobit regression was used to determine the factors influencing the intensity of coffee. The results generally show that gender, education level, farm size, off-farm income, non-access to credits and non-record keeping are all important factors explaining decision to participate. On the other hand, off-farm income, no-access to credit, farm size, experience, farm under other crops cultivation and farm contract agreements found to influence the intensity. The paper concludes by suggesting strategic policy targeting to build stronger farmer’ cooperatives. These should allow the farmers to have access on market, inputs, credit, farm contract, price stability and trainings. Thus improve coffee productivity in terms of quantity and quality in the study area.

Interlinked Transactions in Cash Cropping Economies: The Determinants of Farmer Participation and Performance in the Zambezi River Valley of Mozambique

This paper investigates the determinants of participation and performance of tobacco contract farmers, and the effects of participation on overall crop and household incomes in the Zambezi Valley of Mozambique. We test the existence of threshold effects in land holdings and educational attainment to identify the types of farmers that benefit. Several results stand out. First, participation in the schemes is driven by factor endowments, asset ownership and alternative income opportunities, and very little by demographic factors. Second, we find no returns to education in tobacco; this result is consistent with previous research in Mozambique but surprising in an agronomically demanding crop like tobacco. Third, there appear to be economies of scale in tobacco production, perhaps through more efficient use of hired labor. If true, tobacco could drive greater economic differentiation through the growth of “emergent” or commercial smallholder households – something that has been conspicuously lacking in Mozambique to date. Fourth, farmers without wage income are more likely to grow tobacco; since other research shows that wage labor has driven most income growth in Mozambique over the past six years, tobacco could be inequality reducing. Tobacco growers also hire much more labor than non-growers, contributing to second-round inequality reducing effects. Further analysis, preferably in a general equilibrium framework, is needed to understand how the simultaneous forces of economic differentiation and spreading of economic benefits will affect income distribution. Potential adverse environmental impacts also deserve far more attention than they have received to date.

Socio-Economic Determinants of Farmer Participation in Irrigation Projects

Socio-Economic Determinants of Farmer Participation in Irrigation Projects