Education Of Household Head Research Articles

Deriving an index of adoption rate and assessing factors affecting adoption of an agroforestry-based farming system in Dhanusha District, Nepal

This paper attempts to fulfil the gap in measuring adoption in agroforestry studies. It explains the derivation of an index of adoption rate in a Nepalese context and examines the factors affecting adoption of agroforestry-based land management practice (AFLMP) in the Dhanusha District of Nepal. Data about the different farm practices and the factors (bio-physical, socio-economic) influencing adoption were collected during focus group discussion and from the randomly selected households using a household survey questionnaire, respectively. A multivariate regression model was used to determine the factors. The factors (variables) found to significantly affect adoption of AFLMP were: farm size, availability of irrigation water, education of household heads, agricultural labour force, frequency of visits by extension workers, expenditure on farm inputs purchase, household’s experience in agroforestry, and distance from home to government forest. The regression model explained about 75 % of variation in adoption decision. The model rejected ‘erosion hazard’, ‘flood hazard’ and ‘gender’ as determinants of adoption, which in case of single agroforestry practice were major variables and played positive role. Out of eight variables, farm size played the most powerful role in explaining the variation in adoption, followed by availability of irrigation water and education of household heads. The results of this study suggest that policies to promote the provision of irrigation water, extension services and motivation to obtaining higher education would probably provide the incentive to adopt agroforestry elsewhere in the terai of Nepal.

English

A study was conducted to assess smallholder farmers’ perceptions and degree of adoption of Tithonia diversifolia chimato compost among the smallholder farmers in Ming’ongo Extension Planning Areas in Lilongwe. Primary data regarding smallholder farmers’ knowledge, perception and adoptions levels on making and using T. diversifolia chimato compost were collected through a questionnaire interview with household heads and their spouses. Descriptive and inferential statistics as well as regression analysis were used to analyse the data. Results indicated that 87% of the smallholder farmers have limited knowledge of T. diversifolia potential in improving soil fertility whereas 92% lacked knowledge of recommended blending composition of nitrogen rich and nitrogen poor organic natural resources. The results further indicated that adoption of making and supplementing T. diversifolia composts positively correlated with good education of household heads (P=0.12, É‘=0.001), low vulnerability levels of households (P=0.207, É‘=0.001), larger household size and labour force (P=0.47, É‘=0.001), knowledge of nutrient richness of T. diversifolia (P=0.01, 0.001) and available extension services in the area (P=0.27, É‘=0.05). A strong negative correlation was observed between households’ decisions to make and use composts and double poor education levels of household heads (P=0.12, É‘=0.001), high vulnerability levels of households (P=0.207, É‘=0.001), low household labour force (P=0.47, É‘=0.001), lack of knowledge of richness of T. diversifolia (P=0.01, 0.001) and inadequate extension services in the area (P=0.27, É‘=0.05).  Smallholder farmers should be sensitised on benefits of T. diversifolia chimato composts in soil enrichment.   Key words: Compost, adoption, households, compost supplementation.&nbsp

Assessing the relative impacts of the factors affecting MIS adoption process

Micro-irrigation systems (MIS) have been at the forefront of policy-making and social research in exploring determinants that could potentially impact the adoption of MIS technologies in the field to fulfil the basic aim of enhanced agricultural productivity and enriched nutritional quality of the produce with optimal adoption of natural resources. Therefore, this study was undertaken to determine why MIS technologies have not been adopted to the extent anticipated, so that suitable policy schemes, promotional schemes and socio-technical frameworks could be formulated for their enhanced adoption to enhance the socio-economic status of the farming community in the Dahod district of Gujarat State, India. A study of 350 non-MIS (NMIS) and 350 MIS farmers was conducted to identify factors affecting the MIS adoption process. The logit model was fitted using XLSTAT software (XLSTAT 2014.1.04) to the explanatory variables (determinants) of the MIS adoption process. Type III analysis and ANOVA were conducted to test the relative significance of the explanatory variables adopted. It was found that total income had the highest weight (or beta coefficient, i.e. 0.625) followed by total land area (0.546), motor horsepower (0.499), dependency ratio (0.397), and education (0.295) and age of household head (0.207). Furthermore, to assess the efficacy of the logit model, the ROC curve was also developed and the AUC was found to be 0.881, and therefore the model was considered to discriminate well in identifying the factors affecting the MIS adoption process. The study found that higher total income and education level increase the likelihood of MIS adoption and agricultural water management, and therefore special training programmes on installation, as well as repair and maintenance, of MIS systems and agricultural water management can be planned at the institutional/organisation level. The total cultivable area is also one of the important determinants in MIS adoption, and therefore the adoption of MIS schemes should not be restricted to large farmers only, but rather should be extended to both small and marginal farmers.

A Stochastic Frontier Analysis of Technical Efficiency of Maize Production Under Minimum Tillage in Zambia

<p>Minimum tillage and other conservation agriculture practices are not only associated with income gains but are also claimed to be the panacea to the declining agricultural productivity and soil degradation problems in Africa and across the world. The few studies on technical efficiency related to the agricultural sector performance in Zambia have not attempted to determine how technically efficient smallholder farmers that produce maize under minimum tillage are. This study used stochastic frontier analysis based on both the half-normal and exponential model distributions on 2008 cross-sectional nationally representative data of 160 smallholder maize farm households that adopted minimum tillage in Zambia. Results indicate that maize farmers face increasing returns to scale (1.074) implying that there were opportunities for them to improve their technical efficiency as they were operating in stage I of their production functions. The half-normal and exponential model distributions indicate average technical efficiency scores of 60 and 71.7 percent, respectively. Their respective lowest efficiency scores were 9.3 and 8.5 percent. The highest efficiency scores for the half-normal and exponential model distributions were 89.3 and 90.9 percent. Maximum likelihood estimation results show that marital status, level of education of household head, square of household size, off farm income, agro-ecological region III, distance to vehicular road and access to loans are statistically significant factors that affect technical efficiency of smallholder maize farmers that practice minimum tillage in Zambia. The study calls for increased infrastructural development through construction of improved road network, schools and colleges in remote areas as a means to increasing accesss to knowledge and other agricultural services in order to enhance their technical efficiency levels. It also recommends promotion of minimum tillage practices in recommended agro-ecological regions to improve their technical efficiency. The study further acclaims for increased access to loans by smallholder maize farmers that practice minimum tillage as this would in one way induce them to invest in improved varieties and equipment that would help enhance their technical efficiency in Zambia.</p>

Neighbourhood socio-economic position, late presentation and outcomes in people living with HIV in Switzerland.

Inequalities and inequities in health are an important public health concern. In Switzerland, mortality in the general population varies according to the socio-economic position (SEP) of neighbourhoods. We examined the influence of neighbourhood SEP on presentation and outcomes in HIV-positive individuals in the era of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). The neighbourhood SEP of patients followed in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS) 2000-2013 was obtained on the basis of 2000 census data on the 50 nearest households (education and occupation of household head, rent, mean number of persons per room). We used Cox and logistic regression models to examine the probability of late presentation, virologic response to cART, loss to follow-up and death across quintiles of neighbourhood SEP. A total of 4489 SHCS participants were included. Presentation with advanced disease [CD4⁺ cell count <200 cells/μl or AIDS] and with AIDS was less common in neighbourhoods of higher SEP: the age and sex-adjusted odds ratio (OR) comparing the highest with the lowest quintile of SEP was 0.71 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.58-0.87] and 0.59 (95% CI 0.45-0.77), respectively. An undetectable viral load at 6 months of cART was more common in the highest than in the lowest quintile (OR 1.52; 95% CI 1.14-2.04). Loss to follow-up, mortality and causes of death were not associated with neighbourhood SEP. Late presentation was more common and virologic response to cART less common in HIV-positive individuals living in neighbourhoods of lower SEP, but in contrast to the general population, there was no clear trend for mortality.

Preference for Improved Solid Waste Management Attributes among urban Poor and Non-poor Households’ in Delta-State, Nigeria

This paper assessed the preference for improved solid waste management among urban poor and non-poor households in Asaba, Delta-state. A random sampling method was employed resulting in 115 households and information obtained from the state’s waste management board. Descriptive statistics, Alkire and Foster multidimensional poverty methodology, choice experiment and conditional logistic regression model were employed for analysis. The average age of household heads was 39 years and literacy level was high with an average of 14 years of schooling. Multidimensionally, 25.20%of households are poor at dimensional cut-off k=4. Households’ preference for improved waste management is influenced positively household head education, perception, number of income earners and negatively by poverty status. The mean willingness to pay estimate is N1546.32/ month but reduced to N619.80, with consideration of socio-economic characteristics. Households ranked waste separation top and collection frequency least important. This study recommends education, provision of free containers for waste separation and the introduction of graduated fees for any waste management plan. Original Research Article Obidi and Adeoti; AJAEES, 5(1): 46-56, 2015; Article no.AJAEES.2015.038 47

A Canonical Analysis on the Relationship between Financial Risk Tolerance and Household Education Investment in Sri Lanka

This paper is aimed at examining the relationship between risk tolerance behaviour and the education investment of families in different social sectors, i.e. urban, rural, and estate, in Sri Lanka. At the initial step, the study used Binary Logistic Regression for identifying the significant variables for financial risk tolerance and for household investment on education. Having identified the two sets of variables for each domain, the second step was to apply the Canonical Analysis in order to examine the association between risk tolerance behaviour and education investment. The data for the study was obtained from a sample survey conducted in six Divisional Secretariat Divisions (DSDs) of three districts in Sri Lanka. The sample was selected considering the social sectors as strata, using multi-stage sampling technique joined with cluster sampling. The study found that ‘social sector’ and ‘education of household head’ were the main contributors to ‘household investment on education’. It revealed that when the ‘social sector’ changes from urban to rural and rural to estate there is a tendency of households to decrease the share of expenditure on education. However, the ‘education level of the household head’ had s significant positive impact for the investment in education. It also found that ‘income quartile, decision maker’, ‘income diversification’, and ‘financial literacy’ positively contributed to ‘risk tolerance behaviour’. However, the findings show that financial risk tolerance decreases with the distance of households to a financial institute. The canonical relationship shows a negative association between ‘income quartile’ and the ‘social sector’ and the ‘income quartile’ improves with the change of the ‘social sector’ from estate to rural and rural to urban. It also revealed that ‘income quartile’ was positively associated with the ‘education of the household head’. A primary conclusion can be arrived at that income and spatial related attributes are crucial in determining the impact of risk tolerance in household education investment. In addition, the study revealed that risk tolerance and, in turn, the tendency to invest in education increases with the change of gender from female to male. Therefore, it suggests that gender related attributes are also important in the financial risk tolerance and education investment.

Income-consumption relationship under relative income hypothesis: empirical evidence from Peshawar, Pakistan

The main objective of this research was to empirically investigate the relationship between income and consumption of farm households in District Peshawar, Pakistan. For this purpose, a household level survey was conducted in summer 2012 in two selected villages, namely Tarnab and Akbarpura. Out of the total 3,244 households, a sample of 300 households was randomly selected. The study found that household current level of income, family size, education of household head, and social status were the significant determinants contributing positively to household consumption. Only age of household head was negatively related to household consumption. The results of the study confirms that farm households follow Dusenberry's relative income hypothesis and that household consumption is not only affected by household current level of income but by the highest level of income previously attained as well as the consumption patterns of other households.

Adoption of Water Saving Irrigation Techniques for Sustainable Rice Production in Bangladesh

This study explore socio-economic characters' which leads farmers to adoption of Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) in the farmers' field of two major drought prone areas of Bangladesh for rice cultivation. AWD is an irrigation regime where the producer allows the rice field to dry intermittently during the rice life cycle rather than having the field continuously submerged. In previous studies AWD has been found to reduce water usage by from 20-70% and to reduce methane emissions by over 50% as compared to rice produced under continuous flooding. In 2012, a survey of 60 farmers was conducted in four rice-producing areas in Bangladesh to investigate farmer implementation of AWD and NF irrigation. Thirty sample farmers from the Capasia union of Gazipur district were selected in the site where the AWD irrigation techniques are being practiced. Similarly, 30 other sample farmers were selected from the same Union of Gazipur district where AWD is not practiced but where continuous irrigation is practiced. Similarly thirty sample farmers from Godagary union of Rajshahi district were selected in the site where the AWD irrigation techniques are being practiced and 30 other sample farmers were selected from the same Union Rajshahi district where AWD is not practiced but where continuous irrigation is practiced. The data were collected through direct interview with the help of pre-designed questionnaire in 2012. A brief introduction regarding the nature and objectives of the study was given to each respondent before interview. All the collected qualitative and quantities data were analyzed in accordance with the objectives of the study so as to answer the issues involved in the study. As the dependent variables are dichotomous (zero, one), a logit regression model can be applied. The study shows that significant issues were identified that need to be considered generally to improve adoption at the farmers' level and that would eventually enable mass adoption. The study revealed that farm size, education of household head, and contact with extension agents, water scarcity and dissemination through demonstration were the variables that had significant impact on the adoption of AWD. So if contact with extension workers could be increased and the farmers could be shown the use of AWD techniques through field demonstration then the adoption rates can be increased.

Quantitative Assessment of Vulnerability to Flood Hazards in Downstream Area of Mono Basin, South-Eastern Togo: Yoto District

The population located along Mono River in the Yoto district faces great challenges in terms of repeated flood disasters in recent years. This paper aims at assessing the conditions which influence flood damage in the study area by using indicators to compute a Flood Vulnerability Index (FVI). The study relies on Turner et al.’s vulnerability framework and distinguishes three main components (exposure, susceptibility and resilience) that allow a more in-depth analysis and interpretation of local indicators. As a result flood disaster in the study area is not only due to the extreme variability in terms of flood magnitude and frequency in the Mono River, but also to the interaction between human and the environment. The lack of vegetation along the river bank, the closeness of households’ farmlands to the river body, the type of construction and the position of settlements, the household size, the low level education of household head, the lack of diversification of livelihood strategies, the lack of adequate flood warning system, the lack of willingness and ability to take responsive actions coupled with inadequate emergency services, are identified as main determinants increasing communities’ vulnerability to flood disaster. Furthermore, the computation of Flood Vulnerability Index (FVI) offers easy comparison of communities’ vulnerability to flood disaster and pinpoints the most vulnerable communities. At the end of the study, flood exposure, susceptibility, resilience and vulnerability maps were generated.

Household Demand for Food Away from Home (FAFH) in Nigeria: The Role of Education

The aim of this study is to investigate the demand characteristics of household consumption of food-away-from-home (FAFH) with a focus on the role of education of household head in Nigeria. Using 2003/2004 Nigeria Living Standard Survey (NLSS) data, we employ the Cragg’s Double-Hurdle (DH) model, which estimate jointly, households’ decisions to consume FAFH and how much to spend on FAFH or the demand for FAFH. The empirical results show that education of household head decreases the demand and probability of consuming FAFH, while household income and households with younger age cohorts increase the demand and probability of consuming FAFH in the study. The findings also reveal that education reduces the demand for FAFH for the wealthier households twice as much as it does for the poorer households.

Remittance Micro Determinants and Socioeconomic Impacts: A Household Unit Analysis of Gender Behaviour of Rural Household Head in Bangladesh

This paper analysed the effect of gender differences of household head amongst 10 villages on the remittance determinants and their socioeconomic impacts of remittance receiving households in rural Bangladesh. Using micro-economic data from a survey conducted in 2013, multivariate analysis was carried out on 300 rural households. The empirical findings provided that the remittance determinants (migrant age, marital status and number of visit; household head age, marital status, level of education and employment status) and impacts (saving and investment patterns; determinants: age of migrant, number of visit by the migrant, marital status of the migrant, age and education of household head) vary from male to female household head at the same community level of the households. The study suggest that the strong gender differences in the remittance behaviour of Bangladeshi households and highlight the importance of differentiating with respect to gender background when analysing the determinants of remittances.

Household participation in a Payments for Environmental Services programme: the Nhambita Forest Carbon Project (Mozambique)

AbstractQuantitative research on household participation in the Payments for Environmental Services (PES) programme remains scarce. This paper aims to determine the key factors influencing household participation in a PES programme in Mozambique. Questionnaire-based quarterly surveys were conducted with 290 randomly selected households. We used the instrumental variables technique to identify the factors influencing household participation. The instrumental variables used for forest dependence were: household head born in the village, duration of residence of the household head in the village, ethnicity of the household head, business ownership of the household head and off-farm income of the household. The results show that education of household head and households' trust towards community members positively influenced household participation in PES, while forest dependence influenced it negatively. Future PES projects may thus need to focus more on developing social capital and the resource dependence of households.

English

Value addition is currently becoming an important topic in agricultural sector, especially for perishable agricultural products. The aim of this paper was to assess factors influencing urban and peri-urban dairy producers’ participation in milk value addition and volume of milk value added (VMVA) in Welmera Woreda. The study employed both primary and secondary data. The primary data were collected by structured questionnaires from 120 urban and peri-urban dairy producers, while the secondary data were gathered from different governmental and non-governmental organizations, from published and unpublished sources. The data were then analyzed using both descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and econometric model. Heckman’s two-step econometric model was used to identify factors affecting value addition participation (VAP) and VMVA. The result of the model shows that gender, age and education of household head, market distance, number of local milking cows and quantity of annual milk production affected the probability of participation in value addition positively in the first step. In the second step, sex of household head, income from non-dairy source, distance to market, number of local milking cows and quantity of annual milk production affected the VMVA positively, whereas number of children less than age of 6 years and number of crossbred milking cows had a negative influence on it. The finding implies that paying a special attention to female headed households will have a positive effect in participation in value addition. In addition, expanding rural education and arranging a mechanism for experience sharing among experienced and young farmers would have a positive effect. Better infrastructure and introduction of processing machines are also helpful for selling row milk and value addition, respectively. Key words: Heckman’s two-step, urban, peri-urban, Welmera Woreda, Ethiopia.

English

This study applied a multinomial logistic regression in examining factors driving consumer preference for locally produced rice in Nigeria. The data for the study were collected in Niger and Ekiti states in 2008 under the post harvest study programme of Africa Rice (EX-WARDA). Results of the various analyses underscored the significance of socio-economic factors as major drivers of consumer preference for local rice in Nigeria. Five of the coefficients of the explanatory variables (age, marital status, education of household head, primary activity of household head and sex of household head) significantly influence the consumer preference for Pategi relative to Aroso (imported rice). Similarly, five variables (age of household head, educational status of household head, and sex of household head) influence significantly, consumer preference for Igbemo relative to Aroso. Aside socio-economic variables, other factors found to have influence on consumer preference are frequency of purchase and price. In spite of the various types of local rice available in the markets, majority of consumers can identify different types based on their physic-chemical characteristics. Nevertheless, the two most highly rated criteria for selection of rice bought in the market are whiteness and absence of foreign materials. Further analysis also confirmed that about 82% of Nigerian eats rice at least once in a day. The significance of the socio-economic variables is an indication that policies and programmes for the development of the Nigerian rice sector should, in addition to enhancing the physico-chemical characteristics of rice, include value reorientation and sensitization of the people on the nutritional qualities of local rice. Key words: Factors influencing, socio-economic, local rice, Nigeria.

What does your neighbourhood say about you? A study of life expectancy in 1.3 million Swiss neighbourhoods

BackgroundSwitzerland had the highest life expectancy at 82.8 years among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in 2011. Geographical variation of life expectancy and its relation to...

Dietary Intakes and Micronutrient Adequacy Related to the Changing Livelihoods of Two Pastoralist Communities in Samburu, Kenya

Pastoralist communities have traditionally depended on animal foods in their diets. Environmental and political pressures in recent years have led millions to agriculture and other income diversification strategies. This longitudinal study of two pastoralist communities with differing land tenure systems compared the probability of micronutrient intake adequacies in relation to livelihood transitions. Three waves of social, economic, and dietary intake data using 24-hour recalls were collected in 2000, 2005, and 2010, under different environmental conditions (n = 200). The pastoralist diet derived an average 49% of energy from maize, followed by sugar (13%), and milk (11%), and showed high probability of inadequacies for vitamins A, B12, and C. Panel regression modeling revealed income, education of household head, cattle and chicken ownership, and beans and rice consumption were positive determinants of dietary diversity (overall adjusted R2 = .33; P < .001). Livestock ownership predicted nutrient adequacy for vitamin A, B12, and zinc, while income predicted vitamin C adequacy. No differences by community, except for folate and vitamin C adequacy, were found. Future strategies to improve nutrition among pastoralists should uphold livestock production and associated milk and meat consumption; improve access to fruits, vegetables, and legumes; and offer general poverty alleviation services.

Determinants of Smallholder Pulse Producers Market Orientation in Southern Ethiopia

Pulse crops production and factors influencing the intensity market orientation were conducted in selected districts of southern Ethiopia. A total of 183 farmers were selected randomly and interviewed using structured schedule. The finding reveals that 73% of households produce haricot beans in the study areas on about 17.2% of total cultivated land. Out of the total produce of haricot bean close to 56% were sold. Next to haricot bean, chickpea is important pulse crop and is produced by 26.8% of the households. About 69.5% of total chickpea produce was sold indicating that chickpea is an even more important cash crop. The average level of market orientation index for haricot bean was 0.4 while that of chickpea 0.53, indicating moderate level of households market orientation. The Tobit estimation result show that household head education level, access to credit and land per capita positively influenced chickpea market orientation while being male head of a household and accesses to credit increased the predicted value of haricot bean market orientation. The key implication of this study is that interventions aimed at promoting market orientation of pulse crops should promote smallholder access to credit, human capital development and women empowerment.

Impact of Workers’ Remittances on Household Welfare in District Jhang (A Case Study of Tehsil 18 Hazari)

The inflow of foreign remittances is continuously increased in Pakistan and it has been estimated that about 13186.58 $ million received in the last fiscal year [23]. The main purpose of this study was to check the impact of remittances on household welfare as well as poverty of the household in Tehsil 18 Hazari, District jhang, Punjab, Pakistan. Household expenditures were used as a proxy variable to measure the welfare of household. Primary data were collected from the 9 union councils of Tehsil 18 Hazari. The size of sample was around 280, out of which 140 migrated households while 140 were non migrated. The results derived by application of OLS and logit model, revealed that education of household head, total number of animals, monthly income and foreign remittances were beneficial for improving the welfare of household while size of the house, marital status and dependency ratio negatively affected household welfare.

Socio-Ecological Risk Factors for Prime-Age Adult Death in Two Coastal Areas of Vietnam

BackgroundHierarchical spatial models enable the geographic and ecological analysis of health data thereby providing useful information for designing effective health interventions. In this study, we used a Bayesian hierarchical spatial model to evaluate mortality data in Vietnam. The model enabled identification of socio-ecological risk factors and generation of risk maps to better understand the causes and geographic implications of prime-age (15 to less than 45 years) adult death.Methods and FindingsThe study was conducted in two sites: Nha Trang and Hue in Vietnam. The study areas were split into 500×500 meter cells to define neighborhoods. We first extracted socio-demographic data from population databases of the two sites, and then aggregated the data by neighborhood. We used spatial hierarchical model that borrows strength from neighbors for evaluating risk factors and for creating spatially smoothed risk map after adjusting for neighborhood level covariates. The Markov chain Monte Carlo procedure was used to estimate the parameters. Male mortality was more than twice the female mortality. The rates also varied by age and sex. The most frequent cause of mortality was traffic accidents and drowning for men and traffic accidents and suicide for women. Lower education of household heads in the neighborhood was an important risk factor for increased mortality. The mortality was highly variable in space and the socio-ecological risk factors are sensitive to study site and sex.ConclusionOur study suggests that lower education of the household head is an important predictor for prime age adult mortality. Variability in socio-ecological risk factors and in risk areas by sex make it challenging to design appropriate intervention strategies aimed at decreasing prime-age adult deaths in Vietnam.