Opportunity Cost Of Labor Research Articles

Rediscovering the location of agricultural production: Spatial linkage of farmland use intensity and labor opportunity costs in Central China

Agricultural location theory was the earliest work to reveal the land use and agricultural layout of urban suburbs; however, there is an increasing difference between Dunn's theoretical model and modern agricultural layouts, and there is thus an urgent need to establish new theoretical relationships. In this work, we sought to reveal new patterns of modern suburban agricultural land use using remote sensing data and land economics knowledge. We used remote sensing data to obtain first-hand land-use information while considering the attractiveness of the urban center to labor, and we explored the impact of agricultural opportunity costs on agricultural land use. We found that agricultural land use in suburbs in Central China have four obvious layers: dominance of built-up areas, dominance of single cropping, dominance of double cropping, and dominance of triple cropping. From the perspective of planting patterns, with increasing distance from the city center, the proportion of single-cropping areas decreases from 60% to 20%, that of double-cropping areas increases from 20% to 70%, that of triple-cropping areas always remains below 10%, and the multiple-cropping index increases from 120% to 180%. From the perspective of land economics and considering labor cost, planting profits decrease with increasing distance from the city center. The increasing attractiveness of the urban center to migrant workers significantly weakens farmers' willingness to plant. From the perspective of the circle structure, before 2000, farmers' planting profits were higher than the opportunity costs in all regions; after 2000, farmers with arable land within a 40-km radius of the center may have been more inclined to choose farming, while those with land outside this 40-km radius may have been more inclined to work elsewhere. Under changing agricultural policies, farmers' planting profits increased to a historical high, but profits became negative in all regions after 2015, and the willingness of people to farm reached a historical low. With this work, we continue the development of the hierarchical structure model of The Location of Agricultural Production and summarize new laws of modern agricultural land use from the perspectives of remote sensing data and land economics, supplementing and enriching agricultural location theory.

Polish Dairy Farm Transformations and Competitiveness 20 Years after Poland's Accession to the European Union.

Poland is one of the leading milk producers in the EU, being the fifth largest after countries such as Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. From Poland's accession to the European Union in 2004 up to 2022, Polish milk production experienced dynamic development. In this, there occurred a strong decline in the number of dairy farms (by -78%) and the number of cows (by -21%), an increase in dairy herd size (3.5 times) and increase in milk production (+60%) and milk yield per cow (by +62%). These were among the highest growth dynamics among the analysed countries. As a result of this significant transformation, Poland maintained an important position in milk exports, with a 31% export share in production in 2022. The scale of milk production was the basic factor determining the efficiency and competitiveness of dairy farms in Poland. Milk yield, farmland productivity, labour productivity, milk price, and the Corrected Competitiveness Index (based on labour and land opportunity costs) all showed a positive relationship with cow herd size on the farm. Milk production is highly uncompetitive for smaller farms (<15 cows). Despite substantial public support, the smaller farms, where subsidies equal up to 47% of total production value, could not earn sufficient income to cover the cost of capital, risk, and management in 2008, and even more so in 2021. This is because the farm income is too small to cover the extremely high opportunity cost of labour. The larger farms (with 30 cows and more) are competitive and responsible for the majority (~60-70%) of milk produced and delivered to the market. The most challenging from the sectoral policy point of view are medium farms (10-29 cows), whose share in production and deliveries is still important. To survive as economically viable units, these farms have to increase in scale and improve productivity. Otherwise, they will be gradually supplanted by larger farms.

Land and technology requirements for economically prosperous smallholder farming in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Tanzania

Making a living from a small farm is difficult in sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, we quantify how difficult, using a simple, robust, relation between per capita daily income from farming (FPDI), land per capita and whole-farm net profitability per hectare. This relation allows the calculation of the land area required to generate various levels of household income as a function of farm performance. We use nationally representative household data for Tanzania to investigate the range of whole-farm profitability and to estimate an upper limit for it. For 6818 cases where households with land reported figures for gross crop and livestock revenues and for costs in any of the three years 2009, 2011 or 2013, actual median whole-farm net profitability was only $454/ha/y even without including the opportunity cost of family labour. When those were considered, median net profitability was negative $238/ha/y, i.e. a net loss. The maximum whole-farm profitability achieved was $4485/ha/y without family labour costs and $2742/ha/y with it. We evaluated actual and potential farm performance for their ability to generate a range of values of FPDI up to $10 per person per day. Most farms are not very profitable, particularly when household labour costs are considered, and few would be considered economically prosperous. Our analysis underscores the fact that improving their operations or adopting new technologies alone is unlikely to lift many smallholder farmers out of poverty in developing countries, given typical farm size distributions and reasonable assumptions about the realized economic returns to adoption of currently available agricultural technologies. While continued agricultural R&amp;D investments are certainly worthwhile, such efforts alone will be insufficient to meaningfully address welfare needs of the world's rural poor. This suggests that agricultural development programs should expand their attention to incorporate off-farm and non-farm components of the rural economy.

Winter housing systems and costs of sheep production in Norway

Housing and indoor feeding of sheep is required throughout the cold season, which can last more than half a year, in Nordic highlands and Alpine regions. This study aimed to examine and evaluate the housing costs, including labour requirements, according to type of sheep housing system and degree of mechanized feeding by investigating systems commonly used in Nordic and Alpine regions. Detailed cost data were obtained from 61 surveyed sheep farmers in Norway with sheep houses built between the years 2008 and 2015. Costs were calculated for a baseline scenario (2021-prices) as well as for five scenarios at low and high discount rates and opportunity cost of labour, and high energy prices. The median (interquartile range) flock size was 150 (100) winter-fed sheep. Houses with slatted floors were more expensive than deep-litter systems. Costs of bedding material and feed waste were however higher, and the net value of the manure were lower in houses with deep-litter systems. At the baseline assumptions, overall net housing costs per sheep was not statistically different among the main housing types studied. Multiple regression analyses showed that net housing costs per sheep were lower in larger flocks and for centrally located farms (control variables). Undertaking daily chores, such as feeding of roughages twice a day rather than once, resulted in significantly higher net housing costs. Mechanized feeding of roughages, and even more so for concentrates, were not economically justified since labour savings were not sufficient to pay for the additional capital costs. A round bale chopper lowered net housing costs, significantly at a high labour cost. None of the scenarios found slatted floors to be significantly more expensive than deep-litter systems. High costs of labour and capital favoured deep-litter systems, while slatted floor systems were more advantageous at rising prices of energy that resulted in increased values of organic manures and costs of feed wastes and bedding materials. The study was based on a decade old data from common Norwegian sheep house variants. Farmers that consider constructing a new sheep house today, still must compare these variants as their main alternatives. We encourage other researchers to include effects of housing systems and mechanized feeding on animal performance, health, and welfare. Moreover, future studies should preferably also be undertaken in other environmental or socio-economic settings to produce more general results.

The Heterogeneous Effects of Multilevel Centers on Farmland Transfer: Evidence from Tai’an Prefecture, China

Land transfer is an important means to achieve agricultural scale production and improve land use efficiency, as well as an effective way to solve food security issues. Discussing the mechanism of how the multilevel urban centers affect rural farmland transfer can help understand the spatial heterogeneity characteristics of farmland transfer. It is helpful to provide more policy suggestions from the perspective of urban-rural spatial relations and achieve the goal of agricultural and rural modernization. Taking Tai’an prefecture as an example, this study examines the impact of multilevel urban centers on farmland transfer by mediating effect model. The results show that: (1) Distances to urban centers are negatively associated with rural farmland transfer rates, with lower rates farther from urban centers. There are two mechanisms about how the distances to urban centers influence farmland transfer: the first is that the farther a village is from urban centers, the lower the value of its farmland, which leads to lower benefits to those who transferring farmland; the second is that lower opportunity costs of agricultural labor in the villages which farther from cities increase household reliance on farmland, reducing the rates of transferring farmland out. (2) Multilevel centers differentially influence transfers. The higher-level prefectural centers affect farmland transfer through planting structure, while the lower-level county centers affect farmland transfer through off-farm employment. Additionally, the influence of county centers is less stable due to road accessibility. (3) It is critical to additional policy support to both towns and remote villages. Particular focus should be placed on increasing the non-agricultural industries and expanding the agricultural markets of towns. It is also important to enhance infrastructure development to encourage farmland transfer in remote villages.

Tillage conditions or social economy? An analysis of the dominant driving force of farmland marginalization from the farmers' perspective

Farmland marginalization has been one of the main directions of land use transition in the process of industrialization and urbanization in recent years. With the increase in rural labor opportunity costs, the influence of natural resource endowment and socioeconomic conditions on farmers' farmland marginalization behavior at the micro level remains unknown, and the relevant literature is insufficient. In this study, the quantile regression method is adopted to explore the evolutionary trend of the role of tilling-based factors and socioeconomic factors under mild, moderate and severe marginalization levels of cultivated land. The results show that with farmland marginalization aggravation, the influence of tillage-based factors represented by tillage conditions on marginalization weakens while that of socioeconomic factors deepens. This study elucidates various regulation strategies at different farmland marginalization levels. At mild marginalization levels, attention should be given to improving tillage conditions; at moderate and severe marginalization levels, efforts should be made to improve the economic production capacity of farmland and promote the transfer of marginalized farmland to new agricultural business entities.

Value addition and farmers: Evidence from coffee in Ethiopia.

Local value-addition in developing countries is often aimed at for upgrading of agricultural value chains, since it is assumed that doing so will make farmers better off. However, transmission of the added value through the value chain and constraints to adoption of value-adding activities by farmers are not well understood. We look at this issue in the case of coffee in Ethiopia-the country's most important export product-and value-addition in the coffee value-chain through 'washing' coffee, which is done in wet mills. Washed coffee is sold internationally with a significant premium compared to 'natural' coffee but the share of washed coffee in Ethiopia's coffee exports has stagnated. Relying on a unique primary large-scale dataset and a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, we examine the reasons for this puzzle. The reasons seemingly are twofold. First, labor productivity in producing red cherries, which wet mills require, is lower than for natural coffee, reducing incentives for adoption, especially for those farmers with higher opportunity costs of labor. Second, only impatient, often smaller, farmers sell red cherries, as more patient farmers use the storable dried coffee cherries as a rewarding savings instrument, given the negative real deposit rates in formal savings institutions.

Allocative Efficiency of Cropshare Cultivation: Interpreting the Empirical Evidence

Because of the simultaneity problems raised by supervision problems, and the low opportunity cost of labour which may induce an inverse size-productivity relationship in agriculture, tests requiring a comparison of the productivity of farmers or farms of different tenure groups tend to be biased. Even a comparison of the performance of farmers of different tenure groups, though of the same size, may not necessarily yield unbiased results. The paired t-test, which involves comparing the performance of the owner· tenants on their own and cropshare land, has been found to be the most satisfactory method of comparing the effiCiency of crop share tenancy with that of owner cultivation. The study also suggests some disciplining influence imparted by a better choice of tenant and threat of eviction, preventing the tenants from wasting the rental land.

Determinants for Smallholder Farmers’ Adoption of Improved Forages in Dairy Production Systems: The Case of Tanga Region, Tanzania

Dairy productivity in sub-Saharan Africa remains below its potential, while there is an increasing demand for milk from its growing population. This study focuses on the adoption potential of improved, more nutritive and productive forages by smallholder farmers in the Tanga region of Tanzania. By applying a qualitative mixed-method approach, including farm visits, interviews and a multi-stakeholder workshop guided by the Qualitative Assessment Tool for Forage Technologies (QATo-FT), we systematically identify and analyse the roles of the (i) institutional and political, (ii) socio-economic and (iii) cultural factors influencing the adoption and diffusion of improved forage technologies. The findings reveal the unsuitable cool climate and unfavourable socioeconomic conditions, including low labour opportunity costs in the dry season as critical reasons for the low current adoption rate. However, a positive community attitude, the recognised ecological benefits and the supporting role of promoting institutions are the main influencing factors of a high adoption potential. Yet, the political and institutional framework at the regional level, as well as the market conditions, negatively influence the adoption potential. We suggest an integrated approach for rural development that goes beyond the improvement of yields, but provides more efficient use of land and labour in the region.

Peasants and Pork: The Changing Contribution of Pig Farming to Rural Livelihoods

Drawing on data from the National Agricultural Censuses (1996-2016) and the National Rural Fixed Observation Point Survey (1986-2018), this article provides a holistic review of China’s pig breeding development during the last three decades. Pig farming had developed from extremely small-scale rearing in the mid-1980s to large scale husbandry in the mid-1990s, yet a majority of pigs were still reared by individual agricultural households. From the mid-1990s, individual pig breeders began to withdraw because of the growing opportunity cost of labor and the falling need for organic manure in agricultural activities. Small-scale pig farming has been replaced by highly commercialized and specialized companies who have further collaborated with expert large-scale pig farming households to form a whole pig breeding and sales chain. But even now, pig rearing is still important to the livelihoods of poor rural households. Policies and subsidies should be in place to protect the interests of individual breeders.

Poverty Alleviation Through Technology-Driven Increases in Crop Production by Smallholder Farmers in Dryland Areas of Sub-Saharan Africa: How Plausible Is This Theory of Change?

The current paradigm of agricultural research and extension in support of rural development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is to disseminate improved technologies designed to increase the generally low crop yields per hectare on individual farms. Using data from a baseline survey (n = 7,539) from a large rural development programme implemented in five countries in SSA, we calculate the increases in yield per hectare required to significantly contribute to poverty alleviation for households managing such farms. We estimate the gap between current crop productivity and the productivity required to reach a poverty line of $1.90 per capita per day adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). We find this gap to be very large, both in percentage and absolute terms. Median additional gross crop productivity required to reach this poverty threshold was: $324/ha/year (254% increase) in Mali; $1,359/ha/year (1,157% increase) in Niger; $4,989/ha/year (665% increase) in Ethiopia; $1,742/ha/year (818% increase) in Burkina Faso; $2,893/ha/year (1,297% increase) in Kenya. The required additional productivity taking account of production costs including the opportunity cost of family labor would need to be even higher. Given that (a) values of net productivity of improved rainfed crop technologies reported in the literature rarely exceed $1,000/ha/year; and (b) the majority of arable farms in SSA are two hectares or less with increasing trends toward land fragmentation, we argue that closing the yield gap among smallholder farmers in SSA will never—alone—be sufficient to meaningfully alleviate the high levels of poverty and deprivation many currently experience.

Tobacco Farming and Illness Induced Poverty in Pakistan

Tobacco has been projected for its economic prosperity in Pakistan and many other developing countries while the opportunity cost of domestic labor, health issues and associated health cost related with tobacco farming are often overlooked. Various health conditions associated with tobacco farming result in catastrophic health expenditures which not only increase the chances of poverty head counts but also deepens it further. Taking into account the opportunity cost of domestic labor and health cost associated with tobacco induced illnesses obscure the tobacco prosperity rhetoric. This study examined effect of incremental health cost associated with tobacco farming on poverty head counts and severity. Using survey data from the tobacco producing districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, this study found that tobacco farmers experienced higher proportion of sever health hazards and illnesses like CVD and respiratory issues. The severe nature of ailments caused them higher share of out of pocket expenditures as compared to non-tobacco farmers and general population. Increase in health expenditures not only increased their poverty head counts by four and half percent but also severity of poverty worsened further by 8 percentage points using the Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) approach for measuring poverty. This study concludes that it is not only tobacco consumption associated with various health conditions but also tobacco farming. It is recommended that health cost associated with tobacco farming be considered both in setting up of minimum indicative prices for tobacco and consideration of health cost can be used as a tool against prosperity rhetoric which is used to block tobacco control policy.

Economic Implications of Senior High School to Parents in Southern Philippines: A Rural-Urban Perspective

This pioneer study unravelled the economic implications of Senior High School (SHS) curriculum to parents in the rural area of Jolo and the urban center of Zamboanga City. Finding out the significant difference of said implications to parents clustered according to: Area Status, and Children’s Grade Level and Children’s School Type, and SHS-Associated Factors causing financial difficulty to them in both areas are also within the confine of this endeavour. As an expose facto cross-sectoral and evaluative survey, this research employed a qualitative descriptive approach. One hundred twenty seven (127) respondents comprising of parents and senior high principals/coordinators/directors were determined through a Purposive sampling method. Weighted Mean, t-test (Independent Sample-Test), and Ordinal Scales were utilized in analysing the data. The findings are forwarded - The economic implications of the curriculum to parents in both areas are as follows: more spending for school and non-school needs of children, compromised other household expenses and needs of the family, difficulty to support the education of senior high and non-senior high children, compromised expenses on non- senior high children, increased in educational expenses, costly secondary education, increased of daily expenses, financial burden, difficulty to manage income, difficulty to deal with tuition and miscellaneous fees, difficulty to save money, compromised personal and social expenses, need to generate extra income and borrow money to support the education of children, difficulty to extend financially assistance to needy relatives and friends (rural respondents), and difficulty to attend to social obligations on regular basis (rural respondents). As to the extent/intensity of the implications, parents in SCT-SHS and NDJC-SHS in rural area are more affected by the curriculum than the rest. While in urban center, parents in DPLMHS-SASHS and TTNHS-SHS are more affected than those in the four senior high schools. Generally, the extent/intensity of the economic implications of the curriculum to parents in both areas is slight. Income and tuition fee are among the top-ranking pre-determined SHS-Associated Factors causing financial difficulty to parents in rural area and urban center, and in the twelve senior high schools in both areas. Specifically, parents are shelling-out an average of PhP35,000 to 45,000 every year for the senior high education of their children. From the study findings, the researcher developed a model dubbed as Cycle of Despondency. The curriculum increases the private costs of education and burgles effluent family of two years of indispensable child’s contribution in terms of labor opportunity cost. Above all, it is taxing to parents beyond their financial capability to cope. Scrapping it, however, is indubitably not an astute plan. Instead, immediate and sweeping review and modification are prudent stratagems to undertake since it is already running for four years now. Program mitigating its pecuniary repercussions to parents have to be devised, along with inflexible regulation of school fees and charges. The Civil Service Commission (CSC) and corporate entities have to amend some job “educational requirements” to accommodate senior high graduates in the labor market. Studies on the economic aspect of the curriculum must be launched by various social divides - to spot genuine recommendations in aid of legislation and curriculum planning in general and map out alternative methodologies to minimize its impacts to family in particular. Otherwise, the curriculum will completely end up in fiasco.

Low-cost electric fencing for peaceful coexistence: An analysis of human-wildlife conflict mitigation strategies in smallholder agriculture

With a growing global population, human-wildlife conflicts (HWCs) are intensifying and cost-effective mitigation strategies to conserve biodiversity and support rural livelihoods become increasingly relevant. This article presents evidence on how low-cost electric fencing (EF) technology can contribute to a peaceful coexistence between farmers and wildlife. Applying an economic analysis, the effectiveness of smallholders' predominant HWC mitigation strategies in Bhutan are assessed. In Bhutan, HWCs are severe and investments in EF are expanding with about 10% of agricultural land already fenced. The analysis reveals high effectiveness and profitability of EF compared with labor-intensive crop guarding strategies despite smallholders' high time preference. EF profitability particularly depends on net labor savings from reduced time-use for crop guarding. Results emphasize the need for collective action at the community level, since due to small landholdings individually operated EF schemes are unprofitable in most cases. The findings are robust across ecological conditions and variations in key parameters, such as the discount rate (reflecting smallholders' time preference) and opportunity cost of labor. Particularly in contexts where hunting is banned, investments in EF technology could be a main ingredient of comprehensive policies for wildlife conservation and agricultural development. Further research is needed to investigate the biological implications of large-scale fencing policies, the relevance of spatial spillover effects and game-theoretic aspects of community-based EF schemes.

School entry age and educational attainment in developing countries: Evidence from China's compulsory education law

We investigate the causal impact of age of enrolment on educational attainment in a developing country setting. Using China's 1986 Compulsory Education Law, which established a new nationally uniform age threshold for primary school enrolment as a natural experiment, we find that the probability of attending high school falls by 3.6 percentage points when school enrolment is postponed by one year. We provide suggestive evidence that those who start school later are not better learners, and that older students' higher labor opportunity cost plays an important role in explaining the negative impact of school entry age on educational attainment.

The Economic Cost of Tobacco Farming in Bangladesh

The extent of tobacco cultivation remains substantially high in Bangladesh, which is the 12th largest tobacco producer in the world. Using data from a household survey of current, former, and never tobacco farmers, based on a multi-stage stratified sampling design with a mix of purposive and random sampling of households, this study estimated the financial and economic profitability per acre of land used for tobacco cultivation. The environmental effects of tobacco cultivation on land and water resources were estimated using laboratory tests of sample water and soil collected from tobacco-cultivating and non-tobacco cultivating areas. The study finds that tobacco cultivation turns into a losing concern when the opportunity costs of unpaid family labour and other owned resources, and the health effects of tobacco cultivation are included. Tobacco cultivation poses a significantly high environmental cost that causes a net loss to society. Nevertheless, the availability of unpaid family labour and the options of advanced credit as well as a buy back guarantee from the tobacco companies attract farmers to engage in and continue tobacco cultivation. Therefore, supply side interventions to curb the tobacco epidemic in Bangladesh need to address major drivers of tobacco cultivation to correct the wrong incentives and motivate tobacco farmers to switch to alternative livelihood options.

Economic Impact of FMD in cattle and buffaloes in India

In India, among various diseases that limit livestock production, Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) stands first and affects thousands of animals every year. The estimation of loss due to FMD is of paramount importance for designing appropriate control plans. The economic impact studies on various livestock diseases including FMD are very minimal and hence this study assessed the economic loss due to FMD in cattle and buffaloes in few states and overall loss in the country. The total loss estimated comprise of milk yield reduction, unavailability of draught power, distress sale, treatment cost, mortality and opportunity cost of labour based on primary survey undertaken in 10 states and one Union territory. The results revealed that there was variation in loss levels between species and among the study states due to variation in disease incidence and severity levels, productive capacity of the animals, animal health infrastructure in the respective states, etc. The total estimated loss due to FMD in cattle and buffalo was INR 20,897 crore during 2013-14 with wide variation in magnitude across the states studied. The study provided empirical evidence of loss due to FMD in cattle and buffaloes in few states and overall loss in the country.

Greater farmer investment in well-formulated diets can increase liveweight gain and smallholder gross margins from cattle fattening

To improve the productivity of smallholder cattle fattening, farmers will need to invest in higher quality concentrate-based diets which provide a return greater than the additional feed costs. This research assessed two formulations of elephant grass, cassava bagasse, palm kernel cake and copra meal mixes for average daily liveweight gain (ADG) and income over feed cost (IOFC), compared to a forage diet in a pen experiment; and then evaluated the best performing diet as a supplement to existing smallholder bull fattening diets in villages in East Java, Indonesia. In the pen experiment, 24 Ongole bulls were allocated to three treatment diets fed at 25 g DM/kg liveweight.day in a 12-week randomised block experiment: 1) Elephant grass only; 2) a simplified feedlot diet (elephant grass, cassava bagasse, palm kernel cake and copra meal at 4.9, 9.8, 4.9 and 4.9 g DM/kg liveweight.day, respectively); and 3) a high cassava bagasse inclusion diet (elephant grass, cassava bagasse, palm kernel cake and copra meal at 4.9, 17.1, 1.2 and 1.2 g DM/kg liveweight.day, respectively). Intake and ADG were recorded. In the village experiment, 46 smallholder-managed Ongole crossbred bulls were randomly allocated to a control or intervention treatment group. Intervention group farmers fed their bulls 4 kg DM/day of the concentrate mix from the simplified feedlot diet in addition to normal feeding. Costs and returns, ADG and feeding were recorded. IOFC was calculated for both experiments and sensitivity-tested for variation in cattle price and opportunity cost of labour for harvesting home-grown feeds. In the pen experiment, the simplified feedlot diet yielded the highest ADG at 1.00 kg/day, with high cassava and elephant grass both yielding 0.23 kg/day. The purchased feed cost of gain was lowest for elephant grass (nil), followed by the simplified feedlot and the high cassava diets (9831 and 26,708 IDR/kg liveweight, respectively). However, the high ADG in the simplified feedlot diet made that the most profitable diet, with an IOFC of IDR 27,673, compared to IDR 2603 and IDR 8156 for the high cassava and elephant grass diets respectively. Including opportunity cost of labour for harvesting grass made simplified feedlot even more advantageous. When the concentrate from the simplified feedlot diet was fed to village bulls, ADG and daily feed cost doubled from 0.6 kg/day and IDR 6523/day, respectively, for control group bulls to 1.2 kg/day and IDR 11,069/day for intervention bulls. However, IOFC did not improve with the intervention supplement when growth rates were already high, for example, when cattle were already fed high amounts of rice-bran or forage tree legumes. When opportunity cost of household labour for harvesting forages was included, most grass-based village diets became unprofitable. Even when the return per kg of liveweight gain is reduced by higher feed costs, if this results in higher ADG, then the IOFC of this strategy can far exceed least-cost feeding strategies for fattening cattle.

The Disutility of Labor: A Comment on Fegley and Israel

Fegley and Israel (2020) have advanced the thesis that the status of leisure as a consumer good is an immediate inference from the action axiom rather than an empirical postulate as maintained by Mises and Rothbard. This comment argues that we can easily imagine a world in which leisure does not represent the opportunity cost of labor, and that Mises and Rothbard have been misconstrued. Additionally, I am strongly unsympathetic to the mode of argument they use in making their case, which is to directly challenge well-established foundational concepts and relations of economic theory. This may only provoke arid quibbling over epistemology.

Labor migration and the decoupling of the crop-livestock system in a rural mountainous area: Evidence from Chongqing, China

Massive out-migration of rural labor force brings both challenges and opportunities to crop-livestock integrated production system (crop-livestock system) in smallholder economy. Compared with previous researches that have paid major attention to the effect of labor migration on either crop production or livestock husbandry, this study considers the mediating role of crop production in predicting the effect of labor migration on livestock raising. Our econometric estimation based on a 2012 survey of 974 rural households in Chongqing, a mountainous region of China, showed the following. (1) The massive migration of rural labor force had led to significant increase in farmland abandonment and considerable changes in the pattern of livestock raising. (2) The livestock raising number per household began to differentiate, with the livestock system separating from the traditional crop-livestock system and becoming a specialized business. (3) In terms of the pathways through which rural labor migration exerts impact on livestock raising number, though the increased opportunity costs of rural labor greatly reduced farmers’ willingness to raise livestock, the decoupling of the crop-livestock system partly alleviated the declining trend in the livestock raising number because of the availability of household labor force freed from cropping via farmland abandonment. These findings have important policy implications for rural development and agricultural restructuring in mountainous areas of China, and provide references for other developing countries.