Farmland Size Research Articles

Determinants of Rural Out-Migration in Habru District of Northeast Ethiopia

Migration has become a cause of concern at the global, regional, and national levels. Like the case of many developing countries, Ethiopia has been facing increasing challenges related to rural out-migration. This study aimed to analyze factors that determine rural communities’ decision to migrate to internal and international destinations in Habru district of Northeast Ethiopia. Stratified sampling technique has been employed to select a total of 200 household heads in three agroecologies of the study area. Structured questionnaires have been used as a principal primary data collection method and logistic regression has been employed for analysis. The results of the study showed that intravillage conflict, absence of relief assistant, livestock ownership, farm land size, access to information, and household and individual characteristics including family size, sex, and age of the migrants are the dominant determinant factors for rural out-migration. Migration can have a positive outcome in improving livelihoods if comprehensive and holistic policies and strategies are in place. There is also a need to strengthen the link between rural development policy and the disadvantaged groups by designing and implementing different livelihood alternatives including reducing pressure on scarce resources particularly land, integrating health and education services, and creating nonfarm employment opportunities.

Effects of Land Fragmentation on Productivity in Northwestern Ethiopia

Generally, land fragmentation is a universal trait of all agricultural systems which affects farmland productivity and no one had documented a rural society where there was no land fragmentation. Hence, this study sought to ascertain the effects of land fragmentation on farmland productivity in the highland districts of Northwestern Ethiopia by using cross-sectional data collected from 240 respondents during 2015/16 production seasons and analyzed by using linear and Cobb-Douglass production functions. In land productivity model, 38% of variations in farmland productivity are explained by variations in independent variables including land fragmentation parameters. Average farmland size of 1.25 ha was obtained as minimum size that can generate minimum food and cash requirement of an average family of five adult equivalents. Hence, the government should come up with land use policy and population growth controlling program, which enables determining minimum economic farmland size, improving land productivity, and finding ways to strengthen off-farm activities and livestock sector to absorb more labor and enhance means of generating more income so as to decrease minimum farmland size required.

圃場整備済区域内の不耕作地への農業参入の可能性に関する考察

The first purpose of this research is to clarify the relation between the situation of fallow farmlands in the settlement and community people's interest to entrants into agriculture. The second purpose is to clarify what factors have affected the situation of fallow farmlands and interests to entrants. Finally the author considered the possibility of entering into the agriculture. The research methods and results are as below. Hayashi's quantification theory type 2 was used for clarifying what has affected the individual farmland use and for quantifying the cultivating condition of the farmland. In that regard, 10 indicators of the cultivating condition were set as the explanatory variable and the farmland use was set as the explained variable. Among 10 indicators, the size of farmland, the slope of farmland and the contiguity with forests influence the result of the discrimination highly. The situation of fallow farmlands in the settlement was evaluated by 2 indicators, namely, the cultivating condition of the fallow farmlands and the distribution of the fallow farmlands. The interests to entrants was defined by interviewing the representative of the settlement's agricultural group. Then the situation of fallow farmlands was compared to the interests to entrants. By this method, there is no relation between the two. It shows that the interests to entrants is affected by the social environment of the settlement. The appearing process of the fallow farmlands had been revealed by interviewing the representative of settlement's agricultural group. Then KJ-method was used to analyze what factors has influenced the situation of fallow farmlands. The author extracted 4 factors, namely, the irrigation, the location of farmland, the land allocation and the governance capacity of settlement. By analyzing the relation 4 factors and the interests to entrants, the following are shown: 1. The representative of settlements with water shortage tend to have negative interest to entrants. 2. The representative of settlements near to forests tend to have positive interest to entrants. 3. The representative of settlements with the strong governance capacity tend to have positive interest to entrants. Considering the situation of fallow farmlands and the interest to entrants, the author suggests the following policies: propulsion by the local government, reducing the business risks, integrating some fallow and solidarity by some settlements. Except for settlements which need no entrants, settlements will be able to deal with entrants according as these policies. For increasing the opportunity of entering to agriculture, it will be needed that each settlement regards entrants as better partner than now. The author suggests that local governments should enhance “the governance capacity of settlements”.

Perception of Cassava Farmers of Climate Change on Cassava Production in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

The study examined the perception of farmers on the change in climate condition on cassava production in Ido Local Government area of Oyo State. Data were collected through the use of structured questionnaire which were administered to 76 respondents. Descriptive and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the result of this study. Results showed that 85.8% of the respondents are male and 14.7% were female, 29.2% were between 31-40years, 70.7% of the respondents received information on climate change through neighbours and friends, 100% of the respondents relied on rainfall as a source of water to the farm, 92% made use of manual planting method, while 61.3% of the respondents perceived that climate change does not have absolute effect on cassava production, also majority 50.7% agreed that extension worker do not enhance productivity, major sources of climate change awareness are through radio and television. Regression result showed that labour used was negative and statistically significant at 1%, extension agents visit has a negative coefficient and significant at 5% while source of farm land and farm size has a positive relationship to cassava output in the study. Therefore, extension agent visit or contact should be improved in order to enhance or assist the farmer on how to militate against climatic change and also to help in the adoption of new technology by the farmers in the study area.

Credit constraints and their impact on farm household welfare

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify factors affecting formal credit constraint status of rural farm households in Vietnam’s North Central Coast (NCC) region. Design/methodology/approach – Using the direct elicitation method (DEM), the authors consider both internal and external credit rationing. Findings – Empirical evidences confirm the importance of household head’s age, gender and education to household’s likelihood of being credit constrained. In addition, households who have advantages in farm land size, labour resources and non-farm income are less likely to be credit constrained. Poor households are observed to remain restricted by formal credit institutions. Results from the endogenous switching regression model suggest that credit constraints negatively impact household’s consumption per capita and informal credit can act as a substitute to mitigate the negative influence of formal credit constraints. Research limitations/implications – One limitation arises from the usage of the DEM to identify credit constrained households. The method cannot detect effective and ineffective constraints. Another limitation is the inability of cross-section data to capture long-term impacts of credit constraints on household welfare. Finally, causes of credit constraints from the lender’s view cannot be observed. Practical implications – The results suggest that it is necessary to enhance the credit allocation regime to reduce the transaction cost and provide target households with sufficient credit. It should be emphasized that high transaction cost and the mismatch between credit demand and supply stemming from information asymmetry. The government can help formal financial institutions to reduce information cost by encouraging the active role of social organizations such as Women Unions, Youth Unions and Veteran Unions in bridging rural farm households with formal lenders. Originality/value – There are limited studies focusing on determinants of credit constraints and their impacts on rural farm households. To the best of the knowledge, there is no study evaluating the impact of credit constraints on rural farm household welfare particularly in Vietnam. In addition, the studies related to credit constraints only considered full quantity rationing (households applied for the loan but were rejected), omitting the case of partly quantity rationing (loan obtained by the borrowers is less than their demand) and self-rationing.

Relacje rolników z dostawcami środków produkcji – na przykładzie sektora mleczarskiego w Polsce

The paper aims at improving our knowledge about farmers’ relations with input suppliers and analyses the backward vertical spillovers between the “boundary” chains. It uses a micro-data on dairy sector in Poland to elicit farmers’ opinions on their cooperation with feed suppliers and confront them with farmers’ actual behaviors. We find that dairy farmers have on average a long and stable cooperation with feed suppliers. A great majority of the respondents perceive their relationship with feed supplier as either good or very good. The relation between farmer and feed supplier is usually not formal (over 90% of farmers do not have any written contract). Price level and the quality of feed is the most important feature of the relation mentioned by farmers. However, we observe significant differences in the farm characteristics, obtained discounts, possibilities of the price negotiations, etc. depending on the channel of the feed supply. Despite no significant difference in farmland size, farmers who purchase feed directly from feed producer have a significantly larger milk production and receive significantly higher discount from the feed supplier than farmers purchasing feed from an intermediary. This group of farmers is also more active in price negotiations and more often considers changing their supplier.

The introduction of oil palm in Northeast Thailand: A new cash crop for smallholders?

AbstractAs part of the Thai Government's objective to increase energy security through biodiesel, oil palm was introduced to Northeast Thailand in 2005. Nong Khai Province was selected as a pilot project because of its suitable environmental conditions. This study assesses the acceptance of policy interventions and socio‐economic conditions by adopters and non‐adopters. We found that total farmland size was significantly higher among oil palm producers than among non‐producers. Nevertheless, the area under oil palm cultivation did not increase in accordance with land size in the way rubber did. Oil palm and non‐oil palm farmers had almost equal amounts of rice area thereby providing household food security. Oil palm did not replace food crops. Farmers investing in oil palm tend to base their livelihood around on‐farm production, whereas non‐adopters tend to diversify with off‐farm income sources. Oil palm was found to be one component of a diversified farming system and an additional income source, albeit not the primary one. In conclusion, oil palm was a crop that had been tried by (wealthier) farmers with sufficient capital, and an aim to further diversify on‐farm household income. Oil palm is certainly not (yet) contributing substantially to household income in Thailand's Northeast.

Does Land Tenure Security Promote Manure Use by Farm Households in Vietnam?

Facing widespread poverty and land degradation, Vietnam started a land reform in 1993 as part of its renovation policy package known as “Doi Moi”. This paper examines the impacts of improved land tenure security, via this land reform, on manure use by farm households. As manure potentially improves soil fertility by adding organic matter and nutrients to the soil surface, it might contribute to improving soil productive capacity and reversing land degradation. Random effect regression models are applied to a panel dataset of 133 farm households in the Northern Uplands of Vietnam collected in 1993, 1998, and 2006. The results confirm that land tenure security has positive effects on manure use, but the levels of influence differ depending on whether the land has been privatized or whether the land title has already been issued. In addition, manure use is also influenced by the number of cattle and pigs, the education level and ethnicity of household heads, farm land size and non-farm income. The findings suggest that speeding up land privatization and titling, encouraging cattle and pig rearing, and improving education would promote manure use in farm production. However, careful interpretation of our research findings is required as land privatization, together with economic growth and population pressure, might lead to overuse of farm inputs.

Assessing willingness to accept compensation for polluted farmlands: a contingent valuation method case study in northwest China

It is difficult to assess the value of environmental damage, such as that related to polluted farmlands, because of no markets exist that are relevant to such valuation. This paper applies the contingent valuation method to measure the compensation value considered acceptable to those working and living on polluted farmlands. Baiyin and Jinchang Cities in northwest China are chosen for a case study based on 382 completed questionnaires. It is shown that a willingness to accept (WTA) measure is necessary for damage assessment and is reasonable when those negatively affected by pollution of farmlands also hold relevant property rights. The study applied two methods (the Tobit model and the Logit model) to estimate the MWTA compensation value. Based on our findings, Logit model could be more effective in detecting and correcting respondent bias. The Logit model indicates that the set of explanatory variables considered influences respondents’ WTA decisions which is positively related to farmland size and family size, and is also affected by income and education levels.

Rising real wages, mechanization and growing advantage of large farms: Evidence from Indonesia

This paper examines dynamic patterns of land use, capital investments and wages in agriculture using farm panel data from Indonesia. The empirical analysis shows that with an increase in real wages that prevailed in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors in rural areas, relatively larger farmers increased the size of operational farm land by renting in land as well as used more hired-in machines through machine rental and/or service providers, which induces the substitution of labor by machines. Machines and land are complementary and, consistently, the inverse farm size-productivity relationship tends to be reversed among relatively large holders. The results support growing (diminishing) advantage of large (small) farms in the presence of rapidly rising real wages and have food security policy implications to many Asian countries where real wages are rapidly rising and small farms are predominant.

Determinants of Integrated Soil Fertility Management adoption under annual cropping system in Arsamma watershed, southwestern Ethiopian Highlands

Ethiopia faces a complex set of soil fertility problems requiring approaches going beyond the application of chemical fertilizers. The physical structure-oriented soil conservation strategy could not adequately address the problem of soil fertility deterioration. The attempts of promoting Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) strategies have been at its infant stage and limited in its proper implementation and wider dissemination. This study was conducted to identify determinants of ISFM adoption under annual cropping system in Arsamma watershed, southwestern Ethiopian Highlands. The data used for the study were collected from 136 sample respondents who were randomly selected by employing a two-stage random sampling technique. Binary logistic regression models were used to characterize factors driving adoption of ISFM. Findings show that farmland size, farmer training (FTR), participation in agricultural extension programs, years of chemical fertilizer application to farmland, and perception of farmers toward continuous use of mono-chemical fertilizers were found the statistically significant predictors of ISFM adoption. Improving the productivity of the limited farmland, designing pro-poor approaches, provision of action-based FTR, targeting on agricultural extension programs, and raising awareness of farmers about negative impacts of mono-chemical fertilizer technology are key areas of intervention to enhance adoption of ISFM in the study catchment.

Assessing the relative importance of dairy products to family nutrition in mixed crop-livestock production systems of Ethiopia

Livestock forms an integral part and contributes in multiple ways to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the crop-livestock systems of Ethiopia. This study presents empirical evidence of the relative importance of the consumption of dairy products to family nutrition and factors underlying differences among farm households. Cattle owning households (n = 270) and their under-5-year-old children (n = 225) were sampled for this study. Multiple approaches were applied for data collection, including a cross-sectional survey, in-depth household monitoring, a dietary diversity survey and anthropometric measurements of children. Household dietary diversity scores were low (4.6 ± 1.3), mainly comprising maize, Enset, green kales and milk products. The consumption of non-dairy Animal Source Foods (ASF: beef, mutton, chicken meat, eggs and fish) was low, intermittent and peaked during major religious or social festivities. Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) revealed substantial associations between anthropometric indices of children and socio-economic status of their parents. Specifically, predictors assigned the greatest weights, in descending order, were per capita farmland size, family size, access to clean water, crop diversity, dependency ratio, livestock holding, cash income, literacy of household head, distance to public health centres, and volume of milk available in the households. Although cow milk was identified as an important food item for children, their nutritional status was influenced by manifold factors that affect their dietary quality, health and care. Therefore, holistic approaches that embrace effective coordination among different economic sectors - notably agriculture, public health education and provision of clean water are required to achieve food and nutritional security among farming households.

Farmer education and household agricultural income in rural India

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences in the rural household agricultural income by farmers’ education while exploiting a nationally representative household survey data set, i.e. the India Human Development Survey-2005, in the rural Indian context. The author seeks to answer the question: how much variation in the household net agricultural income per acre of land cultivated can farmers’ education explain? Design/methodology/approach – The author has employed the ordinary least squares regression model with village fixed effects. The author also analysed the data using some exploratory statistics. Findings – The author finds that farmers’ education significantly increases the net household farm income per acre of land cultivated last year. The results are robust to the inclusion of the five educational degree categories (dummies) in lieu of the years of schooling variable. The results are also robust to its decomposition into that for men and for women separately. Women farmers’ education has an amplified impact on farm incomes. The author also confirms the inverse relationship between the household agricultural income and land area cultivated, which is consistent with the huge literature on the negative relationship between land size-class and farm productivity. Practical implications – In a developing country with a not-so-modernized agriculture sector and low adoption of newer farming technologies, this validated importance of education in explaining the differences in rural farm earnings has guiding policy implications in that a positive return to farmer schooling signals the need for increased investments in the farmers’ education and awareness so as to enhance farm incomes and productivity. The special policy thrust on education of women and women farmers is critical to ensuring higher farm incomes and outcomes. Originality/value – The literature on the impact of farmers’ education on rural household agricultural income is very sparse. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this issue has not been addressed before in the Indian context. The author explains the contribution of farmer education to farm income in rural Indian households. The author also revisits the negative relationship between farm income and land size holdings in the Indian agriculture.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF POVERTY AMONG ARABLE CROP FARMERS IN PLATEAU STATE

The study analysed the socio economic characteristics and poverty depth among arable crop farmers in Plateau State, Nigeria. Using multi-stage sampling technique, 265 farming households were randomly sampled from 9 communities spread across three Local Government Areas of the three agro ecological zones in the State. Primary data generated from farming household heads were mainly used for this study. The household’s socio economic characteristics, income and expenditure dominated the bulk of the data. The data were analysed using Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) index and Tobit regression. The monthly mean per adult equivalent household expenditure (MPAEHE) was N3,940. A poverty line of N2,627 was estimated, based on this poverty line, the FGT measures show that 42% of the farming households in the study area were poor. The Tobit regression analysis revealed that the number of years spent in school was significant (P<0.01) while farmer’s income and size of farmland were significant (P<0.05). An increase in any of these variables would result to a probability of a decrease in the poverty level of the farmers. Age of the farmers was significant (P<0.10), implying that a unit increase in the age of the farmers, would result to the probability of increasing poverty. From this study, it is recommended that there is the need for policy makers and managers of poverty alleviation programmes to identify the poor at community levels. Any poverty alleviation programme should be targeted at this group.

The development of farm labor market in rural China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine key determinants of farm labor market development in rural China. Design/methodology/approach – Probit, Logit, and IV-Probit model are used to provide pertinent empirical analysis. Findings – Analysis of survey data establishes three facts about the farm labor market in rural China: first, households with high farm endowment are more likely to hire farm labor; second, because of the mismatch between farm ability and land size created by egalitarian land reallocation, households with more land reallocations are more likely to participate in farm labor market to adjust such mismatch; third, land rental market and farm labor market seem to be complementary. These results are robust to alternative model specifications, subsamples, alternative dependent variables, and additional controls. Welfare analysis demonstrates that the farm labor market is conducive to agricultural output. Originality/value – The main contribution of this study is to lay out stylized facts in terms of the development of farm labor market using a unique survey data set.

The Effect of Sustainable Land Management SLM to Ensure Food Security Local Evidences from Tehuledere Woreda ANRS Northern Ethiopia

Now a days, land degradation has emerged as a significant threat to the promotion of green economy, wellbeing of the ecology and ensuring food security. To counteract such a problem, Scaling up SLM technologies is a drastic solution. It is with this grand theme that this study was conducted in Tehuledere Woreda in three surrounding districts (Amumo, Kundimeda and Messal) taking the vulnerability of the area in to consideration. It shade light at identifying the factors hindering the adoption of SLM technologies and, the role of SLM technologies to ensure food security, and assessing the causes of food security in the context of SLM in the study area. The data used were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. The primary sources include structured questionnaire survey and focus group discussion methods. A total of 193 households were interviewed and their responses were interpreted. Scientific reports and conference proceedings were used to support the primary data. Descriptive statistics method was used for analyzing among farm land size, household, topography, erosion status and the adoption of soil and water conservation practices. The results indicated that farm land size, educational status of household head, slop of the farm land, lack of awareness, lack of adequate rain fall, financial constraints and distance to the farm plot from household home were among the major factors that negatively influence adoption of SLM in the study area which resulted in food insecurity. Furthermore, applying cost effective technologies which are suited for different topography such as manure, stone bundles, check dams, planting trees, etc. are recommended to be adopted effectively to ensure food security. Finally, lack of rainfall, land degradation and soil erosion, small land size, and limited status of SLM technologies are found to be causes of food insecurity in the context of SLM. As land is the main stay of the life in rural areas, efforts should be exerted for successfully scaling up of SLM technologies.

Changing Land Use Patterns and Their Impacts on Wild Ungulates in Kimana Wetland Ecosystem, Kenya

In Kenya, wildlife numbers have drastically declined due to land use changes (LUCs) over the past three decades. This has affected wildlife habitats by converting them into farmlands and human settlements. This study used remote sensing data from landsat satellite to analyze the changing land use patterns between 1980 and 2013 and their impacts on wild ungulates in KWE. The objective of the study was to map out LUCs, determine the possible causes of LUCs, and examine the effects of LUCs on wild ungulates. The results showed a noticeable increase in the size of farmland, settlement, and other lands and a decline in forestland, grassland, wetland, and woodland. The main possible causes of LUC were found to be agricultural expansions, human population dynamics, economic factors, changing land tenure policy, politics, and sociocultural factors. The main effects of LUCs on wild ungulates in KWE include a decline in wild ungulate numbers, habitat destruction, increased human-wildlife conflicts, land degradation, and displacement of wild ungulates by livestock. The study recommends land use zoning of KWE and establishment of an effective and efficient wildlife benefit-sharing scheme(s).

A comprehensive measure of the energy resource: Wind power potential (WPP)

Currently, the quality of available wind energy at a site is assessed using wind power density (WPD). This paper proposes to use a more comprehensive metric: the wind power potential (WPP). While the former accounts for only wind speed information, the latter exploits the joint distribution of wind speed and wind direction and yields more credible estimates. The WPP investigates the effect of wind velocity distribution on the optimal net power generation of a farm. A joint distribution of wind speed and direction is used to characterize the stochastic variation of wind conditions. Two joint distribution methods are adopted in this paper: bivariate normal distribution and anisotropic lognormal method. The net power generation for a particular farmland size and installed capacity is maximized for different distributions of wind speed and wind direction, using the Unrestricted Wind Farm Layout Optimization (UWFLO) framework. A response surface is constructed to represent the computed maximum wind farm capacity factor as a function of the parameters of the wind distribution. Two different response surface methods are adopted in this paper: (i) the adaptive hybrid functions (AHF), and (ii) the quadratic response surface method (QRSM). Toward this end, for any farm site, we can (i) estimate the parameters of the joint distribution using recorded wind data (for bivariate normal or anisotropic lognormal distributions) and (ii) predict the maximum capacity factor for a specified farm size and capacity using this response surface. The WPP metric is illustrated using recorded wind data at four differing stations in the state of North Dakota. The results illustrate the variation of wind conditions and, subsequently, its influence on the quality of wind resources. A comparison of four sites in North Dakota shows that WPD and WPP follow different trends, and the ranking of candidate sites in terms of a realistic resource potential measure is not captured by WPD.

Exploring Indigenous Knowledge and Production Constraints of Taro (Colocasia esculenta L. (SCHOTT)) Cultivars Grown at Dalbo Watershed, Wolaita Zone of South Ethiopia

The maintenance and utilization of crop is important to ensure food security. To this effect a survey was conducted at Dalbo Watershed, Soddo district of Wolaita Zone, to describe and analyze the indigenous production methods. The survey was conducted in the selected villages of Dalbo Watershed namely; Dalbo Atwaro and Dalbo Wogene during the months of July, August and September 2006, thirty households from the two villages, among those who own taro crop were selected. A purposive systematic sampling technique is used. Method of data collection included individual interviews using structured questionnaire. Results of the study showed that taro farming at Dalbo Watershed was characterized by smallholdings with average family size of 6.96 people per household, average total farm size of 0.771 ha, and with an average farm size under taro production of 0.42 ha. A total of eight named taro cultivars were recorded on-farm. The number of cultivars maintained on individual farms ranged from one to eight (mean 3.08) and farmers decision regarding land use and number of taro cultivars to plant was influenced by the size of farm land, labour/household size, maturity, yield, taste and palatability of a particular cultivar. Local farmers recognized two categories of taro based on the ‘sex’ of the cultivars: “male” and “female” taro. Female taro mature early, are less vigorous, provide tasty and palatable corms as opposed to male taro. Most of the farmers had grown taro for more than ten years as a backyard crop, both for consumption and sale. Land preparation begins in November and most farmers plant taro in January. Harvesting usually begin ten months after planting, with majority of farmers harvest the yield between December to January. Farmers cited land shortage, shortage of capital, lack of oxen and improved farm implements and few others as the main constraints for taro production in the study area.

Coping with Food Insecurity on a Micro-Scale: Evidence from Ethiopian Rural Households

This article examines the main household demographics and economic factors associated with food insecurity and coping behavior of rural households employed during times of food shortages in northern Ethiopia. Using a cost-of-basic-needs approach we estimated the food poverty line. This cut-off value was used to classify households as either food secure or insecure. Then empirical analyses were used, based on respectively a logit regression model and a coping strategy index. The estimated results revealed that household size, size of farm land, livestock ownership, frequency of extension services, and proximity to basic infrastructures are associated with the food security status of farming households in the study area. Moreover, households relied largely on consumption-based coping strategies when faced with food shortages.