Abstract: Barley, including food and malt barley, is one of the major cereals produced by smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. Though malt barley is the fastest-growing industry, its domestic supply currently lags far behind the demand. As a result, Ethiopia is a net importer of malt barley. Recently, contract farming was implemented to address this issue in malt barley-potential areas. It has been one of the strategies utilized to enhance the productivity and production of malt barley and repla...
Abstract: The study was conducted in Sibu Sire District of eastern Wollega zone with the objective of to determine dairy production practice, milk quality and to identify the marketing system of milk and milk products in the study area. A total of 6 kebeles were selected randomly. From each of the selected kebeles 30 households were purposively selected based on the owing of at least one local dairy cows and interviewed with open ended and close ended questionnaire. Thirty samples of fresh m...
Abstract: Haricot bean contributes to the national economy as a source of food, export commodity, source of income and employment. However, despite its importance for cash generating, the white haricot bean value chain inefficiency and production are influenced by low productivity, erratic rainfall, post-harvest loss and price fluctuations. This study is therefore instigated to identify the main actors and their role in value chains, analyze the market performance and identify determinants o...
Abstract: Wheat market in Dembecha district experienced in poor market linkage, disproportional benefit share, and inadequate market supply and market alternatives. This study was aimed to analyze value chain actors’ interaction and their role, wheat market structure-conduct and performance, factors affecting market supply and market outlet choices of smallholder wheat producers in Dembecha district of West Gojjam zone. The study used cross-sectional data collected from a sample of 130 far...
Abstract: Value chain analysis of maize in Nedjo woreda has been conducted to identify value chain actors, and their roles and linkages, to analyze maize marketing costs and margins of different actors along the value chain, and to identify factors affecting marketed surplus of maize at producers’ level. To accomplish these tasks, both primary and secondary sources of data were used. Data have been collected from randomly selected 119 maize producer households in Nedjo woreda using a semi-...
Abstract: This study considers a business scenario involving three participants. The first participant, in this case the farmer sells the cattle to the second participant, in this case the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) which, in turn sells the processed beef to the European Union (EU). The BMC offers a price, S1(t), to the farmer for the cattle. The EU offers a price, S2(t), to the BMC. To estimate the parameters spot prices of beef-cattle from the BMC and the EU markets for years 1992 to 2...
Abstract: The need to diversify the economy so as to ensure sustainable economic growth has been of great concern. Accelerating productivity in agriculture is seen as one of the alternatives to support the diversification initiatives by the government and drive growth in Botswana. This study discusses the factors contributing to increased long term agricultural productivity and hence its subsequent impact on growth in the short. The study employs the vector error correction model and annual ...
Abstract: Demonstrating how agricultural research contributes to development outcomes is difficult but necessary given competing demands for scarce resources. This article summarises an adaptation of the “theory of change” approach and lessons derived from its application to improve the design and implementation of an agricultural research for development programme for greater impact. It was applied to Maziwa Zaidi, a programme that tested integrated interventions to catalyse the transfo...
Abstract: We estimate the impacts of a bundle of integrated pest management (IPM) practices on mango yield, mango net income, insecticide use, human health and the environment, using recent household survey data of mango growers in Kenya. We employ a multinomial endogenous switching treatment regression model with an ordered probit selection rule to establish counterfactual outcomes. Our results indicate that IPM-adopting farmers have higher mango yields and mango net income, and also use lo...
Abstract: Cultivation of drought-tolerant (DT) maize seed reduces drought risk in sub-Saharan Africa. Data from eastern Uganda reveal gender gaps in awareness and adoption of DT maize. Among surveyed male household heads, 67.6 percent had awareness of DT maize varieties and 29.2 percent grew them. Corresponding figures for female household heads were 43.3 percent (awareness) and 5.3 percent (adoption) and those for wives in spousal couple households were 51.0 percent and 11.1 percent. Propen...
Abstract: We estimate the impacts of a bundle of integrated pest management (IPM) practices on mango yield, mango net income, insecticide use, human health and the environment, using recent household survey data of mango growers in Kenya. We employ a multinomial endogenous switching treatment regression model with an ordered probit selection rule to establish counterfactual outcomes. Our results indicate that IPM-adopting farmers have higher mango yields and mango net income,and also use low...
Abstract: Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J E Smith), an economically important pest native to tropical and subtropical America has recently invaded Africa, causing substantial damage to maize and other crops. We evaluated functionality of a companion cropping system, ‘climate-adapted push-pull’, developed for control of cereal stemborers in drier agro-ecologies, as an added tool for the management of fall armyworm. The technology comprises intercropping maize with drought-tolerant...
Abstract: This paper documents a positive relationship between maize productivity in western Kenya and women’s empowerment in agriculture, measured using indicators derived from the abbreviated version of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Applying a cross-sectional instrumental-variable regression method to a data set of 707 maize farm households from western Kenya, we find that women’s empowerment in agriculture significantly increases maize productivity. Although all indi...
Abstract: While it is often recognised that agricultural technology adoption decisions areintertwined and best characterised by multivariate models, typical approaches toexamining adoption and impacts of agricultural technology have focused on singletechnology adoption choice and ignored interdependence among technologies. Weexamine farm- and market-level impacts of multiple technology adoption choicesusing comprehensive household survey data collected in 2010/11 and 2012/13 inEthiopia. Econ...
Abstract: This study was carried out to assess individuals’ willingness to pay (WTP) for UZIMAX, a novel plant-based biopesticide developed for malaria vector control. The biopesticide is estimated to kill up to 100% of Anopheles larvae within 48 h of application and poses no risks to human health and the environment. However, scaling-up of its adoption requires clear evidence of its acceptance by individuals in malaria-prone areas. We conducted Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) revealed prefe...