Suchergebnisse

Water scarcity has been appointed as the key-limiting factor for the development of agriculture in the Peninsula of Santa Elena. To solve this problem, the Ecuadorian government carried out the construction of one of the biggest irrigation projects. However, after two decades of functioning, less than 30% of its capacity is being used. This article analyzes factors associated to Transaction Costs (CT), which can influence land use decisions. Options studied are: to invest in agriculture or livestock production, or to speculate with its value through land sales. The landowner's decision problem is analyzed following the Heckman's two-stage estimation procedure, which allows differentiating between factors associated to fixed and variable TC. The hypothesis is that factors related to fixed-TC influence the decision to participate (that is, the decision to use the land productively or speculatively, which is modeled in the first stage of Heckman's); while both, factors associated to fixed and variable TC, influence the level of participation (that is, decisions about land allocation to one or each decision option, modeled in the second stage). The results show that access to assets and access to information are among the more influential TC factors, which favor agricultural production instead of land speculation.

Purpose
– This paper aims to investigate the effect of cooperative societies on household food security in six villages of Northern Ethiopia. Cooperative societies have significant contribution to the food security and poverty reduction. However, limited empirical studies exist in the study areas about the roles of cooperative societies on food security.


Design/methodology/approach
– Primary cross-sectional data were collected from randomly selected 400 households. The study also gathered secondary data from the cooperative associations and government offices for comparison purposes. The paper applied Heckman two-stage model to capture the effect of cooperative societies on household food security.


Findings
– The probability of the households to join cooperative societies and also ensure food security depends on various determining factors like institutional factors, demographic variables and rural functions. The paired sample t-test shows that the mean income and expenditure of the cooperative member households were 70 and 40 per cent higher in 2010 and 2011, respectively, than in the baseline. The two-sample independent t-test indicates that the mean income and expenditure of the member households were 47 and 32 per cent higher than the counterpart households. The Heckman model explains that cooperative societies have statistically significant, positive and robust effects on household food security at 1 per cent level.


Research limitations/implications
– A few variables might suffer from endogeneity problem, although theoretically insignificant and have no sound justification. The study also considers only two indicators of food security (income and expenditure), but the findings of the study would have been good and sound with several and composite food security index.


Practical implications
– Such impact studies on cooperative societies are limited in the study areas. Thus, this study helps decision-makers, cooperative analysts and other concerned bodies to give priority for cooperative societies so as to curtail the food insecurity problem. It can also make meaningful contributions to bridge the gap in the cooperative literature.


Social implications
– The present study can improve the understanding of cooperative societies in the country. The finding of this paper can serve as an input for university students, decision-makers and cooperative analysts. The result can also strengthen the economic justification for policy intervention on cooperative societies.


Originality/value
– Most studies in the areas address the financial performance, historical movement and opportunities and challenges of cooperative societies. This implies that more work is necessary to obtain a clear picture and broad spectrum about cooperative societies, and thus, this study addresses the effect of cooperative societies on household food security.

AbstractA major bottleneck in the farm life cycle is intergenerational farm transfer. At the end of the farm life cycle only a limited number of family farms is transferred to the next generation. The average economic farm size increases and this can entail a high financial burden for the successor. This article explores total farm assets as a potential tool to identify farms with a higher probability of transfer. The theory of asset fixity and transaction cost theory are used to explain why higher total farm assets should result in a higher intention to transfer the farm to the next generation, independent of farm type. Empirical results support this theory and show that lower total farm assets often result in farm discontinuation because the total farm value approaches the value of liquidation. Furthermore, our results show that farmers anticipate farm succession possibilities by adapting their farm management. The proposed indicator could therefore be a useful tool for targeting succession or retirement policies.

During the past decades, Belgian and European agriculture encountered several crises and as a result, food safety and quality have become governmental issues. This has led to vertical coordination and the appearance of quality conventions between links in the food supply chain. In practice, the quality conventions initiated by changed institutional settings turned out to be compulsory. This research aims to assess the exclusion-effect of this process and this is undertaken through data-analysis concerning farmers' participation in certification initiatives and homogeneity analysis. The results of a survey concerning 319 Belgian farmers show that 25% of the farmers are not involved in any initiative of quality improvement. They are significantly older and less educated, but have also very little access to farmers' organisations and extension. Their gross margin is lower in comparison with participants; they are more oriented to one specialisation and are less labour intensive. The combination of these elements can be seen as a constraint to enter initiatives and as a probable danger to exclude the concerned farmers from the market. This paper further elaborates upon these results, but also studies farmers' opinion regarding laws, contracts and labels. Finally, some recommendations towards public policies are made. ; Peer reviewed

Die Autoren beschreiben die vorherrschende Anbaumethode kommerzieller Mango-Kleinbauern im ehemaligen Venda (jetzt Nordprovinz) und die Bewirtschaftungsprobleme dieser neu entstehenden Farmen, wie sie auf der Basis intensiver Gruppendiskussionen ermittelt wurden. Die angewandte, für Südafrika neue partizipative Methode identifiziert zunächst einen Problem-Mangobaum und transformiert das Problem dann in objektive Mängel, um auf dieser Basis alternative Maßnahmen und Strategien zur Behebung der Probleme/Mängel auszuarbeiten. Die individuellen Schwierigkeiten der Bauern lassen sich wie folgt zusammenfassen: Kreditmangel, unzureichende Bewässerung, Diebstahl, Mangel an Lagerungsmöglichkeiten, schlechtes Pflügen, Erosion und unzureichender Marktzugang. (DÜI-Hlb)