Pub Date : 2022-10-03DOI: 10.1177/00307270221130087
Shira Bukchin-Peles
Lagging agricultural productivity performance in developing countries is a significant barrier to economic development and achieving food security. Rather than focusing on commonly researched socioeconomic and physical factors hindering productivity enhancement, we follow a new perspective, investigating intangible and non-material dimensions of agriculture that are generally missing from the literature. We suggest a relation between farmers’ positivity level (ratio of positive to negative emotions) and agricultural productivity. This hypothesis's theoretical roots lie in the broaden-and-build theory, which argues that the positivity level is at the core of psychological flourishing and significantly impacts social and intellectual abilities. Several existing models link positive emotions to productivity in other sectors, mainly in the developed world. Through a comprehensive literature review, we first set the theoretical framework for suggesting that this relationship is also relevant for small-scale agriculture development. We then put this hypothesis to an empirical test in a field study in Nepal. We used a face-to-face questionnaire to collect data from 262 smallholders in the Jhapa district. Productivity measures included annual income from agriculture per area, total annual income from agriculture, vegetable harvest per area, and subjective perception of relative farming level- ranked by the farmer. Four regression models of the collected data revealed a link between a high positivity ratio and all four productivity measures. Besides its theoretical and empirical contribution, this study's importance lies in its practical implications and potential to have a social impact.
{"title":"Are positive farmers more productive? Investigating the relationship between positivity ratio and agricultural productivity","authors":"Shira Bukchin-Peles","doi":"10.1177/00307270221130087","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270221130087","url":null,"abstract":"Lagging agricultural productivity performance in developing countries is a significant barrier to economic development and achieving food security. Rather than focusing on commonly researched socioeconomic and physical factors hindering productivity enhancement, we follow a new perspective, investigating intangible and non-material dimensions of agriculture that are generally missing from the literature. We suggest a relation between farmers’ positivity level (ratio of positive to negative emotions) and agricultural productivity. This hypothesis's theoretical roots lie in the broaden-and-build theory, which argues that the positivity level is at the core of psychological flourishing and significantly impacts social and intellectual abilities. Several existing models link positive emotions to productivity in other sectors, mainly in the developed world. Through a comprehensive literature review, we first set the theoretical framework for suggesting that this relationship is also relevant for small-scale agriculture development. We then put this hypothesis to an empirical test in a field study in Nepal. We used a face-to-face questionnaire to collect data from 262 smallholders in the Jhapa district. Productivity measures included annual income from agriculture per area, total annual income from agriculture, vegetable harvest per area, and subjective perception of relative farming level- ranked by the farmer. Four regression models of the collected data revealed a link between a high positivity ratio and all four productivity measures. Besides its theoretical and empirical contribution, this study's importance lies in its practical implications and potential to have a social impact.","PeriodicalId":54661,"journal":{"name":"Outlook on Agriculture","volume":"51 1","pages":"470 - 481"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64998169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-16DOI: 10.1177/00307270221126540
C. Allan, P. Cooke, Vaughan Higgins, P. Leith, M. Bryant, G. Cockfield
This review seeks to understand the implications of using “adoption” to evaluate agricultural soil management outreach in the twenty-first century. The act of changing from one practice to another practice is referred to as “adoption”. The concept of adoption is closely associated with the design and evaluation of agricultural extension programs. Although focusing on adoption is deeply entrenched in agricultural extension, some scholars question the usefulness of the concept in light of the complexity and uncertainty that characterises farming in the twenty-first century. We present a purposeful review of literature that considers adoption in relation to three general approaches to agricultural extension; top-down, bottom-up and co-constructionist, with an emphasis on land management in Australia. The conceptual fit of adoption as a measure of success for each extension approach is explored. We conclude that the usefulness of adoption of individual practices or tools as a measure of success needs to be considered in context. Failing to reflect on what adoption means in any particular program or activity risks ignoring or misunderstanding real change and impacts and /or shaping activities to fit a simple, linear adoption expectation. We suggest that adoption remains a useful concept, but could be best considered as a gateway to increased reflection and reflexivity when projects and activities are being developed.
{"title":"Adoption; a relevant concept for agricultural land management in the 21 century?","authors":"C. Allan, P. Cooke, Vaughan Higgins, P. Leith, M. Bryant, G. Cockfield","doi":"10.1177/00307270221126540","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270221126540","url":null,"abstract":"This review seeks to understand the implications of using “adoption” to evaluate agricultural soil management outreach in the twenty-first century. The act of changing from one practice to another practice is referred to as “adoption”. The concept of adoption is closely associated with the design and evaluation of agricultural extension programs. Although focusing on adoption is deeply entrenched in agricultural extension, some scholars question the usefulness of the concept in light of the complexity and uncertainty that characterises farming in the twenty-first century. We present a purposeful review of literature that considers adoption in relation to three general approaches to agricultural extension; top-down, bottom-up and co-constructionist, with an emphasis on land management in Australia. The conceptual fit of adoption as a measure of success for each extension approach is explored. We conclude that the usefulness of adoption of individual practices or tools as a measure of success needs to be considered in context. Failing to reflect on what adoption means in any particular program or activity risks ignoring or misunderstanding real change and impacts and /or shaping activities to fit a simple, linear adoption expectation. We suggest that adoption remains a useful concept, but could be best considered as a gateway to increased reflection and reflexivity when projects and activities are being developed.","PeriodicalId":54661,"journal":{"name":"Outlook on Agriculture","volume":"51 1","pages":"375 - 383"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42171169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-04DOI: 10.1177/00307270221124008
M. Euler, V. Krishna, M. Jaleta, D. Hodson
Several recent studies that employed DNA fingerprinting to identify crop varieties on farmers' fields revealed a significant mismatch between perceived and actual adoption. Varietal misidentification may undermine seed market functioning, especially if low-quality seeds of age-old varieties are distributed through the same channels as seeds of recently-released improved varieties. Farmers' misleading notions on the characteristics of the cultivated variety may lead to inadequate agronomic management practices, affecting crop yield and farm profit. From a monitoring and impact evaluation perspective, incorrect variety classification may distort the composition of treatment and control groups, resulting in biased estimates. By systematically reviewing applications of DNA fingerprinting for varietal identification in farmers' fields, we compiled information from 23 published studies to generate an overview of the magnitude of farmer variety misclassification. We discuss the implications of crop variety misclassification for farm management and revenue, the correlates of variety misidentification, and how measurement error affects adoption and impact estimates. The review aims at helping researchers and policymakers strategize to more effectively assess the functioning and effectiveness of seed diffusion systems to deliver modern seeds to smallholders. It would also sensitize adoption and impact researchers on the various risks of varietal misclassification.
{"title":"Because error has a price: A systematic review of the applications of DNA fingerprinting for crop varietal identification","authors":"M. Euler, V. Krishna, M. Jaleta, D. Hodson","doi":"10.1177/00307270221124008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270221124008","url":null,"abstract":"Several recent studies that employed DNA fingerprinting to identify crop varieties on farmers' fields revealed a significant mismatch between perceived and actual adoption. Varietal misidentification may undermine seed market functioning, especially if low-quality seeds of age-old varieties are distributed through the same channels as seeds of recently-released improved varieties. Farmers' misleading notions on the characteristics of the cultivated variety may lead to inadequate agronomic management practices, affecting crop yield and farm profit. From a monitoring and impact evaluation perspective, incorrect variety classification may distort the composition of treatment and control groups, resulting in biased estimates. By systematically reviewing applications of DNA fingerprinting for varietal identification in farmers' fields, we compiled information from 23 published studies to generate an overview of the magnitude of farmer variety misclassification. We discuss the implications of crop variety misclassification for farm management and revenue, the correlates of variety misidentification, and how measurement error affects adoption and impact estimates. The review aims at helping researchers and policymakers strategize to more effectively assess the functioning and effectiveness of seed diffusion systems to deliver modern seeds to smallholders. It would also sensitize adoption and impact researchers on the various risks of varietal misclassification.","PeriodicalId":54661,"journal":{"name":"Outlook on Agriculture","volume":"51 1","pages":"384 - 393"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47879064","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-29DOI: 10.1177/00307270221122189
L. Badstue, V. Krishna, M. Jaleta, H. Gartaula, O. Erenstein
During the post-Green Revolution era, numerous improved wheat varieties were released and disseminated to enhance tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses and increase productivity. Still, in the wheat-based farming systems of the Global South, gender-based and other social inequalities continue to undermine equitable access to improved varieties, especially for women, poor, and marginalized farmers. Here, we present a case for gender-sensitive technology development, dissemination, and evaluation as part of wheat varietal improvement programs. We take stock of the various challenges that persist in the uptake of modern wheat varieties by male and female smallholders. We focus on Ethiopia and India, two geographies with substantive wheat economies, widespread poverty, and gender inequalities. The socio-economic literature on wheat is relatively thin with limited and dated gender-sensitive evaluation studies on varietal technologies in these countries. Varietal technology evaluations could ideally cover gender differences in relation to wheat varietal trait preferences, technology adoption, and associated decision-making and labor-use changes related to new varieties and complementary technologies, as well as nutritional and economic benefits. The paper calls for a need to change the institutional arrangements in wheat research-and-development (R&D) programs to understand and pursue better paths for wheat improvement to proactively contribute toward gender equity and inclusivity.
{"title":"Gender, wheat trait preferences, and innovation uptake: Lessons from Ethiopia and India","authors":"L. Badstue, V. Krishna, M. Jaleta, H. Gartaula, O. Erenstein","doi":"10.1177/00307270221122189","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270221122189","url":null,"abstract":"During the post-Green Revolution era, numerous improved wheat varieties were released and disseminated to enhance tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses and increase productivity. Still, in the wheat-based farming systems of the Global South, gender-based and other social inequalities continue to undermine equitable access to improved varieties, especially for women, poor, and marginalized farmers. Here, we present a case for gender-sensitive technology development, dissemination, and evaluation as part of wheat varietal improvement programs. We take stock of the various challenges that persist in the uptake of modern wheat varieties by male and female smallholders. We focus on Ethiopia and India, two geographies with substantive wheat economies, widespread poverty, and gender inequalities. The socio-economic literature on wheat is relatively thin with limited and dated gender-sensitive evaluation studies on varietal technologies in these countries. Varietal technology evaluations could ideally cover gender differences in relation to wheat varietal trait preferences, technology adoption, and associated decision-making and labor-use changes related to new varieties and complementary technologies, as well as nutritional and economic benefits. The paper calls for a need to change the institutional arrangements in wheat research-and-development (R&D) programs to understand and pursue better paths for wheat improvement to proactively contribute toward gender equity and inclusivity.","PeriodicalId":54661,"journal":{"name":"Outlook on Agriculture","volume":"51 1","pages":"394 - 403"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47356286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-08DOI: 10.1177/00307270221119825
P. Baveye
In recent years, the need for profound changes in agricultural practices has become increasingly acknowledged, and it has given rise to an intense, and rapidly intensifying, debate among experts and in the media. Before the general framework under which this debate currently unfolds become too set in stone, it would seem useful to devote some time to a reflexion on how discussions should be approached in order to have the best chance to result in practically workable, sustainable solutions. In a recent, provocative article, Amundson (2022) voiced very strong opinions in this respect. In particular, he criticizes the emergence in the general public of “we” visions about alternate forms of agriculture, he argues that key current stakeholders (i.e. farmers) imperatively have to be included in the discussions, and he opines that the debate should not attempt to solve “social wicked problems”, which tend to remain long-standing because no one can manage to solve them. In the present article, I propose an in-depth reflexion on these three aspects of the debate, and adopt very different perspectives than Amundson’s (2022). After decades of laboriously trying to get members of the general public engaged with soils and agricultural issues, “we” visions with which members of the public may come up need to be resolutely welcomed, carefully analyzed, and responded to, soon after they emerge. Furthermore, I argue that stakeholders who are currently in the agricultural sector may not necessarily be the most likely to eventually implement changes and therefore should not be allowed to sway the debate in a direction that suits them in the short run. Finally, I contend that the lack of willingness, or the reluctance, of decision-makers and the private sector to envisage fundamental changes, thereby giving the impression that some problems cannot be readily solved, should not constrain in any way the scope of the reflexion.
{"title":"Support for “we” visions and for broadening the scope in the debate on alternative forms of agriculture","authors":"P. Baveye","doi":"10.1177/00307270221119825","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270221119825","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, the need for profound changes in agricultural practices has become increasingly acknowledged, and it has given rise to an intense, and rapidly intensifying, debate among experts and in the media. Before the general framework under which this debate currently unfolds become too set in stone, it would seem useful to devote some time to a reflexion on how discussions should be approached in order to have the best chance to result in practically workable, sustainable solutions. In a recent, provocative article, Amundson (2022) voiced very strong opinions in this respect. In particular, he criticizes the emergence in the general public of “we” visions about alternate forms of agriculture, he argues that key current stakeholders (i.e. farmers) imperatively have to be included in the discussions, and he opines that the debate should not attempt to solve “social wicked problems”, which tend to remain long-standing because no one can manage to solve them. In the present article, I propose an in-depth reflexion on these three aspects of the debate, and adopt very different perspectives than Amundson’s (2022). After decades of laboriously trying to get members of the general public engaged with soils and agricultural issues, “we” visions with which members of the public may come up need to be resolutely welcomed, carefully analyzed, and responded to, soon after they emerge. Furthermore, I argue that stakeholders who are currently in the agricultural sector may not necessarily be the most likely to eventually implement changes and therefore should not be allowed to sway the debate in a direction that suits them in the short run. Finally, I contend that the lack of willingness, or the reluctance, of decision-makers and the private sector to envisage fundamental changes, thereby giving the impression that some problems cannot be readily solved, should not constrain in any way the scope of the reflexion.","PeriodicalId":54661,"journal":{"name":"Outlook on Agriculture","volume":"51 1","pages":"313 - 322"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41720505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-04DOI: 10.1177/00307270221118381
A. B. Sikiru, B. Otu, O. Makinde, S. Saheed, S. Egena
Cattle are one of the most important livestock species in Nigeria because they provide multiple services to farmers and contributes to the national economy. In order to advance the benefits of cattle production, there are several breeding and genetic improvement programmes which have been implemented to enhance productivity of the indigenous cattle and pastoral livelihoods. However, after about 100 years of breeding and genetic improvement programmes, Nigeria still struggles to derive expected benefits from cattle production. Hence, this study was carried out to analyse previous cattle breeding and genetic improvement programmes in Nigeria to identify their successes and pitfalls as well as potential roles of post genomics technologies for advancing cattle production. The study identified optimization of indigenous cattle for meat and milk production as the main objective of the previous breeding and genetic improvement programmes; unfortunately, major pitfalls of the programmes are unrealistic breeding objectives and inadequate relevant stakeholder involvement. Furthermore, during their heydays, some of the programmes were successful, popular, and exemplary; but the shortcomings in planning and execution contributed to their failures. After analysis of 9 regional and national cattle breeding and genetic improvement programmes implemented in Nigeria, for cattle breeding and genetic improvement programmes in Nigeria to be among the league of successful similar programmes around the world, there is a need to consider genomic selection of cattle for genetic improvement. Also, the study suggested the need for collaborative networks among scientists, ranchers, breeders associations, smallholder farmers, institutions, biotechnology companies, government ministries, departments, agencies; and non-governmental organizations operating in the domain of cattle breeding, genetics, reproduction and production for advancement of cattle breeding and genetic improvement programmes in Nigeria.
{"title":"Breeding and genetic improvement of Nigeria indigenous cattle: The pitfalls and potential use of post genomic era technologies for national dairy development","authors":"A. B. Sikiru, B. Otu, O. Makinde, S. Saheed, S. Egena","doi":"10.1177/00307270221118381","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270221118381","url":null,"abstract":"Cattle are one of the most important livestock species in Nigeria because they provide multiple services to farmers and contributes to the national economy. In order to advance the benefits of cattle production, there are several breeding and genetic improvement programmes which have been implemented to enhance productivity of the indigenous cattle and pastoral livelihoods. However, after about 100 years of breeding and genetic improvement programmes, Nigeria still struggles to derive expected benefits from cattle production. Hence, this study was carried out to analyse previous cattle breeding and genetic improvement programmes in Nigeria to identify their successes and pitfalls as well as potential roles of post genomics technologies for advancing cattle production. The study identified optimization of indigenous cattle for meat and milk production as the main objective of the previous breeding and genetic improvement programmes; unfortunately, major pitfalls of the programmes are unrealistic breeding objectives and inadequate relevant stakeholder involvement. Furthermore, during their heydays, some of the programmes were successful, popular, and exemplary; but the shortcomings in planning and execution contributed to their failures. After analysis of 9 regional and national cattle breeding and genetic improvement programmes implemented in Nigeria, for cattle breeding and genetic improvement programmes in Nigeria to be among the league of successful similar programmes around the world, there is a need to consider genomic selection of cattle for genetic improvement. Also, the study suggested the need for collaborative networks among scientists, ranchers, breeders associations, smallholder farmers, institutions, biotechnology companies, government ministries, departments, agencies; and non-governmental organizations operating in the domain of cattle breeding, genetics, reproduction and production for advancement of cattle breeding and genetic improvement programmes in Nigeria.","PeriodicalId":54661,"journal":{"name":"Outlook on Agriculture","volume":"51 1","pages":"404 - 413"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47888253","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-26DOI: 10.1177/00307270221115454
B. Dey, B. Visser, HQ Tin, A. Laouali, Baba Toure Mahamadou, C. Nkhoma, Alonzo Recinos, C. Opiyo, S. Bragdon
In many countries, smallholder farmers play a key role in food crop seed production. So far, the community roles, operational structures, seed production efficiency, aspects of sustainability, and the social and policy environments in which these groups operate have been poorly studied and described. The present study attempts to better understand these factors by drawing cases from twenty-five seed producer groups in five countries (Vietnam, Uganda, Zambia, Niger, and Guatemala) that deal with nine crops in total (rice, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, common bean, cowpea, soybean, groundnut, potato and sweet potato). Results of the study show all groups supply a significant share of seed offered in local markets. It appeared that all groups received major support for capacity development from a broad range of actors including local and national governments, public institutions, national seed companies and development organizations. Several groups operate under seasonal contracts with institutional seed buyers, whereas other groups sell most of their seed in local markets to fellow farmers. To support seed quality and render product branding meaningful, most groups have established subgroups for crop monitoring and seed inspection, and for gathering and using market intelligence. Some, but not all groups depend on formal seed certification. Two key challenges stand out across seed producer groups interviewed. First, most seed producer groups experience difficulties in accessing good-quality early generation seed (EGS) on time, like in the formal seed sector in many countries. Second, in most groups packaging and labelling of the seed produced and offered in local markets is suboptimal, hindering further professionalization. Moreover, groups invariably have a poor understanding of applicable seed policy and legislation. Our observations point at actions that external stakeholders could undertake to strengthen smallholder farmer seed production in recognition of their contribution to food and nutrition security.
{"title":"Strengths and weaknesses of organized crop seed production by smallholder farmers: A five-country case study","authors":"B. Dey, B. Visser, HQ Tin, A. Laouali, Baba Toure Mahamadou, C. Nkhoma, Alonzo Recinos, C. Opiyo, S. Bragdon","doi":"10.1177/00307270221115454","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270221115454","url":null,"abstract":"In many countries, smallholder farmers play a key role in food crop seed production. So far, the community roles, operational structures, seed production efficiency, aspects of sustainability, and the social and policy environments in which these groups operate have been poorly studied and described. The present study attempts to better understand these factors by drawing cases from twenty-five seed producer groups in five countries (Vietnam, Uganda, Zambia, Niger, and Guatemala) that deal with nine crops in total (rice, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, common bean, cowpea, soybean, groundnut, potato and sweet potato). Results of the study show all groups supply a significant share of seed offered in local markets. It appeared that all groups received major support for capacity development from a broad range of actors including local and national governments, public institutions, national seed companies and development organizations. Several groups operate under seasonal contracts with institutional seed buyers, whereas other groups sell most of their seed in local markets to fellow farmers. To support seed quality and render product branding meaningful, most groups have established subgroups for crop monitoring and seed inspection, and for gathering and using market intelligence. Some, but not all groups depend on formal seed certification. Two key challenges stand out across seed producer groups interviewed. First, most seed producer groups experience difficulties in accessing good-quality early generation seed (EGS) on time, like in the formal seed sector in many countries. Second, in most groups packaging and labelling of the seed produced and offered in local markets is suboptimal, hindering further professionalization. Moreover, groups invariably have a poor understanding of applicable seed policy and legislation. Our observations point at actions that external stakeholders could undertake to strengthen smallholder farmer seed production in recognition of their contribution to food and nutrition security.","PeriodicalId":54661,"journal":{"name":"Outlook on Agriculture","volume":"51 1","pages":"359 - 371"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46275312","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-21DOI: 10.1177/00307270221115453
H. Mutsaers, P. Kleene, Oumar Guiguindé
Cotton production in francophone W. Africa is in danger of collapse in coming years, due to stagnating yields, increasing costs, and depressed prices, with dramatic effects for smallholder producers and their countries. The question is, does cotton have a future in W. Africa, and what is needed to safeguard that future? This paper reviews the current status of the cotton sector in Burkina Faso, as an example of a West African francophone cotton growing country, ways to remedy the existing weaknesses and steps to be taken towards a healthy, productive, and durable product chain. Current yields are low, and profitability is weak, due to several causes, ranging from agronomic to organisational and trade-related factors, the latter both at local and international level. There are several opportunities to narrow the ‘yield gap’ between actual and potential yield thereby at farm and community level enhancing profitability, by technical and organisational measures. The interventions should be tested at farm and community level using participatory research methods and, if performant, promoted by participatory extension methods. In the medium and long term, Integration of cotton within the overall cropping system should be undertaken, rather than running it as a stand-alone activity as is currently the case. This will strengthen the crop's resilience to pests, compensate for the losses in one crop by the yield of another, and improve the sustainability of crop production as a whole. In respect of sector organisation, there is a need for reform of both farmers’ organisations and service providers to effectively implement these interventions. The GPC should transform themselves into genuine primary societies, whose primary task will be to look after their members’ interests. In the longer term, the development of a local textile industry presents a beckoning perspective on the road to a complete and remunerative cotton sector.
{"title":"Cotton, fragile economic lifeline for West African smallholders","authors":"H. Mutsaers, P. Kleene, Oumar Guiguindé","doi":"10.1177/00307270221115453","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270221115453","url":null,"abstract":"Cotton production in francophone W. Africa is in danger of collapse in coming years, due to stagnating yields, increasing costs, and depressed prices, with dramatic effects for smallholder producers and their countries. The question is, does cotton have a future in W. Africa, and what is needed to safeguard that future? This paper reviews the current status of the cotton sector in Burkina Faso, as an example of a West African francophone cotton growing country, ways to remedy the existing weaknesses and steps to be taken towards a healthy, productive, and durable product chain. Current yields are low, and profitability is weak, due to several causes, ranging from agronomic to organisational and trade-related factors, the latter both at local and international level. There are several opportunities to narrow the ‘yield gap’ between actual and potential yield thereby at farm and community level enhancing profitability, by technical and organisational measures. The interventions should be tested at farm and community level using participatory research methods and, if performant, promoted by participatory extension methods. In the medium and long term, Integration of cotton within the overall cropping system should be undertaken, rather than running it as a stand-alone activity as is currently the case. This will strengthen the crop's resilience to pests, compensate for the losses in one crop by the yield of another, and improve the sustainability of crop production as a whole. In respect of sector organisation, there is a need for reform of both farmers’ organisations and service providers to effectively implement these interventions. The GPC should transform themselves into genuine primary societies, whose primary task will be to look after their members’ interests. In the longer term, the development of a local textile industry presents a beckoning perspective on the road to a complete and remunerative cotton sector.","PeriodicalId":54661,"journal":{"name":"Outlook on Agriculture","volume":"51 1","pages":"273 - 280"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41893248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-21DOI: 10.1177/00307270221113600
H. Galiwango, RF Miiro, N. Turyahabwe, A. Egeru
Climate smart villages (CSVs) are new and promising approaches to tackle the negative repercussions of climate change and to tackle the food insecurity that affects close to one billion people globally. CSVs are envisaged to result into empowerment of participating farmers; however, given the novelty of this concept in different geographical spheres, limited literature exists. This review paper therefore conducted a systematic analysis of some previous studies around this concept and assessed their contribution to understanding empowerment of farmers regarding intrinsic, instrumental, and collective agency. From the results, these studies assessed empowerment majorly in-line with the female gender; some focused on both. Results lacked focus on empowerment in the intrinsic, instrumental, or collective agency realms, though possibility of using proxy concepts can’t be dismissed. However, at the heart of any agricultural extension model, a clearly outlined gender-inclusive farmer empowerment pathway should be a fundamental cornerstone for sustainability.
{"title":"Does the climate-smart village extension model enhance farmer empowerment?","authors":"H. Galiwango, RF Miiro, N. Turyahabwe, A. Egeru","doi":"10.1177/00307270221113600","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270221113600","url":null,"abstract":"Climate smart villages (CSVs) are new and promising approaches to tackle the negative repercussions of climate change and to tackle the food insecurity that affects close to one billion people globally. CSVs are envisaged to result into empowerment of participating farmers; however, given the novelty of this concept in different geographical spheres, limited literature exists. This review paper therefore conducted a systematic analysis of some previous studies around this concept and assessed their contribution to understanding empowerment of farmers regarding intrinsic, instrumental, and collective agency. From the results, these studies assessed empowerment majorly in-line with the female gender; some focused on both. Results lacked focus on empowerment in the intrinsic, instrumental, or collective agency realms, though possibility of using proxy concepts can’t be dismissed. However, at the heart of any agricultural extension model, a clearly outlined gender-inclusive farmer empowerment pathway should be a fundamental cornerstone for sustainability.","PeriodicalId":54661,"journal":{"name":"Outlook on Agriculture","volume":"51 1","pages":"281 - 292"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42822783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-12DOI: 10.1177/00307270221113601
B. Deaton, Alexander Scholz
We review the Canadian federal government‘s recently enacted Food Policy for Canada (FPC). Three arguments are developed. First, the development and vision statement of the FPC implies that improving Canadian food security is a specific objective of the policy. Second, if assessed by the measure of food insecurity promulgated by Statistics Canada, the effectiveness of the FPC in reducing Canadian food insecurity will primarily depend on the extent to which it improves household incomes and/or lowers food prices. We evaluate the current programmatic content by these criteria. Third, and related to the second point, we argue that the variation in the severity of food insecurity is an important consideration in assessing the effectiveness of FPC programs in reducing food insecurity as measured by Statistics Canada. Finally, we combine these three arguments into a simple figure/heuristic that can serve as a guide to the assessment and development of FPC programs seeking to enhance food insecurity in Canada.
{"title":"Food security, food insecurity, and Canada’s national food policy: Meaning, measures, and assessment","authors":"B. Deaton, Alexander Scholz","doi":"10.1177/00307270221113601","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270221113601","url":null,"abstract":"We review the Canadian federal government‘s recently enacted Food Policy for Canada (FPC). Three arguments are developed. First, the development and vision statement of the FPC implies that improving Canadian food security is a specific objective of the policy. Second, if assessed by the measure of food insecurity promulgated by Statistics Canada, the effectiveness of the FPC in reducing Canadian food insecurity will primarily depend on the extent to which it improves household incomes and/or lowers food prices. We evaluate the current programmatic content by these criteria. Third, and related to the second point, we argue that the variation in the severity of food insecurity is an important consideration in assessing the effectiveness of FPC programs in reducing food insecurity as measured by Statistics Canada. Finally, we combine these three arguments into a simple figure/heuristic that can serve as a guide to the assessment and development of FPC programs seeking to enhance food insecurity in Canada.","PeriodicalId":54661,"journal":{"name":"Outlook on Agriculture","volume":"51 1","pages":"303 - 312"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41358721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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