A Study on the Countermeasures of Agricultural Mechanization Development

This paper analyzes the current situation of agricultural mechanization development in the process of rural revitalization

Study on Influencing Factors of Food Security in China Based on Historical Data From 1978 to 2013

Not only food security affects the people’s livelihood, but also affects national economic development and social stability. Chinese food security has made remarkable achievements, and it is very important reference value to research on influencing factors for formulating food security policy. This paper summary the literature about influencing factors of food safety, then be established in definition of food security, choose a measurement index, and considers a few factors and conditions, make use of 1978-2013 Chinese macroeconomic data, reveal the main factors affecting food security. Research found that agricultural mechanization, chemical fertilizer, efficient irrigation and food policy have an important contribution to food security, while the contribution of per capita grain acreage decreased year by year, and the agricultural labor force, national financial allocation for agricultural science and technology, rural electricity consumption does not have a statistical significance for food security. </p

Economic growth pattern in restricted areas: the case study of Kangding City in Sichuan Province

The construction of regional development patterns based on the main functional areas is a major strategic innovation which not only conforms to the national regional policy but also incorporates regional features. On June 8, 2011, the state council issued the National Main Function Area Planning to readjust guiding thoughts of regional development of our country. In 2013, Sichuan province formulated and published the Main Function Area Planning which divided the restricted areas into main producing areas of agricultural products and key ecological functional areas. And among them, the key ecological functional areas are the important research subject of this thesis. In light of the strategic pattern of main functional areas, the structure of regional interests has undergone a major adjustment, which means that economic devolopment pattern in restricted areas need a foundamental transformation. Such areas need to build up economic system rooted in main functions and enhance their self-sustainability. It also poses a new challenge for policymakers in these areas. Research on economic growth pattern of restricted areas has become an important topic in the study of China’s regional economic theory.A definição de padrões de desenvolvimento regionais baseados em áreas funcionais principais constitui uma inovação estratégica, que não só está de acordo com as políticas regionais, mas também permite a inclusão das características específicas de cada região. A 8 de junho de 2011as autoridades nacionais Chinesas publicaram o documento intitulado National Main Function Area Planning para reajustar, a nível nacional, as linhas estratégicas de desenvolvimento regional. Em 2013 a província de Sichuan editou e publicou o Main Function Area Planning que dividia as áreas de desenvolvimento restrito em dois tipos: áreas de produção maioritariamente agrícola e áreas funcionais ecológicas chave. O principal objeto de investigação desta tese é a segunda destas áreas. Tendo em consideração os padrões estratégicos das áreas funcionais principais, a estrutura dos interesses regionais tem sido sujeita a ajustamentos importantes, o que significa a necessidade de transformações fundamentais nos padrões de desenvolvimento económico das áreas de desenvolvimento restrito. Estas áreas necessitam de construir um sistema económico baseado nas funções principais e que seja autossustentado, o que constitui um novo desafio para as políticas públicas. Os padrões de crescimento económico em áreas de desenvolvimento restrito tornou-se um importante tópico de investigação na teoria económica regional da China

How universities participate in agricultural extension: a comparative study of two Chinese agricultural universities

2022 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.University-based agriculture extension is a system set up to help local farmers access the newest agricultural technology and techniques developed by universities, which is comparatively different from the traditional government-led approach. US is currently the only country in the world which has based this service within the university, yet many other developing countries have started to incorporate universities into their agricultural extension system in order to improve the effectiveness of the agricultural extension services. However, little literature pays attention to how the universities adopt this practice and how this adoption influences the organizational capacity of universities. This study tries to fill this gap by exploring how two Chinese agricultural universities adopted two different ways to build platforms for conducting agricultural extension, how these newly built platforms impact agricultural extension activities, and what the future for these new platforms looks like in terms of institutionalization. This dissertation draws on relevant literature of organization theory and rural sociology to frame the innovation process happening in these two agricultural universities. The research questions which this dissertation tries to answer are: 1) How did the university incorporate this new function into their daily practices; 2) What kind of organizational changes did they experience? Is there a better way to do this? 3) How might this new practice in the university influence the previously existing agricultural extension system? To explore these questions, I conducted a comparative case study that included: 1) semi-structured in-depth interviews with key informants; 2) direct field notes from the local sites of universities; 3) secondary documents including collaboration contracts, university handouts, news reports, official websites etc. There are several major findings from this dissertation research. First, the two universities both made within-organizational change and outside-organizational change. They had similar within-organizational change which is clearly required by the national policy to build a new institute for extension within the university. But the New Institute faced different issues of legitimacy in the two universities. With regard to outside organizational change, the two universities built different kinds of platform to conduct agricultural extension activities, one established physical land with all kinds of facilities and the other one is project oriented. Different platforms bring the two universities both unique advantages and distinct challenges. Second, with these organizational changes, the new practice of agriculture extension transformed their previous singular, sporadic individual activities of agriculture extension by upscaling the extension team and funding for the activities. Third, though via different platforms, the two universities face similar challenges of institutionalizing university-based extension. With the platform with physical land comes with the issue of development differentiation and the platform based on projects lacking a stable safeguard mechanism. Fourth, the decision of how to build platforms is not a standalone issue but is related to the history, current economic and political conditions of each of the universities. This dissertation contributes to theory by illuminating the process of how university organizations change or innovate to fulfill the new role of university-based agricultural extension. Based on the findings from this study, I argue that universities need support from local governments or local agribusiness to fulfill this new role of agricultural extension, otherwise the advantages of university in agriculture extension cannot be realized. There is no certain path universities need to follow to complete this task and it depends on the local situation and the social contexts of each university. Lastly, this dissertation contributes to methodology with its comparative in-depth case study of institutional innovation in Chinese universities. What's more, this study also proposes some practical suggestions for universities to consider when creating their own agricultural extension platforms and partnerships with local governments and local agribusiness to promote agricultural extension. This study also shows the need for further study related to the future development of these newly built university-based agricultural extension and the organizational capacity of universities to become involved in agricultural extension across different locations and social contexts

Irrigation against rural poverty: an overview of issues and pro-poor intervention strategies in irrigated agriculture in Asia - Proceedings of National Workshops on Pro-Poor Intervention Strategies in Irrigated Agriculture in Asia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam [9-10 August 2001, Colombo, Sri Lanka]

Irrigation management / Water resources / Poverty / Sustainability / Rural development / Irrigated farming / Performance evaluation / Case studies / Large scale systems / Surface irrigation / Water use efficiency / Water scarcity / Water policy / Productivity / Asia / Bangladesh / China / India / Indonesia / Pakistan / Vietnam

THE STATUS AND IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND INNOVATION ON THE PRODUCTIVITY AND COMPETITIVENESS OF SMALL-SCALE AGRO- PROCESSING BUSINESSES IN MASHONALAND CENTRAL (ZIMBABWE) AND FREE STATE (SOUTH AFRICA)

Published ThesisThe variations in agricultural production and declining food security situations in Zimbabwe and South Africa have been attributed to the low uptake of agricultural technology, the innovation chasm, low mechanisation and persistent climatic changes, which threaten human existence and the sustainable survival of agro-processing firms in both countries. As such, this study explores the status and impact of technology transfer and innovation on the productivity and competitiveness of selected small agro- processing firms in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Founded on a positivist epistemology, a quantitative approach, survey design and probabilistically sampled respondents, the study explored the extent to which technology transfer and innovation influence the levels of productivity and competitiveness in the small agro-processing firms in selected provinces in both countries. Percentage analyses and a non-parametric technique, the Spearman Correlation, were employed to assess the relationships among technology transfer, innovation, productivity and competitiveness of selected small agro-processing firms in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to test a number of predictive effects. Firstly, it was used to test the predictive effect of technology transfer and innovation on the financial productivity of these enterprises. Secondly, it was used to assess the predictive effects of technology transfer and innovation on the non-financial productivity of these agro-processing firms. The results revealed some positive and significant correlations of varying strengths among technology transfer, innovation, productivity and competitiveness in both Zimbabwe and South African samples. Mixed results were also reported on the impact of innovation and technology transfer on financial and non-financial productivity in both samples. For instance, the influence of innovation and technology transfer on financial productivity was non-significant for the Zimbabwean sample. In the South Africa sample, only technology transfer had a significant predictive influence on financial productivity. Furthermore, only technology transfer had a significant predictive effect on non-financial productivity with the Zimbabwean sample, whereas both innovation and technology transfer had a strong predictive effect on non-financial productivity. To some extent, the results validated the proposed conceptual model as a guiding tool for estimating agricultural productivity. Thus, the proposed model provides important theoretical and analytical lenses for academics, educators and policy-makers’ concerned with finding effective ways of enhancing agricultural productivity among small agro-based businesses in Zimbabwe and South Africa