The determinants and purpose of income diversification of rural households in Bangladesh

This study determines the factors that affect the nature and extent of household income diversification in Bangladesh. The study also investigates whether the motivation for diversification was to support asset accumulation or survival. The findings show that the extent of the diversification index is determined by household endowments of assets such as wealth, a higher number of earners, higher education, easy access to market, and better infrastructure. The motive for overall diversification was accumulation, not survival. An interesting finding was that off-farm income diversification serves a two-fold purpose. Wealthier households are attracted into off-farm self-employment to get a higher return facilitated by easy access to financial assets, and labour endowment. Credit constrained poor households are influenced by endowment in the form of education and labour to diversify into off-farm wage activities as a mean of survival. Investment in infrastructure, electrification and education does and will support income diversification in Bangladesh.Peer reviewe

Long-term fertilizer field trials: comparison of three mathematical response models

Accession to the European Union caused a drop of nearly 60 per cent from 1994 to 1995 in prices of wheat, barley and oats in Finland. The economic use of fertilizer therefore decreased accordingly. To calculate the effect of the price changes on the economic optima, the physical production function must be known. Three physical production functions, the quadratic, the linear response and plateau (LRP) and the exponential function were estimated for this purpose. The models differed little in respect of the R2adj value (0.82-0.90) but the calculated optimum varied, depending on the production function. Data on a long-term field trial (21 years) were analysed. The field trial was established in 1973 to demonstrate the effect of mineral fertilizer in crop production. The crops grown in the trial were barley, wheat and oats. Different varieties were included in the models

Diversification as a means to improve household food security in Bangladesh

Food security becomes an issue for concern and possible policy response when it points to nutritional deficiencies and access to insufficient food in many developing countries. Over the years, the prime focus has been on self-sufficiency in major cereal production and energy availability for food security in these areas. Diversification in farm production could play a part in improving household nutritional well-being through enhancing economic access to food and increasing the opportunity to consume own production. The aim of this paper is to bridge the research gap by providing quantitative evidence on the impact of farm diversity on household food security, highlighting the nutritional dimension in Bangladesh where rice is considered the major cereal item. In doing this, the authors compare farm households that are very specialized in rice cultivation with more diversified farm households using two different measures of dietary diversity. In addition, two other measures of farm diversification - Simpson’s Index of Diversity along with a crop–livestock count variable - have been used in the analysis. The empirical results presented here are based on cross-sectional data collected through a multistage random sampling of 260 farm households in central, northern, and southwestern regions of Bangladesh. The results confirm that farm diversification has a positive and significant influence on food diversity and it therefore improves household food security. Diversification through shifting out of cereal cultivation particularly rice production is found to be an effective and noteworthy approach to enhance food diversity in Bangladesh. In addition, household food diversity is influenced by higher education level, better market access, household size, production per capita, non-farm income diversification, and land size. The study suggests that investment in education and development of infrastructure for better market access will help to boost dietary diversity in Bangladesh. The key policy implication is that farm diversity needs to be encouraged as an important strategy to increase consumption of a varied diet and enhance household food security.Peer reviewe

Agricultural cooperatives and their role in poverty reduction in Tanzania

Peer reviewe

Lannoituksen pitkäaikaiset kenttäkokeet: kolmen matemaattisen mallin vertailu

Accession to the European Union caused a drop of nearly 60 per cent from 1994 to 1995 in prices of wheat, barley and oats in Finland. The economic use of fertilizer therefore decreased accordingly. To calculate the effect of the price changes on the economic optima, the physical production function must be known. Three physical production functions, the quadratic, the linear response and plateau (LRP) and the exponential function were estimated for this purpose. The models differed little in respect of the R2adj value (0.82-0.90) but the calculated optimum varied, depending on the production function. Data on a long-term field trial (21 years) were analysed. The field trial was established in 1973 to demonstrate the effect of mineral fertilizer in crop production. The crops grown in the trial were barley, wheat and oats. Different varieties were included in the models.Vehnän, ohran ja kauran hinta laski Suomessa noin 60 prosenttia vuodesta 1994 vuoteen 1995 Euroopan unioniin liittymisen myötä. Myös lannoitteiden hinta laski, mutta huomattavasti vähemmän. Tämä suhteellisten hintojen muutos merkitsi sitä, että taloudellisesti optimaalinen lannoitteiden käyttömäärä pieneni. Lannoitteiden taloudellisesti optimaalisen käytön määrittäminen edellyttää fyysisten tuotantofunktioiden tuntemista. Tutkimuksessa estimoitiin kolme fyysistä tuotantofunktiota; toisen asteen polynomi-, LRP- ja eksponenttifunktio. Tutkimusaineistona käytettiin 21 vuoden kenttäkokeita, joissa oli tutkittu mineraalilannoitteiden vaikutusta viljanviljelyyn. Kokeissa viljeltyjä kasveja olivat ohra, kaura ja vehnä. Lajike-erot otettiin malleissa huomioon. Mallit eivät poikenneet suuresti toisistaan selitysasteen perusteella (0,82-0,90), mutta malleista lasketut taloudelliset optimit poikkesivat toisistaan

Long-term fertilizer field trials: comparison of three mathematical response models

Selostus: Lannoituksen pitkäaikaiset kenttäkokeet: kolmen matemaattisen mallin vertail

Long-term fertilizer field trials: comparison of three mathematical response models

Vehnän, ohran ja kauran hinta laski Suomessa noin 60 prosenttia vuodesta 1994 vuoteen 1995 Euroopan unioniin liittymisen myötä. Myös lannoitteiden hinta laski, mutta huomattavasti vähemmän. Tämä suhteellisten hintojen muutos merkitsi sitä, että taloudellisesti optimaalinen lannoitteiden käyttömäärä pieneni. Lannoitteiden taloudellisesti optimaalisen käytön määrittäminen edellyttää fyysisten tuotantofunktioiden tuntemista. Tutkimuksessa estimoitiin kolme fyysistä tuotantofunktiota: toisen asteen polynomi-, LRP- ja eksponenttifunktio. Tutkimusaineistona käytettiin 21 vuoden kenttäkokeita, joissa oli tutkittu mineraalilannoitteiden vaikutusta viljanviljelyyn. Kokeissa viljeltyjä kasveja olivat ohra, kaura ja vehnä. Lajike-erot otettiin malleissa huomioon. Mallit eivät poikenneet suuresti toisistaan selitysasteen perusteella ( 0,82-0,90), mutta malleista lasketut taloudelliset optimit poikkesivat toisistaanAccession to the European Union caused a drop of nearly 60 per cent from 1994 to 1995 in prices of wheat, barley and oats in Finland. The economic use of fertilizer therefore decreased accordingly. To calculate the effect of the price changes on the economic optima, the physical production function must be known. Three physical production functions, the quadratic, the linear response and plateau (LRP) and the exponential function were estimated for this purpose. The models differed little in respect of the R 2 adj value (0.82-0.90) but the calculated optimum varied, depending on the production function. Data on a long-term field trial (21 years) were analysed. The field trial was established in 1973 to demonstrate the effect of mineral fertilizer in crop production. The crops grown in the trial were barley, wheat and oats. Different varieties were included in the models.vokLannoituksen pitkäaikaiset kenttäkokeet: kolmen matemaattisen mallin vertail