Factors Contributing to the Performance of Agricultural Credit in Lombok Indonesia

In Indonesia, national historical records show increasing agricultural credit provision by government, yet farmers seem to be unable to escape poverty. In addition, the repayment of credit has tended to be lower as years proceed. This paper analyses the performance of credit in terms of agricultural production, farmers' earnings, and credit repayment, and factors contributing to the performance. The analysis is based upon a survey conducted in Central Lombok, where the current KKP government credit scheme is provided to agricultural producers. Three villages within the regency were sampled, representing various repayment rates of government credit. Data were collected using face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with 65 farmers who had made use of government or other sources of agricultural credit. Studies of individual farmers making use of credit in the surveyed area indicated that credit had a small impact on agricultural production and farmers' income. About half of the farmers reported that credit did not help. The other half of farmers experienced a positive impact of credit through intensification and timely husbandry application. There was a varying repayment rate by individual credit users, which reflected farmers' capability, character, and motivations.agricultural credit, credit performance, Lombok, Indonesia, Agricultural Finance,

Risk Management Strategies by Australian Farmers

Australian farmers operate in one of the most risky environment in the world. They have to cope with various sources of risk in their businesses. This paper reports results of two case studies undertaken to examine the issues of farming risks and risk management strategies in Australia. The first case study found that climate variability, financial risk, marketing risk, and personal risk were regarded as the major sources of farming risk in the Upper Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. The main management strategies used by farmers included diversifying varieties, minimising tillage, minimising area of risky crops and maximising area of the least-risky crop, having high equity, having farm management deposits and other off-farm investments, and "leaving marketing to experts". The second case study revealed that climate variability was ranked as the most important source of farming risk in southwest Queensland. This was then followed by financial risks, government policy, and marketing risks. The main management strategies used were enterprise diversification (having predominantly cattle and farming cash crops), conserving moisture, using zero till planting, diversified sales (selling only part of the farm's production at any one time), and having off-farm investments. The paper then attempts to reconcile the two case studies by comparing the results with studies from the United States of America, Canada, Netherlands, and New Zealand.risk, risk management, strategies, farmers, Australia, Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty,

Genetic Evidence for Two New Species of Salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus complex)

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Historical Biogeography of the Western Slimy Salamander (Plethodon albagula)

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Phylogeography and Cryptic Diversity of Slimy Salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus complex) in the Interior Highlands

Cameron W. Robicheaux, Ryan A. Philobos, and Pedro Simoncini are undergraduate students in the School of Biological Sciences at Louisiana Tech University. Donald B. Shepard is and Assistant Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Louisiana Tech University

Demographic Responses to Pleistocene Climate Change in Interior Highlands Woodland Salamanders (Genus Plethodon)

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