Upland crop technologies in Cambodia: economic evaluations and some adoption issues

Agricultural research and development (R&D) has being conducted in the upland districts of Cambodia to develop new farming systems and crop management technologies. Levels of farm income in these areas are relatively low due to small farm sizes and low crop productivity. Work is also planned to encourage the process of adoption of these technologies, and here we investigate how this process can be facilitated. A literature review identifies two important technology characteristics, ‘relative advantage’ and ‘trialability’, for successful adoption. Minimum or target rates of return on investment in new technologies are discussed as a means of investigating how much improvement in relative advantage might be enough to encourage successful adoption of the technology. A number of economic assessments of new crop methodologies in Cambodian upland districts and farming systems are presented. Some technologies show an encouraging return on investment from the viewpoint of the Cambodian farmer – rhizobium inoculation of soybean seed had an indicated return of up to 600% on the investment depending on the cost to the grower. Other issues are also likely to be important in discussing change to farming systems, for instance social issues in the village/community context. We present a proposal for a participatory learning process in which economic and social issues are highlighted, to encourage adoption of new crop technologies in local Cambodian contexts.New technology, adoption, upland crops, Cambodia, economic assessment, social, Crop Production/Industries, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Improving water utilization from a catchment perspective

Water management / Water scarcity / Water use efficiency / Catchment areas / Calibrations / Hydrology / Models / River basins / Participatory management / Water balance / Case studies / Asia / Africa / South Africa / Zimbabwe

On the Impact Assessment of ACIAR (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research) Projects

The current ACIAR (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research) guidelines for impact assessment of agricultural development projects see impact assessment as being useful for both accountability to stakeholders and as a learning tool to find out what works, what doesn’t work and why. The methodology involves the use of conventional economic evaluation and the estimation of a money metric based on measuring outcomes in terms of economic surplus changes attributable to directed actions and activities. On the question of accountability to stakeholders, this paper suggests that the money metric may not be the best outcomes-based measure of performance against development goals and that other performance indicators ought to be considered. The paper also suggests exploring other approaches to assess accountability including qualitative (narrative) methods as well as process-based accountability. On the question of using impact assessment as a learning tool, the paper suggests this might be quite useful for more traditional non-adaptive research, but is less useful for adaptive research projects involving participatory action research (PAR). With PAR projects, learning about what works, what doesn’t work and why already occurs as an integral part of the research process. The paper concludes with some thoughts about project evaluation of an ACIAR-funded project with which the authors are involved in northwest Cambodia focusing on upland crop production and marketing.Project evaluation, impact assessment, adaptive project management, Cambodia., Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

An economic evaluation of the osmoregulation gene technology to the Australian wheat industry

Episodes of rainfall irregularity and soil moisture deficit have focused attention on the widespread limitation of water supply on winter cereal crop production in Australia. This has motivated a number of efforts at breeding for improved drought tolerance. A recent example involves a cellular adaptation which mitigates water loss through solute accumulation (osmoregulation or osmotic adjustment). An assessment of the performance of osmoregulation yield response in the presence of climate change found that wheat cultivars with this gene are unlikely to be adversely affected by hotter and drier conditions across the wheat belt. The results of an economic evaluation of potential future innovations (wheat cultivars) from the osmoregulation gene technology are that for Australia the net present value could range from $388 million to$3.6 billion, depending on the adoption of wheat cultivars with the gene. Associated benefit-cost ratios ranged from 43:1 to 390:1, and internal rates of return were 16% to 27%. Even under pessimistic assumptions the returns are quite healthy. For NSW-only adoption, internal rates of return ranged from 10% to 22%. This osmoregulation technology has the potential for inclusion in wheat cultivars bred for other purposes, and for other crops. As such it has implications for agricultural plant breeders and farmers both in Australia and overseas, and there are substantial potential spillover benefits.economic evaluation, wheat breeding, osmoregulation, Crop Production/Industries, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Barriers to accessing psychological treatment for medium to high risk male young offenders

Within the young offender population, rates of personality disorder and mood disorders are considerably higher than both the general and adult offender population. Despite this high level of need and high risk of harm, psychological services within prisons are widely underutilized. Little is known about the barriers to accessing treatment for young offenders. This study investigated barriers to accessing psychological treatment for male young offenders detained in a UK prison. There were 128 participants, aged 18–21. A cross-sectional design compared self-reported barriers and psychological distress for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and White young offenders not accessing treatment, as well as those who were. A preference for self-reliance, a lack of trust in the prison system, lengthy waiting times and a general reluctance to talk about emotions were the most commonly cited barriers. BME young offenders not engaged in treatment reported significantly more barriers to accessing treatment than BME young offenders who were engaged in treatment, but both BME groups had equal levels of psychological distress. There was no significant difference between BME and White young offenders in the number of barriers reported, including stigma barriers. Future research should evaluate interventions to increase access for this marginalised population

Tissue-specific regulation of sirtuin and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide biosynthetic pathways identified in C57Bl/6 mice in response to high-fat feeding

Funding: The Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division.Peer reviewedPostprin

Axillary Aneurism; Ligature of the right Subclavian Artery; Death from Hemorrhage on the sixty-second day:

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Issues of scale and scope in bio-physical modelling for natural resource management decision making in New South Wales

Natural resource management decision making by Catchment Management Authorities in NSW is being aided by a project involving bio-physical modelling and the development of an alternative decision-making framework. The objective of the bio-physical modelling process is to generate predictions of environmental or natural resource outcomes rather than project outputs. These outcomes can then be used in an investment framework to help priority setting and project decision making. Questions that arise in bio-physical modelling include those relating to scale and scope. Scale issues include how to address the landscape impacts of particular (or a series of local) on-ground works proposals. Scope issues include assessment of multiple-attribute responses to particular changes. In a multi-disciplinary context the challenge is then to translate this information into units that can be adapted to a decision-support framework. Existing Catchment Management Authorities decisions are often based on scoring and weighting of environmental improvements using an environmental benefits index, however other economic frameworks are possible. We discuss the important context for these questions in the decision making framework.environmental benefits, bio-physical models, scale, scope, investment decisions, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Environmental economics and valuation: towards a practical investment framework for Catchment Management Authorities in New South Wales

The Catchment Management Authorities in New South Wales have programs that are collectively investing $436 million over four years to achieve catchment-wide natural resource/environmental improvements. In this paper, we consider the question of how to best allocate these resources so as to increase the well-being of the public within catchments and the state. We consider the current approaches used by CMAs and make a case for Benefit-Cost Analysis as an alternative means of assessing ex ante questions of priority setting at the catchment level and for project appraisal. A major issue for BCA is the estimation of potential benefits from project investments, particularly the estimation of values that catchment communities and those living outside the catchments place on the non-use benefits associated with environmental improvements. We discuss alternative means of eliciting such values and propose the stated-preference method of Choice Modelling as a means of overcoming this Benefit-Cost Analysis shortcoming, because it incorporates advances in non-market valuation.environmental, economics, choice modelling, non-use values, investment framework, Environmental Economics and Policy,