Diversification and agrarian change under environmental constraints in rural China: Evidence from a poor township of Beijing municipality

Working paper du GATE 2007-11This article illustrates the impact of changes related to market reforms and environmental policies on the economic structure in rural China by providing a comparative analysis of several villages in a poor township in Beijing municipality. Two main concomitant phenomena are affecting agricultural and non-agricultural choices in the studied area. First, the introduction of market mechanisms is encouraging local population to engage in new activities that are closer to local comparative advantages. Second, rural households are facing new constraints in the form of environmental protection measures, which have weakened traditional insurance channels provided by forest resources and cattle stock. Drawing on household-level survey data and interviews with village heads conducted in ten villages of Labagoumen township in December 2003, this article analyzes households decisions in response to market reforms and environmental constraints. We find large disparities both between villages and households in the diversification process and discuss the reasons of observed inertia in the region, most households still heavily relying on corn production

Assessing Crop-Livestock Interaction in Mixed Farming Systems of North Western Kenya

A study was conducted in the four counties the maize- wheat-teapotato and sugarcane-based farming system in North western Kenya to explore the variability among household characteristics and farm productivity. The aim of this work was to establish homogenous groups of crop-livestock mixed farming systems of Kenya. A two step approach was adopted for the study. The first was a rapid rural appraisal followed by a formal survey aimed at establishing farm types to facilitate detailed analysis of synergistic crop-livestock interaction systems. A random sample of 423 farmers was interviewed using a semi structured questionnaire. Descriptive and multinomial techniques were used in the analysis. Two classifications were utilized, the first step was establishing the criteria for classification and the second based on resource accessibility by farmers. The criteria used were the proportions of various crop and livestock enterprises and resource endowment. The process came up with eight farm types based mainly on the farm enterprise orientation, farm size, land productivity, cattle breeding, and farm by-products. Based on the formal survey three farm types were identified as intensive, semi intensive and extensive systems. The resource groups in all the counties were identified by: crop-livestock management, soil fertility management, food security and farm and off-farm income as important indicators of variability. However, all households were net food buyers, implying food insecurity. In addition, off-farm activities and off farm income were important livelihood survival strategies. Development planners and policy makers need to develop unique interventions targeting each specific group, since blanket policies are not appropriate in such a situation. Options such as optimizing livestock numbers to match available feed resources and improving feed availability through breeding and adoption of dual-purpose crop varieties with better digestibility coefficient, improving the cost-effectiveness of existing nutrition technologies (e.g. crop-by-products’), and bringing more land under fodder crops need to be explored. Since the farm sizes within the region had continued to decline, limiting the availability of on-farm livestock feed, there is need for policy instruments that can discourage land fragmentatio

Opportunities and pitfalls for researchers to contribute to the design of evidence-based agricultural policies: lessons from Uganda

Agricultural policies in sub-Saharan Africa have paid insufficient attention to sustainable intensification. In Uganda, agricultural productivity has stagnated with aggregate increases in crop production being attributed to expansion of cultivated land area. To enhance sustainable crop intensification, the Ugandan Government collaborated with stakeholders to develop agricultural policies using an evidence-based approach. Previously, evidence-based decision-making tended to focus on the evidence base rather than evidence and its interactions within the broader policy context. We identify opportunities and pitfalls to strengthen science engagement in agricultural policy design by analysing the types of evidence required, and how it was shared and used during policy development. Qualitative tools captured stakeholders' perspectives of agricultural policies and their status in the policy cycle. Subsequent multi-level studies identified crop growth constraints and quantified yield gaps which were used to compute the economic analyses of policy options that subsequently contributed to sub-national program planning. The study identified a need to generate relevant evidence within a short time 'window' to influence policy design, power influence by different stakeholders and quality of stakeholder interaction. Opportunities for evidence integration surfaced at random phases of policy development due to researchers’ ’embededness’ within co-management and coordination structures

Impacts of prices and transactions costs on input usage in a liberalizing economy: evidence from Tanzanian coffee growers

Despite improvements in production incentives, agricultural output in Africa remained sluggish through the 1990s. Low use of purchased inputs may be part of the cause of persistently low productivity in African agriculture. This article analyzes the roles of relative prices and transactions costs in explaining low use of chemical inputs among Tanzanian coffee growers. A sample selection model indicates that output prices exert great influence on input purchases and that both fixed and variable transactions costs affect input use decisions. Travel costs in input and output markets have distinct effects on input usage, implying distinct avenues for interventions to promote more intensive use of agricultural inputs. Copyright 2005 International Association of Agricultural Economics.