Spatial Modelling of Water Availability and Choice of Crop Production in a River Basin

This paper analyze the problems of water resource allocation and crop choice in a river basin using spatial analytical tools. Spatial variability of water availability is modelled by the product sum model. Here the water availability at any farm Z(xj) is a joint spatio-temporal environment and socioeconomic process. Water availability is estimated using spatial econometric tool. Here the spatial weight matrix (W) is constructed by taking water user associations (WUA) as boundaries. The choice of a crop is explained using spill over model in which the choice of a crop is influenced by the choice of neighbouring farmers. Here the spatial lag model is modified to adapt the latent variable (y*) which has a binary outcome.Riverbasin, Spatio-temporal process, spatial water institutions, Crop Production/Industries,

Sub-vector Efficiency analysis in Chance Constrained Stochastic DEA: An application to irrigation water use in the Krishna river basin, India

All deviations from the frontier is inefficiency in deterministic DEA (DDEA); thus making the DDEA unable to accommodate the measurement and specification errors. But, most of the production relationships are stochastic in nature with some inputs fixed in the short run. This paper addressed the above two issues by formulating a sub-vector efficiency model in a Stochastic DEA (SDEA) framework to analyze the efficiency of sub vector of inputs. The results illustrate that there is a wide scope for stochastic efficiency analysis. The overall efficiency in SDEA is higher than DDEA under both Constant and Variable Return to Scale frameworks. SDEA revealed that some efficient producers are not sub-vector efficient in our case study. Thus, overall efficiency oriented policy may not be sufficient for optimizing water use. The proposed model has limitations in terms of the degree of stochastic variability and the level of tolerance that the model can accommodateStochastic DEA, sub-vector efficiency, chance constrained programming, irrigation water use efficiency, Agricultural and Food Policy,

Bt cotton and ecosystem impacts of pesticide reductions

This paper examines the ecosystem impacts of transgenic Bt cotton technology resulting from reduced chemical pesticide use. Employing unique panel data from smallholder farmers in central and southern India, negative environmental and health effects of pesticide use are quantified with the environmental impact quotient (EIQ), with and without Bt technology. An environmentally-sensitive production function is estimated, treating the environmental risk of pesticide toxicity as an undesirable output in the production process. Negative externalities are significantly lower in Bt than in conventional cotton. The reduction in EIQ through Bt adoption has increased from 39% during 2002-2004 to 68% during 2006-2008. Bt adoption also contributes to higher environmental efficiency. We find that environmental efficiency is influenced by the quality of Bt technology; high-quality Bt seeds are associated with higher environmental efficiency than lower-quality seeds

Can information constraints explain the low efficiency in premium quality rice cultivation? Evidence from smallholder farmers in Bangladesh

The integration of smallholder farmers into emerging value chains for fine-grain and aromatic 'premium quality rice' (PQR) could prove to be crucial to improving rural livelihoods in Bangladesh, though efforts could be constrained by farmers' differing levels of agronomic knowledge. Based on a pre-analysis plan, we analyse farmers' ability to efficiently allocate production enhancing inputs in PQR cultivation based on a survey of 1420 farmers in key PQR producing areas. Farmers received a hypothetical budget to allocate to six different inputs advised for efficient production of PQR, mimicking familiar production decisions made seasonally on their own farms. Our results suggest that even without budget or input access constraints farmers tend to inefficiently allocate inputs in PQR in this hypothetical setting. In particular, they tend to overspend on seeds, fertiliser and pesticides. Farmers with better access to agricultural information, such as through PQR specific extension services, conversely reach substantially higher efficiency scores and decided to spend significantly less on fertiliser. Without future adjustments such as more targeted extension services, implied higher production costs will likely lower the profitability of PQR cultivation for smallholder farmers, thereby limiting potential income gains. Besides these economic concerns, excessive input use is associated with environmental externalities. Improved efficiency is therefore desirable from both an economic and environmental standpoint

Value stream mapping: food supply chains in India and Bangladesh

Working across South Asia, the CGIAR research initiative ‘Transforming Agrifood System in South Asia (TAFSSA)’ aims to deliver a coordinated program of research and engagement across the food production–to–consumption continuum to support equitable access to sustainable healthy diets, improve farmer livelihoods and resilience, and conserve land, air and groundwater resources. This transdisciplinary research seeks to map the impact of food waste across the different stakeholders in the food supply chains in India and Bangladesh using ‘lean thinking’ principles. In so doing, a sustainability performance matrix will be developed for encapsulating the economic, social, and environmental indicators as well as key performance indicators (KPIs) for identifying, assessing and benchmarking food waste across the food supply chains. The holistic sustainability performance matrix will help guide industry and policymakers to better understand the external costs of food waste and enable different stakeholders along the value chain to manage food waste more effectively. The new sustainability dimension of mapping the impact of food waste will contribute to both academic knowledge and improving industrial performance

Heterogeneous preferences for water rights reforms among smallholder irrigators in South Africa

In the light of growing water scarcity appropriate institutional arrangements are needed to complement technical interventions, in order to ensure more efficient use and allocation of water in agriculture. A theoretically interesting institutional intervention is the installation or improvement of water rights, but the benefits of such intervention and their distribution are insufficiently researched. This paper contributes to the water rights literature by applying a state-of-the-art valuation method to a case study in South Africa. Using a latent class choice modelling approach the heterogeneity in the benefits generated by changes in water rights is investigated. Two segments could be distinguished in the sample population. While one of the segments has a lot to gain from a water rights reform, benefits for the other seem rather limited. Furthermore they clearly differ in preference for specific improvements. Such considerations should be taken into account in policy design

Gender, caste, and heterogeneous farmer preferences for wheat varietal traits in rural India

germplasm for the benefit of farmers and consumers of the Global South during and after the Green Revolution. Understanding farmers’ heterogeneous preferences for varietal traits in different market segments and incorporating the prominent ones in crop breeding programs are expected to facilitate a faster diffusion of these new varieties. Albeit knowing little about farmers’ trait preferences in South Asia, public-sector breeding programs prioritize yield enhancement and risk reduction over other varietal traits. Against this backdrop, we examined wheat farmers’ preferences for varietal traits in Central India, where the prevailing varietal turnover rate has been meager. We conducted a ranking exercise among 120 individuals, followed by a sex-disaggregated survey with a choice experiment among 420 farm-households in 2019. The lowest varietal turnover rate was observed for the socially marginalized castes. Most women respondents were not actively involved in making decisions related to wheat cultivation, including varietal selection. However, the results indicate that marginalized caste and women farmers are open to experimentation with new varieties, as shown by their positive willingness to pay for improved varietal traits. Across the gender and caste groups, grain quality attributes (especially chapati quality) were ranked high, above the yield-enhancing and risk-ameliorating traits. From the observed patterns, one could deduce that developing and disseminating improved varieties with better grain quality and targeting women and marginalized social groups in varietal dissemination programs could enhance farmer adoption of new, improved germplasm and wheat productivity in Central India

Smallholder adaptation to flood risks: Adoption and impact of Swarna-Sub1 in Eastern India

Climate change and the consequent increase in the incidence of drought and flood will remain a major threat to smallholders. Hence, it is crucial to adopt an appropriate adaptation strategy to overcome this threat and increase farmers’ income. Because seed is a primary input, the adoption of stress-tolerant rice varieties is a potential mitigation strategy to combat climate risks. In this context, the present study is carried out among paddy farmers in the flood-prone region of Eastern India to understand the adoption and impact of submergence-tolerant rice variety Swarna-Sub1 on yield and income. The study reveals that the adoption of Swarna-Sub1 varies significantly across eastern India. Education, primary occupation, credit, social group, cultivated land, and access to information on stress-tolerant rice varieties significantly influence the adoption decision. Endogenous switching regression estimates revealed that the expected paddy yield of Swarna-Sub1 adopters in an actual scenario and for non-adopters in a counterfactual scenario is significantly higher than for their counterparts. The average treatment effect confirms that the benefit of cultivating Swarna-Sub1 is much higher in submergence conditions than in normal conditions. An additional 19.0% and 48.2% of paddy yield and income is obtained respectively by cultivating Swarna-Sub1 in flooded conditions

Characterizing rural food environments in South Asia

AFSSA (Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia), a CGIAR Regional Integrated Initiative, addresses food system challenges by delivering actionable evidence and scalable innovations in South Asia. This brief provides an overview of TAFSSA’s study on "Characterizing the rural food environments in South Asia”. The evidence generated from this study would promote reshaping of rural food environments to improve access to affordable nutritious foods in rural South Asia

Qualitative research approaches for studying local food environment and drivers of food purchase in South Asia

The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (2017)’s definition of the food environment has been expanded to include the significant issue of sustainability and the different types of food environment relevant to low- to middle-income countries (Downs et al., 2020), while Turner et al. (2018) builds on food environment research into the socio- ecological theory that posits that inter- related personal and environmental factors determine health-related behaviors