New Technologies, Marketing Strategies and Public Policy for Traditional Food Crops: Millet in Niger

New technology introduction in this semiarid region of the Sahel is hypothesized to be made more difficult by three price problems in the region. First, staple prices collapse annually at harvest. Secondly, there is a between year price collapse in good and very good years due to the inelastic demand for the principal staple, millet, and the large changes in supply from weather and other stochastic factors. Thirdly, government and NGOs intervene in adverse rainfall years to drive down the price increases. Marketing strategies were proposed for the first two price problems and a public policy change for the third. To analyze this question at the firm level a farm programming model was constructed. Based upon surveying in four countries, including Niger, farmers state that they have two primary objectives in agricultural production, first achieving a harvest income target and secondly achieving their family subsistence objective with production and purchases later in the year. Farmers are observed selling their millet at harvest and rebuying millet later in the year. So the first objective takes precedence over the second. A lexicographic utility function was used in which these primary objectives of the farmer are first satisfied and then profits are maximized. According to the model new technology would be introduced even without the marketing strategies. However, the marketing strategies accelerated the technology introduction process and further increased farmers’ incomes. Of the three marketing-policy changes only a change in public policy with a reduction of the cereal imports substantially increases farmers’ incomes in the adverse years. In developed countries crop insurance and disaster assistance is used to protect farmers in semiarid regions during bad and very bad (disaster) rainfall years. In developing countries finding alternatives to the povertynutritional problems of urban residents and poor farmers to substitute for driving down food prices in adverse years could perform the same function as crop insurance in developed countries of facilitating technological introduction by increasing incomes in adverse rainfall years.inventory credit, marketing strategy, inorganic fertilizers, fertility depletion, farm level programming, micro-fertilization, sidedressing

The Role of the International Monetary Funds (IMF) in the East Asian Debt Crisis of 1997

During the East Asian Financial crisis in particular, the IMF has been criticized of promoting international cooperation because of the supervised enforcement of its rules. The purpose of this research is to find out how the IMF responded to the East Asian debt crisis and whether or not its responses were the best possible responses to this crisis. Through my research, I talked about the causes of the East Asian financial crisis, the role of the IMF in the international monetary system, and if the IMF responses to Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia were the best responses or not. After analyzing the IMF responses in this crisis, I found that the IMF policies need to be reformed in order to monitor and prevent future financial crises spill-over effects at the global and regional levels. I will analyzed 5 scholarly journals on the financial crisis in East Asia, 3 scholarly articles on the role of IMF in the East Asia financial crisis, and 1 novel called POLITICS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA DEMOCRACY OR LESS by William Case

Impacts of Inventory Credit, Input Supply Shops and Fertilizer Micro-Dosing in the Drylands of Niger

This study investigates the impacts of access to inventory credit (warrantage), input supply shops, fertilizer micro-dosing demonstrations, and other factors on farmers' use of inorganic and organic fertilizer in Niger, and the impacts on crop yields. We find that access to warrantage and input shops and participation in fertilizer micro-dosing demonstrations have increased use of inorganic fertilizer. Access to off-farm employment and ownership of traction animals also contribute to use of inorganic fertilizer. Use of organic fertilizer is less affected by these factors, but is substantially affected by the household's crop mix, access to the plot, ownership of durable assets, labor and land endowments, and participation in farmers' associations. Land tenure influences both inorganic and organic inputs, with less of both on sharecropped and encroached plots. Inorganic fertilizer has a positive impact on millet yields, with an estimated marginal value-cost ratio greater than 3, indicating significant profitability. Organic fertilizer has a positive impact on millet-cowpea yields. We find little evidence of complementarity between inorganic and organic fertilizer. Since warrantage, input supply shops and fertilizer micro-dosing demonstrations increase use of inorganic fertilizer which in turn increases millet yields, these interventions indirectly increase millet yields, although the impacts are relatively small. These findings support promoting increased input use through promotion of inventory credit, input supply shops and fertilizer micro-dosing demonstrations. Other interventions that could help to boost productivity include promotion of improved access to farm equipment and traction animals and improved access to land under secure tenure.Crop Production/Industries,

Impacts of inventory credit, input supply shops, and fertilizer microdosing in the drylands of Niger:

"This study investigated the impacts of access to inventory credit, input supply shops, fertilizer microdosing demonstrations, and other factors on farmers' use of inorganic fertilizer and other inputs in Niger and on crop yields. We found that access to inventory credit and input supply shops has increased the use of inorganic fertilizer and seeds and that microdosing demonstrations have increased the use of inorganic fertilizer. Ownership of traction animals and access to off-farm employment have also contributed to the use of inorganic fertilizer, while larger farms use less fertilizer and labor per hectare. The impacts of these interventions and technologies depend on the crop mix. Inorganic fertilizer has a positive impact on millet and millet–cowpea yields when applied using microdosing, with an estimated marginal value-cost ratio greater than 3 for those crops indicating significant profitability. By contrast, microdosing has a negative impact on yields of the millet–sorghum–cowpea intercrop, suggesting that microdosing should not be promoted when sorghum is part of the crop mix. However, better access to input supply shops has contributed to higher yields of the millet–sorghum–cowpea intercrop. The predicted effect of inventory credit on farmers' income as a result of increased inorganic fertilizer use is an increase of 5,000 to 10,000 FCFA per hectare (about US$10 to US$20 per hectare in 2005) in millet or millet–cowpea production. Similarly, being 10 km closer to an input supply shop is predicted to increase farmers' income by 3,200 to 4,500 FCFA per hectare. These benefits do not take into account the impacts of the interventions on seeds or other inputs, which are also generally positive. The positive impacts are linked to the use of fertilizer microdosing, which has increased the productivity of fertilizer use in millet and millet–cowpea production, indicating synergies among the various interventions. They are also linked to these specific crops, because we found less favorable impacts of these interventions for the millet–sorghum–cowpea intercrop and for peanuts. Other interventions that could help to boost the use of inputs and productivity include promotion of improved access to farm equipment and traction animals and promotion of higher-value crops such as hibiscus. Further research on these topics appears warranted. Research on the implications of interventions on land degradation would also be useful." from Author's AbstractFertilizer microdosing, Inventory credit, Warrantage, Input supply shops, Drylands, Land management,

Evaluation De La Performance De L’irrigation En Utilisant L’indice Du Taux De Satisfaction En Eau Du Périmètre Irrigué De Saga Dans La Vallée Du Fleuve Niger

Au Niger, la culture irriguée est la principale alternative pour sécuriser la production agricole. Cependant, la plupart des systèmes d'irrigation sont confrontés à de très graves problèmes de gestion des ressources. L'objectif de ce travail était d'évaluer les performances hydrauliques de l'aménagement hydroagricole de Saga au Niger à travers la collecte de données in situ face aux revues de littérature. Les besoins en eau du riz ont été estimés selon la norme internationale (FAO) à l'aide du logiciel Croppat 8.0. Le tableur Microsoft Excel 2016 pour calculer les différents flux et autres variables étudiés. A la suite de cette enquête, il a été constaté que le niveau de satisfaction moyen de la culture du riz était de 73% en humide et de 82% en saison sèche. La quantité moyenne d'eau nécessaire à l'irrigation est estimée à environ 82 % en saison sèche et 51 % de la quantité d'eau d'irrigation requise en humide. D'un point de vue agricole, le rapport production/volume d'eau du riz paddy est de 1,16 kg/m3 en saison des pluies, contre 0,45 kg/m3 en campagne de saison sèche. Ce résultat est principalement dû à une mauvaise gestion de l'irrigation périphérique. De ces analyses, il ressort clairement que la quantité d'eau pompée ne répond pas aux besoins d'irrigation de la zone environnante, reflétant la faible performance hydraulique autour du périmètre de riziculture irriguée de Saga. Mots clés : Périmètre rizicole, productivité de l’eau, taux de satisfaction, Indicateurs de performance, Niger

Transforming traditional businesses doesn’t have to be an elusive goal

Firms need to develop an appetite for innovation, leverage knowledge about customers, and adopt agile ways of working, write Edivandro Carlos Conforto, Ricardo Viana Vargas, and Tahirou Assane Oumaro

Gender and innovation in agriculture: a case study of farmers varietal preference of drought tolerant maize in southern Guinea Savannah region of Nigeria

Maize is one of the worlds’ three primary cereal crops, sustainable increasing production of this crop is important to farmers to be able to meet the ever increasing consumption of maize which is one of the major reasons for the development of Drought tolerant maize variety (DTMA). The study analyses farmers’ varietal preference of drought tolerant maize in Southern Guinea Savannah region of Nigeria. It specifically determined the socioeconomic characteristics of farmers, identified their gender based preference for Drought Tolerant maize variety and elucidated the reasons for preference. Three-stage stratified sampling technique was used. Well-structured questionnaire was used to collect information from a total of 48 farmers. Descriptive, Ranking and LSD were used to analyse the data collected. The result of the analysis showed that majority of the male and female farmers have primary education and are youths. The result of varietal preference differs between genders in some locations Male farmers identified big cobs with full grains, big seed, and multiple cobs as the main reasons for their preference while female farmers identified yellow colour of seed, nutrient fortified seed and big cobs with full grains as the main reasons for their preference. It is therefore recommended that effort should be made to involve male and female farmers in the varietal selection procedure as to facilitate easy adoption of hybrid maize. The women are more concerned with the food security of their family and hence are important segment in maize innovation that improve the food security of farming households. It is therefore imperative that Programmes and policies should not exclude female farmers

Investigating the impact of ceo’s social network on sme performance and access to external resources in the moroccan textile industry

This paper analyses the relationship between the social network dimensions, the performance of Moroccan SMEs of the textile industry and their access to external resources. As these companies face a fierce competition in recent years, their CEOs’ social networks are playing a significant role in their success and survival.  Through a sample of 112 SMEs and a quantitative method, our results show that the more the network is important, the more it promotes SME performance and access to information resources, that having closer tie with the bankers allows a better access to financial resources, that knowing and having links with people in high places is a privilege and contributes effectively to an organizational performance