Farmers' responses to VietGAP : a case study of a policy mechanism for transforming the traditional agri-food system in Vietnam : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Agricultural Systems and Environment at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

The VietGAP programme is one of a suite of policies used by the Vietnamese Government to transform the country into a more market-led economy. It was implemented in 2009 to help foster the development of a modern agri-food system in Vietnam. However, it has had limited success with less than 5% of farmers adopting the programme. Little is formally known about how the programme was implemented or why it was not adopted by the majority of farmers. This dissertation contributes to understanding farmers’ responses to VietGAP, a policy mechanism that is associated with an emerging socio-technical regime in the early stages of a transition to a modern agri-food system. A single-case study design was employed, and data was collected primarily through semi-structured interviews supplemented with relevant documents. Qualitative data analysis techniques were used to analyse the interview data and relevant documents. In this study, VietGAP was viewed as a policy mechanism used by the government to help it shift from a traditional to a modern agri-food system. Significantly, this study found that the social, cultural, and institutional dimensions that define the dominant traditional agri-food system determined farmers’ responses to VietGAP. Firstly, there was a lack of concern about food safety among value chain actors, particularly consumers and this limited demand for VietGAP-certified vegetables. Secondly, subjective rather than objective measures were used to assess vegetable quality by actors throughout the domestic vegetable value chain. Thirdly, the coordination of this vegetable value chain was dominated by informal, trust-based relationships between value chain actors rather than through formal written contracts. In addition, farmers’ responses to VietGAP were influenced by the broader transition from a centrally planned to a more market-led system that is occurring in the country. The implementation of VietGAP changed the roles and nature of relationships between value chain actors and this influenced how farmers responded to VietGAP. This study highlights that farmers’ uptake of VietGAP requires changes to the socio-technical regime of the traditional agri-food system. Many farmers did not adopt VietGAP because of: 1) a lack of market demand for VietGAP-certified vegetables, 2) the risks associated with breaking informal institutions between farmers and preferred collectors; and 3) a lack of capability in key value chain actors. In contrast, a small number of farmers adopted VietGAP because of: 1) the level of support they received from the local government; and 2) their political aspirations and loyalty to the government. This research re-conceptualizes a public VietGAP scheme as a policy mechanism for transforming the traditional agri-food system in Vietnam. It provides insights into farmers’ responses to such policy mechanism and provides a more systemic view of the determinants of GAP adoption by producers. The insights gained from this study into what shaped farmers’ responses to VietGAP highlight areas that need to be considered when designing policies to enhance the uptake of public GAP programmes in developing countries that are in the early stages of a transition from a traditional to a modern agri-food system

Sensor management for multi-target tracking via multi-bernoulli filtering

In multi-object stochastic systems, the issue of sensor management is a theoretically and computationally challenging problem. In this paper, we present a novel random finite set (RFS) approach to the multi-target sensor management problem within the partially observed Markov decision process (POMDP) framework. The multi-target state is modelled as a multi-Bernoulli RFS, and the multi-Bernoulli filter is used in conjunction with two different control objectives: maximizing the expected Rényi divergence between the predicted and updated densities, and minimizing the expected posterior cardinality variance. Numerical studies are presented in two scenarios where a mobile sensor tracks five moving targets with different levels of observability

Papillary thyroid carcinoma with tall cell features is as aggressive as tall cell variant: a meta-analysis

There are still ongoing debates as to which cut-off percentage of tall cell (TC) should be used to define tall cell variant (TCV) papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). In this meta-analysis, we aimed to investigate the clinicopathological significance of PTC with tall cell features (PTC-TCF, PTC with 10–50% of TCs) in comparison with classical PTC and TCVPTC (PTC with more than 50% of TCs) to clarify the controversial issue. Four electronic databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Virtual Health Library were accessed to search for relevant articles. We extracted data from published studies and pooled into odds ratio (OR) and its corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using random-effect modeling. Nine studies comprising 403 TCVPTCs, 325 PTC-TCFs and 3552 classical PTCs were included for meta-analyses. Overall, the clinicopathological profiles of PTC-TCF including multifocality, extrathyroidal extension, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and patient mortality were not statistically different from those of TCVPTC. Additionally, PTC-TCF and TCVPTC were both associated with an increased risk for aggressive clinical courses as compared to classical PTC. The prevalence of BRAF mutation in PTC-TCF and TCVPTC was comparable and both were significantly higher than that in classical PTC. The present meta-analysis demonstrated that even a PTC comprising only 10% of TCs might be associated with a poor clinical outcome. Therefore, the proportions of PTC in PTC should be carefully estimated and reported even when the TC component is as little as 10%

Emerging Role of Circulating Tumor Cells in Gastric Cancer

With over 1 million incidence cases and more than 780,000 deaths in 2018, gastric cancer (GC) was ranked as the 5th most common cancer and the 3rd leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Though several biomarkers, including carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), and cancer antigen 72-4 (CA72-4), have been identified, their diagnostic accuracies were modest. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cells derived from tumors and present in body fluids, have recently emerged as promising biomarkers, diagnostically and prognostically, of cancers, including GC. In this review, we present the landscape of CTCs from migration, to the presence in circulation, biologic properties, and morphologic heterogeneities. We evaluated clinical implications of CTCs in GC patients, including diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic management, as well as their application in immunotherapy. On the one hand, major challenges in using CTCs in GC were analyzed, from the differences of cut-off values of CTC positivity, to techniques used for sampling, storage conditions, and CTC molecular markers, as well as the unavailability of relevant enrichment and detection techniques. On the other hand, we discussed future perspectives of using CTCs in GC management and research, including the use of circulating tumor microembolies; of CTC checkpoint blockade in immunotherapy; and of organoid models. Despite the fact that there are remaining challenges in techniques, CTCs have potential as novel biomarkers and/or a non-invasive method for diagnostics, prognostics, and treatment monitoring of GC, particularly in the era of precision medicine

Exploring Cereal Smallholders’ Adoption of Mobile Phones for Marketing in Quang Dien District of Vietnam

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) enable smallholders in developing countries access to timely and reliable agricultural market information, allowing them to make viable decisions and hence improve their income. This research investigates factors that shape the Vietnamese smallholders’ adoption of mobile phones for marketing. A random sample of 161 smallholders was drawn from a total of 275 smallholders who produced and marketed cereals in Quang Dien district of Vietnam. Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and a binary logistic regression model were applied to analyse the data. The research found that the young male smallholders with a higher education level, who live far from an electricity base, have high income, participate in credit programs and who are members of CBOs, have a greater tendency to adopt mobile phones for marketing. Lack of knowledge/skills to use applications on mobile phones, together with language barriers and mobile phone network problems are hindering smallholder adoption of mobile phones for marketing

Adoption of Good Agricultural Practices Standard by Cattle Farmers in the Binh Dinh Province of Vietnam

This study examined factors that affect the adoption of VietGAP by Vietnamese beef cattle farmers. A random sample of 305 farmers was drawn from a total of 1279 farmers who produced and marketed beef cattle in the Binh Dinh province of Vietnam. Descriptive and inferential statistics, including percentages, means, standard deviations, a chi squares test, t-test and a binary logistic regression model were employed to analyse the data. The study found that the young male farmers with a higher education level, who have a large number of cattle, possess a large farm and own ICT tools for marketing, have high income and communication with extension officers, have a greater tendency to adopt VietGAP

Exploring Cereal Smallholders’ Adoption of Mobile Phones for Marketing in Quang Dien District of Vietnam

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) enable smallholders in developing countries access to timely and reliable agricultural market information, allowing them to make viable decisions and hence improve their income. This research investigates factors that shape the Vietnamese smallholders’ adoption of mobile phones for marketing. A random sample of 161 smallholders was drawn from a total of 275 smallholders who produced and marketed cereals in Quang Dien district of Vietnam. Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and a binary logistic regression model were applied to analyse the data. The research found that the young male smallholders with a higher education level, who live far from an electricity base, have high income, participate in credit programs and who are members of CBOs, have a greater tendency to adopt mobile phones for marketing. Lack of knowledge/skills to use applications on mobile phones, together with language barriers and mobile phone network problems are hindering smallholder adoption of mobile phones for marketing

Adoption of Good Agricultural Practices Standard by Cattle Farmers in the Binh Dinh Province of Vietnam

This study examined factors that affect the adoption of VietGAP by Vietnamese beef cattle farmers. A random sample of 305 farmers was drawn from a total of 1279 farmers who produced and marketed beef cattle in the Binh Dinh province of Vietnam. Descriptive and inferential statistics, including percentages, means, standard deviations, a chi squares test, t-test and a binary logistic regression model were employed to analyse the data. The study found that the young male farmers with a higher education level, who have a large number of cattle, possess a large farm and own ICT tools for marketing, have high income and communication with extension officers, have a greater tendency to adopt VietGAP