Download or read book How Do Agricultural Programmes Alter Crop Production Evidence From Ecuador written by Paul Winters and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evaluating agricultural programmes requires considering not only the programmes' influence on input and output indicators, but also considering the relationship between these indicators as embodied in the production technology. This article examines the impact on production of an intervention in the Ecuadorian Sierra designed to improve returns to potato production through training and through linking smallholders to high-value markets. Critical to identifying the impact of the programme is the careful construction of a counterfactual and meticulous data collection. To assess the impact of the programme on production, a weighted estimation, where weights are constructed through propensity score matching, is employed to estimate a production function within a damage abatement framework. The function incorporates a series of interaction terms to assess the impact of the programme on the production technology. The findings provide evidence that the programme enhances yields both through a general shift in technology as well as increased input use. The results suggest that the use of effective farming techniques that are learned through the programme induce this technological shift.

Download or read book Conflict and agricultural productivity Evidence from Myanmar written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2023-02-21 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evidence is scarce on how conflict affects technology adoption and consequent agricultural productivity in fragile states, an important topic given the high share of the extreme poor living in fragile environments globally. Our study contributes to filling this knowledge gap by using unique large-scale data on rice producers in Myanmar before and after a military coup in 2021, leading to a surge of conflicts in the country. We find that the increase in violent events significantly changed rice productivity. Specifically, increases in fatal violent events between 2020 and 2021 reduced rice Total Factor Productivity (TFP) – a measure of how efficiently agricultural inputs are used to produce rice – by about 4 percent on average in the short-run. Moreover, poorer farmers are more affected by conflict, as seen through an increased output elasticity to agricultural equipment owned, indicating reduced output resilience for less-capital owning, and therefore poorer, farmers. This seems partly due to reduced access to agricultural extension services, which would otherwise help farmers maintain productivity, even with limited capital ownership, through substitution with human capital and skills. Lower mechanization service fees partly mitigate these effects. Our results consistently hold for both short- and long-run production functions, across various specifications, and in Upper and Lower Myanmar. These findings suggest that containing and reducing violent events is critical in restoring rice productivity. Improved access to extension services, as well as to cheap mechanization service provision to mitigate lack of equipment ownership, could compensate for these losses and boost the productivity of farmers, especially for those with less production capital, in such fragile settings.

Download or read book Agriculture And Economic Survival written by Morris D Whitaker and published by Westview Press. This book was released on 1990-11-04 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Agriculture and economic growth; Development policy and agriculture; The performance of agriculture; Development of Ecuador's renewable natural resources; The human factor and agriculture; Production agriculture: nature and characteristcs; Irrigation and agricultural development; The agricultural marketing system; Credit and credit policies; Social institutions, gender and rural living conditions; Agriculture and the public sector; The human capital and science base; Modernizing agriculture.

Download or read book Agriculture And Economic Survival written by Morris D Whitaker and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2021-11-28 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1990, in this study the authors have surveyed and anaylsed a large volume of difficult to access or unpublished papers and literature and it organised it into thirteen chapters. Subjects covered include introductory and concluding essays, development policy, agricultural performance, natural resources, the labor market, production, irrigation, marketing and credit of Ecuador's agricultural sector.

Download or read book Effects of agricultural mechanization on smallholders and their self selection into farming written by Takeshima, Hiroyuki and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2016-12-16 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This research was undertaken to better assess the role of mechanization in the future of smallholder farmers in Nepal. It addresses the knowledge gap about whether promoting mechanization that is often complementary to land can effectively support smallholders, particularly in the face of a growing nonfarm sector. Rising rural wages in Nepal have increasingly put pressures on smallholder farmers, who tend to operate labor-intensive farming. Agricultural mechanization through custom hiring of tractor services has recently been considered as an option to mitigate the impact of rising labor costs for smallholders. However, the benefit of agricultural mechanization may still be better captured by exploiting the economies of scale of medium to large farmers rather than smallholders. In the meantime, the Nepal agricultural sector still employs a disproportionate share of workers given its share in the economy, potentially depressing agricultural labor productivity. It is therefore an important policy question whether to (1) continue supporting smallholders through custom-hired tractor services or (2) encourage smallholders to rent their farms out to medium-size or larger farmers, while helping smallholders specialize in the nonfarm sector, where their labor productivity may be higher. Using samples from the Terai zone—one of the agroecological belts in Nepal, largely consisting of lowland plains— from the Nepal Living Standards Survey, we assess whether the benefits of hiring in tractor services are greater among medium to large farmers than among smallholders, and how these benefits may depend on smallholders’ decision to remain in or leave farming. This study also contributes to the impact evaluation literature by showing that jointly assessing the effects of two treatments (whether to adopt custom-hired tractor services and continue farming, or to search for better options and specialize in off-farm activities) can lead to different implications than assessing them separately. Our analyses suggest that the government should continue to promote custom-hired tractor services not only for medium to large farmers but also for smallholders. If, over time, barriers to specializing in nonfarm activities are lowered and more smallholders start leaving farming, mechanization may no longer benefit the remaining smallholders. Support for mechanization can then be focused more on medium to large farmers, while types of support other than mechanization can be devised for the remaining smallholders.

Download or read book Agricultural mechanization services rice productivity and farm plot size Insights from Myanmar written by Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2023-07-27 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The relationship between productivity and farm size has been at the center of considerable debate. Agricultural mechanization – that is rapidly taking off in a large number of low- and middle-income countries – has been identified as one of the emerging technologies in these settings with a critical, yet complex, influence on this productivity-size relation. However, knowledge gaps remain as how agricultural transformation due to the adoption of new technologies and the change in factor costs, such as mechanization fees, are associated with this productivity - size relation. In the case of Myanmar, where mechanization use has dramatically increased over the last decade, we find a significant inverse productivity - plot size relationship, with small rice plots having productivity levels approximately 30 percent higher than large plots. However, rising mechanization fees – more so in conflict-affected townships – attenuated this inverse relation between rice productivity (yield and profit per land) and plot size substantially. These results primarily hold on the largest rice plot cultivated by each farmer, but also generally hold when comparing total rice area and major non-rice area. Our results are likely explained by the fact that, in Myanmar, smallholders have become more dependent on mechanization services than larger farms (who can rely on their own machines) do, that alternatives to mechanization services have become scarce (as mechanization use changed little, despite these price increases), and that mechanization service costs account for a significant share of the total production costs among smallholders.

Download or read book Resilience in farm technical efficiency and enabling factors Insights from panel farm enterprise surveys in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan written by Takeshima, Hiroyuki and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2023-11-28 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic resilience within the agrifood system is becoming increasingly crucial for assuring sustainable development. This is particularly so in regions with volatile and fragile environments, including Central Asia. Evidence remains scarce regarding what factors can enhance the economic resilience of agents within the agrifood system, including the resilience of productivity and technical efficiency. We partly fill this knowledge gap using the unique panel datasets of farm enterprises in Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan, collected in 2019 and 2022, during which these enterprises experienced significant economic shocks in input prices. Using novel methods that combine Inverse Probability Weighting and panel stochastic frontier analyses models, we show that farmers who received more agricultural training and who had been granted greater autonomy in their production decisions in 2018 experienced greater resilience in technical efficiency despite the need to reduce the use of chemical fertilizer and oil/diesel in response to their price surges. Our findings suggest that providing critical public goods like information (related to training) and enabling environment (related to decision-making autonomy) can potentially enhance the resilience in the technical efficiency of farm enterprises. Furthermore, with chemical fertilizer and oil/diesel being potentially environmentally harmful inputs, these farmers also indirectly demonstrated resilience toward environmental sustainability.

Download or read book Ecuador and the CGIAR Centers written by Rafael Posada Torres and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report begins with a review of the principal macroeconomic features affecting Ecuador's agricultural sector and of the institutional system for the generation and dissemination of agricultural technology. It presents an historical summary of the development of Ecuador's national agricultural research system, the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIAP), which was created in 1959 and carried out more than 14,000 trials and delivered 98 varieties of various crops to farmers. The core of this report begins with a description of the existing constraints on better interaction between the national research system and the international centers. The report goes on to describe the major types of interactions that have taken place in Ecuador, which include the exchange of genetic material; the exchange of information; personnel training; advisory assistance by scientific personnel; and equipment and financing. A product-by-product analysis of the relationships between the national program and the corresponding international centers focuses on potatoes, wheat, rice, maize, beans and other legumes, pastures and livestock, sorghum and other oil crops and cassava.

Download or read book Framework to assess performance and impact of pluralistic agricultural extension systems written by Faure, Guy and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2016-11-11 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Extension and advisory services (EAS) are well recognized as a key factor in contributing to agricultural productivity and growth. However, rigorous evaluation of EAS approaches and assessment of complex national or subnational pluralistic EAS systems are rare. This working paper examines the literature on experiential and empirical insights and explores methods to assess complex pluralistic EAS systems. The authors present conceptual thinking on innovation systems and EAS, and review the IFPRI “best-fit” framework. This framework remains relevant because it is based on a holistic perspective with an impact pathway orientation. The paper aims to operationalize and improve the best-fit framework to guide the evaluation of complex EAS systems. The authors draw on and summarize existing literature to illustrate methods and tools used to analyze each component of the framework. The review pays close attention to the literature and methods for assessing the diversity of service providers and their various delivery tools and learning approaches. The discussion also pays close attention to the interaction of each component and how it affects the performance and impact of EAS from a systems perspective. This paper adds key points and considerations on how to operationalize the best-fit framework to carry out evaluations of pluralistic EAS.

Download or read book Land Reform in Ecuador written by United States. AID Mission to Ecuador and published by . This book was released on 1970 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Toward a Program for Agricultural Development in Ecuador written by René Benalcázar R. and published by . This book was released on 1959 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Ecuador Country Note on Climate Change Aspects in Agriculture written by Weltbank and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This country note briefly summarizes information relevant to both climate change and agriculture in Ecuador, with focus on policy developments (including action plans and programs) and institutional make-up. Like most countries in Latin America, Ecuador has submitted one national communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with a second one under preparation. Land use change and forestry are the largest contributors to greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in the country. The emission reduction potential of the agricultural sector (including land use change and forestry) is significant and not yet sufficiently explored in the country. Agriculture is highly vulnerable to weather variability. Sustainable water management and climate-sensitive insurance coverage for agricultural production can reduce some of the observed vulnerabilities in the country.

Download or read book Climate risks and damage abatement effects of pesticides Evidence based on four wave panel data in Nigeria written by Takeshima, Hiroyuki and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2023-11-27 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Managing biotic stress, such as pests, diseases, and weeds, remain critical in enhancing the productivity of agrifood systems in developing countries, including Nigeria. The public sector continues to seek solutions for efficient and effective measures for addressing these biotic stresses, ranging from varietal technologies, improved crop husbandry, and the application of agrochemicals. The field-level evidence remains scarce regarding the effectiveness of these measures in developing countries like Nigeria. Furthermore, increasing climate uncertainty poses further challenges in identifying effective measures. This study assesses the damage abatement effects of agrochemicals in Nigeria and how these effects are affected by weather shocks. We extend the standard damage abatement framework to 4 waves of farm panel data to minimize the potential bias due to the endogeneity in agrochemical use decisions. Our results indicate that weather shocks have significant effects. In particular, rising nighttime minimum temperatures above 20 ℃ have significantly increased damage abatement effects of pesticides in Nigeria. This is possibly because of increased pest activities induced by the warmer nighttime temperatures, which, in the absence of pesticide uses, would cause more significant damage to crops. These results hold for all crops combined, as well as individual crops, including cowpea and maize, for which Nigeria has intensified its effort in pest control through both agrochemicals and Bt varieties in recent years.

Download or read book Evaluation of Recent Developments in Ecuador s Agricultural Sector written by Theodore Van der Pluijm and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Resource Management in the Ecuadorian Andes An Evaluation of CARE s PROMUSTA Program written by and published by International Potato Center. This book was released on 2019 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, development organizations have spent substantial resources on programs to reduce the problems associated with soil erosion. Many programs have focused on the use of incentives to induce conservation and have maintained a top-down approach to conservation. Quite often this is ineffective and farmers abandon conservation measures once incentives are withdrawn. In Ecuador, CARE International has offered an alternative approach that embeds conservation in the agricultural system. By offering agricultural diversification and intensification with a complementary program that enhances short-term benefits of conservation, CARE induces farmers to maintain sustainable practices. Using data from a sample of participant and non-participant Ecuadorian households, we show the success of the CARE approach. Participants in the CARE program are found to have high rates of adoption of conservation practices and to simultaneously change their agricultural system. Results indicate that with a strong extension service and a menu of adaptable technologies, conservation is enhanced when presented with complementary changes in agriculture.

Download or read book Row planting teff in Ethiopia written by Vandercasteelen, Joachim and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2016-07-01 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Improved technologies are increasingly promoted to farmers in sub-Saharan-African countries to address low agricultural productivity in their staple crops. There is, however, a lack of evidence on how adoption affects farmers’ labor use and profitability at the farm level, as well as the importance gender roles play, all essential drivers for the successful up-scaling of the use of the improved technologies. This paper analyses the labor and profitability impact of the recently introduced row planting technology in teff production in Ethiopia. Based on agronomic evidence in experimental settings, the Government of Ethiopia has focused extension efforts on promoting the widespread uptake of row planting to address low teff yields, replacing the traditional broadcasting method of plant teff. Using an innovative Randomized Controlled Trial set-up, we show that the implementation of row planting at the farm level significantly increases total labor use, but not teff yields, relative to broadcast planting, resulting in a substantial drop in labor productivity when adopting row planting. Moreover, the implementation of row planting has important consequences for inter- and intra-household labor allocation, with relatively more use of non-family labor. The adoption of row planting was further found not to be profitable for farmers in the first year of the promotion campaign, seemingly explaining the limited success in up-scaling the adoption of the technology by farmers in the second year of the program.

Download or read book Transformation of the Agrarian Structure in Ecuador with Specific Reference to the Province of Chimborazo written by Emil B. Haney and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: