The migrant Igbira farmers and food crop production in Bendel State,Nigeria

The migrant Igbira farmers produce the bulk of the foodstuff which supports the high concentration of non-farming urban population in Bendel State. The migrants are professional food crop farmers whose push and pull factors of migration are motivated by access to farmland and cash income from food crop production. These farmers fill the gap left by subsistence indigenous farmers who produce food mainly for household requirements. This study examines the farming techniques and profitability of land use by the migrant farmers.Data were collected from 500 Igbira farmers from Bendel North Senatorial District where these farmers are found. Three sources of data were employed: discussions with migrant farmers, farm observations and a questionnaire survey. The results of data analyses indicate that migrant farmers were attracted to areas of abundant farmland in hospitable environments that were located near to their natal settlements.The financial evaluation of land use showed that the net income from land per hectare varied from

60 for pepper through

735 for melon to

7830 for yam. Similarly, the net present worth gave

10 178 per hectare while the benefit cost ratio was 2·8. Nevertheless, high cost of seed yams, unstable market prices for food crops and inadequate labour supply were the main factors that inhibit food crop production by the migrant farmers.     

Expected effects of devaluation on cereal production in the Sudanian Region of Mali

The Sahelian countries have been much more successful attaining higher yields of export crops, including cotton and peanuts, than with increasing yields of their cereals and other food crops. One principal explanation has been the poor economic and agricultural policy support historically given to food crops. Now this is being changed with structural adjustments, including the 1994 devaluation of the CFA. Intensive cereal production became more profitable with a lag after devaluation. In southern Mali, even highly risk-averse farmers will adopt intensive sorghum technologies, according to risk programming results. Credit can be generated internally for this activity by selling some of the livestock. Returns were very high for this intensification but its further expansion would require more internal liquidity or the expansion of credit in order to increase purchases of inorganic fertilizers.     

Role of root and tuber crops in food production strategy for semi-subsistence agriculture

Persistent population pressure on agricultural land in the tropics has led to the evolution of food production strategies heavily weighted towards increasing productivity per unit of land. In many of these same areas, tropical root crops represent a major item in the national food economies. Given this scenario, this paper examines the potential role of tropical root crops in meeting domestic food needs. First, the present contribution of root crops to food production is briefly summarised and used to provide simple guidelines for allocating research resources. These guidelines are somewhat deficient in that they overlook a number of energetic considerations of importance at both the individual producer and national level. To illustrate, a two-goods model of a semi-subsistence agricultural production unit is constructed and some conclusions drawn which lend weight to the opinion that tropical root crop research should receive high priority.     

Determining the disaggregated economic value of irrigation water in the Musi sub-basin in India

In this paper the residual method is used to determine the disaggregated economic value of irrigation water used in agriculture across crops, zones and seasons. This method relies on the belief that the value of a good (its price by its quantity) is equal to the summation of the quantity of each input multiplied by its average value. By applying this method to the Musi sub-basin; a subdivision of the Krishna basin in India, it was found that the value of irrigation water use is not equated across the crops, zones and seasons. The reasons why there is no sinlge value of irrigation water use are suggested. As farmers do not have perfect knowledge, do not all possess the same resource base, plant different crops for a variety of reasons (some for a financial return on land instead of water and others for sustenance), possess different crop rotation practices and are possibly riks adverse, they all value water differently. However, the results need to be interpreted with care as the crop with the lowest return to water is probably not the one to be sacrificed if water is restricted, since farmers plant crops for a variety of reasons (and sometimes not for the highest return to water that they can achieve).     

An agronomic, economic and behavioral analysis of N application to cotton and wheat in post-Soviet Uzbekistan

Cotton and winter wheat play a vital role in Uzbek agriculture: the first crop is a vital component of the national export revenues, while the latter is key in achieving independence from grain imports. Due to these strategic roles in the national economy, both crops are part of the state procurement system and, hence, are subject to strict regulations imposed to ensure budget revenues and self-sufficiency. However, many factors cause the divergence of crop yields from their technically maximum levels. We analyzed those factors, which hamper achieving the optimum response to fertilizer applications. In a stepwise procedure, we (i) reviewed the technical and financial optimum yield responses of cotton and winter wheat production to fertilizer applications and (ii) analyzed the changes of fertilizer-to-product price ratios to shed light on the agronomic and economic performance of cotton and wheat in the post-Soviet agricultural system of Uzbekistan. The analysis combined data from long-term, historical yield and fertilizer responses, agronomic N-fertilizer response experiments, and socio-economic farm surveys. Quadratic yield-response functions were used to derive economic and technical optimum rates of N-fertilizer applications. Based on the parameterized function and fertilizer-to-product price ratios observed for 1996-2003, we analyzed the difference between recommended fertilization and economic optimum application rates. Results showed that under the state procurement system, Uzbek farmers may not necessarily tend to maximize the profits from their cotton and wheat production. The level of subsidies and the differential crop support by the state induce farmers to follow the official fertilizer recommendations to ensure that they fulfill the production targets even if it implies higher production costs. The present gaps between the officially recorded yields and those technically achievable given the agro-ecological conditions in Uzbekistan cannot be narrowed by only improving N-fertilizer management. It would require additional efforts to improve cotton and wheat yields.     

基于资源环境水价的塔里木河流域作物农业水价的节水效应分析

立足当前塔河流域的成本水价,基于已有研究的流域水资源费和环境水价模型与相关资料,首先构建了流域基于资源环境水价的未来农业水价;然后,利用已有研究资料和流域不同作物的水分生产函数,进一步构建了流域未来作物农业水价的需求效应模型;分析了未来塔河流域基于资源环境水价的未来作物农业水价的节水效应。结果表明:基于资源环境水价的未来农业水价调整可大幅提高节水效应,只是环境水价更侧重于实现流域生态用水保障的经济补偿。再者,不同流域和作物水价需求弹性效应差别很大,可以实行有差别的农业水价调整政策。还有,流域水价弹性系数会由缺乏弹性变为富有弹性,受作物基本灌溉定额限制,就是采用高效节水技术也难以保证水价节水效应的实现,这成为流域农业水价调整可行性的一个标志。但是,这也使未来流域农业水价的需求效应分析事关流域粮食安全和用水户的水价承受力问题,成为未来塔河流域农业水价调整研究的重要相关研究内容。     

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 price depressing effect (cereal imports or stock releases) 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 poverty-nutritional 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 in developed countries.     

Water use efficiency and economic feasibility of growing rice and wheat with sprinkler irrigation in the Indus Basin of Pakistan

With a population of more than 150 million, Pakistan cannot meet its need for food, if adequate water is not available for crop production. Per capita water availability has decreased from 5600 m³ in 1947 to 1000 m³ in 2004. Water table has gone down by more than 7 m in most parts of the country. Present need is to identify and adopt measures, that will reduce water use and increase crop production. This study was conducted in farmers’ fields during 2002–2004 to evaluate the water use efficiency and economic viability of sprinkler irrigation system for growing rice and wheat crops. Yields and water use were also measured on adjacent fields irrigated by basin flooding, which were planted with the same crop varieties. Sprinkler irrigation of rice produced 18% more yield, while reducing consumption of water to 35% of that used in the traditional irrigation system. Sprinkler irrigation of wheat resulted in a water use efficiency of 5.21 kg of grain per cubic meter of water used compared to 1.38 kg/m³ in the adjacent flooded basins. Benefit–cost analysis showed that adoption of rain-gun sprinkler irrigation for rice and wheat is a financially viable option for farmers. While these findings show large potentials for improving water use efficiency in crop production they also indicate that a large portion of the water applied in traditional flooded basin irrigation is going to groundwater recharge, which has high value near large cities which draw their water from the aquifer.     

塔里木河流域未来农业水价调整的经济补偿效应及其管理研究

基于塔河流域农业水价承受力分析的基本指标,及适宜流域的水价补偿标准,分析了塔河流域不同水价补偿方案对不同农业节水水价的补偿效应。结果表明,未来应当根据农户的水价承受力,不同的流域实行不同的水价补偿;为保证流域的粮食生产安全,对粮食作物应当采用更高的水价补偿水平;未来流域农业水价调整既需要更高的水价补偿,又需要高的其他种植补贴,才能更好的保证未来农业水价调整的实施。     

南部非洲的保护性农业

可持续性和可盈利性 保护性农业以实现可持续的和可盈利的农业为目标,实现该目标要通过以下三方面：最小土壤扰动,永久土壤覆盖和作物轮作。这种方法对于不同规模的农田和农业生态系统都有巨大的使用潜力,但是最迫切需要采取这个方法的还是小农户,尤其是那些劳动力严重短缺的农户。这是一个结合可盈利农业生产、环境保护和可持续生产的方法,     

Exante assessment of dual-purpose sweet potato in the crop–livestock system of western Kenya: A minimum-data approach

Mixed crop–livestock systems have a crucial role to play in meeting the agricultural production challenges of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Sweet potato is seen as a potential remedial crop for these farmers because of its high productivity and low input requirements, while its usefulness for both food and feed (dual-purpose) make it attractive in areas where land availability is declining. In this paper, we develop and apply a ‘minimum-data’ methodology to assess exante the economic viability of adopting dual-purpose sweet potato in Vihiga district, western Kenya. The methodology uses and integrates available socio-economic and bio-physical data on farmers’ land use allocation, production, and input and output use. Spatially heterogeneous characteristics of the current system regarding resources and productivity are analyzed to assess the profitability of substituting dual-purpose sweet potato for other crops currently grown for food and feed. Results indicate that a substantial number of farmers in the study area could benefit economically from adopting dual-purpose sweet potato. Depending on assumptions made, the adoption rate, expressed as the percentage of the total land under adopting farms, is between 55% and 80%. The analysis shows that the adoption rate is likely to vary positively with the average total yield of dual-purpose sweet potato, the harvest index (the ratio between tuber and fodder yields), the price of milk, and the nutritional value of available fodder. This study demonstrates the usefulness of the minimum-data methodology and provides evidence to support the hypothesis that dissemination of the dual-purpose sweet potato could help improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers operating in mixed crop–livestock systems in east Africa.     

A model of lamb production from an autumn catch crop

A model of lambs feeding on an autumn catch crop is described. The program must be supplied with data on the crop of interest, and with utilisation factors for that crop. The program then computes figures on land use and gross margins for management policies chosen by the user.When supplied with available data on catch crops, calculations indicate that under certain circumstances use of such a crop to fatten lambs in the autumn may well be a profitable venture. Thus it is concluded that more data on such crops should be collected.     

The cultivation-cattle complex in Western Darfur

The agricultural/livestock system of a 40,000 km² area in western Sudan is described. Details of the three main components—traditional rainfed agriculture, small-scale irrigation and animal husbandry—are given. Data on crop yields and livestock production at both the unit level and the system level are provided. Millet is the main cereal crop overall but sorghum occupies an important place in the intensively cultivated alluvial zones. Cash crops, including groundnuts, chillies and okra for drying, are of some importance. Onions are the main winter irrigated crop while mangoes and citrus are important tree crops. The livestock sector is dominated by cattle which account for more than 75% of the livestock units present. Gross output of the area at 1976 prices was calculated at £Sud 14·8 to £Sud 16·2 million (US$ 41·4 to US$ 45·4 million) equivalent to £Sud 41·7 to £Sud 45·6 per head of population and £Sud 3·70 to £Sud 4·05 per hectare. Of these totals between 33 and 36% could be attributed to livestock production.     

An analysis of supply response among cotton growers in Malawi

Cotton is a traditional smallholder cash crop in Malawi. Its production in recent years has stagnated as the area under the crop has declined considerably since 1975. Much of the criticism for the stagnant production and declining acreage has been levelled at producer prices. This paper investigates the responsiveness of cotton producers to changes in these producer prices. A Nerlovian partial adjustment model is used to test the response. The results indicate that producers are responsive to price incentives but that their response is inelastic. Both short- and long-run price elasticity estimates are less than unity (0·13 and 0·46, respectively) and the coefficient of adjustment which measures the speed of adjustment is only 0·212. Prices of cotton and competing crops, area under cotton in the preceding season and weather conditions are found to be important factors to the producers in their land allocation decision making process.     

塔里木河流域基于资源环境水价的农业水价的承受力分析

首先在成本水价基础上,分别构建塔河流域作物和流域基于水资源费的未来农业水价,然后进一步汇总和计算了塔河流域农户对基于资源环境水价的未来农业水价的承受力分析的基本指标;在此基础上,分析了塔河流域农户对基于资源环境水价的未来农业水价的承受力,主要结果表明：除叶尔羌河、和田河流域和干流下游基于资源环境水价的未来流域和作物水价的农户承受力超过适宜经济承受力外,其它源流和干流上中游的农户水价承受力则处于适宜经济承受力范围,未来塔河流域应当实行差别水价政策;干流下游、叶尔羌河流域未来农业水价承受力很低,尤其是流域未来粮食作物水价的承受力很低,必须给予粮食作物农业水价直接补偿。而且,环境水价对农户水价承受力影响较小,能够成为未来流域生态环境保护的主要经济手段。     

Cropcheck: Farmer benchmarking participatory model to improve productivity

In the 1970s in southern NSW, Australia, information was delivered to farmers through the transfer of technology (TOT) model. It was ‘top down’ with knowledge generated by researchers being passed onto farmers by extension officers. Farmers’ knowledge was not respected by research and extension workers. In contrast Cropcheck is a farmer participatory program which benchmarks farmer crops to identify practices for lifting yields. With TOT there was good adoption of single factor technologies such as wheat varieties but by the late 1970s to early 1980s wheat yields were stagnant or only slowly improving. There was the realisation that farmers had valuable knowledge and that multiple factors were needed to increase productivity. To address these needs in developing countries many farmer participatory models were developed. This paper, based on my experiences as an extension officer, records development in a developed country of a farmer participatory crop benchmarking model called Cropcheck. This program benchmarks farmer crops to identify the checks (best practices) related to high yields. It has been successful in lifting crop yields and profitability. This paper discusses the development of the model for irrigated wheat, i.e. the Finley Five Tonne Irrigated Wheat Club (referred to hereafter as “Wheat Club”) and adaption of the model for irrigated subterranean clover pasture, i.e. Subcheck. Since farmer participatory extension theory was undeveloped at that time, the development of the model was an intuitive learning process. The process was a planning, action and review cycle. Several years involving crop monitoring, farmer training, crop recording and reviewing results were needed to identify the objective checks consistently improving yields and gross margins. The results showed the more checks adopted the higher the yield and profitability. Farmers were trained in the learning steps of observing, monitoring, measuring, interpreting and recording their own crop practices. Farmer discussion groups were important for communication. Cropcheck has high farmer credibility because the checks are identified from farmer crops. Over a period of 6 years, yields of the “Wheat Club” increased by 50%. With Subcheck the problem of reddened subclover and inconsistent production disappeared. The Cropcheck model has been adapted for many crops in eastern Australia. Precision agriculture and electromagnetic mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) have followed on as new technology and monitoring tools for farmers but it is still important to ground truth these technologies with crop monitoring.     

Economic evaluation of salinity,drainage and non-uniformity of infiltrated irrigation water

Salinity, drainage and non-uniformity of irrigation water are important components in determining optimal water application and related profitability. A crop-water production function assuming steady state conditions is incorporated in a long-run economic model to investigate the combined effects of salinity, irrigation uniformity and different drainage requirements at the field scale for the specific crop.The analysis was conducted for corn and cotton as sensitive and tolerant crops to salinity, respectively. Optimum applied water and associated profits, yield and drainage volumes were computed for each crop. The computations were done for the condition that no drainage system was required and also where a drainage system was required and the drainage water was disposed of to either a free off-farm facility or to an on-farm evaporation pond constructed on productive or non-productive land.The main findings are that type of drainage disposal system affects the optimal values of applied water, profits, yield and drainage volumes, except for uniform water applications and non-saline irrigation water. Another finding is that in the long run, under saline conditions and/or different drainage disposal systems, a sensitive crop such as corn is not profitable and goes out of production. In general the profit levels associated with the various drainage options are in the order of no drainage requirement ? free off-farm facility > on-farm evaporation pond on non-productive land > on-farm evaporation pond on productive land. Uniformity of irrigation water affects values of the analyzed variables and the effects are greatest for the cases of on-farm evaporation ponds. Pumping cost effects are quite small, but water price effects are more significant. Breeding the crops for increased salinity tolerance has little effect when irrigating with water of low salinity and/or low irrigation uniformity.     

Modeling farm-level adoption of deficit irrigation using Positive Mathematical Programming

Irrigated agriculture in the European Union (EU) is currently adapting to new conditions including the principle of the full recovery of water service costs, the reduction of water availability and the increasing variability in the prices of agricultural products. This has fostered an increasing number of economic analyses to investigate farmers’ behaviour by means of mathematical programming techniques including Positive Mathematical Programming (PMP) models.However PMP models generally consider only activities observed in the reference period even if, under new policies and market conditions, farmers can adopt irrigation techniques they have not used previously. In particular, under increasing water costs or decreasing water availability, farmers can introduce Deficit Irrigation (DI) techniques that might not have been profitable earlier.We propose an extension of the PMP approach to include DI techniques not observed in the reference period. These alternative techniques are identified by means of a crop growth model developed by the FAO. We apply our methodology to a Mediterranean area using three sets of simulations involving: increases in water costs, reductions in water availability, and changes in the prices of the products obtained from irrigated crops.Lacking observations of alternative irrigation techniques, our approach captures potential technology adjustments and assesses the impact of changes in water policy and market conditions in a better way.Simulation results show that increasing water costs do not motivate adoption of DI techniques. Rather, farmers are induced to save water by switching from full irrigation to deficit irrigation when water availability is reduced or the prices of irrigated crops are increased.     

我国水稻产业工程机械化发展研究

水稻是我国粮食生产中主要粮食作物,分布广、面积大,是我国单产最高、总产最多的粮食作物,水稻生产在我国粮食生产中占有不可替代的重要地位,提高水稻综合生产能力是保障我国粮食生产的长期战略目标。随着农村产业结构调整,要改变水稻生产过程中传统的“面朝黄土背朝天”的落后生产方式．仅靠发展水稻生产过程中的机械化是不够的。水稻生产要走产业化、规模化道路,要实现种植、加工、销售一条龙服务。这样才能真正提高水稻产业综合生产能力,促进农民增收,保障我国粮食安全。对水稻产业工程机械化的涵义及我国水稻产业工程机械化发展现状和存在的问题以及发展环境进行了分析,并从科学的角度提出了我国水稻产业工程机械化发展措施。