Evaluating crop-livestock-based farming systems: A village level study in the dry zone rainfed district of Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka cropping enterprises interact with livestock production on peasant farms. This analysis of the crop-livestock farming system aims at understanding the existing constraints and interactions between crops and livestock in these farms. The main objective of the study is to describe the crop-livestock integrated farming systems in three rainfed villages in the Moneragala district of Sri Lanka, and to evaluate these systems in terms of maximizing farm incomes from the different crop and livestock components of the systems. A field survey was conducted to collect data from 153 farming families for the Maha season of 1982/83. A linear programming model was formulated to test the hypothesis.The results show that in general the activities for lowland rice, highland rice, sugar cane, labour, farm cash cost, and MVP (compost) are higher in the optimal farm plan than in the actual farm situation. The livestock in the optimal plan is mainly confined to milch cattle. However, with the present high level of manutrition among rural livestock industry emphasis should be placed on the expansion of the rural livestock industry in the study villages. The optimal plan also suggests the use of crop residues as a substitute for compost for farm crops. Hence, in the context of escalating prices of chemical fertilizers, research is required to find the suitability of crop residues and household residues as substitutes for compost. Increases in supplementary irrigation may result in the expansion of the farm area and hence the farm income. Other methods of increasing farm income include: replacing hired labour with non-utilized family labour, increased agricultural research, and extension activity regarding the use of modern inputs by farmers on crops.     

油菜免耕机播质量及节本效益对比试验与分析

由于我国产业结构的调整,越来越多的农民外出务工经商,农业劳动力不足,制约了油菜产业的发展。油菜机械化生产是解决这一问题的最好办法。但是,机械化播种方法多种多样,哪种方法最具优势,目前尚无定论。该课题通过三种油菜机械化播种方法的田间对比试验与分析,得出科学结论,以至为油菜机械化生产及装备的优选提供相关依据,以推动油菜生产全程机械化。     

Cattle are cash generating assets for mixed smallholder farms in the Eastern Amazon

The presence of cattle in the Amazon region is controversial in terms of their ecological suitability and profitability compared with crops. Nevertheless, they are widely distributed in the study area in north-eastern Pará and, contrary to the common image of cattle on large ranches, a high proportion of them are kept on smallholder farms. To explain their presence, cattle are assumed to have benefits beyond physical production, such as complementing resource use or representing capital. To test this hypothesis, the costs and benefits of the three main agricultural activities, cattle, cassava and black pepper production, in terms of land, labour and capital productivity, were recorded in 37 small farms over a period of 15 months. To provide a longer perspective, benefits and costs of these activities were calculated for their assumed lifetime, which in the case of cattle, assumed a stable herd, derived from a deterministic herd model. The resultant values for land, labour and capital productivity of cattle were much lower than the values derived from direct observations during the study period, and were not as high as those for cassava and black pepper. Furthermore, the analysis of resource use in the farms showed that cattle production was not usually integrated with cropping activities, did not improve the use of available labour, and competed for land. Therefore, there had to be a reason for keeping cattle beyond their physical productivity. It was deduced to be their functional quality. Cattle could be disposed of quickly and easily at any time, in order to acquire large sums of cash or the equivalent in kind. The liquidity derived from keeping living stock was not matched by other agricultural activities or by the financial market. Hence, cattle turned out to be the best instrument of finance for the smallholder. Farmers were not interested in the continuous development of their herds, or sustainable production practices, and favoured low input management. Consequently, development plans relying on long-term, continuous commitments to pasture and cattle management are inappropriate. Instead, research and extension work should focus on simple, flexible and low-cost improvements to cattle keeping on crop-livestock smallholder farms, until credit programmes are available that replace the financing function of cattle.     

Conversion to organic arable farming in The Netherlands: A dynamic linear programming analysis

Several studies show that organic farming is more profitable than conventional farming. However, in reality not many farmers convert to organic farming. Policy makers and farmers do not have clear insight into factors which hamper or stimulate the conversion to organic farming. The objective of this paper is to develop a dynamic linear programming model to analyse the effects of different limiting factors on the conversion process of farms over time. The model is developed for a typical arable farm in The Netherlands central clay region, and is based on two static liner programming models (conventional and organic). The objective of the model is to maximise the net present value over a 10-year planning horizon. The results of the analysis of a basic scenario show that conversion to organic farming is more profitable than staying conventional. In order to arrive at the actual profitable phase of organic farming, the farmer has to pass through the economically difficult 2-year conversion period. Sensitivity analysis shows that if depreciation is 25% higher than conventional fixed costs due to machinery made superfluous by conversion, conversion is less profitable than staying conventional. Also the availability of hired labour, which can be constrained in peak periods, has a strong effect on the cropping plan and the amount of area converted. Further analysis shows that a slight drop (2%) in organic prices lowers the labour income of the farmer and makes conversion less profitable than conventional farming. For farmers, a minimum labour income can be required to ‘survive’. The analysis shows that constraint on minimum labour income makes stepwise conversion the best way for farmers to overcome economic difficulties during conversion.     

基于评价的水资源优化模型适用性比较

为了比较不同目标的水资源优化配置模型在黑河中游的适用性,在充分考虑地表径流随机性的基础上,分别构建以灌区农业水生产力最大、农业灌溉损失最小、净经济效益最大为目标函数的灌区水资源优化配置模型,并引入多指标综合评价法以及熵权法对3个优化模型的配置结果进行综合效应评价．评价结果显示,基于黑河中游水资源利用现状,以灌区农业水生产力最大为目标函数的模型,更适合现阶段黑河中游灌区水资源配置要求．使用灌溉水生产力最大为目标函数的优化模型对有限水资源进行优化后的配水方案整体用水比现状水平年减少了334×108 m3,灌溉水生产力增加了0453 kg／m3,用水成本比实际减少了421×107元．评价结果验证了水资源优化配置模型方案评价的可行性．     

An inexact two-stage water management model for planning agricultural irrigation under uncertainty

In this study, an inexact two-stage water management (ITWM) model is developed for planning agricultural irrigation in the Zhangweinan River Basin, China. The ITWM model is derived from the incorporation of interval-parameter programming (IPP) within a two-stage stochastic programming (TSP) framework. It can reflect not only uncertainties expressed as probability distributions but also interval numbers. Moreover, it can provide an effective linkage between conflicting economic benefits and the associated penalties attributed to the violation of the predefined policies. Four decision scenarios associated with different water-resources management policies are examined. Targeted incomes, recourse costs, and net system benefits under different scenarios are analyzed, which indicates that different policies for agricultural irrigation targets correspond to different water shortages and surplus, and thus lead to varied system benefit and system-failure risk. The results are valuable for supporting the adjustment or justification of the existing irrigation patterns and identify a desired water-allocation plan for agricultural irrigation under uncertainty.     

广东农业机械化对种植业的贡献率研究

为了研究农业机械化在农业和农村经济中的量化效果，在分析广东农业机械化特点的基础上，用项目有无比较法测算了广东农业机械化贡献率，并对结果与成因进行了分析。研究结果表明：1998年，广东农业机械化贡献率为11．18％，特别是在产业结构调整和劳动力收入的情况下，农业机械化的贡献作用更为明显。     

Resource allocation tradeoffs in Manila’s peri-urban vegetable production systems: An application of multiple objective programming

This paper designed and developed a multi-objective programming (MOP) model to illustrate the dynamic relationship among technologies, productive activities, constraints and farmers’ objectives in the peri-urban vegetable production system and use the model as an economic tool in analysing probable consequences of a given action or innovation on the farm. The best compromise solution was generated using four analytical steps, as follows: single-objective optimization (to determine the ideal and anti-ideal values of the objective functions); constrained optimization (to generate the set of Pareto non-dominated solutions); cluster analysis (to trim down efficient set into smaller homogeneous groups); and compromise programming (to determine where the best compromise solution lies).     

Agricultural water management and poverty linkages

Water is critically important to the livelihoods of more than 1 billion people living on less than $1 a day, particularly for the 850 million rural poor primarily engaged in agriculture. In many developing countries, water is a major factor constraining agricultural output, and income of the world's rural poor. Improved agricultural water management can contribute to poverty reduction through several pathways. First, access to reliable water improves production and productivity, enhances employment opportunities and stabilizes income and consumption. Secondly, it encourages the utilization of other yield-enhancing inputs and allows diversification into high-value products, enhances nonfarm outputs and employment, and fulfils multiple needs of households. Third, it may contribute either negatively or positively to nutritional status, health, societal equity and environment. The net impact of agricultural water management interventions on poverty may depend individually and/or synergistically on the working of these pathways. Improved access to water is essential, but not sufficient for sustained poverty reduction. Investments are needed in agricultural science and technology, policies and institutions, economic reform, addressing global agricultural trade inequities, etc. But how best to match the agricultural water management technologies, institutions and policies to the needs of the heterogeneous poor living in diverse agro-ecological settings remains unclear. This article provides a menu of promising pathways through which agricultural water management can contribute to sustained poverty reduction.     

社会化服务发达条件下粮食生产农户土地流转意愿研究

本文运用有序多分类Logistic回归分析法对社会化服务发达条件下粮食生产农户的土地流转意愿及影响因素进行实证分析。结果表明,不同兼业条件下的农户土地流转意愿存在显著差异,纯农户希望保持不变的意愿比较强烈,二兼农户希望流出土地的意愿表现较强。影响农户不同流转意愿的因素主要有户主年龄、受教育程度、非农收入所占比重、兼业用工所占比重、农用生产资料费用。     

The efficient use of labour,land and energy in agriculture

Fossil energy-using agricultural systems may be defined as systems transferring tradeable energy resources in tradeable agricultural products by means of untradeable labour and untradeable land. The substitution of tradeable energy and untradeable labour is considered and it is shown that the energy efficiency of agricultural production systems increases with increasing control of production and increasing yields.The main conclusion is that agriculture may contribute to a more sensible use of energy by developing in a direction where as high yields as possible per hectare are obtained from as small an area as possible.     

Poverty and biodiversity trade-offs in rural development: A case study for Pujiang county,China

Both, poverty reduction and preservation of biodiversity are high on the global agenda on sustainable development. The relationships between poverty, biodiversity of agro-ecosystems and agricultural development are complex and poorly understood. In this paper, we present an integrated framework for analysis of agricultural development and natural resource management options at agro-ecosystem level, using Pujiang county, in Zhejiang province, China as a case study area to perform the analysis. A regional linear programming (LP) model is applied, maximizing regional economic surplus, given production and labour market conditions in Pujiang. We use the model to examine the consequences for a set of regional poverty and biodiversity indicators, of four so-called poverty reduction strategies, i.e., (i) intensification of production, (ii) diversification towards livestock production, (iii) land expansion, and (iv) an exit from agriculture. The analysis indicates that diversification is the most promising poverty reduction strategy, but requires efficient use of animal manure in cropping systems to avoid environmental problems. Improved nutrient management in cropping systems is effective in reducing the regional nitrogen surplus, but less effective in increasing per capita income. The exit strategy is effective in reducing poverty and achieving biodiversity goals, but may have important social consequences that are not addressed in this study. Further reduction in rural poverty is hampered by labour constraints during the harvesting period in high value crops such as vegetables and fruits, which calls for research and development in the field of agricultural mechanization.     

A quantitative framework to analyse cooperation between rural households

Different types of cooperative agreements between smallholders continue to play an important role in rural areas in developing countries. While some empirical studies examine the conditions catalysing the successful formation of cooperatives, quantifications of the net benefits, i.e., difference between revenues and costs, of cooperation and how farmers divide these net benefits are scarce. Therefore, we develop a quantitative framework to analyse and allocate net benefits in a cooperative production agreement. The framework allows for cooperative exchange of several types of resources and the production of multiple products.Linear programming provides insight into optimal production levels, both for individual and cooperating farmers, and gives optimal revenue levels. A transaction cost function is used to account for costs of cooperation, such as meeting costs, moral hazard and free ridership of labour use and the risks of farmers defaulting from the agreement. Transaction costs are likely to increase with the number of households participating, the total cropping area and the heterogeneity of resources of the cooperating farmers. Therefore, we introduce a measure of heterogeneity in the resources for each cooperative. Finally, cooperative game theory is used to generate fair divisions of the net benefits in a cooperative.This framework may be used to give additional explanations to the findings in empirical studies on cooperatives. We illustrate this with an empirical example from northern Nigeria. It is found that cooperation between farmers sharing complementary resources gives the highest revenues. Next, we illustrate the effects of two different transaction cost functions. For reasonable assumptions on these functions, cooperation remains economically attractive. Nevertheless, larger and more diverse coalitions are not always the most beneficial, while the returns in some small coalitions are negative, possibly impeding the formation of cooperatives in some locations.     

基于机械化生产视角的中国蔬菜成本收益分析

农业机械是农业生产的重要工具和重要要素,为研究中国蔬菜种植效益的主要影响因素和机械化生产方式下农机化发展对策,运用1998—2012年统计数据对蔬菜生产成本收益进行了定量分析,通过问卷调查和实地调研等方法研究了典型区域蔬菜生产机械化现状及问题。结果表明,中国蔬菜单位面积净利润主要受价格和人工成本因素影响,价格影响程度大于人工成本,通过政策扶持完善蔬菜市场机制,有利于保障种植收益;农药和农膜的投入对蔬菜产量影响大,农药投入影响程度大于农膜投入,农业装备投入对产值影响大,化学农业对蔬菜增产的边际效用逐渐递减,而农机科技的推动作用日益突出;按投入产出指标可将中国主要蔬菜品种分为设施茄果类、露地茄果类和露地叶菜类,蔬菜品种对机械化需求紧迫程度从大到小依次为:露地茄果类、设施茄果类、露地叶菜类;中国蔬菜生产机械化水平较低,因作业环节、区域条件和蔬菜品种的不同而呈现较大差异,政策投入、推广机制和技术创新对机械化技术发展有较大影响,必须坚持因地制宜的原则,探索农机农艺融合的机械化生产技术模式,对于研究通过蔬菜省力化机械生产技术、提高劳动生产率、降低蔬菜生产成本具有重要意义。     

构建延伸贫困村产业链以助力精准扶贫 ——以杨凌职业技术学院结对陕西省太白县高码头村为例

以校村合作发展村集体经济产业为例,通过分析得知,缺乏技术是陕西省太白县高码头村致贫的主要原因。校村合作规划延伸拓展了产业链,形成集群效益,同时加强了产业人才培训。以乡村生态旅游为主题的郊野民宿项目为依托,推出一系列优质品牌农产品销售和农事体验项目,使村产业进一步发展,贫困人口实现产业分红逐年增加和就近就业,脱贫攻坚取得了显著实效。      

社会化服务发达条件下粮食生产农户土地流转意愿研究——以山东省平度市为例

运用有序多分类Logistic回归分析法对社会化服务发达条件下粮食生产农户的土地流转意愿及影响因素进行实证分析。结果表明,不同兼业条件下的农户土地流转意愿存在显著差异,纯农户希望保持不变的意愿比较强烈,二兼农户希望流出土地的意愿表现较强。影响兼业农户不同流转意愿的因素主要有户主年龄、受教育程度、非农收入所占比例、兼业用工所占比例和农用生产资料费用。     

Review and analysis of documented patterns of agricultural research impacts in Southeast Asia

Based on a comprehensive search and review of the literature, 42 studies are identified for in-depth review and analysis of documented impacts of agricultural research from 1959 to 2009. This body of evidence is subjected to a systematic, quantitative scrutiny for the coverage and type of impact to derive patterns, gaps and trends in documented impacts of research in the subregion. The analysis offers compelling evidence that past investments in agricultural research in the region have been productive. In so doing, the study also reveals some persistent patterns and identifies a number of gaps between investments and documented impacts. Strikingly, the benefits are principally derived from rice improvement research, which has generated 86% of total documented benefits in the Southeast Asia region over the past five decades. In comparison with rice improvement research, evidence of impacts in other areas such as natural resource management and other commodities is minor. This suggests that there is considerably more certainty about the ability of rice research, particularly genetic improvement, to generate impact than is the case for other research foci.However, even for rice, the evidence has been patchy across time and space. There has been no comprehensive and subregion-wide attempt to inventory trends in adoption of improved rice varieties and document historical net benefits generated by this research effort. Despite the large-scale, long-term and sustained adoption of research generated rice technologies for smallholder farmers in this subregion, an impressive story on the impacts of agricultural research on long-term developmental goals still remains undocumented. The paper also reveals a declining trend in total documented net benefits from agricultural research in recent years, which is probably attributable to research lag times and changes in the intensity of impact assessment over time.     

Evaluation of the utilization of heated sewage sludge for peri-urban horticulture production in the Sahel of West Africa

Shortage of organic matter hinders agricultural production in the Sahel, and this lack of enough organic matter is more severe for peri-urban horticulture, which depends heavily on it. Alternative sources of organic matter that offer new options for peri-urban horticulture can help reduce the potential for conflict over finite resources between traditional crop production and peri-urban horticulture. Both agronomic and economic evaluations of an organic amendment called heated sewage sludge (HSS) were conducted in the research station of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)-Niamey, Niger, West Africa. For this study, HSS, a material imported from Japan, applied at a dosage application equivalent to 20.0 kg 100 m⁻² on lettuce fields led to production levels as high as those of conventional methods, and the yield became even higher than those of conventional methods when the dosage was increased to 50.0 kg 100 m⁻² and 100.0 kg 100 m⁻². Even though HSS was imported, its benefits outweighed its cost, as evidenced by the positive net returns. Since profitability in peri-urban horticulture is much higher than that of traditional crop production, the results of this study imply that if adopted, the use of HSS can lead to increased availability of organic matter for traditional cropping systems.     

改进粒子群算法在农业种植结构优化中的应用

【目的】促进地区农业水资源高效利用,在保证粮食安全的基础上,降低灌溉需水量,推动农业节水、提高产量和效益。【方法】以安阳市为例,以经济、社会、生态和水资源效益最大为综合目标,引入惯性权重衰减和粒子变异策略,建立了基于改进粒子群算法的多目标农业种植结构优化模型。【结果】通过对现状水平年2018年、规划水平年2025年(近期)、2035年(远期)的种植结构调整,在结合现状缺水程度下,压减耗水量大的小麦、玉米等粮食作物种植比例,增加油料、蔬菜及食用菌等经济作物种植比例,经济、社会、生态、水资源目标的综合效益分别提升13.59%、10.90%、9.82%;同时,在满足农作物全生育期需水量的情况下,缺水率分别缩减9.02%、9.56%、9.95%,在一定程度上缓解了农业水资源供需矛盾。【结论】改进粒子群算法使种植结构得到平衡优化,在提高综合效益及产量的同时能够降低灌溉需水量。     

Computer assisted management decisions for beef production systems

A linear programming model was developed to determine management policy for a yearly planning horizon on a typical 1320 acre (535 ha) Southern Colorado mountain ranch. Income producing activities (selling cattle and hay and leasing land) and cost activities (buying cattle, borrowing capital, feeding supplements, purchasing fertiliser and fuel, hiring labour and leasing land) were defined for three land types through four seasons.The purpose of the modelling effort was to determine the level of each activity (cow herd size, yearling herd size and area of meadow to be harvested for hay) that resulted in maximum net return for the ranch subject to resource limitation on land, labour and capital. In addition, sensitivity and shadow price analyses revealed expansion options that would be profitable during existing economic conditions.The optimal management plan, using 3 April, 1975 prices, called for grazing 199 head of 450 lb (204 kg) steers and 52 head of 530 lb (240 kg) steers. The plan also called for purchasing and spreading 42 tons (38 MT) of nitrogen and 10 tons (9 MT) of phosphorus on Land I and for growing, harvesting and selling 742 tons (674 MT) of hay. This optimal management plan produced a net return of $27,642. In addition, the optimal plan showed that hay production began replacing beef production when the price of hay was $35·48/ton (39·08/MT) and that the maximum amount of hay was produced with the price increased to $50·00/ton ($55·00/MT).