This paper examines the determinants of adoption of improved agricultural technologies among smallholder maize farmers in Tanzania. Specifically, it reports the findings of a study that employed a sample size of 1,839 smallholder maize farming households that participated in three consecutive waves of 2008 - 2009, 2010 - 2011, and 2012 - 2013 of the National Panel Survey (NPS). Multinomial probit model was used to examine the factors that influence maize producers to adopt inorganic fertilisers, improved seeds, and herbicides.

Pervasive threats of climate change and land degradation have compounded the inherent low farm productivity problem in sub‐Saharan Africa. Though sustainable agricultural intensification practices have been shown to improve the resilience of farm production in the face of these emerging threats, they suffer low adoption rates typical of any technology adoption in these regions. Recent evidence points to an emergence of large traders in smallholder grain markets of countries in sub‐Saharan Africa.

Climate forecasting is a crucial tool for managing risks in climate-sensitive economic sectors like agriculture. Although rainfed subsistence farming dominates livelihoods in Africa, information on access, integration in farm decisions and impact of improved seasonal climate forecasting remains scanty. This paper addresses this gap using representative data of 653 households across three regions in North-Central Namibia.

Smallholder farmers form the vast majority of rice producers in Tanzania. Nonetheless, smallholder production is known to exhibit inefficiency in production. This study sought to analyze the determinants of technical efficiency of production of smallholder rice farmers in Tanzania using the stochastic frontier method while ensuring theoretical consistency through monotonicity and quasi concavity checks. Results show that empowerment of the woman, gender, primary occupation, group membership of household head and fertilizer use by the household affect technical efficiency of production.

We analyze the impact of a new storage technology and training on post-harvest losses

The shrimp industry plays a leading role in aquaculture development in Vietnam. Currently, the government is running a credit subsidy program to support farmers investing in improved production methods. This paper aimed to investigate white-legged shrimp farmers’ willingness to invest in improved production methods and to examine whether the current government policy for the sector is in line with farmers’ preferences using a discrete choice experiment.

Product labelling with eco-certifications is market-based incentive tool for sustainable aquaculture, thus mitigating negative environmental impacts. The aims of this study are to investigate: i) whether consumers prefer eco-labelled (eco-certified) shrimps over conventional (non-certified) shrimp; and ii) whether consumers prefer specific eco-label (eco-certification logo) over others. The study used a discrete choice experiment method and the structured interviews with 353 consumers in Khanh Hoa province and Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam.

Abstract

Literature has documented significant trade-offs between economic and environmental performance in many areas of agricultural production. However, while it has focused on the trade-off for technically efficient farms there are differing types of trade-offs that exist for differing types of farms. The present paper addresses these gaps in the literature by proposing a more generalised approach to analysing cost and environmental trade-offs. There is also a lack of research on the nature of the trade-off in coffee farming.