Technical Efficiency in Agriculture and Its Implication on Forest Conservation in Tanzania: The Case Study of Kilosa District (Morogoro)
This paper examines technical efficiency in farming activities and its implication on forest conservation in Kilosa District. The empirical analysis is based on data collected from 301 households selected randomly from five villages in Kilosa district, of which three villages were under the REDD+ project. Two empirical models were estimated: stochastic frontier Translog production function, and forest resources extraction model.
Credit, insurance and farmers’ liability: Evidence from a lab in the field experiment with coffee farmers in Costa Rica
This paper examines the effect of farmers’ liability on demand for credit with and without insurance. We test predictions of a theoretical model in a lab in the field experiment with coffee farmers in Costa Rica.
Climate change perceptions and adaptive responses of small-scale coffee farmers in Costa Rica
Climate change will affect the distribution, productivity and profitability of coffee production in Central America, negatively impacting national economies and small farmer livelihoods.
Distributional impacts of climate change on basin communities: an integrated modeling approach.
Agriculture is one of the most vulnerable economic sectors to the impacts of climate change, specifically those related with expected changes in water availability. By using a hydro-economic model, this study assesses the distributional impacts of climate change, considering the geographical location of each farmer’s community and the spatial allocation of water resources at basin scale. A hydrological model, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool model, describes the basin hydrology, while farmers’ economic responses are represented using a non-linear agricultural supply model.&nbs
Mixed strategy farming is best in face of climate change
The South African node of the EfD network, the Environmental Economics Policy Research Unit at the University of Cape Town is working towards influencing South African policy in four key areas
Implications of water policy reforms for agricultural productivity in South Africa: Scenario analysis based on the Olifants river basin
This paper uses the water-reallocation scheme created within the National Water Act (1998) to analyze the impacts of water policy on farm livelihoods in South Africa. Based on one of the most water stressed catchments in the country, the Olifants river basin, we provide an integrated modeling approach combining water and agricultural modules to investigate the impacts of compulsory licensing and water market on crop production and investment made to improve water use efficiency.
Environmental and Economic Impacts of Growing Certified Organic Coffee in Colombia
According to advocates, eco-certification can improve developing country farmers’ environmental and economic performance. However, these notional benefits can be undercut by self-selection: the tendency of relatively wealthy farmers already meeting eco-certification standards to disproportionately participate.
Investigating the Sensitivity of Household Food Security to Agriculture-related Shocks and the Implication of Informal Social Capital and Natural Resource Capital
Resource-poor rural South Africa is characterized by high human densities due to the historic settlement patterns imposed by apartheid, high levels of poverty, under-developed markets and substantially high food insecurity. This chronic food insecurity, combined with climate and weather variability, has led to the adoption of less-conventional adaptation methods in resource-poor rural settings.
Are there systematic gender differences in the adoption of sustainable agricultural intensification practices? Evidence from Kenya
This paper uses sex-disaggregated survey data at the plot level to test whether there are systematic gender differences in the adoption of multiple sustainable intensification practices (SIPs) in Kenya.