Plant breeding by researchers has become increasingly isolated from the plant breeding of farmers. Collaborative plant breeding (CPB) offers the possibility of bringing these two plant breeding traditions together to increase the usefulness of new crop varieties to farmers, especially small-scale farmers working in stress environments with limited external inputs. This paper presents a framewor...

the technical efficiency involved in cocoa production in cross river state was estimated using the stochastic frontier production function analysis. the effects of some selected socio- economic characteristics of the farmers on the efficiency indices were also estimated. the study relied upon primary data generated from interviewing cocoa farmers using a set of structured questionnaire. a multi...

Abstract In most developing countries non-irrigation status often dominates adoption of traditional and modern irrigation technology. In this paper, we study the effect of production risk on irrigation technology choice among small-scale farmers in Chile, applying sample selection and discrete choice models. We find that more educated farmers, with credit access, receiving extension services, a...

Producers and exporters of fresh fruits and vegetables from developing countries like Brazil are increasingly required to demonstrate the safety and traceability of their produce up to the consumption stage. In fact, the Brazilian export market is still relatively underdeveloped, with an export share of only 2.4% of the total produced volume. However, certification may also have the effect of a...

The study was carried out in Anambra State, Nigeria. Questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of one hundred and eight (108) small-scale farmers. Percentage, mean score, standard deviation and factor analysis were used for data analysis. The duration of the study was June 2009 and March, 2010. Results of the study indicated that the major constraints to effective use of ICTs by smal...

the purpose of this study was to survey impacts of drought on socio-economic conditions of guilan paddy farmers. besides recognizing these impacts, it ranked them according to the viewpoint of the paddy farmers. it was of the descriptive- correlation type. questionnaire was the main tool of this study. to determine the validity of questionnaire used of comments of panel experts and reliability ...

small-scale dairy farming in bangladesh is constrained mostly due to acute shortage, high price and seasonal fluctuation of energy and protein supplements. poor economic conditions of dairy farmers do not allow them to purchase adequate conventional energy and protein supplements. locally available non-conventional energy and protein sources can be used as alternatives, cheaper than conventiona...

Low productivity in agriculture is mainly due to the inability of the farmers to exploit the available technologies fully, resulting in lower efficiencies of production. The present study has estimated the technical and scale efficiencies of tomato-producing farms in Karnataka, considering different production levels and has identified the determining factors of their technical efficiency. The ...

A cross-sectional study was conducted in communal and small-scale Nguni cattle enterprises to determine preferential traits for improvement under low-input cattle breeding programs. Forty-one farmers participated in ranking six specific traits of breeding bulls and cows. Kruskal-Wallis test and ordinal logistic regression were used to determine mean ranks of traits and odds ratios of predictors...

Recent studies investigating the relationship between crop genetic diversity and human cultural diversity patterns showed that seed exchanges are embedded in farmers' social organization. However, our understanding of the social processes involved remains limited. We investigated how farmers' membership in three major social groups interacts in shaping sorghum seed exchange networks in a cultur...