Since independence, different institutional arrangements have been tried to reorganize the land and production relations for bringing change in farming systems and enhancing crop yield of small farmers. But, these interventions have not been successful in bringing any meaningful improvement. Non-viability of small landholdings, inadequacies in the availability of inputs, poor extension and infr...

Delivering improved seeds to smallholder farmers in the developing world is an efficient and sustainable method of increasing crop yields and quality. Unlike fertilizers, pesticides and equipment, seeds can be produced locally for distribution to farmers or self-saved. Furthermore, improved varieties of horticultural crops often reduce dependence on synthetic pesticides, improve food safety, re...

In the next decade, India is likely to witness changes in its cotton and textile sectors as many of the constraints on production, marketing, and trade of cotton and textile products are set to be eliminated. Some of the internal constraints include export constraints on yarn, government fixing of cotton ginning and pressing fees, and subsidization of raw cotton production. Similarly, one of th...

Despite the fact that a thorough, lengthy and costly evaluation of genetically engineered (GE) crop plants (including compositional analysis and toxicological tests) is imposed before marketing some European citizens remain sceptical of the safety of GE food and feed. In this context, are additional tests necessary? If so, what can we learn from them? To address these questions, we examined dat...

Maize is the most important grain crop in South Africa, being both the major feed grain and the staple food for the majority of the South African population. Figure 1 illustrates that for the 2002/03 marketing year, maize was responsible for the largest contribution (13.78%) to the total gross value of the agricultural production with a gross value of R9.5 billion. Poultry slaughtered followed ...

The most recent data shows that cereal production in Ethiopia is increasing very rapidly. We examine the potential impact on this of the advice given by extension agents. Using survey data from 2014, we find a positive impact of several kinds of advice on both crop yields and income. However, not all advice is positive in its impact and there is evidence that advice on credit may actually have ...

Orthodox tea is a major export oriented cash crop farming of eastern hilly districts of Nepal. Both tea estate garden and small farmers are involving in tea farming. This article is the outcome of both desk top and field study conducted between the months of June and August 2009. The study found that small farmers sell their green tea leaves mainly to locally established tea processing industri...

The Agricultural Market Transition Act (AMTA) title of the 1996 FAIR Act is a novel departure in farm policy. Its fixed payments, no acreage set-asides, and avoidance of CCC commodity stockpiles provide a possible means of transition to a market-based agriculture that would not require governmental intervention to prop up the agricultural economy. Some now argue that the FAIR Act has failed, on...

Before making a comparison of grass-fed vs. grainfed beef it is necessary to first define these two beef types. An animal is considered grass-fed, according to the USDA Grass Fed Marketing Claim Standards, when grass and forage are the “feed source consumed for the lifetime of the ruminant animal, with the exception of milk consumed prior to weaning. Animals cannot be fed grain or grain by-prod...