This paper aims to address two key issues in the agricultural economics of transition economies: (i) what do we understand about the process of agricultural transformation in transition economies with respect to the distribution of collective and state farm assets and why is this process so important; and (ii) why the Joint Stock Company model of agricultural privatisation in transition economi...

Agricultural production is subject to high risk associated with environmental and agro-ecological conditions. Farmers continuously make decisions to mitigate the various adversities. This study evaluates farm households’ willingness to pay for agricultural risk insurance intervention introduced in Ethiopia in 2009. A bidding game approach is used to elicit willingness-to-pay. We use a unique da...

There is strong advocacy for agricultural machinery appropriate for smallholder farmers in South Asia. Such 'scale-appropriate' machinery can increase returns to land and labour, although the still substantial capital investment required can preclude smallholder ownership. Increasing machinery demand has resulted in relatively well-developed markets for rental services for tillage, irrigation, ...

in this study, farm level technical efficiency (te) and its determinants were investigated. a stochastic cobb-douglas (cd) production frontier was used to provide estimates of input-oriented te for a sample of 100 rain fed farms in two palestinian governorates. empirical findings showed that the estimated te of the farms in the pooled sample ranged from 35.7 to 95.6%, with a mean value of 72.2%...

The sheer magnitude and growth of public monies directed toward farm-level risk management programs in developed countries is staggering. Canadian Business Risk Management (BRM) subsidies were just under $1.4 billion in 2014 (U.S. premium subsidies totalled $6.2 billion). Risk management has become the backbone of many countries’ agricultural programs and the vehicle of choice to funnel monies ...

This paper draws upon development economics theory, demographic projections, and empirical evidence to consider the likely consequences of the HIV/AIDS pandemic for the agricultural sector of the hardest-hit countries of Eastern and Southern Africa. We identify four processes that have been underemphasized in previous analysis: 1) the momentum of long-term population growth rates; 2) substantia...

Farm management focused on maximizing biomass production results in biological simplification and ultimately a degraded production potential for the future. Despite the large and growing body of evidence pointing to the need to restore biodiversity to farm systems, incorporation of biodiversity and ecosystem services into local agricultural land use decision-making remains limited. The lack of ...

The paper determined optimum farm plan for food security among smallholder farmers in Imo State, Nigeria. Data were collected with structured and validated questionnaire from 180 smallholder crops farmers in Imo State. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, frequency distribution and percentages), budgetary analysis and linear programming model. Results show that the mean age of...

The paper determined optimum farm plan for food security among smallholder farmers in Imo State, Nigeria. Data were collected with structured and validated questionnaire from 180 smallholder crops farmers in Imo State. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, frequency distribution and percentages), budgetary analysis and linear programming model. Results show that the mean age of...

Trade and food security discussions have changed significantly in recent years, reflecting a more general change in perspective on “the right price of food” (Swinnen 2011). Until 2007 the dominant view was that low prices for agricultural products were causing poverty and food insecurity among poor households in developing countries. Trade policy discussions emphasized the importance of reducin...