The collection, primary processing, and subsequent sale of shea-based products make an important contribution to rural women’s cash income in many of Mali’s shea producing areas. Internationally, shea has recently become popular in high-valued cosmetics thanks to its therapeutic...

This paper outlines proposed research, using concepts of New Institutional Economics, to identify the factors constraining the emergence of a market for domestically produced improved seed potatoes in Mali. It uses the Principal –Agent model to outline how to investigate the feasibility of...

As far as farming strategy is concerned, two alternatives are possible, either: a) improve and increase the means of production aiming for a larger size of production without expanding land, or b) expand production by acquisition of new land. The option for either of the two alternatives depends...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the profitability of the main food crops in the context of the current government policy of promoting the use by farmers of improved inputs. This study tried to estimate the magnitudes of costs associated with the use of chemical fertilizer on climbing...

A primary objective of the Agricultural Credit Scheme of 1967 was to accelerate the pace of economic development. Economic development was to be promoted by the credit scheme's expected contribution towards increasing agricultural output and incomes. Agriculture occupies a dominant position in...

Lesotho is largely agrarian. More than 90 percent of the Basotho population lives in rural areas. Agriculture provides an important source of income for over 50 percent of the rural population and is the largest contributor to GDP. Apart from migrant labour in the Republic of South Africa (RSA)...

The use of animal traction as a source of on-farm power has often been regarded as a logical and appropriate approach for improving Sahelian agriculture. Animal power, it is argued, enables the farmer to execute timelier agricultural operations and to overcome the seasonal labor constraints...

As in almost all sub-Saharan African countries, agriculture plays an important role in the economic life of Burkina Faso. The World Bank's 1983 report indicates that agriculture's contribution to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 41 percent in 1981 compared to 16 percent for the...

In Switzerland it is common for the farm businesses to be transferred within the family because the law provides that the heir can purchase the business at its investment value. The investment value is arrived at by an income capitalization approach. The investment values of farm businesses are...

Although agriculture no longer serves as the leading contributor to Nigeria's Gross National Product (GNP) and leading foreign exchange earner, it still is the leading employment sector of the vast majority of Nigerian population. The decline in importance of the agricultural sector in terms of...