In agrarian societies land serves as the main means not only for generating a livelihood but often also for accumulating wealth and transferring it between generations. How land rights are assigned therefore determines households'ability to generate subsistence and income, their social and...

The objective of this paper is to clarify, on the basis of detailed farm level data derived from recent surveys,the importance of factors related to tenure security, farm size and credit availability in constraining farmers'agricultural investment. In particular, a direct measure of...

Is agricultural extension in developing countries up to the task of providing the information, ideas, and organization needed to meet food needs? What role should governments play in implementing or facilitating extension services? Roughly 80 percent of the world's extension is publicly funded...

The authors analyze the considerations that lead policymakers to undertake extension investments as a key public responsibility, as well as the complex set of factors and intra-agency incentives that explain why different extension systems'performance vary. The authors provide a conceptual...

The paper reviews the literature on the characteristics and impact of opinion leaders on the diffusion of new knowledge, concluding that there is no clear evidence on whether opinion leaders are more effective if they are similar in socioeconomic attributes to the other farmers rather than...

The authors evaluate the impact of farmer field schools, an intensive participatory training program emphasizing integrated pest management. Their evaluation focuses on whether participation in the program has improved yields and reduced pesticide use among graduates and their neighbors who may...

The paper reviews the origins and evolution of the Training and Visit (T&V) extension system, which was promoted by the World Bank in 1975-98 in over 50 developing countries. The discussion seeks to clarify the context within which the approach was implemented, and to analyze the causes for its...

Many government programs want to provide more credit to the farm sector to increase agricultural productivity. If the marginal effect on productivity is small, those resources might be put to better use elsewhere. The authors conducted an econometric analysis of the effect of credit on output...

Processing and collection costs of loans made to small farmers are high relative to the amount lent. Lending groups and credit cooperatives have been ascribed the potential to reach small farmers with affordable credit because the processing of one large loan rather than numerous small loans may...

Most work on the relationship between farm size and productivity strongly suggests that farms that rely mostly on family labor are more productive than large farms operated primarily by hired labor. This study began as an inquiry into how rental and sales markets for agricultural land in the...