This thesis analyzes challenges to agricultural production in China, which could impair the country's ability to maintain or to increase its output of important food commodities. By means of three empirical studies, issues regarding the effects of climate change and the development of total...

Do transgenic crops cause agrobiodiversity erosion? We hypothesize that they increase productivity and reduce production risk and may therefore reduce farmer demand for on-farm varietal diversity, especially when only a few transgenic varieties are available. We also hypothesize that varietal...

Agricultural innovations are seen as a key avenue to improve nutrition and health in smallholder farm households. But details of these agriculture-nutrition-health linkages are not yet well understood. While there is a broad literature on the adoption of agricultural technologies, most studies...

Recent research has analyzed whether higher levels of farm production diversity contribute to improved dietary quality in smallholder households. We add to this literature by using different indicators, thus testing the robustness of previous findings and helping to better understand the...

This dissertation contains three essays at the interface of agricultural and development economics. The motivation for this lies in the fact that various studies have shown the agricultural sector to be the main income source for the majority of the global poor and it will hence have to play a...

This study investigates the causes of declining output performance in the Ghanaian fruit pro-duction industry. Average industrial output level is lagging far behind that of competing na-tions (for instance, the productivity of Ghana pineapple farms is 60 T/Ha compared to 120 T/Ha for Cost Rica...

The rapid expansion of the oil palm area in many tropical countries has raised concerns about its negative impact on local communities, food security, and on the environment. While the expansion of oil palm in early stages was mainly driven by large private and public companies, it is expected...