We introduce a fast and inexpensive method to rule out potential barriers to adopting a technology. We use this method to asses the role of exogeneous contract enforcement as a barrier to market for Kenya's French Bean export market. We survey 240 farmers in Kirinyaga County, Kenya who were...

The study uses a partial equilibrium model to determine the benefits that would accrue to smallholder dairy producers and consumers from improved efficiency of Tanzania’s informal dairy value chain. Two sources of technical efficiency are analyzed, namely, cost efficiency and scale efficiency....

There is lack of consensus in the literature on the impact of contract farming on the welfare of smallholder farmers. Some authors argue that contact farming improves access to markets hence income, while others view contract farming as an avenue by which large corporations exploit smallholder...

There is a huge trade in medicinal plants in South Asia. This paper investigates whether it is possible to talk to medicinal plant harvesters and traders involved in the medicinal plant market in Nepal and India in order to be able to conduct a net marketing margin analysis. Using a marketing...

Because of increasing supply of the imported wood at low price, the rate of wood selfsufficiency in Japan has dropped further below 20%. This resulted in abandoning the reforestation activities after harvesting, which could impinge on the sustainable forest management. In this study we first...

The business environment for sawnwood producers based in the traditional forest-industry countries of the boreal zone has changed dramatically in the last decade. Among the greatest changes is the establishment of the European Monetary Union (EMU). However, the effect of the associated exchange...

Roundwood markets in Northern Europe have changed significantly due to the enlargement of EU in 1995 and 2004, and the formation of a common currency union between the 12 EU countries in 2001. However, wider research on the larger context of interaction between national markets in European Union...