In modern agriculture, pesticides feature so prominently in growers’ arsenal to reduce crop damage caused by various pests and diseases. But their indiscriminate use can harm human health and the environment and, eventually, impact agricultural productivity negatively. In an era of an...

Many developing countries are currently experiencing a rapid expansion of supermarkets. New supermarket procurement systems could have important implications for farming and wider rural development. While previous studies have analyzed farm profit and income effects, possible employment effects...

This study analyzed relationship between techn ical efficiency and socio-economic variables of cassava farmers in Nigeria. Data were collected from randomly sampled 360 cassava farmers in Nigeria using a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics comprising...

The paper uses a stochastic frontier analysis of production functions to estimate the level of technical efficiency in agriculture for a panel of 29 developing countries in Africa and Asia between 1994 and 2000. In addition, the paper examines how different components of an agricultural...

A dynamic bio-economic model is used to show that, without technological and policy intervention, soil nutrient balances, income and nutrition could not be substantially or sustainably improved in a highland area of Ethiopia. Although cash incomes could rise from a very low base by more than 50%...

This study aimed to evaluate the technical efficiency of farmers engaged in rice-wheat cropping systems in India using Resource Conserving Technologies (RCTs) such as zero-tillage and direct seeding, under the intervention of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project primarily...

Since late 2010 and continuing into 2011, price volatility, in relation to basic agricultural commodities, has occupied center stage on the agendas of decision makers. An additional concern has been uncertainty about a new global economic crisis in the wake of the macroeconomic difficulties...

The traditional agriculture in Sudan occupies 60% of the total cultivated land and employs 65% of the agricultural population. Nevertheless, it is characterized by its low crop productivity, which is mainly driven by low technical efficiency, while drought and civil conflicts threaten most of...