Determinants of Crop Diversification in Bangladesh: An Econometric Analysis

This study aims to investigate the factors that influence household behaviour in cultivating the diversified crops on their cultivable land in Bangladesh. Cragg’s alternative tobit model has been applied to a unique rural household level dataset to find the catalysts of crop diversification. The results obtained portrayed a mixed impression of crop diversification in the country. The estimated results have revealed that the male head of household, the accessibility of information, a greater number of farming parcels and the availability of hired labour seem to govern the decision of a farming household to participate in non-rice crop production, while factors such as the total amount of land, agricultural extension service and irrigation facilities influence rice cultivation. Moreover, the findings obtained from the same Cragg’s alternative tobit model estimation for the Aman, Boro and Aus seasons have also revealed a similar depiction of crop diversification in Bangladesh.

Effect of Agricultural Extension Services in Minimizing Post-Harvest Losses of Yam Produce in Benue State, Nigeria

The study assessed the effect of agricultural extension services in minimizing post-harvest losses of yam in Benue State. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 240 yam producers. Data were collected using structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, mean and standard deviation, post-harvest management coefficient (PMC) and binary logistic regression (BLR) were used to analyse the data. Results on producers’ capabilities to manage PHLs revealed that 58.5% of the total yam produce (PMC = 0.585) was preserved while a sizeable proportion (41.5%) of losses were incurred after harvest. The availability of agricultural extension services showed that, the provision of agricultural information ( ̅ = 1.54), access to agricultural markets ( ̅ = 1.50) and facilitation of the formation of producers’ self-help groups ( ̅ = 1.50) were the prime extension services rendered in the study area. Empirical result on the effect of agricultural extension services on PHLs management revealed that the number of agricultural extension services (P ≤ 0.01) and access to agricultural credit (P ≤ 0.01) exerted positive and significant influence on PHLs management. Also, the level of producers’ education (P ≤ 0.1) enhanced significantly and consistently, their capabilities to minimize PHLs. Conversely, the number of agricultural information sources (P ≤ 0.1) exerted negative and significant influence on yam producers’ capabilities to manage post-harvest losses. The study concludes that agricultural extension services are potent in the management of post-harvest losses. The study thus recommends the provision of agricultural extension service by service agencies, given that the capacities of yam producers’ in minimizing post-harvest losses could be enhanced significantly and consistently with increase in the numbers of agricultural extension services at their disposal, and the enhancement of access to agricultural extension services by yam producers, individually and cooperatively, to curtail the incidences incidence of post-harvest losses on yam.

The Effect of Agricultural Extension Access on The Performance of Smallholder Sugarcane Farmers in Indonesia

Agricultural extension plays a crucial role in the Indonesian Agricultural Revitalization Program for the 2005-2025 periods, where sugarcane is one of the fourteen priority crops. The provision of an agricultural extension was aimed to increase the income and productivity of sugarcane farmers. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of agricultural extension access on smallholder sugarcane farmers' performance in Indonesia. This study used data from the 2014 Indonesian Sugarcane Farm Household Survey, consisting of 8,831 farmers. This study employed propensity score matching to estimate the effect of access to an agricultural extension on several outcome variables. These variables were gross value-added (GVA), net value added (NVA), labor productivity (LP), land productivity (LDP), net income (NI), and remuneration of family labor (ROFL). The result shows that having access to an agricultural extension increases GVA by 40.5%, NVA by 40.3%, labor productivity by 42.8%, and NI by 40.2%. However, access to agricultural extension insignificantly affects ROFL due to the differences in family working units. Also, farmers with Agricultural Extension access have 13.7% lower land productivity than non-Agricultural Extension farmers since the former has lower input use intensity than the latter. These results suggest that providing agricultural extension service is adequate to improve sugarcane farmers' economic performance.

How Does Perceived Value Affect Kiwi Growers' Sustainable Application of Green Agricultural Technology in China? - Moderating Effect Analysis Based on Government Support

Unsafe use of pesticides and fertilizers is a concern in rural areas of China, resulting in serious threats to environment and the quality of agricultural products. Many works have studied the factors influencing the adoption of green agricultural technology by farmers. However, few studies have explored the factors that lead to a farmer’s sustainable use of green agricultural technology. Based on a survey of 1,138 kiwi growers in Shaanxi province of China, this paper builds a theoretical model to look at this issue and conducts a series of empirical exercises to gain insight into the effects of perceived value, government support and their interaction on kiwi growers' sustainable application of green agricultural technology. We find that (1) Perceived monetary and non-monetary benefits positively affect the sustainable application of green agricultural technology by farmers while perceived monetary and non-monetary risks affect it negatively. In addition, such influence would be enhanced with an increase in the intensity of perceived value and vary with the type of green agricultural technology. (2) Both agricultural extension service and ecological subsidy, as two main forms of government support, have a positive and significant effect on the sustainable application of green agricultural technology. (3) There is also a role for the interaction effects between the influence of perceived value and government support on the sustainable application of green agricultural technology. Therefore, it has been proposed in this paper that the government should expand relevant publicity, education, training, and guidance, offer compensatory incentives for producers, and adopt guiding methods corresponding to different green agricultural technology, so as to promote the sustainable application of green production modes by farmers.

Profile of Extension Professionals and their Perception of Agricultural Extension Service Delivery: A Case of National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute, British Guyana

Background: Agricultural extension plays a critical role in amplifying agricultural productivity and profitability of farmers and improving the livelihoods of rural communities. In an agricultural dependent country like Guyana, effective agricultural extension service delivery is essential to reduce poverty and improve food security. Methods: This study was carried out to determine the efficacy of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute agricultural extension service delivery as perceived by researchers and extension officers. During 2019-2020 data were collected from researchers and extension officers via questionnaires, group discussion and interviews. Percentage and chi-square analysis were used to analyze the collected data. Result: The major findings of the study were that (45.8%) of researchers and (43.8%) of extension officers said they sometimes collaborate with each other whereas (29.2%) of researchers and (37.5%) of extension officers said they do not collaborate with each other. Extension professionals (42.5%) perceived that farmers were hesitant to adopt newly researched technologies because they preferred to continue with the practices they already know. In addition, (35%) of extension professionals perceived that more emphasis shall be placed on the number and quality of training programs offered to farmers in order to improve agricultural extension service delivery.

IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICE DELIVERY ON CASSAVA PRODUCTION IN KWAMI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF GOMBE STATE

The study was carried out to determine the impact of agricultural extension service delivery on cassava production in Kwami local government area of Gombe State. Four research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The design for the study was survey. The sample for the study was 105 respondents with 93 cassava farmers and 12 agricultural extension agents. A simple random sampling technique was used to obtain the sample. The instrument for data collection was a researcher designed structured questionnaire rated on a four- point scale. The instrument was subjected to validation by 3 experts. To determine the reliability of the instrument, Pearson Product moment correlation coefficient was used after administering the instrument on a different population of farmers in Adamawa State. The coefficient obtained was 0.99. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research question while t-test was used at 0.05 level of significance to test the hypothesis. The findings of the study revealed that factors such as poor soil fertility among others influence cassava production in Kwami local government area of Gombe State and cassava farmers derive benefit from agricultural extension agents. The study recommended that more agricultural extension agents should be employed by the government so as to have sufficient agricultural extension service among others.

Evaluation of Agricultural Extension Service for Sustainable Agricultural Development Using a Hybrid Entropy and TOPSIS Method

Agricultural extension service is the foundation of sustainable agricultural development. The evaluation and analysis of the agricultural extension service for sustainable agricultural development can provide an effective analytical tool for sustainable agriculture. This paper analyzes the influence of agricultural extension service on sustainable agricultural development, and constructs an evaluation system for sustainable agricultural development from the four dimensions of agricultural environment, society, economy, and agricultural extension service. This work proposes a framework based on the combination of technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and entropy method to evaluate the performance of the evaluation system. Taking three national modern agriculture demonstration zones in Suzhou in Jiangsu Province as a case study, the method was verified. Moreover, the main factors affecting sustainable agricultural development are discussed, and the improvement measures and management suggestions are also put forward to reduce the obstacles to sustainable agricultural development and improve sustainable agriculture practice.

Adaptive Treatment Assignment in Experiments for Policy Choice

Standard experimental designs are geared toward point estimation and hypothesis testing, while bandit algorithms are geared toward in‐sample outcomes. Here, we instead consider treatment assignment in an experiment with several waves for choosing the best among a set of possible policies (treatments) at the end of the experiment. We propose a computationally tractable assignment algorithm that we call “exploration sampling,” where assignment probabilities in each wave are an increasing concave function of the posterior probabilities that each treatment is optimal. We prove an asymptotic optimality result for this algorithm and demonstrate improvements in welfare in calibrated simulations over both non‐adaptive designs and bandit algorithms. An application to selecting between six different recruitment strategies for an agricultural extension service in India demonstrates practical feasibility.

Model of agricultural extension service system to accelerate technology adoption for vanilla smallholder

Transfer of knowledge and technology is the critical aspect to increasing the performance of vanilla agribusiness. Various technologies to accelerate the increasing productivity and quality of vanilla have been introduced. However, adoption at the smallholder level is still not optimal. This study aims to formulate an extension service system to accelerate technology adoption at the farmer level. The analytical method used is MICMAC. Extension activities in household approach, farm school, and farm demonstration or demonstration plot greatly influence other agribusiness components. On the other hand, the availability of other agribusiness components affects extension activities. Extension for vanilla smallholders tends to be dominated by individuals with technical aspects as the focus of the subject matter. However, behavioural and institutional elements are not yet determinants of the sustainability of the learning process. An extension service system is an integrated approach that encourages the transfer of knowledge, information, and technology as a continuous learning process. Integrated extension service system for vanilla agribusiness development based on knowledge support service. It is supported by agribusiness support service, policy, market opportunities, and industry organization. Knowledge support service encourages the establishment of individual and smallholder organization capacity development.