Land Tenure and Cotton Farmers’ Land Improvement: Evidence from State-Owned Farms in Xinjiang, China

The land system of state-owned farms in China is different from that in rural areas. Whether the land tenure of state-owned farms can play a role in protecting cultivated land is an important issue for the high-quality development of state-owned agriculture in China. This article develops a dynamic model to examine how land tenure influences farmers’ decisions on land improvement. It then analyzes this relationship based on cotton farmers’ household-level data from state-owned farms of Xinjiang in China. We applied methods that take into account the possible endogeneity of the land tenure. The results reveal that the stability of land tenure in the past will not affect the current behavior of farmers for they have a relatively stable expectation of current land tenure and a high degree of trust in the government and its policies. The intergenerational transfer of land tenure is not the key factor that affects farmers’ land conservation, and the relatively long-term duration of land tenure (possibly five years or more) during their careers is more important. Our findings also reveal that non-property factors, such as government intervention (e.g., technology promotion) that alleviates the limited rationality of farmers, cannot be ignored because they played a crucial role in past land improvement when land tenure was less stable.

Productivity and Technical Efficiency Variability among Small-Holder Cotton Farmers in Tanzania

This study assessed the productivity and technical efficiency variability among small-holder cotton farmers in Bunda district, Tanzania. The efficiency analysis results have shown that the scores of technical efficiency sample of contract farmers varied from 1.75% to 87.07%, with an average of 46.05%. The implication of this is that there existed considerable technical deficiency in cotton farming. That is to say, usually, small-holder cotton contract farmers in the investigation region incurred loss of about 53.95% in outputs as a result of technical deficiency. The sources of inefficiency for contract farmers were experience of contract farmers, gender of household head and owning Television (TV)On the other hand, non-contract small-holder farmers’ technical efficiencies varied from 3.94% to 82.05%, having a mean of 46.79%. Usually, small-holder non-contract farmers in the investigation region incurred loss of about 53.21% in outputs as result of technical deficiency. The implication of this is that output average can be raised by at least 53.21% through the application of resources available as well as the given technology if the deficiency factors are addressed fully. The source of inefficiency for non-contract farmers is owning TV.It is recommended that young farmers need to be encouraged to join contract farming in order to get high productivity, more female headed households should be encouraged to participate in contract farming, both contract and non-contract farmers should watch TV programs which are educative and can assist them gain farm management knowledge for high productivity and lastly, ginners are required to provide more services in exchange of exclusive purchasing rights as agreed when signing contracts.

The Impact of Better Management Practices (BMPs) Among Cotton Farmers in Punjab, Pakistan

Better management practices (BMPs) as a sustainable approach made it attractive for growers to control the provision of pollutants from agricultural activities as well as enhance the financial return. The experiments of cotton production were conducted in four different regions of Punjab in cotton-growing years 2017-2019. The objective of the study was to evaluate the potential impact of BMPs among cotton farmers by rationalizing the use of input resources (viz., seed, fertilizers, pesticides and water). The data were collected from randomly selected adopters of BMPs (n = 400) and non-adopters of BMPs (n = 100) through a well-structured pretested questionnaire using a multistage sampling procedure from four different regions of Punjab province. Descriptive analysis was employing an independent two-sample t-test to evaluate the significant effect of BMPs on the utilization of input resources and profitability of cotton production between adopters and non-adopters of BMPs. The results indicated that adopters of BMPs were efficiently used input resources (at p ≤ 0.001 & p ≤ 0.01) and significantly enhanced the average cotton yield (855.09 kg acre-1) in Punjab, while non-adopters of BMPs had a significantly high cost of production by 11% (35,655 PKR acre-1) and output was lower by 15% (751.70 kg acre-1) under conventional farming for cotton cultivation. The economic analysis revealed that the average gross income gained by adopters of BMPs was significantly high by 11% (72,648 PKR acre-1 at p ≤ 0.001) with the maximum net return of 36% (40,785 PKR acre-1 at p ≤ 0.001) as well as a good B:C (1.28) as compared to non-adopters of BMPs. This study provides useful information about the potential impact of BMPs among cotton farmers even without the extra use of inputs. It is concluded that precision in inputs and management practices with lower input costs can significantly improve cotton productivity leading to uplift the farmers’ profit.

Impact Assessment of the Cotton YIELD Programme in Zambia

ABSTRACT This paper sought to evaluate the economic impact of the Cotton YIELD Programme on crop income of smallholder cotton farmers in Zambia. Specifically, the study sought to (a) identify factors that influence smallholder cotton farmer’ participation in the programme and (b) determine whether the Cotton YIELD Programme has increased the income of smallholder cotton farmers in Zambia. The study utilized pooled cross-section data of 300 cotton farmers, collected from two households survey (2005 and 2015) in Mumbwa district of Zambia. The Double Difference model combined with Propensity Score Matching methods were employed in the analysis. Results show that participation in the programme is positively driven by education, farm size, membership, access to credit, ownership of animal traction and media. However, distance to extension agents and market outlets negatively influence participation. Furthermore, the study found that the Cotton YIELD Programme has significantly increased crop income of smallholder cotton farmers by 38.1 percent.

Extent of Adoption of ANGRAU Technologies in Cotton Crop in Andhra Pradesh, India

Cotton is the backbone of Indian textile industry, which produces 59% of the country’s total fiber production. Ex-post facto research design was selected as an appropriate research design to investigate the variables influencing extent of ANGRAU technologies in cotton cultivation. Two districts were selected purposively from Andhra Pradesh based on the highest area under cotton cultivation. The names of the selected districts were Kurnool and Guntur. Three mandals from each district were purposively selected based on the highest area of cotton cultivation thus constituting six mandals. Four villages from each mandal were selected by following simple random sampling procedure. The sample constituted to a total of twenty four villages. From each of the selected village, ten farmers were selected by following lottery method of simple random sampling procedure. The sample constituted to a total of 240 respondents. Cent per cent of the farmers had adopted seed rate followed by overwhelmingly (92.08%) of the members had adopted spacing per cent had adopted disease management practices, 53.33 per cent had adopted weed management, more than half (52.50%) had adopted harvesting and water management practices, 32.5 per cent had adopted nutrient management, 15.83 per cent had adopted fertilizer management and minute (3.33%) had adopted recommended varieties of SAU. In overall level of extent of adoption of recommended practices in cotton cultivation more than half (60.00%) of the cotton farmers had medium adoption of recommended practices in cotton cultivation followed by one-fifth (20.00%) of the cotton farmers had high adoption of recommended practices in cotton cultivation and rest (20.00%) had low adoption of recommended practices in cotton cultivation.

Adoption of Intercropping Practices by the Cotton Farmers in Mancherial District of Telangana State

World food production shortages and estimates in the supplies of the future have promptly increased the interest in the adoption of improved crop production activities and increased the food production and helps to cope with the threats of climatic variations and food security. Intercropping is a method that efficiently uses the space and time of cultivation. In this concept of cotton-based intercropping with pulses, where cotton yields are more along with additional survivable returns to the farmers from other crops. Though the concept has beneficial effects, but the adoption of intercropping in cotton by the farmers is low due to lack of clarity about the concept of intercropping. The present study mainly focused on estimating and clarifying the decision of the farmers on the adoption and non-adoption of intercropping in cotton and the benefits of the intercropping practices by the cotton farmers in developing the conceptual framework. Logistic regression model was used to present an econometric analysis of the diffusion process. The results from the present study revealed that variables like farm size, education status and exposure to extension service and capital were statistically significant at 1% level and showing a positive influence on the adoption of intercropping in cotton. Whereas age, farming experience was statistically significant at 1% level and showing the negative influence on the adoption of intercropping in cotton and yield is the other variable showing the negative influence on the intercropping. Further, in the extension systems more stress is need upon the capacity building of the farmers for optimum harnessing of the benefits of new generation technologies in cotton cultivation.

Land Tenure and Green Production Behavior: Empirical Analysis Based on Fertilizer Use by Cotton Farmers in China

Stable land rights can increase farmers’ expectations regarding the future and encourage their adoption of green production methods, which is an important guarantee for promoting the development of green agriculture development. This paper takes the fertilizer use as an example and systematically investigated the impact of land tenure stability on the green production behavior of heterogeneous farmers based on a field survey data of 349 cotton-planting farmers from Xinjiang, China. Furthermore, this research aims to assess the differential impact of land tenure stability on different risk preferences, organizational forms and ethnic groups. This study is a continuation of previous studies on factors influencing green production behavior. The results show that land transfers have an inhibiting effect on farmers’ green production behavior and this effect is more significant among risk-averse farmers, local farmers and minority nationalities farmers. The land tenure period can promote the green production of farmers and alleviate the restraining effect of land transfers on farmers’ green production behavior. Additionally, farmers of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) and large-scale households are more inclined to green production. The Chinese Government needs to further promote land transfer to large-scale households, improve the stability of land rights and adopt differentiated policies for heterogeneous farmers to encourage their green production.

Impact of Soil Rejuvenating Scheme on Income of Cotton Farmers – An Evidence from Kalaburagi District of Karnataka

Rainfed areas are not only thirsty but also hungry for nutrients and are hotspots of poverty, malnutrition, and degradation of natural resources. Looking into these aspects, the Government of Karnataka has implemented a mission mode project called “Bhoochetana” meaning “reviving the soils” to benefit dryland farmers for sustainable use of natural resources in Karnataka. This scheme aimed at enhancing the yield level of major dryland crops through integrated crop management (ICM) practices. The study has been conducted in the Kalaburagi District of Karnataka State, where the majority of the area under agriculture is rainfed and cotton is one of the major rainfed crops grown on a large scale. The study revealed that the yield of the main product from cotton production for Bhoochetana beneficiary farmers was higher with 23.18 quintals per hectare compared to non-beneficiary farmers with 21.36 quintals. The results of partial budgeting showed that, a net gain of ₹ 4660 per hectare was obtained by Bhoochetana scheme beneficiaries over non-beneficiary farmers. The study highlighted that, there is a positive significant effect of the scheme on the production of cotton. Therefore, the policies must focus on long-term soil, water, and other natural resource conservation practices to achieve sustainability in agriculture.

Leading by example

This article describes the journey of a young girl born to poor cotton farmers in the early 40s who grew up to become a chemist and then became the President of the World’s Largest Scientific Society, the American Chemical Society. It describes the obstacles she had to overcome as a woman as she earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry and the successes she celebrated along the way. It also features undergraduate research success stories and how these have contributed to her success. Hopefully it will inspire women to follow her footprints in a journey that reached many corners of the world.

Peasant Resistance in Burkina Faso's Cotton Sector

This article examines how and why smallholder peasants mobilize for collective action to put forward their claims. Taking the resistance by cotton farmers in Burkina Faso as a case study, it demonstrates that institutions of neoliberal governance – which are presented by their proponents as making governance more “effective” by improving the participation of various public and private stakeholders in different degrees – nevertheless fail to represent the interests of the large population of agrarian poor. In the 2010s, the cotton sector in Burkina Faso became a field of contention, with smallholder cotton producers mobilizing on a massive scale to take collective action. It is argued that the mobilization of cotton farmers can be explained through the effects of the sector's liberalization. Economic liberalization, which has been promoted by the World Bank since the mid-1990s, has changed the institutional setting of the sector and has significantly impacted the ways and means of collective claim-making available to farmers. Building on primary data (qualitative interviews, focus group discussions, observations) collected during several months of field research between 2018 and 2020, and analyses of press reports and a variety of documents, recent protests by cotton farmers are examined and related to these liberalization policies.