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Understanding how governance arrangements within agricultural supply chains influence farmers' SAP adoption for adaptation and mitigation practices

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... Specifically, holding the other conditions constant, a one-level increase in the market network corresponded to 8.56% increase in the probability of grain producers adopting LCFTs in Column (4). These findings are also supported by Kusnandar et al. [73], who highlighted that market networks, such as midstream actors, play a crucial role in promoting the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices among farmers. It is explained that market networks, such as agricultural material retailers, occupy a central position in farmers' relation networks, and have an advantage in controlling agricultural information and resources, thus producing a significant impact on farmers' agricultural technology adoption and agricultural production [59]. ...
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The concept of sustainable intensification (SI) unifies ecologically and socially sustainable agricultural practises while preserving economically viable farm businesses. To fully exploit their ecological advantages, smart mixes of SI measures at both the farm and local scale are required. This paper investigates farmers' adoption decisions using a mixed-methods approach for the northern German Plain. Based on focus group discussion, we first identify the study region's relevant SI measures. Using an existing data set, we then quantitatively assess the complementarity of the locally relevant measures using a multivariate probit model. Finally, we use a path modelling approach to explore how the perceived economic and environmental benefits of farmers' applied measures relate to their intentions to broaden their SI portfolios through complementary practices. We find support for complementary use of measures and positive reinforcements of current and intended use of measures. We conclude that such paths are relevant for analysing adoption behaviour. Such expanded and contextualised behavioural approaches are necessary to develop intervention schemes for upscaling sustainable farming practices.
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Conventional farming and climate change are placing considerable stress on agricultural systems around the world, leading to increased hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity, particularly in developing countries. Sustainable Agricultural Practices (SAPs) can help raise productivity and agricultural incomes while minimising negative environmental impacts. While recognising that sustainability is a contested term, we identify agricultural practices that are generally viewed as sustainable as they minimise impacts on the environment. Despite the benefits of SAPs, adoption rates are still low in developing countries. While previous studies have examined the factors affecting SAP adoption, most have not accounted for issues of heterogeneity and endogeneity inherent in such analysis. In this paper, we address this by employing a random-effects probit model with the Mundlak approach and fixed-effects linear probability models to control for farmer- and plot-level heterogeneities and to avoid the incidental parameters problem. We analyse panel data from Vietnam for approximately 14,000 plots over the period 2008–2016 to identify the factors behind SAP adoption. Overall, we find that improved knowledge transferred by extension agents and learning from peers significantly influence adoption. Farmers' knowledge of their land and soil quality are also important factors. We recommend enhancing cooperation between extension agents, farmer groups and peers in order to encourage SAP adoption.
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Agriculture is greatly influenced by climate change, especially in developing countries. Farmers are both the basic executors of agricultural adaptation and among the most vulnerable groups to climate change. However, the understanding on climate change perception and adaptive behavior of local farmers is still very limited. This study develops a binary logistic regression (BLR) model to explore the underlying principles of local farmer's perception and adaptive behavior toward climate change, with a focus on influential farmers. Through a field survey with 117 head farmers from 89 farmers’ cooperatives in Chongming Island of China - the largest alluvial island in the world, we found that: 1) 92% of the respondents thought climate change is happening; 59% of the respondents thought climate change has an obvious impact on agriculture production; and 45% of the respondents had a plan for future adaptation. 2) Based on BLR analysis, it was found that 3 out of 16 factors have significant impacts on head farmer’s adaptive behavior toward climate change, including agricultural training, perceived temperature change, and education level. 3) The percentage of consistency(POC) is proposed to describe the performance of our BLR model. The overall POC of BLR model is 68.4%, with a higher POC (85.7%) for farmers who have no adaptive behavior. 4) Key measures to enhance local climate adaptation include an integrated and coordinated plan of farmer-level adaptation, tailored and specialized training programs, improvement of scientific research, and publicity of best practices.
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Climate change compromises sustainable agricultural development. It has deep economic, environmental, and social impacts, particularly on vulnerable rural regions in developing countries where agriculture constitutes the backbone of the economy. This study analyzes farmers’ preferences regarding the potential implementation of several mitigation and adaptation actions addressing climate change. Data were collected on 370 farmers in the “Valle del Carrizo” region of northwestern México. Using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology, the farmers’ preferred mitigation and adaptation actions were identified and related to their stated attitudes regarding risks using the Multiple Price List (MPL) lotteries approach. Farmers’ environmental beliefs and perceptions as key means of understanding concepts of sustainability were related to their preferences. The use of less polluting machinery and investment in improving irrigation infrastructure were identified as the most preferred actions. Environmental opinions reviewed using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale allowed for the identification of the participants’ ecocentric and anthropocentric attitudes, highlighting the commitment of most farmers to the sustainable use of natural resources. Agricultural policies should be developed according to farmers’ preferences and behaviors. The design and implementation of measures and policy tools addressing climate change should be inclusive and developed at the micro-level considering farm and farmer typologies.
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Climate change is likely to generate severe impacts on smallholder farmers in developing countries. As key drivers of adaptation, climate risk perceptions are highly heterogeneous, varying both across people and context, and are complex, being defined as behaviour which varies across both impact and likelihood dimensions in non-linear ways. Yet most studies examining risk perceptions are unable to disentangle the role of perceptions regarding impacts from those regarding the likelihood of climate-related events taking place. This paper presents a decomposition and associated analysis of survey-based ‘risk perception’ measures. The decomposition we apply allows independent accounting for perceptions over frequencies and impacts linking to behavioural patterns of risk attitude. The approach presented here draws on a detailed 2017 survey of 500 farmers in rural Indonesia to generate insights into the relationship between risk perceptions and extension services, accessibility of information, and other factors. Results show that risk perceptions are generated from complex interaction between perceived future frequencies and outcomes of climate events and indicate differential impacts of extension services across these perceptions. This paper also presents empirical support for the use of information and communication technology based extension as an efficient extension tool to reach more farmers than in traditional methods.
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Climate change (CC) poses severe threats to the agriculture sector in developing countries. Increasing empirical evidence has confirmed that adaptation strategies to CC at the farm level can significantly reduce the negative impacts of CC and minimize vulnerability. Consequently, understanding adaptation to CC has become a major concern for farmers to facilitate adaptation actions and assist them in improving their adaptive capacity. In this context, this study investigated the most prominent psychological drivers of, and impediments to, adaptation responses. To this end, 350 farmers from Kermanshah district in western of Iran were selected as our sample through a multi-stage, stratified, random sampling method. Structural equation modeling found a complex relationship between overall CC belief, risk perception, psychological distance, trust and risk salience, and farmers' adaptation behaviors. Climate risk perception, trust, and psychological distance were much more effective in driving farmers’ adaptation behaviors. The findings yield recommendations for public policy and risk communication that could encourage adaptation behaviors among Iranian farmers
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Integrated pest management (IPM) has been promoted as an environmentally friendly pest control approach, but its adoption by farmers, particularly in developing countries, is low. The main purpose of the current study was to examine factors affecting the intention of farmers to use IPM practices in Iran. The research model was developed using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Norm Activation Model (NAM) and was empirically tested using data obtained from structured interviews with 327 tomato producers in Zanjan Province in northwestern Iran. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis indicated that all three components of attitude, perceived behavioral control (PBC), and subjective norm significantly influenced intention in the original TPB, while subjective norm had no statistically significant effect on intention in the integrative TPB-NAM. Despite this fact, subjective norm significantly impacted attitude, PBC, and personal norm in the integrative model. The study also supported the significant effect of awareness of consequences (AC) on personal norm, ascription of responsibility (AR), attitude, and subjective norm as well as the significant effect of AR on personal norm. Overall, personal norm was the most salient determinant of farmers’ intention to use IPM practices in the integrative model. Most notably, integrating the constructs of TPB and NAM and particularly adding the interrelationships among the volitional, moral, and cognitive dimensions of the two models significantly enhanced the predictive power, utility, and comprehensiveness of the proposed framework for explaining farmers’ intention to use IPM practices. The findings of this research provide a clearer understanding of factors driving the promotion of IPM among farming community and can be a basis for developing IPM policy interventions in Iran and other developing countries.
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Purpose – While it is commonly argued that food supply chains are characterized by severe imbalances of power between contracting parties, there is an insufficient understanding of the factors affecting the negotiating position of farmers. The purpose of this paper is to provide quantitative evidence documenting the position of farmers and to explain variation in farm gate prices in the dairy supply chain by uses unique micro-survey data from Poland. Design/methodology/approach – The bargaining power of farmers is elicited from their self-reported assessment about how confident they feel in their relationships with both the processing industry and input suppliers. Findings – Using econometric modelling, it is shown that farmers who perceive themselves as having a relatively “strong position” in the food chain receive a higher milk price from dairy companies. Research limitations/implications – While this result comes with some caveats, it suggests that the self-reported beliefs farmers hold about relations with their contractors may reveal additional insights into the distribution of power throughout the food chain. Originality/value – Compared to the existing studies, the paper offers two innovations. First, to construct a proxy for farmers’ bargaining power, their subjective opinion on how easy they could be substituted for by their contractors is used. In effect, the paper goes beyond the standard measures which focus on farm size or its location. Second, it investigates farmers’ relationships vis-à-vis both processing industry and input suppliers. Consequently, this paper is the first to analyze power relationships by explicitly taking into account three stages of the supply chain.
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Value chains in the agrifood sector are undergoing a rapid process of modernization, characterized by the emergence of private standards and different systems of vertical value chain governance. In this article, we investigate the technological implications of these developments at the farm level. We model the conditions under which technology transfer and adoption will occur in a value chain setting and review the corresponding evidence on these issues. We find that technology transfer within a value chain can occur in an environment with imperfect credit and technology markets but depends on the surplus generated by the technology and the holdup opportunities within the value chain. We also discuss how these holdup opportunities affect bargaining power and the division of surplus and how the nature of the technology affects technology transfer and the implications for value chain governance.