Amin W. Mugera

Does Farm Size and Specialization Matter for Productive Efficiency? Results from Kansas

In this article, we used bootstrap data envelopment analysis techniques to examine technical and scale efficiency scores for a balanced panel of 564 farms in Kansas for the period 1993–2007. The production technology is estimated under three different assumptions of returns to scale and the results are compared. Technical and scale efficiency is disaggregated by farm size and specialization. Our results suggest that farms are both scale and technically inefficient. On average, technical efficiency has deteriorated over the sample period. Technical efficiency varies directly by farm size and the differences are significant. Differences across farm specializations are not significant.

Human Resource Management Risks: Sources and Control Strategies Based on Dairy Farmer Focus Groups

Human resource management in agriculture and associated risks are under-researched topics. To identify the sources of human resource management risks confronting dairy farms, gain insights into how dairy farmers perceive the impacts of these risks, and identify control strategies, four focus group discussions were held with dairy farm managers. Managers’ perceptions served to develop a framework for the analysis of human resource management risks in agriculture and derive recommendations for reducing these risks. Results of this study have been used to tailor educational programs for farmers and suggest strategies for future research.

Local Government Efficiency: Evidence from Western Australia

The state government of Western Australia has suggested there are economies of scale in local government service delivery and that council amalgamations would allow substantial efficiencies to be realised. In this article, the Data Envelopment Analysis method is used to measure efficiency at 98 local councils in Western Australia in 2009 and 2010. Although many councils were found to be operating under increasing returns to scale, many others were found to be operating under decreasing returns to scale. This suggests there is room for either scaling down or expanding for some local councils to achieve optimal scale.

The Uganda rural farmers scheme: women’s accessibility to agricultural credit

This study investigates factors related to loan approval, disbursement, repayment, and loan rationing among 1,012 farmers in the Rural Farmers Scheme (RFS), Uganda, between 1987 and May 1995. Results indicate that women had a higher loan approval rate and loan repaid/loan borrowed ratio than men, but lower actual disbursement levels. Loan rationing among women and men was not statistically different, and no justification was found for microfinance institutions discriminating against women in giving loans based on repayment rates. A wide gap exists between loan amounts approved and disbursed. Strategies are outlined for improving the pool of women loan applicants.

Deregulation of the Australian Wheat Export Market: What Happened to Wheat Prices?

ABSTRACT This report investigates whether deregulation of the Australian wheat export market induced a structural change in the price data generation process. We analyze the unit root properties of Western Australian wheat price series by testing for the possibility of single and double structural breaks. Daily spot prices for the period of May 20, 2003, to September 14, 2010 are used. We find the wheat price series has a unit root with two structural breaks but neither breaks coincides with the time when the Wheat Export Marketing Act 2008 came into effect on July 1, 2008. The implication of our results is that deregulation was not the main cause of structural breaks in the price series in the sample period.

Efficiency of irrigation water application in sugarcane cultivation in Pakistan.

BACKGROUND Diminishing irrigation water supplies are threatening the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in Pakistan. Within the context of dwindling water resources and low agricultural water productivity, it is imperative to improve efficiency in agricultural production and to make efficient use of available water resources. This study employs a non-parametric approach to estimate the extent of technical and irrigation water efficiency in sugarcane cultivation in Pakistan. RESULTS The mean technical efficiency score is 0.96 for tube-well owners whereas it is 0.94 for water buyers. The mean irrigation water efficiency score is 0.86 for tube-well owners whereas it is 0.72 for water buyers. We find that across all farms, 59% of the tube-well owners and 45% of the water buyers are fully technically efficient, whereas only 36% of the tube-well owners and 30% of the water buyer are fully efficient in irrigation water use. CONCLUSIONS This study finds that sugarcane growers are operating at fairly high technical efficiency levels. But, there is considerable potential to improve irrigation water efficiency. This study proposes expanding the role of agricultural extension services from merely agronomic grounds to guide farmers to undertake cost benefit analysis of the available production technology, would help achieve higher efficiency levels.

MACROECONOMIC POLICY REFORMS AND PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN AFRICAN AGRICULTURE

This article employs a two-stage procedure to investigate the impact of macroeconomic policy reforms on the agricultural productivity growth of 33 African countries from 1981 to 2001. In the first stage, we measure agricultural productivity using a nonparametric Malmquist productivity index. In the second stage, we build a generalized method of moments (GMM) model with a measure of structural adjustment program (SAP) intensity as a key instrument for macroeconomic policy reforms. We also control for the effects of globalization, civil violence, level of development of physical and financial infrastructure, and other economic variables as well as natural resource factors that directly affect agricultural productivity. Our results indicate a strong positive correlation between the extent of SAP intensity and agricultural productivity, suggesting that the macroeconomic policy reforms improved agricultural productivity growth in the sample countries. (JEL E6, O13, O41)

Vulnerability to Multi-Dimensional Poverty: an empirical comparison of alternative measurement approaches

Abstract This paper investigates whether different measures of ex-post poverty and ex-ante vulnerability to poverty provide consistent estimates of poverty and vulnerability to poverty across households. Moreover, if there is some heterogeneity in the identification of households as poor and vulnerable, it investigates the degree of mismatch between measures? The ex-post monetary poverty (MP) and multidimensional poverty (MDP) measures are used to identify poor households. Likewise, the ex-ante vulnerability to monetary poverty (VMP) and vulnerability to multidimensional poverty (VMDP) measures are used to identify vulnerable households. Using a large household survey data-set of about 90,000 households from the Punjab province of Pakistan, we find that most of the vulnerable households are accurately identified by the ex-ante measures of vulnerability to poverty. However, the ex-post measures of poverty identify different households as poor. Our results show that 18 percent households experiencing MDP are not captured by the one-dimensional measure of MP. The important implication of this study is that the choice of measures does matter in ex-post poverty identification, but not as much in the identification of ex-ante vulnerability to poverty.

Consumer Preference and Willingness to Pay for a Local Label Attribute in Western Australian Fresh and Processed Food Products

Abstract This study investigates Western Australia’s consumer attitudes toward and preferences for locally produced food products signified by a state-funded campaign logo, Buy West Eat Best (BWEB). A choice experiment using both a fresh and a processed food product (skinless chicken breast and fruit yogurt) is conducted to assess willingness to pay for a local production attribute and other label claims. We find that consumer awareness and preference for local foods is high. However, this high preference is not because the product is locally produced but because of the local attributes associated with high-quality products. The study highlights the importance of successfully differentiating products through credible labeling schemes in order to capture market premium.

Groundwater depletion in the Indus Plains of Pakistan: imperatives, repercussions and management issues

ABSTRACT The sustainability of agricultural growth has been greatly influenced by the massive use of groundwater in Pakistan for the last few decades. However, the groundwater economy of Pakistan is at critical juncture now. Concomitant with massive pumping of groundwater aquifers through unrestricted expansion of tube-wells, groundwater exploitation has led to many negative environmental, economic and spatial impacts and serious threats to the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the region. The spectacular increase in the groundwater development during the last half-century has manifested as a kind of ‘silent revolution’ carried out by thousands of farmers in pursuit of reliable irrigation water supplies. The groundwater revolution in the Indus Basin has been a result of a succession of factors –each of them exacerbated the groundwater crises in the subsequent periods. Massive groundwater extraction programmes were commenced to overcome waterlogging and salinity, which was blown up by large-scale surface water developments in coming years. Within this backdrop, this article attempts to identify the causes and consequences of groundwater overdrafting in Pakistan and draws attention to groundwater resource management issues. In this article, we discuss how the rigidity of the surface-water-allocation system, the Green Revolution, the Indus Water Treaty, soaring population and the groundwater management policies have led to groundwater revolution. Major environmental impacts identified include soil salinization, salt water and sea water intrusion, land subsidence, and drying up of lakes and vegetation in different parts of the country. Various pecuniary impacts such as increasing pumping costs while decreasing land values are also very prominent. Migration and prospective social conflicts are amongst the potential spatial impacts. We have concluded that decreasing surface water supplies, unimpeded pumping of aquifers, lack of groundwater entitlements and the institutional impediments are the major problems related to the sustainable groundwater management in Pakistan.