Prabodh Illukpitiya

Estimating the demand for non-timber forest products among rural communities: a case study from the Sinharaja Rain Forest region, Sri Lanka

Lack of adequate knowledge on forest-people interaction is an important reason for the failure of many conservation policies. This study focuses on the behavior of peripheral communities towards non-timber forest product (NTFP) harvesting by estimating the demand functions for NTFP. The paper develops a theoretical model for deriving the shadow price for NTFP using time allocation among different economic activities. Then it tests the competitive time allocation hypothesis between NTFP extraction and tea plantations, the predominant agricultural sector in the vicinity of Sinharaja rain forest. Results provide statistical evidence for the existence of competitive time allocation between tea plantations and NTFP extraction. Own-price elasticities are consistently inelastic, except for one product. As indicated by the inelastic responses, pricing policies may not be very useful in manipulating subsistence NTFP extraction. Repeating similar studies for commercial NTFPs is encouraged.

Distribution, characteristics and factors influencing establishment of demonstration farmers’ cooperatives in China

Development of farmers’ cooperatives is vital for agricultural development in China.The demonstration farmer cooperatives represent the level of economic development hence integration of farmer cooperatives will have a positive impact on agricultural economy. Taking the first batch of national demonstration farmers’ cooperatives as the research object and investigating the regional, sectorial; and industrial distribution patterns, the main influencing factors were analyzed by the least square method in order to study the distribution characteristics. Looking at the cross section among different enterprises in agriculture, highest number of farmer cooperatives belongs to crop sector followed by livestock, agricultural machinery, fishing and forestry. Among the demonstration cooperatives in crop production, highest number of farmer cooperatives’ can be seen in vegetable sector. The grain sector has the lowest number of demonstration cooperatives. Regional distribution shows that farmer cooperatives in livestock sector are more concentrated in the country’s western region. According to the regression analysis factors such as number of rural population, per capita crop sown area and urban agricultural employment showed significant effect on development of farmer cooperatives. The urbanization to promote farmer per capita planting area has expanded as a result of the development of demonstration farmers’ cooperatives. Also an increase of urban agricultural employment and development of demonstration farmers’ cooperatives showed an inverse relationship.

Rural households’ decision-making in fuelwood collection. A case study of natural forest margins in the tropics

Households located in peripheral villages of the natural forests are heavily dependent on fuelwood for their primary energy source. Due to excessive use, the productivity of the remaining forests is at a critical stage. The study’s main objective was to assess the household decision-making behavior in fuelwood extraction from natural forests. Households’ decision-making behavior was tested using social, economic and physical factors. Five forest reserves were selected for the study where fuelwood dependency is pronounced. The study findings showed factors such as off-farm income, wealth, diversification index, agricultural efficiency and male–female ratio had negative and significant effects on fuelwood dependency. Income diversification, creating off-farm employment, augmenting household wealth and farming efficiency may be viable options for minimizing fuelwood dependency.

Factors Affecting Technical Efficiency of Small- holder Coffee Farming in the Krong Ana Watershed, Vietnam

Coffee production is a major source of income for farmers in the DakLak province in Vietnam. Although Vietnam is one of the largest coffee producers in the world, research to improve the coffee industry is lacking, in particular, evaluating production efficiency in coffee farming could highlight factors that improve technical efficiency. The overall objective of this study is to estimate the technical efficiency of coffee production and determine which factors affect technical efficiency of small holder coffee farmers in the Krong Ana Watershed of the DakLak province. Based on the stochastic production frontier, the estimated mean technical efficiency scores were 0.7466 and 0.6836 respectively for the Cu Kuin district and the three combined districts (Krong Ana, Krong Bong and Lak). Formal education of the household head, amount of financial credit obtained, ethnicity, coffee farming experience of the household head, and agricultural extension service used were key factors that can increase technical efficiency in coffee production.

Economic competitiveness of bio-fuel production from underutilized ethanol feedstock in Sri Lanka.

Abstract Sri Lankas agricultural sector has an abundant supply of natural resources that can be further developed and utilized to produce bio-fuels. Transformation of the nations significant renewable biomass resources into cost-competitive, high-performance bio-fuels could reduce the countrys dependence on imported fossil fuels and enhance energy security. However, there is limited understanding of the potential of bio-fuel resources, their utilization, and economic potential. This study evaluates the economic competitiveness of producing ethanol from sugar, starch and cellulosic feedstock. The net economic returns model was used to select economically feasible feedstock for bio-fuel production. For each feedstock, net present value, feedstock cost per British thermal unit (Btu) and per gallon of ethanol, and break-even price of feedstock and ethanol were calculated. Cellulosic feedstock showed the lowest feedstock cost per gallon of ethanol. Sugarcane, cassava, corn, and cellulosic feedstock appeared to be the leading bio-fuel crops among the investigated crops. For cellulosic feedstock, however, the process of converting the feedstock into ethanol is still in the demonstration phase; hence, results should be interpreted with caution.