International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development
Volume:9 Issue: 3, Sep 2019

The realization of sustainable development depends on the efficient use of energy resources. Energy consumption productivity and efficiency are among important indices that play a critical role in explaining the behavior of energy consumption structure of different economic sectors, which in turn, plays a key role in policy making. From among economic sectors, the agriculture sector, as an important sector, depends on the consumption of energy as a factor underpinning agricultural production to a great extent. Thus, the present study tries to firstly calculate energy efficiency and productivity of agricultural sector, and then, investigate the relationship between production and energy consumption of New Zealand’s agricultural sector using simultaneous equations system and two-stage least squares method. The annual data of New Zealand agricultural economics are used for the period of 1990-2017. The results showed that agricultural sector’s energy consumption efficiency in New Zealand was mostly optimum according to energy efficiency index. In addition, estimation of energy equation revealed that the added value of agricultural sector had a positive influence on energy consumption growth. Among the other positively affecting variables, agricultural sector’s labour and energy consumption in the prior period could be mentioned. The negative sign of capital stock in the equation reflects the fact that the higher the investment in agricultural sector, the lower the energy consumption.

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is one of the stable tuber crops consumed by many households in Nigeria. It can be found in different varieties and exist in many colours of skin and flesh. The production of this important crop is still very low, thereby compromising food security. Sweet potato is one of the target commodity crops under the Nigerian Agriculture Sector Investment Opportunities. However, improved sweet potato production has not been widely adopted among farmers Oyo state hence, the need to investigate factors affecting the adoption of improved sweet potato varieties among farmers in Oyo state. Data were collected from 350 farmers randomly selected from two agricultural zones in the state. The data collected were presented using descriptive statistics and analysed using Tobit regression model. Results showed that farm size, age, years of formal education, early maturing, high yield potential, market availability, resistant to pests and diseases and availability of vines significantly influenced the adoption of improved sweet potato varieties. Availability of vines of improved varieties, high yield potential, early maturity, resistant to pests and diseases and market availability were the technology-specific attributes that influenced both the adoption of improved sweet potato varieties and its use intensity. The study, therefore suggests that attribute preferences of farmers need to be integrated into the development of improved sweet potato varieties by the researchers to enhance its adoption and use intensity.

The high capacity of the agricultural sector in Kermanshah Province needs more attention for some reasons including weather and climate conditions, access to fertile lands, and ready-made labor force. The current research seeks to achieve a major strategy for the development of entrepreneurship activities in the agricultural sector of Kermanshah Province. To reach end a mixed research method was used in which the content analysis and survey methods were used in the qualitative and quantitative phases, respectively. The content analysis and “Analysis of Hierarchy Process (AHP) were applied by using Expert Choice software for data analysis. In the quantitative part, the study population was comprised of agricultural entrepreneurs in Kermanshah Province, of which 27 participated in semi-structured interviews. In the quantitative part, a pairwise comparison questionnaire was administered to 10 entrepreneurs who were entrepreneurship experts. Based on the results obtained from the current research, the development strategy, namely “regional market development, paving the way for the development of entrepreneurial companies, and presentation of products fabricated by agricultural entrepreneurs in Kermanshah Province in regional, national, and international exhibitions”, was chosen as the best conservative strategy with the final priority of 0.347. In addition, another strategy, i.e. “the formulation of policies and establishment of appropriate support platforms for agricultural entrepreneurs by the state and organizations, such as subsidizing producers and providing facilities to entrepreneurs to facilitate access to suitable land for their activities”, with the final priority of 0.270% was chosen as the alternative strategy for the development of entrepreneurial activities in Kermanshah province.

Energy carriers are one of the most important inputs in the agricultural sector. These inputs have been the foundation of the development and transition of the agricultural sector from the traditional stage to the industrial stage. The energy per capita marginal consumption in Iran’s agricultural sector is 3.2 times greater than its global average. Therefore, it is essential to save and optimally use energy carriers in this sector. Price liberalization is known as the most important pricing tool. The present study analyzes the effect of the prices of energy carriers on the productivity of their consumption in the agricultural sector by using the hidden cointegration method. The results show that the productivity of electricity and oil products display an asymmetric behavior in response to energy price variations so that electricity productivity decreases by 1145.04 units as the prices of electricity carriers rise and increases by 1254.32 units when the prices of electricity decrease. Also, when the price of oil products increases, productivity shows an increase of 22.18 units. In addition, the productivity of oil product carriers is improved by increasing their prices. Therefore, price correction is inevitable in the energy carrier sector. Given the asymmetric effect of the price of electricity on its productivity, the type of electricity price correction process should be considered along with non-price policies. The pricing tool only provides an incentive for productivity growth through the substitution of production factors. Given these conditions, if there is no economic structure and facilities to improve productivity, it cannot be expected that the pattern of energy consumption is corrected.

Despite huge environmental, economic, health, and social costs of pesticides, evidence revealed that farmers in developing countries would continue to use pesticides. The root of the problem appears to be related to the way of farmers’ decision making. As such, it is crucial for policymakers to understand how farmers think and behave with regard to these inputs. Therefore, the aim of this research was to accrue empirical evidence about greenhouse owners’ attitudes and intention toward avoiding using pesticides in Bandar Abbas District using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). TPB was tested using a survey to understand greenhouse owners’ attitude and intention. The study sample consisted of 110 greenhouse owners selected through a random sampling method. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire to assess the central variables of the theory. The questionnaire’s internal reliability and validity were confirmed by a panel of experts. Results indicated that the greenhouse owners’ moral norm was the main predictor of their intention to avoid pesticide application followed by the variables of self-identity and attitude, respectively. Furthermore, adding moral norm and self-identity as additional constructs to the theory significantly improved the explanatory power of the standard model.

The purpose of this study is to investigate problems and barriers of greenhouse growers in Isfahan Province, Iran using the qualitative paradigm. Data were collected with semi-structured interviews and direct observations. Most participants were questioned by phone interview. The response rate to phone calls was 59.2 percent. Data are analyzed by the grounded theory. Structural analysis is utilized to evaluate open-ended questions. The components of the questionnaire including the words, concepts and their correlations in terms of frequency, the number of words, vocabularies, metaphors, and idioms used in the sentences are investigated to discover the existing patterns in their statements. As a result, 849 problems are expressed by greenhouse growers. At the open coding stage, the extracted phrases are formulated in 27 terms of meaningful expressions by integrating the same items and removing repetitive cases. At the axial coding stage, 27 formulated concepts are obtained. Subsequently, the extracted phrases create eight main factors. At the selective coding stage, the greenhouse owners' basic problems are categorized into four categories: economic, infrastructure and strategic, human, and extra-organizational. The study shows that about 50 percent of greenhouse growers’ problems are caused by three factors as follows: extreme price fluctuations, brokerage interval, and high costs of fuel. Finding solutions can improve the greenhouse sector.

Water Users Association (WUAs) is one of the methods of participatory water resource management whose success and efficiency requires the participation of farmers. Purpose of this study was to identify and prioritize the solutions for farmers’ participation enhancing in WUAs. This exploratory article was carried out by the mixed methods design. The qualitative part of the study was conducted by Grounded Theory (GT). The statistical population consisted of 14 key informant experts of water resources management. Data were gathered by semi-structured interview. The triangulation of peers in different position was used to enhance the accuracy of the data. Categories were derived from interviews by MAXQDA12 software. In the quantitative phase, 133 members of WUAs were sampled in Lorestan Province (N=1990) using the Cochran formula. Solutions proposed by experts were provided to the members of WUAs in the form of a questionnaire. Results showed that there were distrust among members, members' distrust to WUAs mangers and tension in management of this organization. The most important solutions for farmer's participation in WUAs were to reduce local tensions, motivating mechanisms for cooperation of farmers in WUAs and helping farmers for a better consensus

One of the most important factors for successful implementation of activities, maintaining status and keeping balance in an organization is human resources. In this regard, the present study aims to analyze the role of informal internal staffing as a mediator in explaining the attitudes of the employees of the Agriculture Jihad Organization (AJO) of Guilan Province through the commitment of management to internal marketing. The target population of the study was composed of the employees of AJO. Simple random sampling approach was applied for choosing subjects. To test and analyze the hypotheses, structural equation modeling (SEM) and Smart PLS software were used. The results showed that due to the low commitment of management to internal marketing in the statistical society, informal relationships were hard to form between employees and management and the positive attitude toward work was at a low level. This becomes more important when the hypothesis is confirmed, but the severity of the coefficients indicates the moderate relationship between the main variables of the research.

Agricultural risks constitute a fundamental challenge in Nigeria, hence the importance of agricultural insurance in managing farm risks cannot be underestimated. As the crop sub-sector contributes about 85% of the agricultural GDP in Nigeria, this study focussed on awareness and factors that can enhance the adoption of crop insurance among crop farmers in Nigeria. Data collected from 310 randomly sampled crop farmers in three agro-ecological zones in Nigeria using interview schedule were analysed with frequency and percentage counts. Majority (82.7%) of the crop farmers who were aware of crop insurance did not adopt. Major inhibitors cited include; complicated procedures (70.2%), accessibility (64.9%), high premium (63.2%) and religious/ethical considerations (41.2%). Respondents identified major motivating factors as; increased local availability of agricultural insurance offices (88.4%); higher propensity in getting claims (87.1%) and low bureaucratic procedures (79.7%). The study concludes that awareness is not a major determining factor in adoption of agricultural insurance in Nigeria. The study recommends that procedures should be less complicated; while agricultural insurance offices should be locally accessible to crop farmers. Insurance procedures should also be redesigned to enhance the adoption of crop farmers who are hindered by religious/ethical considerations.