International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Mar 2012

From a total of 656 broiler farms with the permission of exploitation in Guilan province, data was gathered from 20% of active farms including 85 units (Capacity of over 1663000 portions of broiler chickens) to evaluate the management of nutrition and nourish using questionnaire. The questionnaires were completed by the interview method. The methods of making feed, feed formulation, the shape of grain, the frequency of feeding, the type of dietary supplement and food additives, the use of experts, feed conversion ratio, causes of mortality, the age of mortality, drinking and feeding systems, and how to use fine nourishing (in the shape of supplement or concentrate) were considered in this study. The performance was calculated for each broiler farm. According to the production index, the farms were divided into three groups of weak (200+25), medium (250+25), and good (300+25) and their differences were compared. According to the results, among the managerial factors, the factors such as: feeding system, water quality, the conformity of ration in nutrition with the needs of commercial strains and drinking management, have the most portion in creating the three groups of good, medium and weak, among the broiler rearing farms. Thus, in the study of each group’s feeding system, the good group has the highest percentage of using automatic systems (86/60) and the weak group has the highest percentage of using manual systems. In comparing three groups regarding the drinking water quality, it was observed that good, medium and weak groups drink 92%, 61.84%, and 75% fresh water, respectively. Furthermore, in the weak group, most of the farms have used the water with tolerable hardness or saltiness. Finally, the conformity of strain’s requirement with diet was examined among groups. The results showed that 16.5% of units followed this conformity and the percentages of the good, medium, weak groups was 11.12%, 28%, 53.5%, respectively.

The study examines production efficiency of farmers under National Fadama-II Project in Oyo State Nigeria. Primary data were collected from two hundred and sixty-four farmers using multistage sampling technique. The analytical framework used for the study include: descriptive, infrastructure index, gross margin and stochastic frontier production function. Average infrastructural index in the area was 0.42. The gross margin for IDV was ₦445, 968.30 while for IUV for under-developed in Fadama villages is ₦357, 805.00. Gross margin was higher for Fadama II farmers than non Fadama-II farmers in IDV. The mean technical efficiency were 0.69 and 0.59 for Fadama and non-Fadama farmers respectively. The result showed that technical inefficiency of female Fadama-II farmers reduced by 0.19% while that of non-Fadama II farmers by 1.23%. Similarly, extension contact, marital status and infrastructural status reduced technical inefficiency of Fadama-II farmers by 2.8%, 0.3% and 2.6% respectively. Presence of infrastructure of Fadama-II project has imparted on efficiency of resource use among the beneficiary. There is therefore need to improve on Community Driven Development programme like Fadama-II and on coming Fadama-III project or any developmental project, so as to further impart more technical and economic knowledge to farmers.

Rural women in Pakistan, under a small holding system of farming, play a pivotal role in farming. They actively participate in a range of activities related to crop production and livestock management. Rural women remain busy from dawn to dusk in various agricultural activities, including pre-harvest, post-harvest and livestock management. Their participation is well dispersed but less perceived because of insufficient data to show their active involvement in various agricultural activities. Keeping these points in mind, this study was designed to explore the extent of women’s participation in various agricultural activities in district Bahawalpur (Southern Punjab, Pakistan). A total of 125 rural women were selected through multistage random sampling technique and interviewed with a well-designed, pre-tested interview schedule, and the data was analyzed using SPSS. The results of the data analysis revealed that rural women’s participation level was at the top (M = 2.87 and SD = 0.42) in picking of cotton while their participation level was found low (M = 1.78 and SD = 0.88) in broadcasting of seed/fertilizer among different crop production and management related activities. While on the other hand their extent of participation was found at the top (M = 2.90 and SD = 0.30) in cleaning of animal’s sheds and found low (M = 2.02 and SD = 0.83) in calf rearing among different livestock production and management which were being performed by rural women. Regarding daily time given by rural women to perform various crop production, livestock production and household activities majority of rural women they devote > than 8 hours in a day to perform these activities as reported by 27.2%, 32.8% and 76.8% of the respondents, respectively. It is recommended that national commission should be established to recognize and documented the participation of rural women at various national and international forums. It is also recommended that women training wing should be established at national level under the supervision of district administration to train rural women in different areas of crop and livestock production so that they can contribute in a better way in the national economy.

The cyclical economic downturn in the United States has forced many Extension administrators to rethink and adjust services and programming. The Cooperative Extension System (CES), the organization primarily responsible for governmental Extension work in the United States, at Iowa State University responded to this economic downturn by restructuring its organization from county based to a regional model. This paper shares the experiences of key administrators in planning this restructuring process and the lessons learned. This experience and the restructuring processes used have implications for administrators in all organizational settings.

This study is carried out to estimate the potential evapotranspiration (PET) and crop coefficient (Kc) for Wheat, BL 3235 variety. A lysimeter is installed to estimate PET at the experimental farm of Agricultural Research Center of Bhairahawa, which is located in western part of Nepal. The Blaney-Criddle formula is used to estimate the Kc for wheat. The estimated values of PET and Kc for wheat at the four crop growth stages (initial, crop development, mid season/reproductive and late season/maturity) are 3.5 cm, 7.82 cm, 11.3 cm, 1.16 cm and 0.34, 0.67, 0.73, 0.06 respectively. The total value of PET and average value of Kc for Wheat is 23.78 cm and 0.45. Aridity index (AI), the ratio of precipitation to PET, is an important parameter to determine the dryness of a region. The average value of AI at the Wheat growing season (January to April, 2011) in Bhairahawa is 0.39, and is classified as a semiarid region.

The objective of this study is to determine factors affecting the technical efficiency of the inshore fisheries in Kuala Terengganu. Data for the study was collected from a survey conducted between June and August 2007 where 100 fishermen in 14 villages were chosen by stratified sampling. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Tobit analysis were employed to determine the technical efficiency level and factors influencing technical efficiency among the fishermen. Results of the study show that, most fishing units exhibit a low degree of technical efficiency. This implies that either fishing inputs were used inefficiently or insufficient inputs were used in fishing activities. The mean technical efficiency for the sample was estimated to be 55% for the peak season and 40% for the non peak season. About 37% and 62% of the fishermen had less than 40% level of technical efficiency in peak season and non peak season respectively. Management variables (planning, staffing and controlling) and demographic variables (size of horsepower, size of family and formal education) exert positive effects on technical efficiency of inshore fisheries in Kuala Terengganu. These findings suggest that there is much room for improvement in efficiency among a large segment of the inshore fishermen. With appropriate training and using more advanced technologies, fishermen’ level of technical efficiency can be raised.

This study focused to identify the likelihood factors affecting on farmers’ higher gain from paddy marketing in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka, where the main paddy cultivation area of the country. The required data was drawn from the field survey carried out in three irrigation systems covering 257 farmers during July to August 2010. The empirical logit model was used to assess factors. The study found that imperfections of existing paddy marketing system in the area due to concentrated market power among few oligopolistic buyers. Furthermore, land size, land ownership, poor accessibility in formal sector credit market and farmers involvement in informal sector credit sources are critical to farmers’ decisions to gain higher returns from paddy marketing. The results further showed the need of reviewing the roles and functions of government extension services and farmer organizations with regard to the paddy marketing.

According to the Ahlowalia hypothesis (1995), the growth of total factor productivity (TFP) beside infrastructure investments of government lead to income inequality decrease in rural areas of countries. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of public investments such as agricultural R&E, road, education and irrigation on income inequality in rural areas of Iran. In order to get results, we used ARDL method and time series data of 1980 to 2008. However, this research attempts to survey the direction of causality between the income inequality and total factor productivity (TFP) in Iran. Empirical results show there is a negative relation between income inequality and agricultural TFP in rural areas of Iran. Hence, additional investments on rural education and agricultural R&E have significance and different impacts on income inequality. Findings showed Ahlowalia hypothesis developed for the relation among income inequality, TFP and investment in electricity is not rejected in case of Iran`s rural areas.