Extension agent is one of the important factors in the agricultural process to deliver technology information and agricultural programs from government to farmers. The good performance of agricultural extension agents will have an impact on improving the performance of farmers to increase agricultural production.In Langkat Regency, the extension agent performance was not still optimal. Factors affecting the performance of the extension agent consist of internal and external factors.
The latest turmoil of production and price volatility in the global food sector has put agriculture back to the top of the development agenda. Population growth, changing consumer preferences, bioenergy demand and climate change are some of the huge challenges for agricultural production today and in the future. In the last decades, productivity has been constantly improved through the introduction of improved crop varieties and the greater use of mechanization, irrigation, chemical fertilizer and pesticides.
There is an emerging body of literature analysing how smallholder farmers in developing countries can benefit from modern supply chains. However, most of the available studies concentrate on export markets and fail to capture spillover effects that modern supply chains may have on local markets. Here, we analyse the case of sweet pepper in Thailand, which was initially introduced as a product innovation in modern supply chains, but which is now widely traded also in more traditional markets.
Natural resource management practices, such as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), have been proposed to tackle agricultural challenges such as decreasing productivity growth and environmental degradation. Yet, the benefits of system technologies for farmers are often debated. Impacts seem to be context-specific, which is especially relevant in the small farm sector with its large degree of agroecological and socioeconomic heterogeneity. This was not always considered in previous research.
Food quality and safety are receiving increasing attention in the food sector nationally and internationally. Emerging private sector regulations are increasingly perceived as market entrance barriers within this development. In this paper, we analyze quality assurance programs (QAPs) in the horticultural sector in Vietnam and their effect on access to international markets. A representative sample of registered fruit and vegetable processing firms provide the basis for our analyses. Results of different logistic regression models show that QAPs are market specific.
This publication comprises 24 full papers/abstracts presented at the “High Level Policy Dialogue on Investment in Agricultural Research for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific” (Bangkok, 8-9 December 2015).
Given the diversity and context-specificity of innovation systems approaches, in March 2007 the World Bank organized a workshop in which about 80 experts (representing donor agencies, development and related agencies, academia, and the World Bank) took stock of recent experiences with innovation systems in agriculture and reconsidered strategies for their future development. This paper summarizes the workshop findings and uses them to develop and discuss key issues in applying the innovation systems concept. The workshop’s recommendations, including next steps for the wider
Dairy farmers in the northern regions of New Zealand expressed widespread dissatisfaction with the performance and persistence of their pastures following drought conditions in 2007/08. Farmers were becoming disillusioned with the practice of renewing pasture as a means to introduce modern perennial ryegrass cultivars in their paddocks. This paper describes the formation and operation of an innovation network, consisting of private and public sector actors, that was formed in 2010 to improve the quality and consistency of advice provided to farmers.
Este trabajo presentado en la reunión anual de la Asociación Argentina de Economia Agraria presenta una evaluación de impacto económico de un programa de transferencia tecnológica destinado a los productores primarios asociados a la cooperativa SanCor y que tiene como objetivo mejorar la productividad en la actividad lechera a través de la implementación de nuevas prácticas de manejo, incorporación de tecnología y mejoras en la gestión empresarial.