The Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) is a direct, multi-dimensional measure of women's access to resources and decision-making in various domains of agriculture. However, several challenges characterize its use: adaptation of questionnaires to local agricultural contexts, modifications to index construction once underlying activities and adequacy thresholds are modified, and sensitivity analysis. In this paper, the authors address such challenges based on our experience of adapting and using the WEAI across 3600 households in India.
After years of neglect, there is a renewed interest in agricultural mechanization in Africa. Since government initiatives to promote mechanization are confronted with major governance challenges, private-sector initiatives may offer a promising alternative. However, given limited scientific studies on such private-sector options such approaches are often viewed skeptically. One concern is that multi-national agribusiness companies take advantage of smallholder farmers. Another concern is that mechanization causes rural unemployment.
This study explores the role of gender-based decision-making in the adoption of improved maize varieties. The primary data were collected in 2018 from 560 farm households in Dawuro Zone, Ethiopia, and were comparatively analyzed across gender categories of households: male decision-making, female decision-making and joint decision-making, using a double-hurdle model. The results show that the intensity of improved maize varieties adopted on plots managed by male, female, and joint decision-making households are significantly different.
This study is designed to assess the factors that affect smallholder rice farmer’s participation in market. In addition it also examines the effect of commercialization on the welfare of smallholder farmers. The method of Heckman two-stage model is used to obtain the desired objectives. Random sampling technique is used to collect data from 249 smallholder farmers.
Increasing on-farm production diversity and improving markets are recognized as ways to improve the dietary diversity of smallholders. Using instrumental variable methods to account for endogeneity, this paper studies the interplay of production diversity, markets and diets in the context of seasonality in Afghanistan. Accordingly to the authors improved crop diversity over the year is positively associated with dietary diversity in the regular season, but not in the lean season.
Global population growth, an increasing demand for animal products and scarcity of conventional feed ingredients drive the search for alternative protein sources for animal feed. Extensive research indicates that insects provide good opportunities as a sustainable, high quality and low-cost component of animal feed. Here, we discuss how insect farming can promote inclusive business for smallholder farmers in the agribusiness value chain.
Este boletín presenta información recolectada a través de la "Encuesta Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación del Sistema Nacional de Innovación Agropecuaria" y otras fuentes, con el fin de mostrar un panorama de la ciencia, la tecnología y la innovación. Los indicadores discutidos en esta publicación deben apoyar la toma de decisiones a nivel nacional y regional; apoyar la formulación de la política pública; y orientar la investigación, desarollo tecnológico y la innovación (I+D+i) del sector.
La innovación es considerada como un factor de supervivencia organizacional y necesita de elementos de gestión que contribuyan a su sustento y vigencia en el tiempo, manteniendo así su objetivo primordial que es la usabilidad y la generación de ganancias.
El presente artículo presenta el estudio de caso desarrollado con la Asociación Agropecuaria de Mujeres Emprendedoras del Municipio de Sotaquirá (ASOAMMES), en el que se propuso y se desarrolló una estrategia de diseño participativo, con el objetivo de generar valor agregado y ventajas competitivas en las actividades productivas que desempeñan las 40 mujeres que conforman dicha asociación.
El objetivo del trabajo fue mostrar cómo el Sistema de Innovación Agrícola Local (SIAL) en el municipio Perico, provincia Matanzas, Cuba, pudo resolver desafíos productivos a partir de que se detectaron en la Plataforma Multiactoral de Gestión (PMG), lo cual se inició con la problemática de bajo rendimiento en la producción de Ipomoea batatas (boniato) en el polo productivo de La Angelina. Para ello se utilizaron diferentes métodos científicos y técnicas de investigación como: diagnósticos del contexto, encuestas, muestreos de suelo, entre otros.