ISSN 2284-7995, ISSN Online 2285-3952
 

Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 18 ISSUE 1
Written by Godwin Ndubuisi Ikechukwu MBAGWU

The study analyzed factors influencing membership of farmer’s in cooperative societies in Abia State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 80 co-operators. Data were collected with structured questionnaire and analyzed with descriptive statistics such as: frequency counts, mean scores and percentages and inferential statistics (probit regression analysis). The result of socio-economic characteristics of showed the farmers had mean ages of 40.67 years, household size of 4.1 persons, mean farm income of ₦201, 000.00 with a mean farming experience 6.1years. The result revealed that 57.2% and 41.2 of the farmers belonged to farmers’ multipurpose and agricultural cooperative societies. The result of probit regression estimates showed that coefficients age, farming experience, income, household size and poverty level influenced cooperative membership in the study area. Policies aimed at reducing household sizes by appropriate family planning techniques in order to reduce poverty and encouraging farmers to join cooperative societies for ease access of inputs and credit for enhanced productivity were advocated.

[Read full article] [Citation]

Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 18 ISSUE 3
Written by Yousef DEHGHANI, Soleiman RASOULIAZAR, Loghman RASHIDPOUR

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing people's participation in the exploitation of water resources for agriculture. The population consists of experts with a B.A. and higher degree employed in various sectors of Agriculture Organization, Water Organization and Research Center of Urmia city. The sample was randomly selected, and the sample size was determined through Kerjice and Morgan table to be 196. This is an applied field study. The survey tool is a structured questionnaire with close-ended question and its validity and reliability is confirmed by experienced professors, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient which indicates the validity of the questionnaire is calculated to be 0.834. The results show that there is a significant relationship among the administrative, social, cultural, educational, economic, ecological, technical, structural and political factors and the importance of people's participation in the exploitation of water resources for agriculture. The results of multiple regression showed that the independent variables explained 66 percent of the dependent variable variance. According to finding in this research these recommendation comments: Improvement and shortening of water transfer networks in order to speed up the transfer of water and reduction of water loss. Government financial support in the agricultural-industrial sector in order to use new technologies. Preventing economic, social, environmental and political losses due to Urmia Lake drying. Maintaining the diversity of plants and crops through water management and environmental management and environmental ethics. The role of mass media such as radio and television, the use of other channels of communication in highlighting the importance of optimal water consumption. Government support for farmers to renew or launch pipeline for farms and gardens to prevent water losses, as well as supporting new irrigation methods and repairing old transmission lines. Increasing cooperation between people and society and even the state regarding participation in the optimal use of water resources.

[Read full article] [Citation]

Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 17 ISSUE 3
Written by Uchechukwu Sear NNAMDI

This study analyzed factors influencing performance of National Directorate of Employment Graduate farmers in Rural Agricultural Development Training Scheme of Imo State, Nigeria. A multi-stage random sampling procedure was used to select 90 (45 cassava and 45 poultry farmers). Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean counts. Return on Investment and multiple regression models. The result from the study showed that 57.78% of the farmers were males with mean farming experience of 14 years and farm size and flock size of 1.5 hectares and 90.5 birds respectively. The result also shows that incomes from cassava and poultry farming were N325,500.00 and N421,400.00 respectively. Cassava and poultry production enterprise was a lucrative business with a Return on Investment (ROI) of 142.40%.and 138.40% respectively. The multiple regression analysis result revealed that coefficients for age, marital status, household size, farming experience, flock size, crop output and poultry output influenced performance of cassava and poultry farmers’ performance. It is therefore recommends proper funding of the scheme, awareness and sensitization of the programme agricultural activities and monitoring of graduate farmers for effective performance of their farming activities.

[Read full article] [Citation]

Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 18 ISSUE 4
Written by Olabode Stephen ALABI, Victor Ogbonnaya OKORIE, Tiwalola Oyeyinka ALABI, Adedayo Olufemi AJAYI

The study considered the training needs of sheep and goat farmers in Ekiti state, Nigeria. Specifically, the study profiled the socio-economic characteristics of sheep and goat farmers, assessed their knowledge and skill in small ruminant production management practices, determined the productivity of their management practices, identified their training needs and isolated factors influencing it. A total of 183 respondents for the study were selected via a multi-stage sampling procedure. Data for the study was collected using interview schedule and analysed using appropriate descriptive and inferential statistical tools. The average age of the farmers was 50 years and 88.0 per cent of them were literate. The average yearly income from small ruminant production was ₦9, 041. Farmers’ level of knowledge was highest in identification of sick animals (x =9.1) but lowest in vaccination (x =1.3). The level of skill of farmers was highest in feeding of animals (x =4.3) but lowest in health management (x =2.5). The average productivity for goat in the study area was ₦29, 642 with many (62.8%) of the farmers producing below the group average value. Also, the average productivity for sheep was ₦50, 066 with 53.0 per cent of the farmers producing below the group average. Construction of modern houses and health management practices are some of the identified training needs of the farmers. Furthermore, age of farmers, their contact with extension agents and level of skill were some of the factors influencing their training needs. The study recommended that the identified training needs should be emphasized in any capacity building programme aimed at improving the productivity of small ruminant farmers in the study area.

[Read full article] [Citation]

Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 16 ISSUE 3
Written by Stanisław ZAJĄC, Dorota JANAS

The aim of the study was to assess innovation in enterprises in the province of Podkarpackie. The scope of work included in particular the determination of the factors initiating the process of implementing innovations and to present barriers perceived by their implementation. Innovation plays an important role in business management. It determines not only the pace, direction of development, competitiveness but also the forms and international structure of the business cooperation. The study shows that improving service quality, cost reduction and innovation have the greatest impact on improving the competitive position. The biggest impact on the introduction of innovation have customer requirements, the need to achieve a competitive advantage, ahead of competitors' actions (being a leader). The biggest barrier to the implementation of innovation is too long time to implement innovation and excessive bureaucracy associated with fundraising.

[Read full article] [Citation]

Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 18 ISSUE 2
Written by Veronica PRISACARU, Alina CARADJA

In spite of the fact that the term „marketization” is relatively new in the academic language of the Republic of Moldova, market laws have been functioning for some time in the educational market, especially through competition in attracting potential candidates to study. This investigation is focused on the following objectives: a) synthesizing the conceptual approaches of higher education marketization; b) analyzing Moldova’s higher education market through the evolution of supply and demand; c) identifying the basic factors determining the attractiveness of higher education institutions for potential candidates. In order to achieve the stated objectives, the following research methods were used: the synthesis of theoretical approaches regarding the marketization of higher education, opinion survey, comparative analysis and generalization .In conclusion, there were identified and ranked the attractiveness factors of the higher education institutions and there were made recommendations in order to increase their competitiveness in the market of educational services.

[Read full article] [Citation]

Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 15 ISSUE 4
Written by Camelia TOMA

Global warming currently implies two major problems for mankind: the need for a drastic diminution of greenhouse gas emissions on one hand, and the need to adapt to the climate change effects on the other hand. The CRESC Strategy emphasized the agricultural sector contribution to the greenhouse gas production by more than 15% of total greenhouse gases produced in our country, although in the last 25 years the greenhouse gases were down by half. In order to measure the impact of farming activities upon the environment, as well as the effects that the climate changes have upon agriculture and the sustainable development of the European rural area, sets of agroenvironmental indicators were established; these indicators were tested in Romania’s case as well, with regard to the relevance for policy assessment, the response capacity, analytical base, data accessibility and measurability, interpretation facility and cost effectiveness. Following these studies, the conclusion was that only part of these indicators can be calculated, the remaining indicators being estimated by mathematic modelling, due to the great diversity of physical-geographic conditions and agricultural systems, which depend on a wide range of specific local characteristics. In the last 20 years countries like France, for instance, designed methods to measure the agroenvironmental indicators at farm level. Farmers’ awareness and involvement is essential in the environment protection activity and the contribution that this activity can bring in the fight against climate change. The purpose of the paper is to test the DIALECT method on the Romanian farms, by a double approach, i.e. global and thematic, by the environmental components. The diagnosis has the capacity to measure the environment "value added", expressed by a better nitrogen and manure management, the way in which the conversion to organic farming takes place, which is the effect of the change in crop rotation, the way in which certain operations better optimize the use of own natural resources (soil, weather, biodiversity, etc.) and put a limit to the pressure on resources (water, energy, etc.), while other operations have a negative impact upon the local ecosystems.

[Read full article] [Citation]

Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 16 ISSUE 3
Written by Ibrahim Shehu USMAN, Aliyu ABDULLAHI, Abubakar Isa QASIMU, Tijjani ADAMU

The study analysed the perception of organic manure use among arable crops farmers in Jalingo Local Government Area Taraba State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data from 114 respondents who were proportionately and randomly selected. The data were analyzed using descriptive and logit regression model. The results reveal that 86% of the respondents were males, 67.6% were between the ages of 32-50 years, 74.6% were married, 72.8% have house hold size of between 1-10 persons, 88.7% had one form of education or the other, 57%, had 1-5 hectares of land, 51.8% have 1-10 years of farming experience and 52.6% have access to extension service. The findings also revealed that 92% of the arable crops farmers used organic manure. It also revealed that arable crop farmers in the study area have diverse perceptions on organic manure usage. Logit regression results revealed that farming experience, level of education, farm size, extension contacts and distance of farm from home contributed significantly to the use of organic manure in the study area. The findings also shows that odour, encouragement of high growth of weeds by the organic manure, preparation of the compost manure were the very serious constraints to the use of organic manure. Application of organic manure, transportation to farm, accessibility and availability of the organic manure are the serious constraint to the use of organic manure by the respondents. The study concluded that majority of the farmers in the study area were male, youth, married and educated. They are small holder farmers with ample farming experience. They have favourable perception toward the use of organic manure. The more the farmers increase their farm size, the more the tendency of using organic manure. So also, high level of education of farmers and extension contacts tends to influence their organic manure usage. The study recommended that Government should support farmers and introduce policies that will enable the farmers to own and cultivate large scale farms. Extension agents should intensify effort on educating the arable crops farmers on organic manure utilization.

[Read full article] [Citation]

Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 18 ISSUE 3
Written by Dariusz KUSZ

In the conditions of the modern economy, competitiveness is one of the most important components of the assessment of the position of a business in the market. Depending on the sector or industry, competition can take place on many levels, can have different character and varying severity. The problem of farm competition, which was defined as the farm's ability to grow, was addressed in the paper. This capacity was measured using the value of agricultural income generated by the agricultural holding. The competitiveness index (CI) by W. Kleinhans was used in the work. The index measures the real value of agricultural income to the value of own costs of production factors. The purpose of the research was to evaluate the competitiveness of farms from chosen countries of Central and Eastern Europe and to find out the determinants of competitiveness correlated to the production potential of farms, management efficiency and an investment activity. It was discovered that the competitiveness level of agricultural farms in the chosen countries of Central and Eastern Europe was characterized by a considerable diversity. The highest level of competitiveness characterized agricultural farms from the Czech Republic, and the lowest was achieved by agricultural farms in Slovakia. When analyze the impact of selected factors characterizing the production potential, management efficiency and investment activity of agricultural farms on the level of competitiveness, their varied impact resulting from the specificity of agriculture in a given country was found. The attention was also paid to the need to look for determinants of the competitiveness of farms in their surroundings.

[Read full article] [Citation]

Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 16 ISSUE 4
Written by Vida DABKIENĖ

The paper aimed to evaluate the differences of fertilizers consumption and land productivity across family farm types and farm size classes in Lithuania. Lithuanian FADN data from 2014 were obtained for the analysis. The research draws on a sample of 616 family farms. The analyses are carried out for specialist cereals, oilseeds and protein crops farm type (TF 15), general field cropping farm type (TF 16), horticulture farm type (TF 23) and various permanent crops combined farm type (TF 38). Results are presented in weighted averages by using weighting factors to achieve estimation for the total Lithuanian family farms. An overview of fertilizers consumption in Europe countries is presented. The results revealed that in 2010 fertilizers consumption averaged 90 kg/ha UAA in Europe, the highest level was recorded in Netherlands (more than 140 kg/ha UAA) and Romania reported the lowest level of fertilizers consumed, at just above 30 kg/ha UAA. In Lithuanian family farms the consumption of fertilizers averaged 169.9 kg/ha UAA across considered farm types and ranged from 20.2 kg/ha UAA on permanent crop farms to 195.4 kg/ha UAA on conventional field cropping farms in 2014. Nitrogen-based fertilizers accounted for 52% of the fertilizers consumed and 88.2 kg/ha UAA indicated large consumption level. Therefore, developing a suitable nutrient management system that optimize crop yields while minimizing nutrient losses is still needed as efficient fertilizers consumption management should ensure both enhanced and sustainable agricultural production and safeguard the environment.

[Read full article] [Citation]

Subcategories

Articole_Vol12_Issue 3

Vol. 24 - Issue 4

Page 26 of 68

The publisher is not responsible for the opinions published in the Volume. They represent the authors’ point of view.

© 2019 To be cited: Scientific Papers. Series “Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and Rural Development“.

Powered by INTELIDEV

Management Journal