ABSTRACT Climate change is having a devastating impact on artisanal fisheries communities in developing countries, including Nigeria. In Nigeria, multiple local conflicts have arisen as a result of climate‐related changes in coastal regions. This study investigates the impact of cooperatives and climate change adaptation on conflicts among artisanal fisherfolk in Nigeria. To capture climate change adaptation complexity, we employed the number of climate change adaptation strategies adopted as a count variable. We applied Endogenous Treatment Poisson Regression and Unconditional Quantile Regression models to analyze cross‐sectional data collected from artisanal fisherfolk in the coastal area of Nigeria. Findings from this research revealed that non‐fishing strategies are equally important as part of the climate change adaptation strategies with 43%, 22%, and 14% of the respondents adopting livelihood diversification, a community conflict resolution committee, and formation of local security outfits (vigilante), respectively. The results further showed that cooperatives play a significant role in increasing the number of climate change adaptation strategies adopted. Also, the study empirically established that cooperatives lessen the incidence, especially of the most severe conflicts among artisanal fisherfolk. Therefore, policy efforts should be geared towards strengthening and developing cooperative societies among artisanal fisherfolk in order to strengthen climate adaptation and reduce conflicts.
Understanding risk attitudes is critical for agricultural development, as risk is ubiquitous in the lives of smallholder farmers. Accurate elicitation of risk attitudes is essential to analyze patterns and biases in decision-making. Ensuring comprehension and attention in risk elicitation tasks is particularly important, as inattentiveness generates noise rather than reliable results. Achieving this remains challenging, especially among smallholder farmers in the Global South, since many sophisticated risk elicitation methods require numerical skills that rural populations often lack due to limited education. To contribute to addressing this problem, we isolate the effects of illustration and gamification in risk elicitation tasks-two elements that may increase attention and engagement, potentially producing lower inconsistencies and more reliable results. We empirically test the Wheel-task, an elicitation method designed to be easy to understand and engaging, to motivate participation. The task follows a wheel-of-fortune model, where a spin determines the payout, while participants can always choose between spinning the wheel and a safe payout. We compare the Wheel-task results to the well-established Holt and Laury task (HL-task) in its original form, as well as with probabilities illustrated using the wheel. We collected the data among smallholder coffee farmers from rural Colombia and Peru and in a pilot phase among smallholder farmers from rural Cambodia. We find low levels of comprehension across all three tasks. More specifically, we find no substantial difference in comprehension or levels of risk aversion when illustrating the probabilities in the HL-task using a wheel. However, gamification affects levels of risk aversion, although these effects appear to be culturally dependent.
This study reassesses the impact of the historical BSE outbreak on EU diets, showing that consumption patterns shifted persistently even after policy actions eliminated the food safety risk. Utilizing advanced difference-in-differences techniques on 1980-2020 data, we demonstrate that while beef consumption exhibited a transient U-shaped recovery relative to other meats, it declined sharply compared to plant-based products, with average reductions of 79%, 29%, and 28% for pulses, cereals, and vegetable oils, respectively. This highlights a structural dietary change, overlooked by previous analyses focused on meat substitution. Results are robust to sensitivity analyses. Understanding the primary drivers behind the structural shift in EU consumer diets over recent decades is crucial for future research investigating the reduction in red meat consumption driven by environmental and health concerns in high-income countries.
Land fragmentation is widely recognized as a constraint on smallholder agriculture, raising production costs, limiting mechanization, and reducing efficiency. Land consolidation programs have been introduced in many countries to address this problem, yet their economic effects depend not only on plot reconfiguration but also on institutional implementation and land market functioning. This paper examines the impacts of Vietnam's state-led land consolidation program using six waves of household panel data (2008-2018) from two provinces where consolidation was implemented. Impacts are estimated with two-way fixed effects and a staggered difference-in-differences approach that accounts for heterogeneous adoption timing. The results show that the consolidation program substantially reduced land fragmentation: the number of plots per household fell by roughly three plots, average plot size increased by about 66 percent, and the distance between plots and homesteads declined by approximately 23 percent. At the same time, administrative delays in reissuing land-use-right certificates temporarily reduced the share of titled and collateral-eligible land. While households' overall access to credit is not adversely affected, land rental markets are significantly disrupted, with both rent-in and rent-out declining. Such reductions in land transactions may impede efficient land reallocation and operational scale adjustment, thereby delaying investment and productivity gains from improved land structure. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of institutional implementation and complementary market functioning for realizing the benefits of land consolidation in Vietnam and other smallholder economies.
In real estate markets featuring substantial search friction and strong seller loss aversion, external shocks that shift buyer valuations are largely reflected in liquidity fluctuations, while price adjustments tend to be rigid. This study examines market liquidity shifts following the tightening of South Korean farmland ownership regulations, utilizing the 2021 Farmland Act amendment and nationwide parcel-level transaction data (2013-2023). We estimate the relationships between land liquidity, policy change, and key macro variables (i.e. interest rates) using a monthly county fixed-effects model. We find that the amendment is significantly associated with a 10%-11% reduction in nationwide market liquidity, as measured by the turnover rate. This negative relationship is geographically heterogeneous, being more pronounced in rural areas while statistically insignificant in investment-driven urban areas. Furthermore, our decomposition analysis reveals that the post-enforcement drop in observed market liquidity is mostly associated with rising interest rates. The role of interest rates is more dominant in urbanized areas than rural ones, reflecting the higher concentration of investment-driven buyers and substantial capital requirements for land acquisition in these regions. Our findings demonstrate that the market response to ownership regulation is strongly mediated by local market conditions, highlighting the challenges of enforcing stringent policies in areas with high investment potential.
Despite significant policy interventions and conservation initiatives, incentives for the conservation of biodiversity have been criticised for being ecologically ineffective and economically inefficient. This paper examines a novel approach to improve the ecological and economic performance of such incentives. Specifically, we analyse the ecological and economic effectiveness of a targeting bonus which establishes a two-part subsidy for changes to land management when the ecological benefits of such changes vary spatially. Using a spatially explicit mathematical programming model applied to an empirical case study in the UK, we show that a targeting bonus has the potential to enhance efficiency, with the magnitude of gains depending on the strength of the spatial correlation between opportunity costs and ecological benefits, as well as the size of the budget and the definition of the targeting zone. We find that the targeting bonus offers major advantages when the most ecologically beneficial land parcels are positively correlated with highest opportunity costs for farmers; and that the additional benefits of the targeting bonus relative to a no-bonus subsidy scheme eventually decline as the share of the bonus is increased.
Farmers commit suicide at high rates relative to the general population in the United States and elsewhere. Prior studies on farmer suicide have generally focused on socio-demographic characteristics of individuals and on method of suicide, but few quantitative analyses have sought to understand the possible role of economic and climatic factors as determinants of suicide among farmers. This study addresses this void. We develop an economic model to show how poor economic outcomes or adverse weather conditions can reduce current-period utility and diminish expectations of future utility through accumulation of debt and formation of expectations of future economic and climatic conditions, with suicide resulting in extreme cases. Our empirical analysis merges CDC nonpublic vital statistics, PRISM daily weather data, and USDA NASS crop and livestock price data into a county-year panel to estimate the relationship between weather variables, economic factors, and farmer suicides. Results based upon a Poisson regression model show that long-term, not transitory, poor economic conditions are associated with higher rates of farmer suicide. Extreme heat is also associated with increased farmer suicide, especially in counties most reliant upon animal agriculture. Precipitation appears to play little role in U.S. farmer suicide.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest federal nutrition assistance program in the United States, yet many eligible households do not participate due to administrative burdens, stigma, and geographic access constraints. We examine whether the SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot (OPP), which allows beneficiaries to redeem benefits online, affects program participation. Using a difference-in-differences design with state-level data from 2017 to 2021, we find that SNAP OPP increases program participation per capita by 13.7% (1.6 percentage points) and participation among individuals below the poverty line by 11.3% (11 percentage points). Event-study estimates indicate effects emerge within three months and persist thereafter. Participation gains are larger in states with higher digital infrastructure (computer ownership and internet access) and greater vehicle access, indicating that online and physical access function as complements. States with higher shares of elderly residents and households with children also exhibit stronger responses. These findings suggest that enabling online benefit redemption can expand safety net access, though benefits vary systematically with local infrastructure and demographic composition.
California's increasingly frequent and intense droughts are a pressing problem for the state's agriculture and the US food supply. California supplies more than half of all fruit and vegetables produced in the United States. This paper quantifies the severity of the problem by estimating the impacts of the drought on California's fresh fruit and vegetable production. We estimate panel-data models using comprehensive, county-level agricultural, irrigation, and weather data from 2000 to 2019. We find that droughts significantly reduce total output by 1.2% to 2.2% for each additional week of drought. The estimated effect is driven by lower yields and fewer harvested acres. Drought effects differ among crops, with thirsty crops and crops with lower economic returns and established insurance programs being disproportionately affected. Results also show the extent to which higher irrigation levels mitigate the adverse effects of drought. Our findings provide insights into the importance of enhancing drought-related risk management and implications for designing cost-effective policies for future adaptation decisions.
This study compares the efficiency of homogeneous versus spatially heterogeneous subsidies in developing agricultural plans compatible with bird sustainability. Using the plains of Lleida as a case study-where incentives for agricultural intensification threaten a bird community-we employ a spatially explicit model that simulates crop yields linked to a habitat suitability index for each species. Within this framework, we model subsidies to evaluate their impact on biodiversity conservation, farmer acceptance, required budget, and agricultural economic profitability. We also address incomplete information by relaxing the assumption that the regulator knows real opportunity costs and instead estimate them via sampling methods. Results show that a conservation-focused homogeneous subsidy is significantly less efficient than a heterogeneous one. Heterogeneous subsidies differentiate between farmers' agricultural potential, enabling conservation goals to be met with lower budgets. Moreover, a development-oriented heterogeneous scheme-which maximizes total agricultural profits while ensuring bird sustainability-can be even more effective, reducing implementation costs and promoting agricultural economic growth. However, incomplete information leads to suboptimal decisions, lowering total profits and causing losses for misidentified farmers who may require additional compensation. While heterogeneous subsidies remain budget-efficient under incomplete information, achieving full farmer participation requires higher payments. This reduces their efficiency advantage, but heterogeneous subsidies still represent the more efficient option.
In sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture is vital; however, the systematic exclusion of persons with disabilities from farming hinders sustainable development and social equity. Although several studies have analyzed productivity differentials across various dimensions of social exclusion, empirical evidence on technology access, farming efficiency, and productivity gaps among farmers with disabilities remains limited. This study addresses this gap by evaluating disparities in crop production between farmers with and without disabilities in Ghana, with a particular focus on differences in technology endowment and production efficiency. Utilizing the meta-stochastic frontier analysis coupled with statistical matching techniques on nationally representative farm-level data from the 2012/13 and 2016/17 agricultural seasons, we find negligible differences in technical efficiency between the two groups (less than 0.5%). However, the productive capacity of the technology sets employed by farmers with disabilities is approximately 11%-point lower than that of their counterparts without disability, resulting in a 9.5%-point shortfall in crop production. This production shortfall is primarily driven by reduced per-hectare use of critical inputs such as planting materials, labor, fertilizer, and agro-chemicals. These findings highlight a significant disability-associated technology access gap that reflects broader structural inequalities. Addressing these disparities is essential for promoting equitable agricultural development while harnessing the full potential of all farmers in Ghana.
E-commerce is increasingly becoming a mainstream model for business development worldwide. Utilizing comprehensive business registration data and accounting data for agricultural enterprises in China, we take China's National Rural E-commerce Comprehensive Demonstration Policy as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate the effects of e-commerce penetration in villages on agricultural enterprise growth and the underlying mechanisms. We find that e-commerce penetration in villages significantly boosts the number of agricultural enterprises, a result that remains robust across various checks. Further analysis indicates that e-commerce penetration in villages also enhances the economic performance of agricultural enterprises and fosters their innovation activities. Mechanism analysis reveals that e-commerce penetration boosts agricultural enterprise growth by enhancing the entrepreneurial ecosystem, as evidenced by broadening sales channels for agricultural products, enriching agricultural inputs, and expanding financial access. This study offers valuable insights for China and other developing countries on leveraging e-commerce to promote agricultural enterprise growth.
Dairy farming is faced with environmental, social and economic sustainability challenges, which call for the uptake of more sustainable farming practices. Policy schemes involving public and private sectors can support the uptake of more sustainable farming practices through the provision of incentives to farmers if designed appropriately. However, empirical research in designing such policy schemes is scarce. This paper examines dairy farmers' preferences for policy attributes in environmental compensation schemes for more grass-based feeding systems. Using data from a discrete choice experiment in Sweden and a hybrid latent class model, we find that while size of financial compensation matters, farmers' likelihood of participation in grass-based feeding schemes is also driven by how the financial compensation is designed and by non-financial attributes of the policy schemes. Notably, we find three distinct groups of farmers who differ in their likelihood of participating and exhibit heterogeneous preferences for schemes with private versus public sector-led implementation mode, and direct subsidy payment versus consumer price premium and tax relief. Furthermore, findings demonstrate that behavioral factors, including farmer attitudes toward different forms of compensation and risk aversion, partly explain the observed heterogeneous preferences. Overall, our findings highlight the need to accommodate preference heterogeneity in policy design to improve participation, especially in settings where the transition to more grass-based feeding is challenging for farmers.
This study investigates the impact of granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants on their labor market outcomes and employers' use of benefits as mechanisms to retain workers. First, using data from the American Community Survey, we document an increase in the probability of working in agriculture for likely undocumented workers in states that passed driver's license legislation. Then, by utilizing the restricted version of the National Agricultural Workers Survey, we specifically analyze changes in working hours and wages for undocumented farm workers following the implementation of the policy. We find significant increases in hours and days worked on-farm, higher wages, especially for low-skilled workers, and a greater likelihood of employers providing private benefits for undocumented farm workers. Farms also experience increased output in states granting driver's licenses to undocumented workers. Additionally, we also find a lower probability of participating in Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits after driver's license legislation. These findings suggest that policies enabling driving privileges for undocumented workers not only enhance labor market outcomes but also incentivize labor supply.
About one-quarter of the global population, that is, approximately 1.8 billion people, with 90% in low- and middle-income countries, face substantial weather-related risks. This paper studies how weather shocks are associated with crop diversification and household food security in Nigeria, with a focus on gendered plot management. We merge historical climate data with the World Bank's Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) to construct rainfall anomaly (z-score) and temperature extreme (Killing Degree Days, KDD) measures, household crop diversification, and household food security indicators. Using a Two-Way Fixed Effects (TWFE) model, we find that both rainfall shocks and extreme temperatures are negatively associated with household dietary diversity, but the relationship is mixed for other food security outcomes. Crop diversification is positively associated with food security under high temperature exposure, but the relationship is mixed under rainfall anomalies. The gender composition of household plot managers does not show a statistically robust moderating role in the aggregate; however, gender differences emerge at certain thresholds of weather exposure. The results highlight the heterogeneity in the crop diversification-food security relationship across weather dimensions.
Price volatility in agricultural markets directly affects the financial viability of rural producers, particularly in sectors characterized by narrow profit margins and long production cycles, such as beef cattle production. Futures contracts and agricultural insurance are commonly used to mitigate this risk; however, both instruments are exposed to basis risk, which arises from the divergences between futures and spot prices. This article has two objectives: to estimate the basis risk of futures contracts for fed cattle, feeder cattle, and corn, and to assess the basis risk associated with designing a gross margin insurance product adapted to the Brazilian context. The results show that basis risk for fed cattle and corn contracts was lower in S & atilde;o Paulo (7.51% and 4.85%, respectively) than in Mato Grosso do Sul (11.34% and 5.79%). Using state-level prices as a proxy for feeder cattle futures reduced basis risk in both states, although the S & atilde;o Paulo proxy exhibited higher relative basis risk. The basis risk of the gross margin insurance product was estimated at 31.23% in S & atilde;o Paulo and 32.39% in Mato Grosso do Sul. These findings indicate that incorporating regional price differentials into margin insurance valuation is an effective policy strategy to reduce basis risk, allowing insured margins to better reflect local market conditions without introducing new futures contracts.
There is significant potential to enhance food security and address nutrition and poverty in smallholder farming systems through the adoption of climate-sensitive agriculture practices (CSA). However, adoption rates of CSA practices remain uneven across genders due to disparities in access to resources, decision-making power, and socio-economic barriers. Similarly, while CSA practices are widely recognized for their potential benefits, the combined effects of using multiple practices to improve food security, nutrition, and poverty reduction remain poorly studied and not fully understood. This study analyzes data from four waves of the Nigeria General Household Survey, using fixed effects multivariate logit models and a panel endogenous switching regression framework to examine the factors influencing CSA adoption and its outcomes. The results show notable gender differences: male farmers are more likely to adopt organic manure and practice mixed cropping, while women focus more on improved seeds and combining organic and inorganic manure. Integrated CSA strategies, especially combining organic manure with mixed cropping, lead to significant gains in food security and reductions in multidimensional poverty. Nonetheless, organic/inorganic manure combinations are underused, mainly due to resource constraints and perceived inefficiencies. Addressing gender-specific barriers and maximizing the benefits of CSA practices can provide valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners. The study recommends gender-sensitive policies, better financial inclusion, and customized extension services to promote sustainable farming practices that boost food security, resilience, and livelihoods in smallholder systems.
Ethanol can potentially serve as a feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production. This study evaluates the global land use and associated carbon implications of expanding Brazilian corn ethanol production using second crop corn. Using a global agricultural trade model, which explicitly represents second crop corn production in Brazil, this analysis examines scenarios regarding ethanol demand growth, corn supply elasticity, and trade constraints. Results show that increasing Brazilian ethanol production using second crop corn can moderately impact international prices, land-use, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, especially when corn supply is highly elastic or double cropping intensifies. Under the limiting assumption of a perfectly elastic second-crop corn land response, our findings show minimal or even negative net land-use change. Focusing on land use, a life cycle analysis reveals that second crop corn ethanol can achieve lower or negative GHG emissions, primarily due to the use of feedstock grown on land already used in the same year (second crop), renewable process energy, and the substitution of soybean meal through corn co-products. These findings suggest that Brazilian second crop corn offers a low-carbon pathway for SAF production, contingent on preserving double-cropping systems and avoiding land-use change. The article highlights critical trade-offs and policy considerations for aligning climate goals with sustainable agricultural and energy systems.
This study investigates the impact of the implementation of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation using Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data from 1992 to 2007. The findings indicate a significant increase (1.6% for our benchmark model) in SNAP participation post-EBT implementation, but smaller in magnitude compared with previous studies. The results also show significant differences in impacts across different demographic and socioeconomic groups. The event study results suggest that these effects may not be instantaneous, and show pronounced and sustainable impacts approximately 2 years after statewide EBT implementation. Understanding these nuanced impacts is crucial for policymakers to better tailor outreach and implementation efforts across different populations.
Intermediate wheatgrass (IWG), also known as Kernza, is a perennial grain crop with recognized environmental benefits, including improved water quality, increased soil carbon storage, and enhanced biodiversity. However, despite these advantages, consumer demand for IWG-based products remains poorly understood, limiting its market potential. This study employs sensory analysis and an experimental BDM mechanism to estimate consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for IWG bread and assess the influence of sustainability information on purchasing decisions. Results suggest that IWG bread commands a price premium when accompanied by effective consumer education, with WTP estimates indicating a potential market niche for sustainability-labeled perennial grains. Economic implications suggest that targeted consumer awareness campaigns, standardized eco-labeling, and financial incentives could enhance adoption and market penetration. These findings offer insights for policymakers, agribusinesses, and sustainability advocates aiming to align consumer-driven demand with environmental goals.
