In the realm of agricultural research, considerable attention has been directed toward the adoption of hybrid seeds; however, the evolution of adoption behaviors over time remains an area of limited comprehension. This study contributes to the existing literature by elucidating the determinants that underlies the dynamic of hybrid seed adoption among smallholder chilli farmers in Indonesia. By categorizing adoption into four distinct phases-non-adoption, late-adoption, continual-adoption, and dis-adoption-a nuanced understanding of the phenomenon is sought. Leveraging a two-period panel dataset encompassing chilli farmers, we employ a multinomial logit model to explicate the dynamic adoption behaviors exhibited by these farmers. Our empirical findings bring to light a notable divergence in the variables associated with continual-adoption as opposed to those linked with late-adoption. This distinction underscores the heterogeneous nature of adopters and emphasizes the need for tailored strategies for each category. Specifically, we unearth a positive correlation between membership in a farmer's group and the propensity for continual-adoption, concurrently mitigating the likelihood of non-adoption. The implications drawn from our study underscore the intricate nature of adoption stages, thereby providing valuable insights to inform the design of targeted adoption policies that cater to the distinct strategies required for varying adoption categories.

Women's participation as leaders in decision-making within smallholder households is a major component of women's empowerment. However, as Southeast Asia lacks plots of land independently managed by a male or female spouse, approaches to understanding women's empowerment in the region require a more nuanced approach than taken in the examination of Africa, which is the focus of most studies on gender empowerment. We present an approach that provides detailed insights into women's leadership in agricultural activities in the household and the extent to which male and female spouses disagree about who leads decision-making for these activities. By combining a confirmatory factor analysis and a revenue function regression, we show that female leadership and implicit disagreement between spouses both significantly affect household revenue from chilli farming in rural Indonesia. In particular, disagreements can diminish chilli revenue and act to reverse gains from female leadership. Our results indicate that women's empowerment in these regions is strongly affected by the extent to which households can agree on the importance of women's leadership. The results indicate a need to consider interventions that support building communication between the spouses and that reinforce the importance of acknowledging women's roles as leaders in decision-making in the household.

This study presents quantitative insights into the willingness of women and men to hide income from their spouse, how socio-demographic and psycho-social factors correlate to the willingness to hide income, and how hiding that income influences expenditure patterns. Using data from 422 households in rural Uganda and employing an established revealed preference approach, the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) mechanism, we show that both women and men seek to hide income from their spouse at substantial potential cost. We report an average willingness to pay (WTP) of 49% of the endowment offered, with 99% of the participants stating a positive WTP for hidden income. The correlates with demand for hidden income differ in terms of size and significance across genders and include perceived marriage quality, self-control, savings group membership, and empowerment over purchasing decisions. Results show that women who received income in private have a higher public to private spending ratio and higher transfers to their social network. Our study contributes to the literature on intra-household resource allocation in developing countries by studying the demand for hidden income between co-habiting spouses, correlates with the demand for hidden income, and the link between hidden income and subsequent spending patterns in rural Uganda.

A wide range of holistic frameworks are used to assess the sustainability of agricultural policies and programs, but much of the existing research tends to overlook the socio-cultural and governance dimensions of sustainability. This article aims to address those gaps by comprehensively assessing the environmental, economic, social, and political dimensions of sustainability. We use a case study of irrigation policies for agricultural expansion that target the Pagar Alam upland region in Indonesia. The assessment reveals opportunities and threats from the policy that affect the sustainability of upland landscapes and communities. By overly focusing on productivity goals while ignoring other sustainability criteria, the policy generates risks that threaten existing sustainable development pathways. To achieve positive policy outcomes, Indonesia needs to reconcile its national food production goal with local development goals. Lastly, to optimise policy outcomes, agri-sustainability research should apply comprehensive approaches that simultaneously address multiple sustainability dimensions.

Well-intended natural resource policies that ignore the complexity of socio-ecological systems too often threaten local values and opportunities for sustainable development. Upland areas throughout Indonesia provide examples of complex socio-ecological systems experiencing rapid socio-economic and environmental transformations in response to interactions between development policies and local agendas. Broad natural resource policies influence socio-ecological systems in different ways. In some cases, there are converging national and local goals, while in others the goals of national policy conflict with local aspirations. This study identifies how broadscale policies could respond to the unique characteristics of upland areas to optimise development outcomes and avoid unintended risks for people and the landscape. The theory of reflexive modernity is utilised to illustrate how two national policies, the Community Forestry initiative and the Irrigation Reservoir program, largely discount the complexity of local values in the uplands of Pagar Alam, Indonesia. We identify local farmer aspirations through an analysis of development narratives and relate how they are impacted upon by the two policies. Our findings indicate that dominant development goals and associated sustainability pathways diverge in a range of ways from local farmer values and aspirations. We suggest that policymakers take more consideration of four interacting elements, namely: local ecological traits; local values and institutions; the multiple development pathways; and exogenous market drivers that affect local development, to promote sustainability and increase the likelihood of achieving all desired policy outcomes.

The use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides is rapidly increasing in developing countries. If used appropriately, these inputs are key approaches to enhancing farm productivity including mitigating potential damage caused by climate change. Yet there is also an increasingly concerning trade-off between chemical input applications and environmental externalities in communities of smallholder farmers. Furthermore, fertilisers and pesticides account for a high proportion of farm input expenses, especially for high-value horticultural crops, impacting on the risks facing farmers and potentially limiting other household needs for cash-constrained households. Given the potential impacts of chemical input purchases on household expenditures and the joint roles of male and female spouses in farming activities in Indonesia, these input purchase decisions may involve complex intra-household dynamics between spouses. Moreover, small-scale farmers in rural areas often refer to their neighbour farmers in managing their farm. In this paper, we consider the independent and joint roles that risk, intra-household dynamics, and extra-household (spatial) dynamics play in decisions regarding household expenditure on chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Using spatial regression models, we find that these factors are all associated with household expenditures on chemical inputs. The results also indicate the importance of social networking in the decision of chemical pesticides and fertilisers usage.

The adoption rate of certified climate-resilient crop seedling varieties in developing countries is generally low, impacting on the ability of smallholder perennial crop farmers to adapt to climate change. Given the long-lived nature of perennial crop investments and the high level of uncertainty regarding both the quality of the seedlings and the climate to which they will be exposed as mature trees, there are clear linkages to farmers' subjective beliefs regarding yield differentials between certified and uncertified seedlings, risk behaviours, and time preferences. We consider these aspects using a recently developed survey-based tool for measuring risk and time preferences and link those to stated preferences and observations on the adoption of certified seedlings. Results show that farmers' beliefs regarding yield and variance of yields of certified and uncertified seedling along with the risk attitudes are significant correlates with seedling choice behaviours. Our results also indicate that information asymmetries in the certified seedling market may play a role in limiting the benefits of certification programs both due to cheating and due to lower levels of adoption.

Purpose This paper examines the labour demand associated with hybrid chilli adoption, a relatively labour-intensive crop in Indonesia. Design/production/approach Using 228 chilli producing households in West Java Province, Indonesia’s primary chilli production region, the analysis extends previous research on household labour demand by assessing the impacts of hybrid chilli seed adoption on both family and hired labour on a gender-specific basis. Instrumental variables 2SLS approach is employed to address potential endogeneity that may occur related to hybrid seed choices. Findings The results demonstrate that hybrid chilli seed use is more likely to increase demand for hired labour, particularly female hired labour; However, hybrid seed adoption is insignificantly associated with demand for male and female family labour. Research limitations/implications The sample size used in this paper is relatively small; however, the sample is chosen from the biggest chilli producing area in Indonesia and can still be considered reasonably representative. Social implications The results indicate that hybrid seed adoption creates rural employment opportunities for rural women in Indonesia, which could potentially help empower them in rural economic activities and household decision making. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature assessing modern agricultural technologies by evaluating rural employment impacts on a source- and gender-specific basis, which is much less understood. It, therefore, complements the existing knowledge regarding welfare impacts in other aspects such as poverty reduction, food security and nutrition enhancement and suggests another dimension where desirable impacts may occur through associated women’s empowerment.

Climate change is likely to generate severe impacts on smallholder farmers in developing countries. As key drivers of adaptation, climate risk perceptions are highly heterogeneous, varying both across people and context, and are complex, being defined as behaviour which varies across both impact and likelihood dimensions in nonlinear ways. Yet most studies examining risk perceptions are unable to disentangle the role of perceptions regarding impacts from those regarding the likelihood of climate-related events taking place. This paper presents a decomposition and associated analysis of survey-based 'risk perception' measures. The decomposition we apply allows independent accounting for perceptions over frequencies and impacts linking to behavioural patterns of risk attitude. The approach presented here draws on a detailed 2017 survey of 500 farmers in rural Indonesia to generate insights into the relationship between risk perceptions and extension services, accessibility of information, and other factors. Results show that risk perceptions are generated from complex interaction between perceived future frequencies and outcomes of climate events and indicate differential impacts of extension services across these perceptions. This paper also presents empirical support for the use of information and communication technology based extension as an efficient extension tool to reach more farmers than in traditional methods.

Food security is an age-old, seemingly intractable problem that endures today. The United Nations Agency responsible for measuring and monitoring global hunger and food insecurity, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), estimates over 800 million people are chronically undernourished in 2012–14 (FAO 2014). People are food insecure because they are unable to obtain sufficient quantities of food and the appropriate balance of nutrients. Over time, a continuously inadequate diet reduces physical capacity, lowers productivity, stunts growth and inhibits learning. Chronic malnutrition kills, blinds and debilitates (Stringer 2001). Food security implies an individual has access at all times to enough food for an active and healthy life. The 1996 World Food Summit defines food security as ‘a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life’. An important element of this is the cultural appropriateness of that food supply. FAO currently uses four measurable and interrelated components to estimate the numbers of food insecure people at the country level. These four components are: (i) availability; (ii) access; (iii) utilization; and (iv) stability. Box A explains these

The main problems in citrus cultivation in Indonesia is Citrus Vein Phloem Degeneration (CVPD) diseases which have attacked in most of citrus plants caused by the use of uncertified seed. The objective of this study was to analyse factors that influence the use of certified citrus seeds. This research was conducted in September-October 2017 in Malang, Jember and Banyuwangi as the biggest citrus producer. The sampling method was multistage random sampling with 500 respondents. The analytical method used was binary logistic regression model.The research result showed that the use of certified citrus seeds was significantly influenced by farming experience, income, and participation in farmer's group. Hence, increasing the use of certified seed can be done by increasing the farmers' participation in farmers group. Socialization of technology needs to be focused on low-income farmers. In addition, intensive dissemination can be given to young farmers, in which can become champion farmers.

Major challenges are emerging to integrate private lands into whole-of-landscape conservation policy, especially if definitions of biodiversity and conceptions of conservation alienate farming communities. Insufficient attention has been paid to the way that farmers perceive and value biodiversity. By undertaking 'walk-and-talk' in-depth interviews with leading farmers in the South Australian viticultural region of the McLaren Vale, seven important narratives were identified on the way that farmers conceive of and exploit biodiversity on-farm. Farmers' conceptions of biodiversity challenge traditional policy divisions between 'natural' and anthropogenic biodiversity and represent a sophisticated understanding of agricultural and regional ecology. While farmers clearly recognise and prioritise important biodiversity values, the dominant policy frameworks are not effectively defining, quantifying or supporting that biodiversity which is constantly being regenerated through farming practices. A range of opportunities for better conservation emerge from a recognition that productive farming activities and associated agricultural biodiversity form a vital part of the region's biocultural heritage. Of particular importance is the need for farmer definitions of biodiversity to be included in policy both to guide new connections between private landowners and biodiversity conservation, and to normalise goals of sustainable environmental management across rural landscapes.

This article investigates the use of payments for environmental services to support a wildlife corridor between two Priority Tiger Conservation Landscapes in central Sumatra, Indonesia. Several hundred smallholders operate within a Protection Forest linking the Tiger Conservation Landscapes. This study explores the willingness of these smallholders to accept a payment requiring them to forgo access to their land for five years. In addition to asking households directly what they would be willing to accept (WTA), we also ask them to infer what their neighbour would accept. The study finds evidence of hypothetical bias in the conventional WTA values, with a statistically significant difference between what people say they would be willing to accept when surveyed, compared to what they say would actually be willing to accept in a real life' situation. We show how inferred valuation techniques can mitigate against this.

The food industry is undergoing transformation globally. The set of circumstances specific to Fiji provides important insights into the drivers of this change, which have implications for private, government and donor agency stakeholders. A novel study of 1,000 urban households in Fiji found that among those surveyed, modern supermarkets have overtaken traditional markets as the dominant food retail outlet and now have 100 per cent patronage and take in 54 per cent of total household food expenditures. However, the battle for the fresh fruit and vegetable category appears to be in its infancy, with 97 per cent of households still shopping for products in this category at the traditional main market. Although foreign investment is a key driver of the retail food sector transformation in more rapidly growing developing countries, in Fiji, where foreign investment is relatively low, this transformation appears to be predominantly supported by rising urban income and changing consumer preferences. Consequently, policy attention should be directed towards market channels that can take advantage of changing consumer preferences, while still supporting local farmers.

This study examines the adoption of (1) P. vannamei and (2) adoption of formulated shrimp feeds, both technologies critical to increasing productivity of shrimp farming in Indonesia. The primary objective was to identify if land-poor or capital-poor farm households were excluded in adopting P. vannamei and/or the adoption of feed. The study used primary data we collected in Indonesia to estimate adoption equations. We found: (1) There is no evidence for farm-scale barriers in the adoption of P. vannamei. (2) The lack of productive assets (pumps for example) is a significant constraint to adoption of P. vannamei and shrimp feed. This may constitute a "lowproductivity trap" in aquaculture - with the asset-poor relegated to producing the unproductive P. monodon without external inputs. (3) In the adoption of feed, there is a strong threshold effect at half of a hectare. Micro-farms are a unique subset of the farming population that are oftentimes the most productive in farming a local species, like P. monodon, but are constrained in fully-intensive adoption of novel production systems. There are two implications for policy. First, policies that encourage the development of hatcheries and feed mills in small farmer areas will promote productivity and modernization of small shrimp farming. The second is that constraints to capital assets like pumps limit small farmer adoption of new technologies. Promotion of financial markets that help small farmers to invest in these productive assets will open doors to technological change in small farming areas. Statement of relevance: This study focuses on adoption of a shrimp species new to small farmers in Indonesia, as well as adoption of feed. Contrary to conventional wisdom we found that small farmers adopted both, without land constraints affecting diffusion, but productive capital constraints hold back small farmers from adoption. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.