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Traditionally, mixed cropping (MxC) has been Rwanda's smallholder farming technology used to sustainably manage farmlands for family subsistence while forming dynamic and climate-resilient agroecosystems. Yet, its significance is overlooked over monocropping (MnC) adopted at dissent since the inception of Crop Intensification Program (CIP) in Rwanda. Thus, this study sought to analyze and compare MnC and MxC systems based on farmers' perceptions and farm profitability in drought-prone areas of Kayonza district in Eastern Province of Rwanda. The farmers' perceptions were assessed using questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGDs), and in-depth group interviews (IDGIs). The farm profitability was assessed using revenue-cost ratio (RCR) analysis. Purposive and multi-stage random sampling techniques were used for selecting sample households (n = 196). The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS software (version 25). Thematic content analysis method and Pearson correlations were used to analyze farmers' perceptions. The binomial logit model was used to determine the effect of the selected determinants on adopting either MxC or MnC. The results show that the majority of the respondents were more involved in MxC during short-rainy and dry seasons (98%) than MnC. Household heads' sex, family size, access to credit services, access to weather and climate information, access to extension services, social group membership, and farm income were highlighted to motivate farmers to adopt MxC systems. The latter was, therefore, shown to be more socio-economically and ecologically beneficial to farmers than MnC under drought conditions as it was chosen and adopted by most smallholder farmers and provided higher on-farm benefits (RCR>4).

In agricultural growth, the horticulture subsector holds a crucial place. However, one of the most common and productive challenges that farmers deal with is capital limits. Lack of financing is frequently cited as a barrier to addressing rising production costs and erratic commodities selling prices. Financing for factors of production becomes challenging as a result. This study aims to analyze the influence of farm production factors on the income of horticultural farmers in East Java. Data collection was conducted in two locations, namely Wonomulyo Village, Poncokusumo District, Malang Regency, and Pacet Village, Pacet District, Mojokerto Regency. These two locations were chosen purposefully because they are horticulturally producing centers in East Java with the most financial institutions, with a total of 160 respondents. Data collection methods can include interviews using a questionnaire tool. To fulfill the research objective, multiple regression analysis has been used. The land area variable has the most influence since income and land area interact in such a way that as land area is utilized, revenue rises accordingly. The data indicates that there is a positive significance between land area and income in East Java's horticulture farms. Farmers need to seek to intensify horticulture to increase production on existing land with a farming venture. As well as the development of the agribusiness system through Cooperative Farming.

Farmers have adopted ecological farming to overcome the adverse effects of climate change and conventional agriculture. However, the performance of ecological approaches, especially the economic outcomes of ecological practices adopted as a package, has yet to be widely documented in Kenya. This paper aims to fill this gap and generate pertinent information on the implications of adopting different ecological practices bundles on farm income. The study considers five ecological practices: crop diversification, composting, mulching, minimum tillage, and integrated pest management (IPM). This study employed a multinomial endogenous switching regression (MESR) model to capture the effect of adopting different combinations of ecological practices on farm income. The results reveal that 15.3 % of the surveyed households adopted a bundle combining composting, crop diversification, and IPM. Households that adopted a comprehensive package (comprising all five ecological practices) had the largest positive impact on farm income, increasing it by 9.2 %. This package replaces chemical inputs with locally available resources, restores degraded soils and diversifies production risks to increase food production and farm income. Farming experience, off-farm activities, farm size, perceptions of the effects of conventional agriculture, and drought and floods significantly influenced the adoption of the comprehensive package. This study’s findings imply that policymakers and related stakeholders should provide timely weather-related information, enforce sustainable land use laws, and establish targeted extension services and information campaigns to heighten the adoption of all five ecological practices and enhance household welfare by increasing farm income.

Abstract The present study empirically tests the relationship between crop diversification and farm income. The study area is India, the fifth largest economy of the world, and the units of study are its households which dominates India’s labor force. The propensity score matching technique is applied on the two waves of nationally representative data on agricultural households pertaining to agricultural year 2012–13 & 2018–19 to test the relationship between crop diversification and farm income. We find a strong and positive impact of crop diversification on farm income as farm income increases by around 13 per cent if non-diversified households opt for crop diversification. Furthermore, important factors such as literacy, access to market, access to irrigation, agricultural training, farming experience, and household size positively affects crop diversification at the household level. However, recent decline in the extent of diversification in India is a cause for concern. Promotion of cultivation of HVCs by giving them such institutional supports as initial capital required for switch to HVCs and other steps that insulates them from higher risks is the need of the hour in Indian agriculture.

Abstract South Africa has two types of animal farming systems, being the commercial industry and subsistence farming in more rural areas, with commercial farmers having more access to veterinary services. To cater for the absence of sufficient veterinary service, the country allows farmers to access certain over the counter medications (stock remedies), as a way to assist them to farm sustainably and profitably. However, with any drug use, their true benefits are only realized following correct use. The aim of this study was to describe and assess the adequacy of the current use of veterinary drugs by rural-based farmers. A scheduled structured questionnaire with close-ended questions and direct observation was employed. The most important finding was the absence of proper training in the area, with 82.9% not receiving any training related to livestock production or use/handling of stock remedies, highlighting the urgent need for proper training. Of interest, a large proportion of the farmers (57.5%) left the care of their animals to herders. Concerns were also noted in the application of withholding periods, transport of medication, disposal of medication, calculation of drug doses, correct route of administration and carcass disposal with no difference in response between farmers receiving training and those who didn’t. These finding not only indicates the importance of farmer training, but shows that for such training to be effective, information should not only cover farming activities but must include primary animal health care and an understanding of information contained in package leaflets. It would also be important to ensure that herdsmen are also included in such training initiatives as they are the primary careers of the animals.

The variability in climate affects the agricultural production especially in drylands. It is necessary to understand and quantify the impacts of resilient technologies as well as effects of extreme events. Keeping these in view, the primary data on household characteristics and the farm income was collected from a sample of 60 farmers each from National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) program adopted village and a comparable control village in the district. The sample was also post classified into small, medium and large farmer to bring out the economic impact across land classes. The impact was estimated following the difference-in-differences (DiD) model as the data allows us to use effectively the data across time and regions. The results show us that the average income of a farm household in the NICRA village is more than 40 percent than non-adopted village and during a drought situation the farmers under NICRA intervention where better off by 19.5 percent. The income from crops and livestock production in adopted village was significantly higher than the control village. The DiD model output showed the farm income of adopted village was 40 percent higher showing that better climate smart interventions improved the farm incomes. The estimate showed that the treated farm household had higher income of Rs. 54,717 than the control during a drought year. Better knowledge and quantification of impact of technology adoption on farm income specially during drought will help to effectively design technological and policy interventions for better drought management in drylands.

IntroductionOver the years, smallholder farmers have faced more vulnerability to risk and uncertainty in India due to their dependence on cereal crops. One way to reduce this risk is through diversified agriculture, integrating different practices for efficient resource utilization, and adopting a farming systems approach. An integrated farming system (IFS) is one such technique that provides year-round income from different components of enterprises. However, the decision to adopt IFS may be determined by several characteristics of farmers, which needs to be delineated through impact analysis to harness the benefits of a systems approach.MethodsThis study analyzes the economic effects of integrated farming systems and assesses their determinants, as well as the dietary diversity patterns of farmers in two states of southern India, i.e., Kerala and Tamil Nadu. A multistage sampling technique was used to obtain cross-sectional data from 367 farmers randomly chosen from one district in Kerala and two districts in Tamil Nadu. The participants have Crop + Horticulture + Animal husbandry (45.45%) as their major system, whereas non-participants have Crop + Animal husbandry (44.35%) as their predominant system. Coarsened exact matching and logit regression methods were used to evaluate the economic impacts of IFS and its influencing factors.ResultsThe findings of the study indicate that age, education, livestock holding, access to credit, and plantation area have a positive and significant effect on participation by farmers in the program. The matching results show that adoption of IFS resulted in a significant economic impact, generating an additional gross income of Rs. 36,165 ha−1 and a net income of Rs. 35,852 ha−1 and improving the dietary diversity of farm households by 8.6% as compared to non-adopters.DiscussionThis study suggests that IFS is a promising approach for improving farmers' livelihoods, economic gains, and nutritional security. Therefore, the integrated farming systems models need to be upscaled through the convergence of government schemes in other regions of India to support smallholder farmers' farming.

The development of renewable energy in agricultural landscapes has led to new debates about siting solar, wind, and other energy projects. Concerns for protecting food production and prime agricultural soils are often leading points of resistance to renewable energy projects. This resistance has grown, even as the urgency of transitioning away from fossil fuels has increased. The economic stakes are high, particularly for farmers seeking to diversify and stabilize farm income with renewables, but few studies have examined the likely magnitude of effects, either on food production or on farm incomes, implied by expanding renewables. How extensively are hosting communities likely to be impacted, and what do farmers stand to gain, or lose, in these debates? Focusing on a portion of New York State (NYS), with its aggressive solar development goals, we evaluated the effects of state solar targets on farmland and the economic potential for farmers leasing land. In comparison to current income from leading crops, land leasing alone would imply an increase of $42 million per year in local revenue, while affecting less than 12 percent of non-food producing, non-prime soils within the study area. The areal impacts are larger in our imaginations than in the real landscapes, and the debate has far-reaching implications for policy beyond farming areas.

AbstractIncome diversification is an essential livelihood strategy among small-scale farmers in low-income countries. Through income diversification, farmers can potentially invest off-farm earnings into their farm business to enhance productivity and income from farming. Conversely, working off-farm can lead to a labour-loss effect which can reduce farm performance. This study therefore assesses the effect of off-farm work (OFW) on farm income using data from 486 smallholder farmers in northern Ghana. An endogenous treatment regression model was used to assess the effect of diversifying income sources on farm income. The results showed that involvement in OFW enhanced farm income per acre by GH¢ 386. Other factors that enhanced farm income included years of formal education and access to extension services and input subsidy. Farmer group membership and household size however reduced farm income. The farm sector can therefore take advantage of the positive linkage with the non-farm sector to improve farm income levels of farmers. In this light, government’s rural industrialization policy should seek to provide more job opportunities outside the farm sector to enable smallholder farmers to take advantage of such opportunities to improve income from on-farm activities.

Shallots are a national superior vegetable that has a fairly important role and needs to be cultivated intensively. After the production of shallot farming business, so far, the calculation of farm business analysis has not been carried out by farmers in Tabalong Regency, so it is not known about the net income of farming, the feasibility of farming and the feasibility of farming technology packages in onion farming using seeds and onion farming using bulbs. The purpose of this study is to analyze the income and feasibility and comparison of the income of onion seed seeds and bulb seeds. The data analysis used is revenue, cost and revenue analysis, and t-test analysis. The results showed that the income of onion farming using bulb seeds was Rp. 125,153,394,-/ha, while based on the feasibility analysis of onion farming with these bulbs, it was feasible to work with an RCR value of 1.76. The income of onion farming using bulb seeds is Rp. 181,720,502,-/ha, while based on the feasibility analysis of onion farming with these bulbs, it is very feasible to work with an RCR value of 2.54. Based on the comparative test analysis using the t-test, it was shown that there was a very significant difference between the income of onion farming using seed seeds, compared to onion farming using bulbs, with a t-count value of 7,598 and sig. by 0.0000.

The present paper analyses the relationship between farm incomes and farm involvement in agritourism activities in four countries of the Visegrád Group (V4) in comparison to the European Union. The analysis is based on the Farm Accountancy Data Network database of the EU for 2004–2020, and applies descriptive statistics, correlations, and multivariate panel regression analysis. Results show that the larger share of agritourism within gross farm income is associated with lower family farm income per family worker, and this is particularly true for larger farms. This means that in area of the Visegrád Group agritourism is more important in farms with worse profitability and more in need of additional incomes while in the rest of the EU countries an opposite tendency prevails. The paper empirically assesses a rather long time period, focusing on the four countries of the Visegrád Group compared to the rest of the EU member states and it measures the impact of agritourism revenues on various measures of farm income. Agritourism profitability has been assessed by hundreds of papers but the present paper compares agritourism profitability to that of traditional agriculture, and assesses a much longer time period than earlier research.

An increase in farm productivity and income is crucially linked to farm mechanization. Labour shortage in rural areas and frequent extreme weather events have made a resounding pitch for the deepening of farm mechanization in India. Our study examines the effect of agricultural machinery adoption on net agricultural income, household income, and household consumption in India; the latter is considered as an indicator of food security. A nationwide household survey of 10253 households drawn from the majority of states of India has been used. To assess the impact of machinery adoption on the outcome variables, the endogenous switching regression (ESR) model is used. Of the three types of machineries investigated, such as tractors, electric pumps, and diesel pumps, the average adoption rates are found to be low in the country, i.e., 8% for tractors, 24% for electric pumps, and 14% for diesel pumps. The wide heterogeneity in terms of adoption is mostly rooted in the large geographical differences among the states of India, as machinery adoption is concentrated in the north and north-central plains of the country. The first stage of ESR, which is a probit model, reveals the determinants of mechanization as access to credit, climatic shocks, access to irrigation, and farmer cooperative membership. The average treatment effect estimates from the second stage outcome regression reveal that the adoption of machineries has increased net agricultural income by 31%, household income by 19%, and food consumption by 5%. Given these demonstrable positive effects of mechanization in agriculture, there is a need for deepening of low-cost scale appropriate farm machines suitable for small holders. Government support would play a pivotal role in this direction by making farm credits accessible to smallholders, providing timely subsidies on machinery purchase, and providing required extension services.

Abstract Background High-yielding variety (HYV) seed breeding has been one key approach to improving agricultural productivity and to reduce global hunger and poverty. This paper explores the causal relationship between high-yielding rice variety, rice productivity, farm income and household nutrition. A challenge with evaluating the impact of changes such as crop varieties on yield is self-selection and endogeneity. This article robustly identifies marginal input contributions, correcting for self-selection potential by applying matched Difference in Difference method. Results We found that the farms that switched from local to HYV, experienced around 35% higher yield and 76% higher profit from Aman rice than non-adopting farms. More calorie intake, more protein and especially higher fruit and vegetable intake meant less calorie poverty for adopted households. Conclusion This recent evidence suggests improved seed remains a high potential return investment for regions of the world where smallholder farming and malnutrition is a wider phenomenon.

Abstract The adoption of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) has been recommended by many experts and international institutions to address food security and climate change problems. Global support for the Sustainable Development Goals has focused attention on efforts to up-scale the adoption of SAPs in developing countries where growth in populations and incomes compromises the resilience of natural resources. This study investigates the factors affecting smallholder farmers’ decisions to adopt SAPs (improved seed, fertilizer, and soil and water conservation) and the impacts of the adoption on farm income and food security, using data collected from Ghana. Food security is captured by the reduced coping strategy index and household dietary diversity. The multinomial endogenous switching regression model is utilized to address selection bias issues. Results show that farmers’ decisions to adopt SAPs are influenced by the social demographics of the households, plot-level characteristics, extension services and locations. Adopting all three SAPs has larger positive impacts on farm income and food security than adopting single or two SAPs. Our findings advocate for policies that enhance the quality of extension service and strengthen farmer-based organizations for the wider dissemination of adequate SAP information. Farmers should be encouraged to adopt SAPs as a comprehensive package for increasing farm income and ensuring food security.

In recent literature, the issue of sustainability and its measure has been addressed with different approaches that depend on the multidimensional nature of the concept and the specific sector and context to which it applies. The present work focuses on the economic sustainability component and suggests an operative measure at the farm level. The measure of economic sustainability has been applied to Italian family farms using Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). Based on this data, an efficiency indicator (EI) and two income indicators [a factor profitability indicator (FPI) and a comparable income indicator (CII)] expressing the ability to remunerate the entrepreneur's production factors at their opportunity cost and the farm's income capacity have been used in a principal component analysis (PCA) to build an economic sustainability index (SI). The index was used to describe Italian farms' economic sustainability levels but was also the cue to discuss problems related to identifying economic sustainability thresholds and the trade-off between efficiency and income components.

Non-farm income is a major source of income, along with farming for most rural households, that seems to offer a pathway out of poverty. It has gained prominence in recent times as an alternative strategy. However, it is often not clear how non-farm income can contribute to farm output and income because empirical results from existing literature remain somewhat ambiguous. Therefore, more robust research is needed to understand what conditions lead to what outcomes and to identify appropriate policy responses. We extend the previous literature in the direction of understanding more finely the potential impact of non-farm income on output and farm income distributions, applying a novel approach, IVQTEs, for the first time in this context. In this paper, we analyzed the drivers of non-farm income as an alternative strategy, and its distributive impacts on cassava farmers' output and farm income in Southwestern Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 300 cassava farmers for the study. Data were analysed using the novel nehurdle estimation procedure of the double hurdle model. Our methodology of using an instrumental variable quantile treatment effect model (IVQTE) explicitly demonstrates the impact of non-farm income on farm output and income distribution at different levels. The first hurdle (Probit regression) of nehurdle results show that age, household size, years of education, years of experience, farm size, and access to credit may likely influence the decision to participate in non-farm income works; while, in the second hurdle, household size, age, years of education, farm size, gender, asset ownership, cooperative membership are the significant factors that may likely influence the amount realized from non-farm income works. Our results reveal a positive marginal impact of non-farm income at all quantiles of the conditional distribution of cassava farmers’ output and farm income, with the impact being the lowest at the lowest quantile (25th quantile) and increased across the other quantiles. In this regard, the study suggests that the creation of job opportunities outside farming will supplement on-farm works and enhance household's income. This study also suggests that measures such as education, extension services and cooperative societies, to enhance participation in non-farm income works, will spur the rural economy in Nigeria and other developing countries.

Agricultural structures are quite heterogeneous across the European Union (EU), and it is likely that the underlying technology also differs across regions. In this article, we claim that the heterogeneity of agriculture across the EU affects the process of income creation (i.e. the relative importance of the factors of farm income differ for different agricultural models). A panel of farms representative for 125 regions reporting to the EU Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) during the period from 2007 to 2018 is used. In this article, those regions are grouped into three clusters. A system generalised method of moments (GMM) panel estimator is applied to each cluster. The results showed that total factor productivity (TFP), relative prices and agricultural subsidies make different contributions to farm net value added (FNVA). In particular, the income growth of farms in regions dominated by large farms seems to react more to marginal changes of the explanatory variables.

This study examines the impact of demographic shifts on income inequality among farm households over an 18-year period, from 2003 to 2021. Our principal aim is to determine whether changes in income inequality are driven more by intra-group changes in age/household size groups or by changes between these groups. Furthermore, the study aims to understand which age/household size groups are associated with changes in income inequality. The methodology of this study involves using the generalized entropy (GE) index, which allows for the decomposition of inequality within and between population subgroups. The study divides the total population into subgroups based on age and household size and analyzes both static and dynamic inequality. Results show that (i) the within-group effect for static farm income inequality is more significant than the between-group effect. (ii) On the other hand, for changes in inequality (dynamic inequality), the between-group effect in the case of age and the within-group effect in the case of household size are important. (iii) Changes in income inequality are more related to structural changes in the age group of farmers than to the size of household.

The spread of the COVID-19 virus in Italy during the first phasis of the pandemic (February-May 2020) has caused a large-scale crisis, with an almost immediate decrease of industrial production and a consequent contraction in domestic consumption and external trade. However, the issue of food security was immediately recognized as one of the most sensitive, so that the Government has decreed the priority role of the food system, which has been included among those considered fundamental services and economically essential, allowing the related activities to be carried out during the lockdown. Agricultural production activities transformation, and commercialization remained fully operative during the lockdown; nevertheless, the sector has faced many difficulties related to the contraction of some of the marketing channels (restaurants, on farm sales, agritourism, problems with the logistics and many other ones). To better understand the effects of the initial phasis of the pandemic on the Italian agricultural sector and provide useful information to the government and decision makers, a survey was carried out with a CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing) sent to over 10,000 farmers belonging to the sample of the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). The number of respondents has been of 733 farms, which represents around 7% of the Italian FADN sample. The results of the questionnaire have been matched with FADN data on the structure and the economic performance of farms, allowing a more precise evaluation of the condition and effects of the pandemic. The results highlight a relevant effect of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency on the agricultural sector: 37% of the interviewed farmers declared a significant liquidity crisis, while 60% predicted a contraction in turnover. These effects are more relevant for the wine, olives, and horticulture types of farming and more frequent in medium/large farms. A better situation has been found for farms which usually outsource processing and/or marketing/sale of the products.

Abstract Background Adoption of improved agricultural technologies remains to be a promising strategy to achieve food security and poverty reduction in many developing countries. However, there are limited rigorous impact evaluations on the contributions of such technologies on household welfare. This paper investigates the impact of improved agricultural technology use on farm household income in eastern Ethiopia. Methods Primary data for the study was obtained from a random sample of 248 rural households, 119 of which are improved technology users and the rest are non-users. The research employed the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) procedure to establish the causal relationship between adoption of improved crop and livestock technologies and changes in farm income. Results Results from the econometric analysis show that households using improved agricultural technologies had, on average, 23,031.28 Birr (Birr is the official currency of Ethiopia. The exchange rate according to the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) was 1 USD = 27.6017 Birr on 04 October 2018.) higher annual farm income compared to those households not using such technologies. Our findings highlight the importance of promoting multiple and complementary agricultural technologies among rural smallholders. Conclusions We suggest that rural technology generation, dissemination and adoption interventions be strengthened. Moreover, the linkage among research, extension, universities and farmers needs to be enhanced through facilitating a multistakeholders innovation platforms.

The article presents the importance of farm income, taking the farm’s ability to develop into account. It has been demonstrated that achieving farm income at a parity level is insufficient to determine the farm’s ability to develop. These requirements are also not met by labour income. What informs about a farm’s development ability is the ratio of farm income to conventional costs of own production factors: labour, land and capital in the form of the competitiveness index (Wk). Its value from 1 to 1.9 points to a competitive capacity and when it reaches 2 and more, it points to full competitiveness. Based on the data from farms covered by FADN monitoring in 2017, it was found that the farm area specialising in field crops and the cultivation of cereals, oilseeds and protein crops for seeds and being able to compete (to develop) was about 40 ha of utilised agricultural area (UAA), while in the case of fully competitive farms it was 106 ha. The size of farms specialising in vegetable and permanent (fruit-growing) crops and able to compete was 7 and 13 ha of UAA, respectively. The size of dairy farms able to compete was about 25 ha of UAA and 21 cows, while the size of fully competitive farms – 75 ha and 54 cows. The size of pig farms able to compete was about 25 ha of UAA and 26 sows, while the size of fully competitive farms – 40 ha of UAA and 37 sows. The size of “mixed” farms able to compete was 39 ha of UAA and, on average, 4 cows and 7 sows, while the size of fully competitive farms – 79 ha of UAA, 8 cows and 11 sows.

Corn seed breeders are indispensable in the supply of superior hybrid corn seeds. Its ability to produce seeds is evaluated for their superiority compared to the production of corn grain yield. A study was conducted in Jatirogo District, Tuban Regency, East Java province in July to December 2019. Involving farmers cooperator implementing hybrid corn seed production in the area of 96 ha and non cooperator farmers who produce the corn grain yield in the same location. We observed the variables: cost of production, yield and farmers income. Data and information were analyzed by Benefit Cost Ratio (B/C) and Marginal Benefit Cost Ratio (MBCR). The results showed that farmers who produced hybrid corn seeds of Nasa-29 variety (cooperators) were able to produce 4.6 t/ha of wet cobs with an income of IDR. 19,470,000/ha, while farmers who produced grain corn of 7.9 t/ha with an income of IDR. 15,943,000/ha. MBCR analysis showed that, the switching is able to added the farmer income Rp.4,100 for every use cost Rp.1,000 as long as the seed procurement policy remains unchanged and related institutions continue to provide support.

This study investigated the key factors affecting the profitability of poultry egg production in Southwest, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select 360 egg farmers using a structured questionnaire. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics showed that the mean age of egg farmers was 45 years. Majority (68.3%) of the farmers were male households. Over half (57.8%) of the farmers had tertiary school education and majority (85.0%) of them were married. The distribution of flock size showed that majority of the farmers was medium-scale poultry farmers. The result revealed that egg production is profitable. Results of the quantile regression revealed that farmer’s age, farm size, price per crate of egg, cost of drugs as well as farm location had positive significant impacts on farm income at various quantiles. However, education, experience and household size, costs of labour, feed and day-old-chicks were identified to have negative but significant impact on farm income across the quantiles.

Beekeeping is a potential source of income for rural populations. Once viewed as a minor agrosylvopastoral activity, beekeeping is now considered a promising activity. However, data to guide interventions are insufficient. The objective of this study was to carry out a technical and socioeconomic characterization of beekeeping in the Center-West Region of Burkina Faso. A cross-sectional survey using a pretested questionnaire enabled to collect information on the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of beekeepers (n = 113), and the characteristics of apiaries and beekeeping practices. The results showed that the majority of beekeepers were male (64.3%), educated (71.4%), with an average age of 42.8 ± 10.4 years, belonging mainly to the Mossi ethnic group (76.9%). Practiced as a secondary activity, the main attraction of beekeeping was its profitability for 69.0% of those interviewed. With a dominance of modern Kenyan type hives, the typology identified three production systems: the modern system, the traditional system and the mixed system. Average production was 6.9 ± 2.9 and 11.5 ± 2.8 liters per year for the traditional and modern hives, respectively. The profitability of the apiaries reached 10,504 and 24,620 CFA francs annual net margin for the traditional and modern hives, respectively. The main constraints revealed by the study were the lack of modern equipment and financial resources, insufficient technical supervision, and pests/predators.

The Water Framework Directive 2000/60/CE (WFD) of 2000 was issued by the European Union (EU) to prevent water deterioration and promote its restoration. It introduced a water pricing policy in the agricultural sector that is based on a ‘polluter-pays’ principle. To date, some Member States have yet to comply with the pricing requirement for two main reasons: water cost estimates, as defined by the WFD, are particularly complex and difficult in the agricultural sector and farmers in marginal economic and environmental contexts may be unable to bear higher water costs. In Italy, water services are managed by regional administrations that also set irrigation water prices. This research estimated the effect of changes in irrigation water costs borne by farmers on farm incomes in a case study in the Aosta Valley Region where extensive farming is practice in a significantly naturallydisadvantage area. The analysis was modeled using four cost scenarios with economic data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) integrated with irrigation water cost data provided by a regional administrative database. Estimated water costs averaged 2.65% and 1.06% of farm incomes, depending on the presence or absence of regional subsidies. Water costs represented higher income proportions on specialized grazing livestock farms, which is the predominant type of farming in Aosta Valley. These results raise concerns for WFD implementation, in particular, in mountain and agriculturallydisadvantaged areas with extensive and less-profitable farming.

Descriptive Statistics and Net Farm Income model was used to analyze data collected from 120 Arable Farmers who adopted various cropping patterns in Niger State, Nigeria. The study specifically examined the socio-economic characteristics of arable farmers, profile the cropping patterns adopted, examined the profitability and highlighted the constraints to crop production among arable farmers in the study area. Results obtained from the study show that crop farming in the area is a male dominated. The mean age of farmers was 33years, 98.3% were married, 80.8% had one form of education or the other and 68.4% adopted a three-crop mix pattern in their crop production. Two and three crop mixes enterprise were profitable than sole cropping when gross income per ha was used as an index of profitability. Profitability was higher in single crop enterprise when returns/man day was used as an index but was higher in a two and three crop mix enterprise when net returns per ha was used as a measure of profitability. Bad roads, drought, theft of farm produce, poor extension per farm advisory services and lack of credit facilities respectively were the constraint to crop production. The study concludes that mixed cropping enterprises was more profitable than sole cropping. We recommend the promotion of mixed cropping among arable farmers for increased profitability and income to farm households, that the constraints identified be addressed by all concerned authorities so as to sustain crop production, reduce food insecurity and eradicate hunger and poverty among arable farmers in the area and Nigeria as a whole.

Long-term changes in climate variability, vulnerability, a rise in average temperature, and changes in precipitation patterns threaten crop productivity, food security, and the livelihoods of people across the globe. Lower crop yields with higher dependence on food imports, global economic shocks, and climate change exacerbate more challenges to food security, specifically in developing countries. Therefore, adaptation to climate change is necessary to promote farmers’ sustainable livelihoods and mitigate carbon emissions. The adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices can potentially help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions without compromising agricultural production. To confront the challenges regarding the adoption of CSA practices, this study reviews the relevant literature and suggests policy recommendations on how socioeconomic determinants and considerations affect sustainable agriculture development systems. It focuses on the optimization problem of a farmer as a social planner, in which a farmer seeks to maximize his welfare objectives now and in the future. Farmers’ choices of CSA adoption, as well as their adaptive capacity and adaptation constraints, are discussed. This study has implications for policymakers in terms of raising the frequency of adopters through innovations and policy design.

The rural land right has paved the way for the deepening of China’s agricultural land system, which is critical to the successful implementation of the rural revitalization plan in the new era. Based on the micro-survey data of farmers in Yunnan Province, we use an OLS model to empirically test the impact of rural land rights on farmers’ income in underdeveloped areas, and we use a stepwise regression method to test the mechanism role of land transfer willingness and behavior in the rural land right on farmers’ income. Benchmark regression results show that the implementation of rural land rights policy significantly increased the total income of farmers, which mainly comes from farm income. Although the rural land right policy has no significant impact on farmers’ non-farm income, the sign of right coefficient is positive. Mechanism analysis shows that the rural land right can increase the income of farmers by encouraging them to transfer to land. It shows that the property right of land is clear, which makes it easier for land to transfer and trade, and farmers can achieve a certain degree of scale operation, thereby increasing income. Finally, it is suggested that future fiscal funding in impoverished regions be directed toward land transfer links and that accompanying rules and regulations adequately protect farmers’ land contract management rights.

The paper described the network of Natura 2000 sites in Poland, the state of spending funds on Package 4. “Valuable habitats and endangered species of birds in Natura 2000 sites of the Agri-environmental-climate measure implemented under the RDP 2014-2020” (Package 4. of the AECM under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020) as of 31.12.2017 and also assessed the functioning of farms belonging to beneficiaries of this package against a background of farms from outside Natura 2000 sites, which kept accounts for the Polish FADN in the years 2015-2017. It has been determined that, in Poland, the share of areas covered by the Natura 2000 network in the land area of the country is 19.6%, however, in the case of voivodeships and districts, it is varied. In addition, it has been determined that the state of spending funds under Package 4 has, so far, been PLN 518.8 million and has accounted for 29.6% of total funds spent as part of the AECM under the RDP 2014-2020. It turned out that farms belonging to beneficiaries of Package 4, against a background of other farms which kept accounts for the Polish FADN in the years 2015-2017, were characterised, inter alia, by lower production intensity and lower productivity of production factors. Moreover, those farms obtained lower income per 1 ha of UAA. Analyses have been carried out based on the data from the General Directorate for Environmental Protection, the Central Statistical Office in Warsaw, the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture, the Polish Farm Accountancy Data Network (Polish FADN) and the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation National Research Institute.

Nationally representative data of farm households from India Human Development Surveys (IHDS) conducted in 2004-05 and 2011-12 are explored. This article analyzes the effects of income diversification in non-farm enterprises on farm households’ income and consumption expenditure in rural India. Panel probit models were built to examine the determinants of income diversification while propensity score matching was used to account selection bias resulting from unobserved factors and controls for structural differences between diversified and undiversified farm households. The results suggest that by engaging in non-farm enterprises, rural farm households make positive gains in farm income and consumption expenditure.

This paper estimates the effect of improved maize variety adoption on farm income in the Tolon District of Ghana. The study covered the 2017/2018 farming season and involved 160 randomly selected maize farmers from four communities in the district. A regression with endogenous treatment effect model, which accounts for selection bias arising from both observable and unobservable factors was used to estimate the effect of improved maize variety adoption on farm income. The results indicate that adoption increased with extension contact, access to fertilizer subsidy and cattle ownership but decreased with cost of adoption while men also adopted less. The results further indicate that adoption is significantly and positively related to farm income. Adoption of improved maize varieties increased gross farm income of maize farmers by GH¢852. Farm income also increased with farm size and cattle ownership but was lower for female farmers. Institutional factors such as provision of agricultural extension advisory services and subsidized fertilizer are essential to promote adoption of improved varieties, hence these services should be made readily available to farmers. Addressing the problem of inadequate extension staff and logistical challenges confronting extension workers are some of the pragmatic steps required to promote adoption of improved varieties in order to improve farm incomes. Furthermore, subsidized fertilizer should be made available to farmers on time and in the right quantities to enhance adoption and farm incomes, while farmers should be encouraged to rear livestock as this enhances both adoption and farm income.

A large share of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget takes the form of subsidies for supporting and stabilising the income of European Union farmers. This paper assesses whether CAP subsidies stabilise farm income and examines how subsidies may reduce the variability of farm income over time. The analysis is developed on a constant sample of Hungarian and Slovenian Farm Accountancy Data Network farms during the period 2007-2015. It incorporates both the whole sample and farms classified according to two criteria: economic size, and the relative importance of subsidies. Farm income variability is analysed by means of variance decomposition using three main income components: market revenue income, subsidies, and the cost of external factors. Variability in farm income over time is high due to the high variability in the market revenue component. Subsidies mitigate instability in farm income because their variability is lower than that of market revenue income. While CAP subsidies thus represent a stable source of farm income, they have played a limited countercyclical role in stabilising total farm income. Subsidies are not found to be targeted at the farms that face the highest level of income variability and thus may not be an efficient tool for stabilising farm income.

The central theme of this research endeavour was to compute the cost and net returns of wheat crop. This study has also highlighted the significant variables contributing in wheat productivity. The study universe was two focused villages namely Malok-Korona and Peer-Qila of Ekaghund Tehsil, Mohmand Agency. The proportional allocation sampling technique was used to get the required sample size of 70 respondents. However, 26 respondents from Malok-Korona and 44 respondents from Peer-Qila were interviewed through face to face interview technique. The marked findings of this study divulge that vast majority of the farmers (61.43%) were using certified seed and the study area was predominantly dependent upon rainfall as reported by 60 % of the respondents. It is further revealed that the mean cost of production incurred by the sampled growers was estimated as Rs. 30,000 per acre. Income trend observed by 70 per cent of the respondent through wheat crop was found Rs.40000 per acre. The average income of farmers through wheat crop was Rs.35286 per acre. The estimated results of regression analysis corroborate the expected sign of the majority of coefficient of explanatory variables. Among explanatory variables seed, irrigation and labor days were significant while urea and FYM were found insignificant for crop yield. The study recommends that attempts for awareness, supply of loans, inputs like fertilizer, pesticide, apt agriculture approaches, demonstration plots and training programs should be made available to farmers for higher wheat production in Mohmand Agency.

Central Asia is largely dominated by drylands; so agriculture depends on irrigation in most parts of the region, which results in large scale water withdrawal, mainly from rivers, and, consequently, water scarcity. Climate change is expected to aggravate such water shortages as river flows are predicted to be substantially reduced during the second half of this century, which will put additional strain on irrigated agriculture. Tree wind breaks are one option to reduce water consumption in irrigated agriculture, add to farm income, and are therefore prioritized by government policies. Still, many farmers fear that tree wind breaks may compromise crop yields and income. Therefore, based on preceding studies this paper investigates the water productivity – net present value by unit of water consumed – of tree wind break systems of single row tree rows combined with cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), corn (Zea mays L.), and rice (Oryza sativa L.) compared with those crops under open field conditions. The tree wind break systems attained higher water productivities across all crops, different discount rates, tree ages of tree wind breaks, and varying crop yields. Tree wind break systems at 200 m spacing attained higher water productivities than those at 1000 m spacing. In conclusion, tree wind breaks can be inserted into the irrigated agriculture as an additional source of farm income, source for wood resources, and help reducing overall water consumption in irrigated agriculture. Simple tree lines are put forward, as multiple tree rows have been shown not to attain financial gains and save less water than the single tree lines.

Aim of study: To investigate the structure and evolution of farm household income and examine the contribution of different sources of farm household income, particularly the impact of Common Agricultural Policy reform on farm household income inequality in Slovenia. Area of study: Slovenia, one of the European Union member states. Material and methods: A panel data set was compiled using Slovenian Farm Accountancy Data Network data at farm level for the period 2007-2013. Total farm household income was disaggregated into two different components: 1) income components, which can contain market income and off-farm income, and 2) subsidy components, which can contain subsidies from Pillars 1 and 2. Pillar 2 support included subsidies related to agri-environmental measures, less favoured areas and other rural development measures. The income distribution and decomposition were examined using the Gini decomposition method to determine the contribution of each income source and the policy shift from market to government support on farm household income and overall inequality. Main results: A shift in Common Agricultural Policy and related measures determined the structure and evolution of farm household incomes. Off-farm income had a lesser and rather stable impact on farm household income inequality, while the major change involved an increase in the importance of subsidies from Pillar 2 which is consistent with a policy of targeting farms in less favoured areas. Subsidies from Pillar 1 reduced, while market income increased farm household income inequality. Research highlights: Subsidies in farm incomes increased. They could reduce farm household income inequality.

Abstract By recognizing the gap in the literature in examining the effects of financial resources and development outcomes at the household level, this paper examines whether the poorest income quintile would benefit most from programs aimed at increasing their access to financial services in rural northern Nigeria. Most households from this part of the world consist of farmers and, hence, are exposed to the vagaries of climate change. The data from 320 questionnaires administered in two rural communities (Rijau and Fakai) were analyzed using an ordered logit regression model. The results showed that access to financial services by using formal financial institutions and farmer savings clubs benefits vulnerable farmers (mostly women). The robustness check using the Brant test also confirmed that the parallel regression assumption of the model was not violated. A policy scenario that seeks to increase the delivery of financial services to rural farm households using community savings clubs and microfinance institution reforms for reaching the financially underserved was also found to benefit the poorest income quintile, hence, bringing them out of poverty.

Abstract The Common Agricultural Policy has traditionally provided support to farm incomes via direct payments under the Single Payment Scheme. This article analyzes whether the reform of the SPS will decrease the concentration of direct payments and evaluates the effect of the new direct payment scheme on the redistribution of farm incomes. The decomposition of the Gini coefficient allows analysis of the evolution of farm income and direct payment distributions in Italy from 2014 to 2020, and empirical results based on the Italian Farm Accountancy Data Network show that the CAP 2013 reform is expected to decrease the concentration of direct payments. However, the reform is also expected to limit the reduction in farm income inequality due to the adoption of a partial convergence model (the so-called “tunnel” model) instead of a total convergence model as well as, more generally, the increasing share of farm income that is dependent on increased market exposure, leading to higher risks of price volatility and increasing pressure on income.

This study1 uses survey data to assess the effect of oxen as draft animals on agricultural productivity and farm agricultural income in Nicaragua during the year 2017. The results suggest that farms that use oxen to plow the land have higher bean productivity than farms that use stick to plant crops. On average, using oxen increases farm’s bean output by 7.75 100-pound bags, and hiring oxen increases farm’s bean output by 8.5 100-pound bags. Also, using or hiring oxen increases total farm planted area. The main finding about the effect of oxen to plow the land through farm planted area on agricultural farm gross income suggests that using oxen to plow the land increases agricultural farm gross income by 18.13 percent, and that hiring oxen increases agricultural farm gross income by 25.55 percent.

Subject and purpose of work: The aim of the study is to assess the regional differentiation of the average level of farm income and to answer the question of whether during 2006-2014 there was a tendency towards convergence in this area. Materials and methods: The spatial scope of research included four FADN agricultural regions, whereas the time span covered the years 2006-2014. The numerical data used for the analyses were sourced from standard FADN results. The assessment of convergence was carried out using the coefficient of variation (sigma convergence) and the relative index of changes in the regions compared to the country (beta convergence). Results: The conducted research indicates the existence of regional disproportions in terms of average income level and average labour profitability on farms. The highest average income was achieved throughout all the years covered by research in the region of Pomerania and Masuria, and the lowest one in Lesser Poland and Carpathian Foothills. The research demonstrates that during 2006-2014 there was no convergence in the average level of income and average labour profitability of farms in the FADN regions. Conclusions: Convergence is a long-term process, so the research should be treated as an initial examination of the regional differentiation of the income situation of farms.

Abstract This paper examines farmers’ perceptions of their exposure to climate change in rural northern Nigeria. It also examines whether there is a significant relationship between the exposure of farmers to climate change and their need for financial access as an adaptation strategy. Questionnaires were administered to 320 respondents in rural communities in northern Nigeria. Descriptive analysis shows that rural farmers are affected by climate change through increased temperature, prolonged dry seasons, floods, and drought, which lead to low harvest and, in turn, low income. An estimate from a non-parametric test also shows a significant relationship between farmers’ perceived exposure to climate change and their need for credit. Although the Spearman correlation results show a 63% association between exposure to climate change and the need for finance, 96% of those seeking credit to mitigate these impacts would be unable to do so due to financial exclusiveness. The paper recommends that the Central Bank of Nigeria should ensure that microfinance institutions refocus their products/services to those who need them the most in order to enhance access to financial resources and enable farmers to build resilience that will maximize post-harvest gains. Lastly, considering that climate change is a global phenomenon with local effects, perhaps the international community could support lending to smallholder farmers through central banks by insuring the loans that banks give to farmers towards financing climate change adaptation strategies.

The research objectives were to identify Dam Lodan rehabilitation and influencing to production and farm income. The research with survey method, and descriptive analysis. The research was carried out Lodan village, Sarang District, Rembang. The research findings indicated that production and farm income to increased, after the Dam Lodan rehabilited. Padi to increased 171,75% and farm income 169,75%. The sensitivity analysis indicated, when the construction cost increasing 10% and the benefit decreasing 10%, EIRR= 12,03, NPV= 872,740 and B/C Ratio= 1,45.

Milk production is a socio-economically relevant activity for many small-scale family farms in southern Brazil. The objective of this study was to analyse their production and marketing strategies. A questionnaire was administered to 199 farm households in Rio Grande do Sul State to collect information on farm assets and activities, and particularly on the contribution of milk sale to farm income. Through categorical principal component analysis and two-step clustering, farmers were classified into three types: farmers selling only milk (M); farmers selling cash crops and milk (CM); farmers selling cash crops and surplus milk (Cm). Cattle herd (heads) and size of pasture land were larger on M farms (114 ±71.9; 51 ±49.4 ha) than on CM (31 ±13.4; 9 ±8.9 ha) and Cm (12 ±7.5; 5 ±8.1 ha) farms. Livestock husbandry contributed 71, 59 and 16 % to family income on M, CM and Cm farms, respectively. Daily milk production of the individual cow depended on the area cultivated with fodder maize (ha per cow; p ≤ 0.001), on sale of milk to cooperatives or to private companies (p ≤ 0.01), on summer pasture area (ha per cow; p = 0.001) and on daily amount of concentrates offered (kg per cow; p ≤ 0.01). These results indicate that the area available for fodder cultivation is a key factor for milk production on small-scale dairy farms in southern Brazil, while concentrate feeding plays a less important role even for highly market-oriented farms. This must be accounted for when exploring options for strengthening the regional small-scale milk production, in which dairy cooperatives do play an important role.

Farmers in the paddy field farming faces some fundamental problems caused by the narrower tenure due to increased population and land inheritance, creation of breakthrough technologies to increase the productivity of rice farming and farmers' income increasingly difficult for farmers to diversify motives are often more oriented to the income stabilization. West Java is better known as the rice granary, is also a center of vegetables in Indonesia. Vegetable farming has been fused with the local community, especially for upland farmers. The last few years this development not only in vegetable crops in the highlands but try also try in the lowlands in the paddy field. Along with the above conditions, the policy support necessary to achieve the expected results. One obstacle in the application of vegetable farming is the lack of use of the means of production as a result of lack of financial ownership of farm households. The purpose of research is (a) reveals variability of farm crops especially vegetables Onion, Long Beans, cauliflower and cucumbers. (b). And to evaluate the extent to which government policy support for horticultural commodities especially vegetables in West Java. The research was conducted in two districts of Indramayu (Chilli Red, Red Onion and Cauliflower), Falkirk (cucumber and bean length) of West Java Province. , Amounted to a total of 50 respondents drawn farmers. The results showed that farm incomes various vegetables (horticulture) is higher than the income of rice farming, especially in the red pepper (673%), onions (415%), while the rate of return based on a variety of vegetable farming is higher than the benefits of rice farming, especially red pepper (776%), onions (279%) cauliflower (200%) and beans (144%).

The objective of this paper is the analysis of the feedback information from the Farm accountancy data network (FADN) in the Serbia. The objective of FADN is to ensure the compulsory annual reports to the European Commission, as well as for the analytics and development of a national agro-sector. The significance for the national agro-sector is primarily by providing feedback information to domestic farmers. Analyses in this paper were determined the need and possibility for inclusion in FADN feedback form indicators of gross margin for every production line, which can be calculated from already existing data. The importance of gross margin as an indicator of profitability is significant from the perspective of farmers.

Horticulture sector is recognised to have the potential to raise the farm income, provide livelihood security and earn foreign exchange. However, focused policy interventions are needed to realise the potential of the sector. The study examines the trends of the horticultural sector in India and identifies the growth prospects. The consumption of selected fruits and vegetables has grown at a rate of 18-23% and 10-20% in rural areas during 1993-94 to 2011- 12, still the quantity consumed is less than the recommended dietary requirements. Out of the overall growth rate of 3.56 per cent in agriculture during 2000-2011, fruits and vegetable alone accounted for 19.2%. The share of high value crops in value of output of the agricultural sector is also on increase, both in absolute terms as well as in shares. Horticultural sector accounts for about 37% of the total exports of agricultural commodities, and the exports have recorded sustained rising trend. Across states, there is wide variation on the growth performance. The major concerns of the sector are improving the productivity through research and development, enhancing the share of value added products, geographical diversification of exports and enhancing the infrastructure including cold storage and rural roads. The public sector research needs to be strengthened factoring in the constraints of small holders who constitute the major producers.

This study aims to analyze the determinants and patterns of the on-farm diversification among the agricultural producers in Algeria. The study uses a sample of agricultural producers randomly and proportionally selected from Northern Algeria and the data obtained was analyzed using three adequate regression models. Results indicate that, on the technical aspects, the farmers who have larger farm size, access to market information, more full land employment and an irrigation system, those who own machinery and livestock holdings are more likely to diversify, whereas those with off-farm income are likely to specialize. In order to promote crop diversification, providing farm machinery through easy loans and improving access to market information and irrigation technologies should be given attention. Farmer’s experience and his age are the major socio-economic determinants of farm diversification. The implication is drawn for provision of enabling socio-economic environment for the establishment of more diversification.

Description of the subject. To counteract environmental problems due to agricultural intensification, European farmers can apply agri-environmental schemes in their fields. Flower strips are one example of these schemes, with the aim of supporting biodiversity, leading to an increase in "useful" species groups such as pollinators for crop pollination and natural enemies for pest control. However, to our knowledge, a complete appraisal of the pros and cons of flower strips, from a farmer's point of view, does not yet exist. It is proposed that better and more complete information could increase the adoption and implementation of such agri-environmental schemes. Objectives. This study aims 1) to assess the pros and cons of flower strips, from a farmer's point of view, and 2) to highlight the knowledge gaps that exist in the scientific literature, for the different types of pros and cons. Method. We listed the different components of the appraisal of pros and cons and conducted a systematic screening of the scientific literature on flower strips and these components. Results. The largest part of the 31 selected studies was concerning agronomical and ecological processes, such as pollination and animal pest control. Most of them indicated positive effects of flower strips. For many components of the appraisal, mostly economic and social ones, few or no studies were found. Conclusions. While a positive balance of pros and cons, from a farmer's point of view, came from our literature screening, large research gaps still remain and more research is required, especially in the economic and social components of the evaluation.

Risk aversion is an important research area in the field of agricultural economics in the last years. Creating effective and efficient risk management tools in an increasingly volatile economic and natural environment requires proper recognition of farmers’ behavior and attitudes towards risk. In this context, the main aim of the paper was to estimate farmers’ attitudes towards risk and identification of farm’s and farmer’s characteristics in dependency on risk aversion level. The assessment of farmers’ preferences towards risk was based on hypothetical games in a representative sample of 600 Polish farms—participants of Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). Based on the interviews with farmers, a relative risk aversion coefficient has been estimated. Results revealed that on average Polish farmers have quite a strong risk aversion. Their attitudes towards risk are strongly linked with their self-assessment regarding their way of making decisions under risk. Some relations between farmers’ risk aversion and perception of selected risk factors could also be observed. The results revealed that the application of specified risk management tools by farmers and their potential reaction to a significant income drop are related to risk aversion level.

Olive groves are representative of the landscape and culture of Spain. They occupy 2.5 M ha (1.5 M ha in Andalusia) and are characterised by their multifunctionality. In recent years, socio-economic and environmental factors (i.e., erosion) have compromised their sustainability, leading farmers to abandon their farms or intensify their management. The main objective/purpose of this research was to study the drivers and concerns that condition farmers’ choice of a given olive grove management model. Taking the Estepa region as a case study (Andalusia, Spain), surveys were conducted among farmers with integrated and organic managed olive groves. The socio-economic aspects were the main objectives and concerns of the farmers with integrated olive groves. In the case of farmers with organic management, conservation objectives prevailed, and their concerns were oriented to environmental threats. The education level was a key factor in the adoption of given farm management, as it increased the level of environmental awareness. In the context of multifunctional agriculture, it would be desirable to increase this awareness of the environmental threats against olive groves, in order to provide incentives for the implementation of agri-environmental practices that would enhance the sustainability of these systems.

The purpose of this paper is to present and comparethe level of and changes in (total and partial) productivityand basic income categories in FADN regions. The regionswere grouped into 4 clusters where relatively similar types ofagriculture predominate. Changes in total factor productivity(TFP) were evaluated using the Malmquist index and Tokarski’smethod. The research showed that regions with extremelyintensive agriculture achieved a high level of productivityand income. However, while there is little potential for productivitygrowth (especially through improved technical efficiency)in these areas, local farms implement technologicalprogress. Regions with ‘industrial’ agriculture generally demonstratelow levels of TFP, which is however accompanied bygrowth due to advances in both efficiency and technology. Inregions where less developed or more traditional agriculturepredominates, low to medium levels of incomes and of partialand total productivity were observed whereas the growth ratesfor labor and land productivity were relatively high. Also, thekey economic category for the farming sector, i.e. incomefrom labor inputs, was observed to grow at a relatively highpace. Note that an analysis of productivity and profitability inagricultural holdings based on only one measure or researchmethod can lead to hasty conclusions.