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AbstractThe combination of hydroponics and aquaculture in a closed system is the essence of aquaponics and soilless agriculture. Aquaponics is hypothesized to have the potential to improve nutrition security in developing countries, but this is an issue that has received limited attention. This study evaluates data from the small-scale aquaponics project “Sustainable Aquaponics for Nutritional and Food Security in Urban Sub-Saharan Africa” (SANFU). The SANFU aquaponics system primarily relied on relatively expensive foreign sourced components to validate the technical feasibility of this production system. This aquaponics set-up can yield ca. 27.9 kg of fish and 3 kg of vegetables per annum with a nitrogen outflow of 48.5 g. This corresponds to a rather unfavorable Net-Discounted Benefit-Cost Rate (DBCR) of 0.08 over a 20-year period. Conversely, the same system that uses locally sourced components and a higher fish stock density was simulated to have a DBCR of 1.12. Thus, aquaponics systems may be economically feasible if fabricated with local materials, which contributes to food and nutrition security of the beneficiaries.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of microcredit on per capita income of farm households in Cameroon. It discusses short- and long-term implications of access to microcredit on income poverty. Design/methodology/approach: The authors interviewed rural households with agriculture being either their first or second income-creating activity. All sampled households are clients of a Cameroonian village bank. The authors used a balanced panel with a treatment and a control group, the latter not having had a village bank microcredit yet. The results were reaffirmed using bootstrapping. Findings: This paper argues that microcredit has had a significant positive impact on per capita income in the short run, but the long-term effect was negative, albeit not significant. In the long run, absolute income poverty had further decreased in the treatment group, however, not as much as in the control group. Because the treatment group had been shifting back to the informal financial sector and had diverted part of the microcredit for consumption, this may have led to lower marginal income effects. Productivity of credit financed inputs by the treatment group remained constant, which also explains why the treatment group fell back over time. Research limitations/implications: The balanced panel data set was relatively small due to attrition over time. This was accounted for using bootstrapping. Nevertheless, research results must be interpreted with care. Furthermore, the discussion is not exhaustive. Practical implications: Despite tremendous methodological advancements regarding the impact analysis of microcredit on income poverty, findings remain controversial and inconsistent. Frequently, fungibility is a confounding issue. Microcredit policy ought to consider more long-term effects. Originality/value: There is much discourse amongst development economists about the impact of microcredit on poverty. Research based on panel data may clarify some of the controversial issues. This research paper uses a rather unique panel data set from Cameroonian farm households that are clients of a private sector village bank. The issue of sample size limitation is dealt with using bootstrapping. The authors base the empirical analysis on a comprehensive and theoretically founded economic farm household model.

Innovative biological pest control of the western corn rootworm (WCR) Diabrotica virgifera virgiferaand wireworms Agriotesspp. in maize and potato cultivation in Europe is driven by (1) the economic damages caused and (2) the restrictions on chemical pesticides. We analyze the efficacy of biological control agents for WCR and wireworms based on European field trails. A partial equilibrium displacement model is used to estimate the changes in producer and consumer surplus for France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria and Romania given different adoption ceiling and adoption speed. Furthermore, the benefit of a potential reduction in pesticide use due to biological control application is evaluated. The results suggest a total annual welfare gain of ca. €190 million from biocontrol of WCR in maize production for the countries under consideration at an adoption ceiling and adoption speed of 30% and 2.41, respectively. In potato production, an annual welfare gain of over €2 million may be recorded in ecological and/or organic cultivation. Overall, the biological control methods provide an economical alternative in maize and can contribute to increase the competitiveness of European Union (EU) agriculture, while they look promising for certified organic potato production at the current level of control efficiency.

The ability of microfinance institutions to identify sound and creditworthy clients in the area of agriculture in developing countries is difficult. The rural poor usually portray their farming activities as successful, even though this may not be the case. This gives rise to issues of adverse selection and loan default. Can certified environmental services (i.e. carbon credits) in rural sub-Saharan Africa provide adequate signalling for project success? This paper applies the standard game theory approach — similar to that set forth in previous publications — to adverse selection in developing countries in connection with certified environmental services. The results suggest that in a separating equilibrium, borrowers with certification (carbon credits) send a positive signal regarding the actual state of their farming activities which may ease adverse selection problems.