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Productivity is an essential factor in ensuring optimal output. In the oil palm industry, labour productivity is vital in ensuring that oil palm production reaches its target/production. Sarawak, a significant contributor to the oil palm industry in Malaysia, faces a severe labour shortage. The layoffs of foreign labour due to the Covid 19 pandemics made the labour issue in Sarawak even worse. The involvement of local labour is expected to resolve the decrease in foreign labour. However, local people have minimal interest in getting involved in the oil palm agriculture sector. This study aims to examine the involvement of local labour in oil palm and strategies to increase local labour productivity. This study uses quantitative methods and purposive sampling in data collection. A total of 56 oil palm smallholders (PKS) who have local labour were selected. The results showed the type of local labour are family members, relatives, and village labour. They are paid on a contract basis and according to the number of oil palm trees. In terms of strategies to increase labour productivity, employing skilled workers, good agricultural practices, adequate capital, skills in managing pests and crop diseases, job specialization, group work, and rewards are among the recommendations put forward by PKS. If this problem still occurs, it will affect the entire oil palm industry, especially in Sarawak, as the state is one of its most significant contributors to oil palm. If the local and federal governments cannot resolve labour shortage issue in the oil palm industry, it will affect Malaysia's entire oil palm industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deadly virus COVID-19 has affected not only the health of people but also the food value chain sector. The experience of the locked down period to curtail the spread of the virus was unexpected. It is therefore important to understand how small-scale farmers survived the period. This study examined the strategies employed by small-scale farmers in Osun State to adapt to the challenges resulting from COVID-19 lock down. Specifically, the study itemized types of crops grown by small-scale farmers, assessed the forms of challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, examined the perceived effects of these challenges on small-scale farming activities, and investigated the adaptation strategies employed by small-scale farmers during this time. Six communities in the local government were selected at random and a total of one hundred and twenty farmers from the communities were interviewed. A questionnaire was designed to collect the primary data. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and the chi-square tools. Results showed that COVID-19 lock down period led to poor health status (mean=2.87), less transport available to convey farm produce (mean=2.70), and high cost with little/no access to farm inputs such as fertilizer, chemicals and seeds/seedlings (mean=2.62). The foremost effects of these challenges on small scale farming activities were poor marketing of agricultural produce (mean=4.52), decrease in farmers’ income (mean=4.51), and labour shortage (mean=4.39). The leading adaptation strategies employed by the farmers were planting of available grains instead of seeds (mean=2.85), reduced food consumption (mean=2.83), and the use of family labour (mean=2.80). The regression analysis showed that education (β=0.151), marital status (β =1.173), non-farm income (β=-6.790), and years of experience (β=-0.032) were significant (at p

Animal health and welfare (AHW) has become an important aspect for sustainable development in livestock farming. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse the AHW performance of 27 breeding-to-finishing pig farms across six European countries and to investigate associations with number of sows in production, number of sows per worker and percentage of family labour. AHW indicators were aggregated to themes, namely "Hunger and thirst", "Comfort", "Injuries and disease", "Pain by management", "Appropriate behaviour" and "Human-animal relationship". On a scale from 0 to 100 (worst to best AHW), lowest median theme score was found for "Comfort" (39) and highest for "Human-animal relationship" (78). AHW performance varied considerably between farms, indicating a potential for improvement, especially regarding "Comfort". Number of sows per farm in production correlated negatively with "Hunger and thirst" (rs = -0.81), "Comfort" (-0.44) and "Appropriate behaviour" (-0.61). Number of sows per worker also correlated negatively with "Hunger and thirst" (-0.56). Family labour did not correlate with any of the themes. We conclude that some aspects of animal welfare especially regarding comfort (e.g., space allowance and enrichment material), require improvement measures across these six European countries. These problems may increase with farm size and number of sows per worker. Therefore, incentives to implement animal welfare improvement measures are needed for all farms to encourage farmers to construct housing systems above the minimum legal requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deadly virus COVID-19 has affected not only the health of people but also the food value chain sector. The experience of the locked down period to curtail the spread of the virus was unexpected. It is therefore important to understand how small-scale farmers survived the period. This study examined the strategies employed by small-scale farmers in Osun State to adapt to the challenges resulting from COVID-19 lock down. Specifically, the study itemized types of crops grown by smallscale farmers, assessed the forms of challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, examined the perceived effects of these challenges on small-scale farming activities, and investigated the adaptation strategies employed by small-scale farmers during this time. Six communities in the local government were selected at random and a total of one hundred and twenty farmers from the communities were interviewed. A questionnaire was designed to collect the primary data. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and the chi-square tools. Results showed that COVID-19 lock down period led to poor health status (mean=2.87), less transport available to convey farm produce (mean=2.70), and high cost with little/no access to farm inputs such as fertilizer, chemicals and seeds/seedlings (mean=2.62). The foremost effects of these challenges on small scale farming activities were poor marketing of agricultural produce (mean=4.52), decrease in farmers' income (mean=4.51), and labour shortage (mean=4.39). The leading adaptation strategies employed by the farmers were planting of available grains instead of seeds (mean=2.85), reduced food consumption (mean=2.83), and the use of family labour (mean=2.80). The regression analysis showed that education (ß=0.151), marital status (ß =1.173), non-farm income (ß=-6.790), and years of experience (ß=-0.032) were significant (at p<0.05) factors influencing the adaptation strategies employed by the farmers. To effectively reduce the adverse effects of unexpected lockdowns on farmers in the future, it is recommended that outlets for necessary agricultural inputs should be made available in all farming communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women continue to do the lion's share of family labour in the home, but research reveals they often perceive this as fair. This study focuses on an interpersonal emotional reward that may help explain this paradox. Two hundred and twenty-three mothers of at least one child aged between 2 and 12 years old completed questionnaires assessing the relative contribution to family labour, feelings of mattering to one's children and partner, and perceived unfairness. We examined whether perception of mattering to partner and children play a moderating role in the relationship between mothers' contribution to family work relative to their partners' contribution and their sense of unfairness surrounding this division of labour. Results revealed that the greater the mothers' proportionate share of family labour in the couple, the more they tended to perceive its allocation as unfair. However, the link between relative contribution and perceived unfairness was more pronounced among mothers who felt they mattered less to their children and to their partner than among those who felt they mattered more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing agricultural mechanization services has been an important approach to pushing smallholder farmers engaging modern agricultural production in China. However, whether smallholder farmers prefer adopting agricultural mechanization services is still under-analysed. In this paper, we use data covering 3,440 wheat farmers collected from Henan province in China to investigate the links between farm size and the adoption of agricultural mechanization services. The results indicate that an inverted U-shaped relationship between farm size and the adoption of agricultural mechanization services exists. We also find that small farms can input more family labour, and large farms tend to invest in self-owned machinery assets. Our analysis implies that the development of agricultural mechanization services is not inevitable to attract farmers with alternative elements, and smallholder farmers may not be the major groups involved in the market of social services in agriculture in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the profound structural transformations that took place in Norway's horticulture industry between 1999 and 2010. The aggregate industrial outputs from the industry remained stable in this period. However, the number of horticulture farms dropped by 40.5% and the remaining farms became accordingly larger. We analyse how this development was related to changing labour strategies on Norwegian farms during this period, in part affected by labour market deregulation following the EU enlargements in 2004 and 2007. The analysis utilises Agricultural Census data covering the full population of horticulture farms in Norway in 1999 (N=5,105) and all farms in the country in 2010 (N=46,624, of which 3036 now were horticulture farms). Results suggest that the enhanced availability of inexpensive and flexible global labour is strongly associated with a stepwise proletarisation of Norwegian horticulture. Family labour is being systematically replaced by wage labour and domestic workers are being replaced by lowwage migrant workers.

The objective of this study was to identify the technological level used by dairy farmers in the northeastern region of Michoacán, Mexico, through a characterisation of small-scale dairy production units, as well as to learn about the socioeconomic conditions that have enabled them to survive in the current context. A semi-structured interview was applied to 114 production units, chosen by stratified random sampling. The interview included technological, production and socioeconomic aspects. Twenty-eight variables were initially explored and 12 were used for multivariate analysis, which included Principal Component Analysis, Hierarchical Cluster Analysis and K-means Cluster. The characterisation carried out showed that the production units that predominate in northeastern Michoacán have survived with a low technological level, having as strengths the diversification of their activities and the use of family labour. On the contrary, production units with a high technological level and high productivity are few and less diversified. This shows the need to generate differentiated public policies for each cluster, aimed at strengthening the aspects that have allowed them to survive and guaranteeing a market for their production, before promoting the use of technologies.

This paper, with the help of national level Labour Force Survey (LFS) data of 2005 and 2010, analysed the key characteristics of unpaid worker and examined the changes that have occurred over time. In addition to descriptive statistics, it also applied multinomial logit model for comparing the effect of different socio-economic as well as household factors in choosing unpaid and paid employment. Our econometric estimation indicated that in addition to the conventional factors, a number of socio-economic factors, e.g. characteristics of household head and presence of older members as well as children in the household constrain participation in the main stream labour market. In order to understand the importance of unpaid work in household income, an attempt has also been made to estimate the unpaid contribution of unpaid work at household and the paper revealed that although the contribution/share of unpaid work performed by men is not that substantial, that of women is as high as 23 per cent of total household self employed income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Bangladesh, labour supply is abundant, but land for cultivation is shrinking mainly because of growing human settlement and urbanisation with a very high population density. This study examines whether labour use is efficient in Bangladesh agriculture and analyses the relative efficiency of hired and family labour for three crop seasons. Production functions are estimated using data collected by International Rice Research Institute on expenditures of agricultural inputs and returns on investment from a nationally representative sample of 1928 farm households from all 64 districts of Bangladesh. Results show that family labour is more productive than hired labour in Bangladesh agriculture, which has important policy implications for the rural labour market. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper on family farms is in the form of an historical review complemented by current and future perspectives from North America, China, Brazil and Europe. The literature review demonstrates the multiple discourses, concepts and methodologies which underpin contemporary understandings of the family farm. The authors argue that family-based farming units are ubiquitous in most agricultural systems and take on many different forms and functions, conditioned by the structure of agriculture in different locations and political systems. Our review accepts this diversity and seeks to identify some key elements that inform our understanding of the sustainability of family farming, now and in the future. The term 'family' is the differentiating variable and behooves a sociological approach. However, economists can view the family farm as an economic unit, a business and even a firm. Geographers see family farms consigned to the margins of good land areas, and political scientists have seen family farms as a class. What emerges is a semantic enigma. As an imaginary term, 'family farming' is useful as a positive, universally valued ideal; as a definable entity on the ground, however, it is difficult to classify and measure for comparative policy and research purposes. This ambiguity is utilized by governments to manage the increasing capitalization of farm units while projecting the image of wholesome production of food. The case studies demonstrate the diversity of ways in which family farming ideologies are being mobilized in contemporary agrarian change processes. The notion of 'land to the tiller' is resonant with historic injustices in Scotland and Brazil, where family-based agriculture is understood as the 'natural' order of agricultural production and actively supported as an historic ideal. In contrast, in the Chinese context, 'land to the tiller' is a political means of increasing capital penetration and economic sustainability. Evidence from China, Brazil and Scotland demonstrates the active role of governments, coupled with symbolic ideologies of farming, which suggest that the longevity (i.e., sustainability) of family farming will continue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Small-scale dairy production is a activity in rural areas, as it generates daily income and contributes to food security. In Mexico, from the 1980s, economic policies were promoted that led to the modernisation and concentration of milk production, which caused many small-scale production units to disappear and reduce their contribution to the national supply. Some researchers report that the production units that survived were those that specialised and incorporated a high level of technology. The objective of this work was to identify the technological level and socioeconomic conditions of dairy production units in the northeastern region of Michoacán, Mexico, in order to know the strategies that have allowed them to survive. Through statistical analysis, four groups of farms with different levels of technology were identified. The clusters that predominate in this region use a low level of technology and have low productivity, finding their strengths in the diversification of activities they carry out and the use of family labour. Public policies should be directed, for each cluster, in a differentiated manner, prioritising the strengthening of the aspects that have kept them going in the present, rather than the incorporation of a high technological level in their production units. The objective of this study was to identify the technological level used by dairy farmers in the northeastern region of Michoacán, Mexico, through a characterisation of small-scale dairy production units, as well as to learn about the socioeconomic conditions that have enabled them to survive in the current context. A semi-structured interview was applied to 114 production units, chosen by stratified random sampling. The interview included technological, production and socioeconomic aspects. Twenty-eight variables were initially explored and 12 were used for multivariate analysis, which included Principal Component Analysis, Hierarchical Cluster Analysis and K-means Cluster. The characterisation carried out showed that the production units that predominate in northeastern Michoacán have survived with a low technological level, having as strengths the diversification of their activities and the use of family labour. On the contrary, production units with a high technological level and high productivity are few and less diversified. This shows the need to generate differentiated public policies for each cluster, aimed at strengthening the aspects that have allowed them to survive and guaranteeing a market for their production, before promoting the use of technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]