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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]

This study employs a stochastic frontier production function analysis to examine the productivity and technical efficiency of cowpea production in Adamawa State, Nigeria and also to identify the factors affecting the technical inefficiency using farm level survey data collected from 150 cowpea farmers selected using multi stage sampling technique. Findings from the analysis show that cowpea farmers operated on a very small scale and are profitable. The productivity analysis shows that agro chemicals, fertilizer, farm size and labor were all positively and significantly related to the technical efficiency. The return to scale (RTS) of 0.9904 shows that cowpea production was in the rational stage of the production surface. The technical efficiency varies from 0.1094 to 0.9568 with a mean technical efficiency of 0.6649, indicating that farmers were operating below the efficiency frontier. Thus, in the short run, there is a scope to increase output by 34%. The inefficiency model revealed that education of the farmers; extension visits and access to credit are the main factors that affect technical efficiency of the farmers.

This paper investigates the technical efficiency of sorghum production and its determinants, using the stochastic frontier production function which incorporates a model of inefficiency effects. Farm level data were collected from a sample of 100 sorghum farmers in Hong local government area of Adamawa state using structured questionnaires. The empirical result shows that land, seed, and fertilizer were the major factors that influence changes in sorghum output. Farm specific variables such as education, extension contact and household size were found to have significant effects on the technical inefficiency among the sorghum producers. The technical efficiency of farmers varied from 0.1562 to 0.9214 with a mean technical efficiency of 0.7262. The implication of the study is that efficiency in sorghum production among the farmers could be increased by 28% through better use of land, seed and fertilizer in the short term given the prevailing state of technology. This could be achieved through policy interventions by the government in terms of better access to land, improved seed and fertilizer .The inefficiency effect also shows that improved farmer's educational levels through better education and literacy campaigns would help tremendously to increase efficiency.

Two dairy goat systems conducted according to the household model were evaluated in terms of income generation. An enterprise budget analysis was performed using data collected from August, 2004, to July, 2005. Farms named A and B were smallholdings and raised Saanem goats intensively. Herd indexes, incomes, taxes, fuel, energy, concentrates, opportunity costs and interest in capital were computed. Net present value and internal rate of return were estimated to appreciate the business appeal in terms of income generation. Herd indexes were mostly affected by management decisions interfering on the amounts and time-trends related to milk production. Seasonal variation was reduced at unit B due to heat induction, a decision not shared by farmer A. The daily body weight gain of doelings after weaning (89 and 76 g/d for A and B) was low if compared to current recommendations. Average records of lactation (441 and 606 L/doe) and fertility (86.95% and 85.71%) were amongst the literature range. Daily tasks related to unit B consumed 5 hours and 55 minutes for an average milk production of 40.9 L/d, whereas 8 hours and 16 minutes on average were daily spent at unit A in order to produce 32.2 L/d. Unit B presented a total production cost (R$ 0.79548/L) lower than unit A (R$ 1.50239/L), but operated profitably. Unit A presented a positive gross margin (R$ 0.284/L), but operated unprofitably. The income generated on B was equivalent to a monthly salary of R$ 732.96 (US$ 278.52), a competitive income compared to the Brazilian minimum wage of R$ 300.00 (US$ 114.00) paid monthly. These results corroborate the hypothesis that the dairy goat husbandry fits adequately to the household production model and generates income competitively.Dois sistemas de produção de caprinos leiteiros praticados de acordo com o modelo familiar foram avaliados quanto à geração de renda. Um teste para verificação de viabilidade econômica do empreendimento foi executado utilizando-se dados coletados de agosto de 2004 a julho de 2005. As fazendas, denominadas A e B, eram pequenas propriedades produtoras de cabras Saanem em sistema intensivo. Índices de rebanho, rendas, impostos, combustível, energia, concentrado, custos de oportunidade e capital de interesse foram computados para estimação da renda líquida e da taxa de retorno do capital para avaliação do quanto o negócio pode ser atraente em geração de renda. Os índices de rebanho foram afetados significativamente pelas decisões tomadas pelos administradores e interferiram sobre as quantidades e tendências relacionadas à produção de leite. Na unidade B, a variação sazonal reduziu com a indução de cio, uma prática não realizada na unidade A. O ganho de peso diário das cabritas após a desmama (89 e 76 g/dia para A e B) foi baixo em comparação às recomendações atuais. As médias dos registros de lactação (441 e 606 L/cabra) e fertilidade (86,95 e 85,71%) estiveram nos limites preconizados na literatura. Tarefas diárias na unidade B consumiam 5 horas e 55 minutos para produção média de leite de 40,9 L/dia, enquanto na unidade A correspondiam a 8 horas e 16 minutos diários para produção média de 32,2 L/dia. A unidade B apresentou custo total de produção (R$ 0,79548/L) menor que o da unidade A (R$ 1,50239/L), mas operava de forma lucrativa. A unidade A apresentou margem bruta positiva (R$ 0,284/L), mas não operava de forma lucrativa. A renda gerada em B era equivalente a um salário mensal de R$ 732,96 (US$ 278,52), renda competitiva se comparada ao salário mínimo brasileiro, de R$ 300,00 (US$ 114,00) por mês. Estes resultados corroboram a hipótese de que a produção de caprinos leiteiros serve adequadamente ao modelo de produção familiar e gera renda competitiva.

The research analyses the fundamental resources, farm structures, and composition by aim of farming, labour force and family income sources of the agricultural private holdings from the aspects of subsistence and income generation as well as of rural development. By processing the various databases, the research provides a clear picture on the situation of private holdings and groups of farms (self-supplying, marketing the surplus, commercial holdings). On the basis of the analyses, it is possible to estimate the number of competitive farms, that is, of professional farms, and the number of the producers who are not engaged in commercial production. This points out the need to extend the sphere of rural activities are connected to the other sectors of the national economy.

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]

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Abstract: Over the last three decades, many soil and water conservation projects have been implemented in various parts of eastern and southern Africa to control land degradation, and improve land productivity, especially under ‘catchment approach’ initiatives of the 1980s. In Ethiopia, many of these soil conservation projects were implemented following the severe drought of 1974. To capture long-term impacts of these initiatives, a study was conducted in Anjenie Watershed of Ethiopia, assessing fanya juu terraces and grass strips constructed in a pilot project in 1984, and which are still functional 25 years later. Data were collected from government records, field observations and questionnaire surveys administered to 60 farmers. Half of the respondent had terraced farms in the watershed former project area (with technology) and the rest were outside the terraced area (without technology). The crops assessed were teff, barley and maize. Cost–benefit analyses were used to determine the economic benefits with and without terraces, including gross and net profit values, returns on labour, water productivity and impacts on poverty. The results indicated that soil and water conservation had improved crop productivity. The average yields on terraced fields for teff, barley and maize were 0.95tha−1 (control 0.49), 1.86tha−1 (control 0.61), and 1.73tha−1 (control 0.77), respectively. The net benefit was significantly higher on terraced fields, recording US$ 20.9 (US$ −112 control) for teff, US$ 185 (US$ −41 control) for barley and US$ −34.5 (US$ −101 control)ha−1 yr−1 for maize, respectively. The returns on family labour were 2.33, 1.01 and 0.739US$man-day−1 for barley, teff and maize grown on terraced plots compared to US$ 0.44, 0.27 and 0.16man-day−1 for without, respectively. Using a discount rate of 10%, the average net present value (NPV) of barley production with terrace was found to be about US$ 1542 over a period of 50 years. In addition, the average financial internal rate of return (FIRR) was 301%. Other long-term impacts of terracing included farmers’ growing of maize on terraced fields as a result of water conservation. Currently, farmers also grow barley on terraced fields for two crop seasons per year unlike the experiences on farms without terraces. Household incomes and food security had improved and soil erosion drastically reduced. Many farmers had adopted terracing doubling the original area under the soil conservation pilot project and consequently improving environmental conservation in the watershed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study concerns the operation of ethic restaurants in regional Victoria, with a particular focus on the potential benefits and cost reductions gained by employing family members. Most of these restaurants are classified as small businesses in Australia, and to be financially viable in the long term restaurants require a careful scrutiny of their costs. Given that labour costs are the single greatest expense for the majority of these restaurants, family labour has often been used to reduce wage expenditure. An evaluation was conducted based on 25 examples of ethnic restaurants across regional Victoria to establish whether family labour is still utilized as a cost reduction method. As part of a larger qualitative study, this paper examines examples of how ethnic entrepreneurial behaviour in restaurants utilizes family labour at reduced or no wages, and determines the impacts this has on the businesses. While this phenomenon has been identified as a legitimate business practice in the past, it appears still to be prevalent today. This empirical study is designed to open up a new field of social enquiry. It is from this work that theory can be developed in due course. This study is important as it supports previous findings but also highlights that ethnic restaurants are under constant financial pressure and may not have the ability initially to employ people outside the family structure. This may distort employment figures of the hospitality industry, with more people working in the industry than actually reported. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This comment discusses several aspects of the recent paper by Blanc et al. (2008), focussing on the link between the theoretical and empirical models. It argues that there is an inconsistency between the two models in the way households are segmented into different labour regimes. The econometric approach is also queried. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Women in ethnic businesses have often been heralded as a critical labour resource but at the same time exploited and unacknowledged for their significant contribution. This paper considers the role of women in Asian businesses by adopting a very different perspective. The cases reviewed consider family businesses (defined as having two or more generations involved in the ownership and management of the business) and the role of the mother as a mediator between both generations. Previous research on working dynamics in the family business field has focused almost exclusively on the power struggles between the founder (typically the father) and the heir (usually the son). The central thrust of this paper is to explore these working dynamics by focusing on the involvement and subsequent impact of the mother of the successor (also the wife of the founder). The research identifies the mother's role as a critical buffer between the generations, which is generally not recognised, let alone acknowledged by the family members experiencing transition. This paper adopts an unusual approach in its methodology by interviewing the founder and successor only, rather than the mother as well. By following this somewhat unorthodox approach I argue that the involvement of the mother is critical to the business. However, how it is perceived by key family members in the business is even more important as this will determine whether she has a platform to assert herself as an equal party or needs to adopt a dexterous approach in order to balance relations. The paper draws on data collected from Asian family firms based in Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper highlights the contribution of women and children to the sugar industry in Fiji by examining the importance of family labour in the historical development of the smallholder system and describing the present situation for the study participants. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted during 1996–97, on the island of Vanua Levu in the northern region of Fiji. The twenty smallholder households in the study comprised both Fijian and Fiji Indian respondents who relied primarily on selling sugar cane for their cash income. How inequalities within the household in terms of allocation of labour and resources are legitimated is outlined. Resource distribution within the household in regards to two important issues for the sugar industry, land and trade liberalisation, are examined. In light of global trends in trade liberalisation and probable falls in sugar prices, future strategies for survival identified by Fijian and Fiji Indian smallholders are also discussed. The case study demonstrates that the sugar industry is still largely reliant on family labour and, particularly for low socio-economic smallholders, the unremunerated labour of family members makes an essential contribution to the production of sugar cane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]