Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is an important staple in Burkina Faso as well as many other countries in West Africa. Among the major cowpea pests affecting the crop are the legume pod borer (Maruca vitrata), flower thrips (Megalurothrips sjostedti), bruchids (Callosobruchus maculatus), and...

This study aimed to evaluate the technical efficiency of farmers engaged in rice-wheat cropping systems in India using Resource Conserving Technologies (RCTs) such as zero-tillage and direct seeding, under the intervention of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project primarily...

During the last decade, cotton production and area have been declining as a result of depleting soil nutrients and low cotton prices in the cotton zone of Mali. This paper shows that the Malian government’s 2011 policy to increase the farm gate cotton price as a response to world cotton price...

This paper examines the role of institutional environments on cotton farmer technical efficiency scores in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Mali using a stochastic frontier production approach. First, the key institutional changes that have occurred with the recent market-oriented reforms are discussed....

This study allows for variation of trade costs among regions, since a single trade costs measure may not appreciate the large number and diverse regions of the United States through which trade in food manufacturing occurs.

Food legumes play an important and diverse role in the farming systems and in the diets of poor people around the world. They are ideal crops for simultaneously achieving three developmental goals in targeted population—reducing poverty, improving human health and nutrition, and enhancing...

This study takes the standard acreage response model that stems from an expected utility framework, accounting for both price and yield variability, and nests it within a flexible semi-nonparametric (SNP) model consistent with farm-level decision models for computationally tractable results. We...

We theoretically examine a farmer’s coverage demand with area and individual insurance plans as either separate or integrated options. The individual and area losses are assumed to be imperfectly and positively correlated. With actuarially fair rates, the farmer will fully insure with the...