This paper investigates the effects of network based individual social capital on the access of rural households to services. In the context of development economics, an innovative data collection approach is used to determine network based social capital. The approach originates from the field...

Past studies highlight harmful effects of using pesticides and untreated wastewater on farmers’ health in agriculture. However, none of the studies explore these sources to determine the magnitude of deleterious health effects simultaneously. Vegetable growers in peri-urban areas of developing...

This article analyzes data on self-reported food insecurity of more than 50,000 individuals in 18 Sub- Saharan African countries over the period 2005 to 2008, when global food prices increased dramatically. The average level of self-reported food insecurity was high but remarkably stable, at...

China has a biosafety regulatory framework in place for both domestic GM crop commercialization and imports. China imported about four times as many soybeans as it produced domestically in 2010 and is also expected to become a major importer of maize in the near future. Both China’s soybean...

Visual presentation for the 2012 IAAE triennal conference.

In emerging markets for high-value food products in developing countries, processing companies search for efficient ways to source raw material of consistent quality. One widely embraced approach is contract farming. But relatively little is known about the appropriate design of contracts,...

The slow adoption of innovations in less developed countries has long been a puzzle, given the high expected returns. This paper investigates the role of ambiguity-aversion as a fundamental behavioral determinant of technology adoption, motivated by the fact that, almost by definition, farmers...

This paper addresses the issue of price risk assessment in the agricultural commodity markets. Four the most frequently used approaches and related methods of measuring price risk in commodity markets were characterized and used to assess price risk in the wheat market in Poland. Results of the...

Smallholder farmers’ land allocation decisions in marginal areas of developing countries typically involve a substantial element of risk, especially when they concern input intensive cash crops. Hence, apart from farmers’ resource endowment, their individual level of risk aversion is a...

Unanticipated events can cause considerable economic hardship for poor rural households. Some types of negative shocks, for example weather-related agricultural losses and vector-borne diseases, are expected to occur more frequently as a result of climate change. This paper measures the role of...