Market liberalization created a situation where there are no guaranteed grain prices, no central information source and the need for marketing information increased. Unfortunately, most farmers have little or no access to marketing information. This study evaluates farmers’ perceptions of...

It is widely believed that public and private research and educational activities have led to rapid advances in the production of crops and livestock, making farmers far better off than they would have been had these technological advances not taken place. The cash receipts data for the postwar...

The effective delivery of computerized decision aids for policymakers who must deal with problems of economic development has been of increasing interest to both extension and research workers in rural development. This paper describes efforts recently completed at the University of Kentucky...

This paper establishes level of up-take of the business opportunities provided by the metal silos technology among the artisans who were trained on how to make metal silos. It also assesses the factors that determine the practice of the metal silo business among the trained artisans. A third of...

Since the beginning of 1970’s, more than 40 improved maize varieties have been released and disseminated to maize potential areas in Ethiopia. Using cross-sectional survey data collected in 2011 from 39 districts in five Regional States, this paper examines smallholder farmers’ knowledge,...

In this paper I first discuss the role of external capital constraints in limiting the ability of farmers to implement new technologies. Via a theoretical model, I illustrate the role of farm size in determining if a particular cost-reducing technology is implemented. I show that the cost...

It's time to take a close look at recent trends agriculture and in rural areas and speculate where these trends might lead. What are the important forces that will shape the future agriculture and rural areas in the 21st century? What are the implications of these forces on the programs that...

Commissioned by the CGIAR Science Council and prepared as a Background Paper for the 2008 World Development Report of the World Bank.