Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirementsfor the joint academic degree of International Master of Science in Rural Development from GhentUniversity (Belgium), Agrocampus Rennes (France), Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany) andUniversity of Cordoba (Spain) in collaboration...

Decision support systems (DSS) are usually based on computerised models of biophysical and economic systems. Despite early expectations that such models would inform and improve management, adoption rates have been low, and implementation of DSS is now ?critical? The reasons for this are unclear...

Transition from the planned to the market economy involved profound changesin Ukrainian economy. Before the liberalization of prices in 1992, milk processingin Ukraine was concentrated in regionally distributed large state milk processingfactories. In the meantime, the dairy sector has been...

Insurance policies that trigger on county yield and revenue indexes are expected to be more actuarially fair than policies that trigger on individual farm yield and revenue since individual farm hidden actions and hidden information impacting purchase decisions will be built into insurance...

Static economic theory views the production and consumption sides of the economic environment separately as two unique activities. The distinction between the business and home aspects in the case of farming arose in economic theory and principles of analysis, especially because static theory...

Although most of the rice area in Indonesia is still prepared manually, since the early 1980s the government has promoted tractors for land preparation through subsidized loans. This has increased capital investment in agriculture; and for the farmers, the cost of owning and operatingtractor has...

This paper explores the link between cost and price in two irrigation schemes in Mali - the Office du Niger (ON), a large-scale gravity irrigation authority, and a number of small pump-irrigated fields at village perimeters along the Niger River (Petits Perimetres d'Irrigation Villagois). I...

The evaluation of USAID funded farming systems research projects must play an important role in the design of future projects if one is to build on past experience to improve project performance. The development of an institutional memory is particularly important as FSR is new and still taking...

In recent years, governmental and nongovernmental organizations in many low-income countries have introduced credit programs targeted to the poor. Many of these programs specifically target the poor on the premise that they are more likely to be credit constrained and have restricted access to...

Farmers face many risks which arise from natural, economic and socio-political environments. Risk sharing institutions like national insurance and credit schemes that help reduce the burden of risk to society are weak in Uasin Gishu county. Private sector insurance products are still in their...