Navigating Market Choices: Understanding Carrot Market Outlet Selection among Smallholder Farmers in Kenya

This research delves into the hurdles and strategies aimed at augmenting the market involvement of smallholder carrot farmers in Nakuru County, Kenya. Employing a Multinomial Logit (MNL) model, it scrutinizes the factors influencing the selection of marketing outlets among carrot farmers. The findings unveil that a significant majority (81%) of surveyed farmers actively participate in diverse market outlets, encompassing the farm gate, cleaning point, local market, external market, and export market. Notably, pivotal buyers include aggregators, brokers, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers, with transactions predominantly occurring at the farm level. Additionally, the analysis discerns substantial influences of socio-economic characteristics, experiential factors, and geographical proximity on farmers’ choices of market outlets. Specifically, gender, age, land size, farming experience, and distance to markets emerge as critical determinants. Moreover, the study delves into the examination of market margins along the carrot value chain, shedding light on the potential profitability of carrot farming in the region. Remarkably, higher average gross margins are identified in export and external markets, signaling lucrative prospects for farmers targeting these segments. However, disparities in profit distribution between farmers and traders underscore the necessity for interventions to ensure equitable value distribution throughout the value chain. These findings underscore the imperative for tailored interventions to tackle challenges and foster inclusive agricultural development. Strategies such as farmer organizations, contracting, and vertical integration are advocated to enhance market access and profitability for smallholder carrot farmers. Thus, this study enriches our comprehension of the dynamics within carrot value chains and provides valuable insights for policymakers and development practitioners aiming to uplift rural livelihoods and bolster food security.

Semi-nonparametric Evidence of Young Women’s Participation in the Congolese Labour Market

This article analyses the determinants of young women’s participation in the labour market. For this purpose, the Employment Policy Enhancement Survey (EAPE), conducted by the Laboratoire de Recherches et d’Etudes Economiques et Sociales (LARES) in collaboration with CERDI in 2018 was used as the database. The results of Gallant and Nychka’s (1987) semi-nonparametric procedure show that health status, household size, marital status, and educational attainment are explanatory factors of young women’s labour market participation in Congo.

Stakeholders’ Participation in Agricultural Farmers’ Extension Services Programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case of the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) Programme in Uganda

The paper presents findings from a study carried out to assess the contribution of stakeholders’participation on the performance of the national agricultural farmers’extension services programme in Uganda known as Operation Wealth Creation(OWEC).Specifically,the study sought to establish how participatory planning,budgeting,monitoring and evaluation(M&E)respectively contributed to the performance of OWC in selected district in central Uganda.The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design using both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis techniques and employed both questionnaires and interview guides on key participants in the programme.Findings of the study indicated positive relationships between stakeholders’participation and programme performance with participatory planning,budgeting and M&E all having positive significant effects on the performance of OWC programme.The study concluded that indeed stakeholders’participation contributed to improved performance of the OWC programme.The study recommends increased funding and M&E of the agricultural extension programmes for improved performance.

A Study on the Effectiveness of Chinese Farmers’Participation under the Background of Rural Rejuvenation

The strategy of Rural Revitalization is an important strategic measure to comprehensively promote rural modernization in the period of building a socialist modernization country with Chinese characteristics.In essence,a farmer’s political participation is,of course,to inevitably build a new socialist countryside,cultivate new socialist farmers and realize socialist rural modernization.This paper attempts to explore the promotion and efficient realization of farmers’political participation from three ways of improving the subject ability of political participation,first,to improve subject ability;second,to guarantee object conditions,third,and to create the proper environment.And this paper illustrates that the modernization of rural areas requires the modernization of farmers’ideology and political consciousness.The comprehensive promotion of the modernization of peasants’ideology and political consciousness is embodied in the practice of political participation.

Analysis of Factors Influencing Farmers' Participation in Forest Farmers Cooperatives Based on Empirical Research of Zhejiang Province

Based on field research data of farmers in Zhejiang Province, the authors analyzed factors influencing farmers' participation in forest farmers cooperatives (hereafter referred to as FFCs) by the binary logistic regression model. Results show that understanding of farmers about cooperatives has a great influence on their behavior of participation in FFCs. Besides, educational level of householders and existing member scale of cooperatives also have significant influence on farmers' behavior of participation in cooperatives. Therefore, it is required to strengthen propaganda of cooperatives, deepen their understanding of cooperatives; cultivate new high quality farmers to provide talents for development of cooperatives; establish incentive mechanism to encourage farmers to participate in cooperatives.

Willingness of farmers to participate in food traceability systems:improving the level of food safety

In order to solve frequently emerging food safety problems and adapt to the developing trends in the international food safety field, the Chinese government is establishing and developing food traceability systems. Whether or not food traceability sys- tems can guarantee food safety is a problem well worth discussing. Hence, we constructed a theoretical model to explore the effect of incentives in a food traceability system in order to improve food safety levels. The following results were obtained： enhancing the ef- fectiveness of a food traceability system, increasing the payment to farmers who supply safe agricultural products and strengthening the penalty for unsafe food supply actions are necessary conditions to improve the level of food safety. How to encourage farmers to use food traceability systems is another problem explored in our investigation. Based on a field survey on the willingness of vegetable growers to participate using a vegetable traceability system in Beijing, the first city in China to develop such a system, we used a de- scriptive statistics and a binary logistic regression model to investigate the factors which dominate the decision on the part of farmers to participate in a food safety system. The results indicate that i： younger farmers are more likely to get involved in a food traceability system than older farmers, ii： income from non-agricultural activities decreases the willingness of farmers to participate, iii： the high- er the cost-benefit ratio of growing vegetables, the more likely for farmers to engage in a food traceability system, iv： farmers with a great concern for food safety information have a high propensity to participate and v： increased penalties against unsafe food supply actions and high-risk expectation are adverse incentives. In contrast, high-price expectation is a positive incentive for farmers to par- ticipate, while agricultural training, government subsidies and being part of an industrial organization will significantly strengthen the confidence of farmers to participate in a food safety system.

Agricultural production structure,market conditions and farmers’nutritional intake in rural China

Nutrition poverty alleviation is an effective measure to improve the nutritional status of economically disadvantaged individuals,fundamentally improving their health and reducing poverty.Based on the Entitlement Theory and using the China Health and Nutrition Survey(CHNS)data,this paper examines the relationship between farmers’nutritional intake,production structure and regional market conditions.Results show that farmers with diversified production have better nutritional intake than those who specialize.Furthermore,the correlation between regional market conditions and nutritional intake varies between economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged households.Market conditions significantly influence the carbohydrate and fat intake of economically disadvantaged households and are positively associated with the dietary structure and nutritional intake of non-economically disadvantaged ones.Moreover,income is positively correlated with the nutritional intake of non-economically disadvantaged households but not with economically disadvantaged ones.

Thoughts on Living Difficulties of Farmers and Marketing Economy in the Risk Society

The paper combs the problems about living difficulties of farmers and marketing economy in the risk society and puts forward another point of view that with the theory of risk society,reconsider the dilemma of living choices of farmers under the background of marketing economy.On the basis of the statistics,the paper discloses the trend of larger and larger disparities of incomes between urban and rural areas;the paper explains the risks and uncertainties of life choices with the background of deepening marketing economy.In order to understand the life dilemma of farmers and marketing economy in the risk society,the paper makes an analysis from perspectives of the relationships between risk society and markets,the risks of farmers' living choices.The results show that in the risk society,because of the division space from time,the personal farmers are devoid of the safe environment.Then the situation deepens to worse.In addition to the organization which is not in charge results in a situation that the personal farmers would take all risks by themselves.

Consumer Ideology Determines Shopping Preferences at Farmers Markets in Two US Geographical Regions

The purpose of this study was to identify if there were differences that existed in the behaviors, attitudes, awareness, and motivating factors that influenced people to shop at farmers’ markets and purchase USDA certified organic food in two geographic regions: Corvallis, Oregon and Muncie, Indiana. A survey was administered to consumers who shopped at the Minnetrista Farmers’ Market (MFM) and the Corvallis-Albany Farmers’ Market (CAFM) in the summer of 2012 to measure the shoppers’ purchasing perceptions. Specific areas of interest in this study included consumer values towards supporting local farmers and consuming USDA certified organic food. A comparison of responses between regions was analyzed. Results of the study provide insights on consumers’ purchasing attitudes and behaviors regarding USDA certified organic products, and why they chose to shop at Farmers’ Markets. Ideology was the strongest predictor for consumer purchasing behaviors. Understanding how regional differences affect food choice has implications for wellness programs and industry marketing materials.

Linking Markets to Smallholder Agro-forestry Farmers as a Strategy for Poverty Alleviation in the Tropics

The objective of the study was to assess factors affecting market participation of agro-forestry smallholder farmers in Uganda. Primary data on household, farm and marketing characteristics were collected from 153 farming households using a semi-structured, pre-tested questionnaire. The determinants of market participation were assessed using the Probit model. Descriptive statistics showed that a combination of crop, livestock and tree products were marketed by farmers. The main products included maize, cassava and coffee （crops）; firewood and poles （tree products）; and birds and goats （livestock products）. Results from the Probit model showed that farm size, household size, education level, access to credit and extension visits had positive and statistically significant effects on market participation of farmers in agro-forestry products＇ markets. Age of farmer had a negative and statistically significant effect on the participation. Emphasis on improving the quality and coverage of extension services, extending credit facilities to farmers and intensifying agro-forestry training among farmers are suggested as avenues to enhance participation of farmers in agro-forestry products＇ markets.

Thoughts on Participation of Supply and Marketing Cooperative System in Agricultural Social Service

Agricultural social service is an important field in the development of modern agriculture. At present,agricultural social service should be based on the extension of the agricultural industrial chain and value chain. The supply and marketing system has important opportunity to participate in social services. It should be based on deep reform of supply and marketing system,rural industrial poverty alleviation,sustainable agricultural ecological development,development of farmers' cooperative organizations,and increase of organization efficiency. It is recommended to undertake works in construction of platform of supply of agricultural products,commercialization of agricultural technology services,scale development of community-supported agriculture,and market based agricultural social capital. Through improving the team system of supply and marketing system,it is recommended to create platform-based flattening environment and create cooperative ecology in PPP mode to guarantee.

Analysis on Farmers’ Straw Marketization Behavior and Its Influence Factors: A Case Study of Hubei Province

Crop straw has huge resource potential. It has an important significance for realizing waste recycling and improving eco-environment to prefect straw marketization system and sufficiently stimulate farmers’ straw marketization behavior. Based on 427 copies of investigation data on farmers,influence mechanism framework of farmers’ straw marketization behavior is constructed,and key factors of farmers’ straw marketization behavior are analyzed. Results show that farmers joining in straw marketization account for 42. 1%; in influence factors of farmers’ straw marketization behavior,cultivated land area,market price level,logistics satisfaction and air quality perception have significantly positive impacts on farmers’ straw marketization behavior,while education degree,agricultural income proportion and traffic convenience have significantly negative impacts on farmers’ straw marketization behavior. Therefore,it needs strengthening propaganda intensity,carrying out reasonable subsidies and support,encouraging and breeding new type of organization,and establishing and improving the price mechanism of straw marketization to perfect straw marketization construction.

International Experience of Farmers Specialized Cooperative Economic Organizations in Marketing of Agricultural Products

In the world,development modes of farmers specialized cooperative economic organizations mainly includes two types:( i) specialized agricultural cooperatives with the United States of America as representative,and( ii) comprehensive agricultural cooperatives with Japan and South Korea as representative. In comparison,China mainly develops farmers specialized cooperatives which are agricultural production with family as unit and small in land and management scale like agricultural production in Japan. Therefore,in marketing of agricultural products,cooperatives in the United States of America and Japan have successful experience. China may learn such experience in the development of farmers specialized cooperatives.

Analysis of factors affecting individual participation in carbon market

China will set up a national carbon emissions trading market by the end of 2017, which is initially open to individual investors from the initial market for business and institutional investors. In this article, the main influencing factors and mechanism of individual participation in carbon trading market are studied by establishing multiple linear regression model. The study found that age,education level, length of account opening time, and risk attitude are the main factors influencing the participation of individual investors. Environmental awareness and environmental impact are less affected; information transparency and transaction risk also have an impact on the degree of individual investor participation; investment experience does not affect the participation of individual investors in the carbon trading market.

Study on the Impact of Collective Commercial Construction Land Entering the Market on Rural Residents’Income:Taking Deqing County,Zhejiang Province as an Example

The entry of collective construction land for business purposes is an important measure for deepening the reform of the rural land system,promoting the flow of urban and rural factors,and realizing rural revitalization.Since the production of the first batch of pilot projects in 2015,33 county-level cities have participated in the pilot policy by 2023.Deqing County,Zhejiang Province,as the first area to participate in the pilot project,aims to achieve more fruitful results.This paper first examines how promoting farmers’income through the market entry of agricultural land can be achieved,then uses the synthetic control method to quantitatively study the impact of collective operational construction land on farmers’income using panel data from 2011 to 2019,and finally proposes relevant suggestions from the perspective of system reform.

Factors Influencing Farmers' Willingness to Participate in the New Vocational Training

Probit model is applied to analyze some key factors influencing farmers' willingness to participate in the new vocational training for farmers based on 683 questionnaires from 8 districts in Chongqing. The results show that individual and family factors significantly affect farmers' participation will. These factors are age,family scale and years of education. Age is the most important factor,family scale is of secondary importance and years of education are the third one. Meanwhile,years of education positively affect farmers' participation willingness;there is a negative correlation among age,family scale and this willingness. Organizer,rural economic development level and training experience have no significant influence on this willingness.

Contribution of Rural Roads to Access to-and Participation in Markets:Theory and Results from Northern Ethiopia

Road accessibility is considered to be one of the major factors influencing (or correlated to) rural households’ access to- and participation in markets. However, there are few studies that investigate this important topic. This paper, therefore, explores the issue from both theoretical and practical perspectives with household and village level data from Northern Ethiopia. It is generally assumed that road accessibility significantly contributes to both access to- and participation in markets by rural households. The results in this study, however, suggest that neither participation in major markets nor the amount of purchased agricultural inputs use are significantly different for households with respect to the degree of road accessibility in the study area. Nevertheless, the situation seems somewhat better in locations with good access to roads. On the other hand, the results in this study confirm that road accessibility significantly contributes to reducing farm gate prices of manufactured goods and increasing farm gate prices of agricultural goods.

Exploration of New Financing Mode of Farmers' Co-operatives——A Case of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,China

Based on the overview of the role played by farmers' co-operatives in developing rural economy and existing problems,the thesis has introduced the factors which influence the development of farmers' co-operatives including five aspects,namely conditions of scale economy,popularization and application of agricultural production technology,comparative advantage,market expectancy and government support.By analyzing typical cases of three co-operatives in Guangxi(Heng County Dadi Growing Co-operatives,talents-leading share-holding co-operatives;Long'an County Guixiniu Co-operatives,co-operatives led by leading-enterprise;Nanning City Tanluo Town Jinguang Fruits and Potatoes Co-operatives,co-operatives led by leading-enterprise),the way to develop farmers' co-operatives by dint of the external capital has been discussed.The results demonstrate that conditions of scale economy,popularization and application of agricultural production technology,comparative advantage,excellent market expectancy and government support,are conducive to absorbing external capital.Under China's existing economic conditions,the government should normalize the use and allocation procedure of program fund.

Willingness of Farmers Joining Professional Cooperatives——Based on the Questionnaire Survey of Nanjing

Based on the questionnaire survey of farmers in Nanjing City,the research analyzes the influencing factors of farmers' willingness joining professional cooperatives with Binary Logistic model.Results show that variable factors such as:labors,degrees of education,levels of awareness,development of judgments,have positive relation to the willingness of farmers joining professional cooperatives;gender and financial demands are negative related to willingness of farmers joining professional cooperatives;variable factors,such as ages,degrees of education,numbers of farmers,scale of land,generation experience,specific investment and fluctuations of prices,the estimated parameters of which are not significant.At last,the paper points out that the 2 important ways in accelerating the development of professional cooperatives are:the first is to accelerate the capital accumulation of advanced farmers and strengthen the scaled degrees of agricultural management.The second is to promote the information and techniques accumulation speed of professional farmers to strengthen people's awareness and confidence.

Women and youths participation in agroforestry:What counts and what doesn’t around Mount Elgon,Uganda?

The increase in global climate change incidents is a glaring indication that more pragmatic and direct approaches to tree and forest management are urgently needed.A study was conducted around Mount Elgon Uganda between June 2018 and December 2019.The objectives were to:i)determine the socio-economic characteristics of women and youth farmers engaged in agroforestry,ii)determine the relationship between women and youth farmers’characteristics in adoption of tree technologies and related decisions,and iii)assess the incentives,challenges and strategies for promoting agroforestry technologies’adoption in the region.Data were collected from 250 women and youths using focus group discussions,semi-structured,and key informant interviews.Results showed that engagements in agroforestry practices attracted largely(82%)of uneducated women and youths and basic methods and tools were used to farm.Up to 70%of women and youth relied on crop farming as a major source of income,earning about USD$250 perannum.Farm and family size were positively(P>0.0001)related to tree adoption decisions while farmer capacity building activities(such as training,farmer guided field tours,and participatory farmer trial’s establishments)and access to low-cost tree seedlings motivated their involvement in tree planting.Land scarcity,soil,water,and tree conservation issues and shortage of desired tree species affected the extent of tree growing in both women and youth-led households.The suggested strategies comprised strengthening farmer capacity-building programs and upholding soil and water conservation technologies.Agroforestry has the potential to address the challenges related to land scarcity and shortage of desired tree products in women and youth-led households around Mount Elgon.However,the women and youths involved in farming activities were generally poor,illiterate and faced issues of land insecurity.These factors,limited their full potential and interest in agroforestry.A significant increase in tree adoption rates by women and youths will be achieved with increased training on tree seed collection and pre-treatment,reforestation programs as well as tree pest and disease control.