Purpose




There is a recent growing interest to find a lasting intervention to rural poverty (RP) in developing countries based on farmer entrepreneurship and innovation. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to examine the relation between entrepreneurship and RP alleviation in two resource-constrained provinces of China. This paper assesses the influence of three capabilities of farm entrepreneurs – educational, economic and socio-cultural – on farmer entrepreneurship growth and how these, in turn, impact alleviation of RP.




Design/methodology/approach




Household survey data comprising 363 respondents were taken from four deprived communities in two provinces of China. The paper employed structural equation modeling (SEM), using AMOS 21.0 alongside SPSS 20.0 to test the relations between the constructs.




Findings




The results show that a statistically significant and positive relation exists between entrepreneurship and RP alleviation in China. The findings of the study further reveal that qualitative growth of entrepreneurship has a stronger positive influence on RP alleviation than on quantitative growth, and socio-cultural capabilities of respondents significantly and positively affect entrepreneurial growth of farmers, rather than education and economic capabilities.




Research limitations/implications




The use of data from four communities in two provinces tends to limit the ability to generalize the findings of the study. Furthermore, the survey did not collect information on non-farm entrepreneurs, making it impossible to compare the findings from farm entrepreneurs with non-farm entrepreneurs.




Practical implications




The findings have practical implications for policy makers in rural China toward addressing targeted RP. This paper, therefore, suggests that entrepreneurship should be pursued vigorously among farmers in rural areas of China to help solve poverty. The paper also presents a useful lesson for various stakeholders in poverty alleviation programs in other developing countries.




Originality/value




This paper contributes to the academic literature on the entrepreneurship–RP alleviation nexus by combining the theory of capability and SEM in the analysis of an emerging economy such as China.

/pdf/the-relation-between-entrepreneurship-and-rural-poverty-4udczr8b3b.pdf

The relation between entrepreneurship and rural poverty alleviation in China

https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/31903/VanEeden_Factors(2013).pdf;sequence=1

Factors determining use of biological disease control measures by the avocado industry in South Africa

In 2008, public authorities in Algeria created the “Syrpalac” mechanism in order to reduce price fluctuation of consumption potatoes. The mechanism calls private storage operators for the constitution of the stocks of regulation. It is a voluntary policy, whose success is depending on the effective implication of these storage operators. Our research consists on identifying factors that determine the implication of the storage operators to Syrpalac. Our results show that these factors are the perception of financial incentive, the profit margin, the diversification of the storage operators, the production area, the volumes and the mode of storage. They suggest that policy improvements are possible, which will help the regulatory authority.

Facteurs déterminant l’implication des opérateurs dans une politique de stockage incitative: Cas du dispositif de régulation Syrpalac en Algérie.

Pineapple Honey is one of the superior commodity of Pemalang Regency, Central Java. However, production of honey pineapple in 2013- 2015 was occurred fluctuations. The purpose of this research is to know the factors that affect production and to know the level of elasticity in each honey pineapple farming input in the Beluk Village. The sampling of locations was carried out purposively with the consideration that beluk village was the centre of honey pineapple production. The number of samples was 64 farmers who were taken simple random. Cobb-Douglas production function analysis technique was used to determine the factors affecting the production and elasticity of each of the honey pineapple farming inputs. The results of the analysis showed that the factors affecting the production of honey pineapple are the number of plants, manure, and harvest season. In variables that affect production is obtained only variable manure has negative value. It can be occurred as effect of the application of immature manure. So, we suggest that the use of manure that is ripe and of good quality will have a positive effect on the growth and production of honey pineapple.

/pdf/alocative-efficiency-of-honey-pineapple-farm-in-pemalang-7w8nr5hw2x.pdf

Alocative Efficiency of Honey Pineapple Farm in Pemalang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

Rocky desertification is a common phenomenon in karst areas. Soil carbon and nitrogen storage is of great significance to the formation and evolution of ecosystems. Soil leakage is one of the important indicators in evaluating ecosystem stability. There are few studies on the response of carbon and nitrogen leakage below the surface of karst critical zones to forest ecosystems. The karst springs in the study area of Shibing Heichong, Bijie Salaxi and Guanling-Zhenfeng Huajiang in Guizhou, China, were selected to determine the variation characteristics of carbon and nitrogen content and karst spring outputs and their response to soil leakage. The results showed the following: (1) The content and output of carbon and nitrogen in karst springs in the three study areas showed obvious spatial differences. The carbon and nitrogen output of karst spring water was mainly concentrated in the rainy season. The carbon and nitrogen contents and output of karst springs in the Shibing Heichong study area were higher than those in the Bijie Salaxi and Guanling-Zhenfeng Huajiang study areas. (2) The carbon and nitrogen outputs of karst springs were mainly affected by flow. Land cover and land use in forests affect the carbon and nitrogen contents of karst springs and thus affect the output. (3) The higher the soil leakage of the karst spring was, the higher the carbon and nitrogen output. The leakage of the overlying soil in the Shibing Heichong study area was high, but the soil decline was small, and the stability of the forest ecosystem was relatively good. In summary, a lower degree of rocky desertification results in higher leakage from karst springs and higher risks of soil leakage; however, the ecosystem was relatively stable. Evaluating forest soil carbon and nitrogen loss and ecosystem stability in karst areas through the nutrient output of karst springs is of great significance for the prevention and control of rocky desertification areas.

/pdf/temporal-and-spatial-variations-in-carbon-nitrogen-output-in-39sx2jfo.pdf

Temporal and Spatial Variations in Carbon/Nitrogen Output in the Karst Critical Zone and Its Response to the Forest Ecosystem of Karst Desertification Control

Based on the survey data of 538 farmers from 15 counties (or cities) in Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Sichuan provinces, this paper empirically analyzes the factors affecting farmers’ production willingness of safe agricultural products by Logit regression model. And the results indicate that relative price of safe agricultural products, production scale, government subsidy, guidance from agricultural technicians and joining agricultural industrialization organizations have significant positive influence while farmers’ age and family income have significant negative influence. To further identify influencial power of these significant variables, the calculation of their standard coefficients reveals that the influencial power of production scale, relative price of safe agricultural products and joining agricultural industrialization organizations is comparatively powerful. On the basis of empirical analysis, some countermeasures are brought up.

Research on Farmers’ Production Willingness of Safe Agricultural Products and Its Influence Factors: An Empirical Analysis in China

Elevation changes create gradients in abiotic factors, which in turn affect soil erosion and carbon cycling. However, how elevation changes control soil ecological processes through temperature and the mechanism that affects the carbon cycle remain unclear. Therefore, we have studied the distribution of temperature, bulk density (BD), soil pH, mean weight diameter (MWD), clay, and diversity of soil fungal community diversity, and discussed the critical factors affecting soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) in a typical karst mountainous area. The results showed that the dominant phyla were Ascomycota (42.28%), Mortierellomycota (20.6%), Basidiomycota (17.83%), and Rozellomycota (11.82%). The elevation distributions of MWD, fungal diversity, the rate of SOC and N stocks change per temperature index, and SOC and N stocks all exhibited unimodal patterns. Additionally, temperature, fungal diversity, MWD, BD, and clay were the dominant factors explaining the variability of SOC and N, and SOC and N had a positive relationship with pH, BD, MWD, clay-silt content, warmth index, and Sobs and Shannon diversity. Analyses showed that the warmth index regulated soil aggregates through fungal diversity and combined with BD to affect carbon sequestration, which was controlled by clay, the C:N ratio, and pH during the process. These conclusions have important implications for improving the SOC sequestration capacity in karst mountainous areas. 

Luo Min

Papers

Research on Farmers’ Production Willingness of Safe Agricultural Products and Its Influence Factors: An Empirical Analysis in China

Effects of elevation gradient on soil carbon and nitrogen in a typical karst region of Chongqing, southwest China