African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN: 2375-0693 Vol. 4 (6), pp. 393-399, June, 2016.  © International Scholars Journals 

Full Length Research Paper

Performance of production and trade of camel products in some Middle East countries

Anousheh Khomeini Khatami

Livestock Production Management, Animal Sciences Research Institute of Iran, P.O.Box: 31585-1483, Karaj, Iran. E-mail: [email protected].

Accepted 17 February, 2016

Abstract

There are approximately 25 million camels in the world where the global market for camel products has a potential of US$10 billion a year based on Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of United Nations. The comparative advantages of the camel as a dairy animal over the other species in the same environment are difficult to quantify; however in absolute terms, it is widely recognized that the camel produces more milk for a longer period of time than any other animal under the same condition. Camel meat and milk are utilized in some Arabic and African countries and also Iranian people, in marginal of desert, use the camel meat. At present, there are about 148000 camels in Iran that mainly are dromedary (one humped camel). This number can potentially increase by 600000. Camel raising must not only be socially acceptable, but also economically viable, so management of camel farming must be taken into consideration to increase the farmer income. This study aimed to clarify the performance of production as well as trade of camel population and products in some Middle East countries. Data were collected by FAO statistics (FAO, 2011) which is available online through this organization’s formal website for the period of 2000 to 2010. As a result, there has been a growing tendency to meet demand, particularly for milk, through imports. Thus, understanding the inter-relationships and conflicts between objectives and policies is a critical step towards designing and implementing more effective incentive systems. It was concluded that the meat and dairy production system of camel in the Middle East countries, especially Iran, regrettably received little attention because of unknown profit abilities of this animal.

Key words: Camel, production, trade, Middle East countries.

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN: 2375-0693 Vol. 4 (5), pp. 388-392, May, 2016. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Evaluation of farmers’ insufficient data in income distribution of farmland conversion

Liang J. Cheung* and Herman Lu Han

Economic College, Hunan Agricultural University, Chang Sha 410128, China.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected].

Accepted 16 January, 2016

Abstract

In the process of rural land conversion, Chinese farmers always get the unfair treatment. Why Chinese farmer cannot get their deserved part? What is the behavior of that unfair treatment in china? And how to solve the problem? From the rational person hypothesis and profit maximization hypothesis, we use the game theory to probe the situation of different subjects, such as the market demander, the farmers, and the village manager. The conclusion is that: (1) The behavior of that inferior information is whether it is the legal requisition or not, whether there is the intercept policy, and whether to grant the appropriate compensation; (2) The unfair treatment in Chinese farmland conversion to farmers is owing to the inferior information, which includes information acquisition inferior and information distribution inferior; (3) The solution to this problem proposed is a path of coexistence with internal strengthening mechanisms and external optimization mechanism.

Key words: Farmland conversion in China, income distribution, information inferiority, game theory, internal strengthening mechanisms, external advantages mechanism.

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN: 2375-0693 Vol. 4 (6), pp. 400-403, June, 2016. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Effects of farm yard manure and spacing on the growth and yield of garlic in Zaria, Nigeria

Zamali A. Huosman¹, Asari B. N.¹* and Saheed J. Musa²

¹College of Agriculture, Division of Agricultural colleges Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.

²Kabba College of Agriculture, Division of Agricultural Colleges, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected].

Accepted 14 October, 2015

Abstract

Two trials were conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Institute for Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria located on latitude 11°11N’, longitude 7°38’E and 686 m above sea level in Northern Guinea Savannah Ecological Zone of Nigeria. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design replicated three times keeping farm yard manure (0, 10, 20 and 30 tonnes per hectare) as main plot treatments and spacing (10, 15, 20 and 25 cm) as sub plot treatments replicated three times. Results showed that spacing at 25 cm resulted in the highest mean yield, gross margin and cost benefit ratio. The application of manure at 10, 20 and 30 tonnes per hectare resulted in similar mean yield and gross margin. The cost-benefit ratio was highest when 10 or 20 tonnes of farm yard manure were applied. It can therefore be concluded that for sustainable production of garlic in the study area, application of 10 tonnes per hectare of farm yard manure with 25 cm spacing will enhance yield and profitability of garlic.

Key words: Garlic, farm yard manure, spacing, gross margin, cost- benefit ratio.

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN: 2375-0693 Vol. 4 (4), pp. 345-350, April, 2016. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Evaluation of the socio-economic characteristics of cassava farmers and their profit efficiency: Empirical evidence from South western Nigeria

Zamanti M. I.¹ and Jaderka O. N.²

¹Department of Agricultural Economics and Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Luyengo Campus, P. O. LUYENGO, M205, University of Swaziland, Swaziland.

²Department of Management Science, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa.

*Corresponding author. E-mail:[email protected]

Accepted 14 January, 2016

Abstract

This study examined the profit efficiency in cassava production with a view to isolating significant factors leading to variation in farm-specific profit inefficiencies among cassava producers, using Southwestern Nigeria as a case study. Cross sectional data obtained from 109 representative samples of cassava producers with the aid of structured questionnaire supplemented with oral interview were analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics to explain the socio-economic characteristics of the cassava producers and stochastic frontier profit function to estimate profit efficiency of cassava producers in the study area. Results showed that about 51% of cassava producers had formal education; about 50% had more than ten years of farming experience while the average age, household size and farm size of the respondents stood at 46 years, 8 people and 3 hectares respectively. Result of the analysis further showed that the profit efficiencies of the farmers ranged between 20% and 91%, while the mean level of profit efficiency was 79% which suggested that an estimated 21% loss in profit was due to a combination of both technical and allocative inefficiencies. The study further showed that household size and farm size were the major significant factors which influenced profit efficiency positively. The study concluded that there is scope for increasing profit efficiency in cassava production by directing policy focus on these profit efficiency factors.

Key words: Profit efficiency; cassava producers; South Western Nigeria.

Key words: Sudan, agricultural efficiency, CGE, GDP.