2010, Fleming, Euan, Hadley, David, Holloway, Garth

Interest has been growing in the nature of synergies in agroecosystems, prompted in part by growing concerns about the effects of environmental degradation on agricultural productivity and interrelations between agricultural outputs and ecosystem outputs. Most productivity analyses focus on technology, technical inefficiency and scale effects on productivity; yet scope economies derived from synergies can also have substantial effects that are likely to increase in the future. Scope economies take on special importance when farms diversify to halt declining biodiversity and other forms of environmental degradation. We present results of an empirical case study based on panel data on farms in England and Wales. A stochastic input distance function is estimated using Bayesian methods that enable economies of scope to be calculated between pairs of outputs based on the derivatives of the input distance function. Results confirm the presence of scope economies from diversity, providing prima facie evidence that diversity is beneficial in farming systems in England and Wales. But a number of challenges lie ahead to improve the data set and method of measuring scope economies for further substantiation of this evidence. Chief among them is the need to obtain a better measure of ecosystem outputs. The complexity of agroecosystems, with their diverse elements and numerous interactions between elements, presents a major challenge for data collection.

2006, Bateman, I J, Brouwer, R, Kay, D, Leeks, G, Lewis, M, Lovett, AA, Neal, C, Posen, P, Rigby, D, Turner, R K, Davies, H, Day, B H, Deflandre, A, Di Falco, S, Georgiou, S, Hadley, David, Hutchins, M, Jones, A P

Implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) represents a fundamental change in the management of water in Europe with a requirement that member states ensure 'good ecological status' for all water bodies by 2015. Agriculture is expected to bear a major share of WFD implementation costs as it is compelled to reduce the emission of diffuse water pollutants. The research outlined here comprises interdisciplinary modelling of agricultural land use, hydrology and consequent water quality effects to consider both agricultural costs and the non-market recreational use (and potentially non-use) values that implementation of the Directive may generate. A theme throughout the research is the spatial distribution of the costs and benefits of WFD implementation, which is addressed through the use of GIS techniques in the modelling of agricultural land use, the integration of land use and hydrological models, and the estimation, aggregation and transfer of the economic value of the benefits.

2014, Temoso, Omphile, Hadley, David, Villano, Renato

To improve the welfare of the rural poor and to decrease the dependence of the national economy on minerals, the government of Botswana has been spending 40% of the value of agricultural GDP on agricultural support services. Despite this massive investment, there is evidence that agricultural productivity has declined in recent years. This paper attempts to explore the reasons for this decline. We use secondary data from six regions of Botswana (covering the period 1979 to 2012) to construct a Fare-Primont index of productivity following the approach proposed by O'Donnell (2012). The results of the analysis show that annual TFP has gradually declined over the period. This decline is predominantly due to technological regress which is offset by some increase in scale and mix efficiency.

2006, Hadley, David

English and Welsh farm-level survey data are employed to estimate stochastic frontier production functions for eight different farm types (cereal, dairy, sheep, beef, poultry, pigs, general cropping and mixed) for the period 1982 to 2002. Differences in the relative efficiency of farms are explored by the simultaneous estimation of a model of technical inefficiency effects. The analysis shows that, generally, farms of all types are relatively efficient with a large proportion of farms operating close to the production frontier. However, whilst the frontier farms of all types are becoming more efficient through time because of technical change, it is also the case that the efficiency of the average farm for most farm types is increasing at a slower rate. In addition, annual mean levels of efficiency for most farm types have declined between 1982 and 2002. The factors that consistently appear to have a statistically significant effect on differences in efficiency between farms are: farm or herd size, farm debt ratios, farmer age, levels of specialisation and ownership status.

2015-09, Temoso, Omphile, Villano, Renato A, Hadley, David

This paper attempts to examine and revisit the trends in agricultural productivity in Botswana. Using secondary data from six regions of Botswana for the period 1979 to 2012, we estimate components of total factor productivity (TFP) using the Färe-Primont index. Estimates of technical change and changes in technical efficiency, scale efficiency and mix efficiency are obtained. The results show that the annual TFP has declined gradually over the period, predominantly due to a decline in technical efficiency and a slight decline in mix efficiency and scale efficiency. The regions with a significant proportion of arable agriculture performed worse than those that specialise in livestock production, thus confirming the comparative advantage of extensive livestock production in semi-arid countries such as Botswana. This study shows how the finer decomposition of TFP into different measures may assist in the identification of the main drivers of productivity and associated policies.

2006, Hadley, David, Australian Government, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

This report updates to 2002 the work on farm level efficiency presented previously, which terminated in 1997. This allows a better attempt at measuring the effects of new policies like set aside, which were introduced late in the period.

2016, Temoso, Omphile, Hadley, David, Villano, Renato

Agriculture plays an important role in Botswana, providing food, income, employment and investment opportunities for the majority of the rural population. However, over the last two decades, the contribution of agriculture to the economy and rural development has declined leading to a progressive increase in food imports. Low growth in the agricultural sector has been attributed to low productivity, which could be attributed to the recurring drought conditions that prevail in many parts of the country, and partly by the small scale of farms. Remarkably, this decline in agricultural performance in Botswana has coincided with a period of major policy reform, the objective of which is to improve agricultural performance. This study measures the performance of the agricultural sector and investigates the reasons for continuing decline in spite of considerable public expenditure. Using panel data from 1979 to 2012, the study calculates various indicators to assess the different drivers of the performance of the sector across different agricultural districts, agro-ecological regions, production systems and sub-sectors. A nonparametric approach is employed to examine trends in agricultural productivity in six regions of Botswana. Measures of total factor productivity (TFP) are obtained and decomposed into various sources including efficiency change (technical, scale and mix efficiency) and technical change. The results show that TFP declined due to a fall in overall efficiency at 3.1 per cent per annum. Moreover, a parametric stochastic distance frontier approach is used to examine sources of efficiency, productivity and output growth and the possible reasons for the decline in productivity. It was found that the main driver of productivity is improvement in technical efficiency. The results show that various programs introduced during the study period did not lead to any improvement in productive efficiency. Results from both parametric and nonparametric approaches indicate that overall efficiency varies from region to region, which suggest that there is a scope for improving productivity by taking a differential regional approach to efforts aimed at increasing efficiency.

2018-08, Temoso, Omphile, Hadley, David, Villano, Renato

The purpose of this study is to explore reasons for the decline in agricultural performance in Botswana that has occurred during the implementation of a variety of policy measures, as well as the introduction of new technologies, and to identify ways in which it might be reversed. Panel data from six regions in Botswana (period 1979-2012) is analyzed with a stochastic output distance function and inefficiency effects model. We decompose agricultural output growth into; total factor productivity (TFP) and changes in input use (factors of production). TFP is further decomposed into scale effects, technical efficiency and technological change. The results show that over the study period agricultural output grew at a very low rate of 0.072 percent per year, which is largely due to a growth in factors of production at 0.071 percent per year rather than TFP growth (which declined at 0.003 percent per year). We found that the decline in productivity has been due to technological regress and low growth in technical efficiency and scale efficiency. Policy options aimed at improving agricultural productivity and output growth will require the strengthening of extension services; improving the agronomic and husbandry management skills of farmers through training; and by encouraging farmers to adopt and utilize technologies that have been provided under existing policy programs.

2016, Bui, Quang Minh, Cacho, Oscar, Villano, Renato, Hadley, David

There is great need for research on climate change adaptation, especially for agricultural producers, including those involved in natural rubber production. Almost all of the traditional rubber growing areas in the world suffer from climate extremes, which have resulted from climate changes. The intensity of climate changes will vary across these areas, and it is difficult to anticipate exactly how these changes will occur in the future (RRII, 2010). In the meantime, the rubber industry is also highly vulnerable to market uncertainty (Viswanathan, 2008; Wijesuriya et al., 2007). These facts require special attention in formulating adaptation strategies (Wijesuriya & Dissanayake, 2009), and require rubber farmers to adapt (RRII, 2010). Many solutions through technologies and cultivation practices have been developed over time to offset losses caused by the negative effects of climate change on rubber plantations. They exist to improve latex yield and technical efficiency. These solutions are adopted in some regions, but not everywhere (Barlow & Muharminto, 1982). Assessment of the farm-level adoption of adaptation strategies available is crucial in order to provide information for the formulation of related policies (Charles & Rashid, 2007; Smit et al., 2001). There is a gap in farming systems research in developing countries regarding the comprehensive assessment of climate change adaptation at the farm level. The comprehensive approach used in this study, in terms of methods of analysis of climate change, climate variability, their negative impacts on crop performance, perception, vulnerability, adaptation and logical mechanisms of farmer adaptation, is a methodological contribution beyond what has been done in previous studies. Developing and applying a comprehensive analytical framework will allow local decision makers as well as related stakeholders to manage climate change adaptation in farming systems. The main purpose of this study is to investigate farmer households' adaptive responses, their preference patterns for climate change adaptation and the determinants of their adaptive responses. This knowledge is of great interest for designing climate change adaptation schemes; therefore, this research can assist local policy-makers to address the challenges of climate change and variability.

2016, Temoso, Omphile, Villano, Renato, Hadley, David

The beef cattle production system in Botswana is dualistic in structure in that it includes both traditional and commercial production systems, which are distinct from one another in terms of objectives, land tenure, technology, and management practices. The purpose of this paper is to measure the key performance indicators of beef cattle production systems in Botswana and explore the drivers of change in those indicators. We examine differences in productivity and production technologies between the two beef production systems. The results show that traditional farms are technically inefficient and that their technology lags behind that of commercial farms. The use of improved breeds, off-take rates and selling to the Botswana Meat Commission (which control the only exporting abattoirs in Botswana) were found to improve technical efficiency in the commercial production system, but only off-take rates had a positive effect on efficiency in the traditional production system. Both farming systems have the potential to overcome technology constraints and achieve the highest attainable productivity level through improvements in; beef cattle technologies, farmer capacity in production and marketing, and the effectiveness of the technology transfer process.