November 2011

How do managers improve farm performance during the economic slowdown: Survey results from New York agribusinesses

This paper examines factors that affect agribusiness management behavior of a sample of dairy, equine, beef cattle, and hog farms in New York State to understand how they survive the ongoing economic hardship. Using a conceptual framework and a Heckman Selection model, this study analyzes the impact of managers’ perceived pressure from the unfavorable economy, their personal traits and their self-assessed...

Author(s): Xu, Pei

November 2011

Antecedents and effects of group sales on supply chain performance: The case of kola production and marketing in Cameroon

Kola plays an important role in the livelihoods of people in the North West region of Cameroon. However, the potential benefits of the product have not been fully exploited due to many problems including ineffective marketing techniques. In an attempt to address this problem, some organisations like the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) have facilitated the producers of kola to embark on group sales as a means to...

Author(s): Amos Gyau, Charlie Mbosso, Zac Tchoundjeu, Divine Foundjem-Tita, Ebenezer Asaah and Steven Franzel

November 2011

What factors influence the speed of adoption of Soil fertility management technologies? Evidence from Western Kenya

Most adoption studies have employed cross-sectional data in a static discrete choice modelling framework to analyze why some farmers adopt technology at a certain point in time. The static approach does not consider the dynamic environment in which the adoption decision is made and thus does not incorporate the speed of adoption and the effect of time-dependent elements in explaining adoption. The...

Author(s): Odendo, Martins, Obare Gideon and Salasya Beatrice

November 2011

The preferential trade agreements in U. S. green tea trade

The purposes of this paper are to assess U.S. preferential trade agreements (PTAs) effects especially to 1) analyze the impact of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in U.S. green tea trade, and 2) analyze the impact of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program for green tea trade to U.S. The author propose to apply the gravity equation for U.S. green tea imports by focusing PTAs effects. The period...

Author(s): Koichi Yamaura