Journal of the Austrian Society of Agricultural Economics (JASAE)

Abstract : Vietnam has introduced Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for more than thirty years. However, it has not been adopted and diffused widely. Thus, both the government and non-government extension programs have promoted the practice of IPM or integrated IPM with other programs such as Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practice (VietGAP) recently in Vietnam to help farmers pursue sustainable agriculture with market-oriented. This research aims to identify the significant factors affecting farmers’ decision and intention to apply IPM in the case of longan in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. This research applied theory of planned behavior (TPB) to build the models to examine factors influencing farmers’ behavior and intention to adopt IPM using binary logistic regression. The results show that farmers perceived the benefits of applying IPM to help them to reduce the production cost, increase productivity, reduce health risks to sprayers, community and end consumers, and ecological functions to the soil, animals, and aquatic environment. The importance of the belief on the effectiveness of IPM leads to the close relationship between farmers’ intention to adopt IPM and the community-based IPM programs. Economic benefits of adopting hypothetical IPM programs are the most significant factors controlling farmers’ intention to practice IPM. The success of previous extension programs would generate the best belief to farmers to disseminate agricultural technologies in Vietnam..
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Abstract : The study is conducted in the conditions of Devoll territory, located in the south eastern part of Albania. The climate of this region is characterized by Mediterranean – continental features. The results obtained from this study offer important indication on the most appropriate selections in determining plant density of plants. The values of plant characteristics indicate a regular decrease when the plant space increases, while it is not the same for the date of flowering. This study provides evidence that plants density (density of six plants: 8.9 – 6.7 – 4.5 – 3.4, 2.7 and 2.3 plants/m2) does not exert any proven influence on the average fruit weight. The average number of the fruits per plant increases starting from the highest to the lowest density, while the production per unit area decreases. The quantity of marketable product is higher in the low - density plant variants, while the total product per unit area results high in variants with higher number of plants. Moreover, the greater the distance between the planted plants is, the smaller will be the percentage of sparse fruits. The plant height of the tested variants increased with greater plant density. The fruits with the highest weight were obtained in the first three harvests, while the diameter of the fruits was larger in the fruits of the second and third harvest. The plant height of the tested variants increased with greater plant density. The green mass remaining after harvest of the product, as well as the amount of dried plant at the end of the product cycle, resulted in higher values in the higher density plant variants, compared to other densities. This research paper contains data on the effects of five levels of nitrogen. The high nitrogen rates of the tested variants increased the weight of the fruit and delayed ripening..
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Abstract : The purpose of this study is to analyze the empirical relationships between growth and the contribution of agriculture to GDP, economic growth in general, and the economic development of a country expressed as national per capita income. At the same time, the level of the relevant indicators of Albania is discussed. To this purpose are analyzed the data for 2018 and over 180 countries of the world, using descriptive and statistical regression methods. The study highlights important empirical relationships between these indicators. We estimate that an increase in the per capita income is in an inverse relationship with the growth of agriculture as well as its role in the economy. The study concludes that the higher contribution of agriculture to GDP is a factor that positively affects economic growth. Economic growth is positively related to the growth of the agricultural sector but its effect is inelastic. The analysis of data reveals the relatively poor levels of Albania in terms of per capita income and the high contribution of agriculture to GDP. In addition, it is estimated that Albania's economic and agricultural growth for the year 2018 could have been higher. Based on the level of per capita income, Albania's economic growth could be higher than 4%. To increase the role of agriculture in the economy, the study emphasizes the need for policies aiming at increasing labor and land productivity in agriculture..
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Abstract : Making externally provided support services more accessible to smallholder rice farmers would improve farmer attitude, profits and production efficiency. In this study, the attitude, profitability, and resource use efficiency of smallholder rice farmers in the Sumkar District of Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, were investigated. Cross-sectional input-output data collected from 16 farmers were analyzed using Likert scaling to estimate attitude scores, cost accounting to compute costs of production and returns, and a Cobb-Douglas production function to estimate output elasticities and resource use efficiency indices of inputs used. The results indicated that smallholder farmers had favorable attitudes toward rice production, which was economically profitable. However, production was dependent on family labor, which accounted for 75% of the total cost of production. The cash costs incurred for transport accounted for the balance in the cost of production. The elasticity coefficient of land was positive, significant (P<0.01), and greater than 1, indicating an increased productivity effect of land on output milled rice. The elasticity of family labor was negative but significant (P<0.10), indicating a decline in the productivity of this input. The computed resource use efficiency indices indicated that land was over utilized, while labor and transport were underutilized in smallholder rice cultivation. Overall, farmers faced decreasing returns to scale. The management option to improve smallholder farmers’ income, family food security, local production, and reduce rice imports is to improve the efficiency of resource use, access to agricultural extension, rice milling, transport, and marketing services. As the sample size was small, further studies are required..
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Abstract : Red chili is a horticultural commodity that has strategic and economic value. Red chili production is concentrated in certain areas. In addition, the difference in harvest time and its perishable characteristics add to the uncertainty of the amount of supply that can meet the demand for red chili. When there is an imbalance in supply and consumption, it causes parts of Indonesia to experience excess and shortage of red chili which then has an impact on price differences. Price differences lead to inter-provincial trade, thus encouraging market integration. The purpose of this study was to analyze the spatial market integration of red chili producers in Indonesia. The data utilized Agricultural Producer Price Statistics Foodcrops, Horticulture and Smallholder Estate Crops Subsectors from 2008 until 2020. The integration of the red chili commodity market in Indonesia is carried out using the Error Correction Model (ECM). The results indicate that chilies market in Indonesia was spatially integrated. The price information was transmitted along the other regions. The speed of convergence of chilies prices to equilibrium varies. The provinces in Java island has high magnitude of adjustment coefficient..
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