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Identifying the factors that influence small-scale farmers' transaction costs in relation to seed acquisition








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    Book (series)
    Promotion of coastal fisheries management. 1. Local-level effort regulation in Senegalese fisheries. 2000
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    The analytical framework used throughout most of this study is directly inspired from transaction-cost economics, implying that a lot of attention is devoted to monitoring and enforcement costs involved in collective schemes. One of its most important contributions is to show that, with the help of these tools combined with conventional market power considerations, successes and failures of different groups of fishermen according to their technique and site of operati on can be well accounted for. The outline is as follows. In Section 1, background information regarding Senegalese small-scale marine fisheries are provided and the methodology of the study based on cross-section data is shortly described. In Section 2, an historical sketch of all recent effort-limiting schemes attempted along the Senegalese coast is presented. The methods used to limit fishing efforts, which vary according to the fishery concerned, are dis cussed with a view to understanding their rationales in the light of the specific circumstances surrounding them. Section 3, addresses the incidence of rule violations as perceived by the fishermen themselves, tackled by using the multinomial logit approach on the basis of our survey data. Section 4 is devoted to fitting a time-series econometric model to price and output data. Section 5 summarizes the main results of the study.
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    Book (series)
    Identifying commodity-specific priority investments in selected districts of Uganda 2023
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    Building on the previous work by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) supporting the identification of priority agricultural sectors and possible locations with high agricultural transformation potential in Uganda, this technical study provides more granular information from Ugandan farmers and district agriculture officers on which investments are needed the most to increase productivity. It identifies and ranks the areas for investments in terms of seeds/breeds, fertilizers/veterinary drugs, mechanization, irrigation, extension, research and development (R&D), roads and electrification for five commodity-district pairs (millet in Soroti, maize in Serere, cassava in Lira, goats in Kibaale and coffee in Masaka). The study found that improved seeds/breeds, extension and fertilizers were identified as critical investments across the board. Specifically, a lack of access to improved seeds/breeds, inadequate extension services and suboptimal use of fertilizer (owing to costs, lack of information, or fertilizer quality) were perceived as major constraints. Other important findings highlight a low level of mechanization throughout the value chains, poor R&D and extension linkages, and the high cost of irrigation. On other hand, access to roads and electrification were not considered as major areas needing investment. The study concludes with nine key recommendations for improving commodity-specific investments in selected locations.
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    Document
    Community seed banks
    Junior Farmer Field and Life School - Facilitator’s guide
    2014
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    Seed saving is a practice that farmers and their families have been engaged in for millennia. It has allowed them to cultivate a large number of different local varieties, which have been able to adapt to different environmental conditions and changes, such as to the shortages of water, strong winds, limited soil nutrients and so on. Although seeds can be saved at the global level, such as in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault1, this may not be enough to ensure diversity at local level. In this rega rd, community seed banks can help farmers to access seeds to grow crops during the next planting season or they can be used as an emergency seed supply when their crops are damaged and destroyed, for example, due to flooding. As climate change has a significant impact on agricultural production, growing local varieties, which have a high degree of genetic diversity, is highly important because these varieties have the ability to better withstand and adapt to environmental stresses and changes. S etting up community seed banks may help farmers to acquire varieties that are adapted to local conditions; these varieties may not be accessible through formal seed systems, may be costly or may suffer from erratic supplies. If farmers, in particular small holder farmers with poor resources, can access these locally adapted varieties, it can help them to get access to seeds for the next planting season as well as provide them with an emergency seed supply in times of crisis, thus making them les s dependent on the formal seed systems. Community seed banks will help to preserve seed of the most adapted varieties for the region, either local varieties or new ones coming from breeding programs. The selection of the most suited varieties for a region needs time and trials with technical support, but after the identification of best varieties, the community seed bank plays a very important role in maintaining the availability of quality seed. Seed diversity is enhanced and additional income is generated when seeds are exchanged and sold to neighbouring communities. Diversification of crops and varieties is also highly important in terms of people’s food security, because it reduces the risk of total production failures and contributes to strengthening communities’ resilience.

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