Agricultural Economics - In Press
Agricultural Informatization and Sustainable Practices: Implications for Food Security Among Drought-Affected Maize Farmers in ZambiaOriginal Paper
Shangao Wang, Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso, Xianhui Geng, Emmanuel Kiprop, Jotham Bett, Dancun Kibiwott Kimwei
Agricultural informatisation (AgI) is hailed as a “game-changer” for farmers worldwide, even as climate change increases agriculture’s vulnerability to climatic risks and threatens sustainable agrifood production. While AgI aspires to help alleviate hunger and poverty in smallholder farm households by improving on-farm productivity through the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs), limited empirical evidence exists on the AgI–SAPs nexus, particularly under severe environmental stress such as drought. We analysed data from a survey of maize farmers in central Zambia—a country exemplifying the impact of severe drought, declared a national emergency and disaster—to explore whether and how AgI can optimise SAP adoption and improve crop yields. Given the potential endogeneity of AgI adoption, we employed a recursive bivariate probit (RBP) and endogenous-treatment regression (ETR) to estimate the former and the latter, respectively. We focused on adoption portfolios of three AgI tools—radio, television and mobile phones—and five SAPs: minimum tillage, residue retention, planting basins, improved seed varieties and irrigation. The results reveal that AgI adoption significantly influences SAP adoption, with varying impacts across different AgI and SAP portfolios. Importantly, the adoption of productivity-enhancing SAPs, particularly improved seed and drip irrigation, produced the largest yield effects (124.46 grams capita⁻¹ day⁻¹) for AgI adopters. This increase potentially contributes 43.21 % towards daily maize-supply quantity, which is crucial for helping households meet the minimum recommended daily caloric intake. The study therefore underscores that AgI plays a critical role in improving yields through SAP adoption, serving as a compelling pathway for agricultural resilience, especially under adverse climatic conditions. These insights align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those aimed at zero hunger, climate action and poverty alleviation, which advocate re-thinking and transforming food-production strategies.
Sustainability performance evaluation of tropical fruit supply chain in Indonesia using the best worst methodOriginal Paper
Anisa Aprilia, Syafrial Syafrial, Djoko Koestiono, Fitria Dina Riana, Silvana Maulidah
Studies on the sustainability assessment of supply chain performance in tropical fruit still have limitations, whereas similar studies are more widespread in the manufacturing sector. This study aims to assess the sustainability performance of the tropical fruit supply chain in Indonesia. Performance evaluations were conducted for three producer organisations of tropical fruit with members ranging from 70 to 200 people in Banyuwangi Regency, the largest production centre in Indonesia. This study proposes a new approach, the Best-Worst Method (BWM), to prioritize supply chain performance criteria derived from the SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference) model based on assessments by experts managing producer organisations. In the SCOR model, environmental and social criteria are added, resulting in seven criteria for evaluating supply chain performance, which include reliability, responsiveness, agility, cost, asset management, greenSCOR, and social. Thus, the integration of BWM and SCOR can ensure higher consistency and reliability than traditional methods for assessing sustainable supply chain performance. The results revealed that reliability is the most important criterion for supply chain performance, which shows how important the maintenance of product quality is. In contrast, agility received the lowest score, indicating that there is a need to improve performance with respect to responding to high demand, managing safety stocks, and overtime in the shipping process. Moreover, this study gives a glimpse into the importance of evaluating sustainability performance for the tropical fruit sector, having perishable characteristics and great contributions to rural development. Hence, this study provides a solid practical guide for decision-makers in assessing the sustainable supply chain of tropical fruits in Indonesia.
The Impact of the Integration of Science, Technology, and Finance on Innovation in Listed Agricultural Enterprises through the Lens of Digital Transformation
Fanye Kong, Huini Zhong, Nana Chai, Baofeng Shi
Digitization enables the integration of science, technology and finance, and this integrated trend can further function in enhancing the innovation efficiency of the listed agricultural enterprises. By leveraging the quasi-natural experiment of China's 2011 pilot program for technology finance, the difference-in-differences (DID) model demonstrates that the science and technology finance policy positively impacts the innovation levels of agriculture-related listed enterprises while the effect varies across different regions and enterprise sizes. Furthermore, moderating effect analysis reveals that the digitalization level of agriculture-related listed enterprises is a critical factor and the evolutionary game model elucidates its underlying mechanism. Based on these findings, policy recommendations are proposed to further develop agricultural science and technology finance platforms.
Shared knowledge and competitive advantages for economic diversification through olive oil tourismOriginal Paper
Edianny Carballo-Cruz, José Domingo Sánchez-Martínez
The economic diversification of rural territories specialised in olive growing is key to the sustainability and resilience of these communities. In this context, olive oil tourism is presented as an innovative strategy to add value to the olive sector, attract visitors and promote public–private synergies. This study aims to determine the competitive advantages of olive oil tourism in the province of Jaén, Spain, using strategic analysis tools that align tourism resources with effective management strategies. Hence, in addition to a questionnaire completed by experts and a specialised literature review, we used the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) matrix, adapted to territorial analysis focused on tourism. This methodology correlates the territorial resources of olive oil tourism (TRs, the ‘what’) with management specifications (MSs, the ‘how’). The analysis determines the relative importance of the TRs, the objective values and the technical importance of the MSs, and the direction of improvement. Furthermore, it includes an evaluation of competitiveness and estimates the technical-competitive positioning index. Nine TRs and eight MSs were identified and correlated, and Jaén’s performance was compared to that of six other Spanish olive-growing provinces. Nine competitive advantages were identified, linked to five TRs (olive grove heritage landscape, tasting areas, exhibition centres, olive oil mills and greenways) and four MSs (olive mills, environmental education, diversification of supply and heritage promotion and innovation). This work proposes a useful tool to align resources and management, improve decision-making and move towards a more strategic governance in the olive oil tourism sector.