This study examines the relationship between agricultural technology adoption and poverty with a focus on New Rice varieties for Africa (NERICA). The NERICAs are a group of rice varieties developed by the Africa Rice Centre during the 1990s, resulting from the inter-specific crosses between the...

China’s transition into a developed economy is driving changes in consumer preferences and demand for foods. To evaluate consumer preferences for imported pork in urban China, primary data were collected in two metropolitan areas- Beijing and Shanghai. Estimated logit models revealed that an...

Traditional economic theory posits that a well functioning capital market is a necessary condition for industrialization and economic growth. However, in reality it is observed that micro and small enterprises are ubiquitous because entrepreneurs can set up business in low-return activities with...

This paper measures and compares total factor productivity growth in African agriculture under contemporaneous and sequential technology frontiers over the period 1970–2004. The paper further investigates the sources of agricultural productivity growth using a fixed-effects regression model...

This paper evaluates the long-term impact of microfinance credit from the intensity of participation in borrowing. We use a four-round panel data set on 351 farm households that had access to microfinance in northern Ethiopia. Over the years 1997-2006, with three-year intervals, households are...

Contributed Paper prepared for presentation at the International Association of Agricultural Economists’ 2009 Conference, Beijing, China, August 16-22, 2009.

Using a survey data of 700 traders, this study scrutinizes contract choices and enforcement for agricultural traders in China. This study finds that market service and environment are very important for both contract choices and enforcement. Better market service and environment can increase the...