School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Theses
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ItemPhysical, economic and financial aspects of farming operations in a nucleus estate smallholder project in West Java, Indonesia( 1992)A study was conducted of physical and financial aspects of farming operations in a Nucleus Estate Smallholder (NES) VI Cikaso, West Java, Indonesia. The general objective was to evaluate the prospects and economic worth of the project to blockholders and to assess the state of the farming operations after tenure of the farms had been converted to individual freehold title. Particular attention was paid to farm net income from all sources in the short term, and to longer term economic and financial viability of the investment in the smallholder coconut project. The case study approach was used. Six farmers, representing a range of different farm operations and management skills, were interviewed to obtain primary data. Secondary data were collected from institutions related to the NES project. The Nucleus Estate and Smallholder (NES) VI project is one of the NES group of projects, in which PTP (Estate Crop. Limited Company) XII is the nucleus company which provides credit to farmers by establishing coconut palms up to bearing age and other facilities. Participants in this project mostly came from West Java, and had a range of different backgrounds. The project was started in 1982/1983. Results of the study indicated that these farmers spent more time on farm activities than off-farm activities. However, the higher income received from off-farm activities may cause some farmers in the future to spend time less on their own farms: The physical conditions of the site are suitable for coconut production, as well as for other farming activities. The effects of different management approaches by different farmers on coconut production cannot be detected yet since the ownership and management of the palms has only recently converted from government control to farmer control. If farmers do not apply the recommended management practices for coconuts, this may cause production to decline in the future. From the viewpoint of society at large, the investment in the project is profitable. This is not only true for the whole farm investment but also for the investment in coconut production which is predicted to earn attractive rates of return even without the associated returns from other fanning activities. For the year 1990, most farmers had positive cash balances. Looking at the current financial situation and future prospects of the farmers, it seems likely that the case study farmers will be able to repay the initial debt over a 20 year period, which is probably less than the economic life of the coconut trees. Most of the case study farmers had small annual cash surpluses after living costs and debt servicing commitments from Years 5 to 10. Then from Years 11 to 20 - after the intercrop cocoa starts bearing- the annual cash surpluses should increase.
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ItemAnalysing decisions about integrating activities on smallholder coconut plantations in Sri Lanka( 1993)Coconut is the most widely grown plantation crop in Sri Lanka. Smallholders own more than 80 percent of the area under coconut production. For various reasons, coconut groves are often neglected and produce little income compared with other commercial crops such as tea, rubber, cocoa and pepper. It is widely recognized that productivity of such coconut lands can be improved by integrating other activities such as pasture, and cattle, cocoa, pineapple into the coconut stand. Eighty-five percent of the coconut groves in Sri Lanka are in the highly populated Wet Zone of the country, where the cultivable lands are scarce and there is high unemployment and under employment especially among the agricultural labour force. The necessity of further development of this sector has long been recognized, and attempts are continually being made to increase the utilization of these coconut lands in various ways. However, the success is far from the expectations. This project is an attempt to provide a tool to help accelerate the process of evaluating and adopting changes to help increase the productivity of coconut plantations. The objective of the study is to provide an analytical framework for extension agents to use for analysing the relative profitability of alternative intercropping activities. As well, to provide a decision aid to help decision making about coconut-based cropping systems, or similar systems, with small modification of the skeleton budget models used here. The budgets will be able to be used by extension workers as an aid to assess the scope for farmers to improve the productivity, and then used to help to motivate farmers to adopt appropriate extra activities on their farms. These skeleton budget models may also be useful to researchers to help identify research needs and for bankers to help them understand the financial aspects of different activities. After reviewing the literature, skeleton models have been developed to analyze the economic worth and financial feasibility of integrating improved pasture and cattle, and intercropping cocoa, with coconut production, based on a case study farm relevant to Sri Lanka. A physical plan including labour requirement tables, gross margin budgets, partial budgets, cash flow development budgets and whole farm budgets have been built on the computer spreadsheet for each of the alternative activities under consideration. Sensitivity analysis is done to verify and demonstrate the usefulness of using `what it' scenarios to help the appraisal of the risks involved. When analysing the case study farm using the tools developed, it has been found that each tool has a distinct role. For example, the whole farm budget developed for the present farm plan is needed as a base to compare profitability after changes. As well, it is useful to identify shortcomings of the present way of farming. It is also found that different budgets can be used at different stages in the process of analysing the case and making a decision to adopt the most suitable alternative. Models such as these also can used to analyze more complex mixed farms, with relatively small modification. Skeleton models like those developed in this study can be used in other farming systems. Such models, and sensitivity analyses, can be used by researchers to identify problems and design further research work. Also these models can help non-agricultural personnel such as bankers and policy makers, to understand the worth of agricultural projects. Such knowledge can be used to change policies which are aimed at giving benefits to farmers.