School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Theses
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ItemA whole-farm study of draught animal power systems in West Java, Indonesia( 1999)Draught animals continue to be used widely for land preparation in Indonesian smallholder agriculture despite the adoption of tractors in some other Southeast Asian countries. This implies that rearing and utilisation of draught animals can provide significant economic benefits to Indonesian farmers. This study attempts to define, explore and quantify these benefits and examine the outcome of selected changes to current animal management. Cattle and buffalo are the main providers of draught animal power. Most are raised on smallholder farms where they must compete with other enterprises for use of the farm's resources. They also generate income through producing outputs which are not draught-related. These factors made it necessary to look at draught-capable animals within the operation of the whole farm system, rather than assessing only their contribution to land preparation. A monitoring study was conducted over 14 months in Subang. West Java, Indonesia, with eighty respondent farmers. Data was collected on all inputs to and outputs from the respondent's farm, plus utilisation of the family's labour outside the farm. Linear programming was used to develop models representative of the Subang area based on data from the monitoring study. Three scenarios were simulated. Firstly, a manual labour farm with no utilisation of draught animals; secondly, the same farm but allowing for the hiring-in of draught animals to prepare land for irrigated rice production; thirdly, both rearing and utilisation of draught animals on the model farm. Two additional scenarios looked at the income effects of reducing labour requirements for cut-and-carry feeding and increasing calf output. The lowest Total Gross Margin of Rp2.4 million was recorded on the manual labour farm. A very small increase in TGM followed the hiring-in of draught animals; a larger increase in TGM resulted from rearing draught-capable animals on the farm. Reducing labour for animal feeding had little effect on TGM; increasing calf output had a greater income effect. The models indicate that most of the income benefits associated with cattle or buffalo enterprises derive from non-draught functions, with limited scope for obtaining increased income through changes to draught practices. This implies that the mode] simulated smallholders farm conditions with reasonable accuracy, as almost 90 per cent of farmers in the study area chose not to rear cattle or buffalo but most do rent-in draught animal power from the 10 per cent that rear large ruminants. The umbrella hypothesis of the study-that farmers are generally efficient in the allocation of their resources-remains to be disproved. In terms of future research, priority should be placed on reproductive strategies including a reduction in the calving interval and accelerated early calf growth. Both offer opportunities for obtaining substantial increases in net revenue, as the current levels of productivity achieved in the study area fall well short of management standards commonly achieved in other farming systems.
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ItemFormulation of a national institutional framework for sustainable irrigation development in the Lao People's Democratic Republic( 1999)The primary objective of the thesis is to develop recommendations for institutional arrangements within various levels of government agencies concerned with irrigation for improved development and management of small scale irrigation in Lao PDR. Secondary objectives of the thesis are the identification of a legal framework to protect the rights of investors, developers and beneficiaries; and the identification of financial arrangements to ensure the availability of funds for construction and development, as well as the generation of funds for effective operation and maintenance. Using experience from studies in other Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries and within Lao PDR, the thesis reviews existing organisational arrangements for the irrigation sub-sector in Lao PDR and makes recommendations for change. It is acknowledged that some of existing arrangements, although not ideal, are unlikely to be changed within the next few years. Funding arrangements for irrigation are set out on the basis that the water users will contribute substantially to costs. Government funding flows are detailed and again it is noted that change is unlikely. The organisation of the National level Department of Irrigation is considered in some detail with recommended roles and responsibilities recommended for five operational divisions. These are the Survey, Study and Design Division; the Technical Management Division; the Operations and Maintenance Division; the Administrative Division; and the Planning and Cooperation Division. Operational units of each of these divisions are also detailed. Staff numbers for each unit have been estimated and the recommended minimum number of staff required to effectively operate the Department of Irrigation is specified. Detailed job descriptions determined from an analysis of the capabilities and needs of the Government and experiences of the literature review, sub-sectoral review and case studies have been published separately. These recommendations are considered to adequately meet the objectives of the thesis.
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ItemPotential impact of a farm forestry industry on the Goulburn regional economy( 1996)Transactions for a hypothetical farm forestry industry in the Goulburn region were constructed from the output of the FARMTREE model. Eleven different regimes were simulated, including hardwood and softwood, woodlots, timberbelts and wide-spaced agroforestry. This output included estimates of annual cash flows of costs and revenues per hectare. These were transformed to regional aggregated cash flows projected forward over one hundred years. A regional input-output table without farm forestry was constructed using the national input-output table and GRIT and adjusted for future growth. For certain years or 'snapshots' the farm forestry industry transactions were inserted into the future projected input-output table for the Goulburn regional economy. The new balanced input-output table summarizes the inter-sectoral flows and describes the regional structure with the new farm forestry industry inserted. Three snapshots were taken representing different stages of the development of the farm forestry industry: i 2004, the establishment phase: when the cost of plantation formation is greater than the predicted returns from wood sales. ii 2019, the transition phase: when the returns from wood sales have begun to swell whilst new sites are still being planted. iii the steady state phase: when harvesting is equal to replanting, no new sites are being planted, a full range of plantations exist at different stages of formulation and returns from wood sales have trebled since the previous transition year. Two methods were used to analyse the input-output tables constructed and the associated impacts. The first method was the analysis of the difference between the input-output table with farm forestry inserted compared to the input-output table without farm forestry inserted. This method allowed the estimation of the effects of farm forestry industry and the value-added processing of farm forestry products on the other sectors in the regional economy and hence the economy as a whole. The second was with conventional multiplier analysis used to estimate the changes in a given year resulting from an increase in demand for the farm forestry industry, wood manufacturing and other sectors. In the year 2034, the introduction and integration of a farm forestry industry in the Goulburn regional economy potentially generates, using multiplier analysis: $53 million worth of output; $13 million worth of income; and provides for up to 234 jobs. The farm forestry industry, using the difference method of analysis, produced a change in the economy of: $1,268 million in total output, a change of 6 per cent; $302 million in total income, a change of 5 per cent; and 5,750 jobs, a change of 4 per cent. The industry that experiences the single largest increase was the wood manufacturing industry through its value adding of the product purchased from the farm forestry industry.
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ItemAn economic analysis of Nigeria's import substitution policy for rice and wheat( 1993)The study involves analyses of substitution effects of Nigeria's import restriction imposed on rice and wheat; in terms of domestic production, consumption and prices. The theoretical and empirical literature on uncertainty, risk and self sufficiency under international trade is reviewed, as well as smuggling and its welfare implications. The analyses involves use of regression and correlation models. The result shows that increase in price of wheat would reduce per capita wheat consumption, thereby shifting consumption to maize and millet. It is found that wheat and rice are inferior commodities in Nigeria. In addition, increase in the prices of yam and maize would increase per capita rice consumption . Therefore, yam, maize and rice are substitutes in consumption, so also are wheat and rice in production. An increase in price of rice would increase rice area while increases in prices of maize and wheat would increase wheat area. While increase in the price of rice would lower wheat production, thereby favouring rice production in the longrun. Accordingly, increase in world prices for rice and wheat would lower their domestic prices. While increase in tariff would increase domestic wheat producer price. Between 1973 and 1986 prices of most food commodities in Nigeria increased both nominally and in real terms. In addition, real prices for rice and wheat slumped between 1987 and 1989. Retail prices were always higher than producer prices. It is concluded that insulating domestic prices and supplies of rice and wheat is no panacea to problems associated with price instability, self sufficiency and balance of payments. Sustainable policies, such as consumption tax; use of futures markets; diversification and appropriate exchange rate are the best policy options.
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