Factors Influencing Rooibos Tea Certification and Quality Control for Smallholder Farmers in South Africa.

This study aimed to identify factors that influence the decisions of rooibos farmers in South Africa to implement certification and quality assurance systems. The study was conducted in the Western Cape region of South Africa. A structured questionnaire was distributed to 300 farmers in the form of interviews. In addition, an analysis of previously published data was also used. Results showed that membership in an association, land tenure, rooibos tea farm size, and education level were the main determinants of implementing certifications and quality assurance systems. Membership in the association and land tenure significantly negatively affected the adoption of certification. In contrast, farm size and level of education, translating to knowledge of certification systems, tended to have a significant positive effect on adoption. Continuous education, awareness of the process of certification and quality assurance systems, and the formation of farmers' support systems are recommended to improve the impact of smallholder rooibos farmers in the industry.

Agricultural Supply-Side Structural Reform and Path Optimization: Evidence from China.

The agricultural sector's supply-side reform is fundamental to ensuring food security and social stability. This paper uses a comprehensive analysis method to reflect on China's agricultural reform from 1970 to 2020. We observe that China's agriculture made significant progress before 2020 due to preferential policies and demographic dividends. This production-oriented mode has led to the co-existence of overstocking, the rapid growth of imports, and ecological degradation. A follow-up survey acknowledged that rural complex is a comprehensive social network with substantial radiant effect involving government-sponsored projects, sector-specific programs, corporate and societal assistance. The sustainable development of the rural complex lies in industrial planning, system restructuring, and institutional arrangement. Therefore, this article anchors its system structure under the ESG principle and green development philosophy. It diversifies the agro-economy to advance digitalization and de-carbonization of the rural economy.

Rural Residents' Awareness of Environmental Protection and Waste Classification Behavior in Jiangsu, China: An Empirical Analysis.

Achieving waste classification and environmental protection awareness assists in enhancing the rural ecological environment, improves the quality of the rural residents' life, and augments the rate of reusing resources within the rural setups. In order to study the factors influencing rural waste classification and environmental protection awareness, we conducted a project among rural residents of Jiangsu, China. We used both the logistic regression model and the ordinary least squares model to achieve the goals of this paper. Similarly, we found that the households' level of education influenced the rural residents' decision to classify waste and to protect the environment regarding whether a household consists of a village cadre; the availability of public waste collection facilities; the distance between households and the waste collection points; whether the waste is picked, assorted, and collected locally; and the cost of waste disposal. In light of all these factors, we recommended that the authorities should increase the rural residents' waste classification and environmental protection awareness. Also, through the local government, the national government should strengthen and sustain rural waste disposal funds. Finally, there should be stringent laws and regulations outlining the role of the rural residents regarding waste classification and environmental protection awareness.

Analysis of Factors Influencing Food Nutritional Labels Use in Nanjing, China.

A correct use of food nutrition la bels benefits consumers in pursuing balanced diets. As a result, we conducted interviews in Nanjing, China and randomly sampled 427 respondents. Further, we used both descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression to assess their perception of food nutrition label use. The results indicated that the current situation is not ideal in Nanjing. Only 7.26% of respondents use labeling consistently. Data on purchasing experience, comprehension, nutritional value, work sector, chronic disease, diet awareness, nutritional knowledge, and age were statistically significant. Conversely, taste and primary shopper categories negatively influenced food nutrition label use. In light of the above results, we propose policy recommendations to promote consumers' use of food nutrition labels. These are also beneficial in improving diet and relieving chronic diseases.

Farmer-Led Irrigation and its Impacts on Smallholder Farmers' Crop Income: Evidence from Southern Tanzania.

Irrigation projects in sub-Saharan Africa are mostly unsustainable because of lack of maintenance by their users or government planners. By contrast, evidence shows that the smallholder farmers are developing and expanding the irrigated land, using their initiatives. Farmer-led irrigation, a revolutionary agricultural intensification approach, is already in progress with the magnitude to significantly transform the living standards of smallholder farmers. However, a rigorous assessment of its impact on household welfare to ascertain this is lacking. This paper bridges this gap by assessing factors influencing the adoption of this particular approach as well as its effects on the farmers' per capita net crop income. Our data set consists of 608 smallholder farmers in Southern Tanzania and used propensity score matching to estimate the effects of adoption on the per capita net crop income. Our results indicate that the uptake of farmer-led irrigation practices is influenced by drought experience, water user group membership, farmer organization membership, and government extension, as well as the sex of the household head. Further, there was a positive and significant effect on the adopters' per capita net crop income, thus encouraging the need to promote farmer-led irrigation as a complement to externally promoted innovations in achieving sustainable food security. This study, therefore, recommends that the government should support the farmers' initiative by improving roads, removing market barriers, and helping farmers who have not yet taken up the initiative. Also, the government should enact regulations to make sure farmer-led irrigation initiatives do not harm the eco-environment such as protecting domestic water users. Finally, the government should leverage microservices to the farmers such as promoting affordable and appropriate credit facilities. It is necessary to continue pursuing this vein of research to gain information regarding the definite impact of the farmer-led irrigation on household welfare.