The role of access to finance from different finance providers in production risks of horticulture in Indonesia.

This paper aims to investigate the association between perceived production risk of horticultural farms and access to finance from different finance providers. The collection of data was conducted among 434 farmers in Indonesia particularly farmers produced mango, mangosteen, chili and red onion. Production risk was measured by the coefficient of variation, skewness, kurtosis and the 25th percentile. Depending on the risk measure, a lower production risk was found for commercial credit from banks and flexible payments of inputs to kiosks. Conversely, we did not find any lower production risk associated with finance provided by farmers' associations and other sources such as family and friends. Results of this study are useful for policy makers, finance providers and supply chain actors in agriculture. For policy makers, the results of this study can help in designing policy to enhance farmers' access to finance, whereas finance providers and supply chain actors, such as traders, obtain insight into whether their financial provisions effectively reduce production risk.

Access to finance from different finance provider types: Farmer knowledge of the requirements.

Analysing farmer knowledge of the requirements of finance providers can provide valuable insights to policy makers about ways to improve farmers' access to finance. This study compares farmer knowledge of the requirements to obtain finance with the actual requirements set by different finance provider types, and investigates the relation between demographic and socioeconomic factors and farmer knowledge of finance requirements. We use a structured questionnaire to collect data from a sample of finance providers and farmers in Java Island, Indonesia. We find that the most important requirements to acquire finance vary among different finance provider types. We also find that farmers generally have little knowledge of the requirements, which are important to each type of finance provider. Awareness campaigns are needed to increase farmer knowledge of the diversity of requirements among the finance provider types.

Beyond upgrading typologies - In search of a better deal for honey value chains in Brazil.

Selection of value chain strategies by development practitioners and value chain participants themselves has been restricted to preset types of upgrading. This paper argues for an extension of the range of strategy solutions to value chains. An empirical application identifies successful strategies for honey value chains in Brazil for 2015-2020. Strategy and performance indicators were selected using the value chain Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) framework. Experts' opinion was elicited in a Delphi for business scenarios, and adaptive conjoint analysis was used to identify strategies for increasing production growth and local value-added. This study identifies important strategies beyond upgrading typologies, and finds that important strategies differ by performance goal and scenario. The value chain SCP allows searching for promising strategies towards performance-the "better deal"-in an integrated way.

Factors influencing adoption of manure separation technology in The Netherlands.

Manure separation technologies are essential for sustainable livestock operations in areas with high livestock density as these technologies result in better utilization of manure and reduced environmental impact. Technologies for manure separation have been well researched and are ready for use. Their use, however, has been limited to the Netherlands. This paper investigates the role of farm and farmer characteristics and farmers' attitudes toward technology-specific attributes in influencing the likelihood of the adoption of mechanical manure separation technology. The analysis used survey data collected from 111 Dutch dairy farmers in 2009. The results showed that the age and education level of the farmer and farm size are important variables explaining the likelihood of adoption. In addition to farm and farmer characteristics, farmers' attitudes toward the different attributes of manure separation technology significantly affect the likelihood of adoption. The study generates useful information for policy makers, technology developers and distributors in identifying the factors that impact decision-making behaviors of farmers.