Risks and returns from soil conservation: Evidence from low-income farms in the Philippines

TR Number

Date

1999

Authors

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Amsterdam ; New York: Elsevier Science B.V.

Abstract

This paper investigates the risks and benefits of using contour hedgerows as a soil conservation technique on low-income hillside corn farms in the Philippines. The author applies regression analysis to compare hedgerows with conventional practices, finding that the former may increase yields by as much as 15%. However, there is not strong evidence that hedgerows greatly reduce variance or provide a dominant production strategy. A coefficient of relative risk aversion, derived from stochastic efficiency measures, suggests that hedgerows dominate conventional tillage only for farmers with a high coefficient of risk aversion, in the range of 3 to 5.5. The author also discusses factors influencing adoption of soil conservation measures by low-income farmers.

Description

Metadata only record

Keywords

Economic analyses, Soil erosion, Soil conservation, Agroforestry, Vulnerability and risk, Traditional farming, Farming systems, Contour hedgerows, The Philippines, Stochastic dominance, Yield risk, Low-income farms, Upland agriculture, Regression model, Corn, Crop yields, Farm/Enterprise Scale

Citation

Agricultural Economics 21(1): 53-67

Persistent link

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/65315

Collections

Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM) Knowledgebase