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Globalization of agriculture via the evergreen revolution (which encompasses large-scale production-collection-cleaning-processing-packaging-transportation-storage-distribution-sale of high-value cereals-fruits-flowers-vegetables-agrofuel-feedstock through technology-intensive global value chains) has opened the door to corporate capital involvement in agriculture. While the mainstream perspectives and international organizations have optimistically viewed this as a catalyst for inclusive growth, this article seeks to unveil the concealed hegemony of capital underlying the ostensibly beneficial façade of the evergreen revolution. It underscores the concerns regarding the immiseration of asset-poor farmers, petty nonfarm entrepreneurs and labourers resulting from the globalization of agriculture. Furthermore, it explores the implications for micro and macro food security in this context.

A major policy issue facing leaders in the developing world is whether international migration, through remittances, contributes to the development process in migrant-sending communities or impedes the efficient allocation of labor and human capital at the origin countries. This study examines the impact of remittance inflows on out-farm migration of farm labor toward the nonfarm sector. Specifically, this study shows how international migrant remittances may alter the predictions of out-farm migration models by Harris–Todaro.

The authors use unbalanced panel time-series data on 77 developing countries between 1991 and 2010 within a dynamic panel time-series framework to estimate the impact of remittances on the out-farm migration rate.

The authors find two competing effects of remittances on out-farm migration of labor in developing countries. First, remittances decelerate the out-farm migration rates by supplementing farm income and consumption expenditures. Second, remittances provide a source of investment in nonfarm activities that increase the rate of migration out of agriculture over time. Combining these effects, on average, our elasticity estimates indicate that a 10% increase in remittances reduces the migration out of agriculture, on average, by 0.5% in developing countries over time.

The authors findings align with the “developmentalist” or “optimistic” views of international migration. International migration, through remittances, help make the inevitable transition out of the farm sector smoother for developing countries.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to extend the empirical literature on macro-level determinants of out-farm migration within the Harris–Todaro framework to explicitly account for the impacts of remittances inflows into developing countries that the new economics of labor migration (NELM) theory hypothesizes.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of microfinance programs on the income and food expenditure of farm and nonfarm households in Thailand.

The study employs secondary data from the Thai Socioeconomic Survey (cross-sectional data from 2017 and panel data from 2012 to 2017). The cross-sectional data (2017) include 43,210 households. Panel data from the 2012 and 2017 Socioeconomic surveys (SES surveys) include 4,406 households. The estimation methods include propensity score matching (PSM) and a fixed effect (FE) model.

The result shows that village funds (VFs) have a significant negative impact on income and food expenditure for both farm and nonfarm households. The empirical results reveal that the saving groups for production (SGPs) effects are positively significant in terms of income and food expenditure, but only for farm households. The FE model result also shows that while VFs have a negative impact on income they have a positive impact on food expenditure for farm households. In contrast, SPGs have no impact on both farm and nonfarm households' income and food expenditure.

Farm and nonfarm households require both welfare and microfinance programs. Microfinance programs can only help these households once they have the necessary education. The government should provide social programs and business skills for these households; completion of these courses should be a pre-requisite for accessing microfinance programs.

This study is unique because it reveals the microfinance impact between VFs and SGPs programs so that most low-income and poor people in Thailand can access basic financial services.

This paper aims to test the impact of remittances receipt on agricultural productivity. The paper empirically assesses whether heterogeneity in economic activity of farming households affects the effects of remittances on productivity of tradable and nontradable crop farming households in Ghana.

The authors employ propensity score matching (PSM) methods to address potential endogeneity issues that could arise from the estimation due to selection bias. This paper uses the seventh round of Ghana living standard survey dataset for Ghana.

The authors find that, the involvement of farming households in other economic activities alters the impact of remittances on crop yield. This differential impact also varies according whether the crop is tradeable or not.

Policy can reduce the cost of sending remittances and include financial literacy modules in the farmer training modules to increase farmers' knowledge on investment of remittance in agricultural production.

The authors distinguish the paper from others by controlling for crop types (particularly tradeable or otherwise and gestation period), farming of a second or more crops and engagement of smallholder farmers in nonfarm economic activities.

Little econometric evidence exists on the determinants of nonfarm participation among ethnic minorities in Vietnam. The purpose of this paper is to examine the intensity of nonfarm participation and its correlates among ethnic minority households in Northwest Mountains – the poorest region of Vietnam.

Factors affecting the level of nonfarm participation were examined by using a fractional logit model. In addition, regression analysis using analysis of variance models were used to compare the mean of household characteristics and assets between households with and without nonfarm employment.

The study found that households depended heavily on agriculture for subsistence and their access to nonfarm employment is very limited. Households with nonfarm employment had much higher levels of education, income, assets and a much lower level of poverty than those without nonfarm participation. The intensity of nonfarm participation is positively associated with education levels, proportion of male working members and fixed assets but negatively correlated with the size of annual crop land and water surface for aquaculture. Also, the presence of nonfarm opportunities and paved roads in a commune increases the intensity of nonfarm participation for households living in that commune.

The findings suggest that any poverty alleviation policies should aim at improving the access of ethnic minorities to education and nonfarm job opportunities.

The study offers the first evidence of factors affecting the intensity of nonfarm participation among ethnic minorities in the study area.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of informal credit access on agricultural productivity in rural Ghana.

Data sets from the Ghana Feed the Future baseline survey involving a total sample of 2,437 rural farm households were used. In order to address the problem of endogeneity and sample selectivity bias, the endogenous switching regression (ESR) model was employed to examine whether rural farm households’ with access to informal credit and those without access differ in terms of their productivity levels and whether access to informal credit affects agricultural productivity.

Estimates from the ESR show that access to informal credit significantly promotes agricultural productivity. Specifically, farmers with access to informal credit were able to achieve a yield of 48.42 kg/ha more than their counterparts without informal credit access. In terms of the counterfactual, farmers without informal credit access would have increased their yield by 57.61 kg/ha if they were to have access to informal credit.

The study was restricted to the savannah ecological zone of Ghana. This limits the extent of generalisation of results.

This study provides a rigorous econometric analysis of the impacts of access to informal credit on agricultural productivity in rural Ghana. The study contributes to the current debate on the link between access to informal credit and agricultural productivity and provides valuable input for policymakers.

This study examines employment dynamics of youth in the central highlands of Guatemala. It is during late adolescence and early young adulthood that rural youth explore and settle into occupational structures that often define their economic lives and the region’s economic outlook. However, the occupational orientations of this group are poorly documented.

The study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. A three wave longitudinal design with six-month intervals was implemented. Households were identified using random sampling based on household maps. Two individuals per household were interviewed, a female adult and a younger woman/man between 15 and 25 years old in 451 households. In-depth interviews also were conducted with 25 individuals.

Youth occupational choices were associated not only with their health, income, and standing in their household, but also their self-image, sense of independence, and control. Nonfarm jobs were found to be most attractive to youth, who identify them as more “modern” and urban jobs. The study documents shifts from farm to nonfarm jobs, gender dynamics, the impact education has on jobs for youth, and health correlates of employment and unemployment.

Most characterizations of employment patterns in rural areas of Guatemala focus on the “head of household,” while overlooking the diverse job activities of other members of the household. The study not only addresses a population that is often understudied but also provides a longitudinal perspective to understand job switching and youth ideas of a “good” and “better” job.

Informal associations are typical features of farm and non-farm ventures especially within rural communities. Owing to the informality of these associations, members of the groups usually evolve strategies to cope with different kinds of economic and social shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic or unexpected economic recessions. Accordingly, entrepreneurship and non-farm business development in rural areas require massive finance input, which this group largely lacks owing to agrarian activities which is the main source of revenue. Therefore, to inform rural development policies, this chapter draws on the interrelationships that exist between finance options (including formal, informal and social networks) and small business development. Using the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Survey – Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA), the analytics identifies informal financing and social networks as leading alternatives to formal financing option in rural businesses. Therefore, we suggest that the government institutions recognise and formalise informal finance systems. This will not only aid access to government interventions and programmes, but foster collaborations with existing formal institutions and investors for sustainable rural business financing.