Technology adoption and household food security among rural households in South Africa: The role of improved maize varieties

This study aimed to assess the impact of adoption of improved maize varieties on household food security among smallholder farmers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A sample of 415 maize producers was analysed using the propensity score matching method, the treatment effect model and the Tobit selection model. The results were consistent across the models, indicating that improved maize varieties positively increased household food security, and that the impact of adoption differed according to the adoption level and socio-economic characteristics of the farmers. The results showed that an additional 1 ha of land under improved maize varieties increases annual food expenditure per capita levels by over R4000. Female farmers were more likely to adopt improved maize varieties, and spent more to ensure household food security, and benefitted more from adoption, than their male counterparts. The findings suggest that policies that seek to increase the land under improved maize varieties among smallholder farmers, especially female farmers who are the majority of these farmers, can play a significant and positive role in increasing the levels of household food security in South Africa through technological innovations. The study recommends that policy makers should aim to facilitate the dissemination of less costly improved seed varieties, target female farmers, and improve their access to information to improve the adoption of technological innovations and food security among the poor farming households in South Africa.     

Factors affecting adoption of improved method in large cardamom curing and drying and its impact on household income in the Eastern Himalayan road-corridor of Nepal

This paper examines the adoption of an improved method of curing and drying of large cardamom, a technology that has recently been introduced at the farm level in the Eastern Himalayan road corridor of Nepal. A probit model was applied to assess factors influencing the adoption of an improved method of curing and drying by using household data of 300 farmers in Taplejung district obtained in 2019. Further, the income regression model was used to investigate factors influencing annual household income from large cardamom. Findings revealed that the adoption of an improved method of large cardamom drying was mostly determined by access to credit from the financial institutions while controlling other explanatory variables. Such adoption of an improved method of large cardamom curing and drying resulted in more than twofold increase in household income from large cardamom. An instrumental variable approach was applied to check the robustness of the findings. The findings revealed that household income from large cardamom, risk aversion of farmers, age, access to credit, access to technical services, experience of farmers on large cardamom farming significantly contributed in the adoption of improved methods in curing and drying; and improved methods of drying and concrete type of houses structure contributed to household income from large cardamom. The impact of the adoption of improved methods of curing and drying boosted the household income by 432% from the large cardamom as compared to traditional methods using instrumental variable model whose contribution was only 34.3% in OLS regression. These findings suggested that the promotion of an improved method of curing and drying is needed at the farm level for the increment of farmers' income and development of competitiveness of large cardamom in the global markets.     

Internet use and farm households food and nutrition security nexus: The case of rural Ghana

The impact of internet use on food and nutrition security of rural households in Ghana is investigated in this study. To offset the potential challenge of selection bias, an endogenous treatment regression (ETR) technique is utilized for the analysis.. The results reveal that Internet use can improve smallholder farmers’ food and nutrition security. Internet usage has a profound positive effect on the food security of households with off-farm work and larger size of landholding. Our results suggest the intensification of efforts to enhance Internet connectivity across the nation by the government and policymakers is essential since it can go a long way to affect household welfare. The findings also highlight the importance of information and communication technologies (ICTs), the Internet, patronization to improve rural household welfare.     

Technology assessment for clean energy technologies: The case of the Pacific Northwest

This study presents a technology assessment for clean power generation in the Pacific Northwest. Our goal is to incorporate clean production principles into the evaluation process for power alternatives. Two types of technologies are considered: one is for a renewable energy source (wind) and the other is for a traditional, fossil fuel based energy source (coal). The Analytical Hierarchy Process is used to assess the feasibility of both the wind energy and clean burning coal energy technologies. Criteria such as location, cost, feasibility, and availability are used for evaluations. For the wind energy, cost was determined to be the most important criterion when making a technology decision. For the SO₂ emissions technology, the regenerative process was determined to be the best technology to scrub SO₂ emissions from the air. Additionally, efforts towards renewable energy in Oregon should continue. Both federal and state governments offer tax credits that can help mitigate costs and facilitate the adoption of renewable energy options for power companies.     

Building resilience to shocks of climate change in Ghana's cocoa production and its effect on productivity and incomes

Climate change is happening and cocoa producers are aware of its causes as well as its effects on their farms. However empirical evidence has revealed that a small number of farmers adopt climate change adaptation technologies to build resilience to the shocks meted out to them by climate change. In this paper, using data from Ghana, we employ propensity score matching to control for selection bias and to analyse adoption of adaptation technologies, its determinants as well as impact on cocoa productivity and incomes. The results showed that most cocoa farmers do not adopt climate change adaptation technologies and for those who adopt some technologies, diversification of income sources was the major innovation. Also, eight factors including gender, age of respondent, involvement in other economic activities, farm size, membership of a farmer association, access to extension service, access to credit as well as annual income from cocoa production were found to significantly influence adoption of climate change adaptation technologies. Finally, cocoa farmers who adopted climate change adaptation technologies recorded significantly higher farm productivities and incomes vis-à-vis non-adopters. To build resilience, cocoa farmers are encouraged to join farmer based organizations and extension officers should be supported to be able to reach out to farmers to educate them on climate change resilience technologies.     

Socio-economic analysis of farmers facing asymmetric information in inputs markets: evidence from the rainfed zone of Pakistan

Information asymmetry plays an important role in the non-adoption of modern agricultural inputs like improved seeds, pesticides and fertilizers etc. Therefore, this study investigated the role of farmers’ socio-economic attributes and farm level characteristics in avoiding asymmetry of information in agricultural input markets (i.e. exaggerated prices and low quality). The approach captures the farm level heterogeneity and complexity that may help the authorities in strengthening existing market regulations to control price and quality disparities. We analysed 395 randomly selected farm households using multinomial logit model. We found that farmers with large landholding size are less likely to face quality and more likely to face price information asymmetry. Farmers with higher education, more physical assets and better access to other sources of information are less likely to face both quality and price information asymmetry. Borrowers as compared to purchasers are more likely to face information asymmetry on prices of agricultural inputs. Non-adopters of improved agricultural technologies are more suspicious of information asymmetry than adopters. The paper thus provides evidence that the socio-economic dynamics of information asymmetry can have an important influence on wide spread adoption of technology. Paying more attention to farm level heterogeneity and complexity would help to develop general market management plan and improve the adoption of technology by farmers.     

Improved rice variety adoption and farm production efficiency: Accounting for unobservable selection bias and technology gaps among smallholder farmers in Ghana

Ghana's agricultural sector is dominated by smallholder farmers who often face substantial challenges such as limited access to improved production inputs and technology, financial capital and extension services. These challenges jointly contribute to low agricultural productivity and hinder Ghana's ability to meet the rising demand for food caused by increasing population, urbanization, and changing dietary habits of consumers. Adoption of agricultural technologies and innovations has often been recognized as important pathways for ensuring smallholder farming systems transformation and improved agricultural productivity, food security, rural economic growth, and reduced poverty and vulnerability among smallholder farmers. This study examines the productivity and efficiency effects of improved rice technology adoption among 412 smallholder rice farmers in Northern Ghana. Using sample selection stochastic production frontier model, selection bias stemming from observable and unobservable farmer characteristics was accounted for because farmers self-select into adopting improved rice technologies. The results indicate that adopters are 24% more technically efficient than non-adopters. In addition, adoption of improved rice varieties is associated with about 76% increase in rice farmers’ productivity, relative to non-adoption. Moreover, IRVs adoption is positively and significantly influenced by access to irrigation, access to credit, and farmer group membership. Farm size, fertilizer, chemicals, irrigation, and soil quality are the main positive determinants of rice productivity for both adopters and non-adopters.     

Factors affecting renewable energy technology adoption policies of 50 states and district of Columbia in the USA

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Renewable energy policies and adoption of new renewable energy technologies in different states of the USA are not uniform. The factors affecting the...     

Comparing domestic water heating technologies

Solar water heaters (SWH) and drain water heat recovery (DWHR) systems are two household technologies currently available in the marketplace that can lower usage of utility-supplied energy. While there is considerable interest in utilizing these technologies to reduce energy costs and environmental impact, actual implementation of these systems in houses remains low. This study examines possible reasons for this low adoption rate using Guelph (Ontario) as a case study representative of medium-sized Canadian cities. A model was created to determine the implementation rate required for each technology to meet the goals of Guelph's Community Energy Plan and the level of financial incentive required to achieve the desired implementation rate. Water conservation and the need to address both new development and the existing housing stock emerge as critical factors. Solar water heating was found to require significantly higher subsidies than drain pipe heat recovery, corresponding to a higher cost per unit of energy saved. Non-economic factors that reduce the adoption rate of new technology are discussed, and it is observed that a need for community education related to the new technologies and inertia associated with current water heating technology are the primary factors for adoption rates below levels predicted based on economics alone.     

Sustainable energy and environmental impact: role of renewables as clean and secure source of energy for the 21st century in Jordan

In this article, present and future energy consumption, electricity demand, potential of renewable energy sources and national energy policy in Jordan are presented. The related environmental impacts are discussed from the sustainable development point of view, including the future role of renewable energy sources. Jordan is a net energy importing country, with almost 96% of its annual needs relying on imported crude oil and refined products from neighboring Arab countries. Due to increasing fossil fuel combustion to meet growing national energy demand, especially electricity generation, air pollution is becoming an important issue in urban areas. Profound cuts in current emission rates, including carbon dioxide, are possible at a bearable cost, and that the government must now invest in low carbon options because of the long lead in time of some technologies. A great deal more could be done to improve energy efficiency, and new and renewable energy schemes should be advocated on different levels. To achieve this, all obstacles including institutional barriers to investment in renewable technologies and national energy plan need to be addressed urgently. Thus, the government is invited to create a Sustainable Energy Unit, which will coordinate government cross-departmental thinking and provide adequate information to the public and to private investors.     

Gender differentiated small-scale farm mechanization in Nepal hills: An application of exogenous switching treatment regression

Farm mechanization among smallholder farming systems in developing countries is emerging as a viable option to off-set the effects of labor out-migration and shortages that undermine agricultural productivity. However, there is limited empirical literature on gender and farm mechanization. This study assesses the impacts of the gender of household heads on mini-tiller adoption in the hills of Nepal, using an exogenous switching treatment regression model. Our findings reveal that there is a significant gender gap in mini-tiller adoption between male-headed households (MH-HHs) and female-headed households (FH-HHs). Compared to MH-HHs, the mini-tiller adoption rate is significantly lower among the FH-HHs, and a large amount of unobserved heterogeneity is deriving this difference. Moreover, when MH-HHs and FH-HHs have similar observed attributes, the mini-tiller adoption rate among the food insecure FH-HHs is higher than in the food secure group. The gender-differentiated mini-tiller adoption rate can be minimized primarily by enhancing market access. Findings suggest that farm mechanization policies and programs targeted to the FH-HHs can reduce the gender-differentiated adoption gap in Nepal and similar hill production agro-ecologies in South Asia, which will enhance the farm yield and profitability.     

可再生能源综合应用于高速公路照明系统的可行性

分析了中国高速公路照明系统的用能和供能现状,从经济可持续发展的角度,论证了在高速公路照明系统中综合利用多种可再生能源的必要性与可行性.提出了高速公路及其周边可以利用的多种可再生能源及相关技术,通过对国内外现有技术的分析,指出了该技术的经济效益、社会意义和产业前景.     

Household Adoption of Technology: The Case of High-Speed Broadband Adoption in Australia

Within the home context a high-speed broadband Internet connection is seen as a key enabler for effective access to and use of the Internet. This article examines the factors contributing to household adoption of high speed broadband in Australia. Building on the Theory of Reasoned Action and seminal research on technology adoption in the home and the workplace, the article presents and evaluates a hypothesized model of Household Adoption of Technology.     

Modelling the perennial energy crop market: the role of spatial diffusion

Biomass produced from energy crops, such as Miscanthus and short rotation coppice is expected to contribute to renewable energy targets, but the slower than anticipated development of the UK market implies the need for greater understanding of the factors that govern adoption. Here, we apply an agent-based model of the UK perennial energy crop market, including the contingent interaction of supply and demand, to understand the spatial and temporal dynamics of energy crop adoption. Results indicate that perennial energy crop supply will be between six and nine times lower than previously published, because of time lags in adoption arising from a spatial diffusion process. The model simulates time lags of at least 20 years, which is supported empirically by the analogue of oilseed rape adoption in the UK from the 1970s. This implies the need to account for time lags arising from spatial diffusion in evaluating land-use change, climate change (mitigation or adaptation) or the adoption of novel technologies.     

Innovation and market regulation: evidence from the European electricity industry

This paper studies the effects of changes in the level of product market regulation on the industry-level innovation intensity in the EU electricity sector during years 1990–2009. In order to test the impact of deregulatory policies on the propensity to innovate in energy technologies, we match data on R&D budgets and European Patent Office patent applications from International Energy Agency and Eurostat Databases with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development indexes of product market regulation. The analysis addresses innovations in the traditional electricity-related technologies, but keeping aside renewable energy technologies. Findings show an increase in patenting activities following market deregulation, measured along three factors: entry barriers, public ownership and vertical integration. In particular, econometric results suggest that policies aimed at reducing vertical integration – i.e. to unbundle networks from energy generation and supply – have a positive impact on innovation activity. Results are robust to the introduction of controls for country-level public R&D expenditures in the electricity field.     

家用制冷器具需求响应技术的发展

空调制冷、采暖以及食品冷冻、冷藏等器具耗电在家用电器耗电中所占比例较高,而需求响应是家用电器低碳技术的重要发展领域。家用电器按照电网优化运行的要求对运行状态进行适当调整可以实现提高电网运行效率和可靠性。同时,需求响应技术能够减少电力系统备用电源以及输配电系统备用容量的投资,并能够促进可再生能源利用和有效降低电费支出。     

储能在电网中的应用价值及其商业模式

随着风电、光伏渗透率逐渐增大,其并网给电网稳定运行带来了诸多挑战。储能技术可以有效平抑新能源功率波动,增强新能源发电可控性,提高新能源的并网接入能力,因此在电网中配置储能的相关研究与技术受到越来越多的关注。以储能系统接入电网的功能为切入点,针对储能系统在调频、调峰、备用容量和延缓输配电扩容升级等4种场景中的应用价值进行研究和归纳,讨论了储能相关商业模式的发展前景和未来待研究的关键科学问题。     

Adoption of unmanned aerial vehicles for pesticide application: Role of social network,resource endowment,and perceptions

Unmanned aerial vehicle technology is a promising alternative for sustainable agriculture production to more traditional technologies used in China. This paper considers factors affecting adoption of unmanned aerial vehicles for spraying pesticides among farmers in Jilin Province, China. Gender (male), percentage of income from agriculture, cultivated land area, within-family village leadership, number of borrowing channels, and positive attitudes towards the technology had a positive effect on adoption intention. Positive attitude toward traditional technology and higher income had a negative effect. Policy recommendations include continued work in improving access to rural financing, facilitating early adopters, and technology promotion.     

可再生能源在空调制冷中的应用

针对目前压缩式制冷技术带来的能源短缺和环境污染问题，介绍了几种可再生能源在空调制冷中的应用技术，如地道风供冷、地源热泵系统、太阳能空调制冷，分析了可再生能源用于空调制冷的特点及发展现状，并对其应用前景做了展望。