9 pages, The present study was conducted in Faisalabad at Social Sciences Research Institute, Pakistan
Agricultural Reseaerch Council, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan
during 2019. Countries wise time series data of exported fruits and vegetables were taken
from AMIS for finding instability of commodities and countries. Current study focused on the
compound annual growth rates of production, export quantity and value of mostly exported
fruits and vegetables. Growth trends of selected commodities were executed by using semitrend growth model. Coefficient of variation technique was used to find out instability of specific
commodity for specific country/market. Selected exported vegetables (potato, tomato, onion
and garlic) indicated instability results for Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Qatar and Indonesia among
given markets and within the given period. Among fruits kinnow export shared 24.96, mango
export results showed 22.08 percent share in total fruits export followed by 13.55 percent share
of orange and 8.6 percent export share of dates dried in total export from Pakistan. Results
observed for instability of exports to countries, minimum value of coefficient of variation (24.34
percent) was recorded for Bahrein market for kinnow export and Bahrein market was stable
among given markets. Similarly, mango results showed that export of mango to Germany market
was stable among given markets and within the given period. Export of orange to Saudi Arabia
market and export of dates to Bangladesh market was stable among given markets within the
given period of time. Finally, in order to lessen the instability, it can be proposed that Pakistan
ought to take steps to boost the exports of primary commodity and value added products to raise
revenue profitable.
34 pages, Agricultural nitrogen (N) use is a major contributor to environmental problems arising from nitrous oxide emissions and N loading to groundwater. Advances in the adoption of conservation practices requires a better understanding of the agronomic context for cropping systems. This paper tests hypotheses about how agronomic and knowledge barriers influence the adoption of conservation practices for N management in orchard agroecosystems. Agronomic barriers are characterized by farm size, irrigation systems and access to water resources, and knowledge barriers are influenced by the availability of information and use of information sources. Our study focuses on the California’s San Joaquin Valley where we collected 879 in-person surveys from fruit and nut growers focused on ten different conservation practices related to fertilizer use, irrigation and soil health. We used logistic regression models to identify parameters influencing adoption and differences in adoption between fruit and nut growers. Our results indicate that overall growers report higher adoption for practices for fertilizer use compared to irrigation and soil health. Growers with larger parcels, microirrigation and more water security had a higher probability of practice adoption. Nut crops are more agronomically intense than fruit crops requiring higher rates of N fertilizer and water use. Nut growers adopted significantly more practices than fruit growers, and also utilized significantly more information sources and experienced significantly fewer practice challenges. Our results collectively support our hypotheses that agronomic and knowledge barriers differ between fruit and nut growers, and help to explain the variance in adoption of conversation practices in orchard agroecosystems. Furthermore, the significance of our work offers a case study for other regions and agroecosystems to address the need for linking agronomic and knowledge barriers to adoption in an effort to promote global climate-smart and regenerative agriculture initiatives.
7pgs, 12pgs, The Texas citrus industry is threatened by the presence of Mexican fruit fly. The objective of this study was to estimate the economic losses caused by this invasive pest. Economic impact is estimated in terms of loss in revenue and increase in operating costs. Under current quarantined areas and pest management strategies, the Texas citrus industry could experience an annual economic loss of $5.79 million. The analysis was extended to evaluate the economic impact associated with different quarantined area scenarios. This article can be used to increase awareness and adapted to estimate the economic impact of emerging invasive pest outbreaks.
10 pages, While food biotechnology has been widely applied and benefited the food and agriculture sector, community acceptance of biotechnology is still low. The factors that drive consumer rejection of food biotechnology have been well studied, but knowledge on the factors that drive willingness to purchase, particularly on an international level, is limited. This study aims to identify driving factors for respondents’ willingness to purchase fresh fruit produced with biotechnology, using an international survey conducted in the US, Canada, UK, France, and South Korea. While the overall willingness to purchase biotechnology produced fruit is low across countries, French consumers have the highest rate of willingness to purchase biotechnology produced fresh fruit among studied countries, followed by South Korea. The factors influencing respondents’ willingness to purchase include demographics, lifestyle, and shopping behavior. While respondents behave differently across countries, factors like environmental awareness, self-reported healthiness, and habits of eating away from home, have been found to enhance the willingness to purchase biotechnology produced fruit across countries.
