J. Torkamani, Sh. Shajari,
Volume 10, Issue 4 (winter 2007)
Abstract
This paper investigates the effects of wheat production risk and other socio-economic factors on the probability of adopting new seed technologies. Also, the effects of production inputs and production conditions are examined on wheat production yield and risk. Moreover, the relative risk of new seed varieties will be examined under different scenarios. To carry out the study, farm-level data was collected from a sample of 187 wheat farms located in Fars province, and selected by multi stage random sampling method during the years 2001 and 2002. A generalized stochastic production function by a three-stage estimation procedure was used to determine the influential factors on the production yield and risk. The results showed that yield uncertainty could not be sufficiently explained by the level of input use in the cultivation of both wheat varieties. The comparison of two wheat varieties cultivation indicated that in the absence of suitable production conditions, on the average, the cultivation of new wheat varieties ensures greater yield than traditional wheat varieties, but involves greater risk, as measured by yield variance. Accordingly, the farmers’ risk aversion attitude could be a major factor inhibiting speedy diffusion of new wheat varieties, which besides having greater average yield than traditional wheat varieties, it has less production risk. The results indicated that the risk associated with seed has negative effect on the adoption of new seed technologies.
J. Torkmani, Sh. Shajari,
Volume 12, Issue 44 (summer 2008)
Abstract
The main objective of this paper is to study the differential impacts of various irrigation water pricing policies. The methodology used is based upon Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) mathematical programming models and also simulation. Two kinds of data needed to feed the models were obtained from official records and surveying. The analysis of water pricing policy indicates that the most important relative savings take place in the more conservative farmers due to their risk-aversion behavior. Also it can be seen that in the elastic segments of the demand curves the increase in the price of water encourages great saving in consumption due to changes in mixed crops, crops production by deficit irrigation methods and production of rain-fed crops. Results clearly demonstrate that each homogenous group of farmers displays different behavior patterns related to this natural resource. Therefore, this shows the usefulness of differential analysis in evaluating the impact of water pricing policy.
