Search

Chaozhou Kungfu tea practice is a tea tasting practice and tradition popular in the Yuedong region (East of Guangdong Province), with Chaozhou as its center. This paper studies the origin and development of Chaozhou Kungfu tea from the perspectives of tea production and tea tasting. Dating back to the 18th century, Oolong tea came into being in the Wuyi Mountain area in Fujian Province and was introduced to Chaozhou by tea merchants. It became prevalent there during the reign of Emperors Qianlong and Jiaqing along with its tasting practice. In the 19th century,the Chaozhou Kungfu tea practice took shape by integrating Fujian Oolong tea practice into a local one. In the early 20th century, Oolong tea production was localized and matured in the Fenghuang Mountain area in Chaozhou. Since the middle and late 20th century, Fenghuang Dancong tea, a local Oolong tea variant, has mostly been used for Chaozhou Kungfu tea instead of the Wuyi tea. In summary, the creation of Chaozhou Kungfu tea practice was heavily influenced by the Fujian tea culture, in which the Chaozhou tea merchants also played an essential role., 本稿は潮州市哲学社会科学2021年度一般項目「潮州工夫茶与日本煎茶道的跨文化比較研究」（2021-A-09）の助成を受けたものである。

This study has developed a production method for high-quality Genova tea with excellent antioxidant properties. The antioxidant properties of each part of the Genova basil plant (i.e., leaves, flowers, and stems) were determined; the leaves and flowers showed higher antioxidant values. We also investigated the effects of steaming time and drying temperature on the antioxidant composition and properties, color, and aroma using leaves with good yield potential and high antioxidant properties. The color showed excellent green color retention with freeze- and machine-drying at 40 °C without steam-heat treatment. Steaming for 2 min was effective in maintaining high values of total polyphenol content, antioxidant properties (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazine and hydrophilic oxygen radical adsorption capacity), rosmarinic acid, and chicoric acid, and a drying temperature of ≤40 °C was recommended. Freeze-drying without steaming was the best method to retain all three of Genova’s main aroma components, Linalool, trans-alpha-bergamotene, and 2-methoxy-3-(2-propenyl)-phenol. The method developed in this study can improve the quality of dried Genova products and be applied in the food industry, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries.

Tea is a steeped beverage made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis. Globally, this healthy, caffeine-containing drink is one of the most widely consumed beverages. At least 50 countries produce tea and most of the production information and tea research is derived from international sources. Here, we discuss information related to tea production, genetics, and chemistry as well as production issues that affect or are likely to affect emerging tea production and research in the United States. With this review, we relay current knowledge on tea production, threats to tea production, and solutions to production problems to inform this emerging market in the United States.

The use of ecological principles to manage plant pests has attracted renewed attention, but our knowledge related to the contributions of ecological pest management to social and natural sustainability is fragmented. In this study, we compared the performance and resilience of tea production and the economic benefits of tea ecological management (TEM) and tea conventional management (TCM). We show that TEM significantly improved tea biomass and quality, nutritional efficiency, and beneficial insects, but reduced seasonal variation. As a result, economic return increased by $8045/ha in the TEM mode compared to $6064/ha in the TCM mode. These results confirm that TEM is a promising production mode that can reconcile the conflict between the immediate and long-term service of agriculture. However, environmental improvements associated with organic pest control benefit society, and the government should provide adequate financial support to promote the production system.

Tea sector plays a critical role in socio economic development in Kenya. It is a leading foreign exchange earner, a major source of livelihood for most rural communities and significantly contributes to poverty reduction. However, in the last three decades there has been , unstable trends in tea production that has been linked to climate driven stresses. Over the last two decades, tea producing areas in Kenya have been exposed to extreme climate events that include temperature rise, eractic rainfall and growing incidence of extreme weather events such as hail storms, drought and frost. These events are expected to have adverse effects on the largely rainfed tea production with potentially irreversible socio economic effects. This study sought to ascertain the effects of climate change on tea production in Kenya while controlling for economic incentives. The study adopted the Autoregressive distributed lag econometric modeling approach using data for the period between 1979 and 2019. The findings indicate that rainfall being experienced in the usual dry period of January and February, price of tea, and area under tea crop, have a positive and significant effect on tea production. However, rainfall variability, rainfall amount in extended long rain periods, maximum temperature, spending on agricultural development, real effective exchange rate, and price of fertilizer have a negative effect on tea production. Given the negative effects of climate change on tea production, there is a need for collaborative efforts towards developing definite, viable and sustainable adaptation options targeting tea farming.

This study aimed at analyzing technical, allocative and economic efficiency of tea farms in Fouman County of Guilan Province, Northern Iran. Data were collected through questionnaire and face-to-face interviews with 200 tea farmers in 2017. The data then were analyzed using descriptive statistics, data envelopment analysis (DEA), as well as correlation analysis. The average technical, allocative and economic efficiency, assuming constant return to scale in input-oriented model, were found to be 86, 71 and 61 percent respectively. These figures for variable return to scale were 87, 74 and 65 percent respectively. These results indicate that over 60 percent of the surveyed farms enjoyed scale efficiency. Of those socio characteristics affecting tea farmer's efficiency: age, educational level and family size had positive and significant correlation with technical efficiency. The findings suggest that, the elderly and better educated farmers combined their previous knowledge of farming adopting proper farming practices may achieve production efficiency.

Tea sector plays a critical role in socio economic development in Kenya. It is a leading foreign exchange earner, a major source of livelihood for most rural communities and significantly contributes to poverty reduction. However, in the last three decades there has been , unstable trends in tea production that has been linked to climate driven stresses. Over the last two decades, tea producing areas in Kenya have been exposed to extreme climate events that include temperature rise, eractic rainfall and growing incidence of extreme weather events such as hail storms, drought and frost. These events are expected to have adverse effects on the largely rainfed tea production with potentially irreversible socio economic effects. This study sought to ascertain the effects of climate change on tea production in Kenya while controlling for economic incentives. The study adopted the Autoregressive distributed lag econometric modeling approach using data for the period between 1979 and 2019. The findings indicate that rainfall being experienced in the usual dry period of January and February, price of tea, and area under tea crop, have a positive and significant effect on tea production. However, rainfall variability, rainfall amount in extended long rain periods, maximum temperature, spending on agricultural development, real effective exchange rate, and price of fertilizer have a negative effect on tea production. Given the negative effects of climate change on tea production, there is a need for collaborative efforts towards developing definite, viable and sustainable adaptation options targeting tea farming.

Sodium alginate oligomers were tested for tea plant growth promoter and anti-fungal agent in this experiment. Sodium alginate solutions were irradiated by Co-60 gamma radiation with different radiation doses to produce the oligomers. Irradiated solutions were then diluted into 150, 300 and 500 ppm prior to foliar application. Solutions were applied through foliar spraying at 7 days interval and the best response of tea plants in terms of various attributes were recorded. Tea buds were collected in 10 days of interval and the growth attributes like- total number of buds, fresh weight of buds, average leaf area and weight per bud, weight of made tea etc. were calculated. The experiment was continued up to 12 weeks and the attributes were averaged to get results per plucking. 12 kGy radiation doses along with 300ppm solution showed the best results and about 36% increase in productivity was found based on the fresh weight of buds. Total fungal count in tea leaves was also found to be reduced greatly. Based on the present study, irradiated sodium alginate could be used as safe and environmentally friendly agent to increase tea production., Sodium alginate, Tea production, Growth promoting activity, Gamma radiation, Natural growth promoter.

International audience; Increasing consumer awareness on sustainable and healthy food choices has given rise to a growing demand for organic tea in past decades. Most of this demand is met by imports from developing countries. This article examines the main factors affecting the choice of farm households to adopt organic tea production in Northern Vietnam. We apply a logit model to survey data from 241 Vietnamese tea farming households. We assess the robustness of the results by addressing three important statistical issues: (i) regressor endogeneity, (ii) unobserved heterogeneity at farm level and (iii) missing values. The main results are chiefly robust and largely in line with the theory. We find that farm households with higher revenues, located in rich natural and physical environments, are significantly more inclined to adopt organic tea production. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that farm households who are consulted by extension agents and belong to a tea association increase the odds for the adoption of organic tea cultivation.

Biochar application in the agriculture sector is a practical approach to minimize waste and maintain sustainable farming. However, the information regarding biochar application in tea cultivation is limited and especially rare in field research. In this study, a two-year biochar experiment was conducted in a tea yard subject to tea yield and soil characteristics. According to tea growth, the tea yard for the experiment was divided into weak and normal sectors. Biochar was made from tea processing waste, mainly the twigs. The results showed that biochar application increased tea production by 2.3- and 1.3-fold in the weak and normal sectors, respectively, suggesting that converting tea waste to biochar for soil amendment is beneficial to increasing tea production, particularly in the weak sector. The regression analysis on tea production and soil characteristics revealed that only soil electric conductivity (R2 = 0.6597), soil organic matter (R2 = 0.7024), and soil extractable phosphate (R2 = 0.6547) were positively correlated with tea yield. Therefore, the field experiment of this study improves the understanding of biochar’s agronomic and environmental benefits on plant productivity and soil health.

Standards have become an important object of investigation in social science and STS scholars have called for a more systematic program of research to study standards or standardization (Busch 2011; Timmermans and Epstein 2010). In this considering concepts paper, we engage with their program for a sociology of standards and propose a new way to think about standards and standardization as “spaces of diversity” so as to push our thinking forward about how standards, standardization and innovation processes are linked. We consider standardization as the dynamic interaction in three spaces (standards in the making, standards in action, and standards in circulation) where diversity reemerges only to be tentatively reduced or limited through new rounds of standard setting. We illustrate how diversity is an integral part of standardization with the example of the Rainforest Alliance standard for tea production as it circulated from Costa Rica to Kenya, where it was made and put into action and then circulated again to other African, Asian, and Latin American countries. We end with a proposition for future research on standards to address these other spaces of standards as loci of standardization and innovation.

Revealing the characteristics of spatial&ndash, temporal dynamics and influencing factors is important for optimizing the spatial distribution of tea production. Taking prefecture-level cities as the basic spatial unit, this study uses the Herfindahl index and exploratory spatial data analysis to reveal the spatial&ndash, temporal dynamics of China&rsquo, s tea production from 2000 to 2015. A theoretical analysis framework is established and a spatial econometric model is used to explore its influencing factors. The results show a U-shaped trend in the degree of tea spatial agglomeration, which gradually declined during 2000&ndash, 2010, and rapidly increased during 2011&ndash, 2015. The proportion of tea production shifted from the eastern region to the central and western regions, and spatial distribution coverage expanded to the north. Tea production had significant spatial correlation, and spatial agglomeration characteristics were exhibited for similar values (high or low). Tea production had a significant spatial spillover effect. Natural resources, labor cost, specialized production, and policies all affected the spatial&ndash, temporal dynamics of tea production somewhat, but the effects of traffic conditions and technological level were insignificant. Finally, this study proposed optimizing four aspects of the tea spatial layout: regional cooperation, comprehensive suitability evaluation of tea cultivation, spatial agglomeration, and distinctive local brands.

International audience; AbstractThe intensive use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers over the last century has both increased agricultural productivity and modified biogeochemical cycles in terrestrial ecosystems, causing severe negative environmental impacts. Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) plantations usually receive high levels of synthetic fertilizers, which strongly affect plant and soil properties. However, there is no quantitative study to assess how synthetic N additions affect soil chemistry and the production and quality of tea shoots. Here, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of experimental synthetic N fertilizers. Our main findings are (1) N additions in tea plantations acidify soils (− 0.41 pH unit in average) and produce soil nutrient imbalance. Soil acidification commonly exacerbates the accumulations of toxic aluminum ions. (2) Synthetic N fertilizer additions may strongly increase tea production by almost 70% but alter tea shoot quality by increasing the concentrations of free amino acids (+ 16%), caffeine (+ 14%), and water extracts (+ 5%) while decreasing those of soluble sugars (− 8%) in the tea shoots. The responses of soil chemistry, tea production, and quality to N additions can vary among experimental conditions, tea tree species, and N fertilizer forms. Because there is statistical limitation in this meta-analysis, our findings recommend performing additional field studies to explore the potential mechanisms of nutrient cycling and ecosystem functioning under synthetic N additions. The development of a sustainable N management strategy in tea plantations is also urgently needed to enhance N use efficiency and reduce environmental risks.

Agricultural production in the face of climate change (CC) requires a climate-smart transformation and reorientation at multiple scales. Viet Nam is one of the developing countries that is agriculturebased and severely affected by CC, therefore it is crucial that the agricultural system advances towards the transition. While climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has gained a significant attention at global fora, context-specific evidence is still scarce in Viet Nam. This study examines CSA potentials in tea production systems in the Northern Mountainous Region (NMR) of Viet Nam. Tea cultivation has a crucial role in CSA strategy because it provides an important source to local household (HH) income, while demonstrating a strong potential for CC adaptation and mitigation. Since CSA concept is multi-dimensional, including food security, adaptation and mitigation, an interdisciplinary analytical framework is employed in this research to assess the economic and biophysical dimensions. Enterprise budgets and representative farms are developed for tea and alternative crops (coffee, maize, rice) as well as livestock (cattle, buffalo and pigs) production to analyze the productivity dimension of food security. In evaluating the adaptation potential of tea production, local farmers’ perceptions and experiences of extreme weather events are combined with ERA-Interim data (1989-2013) and HH survey data on income levels. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon sequestration potentials are estimated through partial Carbon Footprint Life Cycle Assessment. Results show that tea production systems, both under conventional and mini-terracing practices, generate net margins, returns to capital and family labor higher than the alternatives. Farmers therefore have high incentive to switch from other crops to tea production. In face of CC, tea has shown a strong biophysical adaptive capacity compared to other crops in NMR. Tea-producing HHs have higher levels of income and total value of crop production than non-tea producing HHs but mostly under low variability of climate conditions. Tea HHs have demonstrated high potential in buffering climate extremes. Fertilizer application is the single largest GHG emitter at farm level. Tea production systems have a high capability for carbon storage and offsets. Evidence of strong synergies between food security, mitigation and adaptation is demonstrated for tea production systems in NMR, and potential tradeoffs highlighted where relevant. Policy recommendations are drawn based on combined evidence to support CSA in the region. La produzione agricola di fronte al cambiamento climatico (CC) richiede una trasformazione intelligente del clima e un ri-orientamento a diversi livelli. Il Vietnam è uno dei paesi in via di sviluppo basato sull’agricoltura, gravemente colpito dal CC, quindi è fondamentale che il sistema agricolo avanzi verso la transizione. Mentre l'agricoltura a clima intelligente (climate-smart agricolture) (CSA) ha guadagnato un'attenzione significativa a livello globale, le prove specifiche nel contesto in Vietnam sono ancora scarse. Questo studio esamina i potenziali CSA nei sistemi di produzione di tè nella regione nordica-montana (Northern Mountainous Region) (NMR) del Vietnam. La coltivazione del tè ha un ruolo cruciale nella strategia CSA, poiché fornisce una fonte importante ai redditi locali (HH), dimostrando un forte potenziale per l'adattamento e la mitigazione del CC. Dal momento che il concetto CSA è multidimensionale, includendo la sicurezza alimentare, l'adattamento e la mitigazione del CC, in questa ricerca viene impiegato un framework analitico interdisciplinare per valutare le dimensioni economiche e biofisiche. I budget aziendali e le aziende rappresentative sono sviluppati per la produzione di tè e colture alternative (caffè, mais, riso), nonché bestiame (bovini, bufali e suini) per analizzare la dimensione produttiva della sicurezza alimentare. Nella valutazione del potenziale di adattamento della produzione di tè, le percezioni degli agricoltori locali e le esperienze di eventi meteorologici estremi sono combinate con dati ERA-Interim (1989-2013) e dati provenienti da interviste sui livelli di reddito familiare. Le emissioni di gas a effetto serra (GHG) e le potenzialità di assorbimento del carbonio sono stimati attraverso la valutazione parziale del ciclo di vita del carbonio (Carbon Footprint Life Cycle Assessment). I risultati mostrano che i sistemi di produzione di tè, sia sotto pratiche convenzionali che di miniterrazzamento, hanno più elevati margini netti, ritorno di capitale di cassa e ritorno di lavoro familiare rispetto alle alternative. Gli agricoltori hanno quindi un forte incentivo a passare da altre colture alla produzione di tè. Di fronte al CC, il tè ha mostrato una forte capacità di adattamento biofisico rispetto ad altre colture nella zona del NMR. Le HHs che producono tè hanno livelli più elevati di reddito e di valori totali della produzione rispetto alle aziende familiari che non producono tè, ma soprattutto in condizioni di bassa variabilità climatica. Le HHs produttrici di tè hanno dimostrato un elevato potenziale nel bloccaggio degli estremi eventi climatici. L'applicazione del fertilizzante è il singolo più grande emettitore di GHG a livello aziendale. I sistemi di produzione di tè hanno un'elevata capacità di stoccaggio e compensazioni di carbonio. La dimostrazione di forti sinergie tra la sicurezza alimentare, mitigazione ed adattamento è dimostrata per i sistemi di produzione di tè nella zona del NMR e potenziali tradeoffs sono evidenziati, dove rilevanti. Le raccomandazioni in materia di politiche sono elaborate in conformità a prove combinate per supportare la CSA nella regione caso di studio. Dottorato di ricerca in Economia e territorio

In this study, we analyzed the newly emerging research field of climate change in combination with tea production. We adapted a valid search query to cover the relevant literature as completely as possible and to exclude irrelevant literature. The search resulted in a publication set of 14 key papers dealing with the implications of climate change for tea production as well as 71 papers citing at least one of the 14 key papers. The VOSviewer software was used for revealing the thematic content of the publication set based on the analysis of the keywords. The analysis illustrates the importance of climate change for tea production and mirrors the emerging discussion on climate change impacts and adaptation strategies. Questions regarding the historical context of research fields or specific research topics can be answered by using a bibliometric method called “Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy” (RPYS). The standard RPYS, as well as RPYS-CO, which is based on co-citations of a marker paper, were applied and the most important publication in the historical context of climate change in combination with tea production was identified: both RPYS analyses revealed a paper by M.A. Wijeratne working at the Tea Research Institute (TRI) in Sri Lanka as the starting point of the newly emerging research topic. Currently, the research topic is stimulated by research projects and publications of Selena Ahmed at the Montana State University (USA).

In this study, we analyzed the newly emerging research field of climate change in combination with tea production. We adapted a valid search query to cover the relevant literature as completely as possible and to exclude irrelevant literature. The search resulted in a publication set of 14 key papers dealing with the implications of climate change for tea production as well as 71 papers citing at least one of the 14 key papers. The VOSviewer software was used for revealing the thematic content of the publication set based on the analysis of the keywords. The analysis illustrates the importance of climate change for tea production and mirrors the emerging discussion on climate change impacts and adaptation strategies. Questions regarding the historical context of research fields or specific research topics can be answered by using a bibliometric method called “Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy” (RPYS). The standard RPYS, as well as RPYS-CO, which is based on co-citations of a marker paper, were applied and the most important publication in the historical context of climate change in combination with tea production was identified: both RPYS analyses revealed a paper by M.A. Wijeratne working at the Tea Research Institute (TRI) in Sri Lanka as the starting point of the newly emerging research topic. Currently, the research topic is stimulated by research projects and publications of Selena Ahmed at the Montana State University (USA).

International audience; AbstractThe objective of this paper is to apply the stochastic production frontier methodology to a survey database collected in northern Vietnam. Our study finds that the average technical efficiency of tea production is only about 41 %. Among extension policy measures available to farmers, only training on production inputs has an improving impact on technical efficiency. Other features of policy have no significant effect, contrary to the expectation. The adoption of the oldest variety “Trung-Du” is not a source of inefficiency while the effects of other new varieties are insignificant. The results indicate that there is a great potential for improving production efficiency in the region of the study.

Agricultural production in the face of climate change requires a climate-smart transformation and reorientation at multiple scales. Vietnam is one of the developing countries that is agriculture-based and severely affected by climate change; therefore it is crucial that the agricultural system advances toward this transformation. While climate-smart agriculture has gained a significant attention in global fora, context-specific evidence is still scarce in Vietnam. This study examines climate-smart agriculture potentials in tea production systems in the northern mountainous region of Vietnam. Since the climate-smart agriculture concept is multidimensional, which includes food security and adaptation and mitigation, an interdisciplinary analytical framework is employed in this research to assess the economic and biophysical dimensions. Enterprise budgets and representative farms (i.e., farms or households having one or more activities or enterprises) are developed for tea and alternative crops, as well as livestock production, to analyze the productivity dimension of food security. In evaluating the adaptation potential of tea production, local farmers’ perceptions and experiences of extreme weather events are combined with ERA-Interim data (1989-2013) and household survey data on income levels (reanalysis dataset taken from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts; ERA stands for ECMWF Reanalysis). Greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration potentials are estimated through partial Carbon Footprint Life Cycle Assessment. Results show that tea production systems generate net margins, returns to capital, and family labor higher than the alternatives. Farmers, therefore, have high incentives to switch from other crops to tea production. In the face of climate change, tea has shown a strong biophysical adaptive capacity compared to other crops in the northern mountainous region. Tea production systems have a high capability for carbon storage. Evidence of strong synergies between food security and mitigation and adaptation is demonstrated for tea production systems in the northern mountainous region, and potential tradeoffs were highlighted, where relevant.

This study uses the stochastic production frontier to analyze technical efficiency of tea production in northeastern Vietnam. Our study estimated that the average technical efficiency of tea production is very low, only about 32%. Technical efficiency can be improved by having a training on sale skills whereas it can be negatively affected by access to information on tea market. The results indicated that there are a big potential for improving technical efficiency in tea production by using the available inputs and technology. For the purpose of improving efficiency, efforts should be made on agricultural extension (keeping the current form of training on sale skills, modifying the provision of information on tea market). Producers are also recommended to be more careful on the adoption of tea variety for their cultivation.

International audience; This study uses the stochastic production frontier to analyze technical efficiency of tea production in northeastern Vietnam. Our study estimated that the average technical efficiency of tea production is very low, only about 32%. Technical efficiency can be improved by having a training on sale skills whereas it can be negatively affected by access to information on tea market. The results indicated that there are a big potential for improvingtechnical efficiency in tea production by using the available inputs and technology. For the purpose of improving efficiency, efforts should be made on agricultural extension (keeping the current form of training on sale skills, modifying the provision of information on tea market). Producers are also recommended to be more careful on the adoption of tea variety for their cultivation.

Over the last two decades, Vietnam accomplished rapid economic growth under the transitional economy. Significant developments in the agricultural sector brought in by the renovation policy have propelled the country to the rank of the second largest rice exporter in the world. The steady economic growth along with increasing population has led to a rise in demand for agricultural products in the domestic market. Furthermore, Vietnam?s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007 is seen to have boosted the country?s economic reforms resulting in greater integration with the global economy. Despite these massive political and economic changes, Vietnam is still struggling with high poverty levels, particularly in the remote North West region. The country?s income poverty rate stands at 15.5% while its reaches a 39.4% in the North West Region of the country (GSO 2007). The North West region, with its mountainous topography and temperate climate, is one of the main and historical tea cultivation areas in Vietnam. Its surrounding big cities offer steady demand for high quality tea produced in this region. In 1999, the Vietnamese government implemented a development plan for tea production for the period of 2005-2010 (Decision 43/1999 QD-TTg) with an aim to increase production, export and create employment. The implementation of this policy was expected to alleviate poverty in the uplands tea producing areas, which are often poor mountainous regions with small scale farming, and limited off-farm income opportunities. Other important public policies measures adopted by Vietnam to stimulate the development of the tea value chain and promote greater access to market for the rural poor farmers include ?the law of Private Enterprise? which was promulgated in 1990, and ?the Enterprise Law? which was enacted in 1999 and revised in 2005. In addition to such public policies, vertical coordination in tea supply chain is required to ensure greater small-scale farmers participation to market. Tea being a perishable agricultural commodity which needs early processing after harvesting, vertical coordination can reduce production and marketing risk faced by small-scale farmers. Contract farming is a type of vertical coordination that encourages small-scale farmers? participation in tea production. It refers to an arrangement between producers and processors to exchange inputs and outputs with pre-agreed price, time, quality and quantity (Singh, 2002). It is also applied widely in the tea sector of North-Western Vietnam. The role of contract farming as a rural development tool has been discussed in many empirical studies. One major thread of that literature is that contract farming permits to link producers with agricultural markets especially in less developed countries. It is argued that contract farming offers advantages for small-holder farmers in ensuring their access to inputs, credit, insurance, information, technology and markets. In economics theory, particularly in the framework of new institutional economics, contract farming is often explained as an institutional response to market failures such as information asymmetric with respect to price and/or quality and the incompleteness or imperfections in the markets for credit, inputs and agricultural services. Transaction cost is one of the important elements in the analysis of market institutions. Empirical studies reveal that high transaction costs discourage small-holders to participate in markets. In tea production, sunk costs associated with high initial investments, and commodity?s perishable and time specific processing characteristics, heighten their asset specificity. This high degree of asset specificity in tea production emphasizes the need for contract farming. Furthermore, contracting is one way to divide risks associated with production and marketing between the firm and the producer. In short the method of contract farming provides a foil for the shortcomings in both parties. The objective of this study is to investigate the importance of income from tea production for the household income of poor small-holder farmers in North West Vietnam. More specifically, given the importance of vertical coordination in agricultural production, the study?s main focus is to investigate the involvement of small-holder farmers in the integrated agro-food channels and evaluate its impact on their livelihood. There are three specific research questions included in the study: 1. Does contract farming enhance production efficiency compared to non-contract farming? 2. What are the differences in socio-economic characteristics of contract and non-contract farmers? 3. How strong is the impact of contract participation on household income? For this study, Moc Chau district, one of the traditional tea producing areas in Vietnam, was selected as the research site. The district has 3,200ha of tea producing area with a total of 6,726 households engaged in tea production. Moc Chau is located 950m above sea level, and has tropical monsoon climate, which is ideal for tea production. Three types of organizational arrangements are found in terms of production and marketing where tea producer were involved: 1. via state-owned enterprise 2. via private company 3. and via direct spot market The population is stratified into four clusters: 1. tea farmers contracting with state-owned enterprise (SOE) 2. tea farmers contracting with private firms or cooperative 3. tea farmers with no contract 4. and non-tea farmers A sample of 40 households was randomly drawn from clusters 1 and 2 each. A larger sample was obtained from each of the clusters 3 and 4, since they serve as control groups with higher heterogeneity and variance with respect to socio-economic and farming characteristics. Overall the samples from the four clusters consisted of 245 farm households. The survey questionnaire included modules on household demography, other socio-economic characteristics and tea production. The socio-economic modules of the questionnaire were based on Living Standard Measurement Surveys (LSMS) methodology. These modules aim to measure and understand the living standards of households. The tea production modules aim to obtain information on production, costs and production efficiency, and the market module consisted with the questions on contract participation associated with socio-economic characteristics of households. In addition, quantitative and qualitative surveys at the village level and on a few selected tea firms were conducted to understand institutional changes in the village and to investigate socio-political factors influencing tea production. The entire survey was conducted during the period between June and November 2007. The first research question was investigated using the Stochastic Production Frontier Function (SPFF) model to estimate the technical efficiency associated with socio-economic characteristics of households, and to assess the difference among the clusters. The results showed high coefficient estimates of partial production elasticity associated with land size and material costs (a sum of costs of fertilizer, manure and pesticide). The SPFF model also identified significantly higher technical efficiency estimate of the group which is in contract with the SOE by applying non-parametric tests. This observation is associated with three different household characteristics: age, education and number of farm income source. Contrary to our initial expectation, living standard of households was not a determining factor for achieving higher technical efficiency. This result threw light on one concern: there might be a selection bias if contract participation is associated with household characteristics. To deal with the problem of homogeneity in the model, a treatment effects model was applied to control selection bias, and estimate and assess the technical efficiency with reduced-bias samples. The second research question was investigated using the Binary Outcome model to find the probability of participation. Ten variables obtained from household survey were included in the model to determine contract participation in a contract farming scheme. The results revealed that six out of ten variables associated with household characteristics are statistically significant determinants of participation in contract farming. The six variables are average age of adults, squared average age of adults, proportion of adults who finished secondary school, years of experience in tea production, number of years of residence in the village, and number of memberships in organizations of adults. The results indicated that older farmers participate more in contracts than younger farmers; perhaps to avoid risks associated with marketing and production. Also, those farmers who have more experience in tea production tend to participate more in a contract farming scheme. Access to information also might be one of the important determinants for farmers to decide to participate in a contract. Longer residence in the village negatively affects contract participation because it broadens farmers? social networks where they can acquire more market information which enables the establishment of their own marketing channels. On the other hand, farmer?s membership in any kind of organizations positively affects contract participation. By being members of an organization, farmers are more exposed to positive information on contracting which might enhance their participation. To assess the impact of contract farming participation on income, the propensity score matching method was applied to reduce the bias in the estimation of the treatment effect of contract farming participation. The estimation revealed a statistically significant, but very small impact of contract farming participation on daily per-capita income of about 900 Vietnamese Dong (VND). The technical efficiency estimate after matching revealed a statistically significant difference between farmers who contract with SOE and non-contract farmers, but there was no statistically significant difference between farmers who contract with private firms and non-contract farmers. Hence, it can be assumed that the SOE provides more precise and experienced extension service or technical advice than the private firms. The empirical study shows that production efficiency and income of households could be increased through participation in contract farming. It also highlights that government can play a crucial role in linking resource-poor farmers to market, particularly in developing countries. Seit Beginn der wirtschaftlichen Öffnung vor zwei Jahrzehnten verzeichnet Vietnam ein rapides Wirtschaftswachstum. Die Erneuerungspolitik führte zudem zu einer sehr positiven Entwicklung des Landwirtschaftssektors, was Vietnam zum zweitgrößten Reisexporteur aufstiegen ließ. Neben dem stetigen Wirtschaftswachstum führte die Zunahme der Bevölkerung zu einer steigenden Binnennachfrage nach landwirtschaftlichen Produkten. Des Weiteren wird der WTO-Beitritt 2007 als positiv angesehen, die ökonomischen Reformen voranzutreiben und Vietnam stärker in die globale Wirtschaft zu integrieren. Im Gegensatz zu den drastischen politischen und ökonomischen Veränderungen hat Vietnam immer noch eine landesweite Armutsrate von 15,5 %, mit der höchsten Rate in der Nordwest Region von 39,4 % (GSO, 2007). Mit seiner bergigen Topographie und dem gemäßigten Klima ist die Nordwest Region eines der Hauptanbaugebiete von Tee in Vietnam. 1999 führte die Regierung den Entwicklungsplan der Teeproduktion für den Zeitraum von 2005 ? 2010 ein (Decision 43/1999 QD-TTg), mit dem Ziel, die Produktion zu verbessern, Exporte zu erhöhen, und Arbeitsplätze zu schaffen.. Die politischen Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der Teeproduktion sollen zur Armutsminderung in den Bergregionen beitragen, in denen kleinbäuerliche Betriebe und unzureichende Einkommensmöglichkeiten außerhalb der Landwirtschaft vorherrschen. Die Entwicklungsstrategie ist dahingehend Erfolg versprechend, dass Tee als traditionelle Kulturpflanze und Genussmittel in der nördlichen Bergregion Vietnams beheimatet ist und in den größeren Städten der Region einen stabile Nachfrage herrscht. Daher könnte die Ausweitung der Teeproduktion ein geeignetes Mittel zur ländlichen Entwicklung in den Bergregionen Vietnams darstellen. Im Zuge des wirtschaftlichen Wandels wurden mehrere politische Maßnahmen durchgeführt, die einen Einfluss auf die Verbesserung der Teeproduktion haben. In diesem Zusammenhang sind besonders zwei treibende Kräfte zu nennen. Zum einen förderten das Gesetz des privaten Unternehmens (bekannt gegeben 1990) und das Unternehmensgesetz (verordnet 1999 und 2005) die Entwicklung privater Unternehmen im Markt. Zum anderen sollte die oben erwähnte Politik (Decision 43/1999 QD-TTg) die nötigen Rahmenbedingungen zur Verbesserung und Erhöhung der Teeproduktion schaffen. Tee ist eine mehrjährige Pflanze, die eine lange Vegetationsperiode benötigt. Die unbedingt notwendige direkte Verarbeitung der frischen Teeblätter bedarf eines hohen Kapitaleinsatzes für Verarbeitungsanlagen. Da Kleinbauern solche Investitionen nicht tätigen können, kommt der vertikalen Koordination in diesem Zusammenhang eine besondere Bedeutung zu. Hierbei sind auch institutionelle Interventionen wie die Preisfindung und Vertragsbindung zu erwähnen. Vertragsanbau wird als Übereinkunft und Verbindlichkeit zwischen dem Produzenten und dem Verarbeiter angesehen, bei dem Produktionsmittel und Erzeugnisse unter einem vorher vereinbarten Preis, Zeitpunkt, Qualität und Menge bereitgestellt werden. Vertragsanbau ist im nordwestvietnamesischen Teesektor weit verbreitet, und verschiedene Arten der institutionellen Gestaltung sind zu beobachten. Die Anwendbarkeit und Notwendigkeit von Vertragsanbau als Mittel der ländlichen Entwicklung wurde in vielen empirischen Studien erkannt und diskutiert. In diesem Zusammenhang ist speziell die Rolle der Verknüpfung von Produzenten, besonders aus weniger entwickelten Ländern, mit den Agrarmärkten zu erwähnen, die durch den Zugang zu Produktionsmitteln, Krediten, Versicherungen, Informationen, Technologie und Absatzmärkten profitieren können. Beweggründe und Theorie, die zur Verbreitung von Vertragsanbau führen, werden häufig als institutionelle Antwort auf unvollkommene Märkte gesehen, die die ökonomische Effizienz beinträchtigen. Daher wird Vertragsanbau im Rahmen der Neuen Institutionenökonomie analysiert. Diese beschäftigt sich vornehmlich mit Problemen, die durch unvollkommene Transaktionsinformationen und anderes Marktversagen entstehen, und unterstreicht die Rolle der Institutionen auf verschiedenen Ebenen dieses Problemfelds. Transaktionskosten sind ein wichtiges Element der Analyse von Marktinstitutionen, der zentralen Komponente Organisationsstudien. In empirischen Studien wurde gezeigt, dass hohe Transaktionskosten Kleinbauern am Marktzugang hindern. Bei der Teeproduktion wirken die versunkenen Kosten verbunden mit hoher Kapitalinvestition und die Produkteigenschaften, wie die Verderblichkeit und Notwendigkeit der zeitnahen Verarbeitung, zusätzlich erschwerend. Dies bestärkt die Notwendigkeit der intensiven vertikalen Koordination der Teeproduktion. Des Weiteren helfen die vertraglichen Vereinbarungen das Risiko, das mit dem Anbau und der Vermarktung von Tee einhergeht, zwischen der Firma und dem Produzentenzu verteilen. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, die Bedeutung des Einkommens aus der Teeproduktion für das Einkommen von Kleinbauern in Nordwest Vietnam zu untersuchen. Betrachtet man die Wichtigkeit der vertikalen Koordination bei der Produktion von hochwertigen Agrarprodukten, lag der Fokus der Arbeit besonders auf der Beteiligung der Kleinbauern an den integrierten Agri-Food Kanälen und dessen Einfluss auf deren Lebensstandard. Es gibt drei spezielle Forschungsfragen in der vorliegenden Studie; 1) Erhöht Vertragsanbau die Produktionseffizienz gegenüber Nicht-Vertragsanbau? 2) Was sind die Unterschiede in den sozioökonomischen Charakteristika zwischen Vertragsanbauern und Nicht-Vertragsanbauern? 3) Wie stark ist der Einfluss der Vertragsbeteiligung auf das Haushaltseinkommen? Zur Beantwortung dieser Fragen wurde der Distrikt Moc Chau, eines der traditionellen Teeanbaugebiete Vietnams, als Forschungsregion ausgewählt. In der gesamten Provinz wird Tee auf rund 3,200 ha angebaut, und es sind insgesamt 6,726 Haushalte in die Teeproduktion involviert. Moc Chau liegt auf 950m über der Meereshöhe und ist durch ein tropisches Monsun Klima gekennzeichnet, welches ideal für den Teeanbau ist. Es gibt hauptsächlich drei Arten von organisatorischen Regelungen für die Produktion und Vermarktung, an denen Teeproduzenten teilhaben können; über staatseigene Betriebe, über private Firmen, und über den direkten Spotmarkt. Neben diesen drei Arten der vertikalen Koordination wurde die Bevölkerung zuerst in vier Cluster eingeteilt; 1) Teebauern mit Vertrag mit Staatsbetrieb, 2) Teebauern mit Vertrag mit Privatfirma oder Kooperative, 3) Teebauern ohne Vertrag, und 4) Nicht-Teebauern. Es wurden circa 40 Stichprobenhaushalte der Cluster 1 und 2 einbezogen; von Cluster 3 und 4 wurden mehr Haushalte ausgewählt, da diese als Kontrollgruppe dienen sollten. Insgesamt wurden quantitative Daten von 245 landwirtschaftlichen Haushalten erhoben, die sowohl demographische Haushaltsdaten als auch Daten über die Teeproduktion beinhalteten. Die demographischen Haushaltsdaten basieren auf den LSMS Haushaltsbefragungen, die darauf abzielen den Lebensstandard zu messen und zu verstehen. Zudem wurden die Einflussfaktoren der Produktionseffizienz und der Beteiligung am Vertragsanbau, die mit den sozioökonomischen Haushaltscharakteristika assoziiert sind, untersucht. Außerdem wurden quantitative und qualitative Befragungen auf Dorfebene und in ausgewählten Teefirmen durchgeführt mit dem Ziel den institutionellen Wandel im Dorf sowie die sozialpolitischen Faktoren mit Einfluss auf die Teeproduktion zu verstehen. Die gesamte Untersuchung wurde zwischen Juni und November 2007 durchgeführt. Für die erste Forschungsfrage wurde die stochastische Produktionsgrenzfunktion angewendet, um die mit den sozioökonomischen Haushaltscharakteristika einhergehende technische Effizienz abzuschätzen und die Unterschiede zwischen den einzelnen Gruppen zu bestimmen. In den Ergebnissen werden hohe Koeffizientenschätzer der partiellen Produktionselastizität in Verbindung mit Landfläche und Materialkosten durch die Anwendung der stochastischen Grenzproduktionsfunktion abgeleitet. Im Model der technischen Effizienzabschätzung werden signifikant höhere Schätzer für die Gruppe mit Vertrag mit Staatsbetrieben durch die Awendung nichtparametrischer Tests identifiziert. Diese Beobachtung hängt mit drei verschiedenen Haushaltscharakteristika Alter, Ausbildung und Anzahl der Einkommensquellen zusammen. Entgegen der Erwartungen hat der Lebensstandard des Haushalts keinen positiven Einfluss auf die technische Effizienz. Dieses Ergebnis ruft ein Bedenken hervor; es könnte sich eine Auswahlverzerrung ergeben, falls die Teilnahme am Vertragsanbau mit den Haushaltscharakteristika zusammenhängt. Um mit dem Homogenitätsproblem im Modell umzugehen, wurde ein Behandlungseffektmodell zur Kontrolle der Selektionsverzerrung angewandt, und die technische Effizienz wurde mit reduzierter Verzerrungs-Stichprobe abgeschätzt und bestimmt. Für die zweite Forschungsfrage wurde das binäre Outcome-Modell gewählt, dass die Wahrscheinlichkeit der Teilnahme am Vertragsanbau ergibt. Zehn Variablen aus der Haushaltsbefragung wurden für das Modell ausgewählt, die als entscheidend für die Teilnahme am Vertragsanbau angesehen werden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sechs der zehn mit den Haushaltscharakteristika zusammenhängenden und im Modell angewandten Variablen einen signifikanten Einfluss auf die Teilnahme am Vertragsanbau haben: Durchschnittsalter der Erwachsenen, quadratisches Durchschnittsalter der Erwachsenen, Anteil der Erwachsenen mit Mittelschulabschluss, Jahre an Erfahrung im Teeanbau, Jahre der Dorfansässigkeit und Anzahl der Mitgliedschaften der Erwachsenen in Organisationen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen außerdem, dass mehr ältere Bauern am Vertragsanbau teilnehmen als jüngere Bauern. Ein Grund könnte eine niedrigere Risikobereitschaft, die mit dem Anbau und der Vermarktung des Tees einhergeht, sein. Es scheint, dass der begrenzte Marktzugang der Anbauregion die Entwicklung eigener Vermarktungskanäle selbst für erfahrene Produzenten erschwert. Die durch eine längere Dorfansässigkeit entwickelten individuellen sozialen Netzwerke und daraus resultierenden individuellen Vermarktungsmöglichkeiten mögen die geringere Beteiligung der etablierten Familien am Vertragsanbau erklären. Des Weiteren kann angenommen werden, dass die Mitgliedschaft in Organisationen zu einem breiten Netzwerk führt, das den Zugang zu Information, auch jene über den Vertragsanbau, erleichtert. Zugang zu Information ist einer der Entscheidungsfaktoren für oder gegen den Vertraganbau. Jene Bauern, die mehr Information bekommen, sind eher davon überzeugt, am Vertragsanbau teilzunehmen. Der Einfluss der Teilnahme am Vertragsanbau auf das Einkommen als dritte Forschungsfrage, wurde mit Hilfe der Matching Methode bestimmt. Propensity Score Matching wurde angewandt um den reduzierten Verzerrungseffekt der Beteiligung am Vertragsanbau auf Einkommen und technische Effizienz zu erhalten. Die Schätzung offenbarte einen signifikanten Einfluss des Vertragsanbaus auf das Einkommen von ungefähr 900VND pro Kopf. Die Schätzer der technischen Effizienz nach dem Matching zeigten einen signifikanten Unterschied zwischen den Vertragsanbauern mit Staatsbetrieben und den Nicht-Vertragsanbauern und einen nicht signifikanten Unterschied zwischen privaten Anbauern und Nicht-Vertragsanbauern. Es ist anzunehmen, dass die Staatsbetriebe einen präziseren und erfahreneren Beratungsservice und angepasstere technische Hilfe bieten als die privaten Firmen, was einen Einfluss auf die technische Effizienz haben kann. Ein signifikanter Einfluss der Beteiligung am Vertragsanbau auf die Produktionseffizienz und das Haushaltseinkommen konnte nachgewiesen werden. Die empirische Studie zeigt, dass es ein signifikantes Potential gibt, die Produktionseffizienz und das Einkommen der Haushalte durch die Beteiligung am Vertragsanbau zu erhöhen. Jedoch wurden verschiedene politische Maßnahmen, die im Zusammenhang mit dem vorliegenden Fallbeispiel stehen, nämlich Förderung der Privatisierung, Intensivierung der Teeproduktion und Verbreitung des Vertragsanbaus, landesweit auf verschiedenen strategischen Dimensionen durchgeführt. Es kann festgestellt werden, dass die Effekte dieser Maßnahmen teilweise einen starken Einfluss auf die ländlichen Haushalte hatten, wie die Ausweitung des Anbaugebiets, steigende Zahl der privaten Teefirmen und die zunehmende Beteiligung von Teeproduzenten am Vertragsanbau, jedoch einige dieser Maßnahmen fehlschlugen. Für die Entwicklung spezieller landwirtschaftlicher Sektoren wird deutlich, dass nicht einzelne sondern ein Bündel abgestimmter, multi-dimensionaler politischer Maßnahmen nötig ist, um effiziente komplementäre Effekte zu erhalten.

This study is about smallholder tea growing in Belgut Division of Kericho District, Kenya. The last thirty years in Kenya have witnessed rapid agricultural development contributed largely by the small-scale farm sector. In that context, smallholder tea growing has expanded to such an extent that it now accounts for 58.8 percent of all tea produced in the country, with Kenya being one of the leading tea producing countries in the World.The major objective of this study is to investigate the various socio-economic factors influencing smallholder tea production in Belgut Division, and to test the significance of these socio-economic factors on smallholder tea growing. Using a farm-systems approach, various analytical tools were applied, especially in investigating the significance of the formulated hypotheses. A stratified random sample of 80 smallholder tea growers was selected from Belgut Division and, Analysis of Variance technique was used to investigate the differences in land allocations to tea production, food crop production and livestock farming among the smallholder tea farmers. The statistical analysis revealed that significant variations existed in land allocated to tea fanning, food crops and pasture, resulting in rejection of formulated null hypothesis. Multiple Linear Regression Analysis was applied in trying to relate the variations in cash incomes and expenditures among smallholder tea farmers. The method allowed the researcher to examine the relationship between cash incomes and household and farm expenditures and, further to draw conclusions on sustainability of the tea industry, relative to such incomes. The results of the Multiple Regression Analysis showed that, among the different expenditures, fertilizers were the most expensive, consuming most of the farmers incomes. Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis was found useful in selecting most precise variables in predicting tea production among such different factors as age, education, labour, transport and hectarage for tea within the study area. The findings revealed that the relationship between tea production and these variables is significant, (all values of R2 => 0.78), thus prompting the rejection of the formulated null hypothesis.

The objective of this paper is to apply the stochastic production frontier methodology to a survey database collected in northern Vietnam. Our study finds that the average technical efficiency of tea production is only about 41 %. Among extension policy measures available to farmers, only training on production inputs has an improving impact on technical efficiency. Other features of policy have no significant effect, contrary to the expectation. The adoption of the oldest variety “Trung-Du” is not a source of inefficiency while the effects of other new varieties are insignificant. The results indicate that there is a great potential for improving production efficiency in the region of the study.