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This paper combines panel data from nationally representative household-level surveys in Nigeria with long-term satellite-based spatial data on temperature and precipitation using geo-referenced information related to households. It aims to quantify the impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity, income shares, crop mix, and input use decisions. We measure climate change in harmful degree days, growing degree days, and changes in precipitation using long-term (30 year) changes in temperature and precipitation anomalies during the crop calendars. We find that, controlling for other factors, a 15% (one standard deviation) increase in change in harmful degree days leads to a decrease in agricultural productivity of 5.22% on average. Similarly, precipitation change has resulted in a significant and negative impact on agricultural productivity. Our results further show that the change in harmful degree days decreases the income share from crops and nonfarm self-employment, while it increases the income share from livestock and wage employment. Examining possible transmission channels for this effect, we find that farmers change their crop mix and input use to respond to climate changes, for instance reducing fertilizer use and seed purchases as a response to increases in extreme heat. Based on our findings, we suggest policy interventions that incentivize adoption of climate-resilient agriculture, such as small-scale irrigation and livelihood diversification. We also propose targeted pro-poor interventions, such as low-cost financing options for improving smallholders' access to climate-proof agricultural inputs and technologies, and policy measures to reduce the inequality of access to livelihood capital such as land and other productive assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite decades of research into the negative impacts of synthetic pesticides, farmers in Latin America continue to use pesticides at high levels and at a high cost to social and environmental sustainability. In this paper, we present a case study of pest management strategies in small-scale agriculture, focusing on the unsustainable technological lock-in of synthetic pesticides. Of the 196 smallholder farmers we surveyed in the coastal Mala and Omas Valleys of Perú, 22% of respondents experienced pesticide poisoning themselves or by an immediate family member. Additionally, the two most common pesticide categories reported in use are potent neurotoxins. We hypothesized that the farmers in the valleys were locked into synthetic pesticides due to uncertainty, coordination and learning associated with adopting an alternative strategy. Logistic regressions revealed gender (male), consulting an agro-chemical technician, quantity of cultivated land, and apple as a primary crop to be important predictors of synthetic pesticide use. Our findings suggest that these predictors represent the lock-in of synthetic pesticides through network externalities, learning economies and adaptive expectations. We conclude with opportunities to transition to sustainable pest management strategies at the local level in Latin American communities through interventions countering the lock-in of synthetic pesticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitalisation is promoted by both private and public actors as a way of contributing to the ecologisation of agriculture. However, this idea remains controversial. The debate is all the more crucial, as different ecologisation models exist, and as agriculture is experiencing new levels of industrialisation. In the literature, use of digital technology in agriculture has mainly been approached from a linear perspective of adoption but is rarely linked to ecologisation. In this paper, we aim to define digital use profiles of farmers and explain how they relate to ecologisation models. We distinguish production and information technologies. Based on 98 interviews with crop farmers in Occitanie (France), we show that there is a diversity of digital profiles. Through a mixed-method, we relate these profiles to a set of variables representing ecological and economic transformation in agriculture. It highlights links between some digital profiles and the further industrialisation of agriculture intertwined with weak or symbolic ecologisation. However, some digital uses associate with new forms of ecologisation that are based on input substitution. Digital use does not appear to support stronger ecologisation of farming. This study highlights the risk of a single model of digitalisation that only promotes one type of ecologisation pathway. • A diversity of digital technology use profiles exists. • Some digital uses are linked to the industrialisation of farming models. • Some digital uses are associated with the industrial development of organic farming. • Digital technology for information helps ecologisation changes already underway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper analyzes the impact of agricultural technical efficiency on the propensity of farmers to convert natural land into agricultural plots, i.e., to deforest, in the Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA). A two-step econometric approach is adopted. A bootstrapped translog stochastic frontier that is a posteriori checked for functional consistency is used to assess technical efficiency and these estimates are put into a land-use model to assess the impact of productivity on deforestation. Analysis of agricultural census tract data suggests that technical efficiency has a U-shaped effect: both less and more efficient farms use more land for their agricultural activities and so have a positive effect on deforestation. However, the majority of farms in the BLA are on the ascendant slope, so that efficiency implies more deforestation in the BLA. The poor environmental valuation of the Brazilian forest, the uneven land distribution, and the problem of the de facto openly accessed forested and “unproductive” lands in the BLA could explain the U-shaped effect of technical efficiency on the conversion of forested land into agricultural land. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]