Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T07:28:04.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Collecting Meaningful Data on Labour Use in On-Farm Trials in Sub-Saharan Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2008

Dunstan S. C. Spencer
Dunstan S. C. Spencer
Affiliation:
Resource and Crop Management Program, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

In order to measure the effects of new agricultural technologies on labour productivity in sub-Saharan Africa, on-farm trials are usually conducted using small plots. Farmers who keep no records have to be interviewed frequently to minimize the effect of memory loss on the accuracy of the data collected. In this paper, results are reported of experiments in the forest zone of Nigeria and the semi-arid Sahel of Niger. They show that if researchers can take steps to fix events in the memory of farmers, accurate labour use data can be collected in interviews as long as three months after the events being recalled. A range of plot sizes, with a minimum of 350 m2 in the forest zone, needs to be used to measure accurately labour use per hectare and to take into account the effect of economies of size on crop production.

Recopilacón de datos significatiaos sobre el use de mano de obra en estudios realizados en fincas del sub-Sahara africano

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , January 1993 , pp. 39 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Coleman, G. (1983). The analysis of memory bias in agricultural labour data collection: a case study of small farmers in Nigeria. journal of Agricultural Economics 43:79–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collinson, M. P. (1972). Farm Management in Peasant Agriculture, A Handbook for Rural Development Planning in Africa. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Gomez, K. A. (1977). On-farm testing of cropping systems. In Proceedings of Symposium on Cropping Systems and Development For the Asian Rice Farmer, 227–239. Manilla, Philippines: International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).Google Scholar
Hildebrand, P. E. & Poey, F. (1985). On-Farm Agronomic Trials in Farming Systems Research and Extension, pp. 75–77. Boulder, Colorado, USA: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Lipton, M. & Moore, M. (1972). The Methodology of Village Studies in Less Developed Countries. Discussion Paper No. 10. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies (IDS).Google Scholar
Lynch, S. G. (1980) An Analysis of Interview Frequency and Reference Period in Rural Consumption Expenditure Surveys: A Case Study from Sierra Leone, MSU Rural Development Working Paper No. 10. Michigan, USA: Michigan State University.Google Scholar
Mellor, J. & Johnston, B. F. (1984). The world food equation: Interrelation among development, employment and food consumption. journal of Economic Literature 22:532–574.Google Scholar
Nweke, F. E., Ezumah, H. & Spencer, D. S. C. (1988). Cropping Systems and Agroeconomic Performance of Improved Cassava in a Humid Forest Ecosystem. RCMP Research Monograph No. 2. Ibadan, Nigeria: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.Google Scholar
Spencer, D. S. C. & Sivakumar, M. K. (1987). Pearl millet in African agriculture. In Proceedings of the International Pearl Millet Workshop, 19–31. Patancheru PO, India: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).Google Scholar
Walker, T. S. & Ryan, J. G. (1990). Village and Household Economics in India's Semi-Arid Tropics. Baltimore, Maryland, USA: Johns Hopkins, University Press.Google Scholar
Zandstra, H. C., Pine, E. C., Litsinger, J. A. & Morris, R. A. (1981). A Methodology for On-Farm Cropping Systenu Research, p. 52. Manilla, Philippines: International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).Google Scholar
Zarkovich, S. S. (1964). The Quality of Sample Statistics. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).Google Scholar