Non-financial factors affecting livestock farm’s performance in meat supply chain

This article investigates non-financial factors affecting performance of livestock farms in the meat supply chain in Albania. A structured questionnaire was developed to collect data in three main regions of Albania (Tirana, Korça and Lushnje). Confirmatory factor analysis is used to develop measures for the non-financial factors (i.e. trust, contracts, opportunistic behavior, information sharing and information quality) and Structural Equation Modelling is employed to test study hypotheses. The result shows that trust is positively associated with farm’s performance. On the other hand, communication (i.e. resulting from the merge of information sharing and information quality) is negatively associated with performance. However, communication appears to have a positive association with farm’s performance indirectly through its effect on trust. Thus, it can be deducted that communication builds trust and trading relationship based on trust show higher levels of farm’s performance. Lastly, contracts and opportunistic behavior do not show any significant association with farm’s performance.

Aging population and agricultural sustainability issues: case of turkey

Agriculture is a sector that is widely known to be impacted not only by the natural conditions of a country but also by other economic and political sectors. Turkish agriculture, in a context marked in recent years by a rural exodus of young people, marks the vagueness of the current state of the agricultural sector and its future. It is with this in mind that this research was carried out, based on a questionnaire survey of 312 producers in 5 provinces of Turkey, to assess the impact of the ageing of the rural population on the agricultural sector. The results of this study show that with age, producers invest less in agricultural activity, altogether abandoning productions requiring more labour. The possibility of taking over the family farm by descendants plays an important role in the degree of involvement of producers. Through these findings, this study makes it possible to address targeted agricultural policies according to age stages.

The factors affecting the marketing channel selection in sheep farming: A Turkish case study

This study was conducted to determine sheep farmers' selection of marketing channels in livestock sales and the factors affecting their choices. The research data were generated from the survey data of 53 enterprises selected via simple random sampling method in Samsun province in 2019. In this research, descriptive statistics were used to determine some characteristics of the sheep farmers, and the chi-square test was employed to compare the farmers' characteristics according to the selection of the marketing channels. According to the results of the study, four marketing channels were identified to be efficient in livestock marketing. These were final consumers, brokers, retailers, and mixed channels. Besides, it was determined that the variables of selling additional products (milk, cheese, fleece) in the enterprise other than livestock, being a member of the Sheep and Goat Breeders Association, and the reason of choosing marketing channels had an impact (P<0.05) on the selection of marketing channels.

Vulnerabilite des moyens d'existence des menages ruraux au changement climatique: analyse comparative des territoires montagneux et littoraux des zones arides tunisiennes

This paper presents a livelihood vulnerability assessment and compares the levels of exposure, sensitivity and adaptation to climate change of the local populations in mountains area and coastal plains in Tunisian arid regions. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change vulnerability index (LVI-IPCC) has been adapted and applied to assess this livelihood vulnerability, based on socio-economic surveys and semi-structured interviews with the local populations. Findings show that households in coastal plains are more vulnerable in terms of socio demographic profile, food security, social networks, access to water and climate variability. This territory is much more exposed to climate change, despite being slightly less sensitive. On the other hand, households in mountainous territory are more vulnerable in terms of livelihood strategies, land tenure and health, despite their adaptation capacity, which reduces their vulnerability to climate change. Based on this vulnerability assessment, this work suggests specific adaptation strategies and measures for livelihoods sustainability in each territory.

Ict as a development factor in the tunisian olive oil sector

Olive oil is one of the main agricultural products of the countries that make up the Mediterranean basin. The low profitability of this sector of activity and the growing challenges of an increasingly turbulent market force the sector to search for more efficient organization. The aim of this paper is to determine the organisational and technological factors associated with the most economically efficient Tunisian olive-growing organisations. To this end, firstly the Data Envelopment Analysis method has been used to establish a hierarchy of the most efficient organizations. Secondly, the Qualitative Comparative Analysis method has been used, which allows us to establish the relationships of variables that explain the highest levels of economic efficiency. The results obtained show that the academic training of the top manager, training in information technology, the age of the organisation and the existence of plans and budget items for the adoption of information and communication technologies are variables that explain this greater efficiency.

Short Food Supply Chains: rebuilding consumers’ trust.

Whereas population is showing increasing distrust rates in the regular agri-food system, Alternative Food Networks (AFN) are gradually gaining space. This paper analyses the role of a specific kind of AFN, Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs) and its contribution to the restoration of consumers’ trust in Spain. An online survey (n= 423) focus on trust and concern over food safety was conducted. The survey was addressed to very concerned and active consumers, which are interesting because they represent a powerful consumers’ profile from the policies point of view. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) studied consumers’ preferences on the different SFSC categories. This paper draws a map that signals which of SFSC attributes (such as labelling, common values or direct contact with producers) are more relevant in order to build consumers’ trust. In addition, this paper offers a classification of SFSC consumers according to their priorities. The information provided by the article offers ideas to policy makers and producers for designing their marketing strategies according to different consumers’ demands.

A holistic approach in explaining farmers' intentional behaviour on manure waste utilization

This research examined livestock farmers' intention to move manure waste to an allocated landfill and the impact of financial support by municipalities on farmer's behavior. The theoretical framework was developed using the Theory of Planned Behavior and tested the validity of the model. The survey was carried out with 336 farmers in Bursa, Turkey, where animal husbandry is the primary source of livelihood. Research results have shown that the developed model proved to be satisfactory in predicting farmers' intentions. The attitude (β=0.38; p <0.01) variable was the most important determining factor on farmer behavior followed by subjective norms (β=0.30; p <0.01). Financial incentives provided by local governments was a strong mediator effect between attitude (β=0.62; p <0.01) and farmers' behavior. This study emphasizes that local governments should employ more proactive environmental measures, raise financial incentive initiatives in animal waste management to ensure farmers ' participation in these practices and sustainable agriculture.

How to foster employee satisfaction by means of coaching, motivation, emotional salary and social media skills in the agri-food value chain

Most employee satisfaction studies do not consider the current digital transformation of the social world. The aim of this research is to provide insight into employee satisfaction in agribusiness by means of coaching, motivation, emotional salary and social media with a value chain methodology. The model is tested empirically by analysing a survey data set of 381 observations in Spanish agribusiness firms of the agri-food value chain. The results show flexible remunerations of emotional salary are determinants of employee satisfaction. Additionally, motivation is relevant in the production within commercialisation link and coaching in the production within transformation link. Whole-of-chain employees showed the greatest satisfaction with the use of social media in personnel management. Findings also confirmed that employees will stay when a job is satisfying. This study contributes to the literature by investigating the effect of current social and digital business skills on employee satisfaction in the agri-food value chain.

Impact of parcel fragmentation on the calculation of the real estate value of land belonging to farms

Agricultural parcels are often the subject of land valuation studies. This approach implicitly assumes that the real estate value of the land belonging to a farm is the sum of the values of the individual parcels that make up the farm. Nonetheless, the value of a whole can be very different from the sum of its parts. This study proposes a methodology for calculating the real estate value of the land belonging to a farm, by including parameters relating to the fragmentation of the land. Fragmentation increases production costs and reduces farmers’ incomes and by extension the real estate value of the farm. In our study area, the province of Jaen in Spain, figures for its most emblematic crop, the olive, show that fragmentation of the land reduces its value by between 51% for a 10 ha farm and 12% for a 30 ha farm as compared to the values set out in the bibliography. The reorganization of the ownership system or the promotion of systems for the common management of land could increase the profitability and therefore the value of land according to the ‘income capitalization’ approach.