A Model of Crop Selection in Semi‐subsistence Agriculture and an Application to Mixed Agriculture in Fiji

Abstract

The vast majority of the world's farmers operate as semi‐subsistence producers. Models of fully subsistence agriculture are modified to allow a two‐goods analysis of cash crop and staple crop production. A further extension allows comparisons between two groups of farmers possessing different production functions for their respective staple crops. Production possibility curves are constructed for each group of farmers and an empirical test formulated. Empirical results confirmed the hypothesized behavioral relationships which would give rise to the observed differences in resource allocation and resource productivity between Indian and Fijian farmers operating within a similar agricultural environment.

Development Impacts of Remittances in Agricultural Households: Fiji Experience

“…The conventional wisdom is that low productivity in agriculture is due to subsistenceoriented farming which involves the application of traditional methods for cultivation and the wide use of low-yield varieties of seeds. Agricultural productivity is also affected by limited expansion of arable land due to Fiji's land tenure system and its geographical, socioeconomic and environmental circumstances, as well as below par financial and insurance services in Fiji (Asafu-Adjaye, 2008;de Boer & Chandra, 1978;Haszler, Hone, Graham, & Doucouliagos, 2010;Ward, 1960Ward, , 1995. Adoption of innovative agricultural practices and newly-developed high yield seeds have seen little success and are difficult to implement, given that agriculture has been a risky business and the farmers encounter numerous risks and uncertainties.…”

Determinants of Off-Farm Labour Participation and Time Allocation: Double-Hurdle Results in the Case of Fiji

“…2. See an earlier study by de Boer and Chandra (1978). The adverse growth performance from 1987 to 2010 period was marked by political instability, financial economic crisis and natural disasters (Gounder & Xing, 2012).…”