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12221 results in Natural resource management, agriculture, horticulture and forestry

Page 557 of 612

  • Appendix 1 - Interest rate tables

  • J. P. Makeham, L. R. Malcolm
  • Book:
    The Economics of Tropical Farm Management
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    01 December 1985, pp 164-169

  • Summary

    The following tables come from the Professional Farm Management Guidebook No.2. Discounting and Other Interest Rate Procedures in Farm Management by A. H. Chisholm and J. L. Dillon, published in 1971 by the Department of Agricultural Economics and Business Management of the University of New England, Armidale. We are greatly indebted to these authors for their kind permission to use them. The derivation and use of these tables is fully explained in Guidebook No.2, which is one of an excellent series of farm management booklets from the Department of Agricultural Economics and the Agricultural Business Research Institute, University of New England, Armida1e, NSW, Australia. To' help you understand what may appear to be a bewildering array of numbers, the following explanations are given here.

    In all of the tables, the number of years is shown in the first column at the left hand side of the page, headed ‘Years', and 'n', which means ‘number of years'. The interest rate being considered is shown in the row at the top, e.g. 0.0 I (J %),0.10 (10%). In the body of each table is a factor appropriate to the number of years and the chosen interest rate. For example, in Table A, the present value of one dollar in 20 years’ time, at an interest rate of 5%, is $0.3769 (roughly 38 cents).

    All of the tables are based on the assumption that $1 (or I unit of any currency) is the item being considered, e.g. in Table A, the future lump sum is $1. In Table B, the factors in the bodyofthetabletellyouhowmuch$1 will grow to ifinvested at compound interest for a given number of years at a particular interest rate. Thus, with an interest rate of 5%, $1 invested now, with the interest it earns re-invested each year, will grow to $2.65 in 20 years time (see Column.05 (5%), row 20 years). Where the amounts considered are more than $1 it is a simple case of mUltiplying the factors in the table by the sum involved. For example, $10000 will grow to $26500 (10000 x 2.65) if invested for 20 years at 5%.

    We will now examine each table in detail. In Table A, the current value is shown of $1 received at some time in the future, at specified interest rates.

  • Appendix 2 - Metric conversion

  • J. P. Makeham, L. R. Malcolm
  • Book:
    The Economics of Tropical Farm Management
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    01 December 1985, pp 170-171

  • Summary

    The conversion of these measurements to metric units is based on the International System of Units, known as S.l. The degree of accuracy used in the following tables will be quite unnecessary for most conversions; asking for 76.2 millimetre nails or a length of rope 3.048 metres long at the local hardware store may bewilder the man behind the counter.

    Mr A. Gates, of the University of New England, has prepared these tables from basic data supplied by the Metric Conversion Board (Australia).

  • 15 - Farm credit and finance

  • J. P. Makeham, L. R. Malcolm
  • Book:
    The Economics of Tropical Farm Management
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    01 December 1985, pp 146-153

  • Summary

    Theory

    General

    Getting and using agricultural credit is an important part of money management, and good money management can help the farm business to grow. Borrowed money can be used to increase both farm production and wealth. However, lenders are sometimes a bit sceptical about farmers who borrow from them. As one experienced farm lender told the authors, ‘Many receivers find it hard to repay, thinking it's pocket draining, forgetting the getting'. There are two broad groups of farmers who need credit:

  • (i) those who have started developing their farms without credit but find that savings are too low or too slow to let them carry on the development;

  • (ii) those whose production is so low that they cannot save any money to increase production, and despite many opportunities and keenness to progress, cannot increase output without getting a loan from somebody.

    • To whom do farmers tum to obtain credit? Possibilities include: family, friends, merchants and banks. Alternatively, they can join a cooperative (which is partly government-backed); sometimes, in such ventures, the loans are not wholly repaid.

    Lenders of money usually expect some payment or reward. The cost of borrowing or hiring money is called interest. In countries where it is against religious custom to charge interest, a borrower may still have to reward the lender in some other way. Human ingenuity has led to the creation of numerous devices to handle the ethical problems involved.

    The lender expects to be repaid in the future. When capital is lent, there is always a risk that it will not be repaid. The lender generally wants some reassurance against the loss of his capital. Such reassurance may be simply trusting the borrower's promise to pay, or something more tangible. Often, the lender will get the right to take ownership of a borrower's asset ifhe does not repay the loan. The term ‘mortgage’ refers to this situation. The borrower ‘mortgages’ his land, stock or any other asset of value to the lender. If the borrower defaults on the loan, the lender takes possession of the asset and may sell it to recoup his money.

    In situations where the borrower has very little to give the lender as security in the form of assets, then the lender has to rely on the productive capacity of the land.

  • 6 - Farm profits, financial statements and records

  • J. P. Makeham, L. R. Malcolm
  • Book:
    The Economics of Tropical Farm Management
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    01 December 1985, pp 48-55

  • Summary

    Profit

    If you asked most farmers: ‘How much profit did you make last year?’ they would express their answer in terms of cash. The commonest answer would be ‘I had only $300 at the start of the year, now I have got $700, so I suppose I made $400 profit'. He has kept his family for the year, maybe bought an extra couple of goats, pigs, or cows, got a $200 loan from the bank which he does not have to pay back until next year, won some bets, married a second wife, and sold an old bicycle. Accountants and economists would shudder at his definition of profit - nonetheless, the $400 gain is real to him; in his terms, it is profit.

    There are almost as many definitions, as there are, definers, of profit. For example, one person may define farm profit as the sum of:

  • (i) the difference between the cash held by the farmer at the start and the end of the year;

  • (ii) the extra grain or animals on hand at the end of the year; and

  • (iii) the increase in value, over the year, of the assets the farmer owns, e.g. house, machinery and land.

    • Another person may use the rules of the local stock exchange in reporting the results of their, year's operations. A third person may follow a definition conjured up by the particular school of economics of which he is a devotee, and so on. We will indicate where we stand, and stick to that definition right through. The reader can then make any changes which suit his own situation.

    When speaking of profit, most people have some notion of the money left over from income, after all the costs which were involved in earning the income have been deducted. Profit usually refers to some surplus or excess of income over costs (the net gain from a production process). To us, profit is the difference between the gross income and the operating costs. The operating costs are the sum of all the variable costs and the operating overhead (not total overhead) costs. Put another way, it is the total gross margin minus the operating overheads (see Chapter 5 for the definitions of these terms).

  • Preface

  • J. P. Makeham, L. R. Malcolm
  • Book:
    The Economics of Tropical Farm Management
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    01 December 1985, pp ix-xi

  • Summary

    Economic principles, combined with the findings of agricultural technologists, form the basis ofthe field of study called ‘farm management'. From this blend has come tools and techniques for analysing different courses of action and for making decisions. Underlying ways of applying these decision-making aids is the idea of getting a bit more from limited resources.

    In this text we have aimed our message at those who directly affect the lives of small farmers in the tropics. This target group includes farm extension and advisory officers, students and teachers of agriculture at colleges and universities, bureaucrats and administrators, employees of the suppliers of credit (and other farm inputs) and managers and staff of parastatals and state farms. Most of these people can use the principles and techniques offarm management economics to help families running either semi-subsistence or commercial farms in the tropics to get more from the limited resources with which they have to work. If the lot of farmers and their families can be improved, it is likely that their society will also benefit.

    In Chapter I Introduction, we try to show the potential contribution of applied farm management economics to fulfilling some of the more important basic human ‘wants', and to highlight the pivotal role, and some of the practical problems, of the extension worker in helping his farmer-clients.

    In Chapter 2, Farm management, we have tried to explain our concept of farm management as it applies to both semi-subsistence and semi-commercial farms. Rather than listing a number of general platitudes about ‘management', as is common in many management texts, we have been both specific and prescriptive, setting the scene for detailed explanations in later sections.

    Chapter 3, Farm analysis and planning, contains a checklist of the main human, physical and financial factors which influence the way in which a farm operates. Each broad category is discussed under three headings: the present situation, potential, and limitations or restraints on achieving the potential.

    In Principles of production, Chapter 4, the problem of deciding on the number of weedings a crop should be given to make most profit is used as a simple example to demonstrate some principles which apply to most. production situations. This involves explaining some basic economic concepts. These concepts are at the heart of farm management analysis and planning and are used often in the rest of the book.

  • 11 - Cropping

  • J. P. Makeham, L. R. Malcolm
  • Book:
    The Economics of Tropical Farm Management
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    01 December 1985, pp 95-114

  • Summary

    Introduction

    In all cropping activities there are four main operations:

  • (i) preparing the seed-bed;

  • (ii) growing (planting, seeding, watering, weeding, fertilising, spraying, protecting, pruning);

  • (iii) harvesting;

  • (iv) marketing (which can include processing, sorting, packing and transport).

    • Also, there are some production, harvesting and marketing decisions which are common to all cropproduction activities. These include:

    which crops, and combination of crops?

    which variety of crops?

    what husbandry practice for each crop?

    what cropping system should be followed (sole, rotation or intercropping)?

    how to maintain soil fertility?

    how best to ensure timeliness of operation of such practices as sowing, weeding, disease control, spraying and harvesting?

    how to use labour and equipment for maximum efficiency?

    where and when to get casual labour?

    how to obtain the best technology to get most profits in intensive, risky and disease-prone production systems?

    where and how to sell the produce?

    what to do with the produce if prices are low (frequently storage is not possible and losses from insects and pests - including two-legged ones - can be high)?

    what will be the likely price at harvest?

    whether to plant all the crop at the same time, or to stagger plantings?

    Generally, four types of cropping activities can be recognised. These occur when the crop

  • (i) grows quickly (3-4months) from planting to harvest, e.g. many soft vegetables such as tomatoes or beans. Often, two or more such crops can be grown on the same area ofland within I year.

  • (ii) takes 4-7 months to grow - most ofthe commonly cultivated grain crops (such as maize, sorghum and millet) are in this group.

  • (iii) has about a 12 month growing season (yams and cassava are examples).

  • (iv) takes 2-3 years to produce the first harvest, maybe 5-6 years after that to reach full production, and continues to produce for 20 or 30 years. Tree crops such as fruits, oil palms and nut trees belong here.

    • We will discuss crops in four sections - rotations, mixed cropping, harvesting and marketing, and tree crops.

    Rotations

    The main management objective of most farm families is to produce enough of the various crops which can be safely grown, to give an adequate, varied and palatable year-round diet for the family. Labour comes mostly from family sources, and there are times in the cropping cycle when family labour is inadequate for doing all the crop-husbandry jobs properly.

  • 10 - Planning changes

  • J. P. Makeham, L. R. Malcolm
  • Book:
    The Economics of Tropical Farm Management
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    01 December 1985, pp 78-94

  • Summary

    Budgeting techniques

    Now we tum to the crux of the decision process - the choice between alternatives. The purpose of this chapter is to show how choices can be made systematically so that the selections made are more likely to prove successful, even when risk is involved.

    We can identify two broad types of change - simple and ‘complex'. Simple changes involve, for instance, deciding whether to replace tomatoes with beans, or changing over from producing eggs to poultry for eating. In the case of the ‘complex’ change, extra capital investment is involved. Examples of such a change are putting in a well and pump for irrigation, cIearingextra bush land or buying machinery. Usually, it takes several years before the new plan is working properly and reaches a regular pattern of costs and receipts, called the ‘steady state'.

    Both situations are described here. Where a simple change is contemplated, it is not necessary to go through all the steps suggested. Before a farmer/or his adviser can make a choice between two or more alternative farm plans, they need to know how the plans compare in terms of ‘profitability'. If some small adjustment to the present farm organisation is being proposed, the structure and arithmetic of the budget will be very simple. On the other hand, if a complete reorganisation of the farm business is under consideration, the budget may involve many calculations.

    Some basics

    The first need in preparing reliable budgets is a sound knowledge of the technical aspects of agriculture and of the circumstances of the individual farm. It is no use dreaming up numbers to put in the budget and then expecting the answer to mean anything. Relevant, simple farm records can sometimes be a help in quantifying the present position with regard to the use of inputs or labour, machinery, fuel, seed, fertiliser, feed, and so on, in relation to the levels of output of crops and livestock of the present systems. This information will need to be supplemented with technical data from other sources such as neighbouring farms and experimental stations, and with the observations of an experienced extension worker. Then estimates must be made ofthe input and product prices which are expected to apply to the future planning period.

    Changes in farm activities usually have a major impact on costs and there will be changes in the composition of the gross income.

  • 13 - Mechanisation

  • J. P. Makeham, L. R. Malcolm
  • Book:
    The Economics of Tropical Farm Management
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    01 December 1985, pp 127-139

  • Summary

    Theory

    The term ‘mechanisation’ has a wide meaning. It embraces the use of items such as hoes, sickles, ox and buffalo ploughs, threshing and winnowing machines operated either by hand, foot or animal, pumps, electricity-generating plants and milking machines. All of these ‘machines’ have some common features:

    They wear out They have to be replaced, after a time, if the farmer wants to continue to use the services which they provide.

    They need maintaining and repairing The hand cultivator needs to keep his hoe sharp, the owner of a tractor needs to maintain it (using grease and oil, or by adjustment) and to repair broken or worn-out parts.

    They use energy This can come from:

    the food humans eat, which provides energy for human activities;

    animal power;

    wood, straw and wastes;

    fossil fuels (petrol, oil, coal);

    sunlight (solar power);

    electricity.

    They provide services These include preparing seedbeds, pumping, threshing and can be obtained in several ways (these include owning, hiring, contracting, leasing, share farming and exchange).

    The key economic question facing the farmer is how to decide which form of machinery service can he obtain at lowest cost.

    Details of machine costs

    There are a number of types of costs involved in any machinery operation. For example, some of the costs of owning and operating a tractor are: fuel, labour, tyres, lubrication, repairs, depreciation, insurance and housing. Specific costs are discussed below.

    Variable costs

    Costs such as fuel, labour, tyres, lubrication, repairs, are ‘variable’ or ‘direct’ cost, i.e. they remain fairly constant per hour of operation and, consequently, vary mostly with the hours of operation. Small variations occur in:

    fuel used per hour, which varies according to engine load, size and age of the engine;

    labour costs per hour of tractor operation because the ratio of man hours worked to tractor-operated hours is different with each type of operation (on average this can be taken as 1.3 man hours per tractor hour operated);

    repairs per hour, which generally increase as the hours accumulate (a proportion of repairs is related to the time that the machinery is used as well as to how often it is used).

  • 2 - Farm management

  • J. P. Makeham, L. R. Malcolm
  • Book:
    The Economics of Tropical Farm Management
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    01 December 1985, pp 5-10

  • Summary

    Farm management is about managing farms. Farmers manage farms. Many other people are also interested in how well farms in any country are managed. Governments, extension workers, planners, consumers, bankers, conservationists and politicians are just a few of those who are keenly interested in food and fibre being produced plentifully, efficiently, and consistently.

    In most developing countries, farmers get concessions from government in terms of interest below the market rates, subsidised fertiliser, low taxes, and free advice. With existing ratios of prices received and costs paid for farm products and inputs, and rising demand for food due to increasing populations, the combination of (i) concessions and (ii) favourable ratios of prices received to costs paid, means that farming can often be quite a ‘profitable’ enterprise, using ‘profit’ in its widest sense (see Chapter 8). (We recognise that governments in many tropical countries keep food prices artificially low; even so, we stand by our claim.)

    The size and type of farm may range from a small subsistence plot of less than 1 ha to a state farm comprising all the land of several villages. Farms may be operated by a tenant or an owner, by a manager employed by a cooperative (or state farm), or by an absentee owner. The commonest is the owner-operator, semi-subsistence farm. The same principles of management apply to each type, but of course, with different degrees of emphasis.

    We like John L. Dillon's definition of farm management: 'the process by which resources and situations are manipulated by the farm family in trying, with less than full information, to achieve its goals'.

    The place of farm management

    Two major tasks facing today's farmer in pursuing his and his family's goals are:

  • (i) how best to incorporate new technology into the farming enterprise

  • (ii) how to be sufficiently flexible, mentally and financially, to adjust the management of his resources to meet changing costs, prices and varying climatic conditions.

    • Some schools of farm management thought place a lot of emphasis on record-keeping and accountancy procedures. We do not. We prefer to emphasise the principles of production economics and the technology of farming. In our view, farm management combines the technical and economic aspects of a farm - not forgetting, of course, the human factor (the farm family).

  • 18 - The application of the law of the sea and the exclusive economic zone to the Antarctic continent

  • Edited by Francisco Orrego-Vicuna
  • Book:
    Antarctic Resources Policy
    Published online:
    06 July 2010
    Print publication:
    15 September 1983, pp 243-252

  • Summary

    Antarctic development and the marine environment

    The growth in recent decades of scientific research focusing on Antarctica and the continent's continually improving accessibility, with air routes now open virtually year-round, have together with other factors placed Antarctica's resources increasingly in the spotlight. The Consultative Parties to the Antarctic Treaty, as well as other signatory countries of the Treaty and even non-signatory countries have been expressing their interest in this area, while the progress of technological development has proceeded without interruption.

    Given the continent's geographic and climatic conditions, the development of its resources is intimately associated with the marine environment, for it is here that resources can most immediately be tapped, although great technological, economic and environmental difficulties will nonetheless have to be overcome. To the traditional activities of whaling and sealing, which are essentially marine activities, fishing has now been added. So far as the development of mineral resources is concerned, the major prospects also centre on Antarctica's continental shelf, not counting the fields of manganese nodules and other sea-bed resources also found in the area covered by the Treaty. Even the possible utilisation of icebergs is an activity involving the marine environment.

    The regulatory instruments that have been approved, whether based on recommendations emerging from the consultative meetings or from special international conferences, for the most part relate to the marine environment. This is the case, for example, of the Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Flora and Fauna, the Convention on the Whale, the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals, and more recently the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

  • 23 - Jurisdictional problems in relation to Antarctic mineral resources in political perspective

  • Edited by Francisco Orrego-Vicuna
  • Book:
    Antarctic Resources Policy
    Published online:
    06 July 2010
    Print publication:
    15 September 1983, pp 317-335

  • Summary

    The growing pressure on the Antarctic System

    In Antarctica, territorial claims have been made by some states and are rejected by others. As long as an agreed minerals regime has not been established and approved by both groups, mineral exploitation in claimed territory can be carried out only by permission from the claimant state or in defiance of its claimed authority. Acceptance without protest of unilateral authorization from the claimant state will be tantamount to recognition of the claim. Consequently, states that do not recognize the claim will be forced to react or they must acknowledge that the sovereignty issue is being settled contrary to their wishes. On the other hand, if exploitation is carried on without the approval of the claimant state, it will be forced to interfere or it will find that its failure to react will be regarded as yielding the claim and, in effect, as an indirect recognition of effective occupation of the area by another party. Thus, unless agreement is reached between the parties to allow and ensure exploration and eventual exploitation of mineral resources to proceed in Antarctica in orderly fashion, the conduct of such operations is bound to upset the established balance in the Antarctic Treaty System and to destroy relations between the parties.

    Under the terms of the consultative procedure that has been established under the Antarctic Treaty, the Consultative Parties may consider and adopt ‘measures regarding … preservation and conservation of living resources in Antarctica’.

  • 15 - The definition of a regime on Antarctic mineral resources: basic options

  • Edited by Francisco Orrego-Vicuna
  • Book:
    Antarctic Resources Policy
    Published online:
    06 July 2010
    Print publication:
    15 September 1983, pp 199-216

  • Summary

    The definition of a regime on Antarctic mineral resources has begun to be the object of discussion both among the Consultative Parties to the 1959 Treaty, and, from a more general standpoint, among third-party countries and other circles concerned with the problem. While many studies suggest that the exploitation of these resources is not as near at hand as is commonly believed, and that perhaps its economic interest or yield will not be very great, a certain climate of expectation has nevertheless grown up around the subject, as happened, at its time, with the mineral resources of the sea-bed. It is on this basis that various alternatives and options are starting to be propounded, in connection with aspects ranging from the nature of the Antarctic system to consideration of specific regimes for the regulation of the activity in question. The present article will discuss some basic options in the light of what seem to be the prevailing trends.

    The nature of the system and the limits of internationalization

    There has been a great deal of speculation of late as to possible initiatives aimed at applying to the Antarctic continent the concept of the common heritage of mankind; sporadic references to this approach having been made in the United Nations. This point of view undoubtedly represents an extreme form of internationalization, grounded on the precedent of the regime for the mineral resources of the sea-bed.

  • 12 - Basic conditions for the exploration and exploitation of mineral resources in Antarctica: options and precedents

  • Edited by Francisco Orrego-Vicuna
  • Book:
    Antarctic Resources Policy
    Published online:
    06 July 2010
    Print publication:
    15 September 1983, pp 167-184

  • Summary

    Introduction

    This paper deals with hydrocarbon prospectivity in the Antarctic, available technology and the accomplishment of the three successive stages commencing with exploration and ending in exploitation. Furthermore, geological and technical questions related to allocation of licences, work programmes, requirements and regulations in alternative regimes are also discussed. A section on minerals other than hydrocarbons is also included.

    Political questions related to the jurisdiction of the area are beyond the scope of this paper. It is, however, not always easy to make a clear distinction between political and geological/technical questions since they are interdependent.

    The base map used in the succeeding figures and the territorial claims are shown in Fig. 12.1.

    It should be stressed that no specific time is implied regarding the start of the commercial exploration. I do, however, assume that once the political decision to open areas has been made, the intention is to have regimes which allow efficient operations.

    Finally it should be stressed that all views expressed in this paper are my own personal views.

    Prospectivity – minerals other than hydrocarbons

    Minerals have been known to exist in the Antarctic for many decades. Coal was one of the first minerals to be discovered. It was burned as fuel as early as 1907–09.

    The thick ice coverage is a major obstacle for the onshore exploration for minerals. Only some 140,000 km2 (54,000 miles2) of land is without permanent ice coverage – barely 1% of the Antarctic continent. (See Fig. 12.2.)

Page 557 of 612