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Item Open Access Through the AI thinking space: An autoethnographic tale of unexpected insight(University of Piraeus, International Strategic Management Association, 2024) Jeremiah, FaithPurpose: Throughout history, storytelling has been a cornerstone of human experience. Our ancestors told tales around their fires that became the bedrock of entire cultures. Beyond mere entertainment, these stories were crucial in imparting essential cultural values, wisdom, and a sense of collective identity. They served as a medium for passing down knowledge and strengthening communal bonds, blending reality with imagination to expand the realms of possibility. This age-old tradition is not just about recounting events; it is a way of making sense of the world, interpreting the past, and envisioning what the future might hold. In the same spirit, I present to you my narrative, not just as a recounting of events, but as a journey of sensemaking. It’s a story captured in real-time, reflecting my experiences with collective real and artificial insights as I navigate extensive engagement with ChatGTP4. Design/Methodology/Approach: In a quiet corner of an academic's mind, a dialogue began – not with a colleague, nor a book, but with an AI named ChatGPT4. This narrative unfolds over several months, during which each textual exchange could catalyze a surge in creative thought and higher-order thinking. Findings: As a reflective interface, ChatGPT4 reveals oblivious habitual patterns, that were obstructing the next level of creative and advanced thinking. This autoethnographic narrative, a blend of technology and introspection, weaves a story that transcends conventional research, portraying AI as an analytical tool allied with the unintended quest for cognitive insight. Practical Implications: The scholar, initially the conductor of queries and task setting, unwittingly becomes a student of their own mental landscape, resulting from inquisitions into their extensive textual communication. Originality/Value: This approach is crucial as it extends traditional ethnographic focus from solely human societies to the complex dynamics of digital communities, including AI entities.Item Open Access Research Update – A framework to study supply chain strategies against global pandemic(Massey University, 2022-12) Umar, Muhammad; Wilson, Mark; Ahmad, R; Radics, RobertDuring the global pandemic, supply chains often look for an evidence-based framework to evaluate their responses to disruptions compared to other more successful responses. This study proposes such a framework based on the Haddon matrix that is traditionally used to prevent roadside injuries in road accidents. This tool will help to study supply chains and their vertical and societal linkages during the preparation, response and recovery phases of natural disasters such as global pandemics. Implications for the further development of our current research are outlined.Publication Open Access Climate-smart agriculture: Adoption, impacts, and implications for sustainable development(Springer, 2024-04-29) Ma, Wanglin; Rahut, DBThe 19 papers included in this special issue examined the factors influencing the adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices among smallholder farmers and estimated the impacts of CSA adoption on farm production, income, and well-being. Key findings from this special issue include: (1) the variables, including age, gender, education, risk perception and preferences, access to credit, farm size, production conditions, off-farm income, and labour allocation, have a mixed (either positive or negative) influence on the adoption of CSA practices; (2) the variables, including labour endowment, land tenure security, access to extension services, agricultural training, membership in farmers’ organizations, support from non-governmental organizations, climate conditions, and access to information consistently have a positive impact on CSA adoption; (3) diverse forms of capital (physical, social, human, financial, natural, and institutional), social responsibility awareness, and digital advisory services can effectively promote CSA adoption; (4) the establishment of climate-smart villages and civil-society organizations enhances CSA adoption by improving their access to credit; (5) CSA adoption contributes to improved farm resilience to climate change and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions; (6) CSA adoption leads to higher crop yields, increased farm income, and greater economic diversification; (7) integrating CSA technologies into traditional agricultural practices not only boosts economic viability but also contributes to environmental sustainability and health benefits; and (8) there is a critical need for international collaboration in transferring technology for CSA. Overall, the findings of this special issue highlight that through targeted interventions and collaborative efforts, CSA can play a pivotal role in achieving food security, poverty alleviation, and climate resilience in farming communities worldwide and contribute to the achievements of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.Publication Open Access Towards food equity in the global south: Traversing with diverse research methods(2024) Ratna, NazmunIn a series of studies funded by the Gates Foundation, Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), and New Zealand Aid (NZ Aid) we attempt to unpack the agriculture-disruptions-nutrition nexus by adopting a range of methodological approaches. In this seminar, focusing on four research investigations in South Asia and Africa, I discuss our rationale for applying systems dynamics modelling and qualitative research tools, in addition to econometric modelling. Drawing insights from our findings, I argue that there is an urgency to adopt a more holistic approach for a more equitable food system in the Global South. Given the recent global disruptions and the consequent food insecurity and hunger across the globe, I conclude with the rationale for applying interdisciplinary and participatory research tools for ensuring food equity beyond the Global South.Item Open Access A systematic literature review of indigenous peoples and accounting(2022) Vidwans, Mohini; De Silva, Tracy-AnneThere is an increasing realisation that accounting and accountability systems, like many other aspects of social and political life, are complex, multidimensional, and paradoxical . Addressing the call for research to examine the positioning of accounting in colonial processes and to contribute to current policy debates about government indigenous relations is a key motivation for this paper. We highlight the ways in which the colonial powers used accounting as a tool for imperialism and professional closure, and the increasing need for emancipation. We resonate with the call by Lombardi and Cooper who state that, “It may take another 200 years to achieve the same quality of life indicators as those of non-Indigenous peoples, but an initiative to create change in the space of accounting is urgently needed”. Understanding the research that has been conducted in this space is important and strengthening the knowledge base will help to bring about change – for tomorrow. Scientific and technological development in the 18th and 19th century in Europe facilitated the age of the great colonial empires . As a result, between 1800 and 1914 the amount of the world's land surface controlled by Europeans increased from 35 to 84% . Although military force formed the backdrop against which technologies of government were deployed in the remote colonies, the continual use of military force would likely have been too costly to maintain. Along with the hardware of imperial control guns, there was other software which influenced the process of imperial expansion, accounting being one of them . Indigenous peoples came to be known as a “site for cost cutting” and accounting was used for cost control and as a form of administrative imperialism . Colonialism was carried out in the name of an essentialised European racial superiority , wherein indigenous cultures were considered “savage” and “primitive”. The term ‘indigenous’ carries a span of meanings – it conveys a sense of original or first inhabitants who become “the inferior inhabitants of a place subjected to alien political power or conquest”. It further implicates significance of historical movement, characteristic cultural identification, attachment to land, the community right, and the relevance of discrimination or objectification by outsiders . There is a need to “better understand how colonialism continues to structure the relationship between governments and indigenous peoples”. With regards to accounting, researchers have highlighted its positioning within processes of colonialism and imperialism, suggesting that accounting discourses and technologies have been used to influence and control indigenous peoples. The purpose of this systematic literature review on ‘indigenous peoples and accounting’ is to identify major themes and derive insights to guide future research and policy agendas. We also investigate whether accounting has been used by the indigenous peoples for emancipation. This paper analyses the literature on “accounting and indigenous peoples” to explore the impact accounting has had on indigenous culture, identity, existence, and professional participation. In line with other accounting literature reviews, this paper adopts an unbiased approach to review the articles. Given the “complex differences between groups of indigenous people” our aim is to explore the major themes of research in this area rather than providing in-depth and critical examination of the articles. The literature search for research on indigenous peoples and accounting followed several steps. Search criteria included limiting the search to peer-reviewed articles written in English that were available in full text. To identify the relevant literature, two databases (Science Direct and ProQuest) were chosen based on their coverage of accounting journals and their popularity in accounting and business research. Using synonyms for ‘indigenous’, the following keywords were searched, and where possible based on the database settings this keyword search was restricted to the title, abstract and keywords of articles: (accountancy or accountants or accounting) AND (indigenous or Māori or native or black or non-white or aboriginal or ‘first nations’). The search identified 676 articles. Articles that contributed to the understanding of how accounting practices were used as a tool for imperialism and the position of indigenous peoples in accounting were included. A series of screening steps were applied to determine articles for exclusion including identifying duplicates, sorting articles by relevance, reviewing the abstract, the title and keywords for relevance, and reviewing the full article. The final 71 articles were reviewed using a four-stage coding process to classify articles into clusters and sub-clusters. Three clusters were identified—imperialism, accounting profession, and need for emancipation. The 71 articles were published in 19 journals, with the majority (14 journals) being accounting journals. The Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ) was the dominant journal, publishing 22 articles. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, publishing 11 articles, and Accounting, Organizations and Society, publishing 9 articles, were also in the top three journals. A wide range of indigenous peoples from various countries are included in the articles reviewed. The dominant countries are Australia (19.7% of the articles), Aotearoa New Zealand (16.9%) and Fiji (10%). Many of the articles adopted either a colonialism, imperialism or a Foucauldian theoretical perspective. The most common research methods were archival research/historical analysis and interviews. Cluster 1 Imperialism (30 articles) identified different forms of imperialism – coercive, cultural, collaborative, reproducing and impact of imperialism. Cluster 2 Accounting Profession (31 articles) focuses on the under-representation of indigenous peoples in accounting education and profession, and the role of the accounting profession in their discrimination. Cluster 3 Need for emancipation (10 articles) explores the need to focus on forward-looking solutions and how indigenous cultural values can contribute to a more enabling accounting and more effective reporting for all stakeholders. The role accounting practices and systems, and accountants, can play in empowering indigenous peoples is also explored in Cluster 3. This paper contributes to the existing body of literature in three distinct ways. First, this review highlights the role of accounting as a tool of imperialism which operated in several ways – coercive, cultural, collaborative, and reproducing imperialism. These practices have led to the continual impact on indigenous peoples in the post-colonial period. Accounting was used to improve the ‘moral habits’ of the indigenous peoples. Co-opting with bureaucratic machinery it dispossessed them of their most valuable tangible asset, land, and led to their subjugation, subjectification, marginalisation, and disempowerment. It effectively inherited colonial systems and separated and reduced indigenous peoples from their own cultures and structures. Thus, accounting helped reinforce, reproduce, and perpetuate colonial power. Second, the dominance of imported Western accounting systems marginalised indigenous peoples in the accounting profession. For example, in Australia, a nation where 3.3 per cent of the population is indigenous has only 0.02 per cent of accountants identify as indigenous ; and in South Africa where the indigenous peoples are in majority (81 per cent), the black Chartered Accountants are still underrepresented (about 16.2 per cent) . The main reasons identified are lack of education and opportunities, professional closure, lack of exposure, mistrust, lack of support and business skills, cultural differences, language barriers, institutional and racial bias, lack of role models and professional networks. Accountants themselves played a major role in the marginalisation by deploying accounting techniques to serve their clients, mainly colonial populations, and disadvantaging and disfavouring indigenous peoples. Third, on an optimistic note, there is a growing awareness that there is an urgent need to change, with the key measures being employment equity and skills development of indigenous peoples in the profession. Further, it is being recognised that accounting can better serve not only the indigenous peoples but also the environment and wider society. But this will need a new form of accounting, status quo will not work. Researchers and practitioners are increasingly recognising that it is imperative to contextualise and align accounting practices with indigenous cultures. This systematic literature review positions accounting not as a mere neutral, benign, technical practice but as a racist and ethnocentric tool through the context in which it has been practised. Accounting was an integral part of imperial rule, inheriting colonial structures and separating and reducing indigenous peoples from their own cultures and structures. Indigenous accountants remain severely under-represented, and more action needs to be undertaken to ensure accounting practices and systems, accountants, and the accounting profession, develop an awareness and consciousness of indigenous cultural values that is reflected in their practices. Indigenous autonomy, voice and participation is vital for transforming the ethnocentric systems that have led to the devaluation of indigenous people. For effecting change we identify a need to focus on forward-looking solutions and how indigenous cultural values can contribute to a more enabling accounting. Colonial attitudes have persisted into the ‘post-colonial’ era and represent one of the most serious obstacles to global economic development. It is important to study this in the 21st century as it has proven to have a continual effect on indigenous peoples. We concur with Carnegie et al. that accounting is more influential than many people may think, and it has a potential to create a better world consistent with a more balanced perspective on people, planet, and profit.Publication Open Access Linking farmers to markets: Barriers, solutions, and policy options(Elsevier on behalf of Economic Society of Australia, Queensland, 2024-06) Ma, Wanglin; Rahut, DB; Sonobe, T; Gong, BThe 15 studies highlighted in this special issue collectively underscore the significant impacts of market participation on farmers’ well-being, income, poverty reduction, dietary diversity, and rural economic growth. They also delve into the importance of marketing channel choice and the role of e-commerce in enhancing farmers’ market linkages. In addition, they address farmers’ preferences for market access interventions and the examination of market power within the agricultural industry, especially in low-income countries. The key findings include: (1) Market participation is critical for improving farmers’ subjective and objective well-being, with studies demonstrating positive impacts on income, poverty reduction, and dietary diversity; (2) The choice of marketing channels significantly influences income, with evidence suggesting online sales can substantially increase farmers’ earnings; (3) E-commerce plays a pivotal role in connecting farmers to broader markets, leading to income growth and enhanced market visibility; (4) Understanding and addressing farmers’ preferences for market access through interventions like systematization policies and joint ventures can facilitate better market integration and support inclusive business models; (5) Analysis of market power within the primary foods industry reveals rising markups, particularly affecting low-income countries. These findings suggest that policies and interventions aiming to improve market access, promote e-commerce, and consider farmers’ preferences and market power dynamics can significantly impact farmers’ incomes, poverty levels, and overall rural economic development.Publication Open Access Impacts of risk preference and social insurance on household financial market participation in China: Are there differences between urban and rural residents?(Auckland Centre for Financial Research, 2024-02-02) Yang, Wei; Li, Zhaohua; Wang, LThis letter examines the impact of risk preference and social insurance on household financial market participation and diversification using the 2017 and 2019 China Household Finance Survey. A multi-value treatment model is used to address the selection bias between risk preference and household financial investment, considering the moderation role of social insurance in between. Overall, our results show that high-risk takers are more likely to participate in the financial market and diversify their portfolios than low risk takers. Focusing on rural and urban differentials, we find marked differences in the impacts of risk preference and social insurance on household financial investment. Having social insurance may widen the difference in investment decisions between high- and low-risk takers in urban areas; the latter group tends not to participate in or diversify when socially insured. In contrast, having social insurance encourages low- and intermediate-risk preferred rural households to participate in the financial market and diversify their financial portfolios. Our work highlights the different consequences of social insurance on investment incentives of the rural and urban households. Whilst the obvious benefits of having social insurance for rural households via risk-sharing, there is undesired consequence of incentive distortion of urban households.Publication Open Access Climate-smart agricultural practices for enhanced farm productivity, income, resilience, and greenhouse gas mitigation: a comprehensive review(Springer, 2024-04) Zheng, H; Ma, Wanglin; He, QThis study reviews the literature published between 2013 and 2023 to comprehensively understand the consequences of adopting climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices. We categorize the literature into three categories based on the scopes of climate-smart agriculture: (a) sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes; (b) adapt and build the resilience of people and agrifood systems to climate change; and (c) reduce or where possible, avoid greenhouse gas emissions. The review demonstrates that adopting CSA practices, in many instances, improves farm productivity and incomes. This increase manifests in increasing crop yields and productivity, income and profitability, and technical and resource use efficiency. Moreover, adopting CSA practices reinforces the resilience of farmers and agrifood systems by promoting food consumption, dietary diversity, and food security and mitigating production risks and vulnerabilities. Adopting CSA practices is environmentally feasible as it reduces greenhouse gas emissions and improves soil quality. An integrative strategy encompassing diverse CSA practices portends an optimized avenue to chart a trajectory towards agrifood systems fortified against climatic change.Publication Open Access Flush toilet use and its impact on health and non-health expenditures(Wiley, 2024-03-10) Li, J; Vatsa, Puneet; Ma, WanglinThis study analysed the effects of flush toilet use on health and non-health expenditures incurred by rural Chinese. The instrumental-variable-based Tobit and endogenous treatment regression models were used to analyse the 2016 China Labour Force Dynamics Survey data while addressing the selection bias inherent in flush toilet use. The results showed that by improving rural residents' physical and mental health, flush toilet use reduced per capita health expenditure while increasing non-health expenditure. Furthermore, using flush toilets had positive spillover effects, reducing the health expenditures of even those who did not use them. Factors affecting flush toilet use were also analysed.Publication Open Access Promoting the adoption of climate-smart agricultural technologies among maize farmers in Ghana: Using digital advisory services(Springer Nature, 2024-03) Asante, BO; Ma, Wanglin; Prah, S; Temoso, OAlthough policy and advisory communities have promoted the use of digital advisory services (DAS) to stimulate technology adoption among smallholder farmers, little is known about whether DAS use encourages farmers to adopt climate-smart agricultural (CSA) technologies. This study addresses the gap by estimating data collected from 3197 maize-producing households in rural Ghana and considering three CSA technologies: row planting, zero tillage, and drought-tolerant seeds. A recursive bivariate probit model is utilized to mitigate selection bias issues. The results show that DAS use significantly increases the probabilities of adopting row planting, zero tillage, and drought-tolerant seeds by 12.4%, 4.2%, and 4.6%, respectively. Maize farmers’ decisions to use DAS are influenced by their age, gender, education, family size, asset value, distance to farm, perceived incidence of pest and disease, perceived drought stress, and membership in farmer-based organizations (FBO). Furthermore, the disaggregated analysis reveals that DAS use has a larger impact on the row planting adoption of female farmers than males.Publication Open Access Agricultural mechanization and non-farm employment of rural women(2024-02-07) Ma, WanglinThis study analyzes the impact of the adoption of agricultural mechanization and its intensity on the non-farm employment of rural women using the 2016 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey data. The study captures mechanization adoption as a dichotomous decision and adoption intensity using three types of farming strategies: non-mechanized, semi-mechanized, and fully-mechanized. Non-farm work is categorized based on work types (self-employment or wage employment) and work locations (local or migrated non-farm work). Both inverse probability weighting with regression adjustment (IPWRA) estimator and multivalued treatment effects (MVTE) model are utilized to address selection bias. The IPWRA estimates reveal that mechanization adoption increases the probability of rural women participating in non-farm work in general and wage employment and local and migrated non-farm work in particular. The impact is greater for unmarried women than for their married counterparts. The MVTE estimates show that relative to non-mechanized farming, the adoption of semi-or fully-mechanized farming increases the probability of rural women participating in non-farm work, wage employment, and local and migrated non-farm work, with fully-mechanized farming playing a larger role. Meanwhile, relative to semi-mechanized farming, adopting fully-mechanized farming does not have a significant impact on any type of non-farm work.Publication Open Access Do we need to worry about the nutrition security of indigenous communities?: Empirical evidence from Northeast India(2023) Jamir, C; Ratna, Nazmun; Jagannath, P; Longkumer, MThe Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region is home to many indigenous communities, each with its own distinctive culture and traditions. Many cultures have evolved around agriculture and food and have rich food heritage and agricultural practices. Despite this, more than 30% of the population suffers from food insecurity, and around 50% face some form of malnutrition, with women and children suffering the most. In this study, we investigate the difference in the food consumption pattern and dietary diversity across rural and urban households of the Ao-Naga Community in Nagaland. Analyzing survey data for 404 female household heads in Mokukchong district, we have three preliminary findings. One, rural households have higher Food Diversity Score (FDS) than urban households with much higher consumption of traditional foods like organs and insects, which are good protein and nutrient sources. Two, household income had more impact on FDS among urban households than their rural counterparts, but there is a positive association between income and consumption of fruits, snacks, and food away from home for both communities. Three, although the meat consumption is higher for urban households in general, there is a positive association between female education and meat consumption in the rural areas. Currently, we are analysing the data to provide policy insights on how indigenous women’s agency can influence the preference for traditional food and thereby address the challenges for food and nutrition security among indigenous communities in Northeast India.Publication Open Access Identifying value chain trade-offs from fruit and vegetable aggregation services in Bangladesh using a system dynamics approach(Public Library of Science, 2024-01-24) Choudhury, DK; Cooper, GS; Rich, KM; Shankar, B; Sadek, S; Ratna, Nazmun; Kadiyala, S; Alam, MJ; Chowdhury, SSignificant progress has been made in cereal production in Bangladesh due to an agricultural policy environment that prioritizes the productivity of staple crops over fruit and vegetables (F&V). However, many smallholder farmers remain poorly connected to markets, which may lead to a limited supply response of F&V that can reduce opportunities for sufficient intake in neglected, consumer-facing, smaller retail markets. To address this issue, aggregation schemes have been conceived that collect and transport F&Vs on behalf of multiple farmers. Given the volume of horticultural produce produced and the reliance on developed transport infrastructure, aggregation schemes tend to supply wholesale and urban markets rather than underdeveloped rural and isolated markets. To this end, we investigated how a particular aggregation intervention ('Loop') could potentially improve the distribution of F&V to smaller markets whilst improving farmer benefits. We used an innovative system dynamics modeling approach based on Loop's aggregation services in Jashore, Bangladesh, and to identify the potential trade-offs between consumer outcomes in retail markets and farmer benefits. We find that combining aggregation with a quota at the smaller market, transport subsidy, and current price growth does not result in trade-offs between consumer purchases and farmers'- benefits. However, combining aggregation with current price growth can increase demand without losing farmers'benefits. The findings emphasize that standalone and multiple market-oriented interventions generate broader win-win benefits to promote inclusive food systems.Publication Open Access Farmers’ adoption of multiple climate-smart agricultural technologies in Ghana: Determinants and impacts on maize yields and net farm income(Springer Nature, 2024-02-23) Asante, BO; Ma, Wanglin; Prah, S; Temoso, OThis study investigates the factors affecting maize farmers’ decisions to adopt climate-smart agricultural (CSA) technologies and estimates the impacts of CSA technology adoption on maize yields and net farm income. Unlike most previous studies that analyze a single technology, we consider different combinations of three CSA technologies (zero tillage, row planting, and drought-resistant seed). A multinomial endogenous switching regression model addresses selection bias issues arising from observed and unobserved factors and analyses data collected from 3197 smallholder farmers in three Ghana regions (Brong-Ahafo, Northern, and Ashanti). The findings show that smallholder farmers’ decisions to adopt multiple CSA technologies are influenced by farmer-based organization membership, education, resource constraints such as lack of land, access to markets, and production shocks such as perceived pest and disease stress and drought. We also find that adopting all three CSA technologies together has the largest impact on maize yields, while adopting row planting and zero tillage as a combination has the largest impact on net farm income. Governments should collaborate with farmer-based groups and extension officers to improve farmers’ awareness and understanding of the benefits associated with CSA technologies and help them adopt multiple technologies that generate higher benefits.Publication Embargo The liquid milk market in Sri Lanka - Analysis of demand and consumer preference : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Lincoln University(Lincoln University, 2024) Sivakumar, SivashankarIn Sri Lanka, domestic milk production has increased considerably in the last decade, but fresh milk consumption has been decreasing annually. Before the advent of open economic policies in 1977, 80 per cent of the country's requirements were fulfilled through domestic milk. Now it only accounts for 45 per cent of domestic requirements, with the balance being met through the importation of dairy products. A particular feature of Sri Lanka is that milk powder consumption has increased dramatically and almost 95 per cent of imports are in the form of powders. The current economic crisis in Sri Lanka has increased the prices for imported food products, particularly milk powder, due to the depreciation of Sri Lankan currency value against the U.S. dollar. Milk powder, which was earlier easily accessible and affordable, is now difficult to access and expensive. Liquid milk is seen to have nutritional advantages over powdered milk and there also appear to be opportunities to replace imported milk powder with domestically produced liquid milk in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this study investigates the demand for milk products in Sri Lanka and consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the key attributes of liquid milk. The first objective of this study was to estimate the demand for disaggregated milk products, such as fresh liquid milk, milk powder, and flavoured liquid milk. Multi-stage budgeting approach and a QUAIDS model were used to estimate the price and expenditure elasticities. Empirical evidence from demand estimation revealed that households are price sensitive to all the disaggregated milk products considered in this study. Specifically, households are more sensitive to price changes in fresh liquid milk than milk powder and flavored liquid milk. Moreover, the findings of this study revealed that all the disaggregated milk products considered are substitutes for each other, and a strong substitution relationship exists between milk powder and fresh liquid milk. The second objective of this study used a choice experiment approach to estimate the respondents’ preferences and WTP for liquid milk attributes in Sri Lanka. This study focuses on five attributes of liquid milk—milk fat, processing technology, food safety measures, packaging, and price. A random parameter logit model was used to estimate WTP for the attributes of liquid milk since consumers' preferences are heterogeneous. The findings of this study revealed that respondents on average prefer low-fat milk to whole milk, pasteurization and UHT processing technology to no processing, an increase in food safety measures to no change, and reusable packaging to single-service packaging. They are also willing to pay more for these attributes. The results revealed that preferences for milk attributes are heterogeneous, indicating that consumers with different sociodemographic characteristics prefer different levels of attributes. The findings of this study will enable policymakers, marketers, and milk processing companies to understand the demand for milk products and consumer preferences for liquid milk attributes while providing information to develop products with varying attribute levels to meet consumers’ expectations and enhance competitiveness. Notably, policymakers can utilize elasticity estimates to formulate appropriate policies to improve the domestic dairy industry as well as the overall well-being and nutrition of the Sri Lankan population.Publication Open Access Farmers’ perceptions, adoption and impacts of integrated water management technology under changing climate: Findings and implicationsMa, Wanglin; Zheng, H; Owusu, VThis study investigates the correlations between Chinese banana farmers’ perceptions of integrated water management technology (IWMT) and their adoption behaviours and examines the impact of IWMT adoption on farm performance. The results revealed that farmers’ IWMT adoption correlates significantly with their perceptions of whether IWMT adoption can help reduce farm workload, fertilizer and water, the extent to which the technology is easier to operate, and the extent to which the technology can generate higher economic benefits than furrow irrigation technology. IWMT adoption significantly increases banana yields, gross revenue, net returns and irrigation frequency, but does not significantly affect irrigation expenditure.Publication Open Access Mechanization in land preparation and irrigation water productivity in the context of climate change: Implications for sustainable rice production and food securityMa, WanglinThis study investigates how and to what extent mechanization in land preparation (MLP) can help improve irrigation water productivity (IWP) (measured as rice yield per unit volume of irrigation water). We employed an endogenous treatment regression model to estimate the 2021 China Land Economic Survey (CLES) data collected from Jiangsu province, China. The results reveal that MLP adoption increases IWP significantly; a higher IWP is determined by whether or not farmers adopt MLP rather than through which channel they access their farm machines; the effects of MLP adoption on IWP are monotonically increasing across the selected quantiles.Publication Open Access Does agricultural cooperative membership influence off-farm work decisions of farm couples? Evidence from banana farmers in ChinaZheng, H; Vatsa, Puneet; Ma, Wanglin; Rahut, DMembership in agricultural cooperatives may influence intra‐household decisions regarding the division of household labor. However, the linkages between cooperative membership and labor allocation remain unexplored. To fill this gap, we examine the impact of cooperative membership on off‐farm work decisions of couples engaged in farming, using data collected from 595 banana farmers in China. The recursive bivariate probit model and endogenous‐treatment Poisson regression model are employed to address the self‐selection bias inherent in cooperative membership. The results show that cooperative membership increases the probability of participating in off‐farm work by 38% for husbands and 31% for wives. Having large households reduces the probability of husbands but increases that of wives working off‐farm. Cooperative membership is also associated with more time spent on off‐farm work and higher earnings for both husbands and wives. Our findings point to the potential of agricultural cooperatives to increase farm couples’ off‐farm employment, thus increasing household income and quality of life.Publication Open Access Rural development in the digital age: Does ICT adoption contribute to credit access and income growth in Rural China(2022) Ma, WanglinInformation and communication technology (ICT) plays an important role in rural livelihoods and household well-being. Therefore, this study examines the impact of ICT adoption on farmers' decisions to access credit and the joint effects of ICT adoption and access to credit on household income using 2016 China Labour-force Dynamics Survey data. Both recursive bivariate probit model and a selectivity-corrected ordinary least square regression model are employed for the analysis. The results show that ICT adoption increases the probability of access to credit by 12.8% in rural China and empowers rural women and farm households in relatively less-developed regions to access credit. ICT adoption and access to credit affect household income differently. ICT adoption significantly increases household income, while access to credit significantly reduces it, primarily because farmers do not use the acquired credit to invest in income-generating farm and off-farm business activities. ICT adoption has the largest positive impact on household income at the highest 90th quantile. Our findings suggest that improving rural ICT infrastructure to enhance farmers' ICT adoption and developing ICT-based financial products to enable households to access sufficient funds can improve rural household welfare.Publication Open Access Income effects of selling citrus online: An investigation of citrus farmers in Jiangxi, China(2023) Zhang, H; Ma, Wanglin; Li, J; Yang, WOnline sales are essential for linking smallholder farmers to a wide range of markets. In essence, online sales not only influence the income received from selling a specific product but also generate spillover effects on total farm income and household income because they promote the sales of other agricultural products and generate regional off-farm work opportunities (e.g. product sorting, packaging, and delivery). Taking citrus as an example, this study explores the income effects of online sales with a focus on net returns from citrus production, net farm income, and household income. We used an endogenous treatment regression model to address the self-selection bias issues of online sales and estimated data collected from 926 citrus-producing households in Jiangxi Province, China. The results show that online citrus sales boost income growth in rural China. Specifically, online sales significantly increased net returns from citrus production, net farm income, and household income by 5,000 Yuan/capita, 8,580 Yuan/capita, and 17,830 Yuan/capita, respectively. The income-enhancing effects of online sales are greater for female household heads than they are for their male counterparts. Our findings emphasise the importance of promoting online sales to improve rural household welfare.