Minimum tillage as climate-smart agriculture practice and its impact on food and nutrition security.

Minimum tillage (MT) is a sustainable farming practice that limit soil disturbance only to planting stations while leaving the rest of the soil undisturbed. It is an important component of conservation agriculture, which aims to raise agricultural productivity, improve the livelihoods of farmers and build resilient farming systems. Despite the growing empirical literature on its adoption and benefits, there is a paucity of empirical evidence on the heterogeneous effect of length of MT adoption on household welfare.

The role of information in consumer preferences for sustainable certified palm oil products in Germany.

Food products are often subject to information asymmetries, which are commonly supposed to be reduced by labels and certifications. However, as the number of labels increases, consumers tend to get confused, bored or impatient and stop using them to make product choices. This study uses data from a discrete choice experiment, conducted in Germany, to analyze consumers' preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for sustainability indicators on products that contain palm oil as an ingredient.

Modeling Preference and Willingness to Pay for Drought Tolerance (DT) in Maize in Rural Zimbabwe.

Maize plays a leading role in the food security of millions in southern Africa, yet it is highly vulnerable to the moisture stress brought about by the erratic rainfall patterns that characterize weather systems in the area. Developing and making drought-tolerant maize varieties available to farmers in the region has thus long been a key goal on the regional development agenda. Farm-level adoption of these varieties, however, depends on local perceptions of the value they add, along with willingness to pay (WTP) for it.

Optimum allocation of conservation funds and choice of conservation programs for a set of African cattle breeds.

Although funds for livestock conservation are limited there is little known about the optimal allocation of conservation funds. A new algorithm was used to allocate Mio US dollar 1, 2, 3, 5 or unlimited funds, discounted over 50 years, on 23 African cattle breeds conserved with four different possible conservation programs. Additionally, Mio US dollar 1 was preferably allocated to breeds with special traits.