The use of improved high yielding crop varieties is an important avenue for reducing hunger and food insecurity in developing countries. Using cross-sectional data obtained from a survey conducted during 2013 crop season, we performed a probit model (plot-level analysis) to determine the probability of adopting new improved rice varieties (NIRVs) by smallholder farmers particularly from two main agro-ecological regions (hills and tropical plain terai regions) of Central Nepal. The results revealed that education, extension services and seed access play significant roles in adoption decisions. Additionally, farm and field characteristic variables such as farm size, endowment of favorable land type (e.g. lowlands), and animal power (e.g. oxen) are the key factors influencing the probability of adopting NIRVs. The results showed that technology specific variables (e.g. yield potential and acceptability) are significant for explaining adoption behavior, implying that it is important to take farmers’ preferences to varietal characteristics into consideration in the design of a research and development program. Given the significant role played by extension and access related variables, increased emphasis on information dissemination, field demonstration, and farmers’ participatory research and training programs to popularize new rice varieties and enhance their adoption rate are required. This also suggests that policy intervention should be made on improving the educational status of farming households, and developing programs on varietal package of rice seed which offer farmers a variety of choices among the appropriate pools of germplasm. Such programs ultimately help farmers develop more profit-oriented behavior which are necessary to enhance adoption rate, production and food security in the long run

The impacts of climate change on marine capture fisheries have been observed in several studies. It is likely to have a substantial effect on fishers’ income and food security. This study aims to estimate the impact of adaptation strategies on fishers’ income and their household’s food security. Data were collected from small-scale fishers’ households, which own a fishing boat smaller or equal to five gross tonnages (GT). The study sites were the two coastal regions of Malang and Probolinggo in East Java, Indonesia, due to the meager socioeconomic resources caused by climate change. A probit regression model was used to determine the factors influencing the fishers’ adaptation. Propensity score matching (PSM) was applied to evaluate the impact of the adaptation strategies on income and food security. Food security was measured by food consumption score (FCS). The findings indicated that participation in the fishers’ group affected adaptation strategies significantly, and so did the access to credit and climate information. Also, PSM showed that the adaptation strategies had a positive and significant impact on fishers’ income and food security. Those who applied the adaptation strategies had a higher income and FCS than those who did not. This finding implies that the fishery sector’s adaptation strategies can have significant expansion outcome and reduce exposure to risks posed by climate change. Therefore, the arrangement of more climate change adaptation strategies should be promoted by the government for small-scale fishers in Indonesia.

Although climate change adaptation plays a vital role in improving global food security, little is known about whether it can increase household food security of small-scale fishermen. This study offers new evidence by investigating the effect of climate change adaptation on household food security, measured by the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) and food consumption score (FCS). The cross-sectional data were collected from 301 small-scale fishermen in East Java Province, Indonesia. This study applied two-stage residual inclusion (2SRI), and two-step predictor substitution (2SPS) approaches to solve an endogeneity issue in modelling the effect of climate change adaptation on household food security. This is achieved by considering the observable and the unobservable factors. The empirical result indicates that climate change adaptation significantly improves household food security. Further estimation also highlights the positive and significant effect of adaptation intensity on the food security measurement. Therefore, this study suggests that fishermen continuously apply adaptation strategies to improve their food security.

This article examines the adoption of new-generation modern rice varieties (MRVs) and their impact on family welfare among rural farm households in central Nepal. Using cross-sectional data from 416 farm households and the Heckman’s sample selection model, this article finds a positive and significant impact of MRVs on farm income; distance to market and off-farm work exert a negative effect on farm income. The likelihood of adoption is mainly explained by age and education of the household head, access to extension services, seed access and acceptability of the rice grain to consumers. The results further reveal that farm size and land type have significant and positive influences on the adoption of MRVs. Designing mechanisms to help promote MRVs’ adoption among poorer households by developing new varieties suited for rain-fed areas may be a reasonable policy instrument to increase farm incomes. The results of this study suggest that because of the difficulties and costs of transportation and travel to distant markets, availability of seed in local retail outlets will benefit the farmers. To reduce transaction costs, farmers need to be linked to markets by a wide seed distribution network. Integrating farmers with potential buyers may increase profitability in agriculture and its subsequent impacts on rural farmers’ food security and general livelihood.