Is export orientation a major motivator for the adoption of food safety systems in the Turkish dried fig firms?

Food safety management systems (FSMSs) and the scrutinisation of the food safety practices that are intended for adoption on the firm level both offer strategic value to the dried fig sector. This study aims to prove the hypothesis that export orientation is a major motivating force for the adoption of food safety systems in the Turkish dried fig firms. Data were obtained from 91 dried fig firms located in Aydin, Turkey. Interviews were carried out with firms’ managers/owners using a face-to-face questionnaire designed from May to August of 2010. While 36.3 percent of the interviewed firms had adopted one or more systems, the rest had no certification. A binomial logistic econometric model was employed. The parameters that influenced this decision included contractual agreements with other firms, implementation of good practices by the dried fig farmers, export orientation and cost-benefit ratio. Interestingly, the rest of the indicators employed had no statistically significant effect on adoption behaviour. This paper focusses on the export orientation parameter directly in order to test the validity of the main research hypothesis. The estimated marginal effect suggests that when dried fig firms are export-oriented, the probability that these firms will adopt food safety systems goes up by 39.5 percent. This rate was the first range observed among all the marginal probability values obtained and thus verified the hypothesis that export orientation is a major motivator for the adoption of food safety systems in the Turkish dried fig firms.

Identifying the factors governing attitude towards the e-Agriservice among dairy farmers in Maharashtra, India

Information and communication technology (ICT) projects have a great potential to revolutionise the information delivery system by bridging the gap between farmers and extension personnel. aAQUA (Almost All Questions Answered) portal was launched by the Developmental Informatics Laboratory (DIL) at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India in 2003 as an information providing system to deliver technology options and tailored information for the problems and queries raised by Indian dairy farmers. To measure the effectiveness of this service the attitudinal dimensions of the users of aAQUA e-Agriservice were investigated using a 22 item scale. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 120 dairy farmers from which data were collected and subjected to factor analysis to identify the underlying constructs in this research. From the attitude items, four components were extracted and named as the pessimistic, utility, technical and efficacy perspective, which influenced the development of varied level of attitudinal inclination towards the e-Agriservice. These components explained 64.40 per cent of variation in the attitude of the users towards the aAQUA e-Agriservice. This study provides a framework for technically efficient service provision that might help to reduce the pessimistic attitude of target population to adopt e-Agriservice in their farming system. The results should also be helpful for researchers, academics, ICT based service providers and policy makers to consider these perspectives while planning and implementing ICT projects.