Thesis (PhD(Tourism Management))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Abstract in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xx, 613 p. : ill., maps. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 598-613).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1986. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 383-416). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (M.A.)--Baylor University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-97).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-71).

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-68). Also available via the Internet.

This thesis explores topics in Agricultural Economics and is composed of five papers. In the first paper (Chapter 2), a latent-class stochastic frontier model is used to estimate efficiency scores of farmers in Ethiopia. Compared to conventional models, which assume a unique frontier, much lower inefficiencies are found, suggesting that part of the inefficiencies uncovered in the literature could be an artefact of the methods used. The second paper (Chapter 3) revisits the link between cereal diversity and productivity using a panel dataset in Ethiopia. The results suggest that the positive effect between cereal diversity and productivity becomes much smaller when households who produce teff (a low-productivity and high-value crop) are excluded from the sample, hinting at the possibility that results could be driven by yield differentials between cereals, rather than diversity. The third paper (Chapter 4) estimates the labour impacts of the adoption of Soil and Water Conservation technologies (SWC) in Ethiopia. The results suggest that adopting SWC technologies leads to an increase in adult and child labour. Understanding the labour impacts is important in itself, but it also raises concerns about using impact evaluation methods that require no change in inputs as an identifying assumption of impacts. Paper 4 (Chapter 5), assesses the pertinence of a drought index that has recently been proposed in the literature by Yu and Babcock (2010) and argues that it defines drought too narrowly. An extension to this index is proposed and we show, using a dataset of Indian districts, that the original index is likely to underestimate the impacts of drought. In Paper 5 (Chapter 6), we identify data-driven ranges of rainfall for which the marginal effects of a rainfall-temperature index (RTI) are different and then we discuss how the impacts of drought have changed over the 1966-2009 period in India. Finally, Chapter 7 concludes.

For the past three decades, biologists and geographers have increasingly incorporated geographical information systems to inventory and analyze spatially organized data. The proliferation of computational tools and models for visualizing, processing, and quantifying landscape patterns has continued sometimes without thorough scrutiny and scientific understanding of their benefits and limitations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the structure and accuracy of the ecological modeling program Land Change Modeler for ArcGIS (LCM) and its analytical methods. A case study rich in land use change at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge was used to focus on the program's ability to utilize imagery at multiple levels of spatial resolution and to quantify landscape change. The case study evaluated the LCM module on three primary criteria 1) inputs and outputs, 2) the impacts of scale and resolution in terms of proposed analytical methods, and 3) program structure, simplicity, flexibility, and function definitions. The study revealed that the module based structure of LCM demands specific inputs which allow for the assessment of landscape change, habitat, and biodiversity. But, the program is difficult to navigate and requires prior knowledge of analytical methods. The study also showed that the appropriate utilization of ecological computational programs should be based upon fundamental concepts of landscape ecology, the intended use of the outputs, and the prior knowledge of the user.

The return to the customary or integration of customary and statutory tenure systems to continue gain currency in both contemporary policy and academic discourses on land tenure as an alternative pathway towards enhancing security of access and tenure in the sub-Saharan African context. Central to the debates are issues concerning the relevance of customary land tenure arrangements and appropriate pathways to successfully engineer the process of harmonization toward improved tenure security whilst preserving of the communitarian principles of local tenure systems. Using two case studies in rural Ghana, this study investigated the prevailing land tenure arrangements, practices and socio-political dynamics that underpin them, highlighting the challenges and opportunities that need to be addressed for the successful adaptation of customary tenure rules and institutions into the statutory system towards improved tenure security and sustainable land management. The research employed a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods including interviews, focus group discussions and questionnaires to collate and analyse data from sampled respondents in Kakum and Ankasa in southern Ghana. The results of the investigation revealed that contrary to the mainstream view that customary tenure arrangements are incapable of providing tenure security in the face on ongoing transformations, the perceived tenure security of respondents was generally high in the study areas. This notwithstanding, it was observed that the emerging patterns of access and control (occasioned by increasing land scarcity and commodification) have resulted in social differentiation and inequalities in land access and distribution amongst the poor and vulnerable members of the landholding groups including women and the youth. The research also showed that aside from tenure security, other important contextual factors including access to credit, modernised agricultural inputs and targeted extension service support significantly influence households' investment decisions regarding adoption of sustainable land management practices. These findings have far-reaching implications for current land tenure interventions aimed at harmonising customary and statutory tenure structures for improved tenure security and sustainable land management. Results of the investigation were used to develop a three-phase incremental framework on formalisation of customary land rights which could serve as bespoke framework to guide the design of land tenure intervention strategies and implementation towards addressing local tenure insecurity in the specific context of the study areas and sub-Saharan Africa generally. The major conclusion of the research is that balancing the market efficiency and social equity considerations is necessary and should be pursued under the ongoing land tenure reforms for inclusive and equitable outcomes at the local level. This derives from the fact that the existing tenurial challenges are complex and context-specific, equally requiring well-balanced and nuanced solutions to effectively address them.

The study analyses, in unprecedented detail, land settlement schemes in the Outer Hebrides, Skye and Raasay between the two world wars. Land settlement is a world-wide phenomenon, which in the context of this research involves the examination of the creation of new crofts and the enlargement of existing ones from the breaking up of farms and estates. Crofting is a system of landholding unique to large parts of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides, Skye and Raasay comprised the heartland of land settlement activity during the inter-war period and represent the area in the Highlands and Islands most heavily influenced by the process – but have attracted relatively little detailed research attention on the topic to date. The years from 1919 to 1939 saw land settlement activity at its peak and the greatest number of new smallholdings created and existing ones enlarged. The research breaks new ground by being the first to focus on the important planning and implementation phases of land settlement schemes. This increases our knowledge of how land settlement legislation and policies were translated into action on the ground. In so doing the study highlights the main issues and challenges that arose at both stages of the process and key influences that shaped them. It demonstrates how the various facets and consequences of land settlement varied within and between islands. A number of research questions are addressed, including what influence land settlement activity had on settlement patterns and what issues did it raise in relation to crofting communities, landowners and government officials. It illustrates, for the first time, the importance of infrastructure provision (especially township roads) for the wellbeing and long term sustainability of the new crofting communities created by land settlement schemes. The highly detailed examination of the evidence from the Hebridean schemes, using a wide variety of documentary and other published sources, throws new light on the positive contribution of land settlement to the general condition and standard of living of the islands during the inter-war period.