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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2009‒01‒31
sixteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Selloane Khoabane (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch); Philip Black (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | While livestock theft in Lesotho is primarily caused by increased poverty among unemployed workers and drought stricken crop farmers, its effect on stock farmers can be devastating. It reduces the affected households’ own consumption of both the “returns” on their wealth, e.g. milk and wool, and of wealth itself, e.g. meat and hides. In addition, it restricts their ability to sell their returns and wealth in the market place and use the proceeds to acquire other food and non-food products. Some policy implications are also highlighted. |
| Keywords: | Livestock theft, Lesotho, own consumption, animal products, diversified farming, nutritional status, human capital, HIV/AIDS |
| JEL: | D11 O12 Q12 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers74&r=agr |
| By: | Jonathan Brooks; George Dyer; Ed Taylor |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a methodological framework for examining the distributional effects of alternative agricultural policies in less developed economies. The framework combines disaggregated household models with an explicit modelling of the linkages between product and factor markets. |
| Keywords: | income distribution, poverty, agricultural policy, disaggregated modelling, farm household, welfare |
| JEL: | D13 D21 D23 D31 D33 Q12 Q18 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:11-en&r=agr |
| By: | Miet Maaertens; Johan F.M. Swinnen |
| Abstract: | The rapid spread of modern supply chains in developing countries is profoundly changing the way food is produced and traded. In this paper we examine the gender implications in modern supply chains. We conceptualize the various mechanisms through which women are directly affected, we review existing empirical evidence and add new survey-based evidence. Empirical findings from our own survey suggest that modern supply chains may be associated with reduced gender inequalities in rural areas. We find that women benefit more and more directly from large-scale estate production and agro-industrial processing, and the creation of employment in these modern agro-industries than from smallholder contract-farming. |
| Keywords: | ender, modern supply chains, vertical coordination, poverty |
| JEL: | O12 Q17 J16 J43 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:23109&r=agr |
| By: | Leonardo Becchetti (University of Rome Tor Vergata); Pierluigi Conzo (University of Rome Tor Vergata); Giuseppina Gianfreda (University of Tuscia) |
| Abstract: | We analyse the impact of Fair Trade and organic farming on a sample of Fair Trade organic rice producers in Thailand. We find that per capita income from agriculture is positively and significantly affected by organic certification and FT affiliation years. Such effect does not translate into higher productivity due to a concurring increase in worked hours. FT and organic certification contributions are however downward biased if we do not take into account the relatively higher share of self- consumption of affiliated farmers. Our main findings are robust when we control for selection bias and endogeneity with instrumental variables, propensity score matching and by restricting the sample to affiliated producers only. We also test which of the two (organic and FT) effects is stronger and find that the latter prevails. |
| Keywords: | organic production, Fair Trade, productivity |
| JEL: | O18 O19 O22 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ent:wpaper:wp05&r=agr |
| By: | Muller, Adrian (Socioeconomic Institute, University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | Organic Agriculture (OA) as an adaptation strategy (AS) to Climate Change (CC) is a concrete and promising option for adaptation in rural communities. OA has additional potential as a mitigation strategy (MS). This text is a short review note on this topic. Adaptation and mitigation based on OA can build on well-established practice as OA is a sustainable livelihood strategy with decades of experience in several climate zones and under a wide range of specific local conditions. Given the large fraction of rural population living on farming, the potential of this strategy to adapt to the adverse effects of CC and at the same time contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and to carbon sequestration is huge. The scope of the approach ranges from local to national – depending on the policy context it is embedded in. Finally, the financial requirements of OA as an AS or MS are low.<p> |
| Keywords: | adaptation; climate change; mitigation; organic agriculture; rural development; sustainable livelihoods; vulnerability |
| JEL: | Q10 Q54 Q56 |
| Date: | 2009–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0343&r=agr |
| By: | Dalila Cervantes-Godoy; Jonathan Brooks |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the adjustment pressures faced by smallholders in middle-income countries, considers the types of policy response that are warranted, and proposes an integrated framework for more inclusive development. Central to this framework is the recognition that the long-term (i.e. inter-generational) future of the majority of smallholders lies outside farming. Hence a range of development pathways need to be facilitated, including improved competitiveness within the sector, income diversification (either within or outside agriculture) and the movement to jobs in other sectors. In order to facilitate adjustment, targeted agricultural policies need to be designed in conjunction with a range of complementary economy-wide measures. |
| Keywords: | development, agriculture, government policy, structural adjustment, poverty, smallholders |
| JEL: | O13 O20 Q10 Q18 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:12-en&r=agr |
| By: | Tokgoz, Simla |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of crude oil prices on the EU agricultural sector in an era when the biofuels sector is expanding because of policy initiatives and the desire to find alternative fuel sources. To this end, first a baseline is set up for the EU ethanol, grain, and dried distillers grains markets. In the next step, two different scenarios are run. The first scenario incorporates a 10-Euros-per-barrel increase in the EU crude oil price with the ethanol import tariffs in place. The second scenario incorporates the same shock with the ethanol import tariffs removed. In the first scenario, higher crude oil prices increase ethanol consumption, production, and therefore grain prices. In the second scenario, the impact of trade liberalisation is larger than the impact of the higher crude oil price. So, grain prices decline in this scenario despite an expansion in ethanol consumption. If there were a high enough crude oil price shock, which would affect the EU ethanol market more than trade liberalisation, the net impact on grain, feed, and food prices from the crude oil price shock would be mitigated by the increased trade from trade liberalisation. The study shows that the impact of energy prices on the EU agricultural sector is increasing with the emergence of the biofuels sector. It also illustrates the importance of trade policy in responding to higher crude oil and grain prices. |
| Keywords: | bioeconomic models, energy, trade analysis and policy. |
| Date: | 2009–01–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:13024&r=agr |
| By: | Gerichhausen, M.; Berkhout, E.D.; Hamers, H.J.M.; Manyong, V.M. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Much research focuses on development of new agricultural technologies to reduce poverty levels of the large population of smallholder farms in Sub Saharan Africa. In this paper we argue that smallholders can also increase their production in a different way, namely by using their resources more efficiently through cooperation. This is obtained by grouping their (heterogeneous) resources and making joint decisions based on the aggregate resources. Afterwards, the gains of the joint production are divided, such that each farmer remains independent. This type of cooperation is modeled using linear programming and cooperative game theory. While linear programming establishes insight in optimal farm plans for farmers that cooperate, game theory is used to generate fair divisions of the extra gain that is established by cooperation. The model is applied to a village in Northern Nigeria. Households are clustered based on socio-economic parameters, and we explore cooperation. The optimal farm plan of the cooperative (i.e., farmers cooperate) contains more crops with high market and nutritional value, such as cowpea and sugarcane. We show that the gross margin of the cooperative is 12% higher than the sum of the individual gross margins. To divide these gains, we consider four established solution concepts from game theory that divide these extra gains: the Owen value, Shapley value, compromise value and nucleolus. An interesting result is that all farmers gain from cooperation and that the four solution concepts give similar results. Finally, we show how the provision of micro-credit can be used to stimulate cooperation in practice, benefiting the least-endowed farmers as well. |
| Keywords: | Linear Programming;Agriculture;Household models;Cooperative Game Theory;Nigeria |
| JEL: | C61 Q12 C71 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:200862&r=agr |
| By: | Simla Tokgoz (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD); Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI)) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of crude oil prices on the EU agricultural sector in an era when the biofuels sector is expanding because of policy initiatives and the desire to find alternative fuel sources. To this end, first a baseline is set up for the EU ethanol, grain, and dried distillers grains markets. In the next step, two different scenarios are run. The first scenario incorporates a 10-Euros-per-barrel increase in the EU crude oil price with the ethanol import tariffs in place. The second scenario incorporates the same shock with the ethanol import tariffs removed. In the first scenario, higher crude oil prices increase ethanol consumption, production, and therefore grain prices. In the second scenario, the impact of trade liberalisation is larger than the impact of the higher crude oil price. So, grain prices decline in this scenario despite an expansion in ethanol consumption. If there were a high enough crude oil price shock, which would affect the EU ethanol market more than trade liberalisation, the net impact on grain, feed, and food prices from the crude oil price shock would be mitigated by the increased trade from trade liberalisation. The study shows that the impact of energy prices on the EU agricultural sector is increasing with the emergence of the biofuels sector. It also illustrates the importance of trade policy in responding to higher crude oil and grain prices. |
| Keywords: | bioeconomic models, energy, trade analysis and policy. |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:09-wp485&r=agr |
| By: | Valenzuela, Ernesto; Kym Anderson |
| Abstract: | This memorandum presents the agricultural protection dataset that resulted from a recent World Bank Research project. The complete dataset is available with this memorandum, along with the mapping required from GTAP version 7 Data Base to the level of aggregation used herein, i.e., 60 regions and 23 sectors. The current GTAP version 7 Data Base may be modified to incorporate this dataset, using an Altertax simulation. The files required for this Altertax simulation, including the closure, experiment file, parameter files and shock files are also being provided here. Starting from the original aggregation of 113 regions and 57 sectors, the users can modify the data either at the level of aggregation suggested herein, or any other feasible level of aggregation depending on their requirements, by suitably modifying the shock files. |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gta:resmem:2925&r=agr |
| By: | Sunantar Setboonsarng |
| Abstract: | The study attempts to empirically examine whether the adoption of organic farming practices leads to better health. As a proxy for health status, a comparison of the health expenditure patterns of organic and conventional rice-farming households in North and Northeast Thailand is done. Using data from a 2006 household survey covering 626 households in eight provinces, we calculate catastrophic health expenditures as out-of-pocket (OOP) medical expenditures exceeding a specified percentage of the household budget. [ADBI WP 129]. |
| Keywords: | income, organic farming, health, rice, farming, expenditure, Thailand, households, medical, budget, organic, conventional |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:1844&r=agr |
| By: | Thomas J. Miceli (University of Connecticut); C. F. Sirmans (Florida State University); Geoffrey K. Turnbull (Georgia State University) |
| Abstract: | The traditional law of leases imposed no duty on landlords to mitigate damages in the event of tenant breach, whereas the modern law of leases does. An economic model of leases, in which absentee tenants may or may not intend to breach, shows that the traditional rule promotes tenant investment in the property by discouraging landlord entry. In contrast, the modern rule prevents the property from being left idle by encouraging landlords to enter and re-let abandoned property. The model reflects the historic use of the traditional rule for agricultural leases, where absentee use was valuable, and the emergence of the modern rule for residential leases, where the primary use entails continuous occupation. |
| Keywords: | contracts, land development, leases, mitigation of damages |
| JEL: | K11 K12 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2009-07&r=agr |
| By: | John Gibson (University of Waikato); David McKenzie (World Bank, BREAD and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Seasonal work programs are increasingly advocated by international aid agencies as a way of enabling both developed and developing countries to benefit from migration. They are argued to provide workers with new skills and allow them to send remittances home, without the receiving country having to worry about long-term assimilation and the source country worrying about permanent loss of skills. However, formal evidence as to the development impact of seasonal worker programs is non-existent. This paper provides the first such evaluation, studying New Zealand's new Recognized Seasonal Employer (RSE) program which allows Pacific Island migrants to work in horticulture and viticulture in New Zealand for up to seven months per year. We use baseline and follow-up waves of surveys we are carrying out in Tonga to form difference-in-difference and propensity score matching estimates of short-term impacts on household income and consumption. |
| Keywords: | propensity score matching; rural household incomes; seasonal work programs |
| JEL: | J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:08/18&r=agr |
| By: | Brant Abbott; G. Cornelis van Kooten |
| Abstract: | Tigers are a threatened species that might soon disappear in the wild. Not only are tigers threatened by deteriorating and declining habitat, but poachers continue to kill tigers for traditional medicine, decoration pieces and so on. Although international trade in tiger products has been banned since 1987 and domestic trade within China since 1993, tigers continue to be poached and Chinese entrepreneurs have established tiger farms in anticipation of their demise. While China desires to permit sale of tiger products from captive-bred tigers, this is opposed on the grounds that it likely encourages illegal killing. Instead, wildlife conservationists lobby for more spending on anti-poaching and trade-ban enforcement. In this study, a mathematical bioeconomic model is used to investigate the issue. Simulation results indicate that, unless range states are characterized by institutions (rule of law, low corruption) similar to those found in the richest countries, reliance on enforcement alone is insufficient to guarantee survival of wild tigers. Likewise, even though conservation payments could protect wild tigers, the inability to enforce contracts militates against this. Our model indicates that wild tigers can be protected by permitting sale of products from tiger farms, although this likely requires the granting of an exclusive license to sellers. Finally, it is possible to tradeoff enforcement effort and sale of products from captive-bred animals, but such tradeoffs are worsened by deteriorating tiger habitat. |
| Keywords: | endangered species, extinction, wildlife farming and bioeconomics |
| JEL: | Q57 Q27 C61 F13 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rep:wpaper:2009-01&r=agr |
| By: | John Gibson (University of Waikato); Xiangzheng Deng (Chinese Academy of Sciences); Geua Boe-Gibson (University of Waikato); Scott Rozelle; Jikun Huang |
| Abstract: | In this paper we have two objectives - one empirical; one methodological. Although China’s leaders are beginning to pay attention to health care in rural China, there are still concerns about access to health services. To examine this issue, we use measures of travel distances to health services to examine the nature of coverage in Shaanxi Province, our case study. The mean distance by road to the nearest health center is still more than 6 kilometers. When we use thresholds for access of 5 and 10 kilometers we find that more than 40 (15) percent of the rural population lives outside of these 5 (10) kilometer service areas for health centers. The nature of the access differs by geographical region and demographic composition of the household. The methodological contribution of our paper originates from a key feature of our analysis in which we use Geographic Information System (GIS) network analysis methods to measure traveling distance along the road network. We compare these measures to straight-line distance measures. Road distances (produced by network analysis) produce measures (using means) that are nearly twice as great as straight-line distances. Moreover, the errors in the measures (that is, the difference between road distances and straight-line distances) are not random. Therefore, traditional econometric methods of ameliorating the effects of measurement errors, such as instrument variables regression, will not produce consistent results when used with straight-line distances. |
| Keywords: | health access; measurement error; network analysis |
| JEL: | I12 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:08/19&r=agr |
| By: | Brigitte Granville |
| Abstract: | Fairtrade is nurtured with stories aimed at making consumers feel good by buying Fairtrade products. This ‘feel-good’ factor may vary when it is found that, the proportional division of the benefits between producer and other potential gainers is biased towards the distributors. There is, therefore, an incentive to verify whether the trust accorded to Fairtrade is justified. If trust and therefore the feel-good factor are undermined or enhanced as a result of the validation of the stories, then the whole Fairtrade movement could potentially crumble or burgeon. Drawing on elements in Glaeser (2005)’s model, this paper analyses the factors behind the recent expansion of Fairtrade. |
| Keywords: | Fairtrade |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgs:wpaper:27&r=agr |