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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2012‒07‒23
205 papers chosen by |
| By: | Otsuka, Keijiro |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:127068&r=agr |
| By: | De Rosa, Marcello; Chiappini, Silvia |
| Abstract: | Policy for agricultural extension services (AES) has been revitalized during the last phases of rural development policies (2007/2013), to empower human capital in agriculture. A wider package of measures aiming at improving the supply of extension at farm level is foreseen and financial resources have been allocated in all Italian regions, to strengthen the measures. The paper aims at testing whether such a high proportion of funding match high levels of utilization of services on behalf of the farms. By assimilating farmers to consumers of AES, the analysis proposes a classification of the farms on the basis of their propensity to consume services. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural extension services, farm development, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Q16, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126155&r=agr |
| By: | Chen, Huang; Wang, Jinxia; Huang, Jikun |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126718&r=agr |
| By: | Blanco, Maria; Van Doorslaer, Benjamin; Britz, Wolfgang |
| Abstract: | Irrigation water use by agriculture has been identified as one of the major sustainable water management issues in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). This paper aims at developing a simulation framework to jointly assess agricultural and water issues. While the strong linkages between water, food, and the environment call for an integrated and multidisciplinary modelling approach, a complete and consistent modelling system to evaluate food-water relationships in Europe was missing so far. The spatial economic simulation model for agriculture CAPRI, which comprises a set of environmental indicators to assess food-environment interrelations within European regions, has been extended to account for food-water links. This modelling framework enables simulating the potential impact of climate change and water availability on agricultural production at the EU regional level, as well as looking at the sustainable use of water, the implementation of water policies or the integration of water issues in the Common Agricultural Policy. |
| Keywords: | agricultural policy, agro-economic modelling, food-water linkages, bioeconomy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, C60, Q11, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126031&r=agr |
| By: | Ludena, Carlos E.; Mejia, Carla |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the impacts of climate change of food processing sectors worldwide. Specifically, we analyze the impacts that changes in agricultural productivity might have for seven food industry sectors, namely meat, vegetable oils and fats, dairy, sugar, processed rice, other food products and beverage and tobacco products. We analyze two different scenarios of crops yield changes based on Müller et al. (2009), one with full CO2 fertilization and one without CO2 fertilization. We use a general equilibrium approach, given the advantages that this methodology provides for worldwide analysis of productivity and its impacts on production, trade and prices of primary agriculture, and ultimately, food processing sectors. We use the GTAP computable general model with version 7 of the GTAP database, with a base year of 2004. We aggregate this database into 10 regions and 12 sectors, with special emphasis on food processing sectors. The results show that overall, the impacts on food processing depends whether we consider CO2 fertilization or not. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, productivity, agriculture, food industry, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126851&r=agr |
| By: | Dixon, Peter B.; van Meijl, Hans; Rimmer, Maureen T.; Tabeau, Andrzej A. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the complex battle between RED and REDD policies and the resulting global consequences on land use, agricultural production, international trade flows and world food prices. A key methodological challenge is the representation of land use and the possibility to convert forestry land into agricultural land as REDD policies might prevent the use of forestry and wood lands for agriculture. The paper introduces a flexible land supply function allowing large changes in the total potential land availability for agriculture due to environmental considerations such as reducing emissions from deforestation. The parameters of the new land supply function are defined as variables of the model. In the paper, we simplify the implementation of the REDD policies as a shift in potential availability for agricultural land in various regions in the world. Both analysed policies are designed to save emissions but their land use impacts are opposite. The paper shows that global RED policies expand global land use with 3% relative to the baseline. Land abundant countries such as Canada, USA and Indonesia extend their use of agricultural land and their agricultural production. Severe REDD policies that protect all forest and woodlands in especially tropical land abundant regions such as Central and South America, South Africa and Indonesia imply a global reduction of agricultural land by 5% and lead to higher food and land prices. REDD policies reverse production and trade patterns as previous land abundant countries become land scarce countries. |
| Keywords: | RED, REDD, flexible land supply function, land, land use changes, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126361&r=agr |
| By: | Hazell, Peter B.R. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:127070&r=agr |
| By: | Futoshi, Yamauchi; Hiroyuki, Takeshima; Reno, Dewina; Sony, Sumaryanto; Akiko, Haruna |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how change in rainfall patterns induces autonomous adaptation of farmers and affects their rice production. Based on recently collected household data from seven provinces in Indonesia, the analysis clearly demonstrate delays in the onset of rainy season and increased uncertainty in rainfall patterns in the region. Farmers make sequential decisions: adjusting planting timing in response to delays in the onset of rainy season while changing crop variety responding to delays in the end of the previous year’s rainy season. In the case of rice production, (i) delay in the onset significantly decreases land productivity growth in rice production; one month delay offsets the average growth observed in 1999-2007, and (ii) though irrigation share significantly explains the growth of land productivity, delayed onset increasingly constrains the role of irrigation. |
| Keywords: | climate change, rainy season, adaptation, rice production, irrigation, Indonesia, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Crop Production/Industries, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126473&r=agr |
| By: | Huang, Jikun; Wang, Jinxia; Rozelle, Scott |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126712&r=agr |
| By: | Yu, Bingxin; Zhu, Tingju; Breisinger, Clemens; Manh Hai, Nguyen |
| Abstract: | Vietnam is likely to be among the hardest hit countries by climate change, which may threaten the recent progress it has made in accelerating agricultural growth and poverty reduction. To examine how agriculture and the rural poor may be affected by a changing climate, this paper measures Vietnamese farmers’ adaptation behavior in terms of adjustments to the production portfolio and input usage. Specifically, the paper estimates a rice yield function based on household-level crop production, long-term climate measurements and recent weather shocks. The results suggest that rice production will suffer from climate change. However, Vietnamese farmers are likely to respond to changes in rainfall and temperature by adjusting input usage. While this will help maintaining productivity levels, expanding irrigation and agricultural intensification will be key components of climate change adaptation strategies at farm and national level. Localized policy packages aiming at increasing yield by focusing on vulnerable groups (ethnic-minority and/or the poor) can help achieve multiple development goals of poverty reduction, food security and climate change adaptation. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, poverty, Vietnam, rice, control function, weak instruments, multiple endogenous variables, Heckman, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126876&r=agr |
| By: | Mazvimavi, Kizito; Ndlovu, Patrick V.; An, Henry; Murendo, Conrad |
| Abstract: | This study sought to evaluate the performance of conservation agriculture (CA) technology-essentially comparing productivity and efficiency levels in maize production in CA and conventional farming. The analysis is based on a three year panel sample of smallholder farming households and employing a stochastic production frontier model compare productivity and technical efficiency between CA and conventional farming. Study results indicate that CA technology is implemented in relatively smaller plots than conventional farming (0.36ha compared to 0.85ha) but has a significant contribution to total maize production, on average 50% of output share. Output elasticities indicate positive responses for labor and seed in CA, and negative responses in conventional farming. On the other hand, there are negative responses to land and draft in CA. Fertilizer has a greater positive response in CA than in conventional farming. Overall returns to scale are similar for CA and conventional farming (0.84 and0.89 respectively). There is evidence of technical progress in CA for the three year panel period. Technical progress has been land-saving but seed and fertilizer-using in CA, while land-using and seed-saving in conventional farming. Joint frontier estimates indicate that farmers will produce 39% more in CA compared to conventional farming. Technical efficiency levels are generally the same (about 68%) for both technologies. Two-thirds of farmers achieve efficiency scores in the 60-80% range both CA and conventional farming technologies. These results show significant yield gains in CA practices and significant contributions to food production. CA is land-saving, and this is an important issue for land constrained farmers because they can still have viable food production on smaller area. But high labor demands in CA present some problems in adoption, particularly for the poorer farmers. |
| Keywords: | Conservation agriculture, productivity, efficiency, technical change, Crop Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126767&r=agr |
| By: | Zhang, Yanjie; Wang, Xiaobing; Bruemmer, Bernhard; Yu, Xiaohua |
| Abstract: | China’s rural reforms expose farm households to the risk of administrative land reallocation and adjustment. The possibility of land reallocation gives rise to the problem of tenure insecurity which reduces farm households' incentives to invest in the land and to use the labor forces efficiently and hence negatively affect farmers' income. In this study, the normalized quadratic profit function is used to analyze profit maximization problems in farm households in the Zhejiang and Hubei provinces of China from 1995 to 2002. Additional variables have been introduced to capture the effects of a series of institutional environment and factor market constraints, including land insecurity, crop cultivation structure, labor input and capital input allocations between agricultural and non-agricultural productions. Our results indicate that, although the official controls on rural labor mobility have been relaxed, the rural labor market has not yet reached the optimal level, and a less-than-optimal level of labor input is devoted to non-agriclutural activities for farm households in both provinces. Furthermore, the negative effects of land tenure insecurity on farmhousehold income through the interactions with the other three input allocations are observed in the Hubei province. |
| Keywords: | Land security, Input allocation, Farm household income, Rural China, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Food Security and Poverty, Labor and Human Capital, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, Q12, Q15, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126467&r=agr |
| By: | Wieliczko, Barbara |
| Abstract: | Currently a reform of the CAP is being prepared. The EC proposed a set of alterations that in its opinion should make the CAP just the right tool to achieve the “Europe 2020” objectives within agricultural sector and rural areas. The paper argues that the reform Cap should focus on food security and safety as these issues encompass all the main challenges that are to be faced by agriculture and rural areas. Yet, the EU proposal is far from offering a coherent set of policy measures. The article suggests that in order to ameliorate the proposal a hierarchy of objectives must first be named. |
| Keywords: | common agricultural policy, food security, food safety, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Q01, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126039&r=agr |
| By: | Heinrich, Barbara; von Cramon-Taubadel, Stephan |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126772&r=agr |
| By: | Yu, Bingxin |
| Abstract: | Recent global food crisis combined with a series of natural disasters had a significant impact on the availability and affordability of food in Bangladesh, threatening to reverse the progress made in poverty reduction and hunger elimination achieved in the past decade. In this paper, we examine the direct and indirect linkages between agriculture and nutrition in Bangladeshi households, with a focus on rice. We first investigate the factors of rice productivity at plot, household, and village level by estimating an endogenous switching model of yield by season. Next we inspect the relationship between income and nutrition using a partial linear model to control for household characteristics. Finally we are able to simulate how increased rice yields and elevated rice price affect consumption decisions and nutritional status of households. Estimation results indicate that farmers’ decision to use irrigation and yield response are determined by different factors, including input intensification, land ownership, education, and access to assets and infrastructure. Household nutrition intake is influenced by household asset, household head characteristics, and consumption of own production. Simulation results suggest increasing rice yield is an effective way to improve nutrition intake in Bangladesh. Our results highlight the importance of input availability and timeliness to increase rice production and achieve self-sufficiency. Government investment in rural infrastructure and service proves to increase both food supply and nutrient intake. In the long run, food security and nutrition can only be achieved through adoption of modern technology developed by agricultural R&D and extension activities. There is no evidence of negative impact of rice price on nutrient intake, implying that households are able to cope with high food prices through shifting to less balanced diets or through cutting expenditure in other activities like education and health care. At the same time, policies targeting vulnerable groups are needed to address food insecurity and malnutrition. |
| Keywords: | Bangladesh, nutrition, rice, productivity, endogeneity, elasticity, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Security and Poverty, C14, O13, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126803&r=agr |
| By: | Ciaian, Pavel; Kancs, d'Artis; Swinnen, Johan F.M. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the income and structural effects of the Single Payment Scheme (SPS). In particular, we analyze how the income distributional effects and farm restructuring are impacted by the SPS by accounting for entitlement tradability, cross-compliance and CAP 'greening' requirements, different SPS implementation models, and the entitlement stock. Our results suggest that the SPS implication details are highly important: farmers’ benefits can range from 100% of the SPS value to a negative policy incidence, and farm structural change may be hindered by the SPS. |
| Keywords: | Decoupled subsidies, capitalization, land market, income distributional effects, SPS, structural change., Agricultural and Food Policy, H22, L11, Q11, Q12, Q15, Q18, P32, R12., |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126683&r=agr |
| By: | Bekchanov, Maksud; Bhaduri, Anik; Lenzen, Manfred; Lamers, John P.A. |
| Abstract: | Increases in water demand due to population growth, industrial development and urbanization necessitate economically efficient use of water resources worldwide. This is particularly true in the dryland zones of the world relying on irrigated agriculture for economic development such as in Uzbekistan, Central Asia. Due to ill-managed water resources and the dominance of high water intensive crops, water use efficiency in the region is very low. This challenges Uzbekistan to modernize its agricultural sectors and develop its industrial sectors guided by the principles of a "green economy", which are the basis for sustainable growth. Therefore, this study aims to prioritize economic sectors according to their sustainable growth potential. To this end, we employ a national inputoutput model to estimate economic backward and forward linkage measures and virtual water contents across the sectors. Our results indicate that developing agro-processing industries and the livestock sector rather than relying on the production of raw agricultural commodities such as cotton, wheat, and rice provides more sustainable economic development in Uzbekistan. However, to exploit these comparative advantages, the necessary market infrastructure and institutions as well as an increased control over wastewaters would need to be implemented. |
| Keywords: | water productivity, input-output model, virtual water content, backward linkage index, forward linkage index, Aral Sea Basin, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:126872&r=agr |
| By: | Li, Luping; Huang, Jikun; Hu, Ruifa; Pray, Carl E. |
| Abstract: | Most of the poorest people live in rural areas worldwide, characterized by uncertain rainfall, low levels of input use, and low returns to land and labor. Farmers in these risky production environments often face drought that interacts with many other agronomic stresses to reduce yields and push them deeper into poverty and hunger. The primary objective of this paper is to estimate the effects that have resulted from the adoption of drought-tolerant rice. Food security and water shortage are two major challenges for China. Rice is a staple food for most Chinese people and has played an important role in ensuring food security in China. This paper assesses the impacts of Hanyou 3, one of the drought-tolerant rice varieties that have been released to farmers’ fields already in China, on water use and rice production. The results indicated that the rice farmers gave less irrigation to DT variety as compared to non-DT variety, saving about 30-40% of water over non-DT variety. It is also found that the DT rice variety in China yielded as much as existing high-yielding varieties under normal or high rainfall conditions. |
| Keywords: | Water-saving, Drought-tolerance, Rice, China, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126745&r=agr |
| By: | Ascione, Elisa; Henke, Roberto; Salvioni, Cristina |
| Abstract: | The recent CAP has increasingly supported the process of farm diversification throughout a set of measures aimed at enhancing alternative forms of incomes. The paper focuses on evaluating to what extent the diversification strategy enhanced the economic sustainability of different typologies of farms, ranking from micro farms to traditional conventional ones and to the diversified and quality-differentiated farm. The paper analyses the evolution a set of indicators used to assess and compare the performance of these farm typologies over the 2003-09 period. Results show that a certain level of multifunctionality and diversification is actually featured in most farms. The majority of farms in the panel is focused on the strategy of differentiation through quality products, which is key for Italian agriculture performance and competitiveness. Moreover, the indicators of economic sustainability seem to confirm the complementary role of rural development policies to the first pillar of the CAP. |
| Keywords: | income diversification, multifunctionality, farm profiles, Italian farm strategies, Agricultural and Food Policy, Production Economics, Q010, Q120, |
| Date: | 2012–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126013&r=agr |
| By: | Shahi Kiran, A.S.; Umesh, Kotrakerebasegowda |
| Abstract: | The enterprise of agriculture is subject to lot many uncertainties. Still, more people in India earn their livelihood from this sector, than from all other economic sectors put together. Agricultural associated with several risks which include adverse changes in both input and output prices, Agricultural risk can be categorized as production risk, price or market, financial or credit, and institutional risks etc. The farmers are not assured of good quality and disease free crop which is essential for obtaining reasonable yield sufficient to recover expenses. Crop insurance is one of the major management strategies to overcome risk to greater extent. It is regarded as an essential part of well rounded agricultural programme designed to provide protection to farmers against physical failure of crops due to weather and other unavoidable natural hazards. Compared to other traditional risk reducing strategies, such as crop diversification, inter-cropping, mixed farming, integration of farm etc., available to farmers crop insurance is more efficient. If a farmer is assured of financial compensation when his income is considerably low for reasons beyond his control, he would more likely allocate his resources in a manner that would maximize his return. Crop insurance not only helps the farmers to withstand the shock from uncertain situation but also acts as incentive to use the resources efficiently and achieve higher level of productivity. It is important for us to encourage farmers to get into the crop insurance scheme so that there will be some amount of assured income for them in case of any unexpected loss in production process. |
| Keywords: | Crop insurance, risk, uncertainty, resource use, insured and non insured, Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126734&r=agr |
| By: | Matthias Diermeier; Torsten Schmidt |
| Abstract: | The increasing use of food commodities for biofuel production has substantial impact on prices and quantities of these and other food commodities. It is therefore likely that this trend also intensifies the competition for arable land. However, evidence for this hypothesis is generated by calibrated models while empirical evidence is rare. In this paper we analyze the effects of crude oil price and prices of input factors for biofuel production on prices, areas and quantities of selected food commodities empirically performing Granger causality and cointegration tests as well as calculating impulse response functions. On the world aggregated level we reveal that the crude petroleum price only Granger causes the price of maize and wheat but the area used for the production of maize, soybean oil, sugar and wheat. The effect on wheat indicates an indirect effect on land use. Moreover, the price index of fats and oils has a stronger effect on prices, areas and quantities of other food commodities. At the country level, we identify that for the U.S., the maize price is the key variable influencing area and quantity of cereals. Additionally, in Indonesia and Malaysia we find that the palm oil price has significant effects on the area and quantity of rice. Despite these positive effects of commodity prices on land use we find no evidence for direct land competition between oil crops and cereals. |
| Keywords: | Biofuel; food commodity prices; crude oil price; Granger causality;cointegration |
| JEL: | L71 Q11 Q42 C32 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0340&r=agr |
| By: | Ben Fradj, Nosra; Aghajanzadeh-Darzi, Parisa; Jayet, Pierre-Alain |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to estimate the perennial crop potential regarding new uses like second generation biofuels. We focus on the introduction of a perennial yearly harvested crop, namely the miscanthus, in European agricultural short term supply model - AROPAj. Inserting this crop in the model requires the determination of two elements: a) the yield growth function which is calibrated and based on the few available data and adjusted to the yield of traditional crops, and b) the discounted cost, which is calculated through the "Faustmann" rule used in the case of a perennial yearly harvested crop. We estimate ?rst the potential yield of miscanthus at the subregional level (i.e. the "farm group? level), and we parametrize the potential rate for simulations. The analysis covers a large part of the European Union and provides a land use change assessment estimated when the miscanthus yield potential varies. The model appears to be able to capture some complex land use change involving croplands and grasslands when a perennial competitive crop is introduced, beyond the usual competition between food crops and energy crops. The major result is summarized by the common evolution of substitution of croplands and grasslands by the perennial crop when its potential increases. |
| Keywords: | Bio-economic model, mathematical linear programming, European Union, perennial bioenergy crops, grasslands, croplands, land use change., Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126781&r=agr |
| By: | Qin, Yu; Zhang, Xiaobo |
| Abstract: | We used a primary panel survey at the household level conducted in 18 remote natural villages over three waves in China to study how road access shapes farmers’ agricultural production patterns and input uses. Our results show that access to roads is strongly associated with specialization in agricultural production. In natural villages with better road access, farmers plant fewer numbers of crops, purchase more fertilizer, and invest more money on labor hiring. In combination of these factors, road connections improve household agricultural income, and in particular cash income. However, better access to rural roads does not appear to bring about significant changes in non-agricultural income. |
| Keywords: | Rural Road, Agricultural Specialization, China, International Development, O18, |
| Date: | 2012–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126455&r=agr |
| By: | Kassie, Menale; Jaleta, Moti; Shiferaw, Bekele A.; Mmbando, Frank; Mekuria, Mulugetta |
| Abstract: | Soil fertility depletion is considered one of the main biophysical limiting factors for increasing per capita food production for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. The adoption and diffusion of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs), as a way to tackle this challenge, has become an important issue in the development policy agenda in the region. This paper examines the adoption decisions for SAPs, using recent primary data of multiple plot-level observations collected in 4 districts and 60 villages of rural Tanzania. The paper employs a multivariate probit technique to model simultaneous interdependent adoption decisions by farm households. The analysis reveals that rainfall, insects and disease shocks, government effectiveness in provision of extension services, tenure status of plot, social capital, plot location and size, and household assets, all influence farmer investment in SAPs. Policies that target SAPs and are aimed at 1 Corresponding author: Menale Kassie: m.kassie@cgiar.org. Tel: 254(20) 722 4628; Fax: 254(20) 7224600. 2 organizing farmers into associations, improving land tenure security, and enhancing skills of civil servants can increase uptake of SAPs in smallholder systems. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable agricultural practices, multiple adoption, multivariate probit, Tanzania, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126791&r=agr |
| By: | Nhu Che; Tom Kompas; Vilaphonh Xayavong; David Cook |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses productivity, profitability and efficiency by climate zone for the WA grains industry over the past 30 years. More specifically, following the studies by the Department of Agriculture and Food of Western Australia (2011) and Che, et.al (2012), this paper uses the Törnqvist formula index to measure and analyse movements in inputs, outputs, climate conditions, Total Factor Productivity (TFP), and TFP adjusted by climate impacts for WA grains farms in six climate zones over the period 1980 to 2009-10. Estimates provide a stochastic production frontier and technical efficiency model for six rainfall zones (including the High Rainfall North and South zones; the Medium Rainfall North and South zones and Low Rainfall North and South zones), which determine the relative importance of land, labour, capital, materials, fuel and energy inputs into wheat production and the effects of climate zone on farm efficiency. A construction of overall farm profiles in Medium Rainfall zones based on the efficiency rankings of grain farms is also generated. |
| Keywords: | productivity, profitability, Western Australia, efficiency, climate impacts, grain production |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:crwfrp:1208&r=agr |
| By: | Rodrigues de Castro, Eduardo; Teixeira, Erly Cardoso; Valdes, Constanza |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study is to investigate the direct and indirect impacts of sugarcane expansion on deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon from 2001 to 2008. The analysis is based on the multi-output production theory where the annual agricultural acreage represents the Production Possibility Frontier. It assumes that agricultural area is limited and any agricultural expansion occurs over traditional agricultural areas displacing some crops and pushing them to the agricultural frontier, where forests will be cleared. The econometric analysis was carried out using a panel data model where the counties are the cross section unity. The output supply for São Paulo state and the agricultural frontier states (Mato Grosso, Rondônia, Maranhão and Tocantins) in the Center-West region are estimated separately, considering the acreage as proxy of the output and the crop prices of sugarcane, soybean, corn, beans, cotton and the total annual acreage as the independent variables. The impact of crop prices and the annual agricultural crop expansion over the deforestation acreage are also estimated. Our best estimates reveal that it is not possible to establish a direct connection between sugarcane area expansion and Amazon deforestation, and while the indirect effects are very small, sugarcane also expanded over pastures and perennial crops, leading to an overall increase in annual crop area. |
| Keywords: | Brazil, sugarcane, agricultural frontier, Amazon deforestation, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Q110, Q160, Q230, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126735&r=agr |
| By: | Wang, Chenggang; Pan, Suwen; Lijian, Qin |
| Abstract: | Using a unique panel of rice-producing Chinese households, this paper tests off-farm employment’s effects on agricultural production. We find the sizable rural out-migration in the past two decades has had negligible effects on China’s rice production. This cannot be explained by farm labor market perfection or any technological improvements financed by off-farm income; rather, evidence points to the persistence of disguised unemployment in 21st century China. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Household Model, rural-urban migration, surplus labor, agricultural productivity growth., Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Labor and Human Capital, O12, O18, Q12, |
| Date: | 2012–08–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126906&r=agr |
| By: | Mabiso, Athur |
| Abstract: | This study investigates smallholder farmer participation in biofuels-related crop and land rental markets and estimates whether participation is associated with farm income. Multinomial treatment-effects models are estimated using farm household data from 247 South African smallholder farmers. Results reveal, among other things, that receiving price information increases smallholders’ likelihood to participate in biofuels cropping markets by 18% and by 27% the likelihood to participate in biofuels land-rental markets. While not statistically significant, the mean income of smallholders growing biofuels crops is 33% higher than that of those renting land to biofuels firms and 16% higher than that of non-participants. |
| Keywords: | Sub Saharan Africa, South Africa, Biofuels contracts, Land rental markets, Smallholder participation, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Labor and Human Capital, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, O12, Q12, Q13, Q15, Q16, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126370&r=agr |
| By: | Irwin, Scott H. |
| Abstract: | The Masters Hypothesis is the claim that unprecedented buying pressure in recent years from commodity index investors created massive bubbles in food and energy prices. A number of recent studies investigate the empirical relationship between index investment and price movements in agricultural futures markets. One line of research uses time-series regression tests, such as Granger causality tests, to investigate the relationship between price movements and index positions. This research provides very little evidence supporting the Masters Hypothesis in agricultural futures markets. A second line of research uses cross-sectional regression tests and studies in this area also provide very limited evidence in favor of the Masters Hypothesis for agricultural futures markets. A third line of research investigates whether there is a significant relationship between commodity index trading and the difference, or spread, between futures prices of different contract maturities. These studies provide a range of results depending on the type of test. However, the bulk of the evidence indicates either no relationship or a negative relationship, which is once again inconsistent with the Masters Hypothesis. Overall, this growing body of literature fails to find compelling evidence that buying pressure from commodity index investment in recent years caused a massive bubble in agricultural futures prices. The Masters Hypothesis is simply not a valid characterization of reality. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, futures markets, index investment, Masters Hypothesis, speculation, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty, D84, G12, G13, G14, Q13, Q41, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:spaawp:126944&r=agr |
| By: | Ricome, Aymeric; Chaib, Karim; Ridier, Aude; Kephaliacos, Charilaos; Carpy-Goulard, Francoise |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to study the effect of agricultural policies on marketing decisions as well as the link between marketing and production decisions. We develop an analytical model to study how policies affect marketing decisions and conditions under which the two types of decisions are separable. We found that government policies impact marketing decisions. We also found that the necessary conditions to have separability of decisions are rather restrictive, even in the presence of a perfect hedging tool. We build a stochastic multiperiodic farm model to investigate the empirical relevance of our theoretical findings. The farm model is used to model a representative farm for the Midi-Pyrénées region in France (South-West). The results confirm the impact of price risk and direct payments on both production and marketing decisions with the proportion of grain marketed under different contracts that vary. We also observe that a large supply of marketing contracts allows to stabilize production choices. In particular, marketing contracts can contribute to help farmers to adopt green practices, which are riskier than conventional techniques intensive in chemical inputs. |
| Keywords: | multiperiodic farm model, stochastic simulation, risk analysis, arable farming, Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, Q12, Q13, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126222&r=agr |
| By: | Freguin-Gresh, Sandrine; Anseeuw, Ward; D'Haese, Marijke F.C. |
| Abstract: | This paper intends to contribute to the on-going debate about whether and how restructured agri-food markets can provide viable market opportunities for small-scale farmers in South Africa. It aims at analyzing contract farming from the small-scale farmer perspective and at better understanding the implications for small-scale farmers regarding contractual arrangements with processing and/or marketing firms. The paper, based on empirical research conducted in the Limpopo Province of South Africa and on a combination of qualitative and econometric analyses, argues however that contract farming is not a panacea for small-scale farmers. On one hand, contract farming improves agricultural production for contract farmers benefiting from increased incomes, enables better access to services and resources and creates new opportunities to participate in markets. However, on the other hand, the results, show that contract farming remains limited and mostly involves the already better-off, who have benefited from specific development paths and public support. This case study shows that contract farming by itself does not appear to provide an efficient means of reducing poverty, nor does it provide an institutional tool through which to improve rural livelihoods. It does therefore, not represent a tool for the majority of small farmers and for redressing the historical imbalances in the South African agricultural sector. |
| Keywords: | Contract farming, small-scale agriculture, poverty, South Africa, Agribusiness, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Security and Poverty, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126567&r=agr |
| By: | Mason, Nicole M.; Jayne, Thomas S.; Myers, Robert J. |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a conceptual model of farmers’ production decisions in the context of dual output marketing channels (e.g., government and private sector) when prices at harvest time and the availability of one of the channels are unknown at planting time. It then uses the operationalized model to estimate the marginal effects of Food Reserve Agency (FRA) policies on smallholder behavior in Zambia. Results suggest that increases in the FRA farmgate maize price influence smallholders’ production decisions by raising their expected maize price. Smallholders respond to an increase in the FRA price by both intensifying and extensifying their maize production. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126927&r=agr |
| By: | Kapfer, Martin; Kantelhardt, Jochen; Eckstein, Karin; Hübner, Rico |
| Abstract: | Agriculture provides commodities and has an influence on the environment. However, even if the value of agricultural production is easy to evaluate, it is difficult to estimate the efficiency of agricultural production at site level. Furthermore, the valuation of environmental impact is complex. Non-parametric approaches such as DEA allow for an estimation of environment and economic performance. We suggest a plot-specific approach combining GIS and DEA models. This allows a spatially explicit assessment of agricultural land use for different subjects such as ecology and economy. In a second stage DEAmodel, the impact of farm- and site-specific characteristics on efficiency is analysed. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural land use, data envelopment, environment-orientated orientatedtechnical efficiency, economy-orientated technical efficiency, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126629&r=agr |
| By: | Latruffe, Laure; Bravo-Ureta, Boris E.; Moreira, Victor H.; Desjeux, Yann; Dupraz, Pierre |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the association between agricultural subsidies and farm efficiency using data from the European Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) for operations specializing on dairy. The analysis covers the 18 year period going from 1990 to 2007 and includes eleven countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Separate translog stochastic input distance frontiers are estimated for each country. Results show high technical efficiency averages and positive average rates of technological change. In addition, higher subsidy dependence and larger size are significantly associated with lower technical efficiency across all eleven countries. |
| Keywords: | Subsidies, CAP, technical efficiency, technological progress, Europe, dairy production, input distance frontiers, Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126846&r=agr |
| By: | Sali, Guido |
| Abstract: | The amount of agricultural land available in developed countries is decreasing by a degree which may profoundly affect in the long term the food security. This paper reports a quantitative investigation of the factors that contribute to this decrease, by analysing 30 countries during the period 1995-2009. The panel data analysis suggests that a variety of phenomena are associated with the decline in agricultural land: a high level of gross domestic product, an increase in the size of urban areas and transport networks, and an increase in agricultural productivity. This last factor is linked to the abandonment of the least productive plots of land and to its conversion to forest. In contrast, an higher quality of institutions is associated with a reduction in the rate of cropland loss. This suggests that a qualitative growth in institutional quality determines a greater attention to agricultural land as a resource for the supply of food products and environmental services. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural land loss, panel data analysis, developed countries, land use change, urbanisation, International Development, Land Economics/Use, Q24, Q15, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126431&r=agr |
| By: | Jaramillo, Jose Luis; Yunez-Naude, Antonio; Serrano-Cote, Valeria |
| Abstract: | Based on agricultural trade liberalization that the Mexican governments began to implement in early 1990s and increasing agricultural trade flows in North America, in this paper we show empirically that trade liberalization between Mexico and United States (U.S.) under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has implied structural change in prices received by Mexican producers of maize, sorghum and wheat, and that this has been accompanied by price convergence with U.S. prices of these crops. Using data on Mexico and U.S. prices from 1981 to 2010, the study provides evidence that trade liberalization has led to greater integration of Mexico-U.S. agricultural markets, specifically of the three major food-crops produced in Mexico, evidenced by the existence of a long-term relationship between the price series analyzed, greater flows of trade, and an increase in the speed of adjustment of domestic prices in response to changes in international prices. |
| Keywords: | markets, price convergence, structural change, grains, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing, Q 18, F 13, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126495&r=agr |
| By: | Yu, Wusheng; Jensen, Hans Grinsted |
| Abstract: | Many national governments around the world applied export restrictions for achieving domestic market stabilization during the 2007/8 world food price crisis. However, current literature says little about how these export restrictions interact with existing domestic support measures in jointly determining domestic market outcomes. This paper analyzes this interaction by providing a quantitative assessment on how increased spending on agricultural domestic support in China offset the negative effects on grain production caused by the country‟s export restrictions and how these two types of measures jointly moderated rises of domestic grain prices. In particular, domestic and trade measures on key agricultural inputs such as fertilizers are shown to contribute significantly to expand grain outputs and reduce domestic market prices. While the short term goal in stabilizing domestic grain prices was achieved through these measures, large fiscal and efficiency costs were incurred, especially considering how the short term export restrictions seemingly necessitated the extra spending on input based domestic subsidies. |
| Keywords: | food crisis, export restrictions, agricultural domestic support, China, computable general equilibrium model, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty, C68, F13, Q17, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126632&r=agr |
| By: | Corsi, Alessandro; Salvioni, Cristina |
| Abstract: | The process of change in the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) from trade and market distorting measures to more neutral interventions has been long, but in this process the 2003 reform (the so-called Fischler reform) has been the most important step, abolishing most coupled support and introducing the fully decoupled Single Farm Payment Scheme (SFP). In this paper, we try to assess its effects on off-farm labour participation of farmers, an issue also relevant in terms of rural development effects. We estimate a random effects probit model of operators’ off-farm labour participation from a panel of Italian COP farms drawn from the FADN, thus controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. The results suggest that the effects of the reform on off-farm labour participation, if any, are weak. No variable directly related to the CAP reform is significant. These results are not in contrasts with the theoretical considerations, since the reform entails both wealth and substitution effects that tend to offset each other. |
| Keywords: | CAP reform, off-farm work, farm household, Agricultural and Food Policy, J220, J430, Q120, Q180, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126702&r=agr |
| By: | Mulugeta, Tsegaye; Hundie, Bekele |
| Abstract: | This study aims at shedding light on the potential impact of agricultural technology adoption on household food consumption status. The analysis is based on the data collected from randomly selected 200 farm households in Southeast Ethiopia. Since the process of technology adoption usually involves non-random placement of adopters, we employed a propensity score matching method to avoid bias arising from possible self-selection. The results show that adoption of improved wheat technologies has a robust and positive effect on farmers food consumption per adult equivalent per day. The Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATT), based on three estimation algorithms, ranges from 377.37 calories per day to 603.16 calories per day which indicates that efforts to disseminate existing wheat technologies will highly contribute to food security among farm households. |
| Keywords: | Impact, adoption, food consumption, propensity score matching, Ethiopia, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126766&r=agr |
| By: | El Benni, Nadja; Finger, Robert |
| Abstract: | Risk management strategies are of increasing importance in agriculture. An important question is, what type of risk management strategies are required to reduce farmers’ income risks. Applying a variance decomposition approach using data of more than 3000 Swiss farms over a five year time period, this paper quantifies the direct and indirect effects of yields, prices and costs on net revenue variability at the farm‐level. We find that costs play only a minor role in determining income variability but price and yield risks are of outmost importance and very crop‐specific. For instance, price risks dominate for intensive wheat and sugar beet producer; while corn and barley producer tend to suffer more form production risks. Group comparisons and logistic regressions results show that more intensively producing farms tend to suffer more from price risk, while yield risks are dominant for less intensive producers. |
| Keywords: | variance decomposition, revenue risk, cost risk, crop production, natural hedge, Crop Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty, Q12, Q10, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126758&r=agr |
| By: | Djanibekov, Utkur; Djanibekov, Nodir; Khamzina, Asia |
| Abstract: | Rural livelihood in arid irrigated areas is hampered by water scarcity, land degradation and climate change. Studies showed a possibility to tackle these challenges by establishing tree plantations on marginal croplands as supported by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) forestation programs. Despite the environmental impact such projects would also affect the decision making of rural population by changing their land use activities, incomes and consumption structures. Thus, this study further analyzed the impact of CDM forestation on rural livelihood by considering rural interdependencies via wage-labor relations of agribusiness-operated farms and rural households in the Khorezm province and southern districts of Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan. We developed a farm-household dynamic programming model that jointly maximizes farm profits and rural households net incomes over a 15-years horizon under the scenario of decreasing irrigation water availability and plantation forestry with a seven year rotation period. The analysis showed that shortly following a land use change towards afforestation, the farm demand for rural households’ labor would decline thus decreasing the household incomes. Yet, later on after harvesting tree plantations, in year seven, the farm benefits would be transmitted to rural households via access to cheaper fuelwood and leaves as fodder, as well as via improved land use activities. The availability of fuelwood from tree plantations would significantly decrease CO2 emissions of households by substituting fossil fuels, while leaves would reduce expenditures for livestock fodder. These substitution effects would lead to the increase of income and in turn improve households’ food consumption. Besides, given the low irrigation demand of trees, a conversion of marginal cropland to tree plantations would increase the irrigation water availability for other productive croplands. These changes would lead that tree plantations would increase in year seven profits of farmer (up to 39,200 USD) and net incomes of rural households (up to 12,700 USD). Whereas when only conventional land uses are followed the decline in water availability would reduce profits of farm (from 13,000 USD to 9,850 USD) and net incomes of rural households (from 11,900 to 10,500 USD) over the modeled period. Overall, we argue that the implementation of the short-term CDM forestation could help cushion repercussions of water shortages on rural livelihoods, sustaining energy, income and food security, as well as mitigating climate change in drylands. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable rural development, dynamic farm-household model, short-rotation forestry, marginal croplands, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126765&r=agr |
| By: | Ayinde, Kayode; Ayinde, Opeyemi Eyitayo; Muchie, Mammo; Omotesho, O.A.; Adewumi, Matthew Olaniyi |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126732&r=agr |
| By: | Bimbo, Francesco; Viscecchia, Rosaria; Nardone, Gianluca |
| Abstract: | In the last years the promotion of alternative food supply networks has grown in many developed countries as tool of Rural Development. There are evidences about the potential beneficial role of these networks in promoting healthy eating habits becoming also an important measure of health policy. Our study explore the effect of the local food supply networks on adult Italian BMI taking into account for each individual the relative socio-economic status, the eating habits and other social behaviors. We use a cross-section of individual-level data, from the Multipurpose Survey of Households, matched with regional-level data on food outlets density and we adopt an IV estimation method to account the food stores potential endogenity. Results show that having access to alternative food supply network lead to a reduction on adult Italian BMI and contribute to improve human health. and consequently to reduce public health expenditure. |
| Keywords: | farmers markets, obesity, rural development policy, health policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, I18, Q13, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126060&r=agr |
| By: | Egbendewe-Mondzozo, Aklesso; Swinton, Scott M.; Izaurralde, R. Cesar; Manowitz, David H.; Zhang, Xuesong |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126749&r=agr |
| By: | Arora, Abhimanyu; Swinnen, Johan F.M.; Verpoorten, Marijke |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes data on self-reported food insecurity of more than 50,000 individuals in 18 Sub- Saharan African countries over the period 2005 to 2008, when global food prices increased dramatically. The average level of self-reported food insecurity was high but remarkably stable, at about 54%. However, this average hides large heterogeneity, both within countries and across countries. In eight of the sample countries, self-reported food security improved, while it worsened in the ten other countries. Our results suggest that heterogeneous effects in self-reported food security are consistent with economic predictions, as they are correlated with net food consumption (both at the household and country level) and economic growth. Specifically, self-reported food security improved on average in rural households, while it worsened in urban households. Improvements in food security were positively correlated with net food exports and GDP per capita growth. We estimate that over the period 2005-2008 between 5 and 12 million people in the 18 SSA countries became more food secure. While the self-reported indicator used in this paper requires further study and one should carefully interpret the results, our findings suggest the need for a critical evaluation of the currently used data in the public debate on the food price crisis, which makes mention of hundreds of millions of additional food insecure. |
| Keywords: | Food policy, food insecurity measurement, Sub-Saharan Africa, food crisis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, Risk and Uncertainty, Q18, I32, O551, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126897&r=agr |
| By: | Fellmann, Thomas; Dominguez, Ignacio Perez; Witzke, Heinz-Peter; Oudendag, Diti |
| Abstract: | The contribution of the agricultural sector to climate change is gaining more and more visibility and therewith, interest is growing on policy options to induce agricultural GHG mitigation. However, so far only little is known about the different impacts of specific policies on GHG mitigation on the one hand and agricultural production and markets on the other hand. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the impact of three alternative abatement policies (implementing an emission standard, tradable emission permits and a livestock emission tax) to reduce agricultural GHG emissions in the EU. The policy scenarios are designed to achieve a 20% reduction of EU agricultural GHG emissions in 2020 compared to 2004. Projection results show that emission reduction effects per EU Member State in each scenario are quite different from the EU average, depending on the production level and the composition of the agricultural activities. Moreover, the policy instrument chosen makes a considerable difference with regard to effects on production, cost-effectiveness and income redistribution within the agricultural sector. It is also highlighted that an effective emission reduction commitment in the EU would be diminished due to a shift of emissions from the EU to the rest of the world (emission leakage), mainly as a result of higher net imports of feed and animal products. The estimates provided can feed the discussion on the feasibility of integrating the agricultural sector in multi-sectoral emission abatement policies currently in place (e.g. EU emission trading directive) or under consideration. |
| Keywords: | GHG emissions, EU, agricultural sector, mitigation policies, CAPRI model, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126815&r=agr |
| By: | Kibonge, Aziza |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126908&r=agr |
| By: | Tefera, Nigussie |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2012–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126698&r=agr |
| By: | Katchova, Ani L.; Woods, Timothy A. |
| Abstract: | Consumer interest in locally produced foods has been increasing and many grocery retailers and other businesses have been involved in marketing local foods to interested consumers. We study the business strategies that food consumer cooperatives in the U.S. use to promote local foods to their patrons. Data are collected from a national survey of the general managers of food cooperatives. This study’s objectives are: 1) to analyze the types of business strategies and frequency of use for these business strategies to promote local foods and 2) to identify the types of food cooperatives that are more versus less intense users of these promotion strategies. Unlike previous studies, the emphasis for this study is on promotion/marketing strategies as opposed to sourcing/working with local farmers business strategies. We use principal component analysis and cluster analysis to group food co-ops based on their involvement with local food promotion activities. We find that food co-ops can be grouped into three main clusters based on the size of the food co-op and its location. These findings can be used by food cooperatives and other local food retailers to attract consumers and increase local food sales. |
| Keywords: | food consumer cooperatives, local foods, consumers., Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, Q13, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126770&r=agr |
| By: | Volk, Tina; Rednak, Miroslav; Erjavec, Emil; Juvancic, Luka |
| Abstract: | The paper describes the development of a methodological tool for classification and analysis of agricultural and rural development policies. The tool called APM (Agri-Policy Measures template) compiles a comprehensive database of measures, allowing for the international comparison of agricultural policies. Uniform classification of agricultural policy measures has all the characteristics of internationally-recognized classifications (OECD, EU, EAA). The method was applied in the Western Balkan countries (WBs) in order to provide an analysis of the development and current situation in agriculture and agricultural policy in Western Balkan countries (WBs) in relation to the EU accession process. |
| Keywords: | agricultural and rural development policy, policy assessment, Western Balkan countries, EU accession, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126918&r=agr |
| By: | Wanjiku, Julliet; Ogada, Maurice Juma; Guthiga, Paul; Karugia, Joseph Thuo; Massawe, Stella; Wambua, Jonesmus |
| Abstract: | Shrinking productive land coupled with climate change has led to rising food insecurity in COMESA region. The situation has been exacerbated by the rise in food prices as witnessed in the vast majority of COMESA member countries and elsewhere in the world. Intra-regional trade in food staples offers prospects for enhancing food security through cross border trade and movement of food from surplus to deficit areas. The objective of the current study is to analyze the opportunities available in intra-regional trade in food staples in COMESA region. Using data for selected countries in COMESA region, the study finds that, while some countries, or even some regions within the same country, are food surplus, others are food deficit and literally lacking food to buy in some seasons. This creates a framework for a win-win situation—the food surplus countries/regions could get better prices for their products by selling to food deficit countries/regions while food deficit countries/regions could avoid food shortages and extreme food price volatility by allowing inflow of food staples from surplus countries/region. The regional diversity, differential rainfall patterns across the countries coupled with the phenomenon of staggered harvesting due to spatial climatic variability has and will continue to be major stimulus for cross-border trade from food surplus areas in one country to food deficit areas in neighboring countries. The study also finds that a more liberalized cross-border trade leads to reduced price volatility. Further, the analysis of the results shows that trade in staples has grown rapidly in the recent past in the COMESA region. Consequently the impacts of regional trade in food staples in the region cannot be debated. The region is also faced with numerous tariff/non-tariff barriers, poor infrastructure and lack of market information which translates to increased transaction costs. The study recommends a regional approach to enhance food security and agricultural growth, rather than a national isolated approach. There is need for a clear follow up and monitoring of the implemented COMESA commitment of eliminating NTBs and prevention of entry of new NTBs. Regional approach is highly advocated to elimination of the NTBs as they are similar across countries in addition to investment in improved infrastructure. |
| Keywords: | COMESA, Food staples, Trade, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126424&r=agr |
| By: | Fischer, Elisabeth; Qaim, Matin |
| Abstract: | With the commercialization of agriculture, women are increasingly disadvantaged because of persistent gender disparities in access to productive resources. Farmer collective action that intends to improve smallholder access to markets and technology could potentially accelerate this trend. Here, we use survey data of small-scale banana producers in Kenya to investigate the gender implications of recently established farmer groups. Traditionally, banana has been a women’s crop in Kenya. Our results confirm that the groups contribute to increasing male control over banana. While male control over banana revenues does not affect household calorie consumption, it has a negative marginal effect on dietary quality. We demonstrate that the negative gender implications of farmer groups can be avoided when women are group members themselves. In the poorest income segments, group membership even seems to have a positive effect on female-controlled income share. Some policy implications towards gender mainstreaming of farmer collective action are discussed. |
| Keywords: | gender, collective action, market access, agricultural technology, household food security and nutrition, Kenya, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Security and Poverty, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126659&r=agr |
| By: | Solovyeva, Irina; Nuppenau, Ernst-August |
| Abstract: | The debate on optimization of policies and instruments of the European agriculture has been lasting for several decades and still there is no unified opinion on that aspect. Although there is an unanimity on targets these policies should achieve, there is an ongoing discussion on policy tools and instruments for practical implementation of CAP in connection with agri-environmental payments. The aim of this paper is to contribute to this discussion by looking at the developed approaches to evaluate environmental and economic efficiency simultaneously as well as to examine possibilities for more targeted agricultural support by an implementation of economic-environmental efficiency analysis. In this regard it is especially interesting to consider the case of support for sustainable land use practices such as in HNV farming (high nature value) and the opportunities of implementing such analyses in areas of HNV agriculture: we consider in particular disadvantageous mountain areas in the Romanian Carpathians and the bordering areas in the Ukrainian Carpathians. |
| Keywords: | CAP measures, agri-environmental payments, economic-environmental efficiency, HNV farming, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q18, Q56, Q57, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:125648&r=agr |
| By: | Taruvinga, Amon; Mushunje, Abbyssinia |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the role of buffer zones in household welfare in Zimbabwe by using primary household level data collected between November and December 2010 from communities that share boundaries with Nyatana Game Park. The descriptive statistics suggest that the contribution of buffer zone activities to household income may be significant, with a positive correlation to household agricultural income for communities that reside inside or close to the Park. Using the Gini decomposition approach and Lorenz curves, the paper further suggest that buffer zone income may be capable of contributing to more equally distributed incomes for rural communities who share boundaries with Game Parks. The implied message is that buffer zones may provide active livelihood sources capable of financing rural household agriculture and reducing income inequality. However, this potential may not be realized because of the current buffer zone design status (created for local secondary use, not for commercial primary use), restrictive policies, high predation, poorly defined buffer zone boundaries and poor institutional support. Need therefore arises to address current barriers as suggested by regression estimates for correlates of household income. This will promote households’ adaptation abilities hence marrying conservation and rural development using positive harvests from buffer zones as incentives for wildlife conservation. |
| Keywords: | Buffer zone incomes, income inequality, household agriculture, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126377&r=agr |
| By: | Kibonge, Aziza |
| Keywords: | Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126910&r=agr |
| By: | Ludena, Carlos E. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses total factor productivity growth in agriculture and its subsectors in Latin America and the Caribbean between 1961 and 2007. To estimate productivity growth we use the Malmquist index, which is a non-parametric methodology that uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) methods. The results show that among developing regions, Latin America and the Caribbean shows the highest agricultural productivity growth, growing at an average rate of 1.9 percent, relative to a world average of 1.7 percent. The higher growth within the region has occurred in the last two decades, especially due to improvements in efficiency and the introduction of new technologies. This result denotes convergence of the region to productivity levels of developed countries such as the United States. Country level results within the region are very heterogeneous. However, land abundant countries such as Argentina, Chile and Colombia consistently outperform land constrained countries such as Central American and Caribbean countries (except for Costa Rica). Within agriculture, crops and non-ruminant sectors have shown the strongest growth between 1961 an 2001 with average growth rates of 0.8 and 2 percent, respectively. Ruminant production has performed the worst with 0.1 percent average growth. We further analyze the cases of Brazil and Cuba to show how policies and external shocks can influence agricultural productivity. These case studies show that policies that do not discriminate the agricultural sectors and that remove price and production distortions may help improve productivity growth in agriculture. |
| Keywords: | Total factor productivity, agriculture, crops, livestock, Latin America and the Caribbean, Malmquist Index, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, O13, O47, O54, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126850&r=agr |
| By: | Berlinschi, Ruxanda; Swinnen, Johan F.M.; Van Herck, Kristine |
| Abstract: | Agricultural employment in industrialized countries has been steadily decreasing despite important levels of farm subsidies. In this paper we provide a new explanation for this puzzle, namely the positive impact of subsidies on the education level of farmers’ children. If farmers are credit constrained, they may underinvest in their children’s education. By increasing farmers’ incomes, subsidies increase investment in education. If more educated children are less willing to become farmers, in the long term subsidies may lead to a reduction of labor supply in the agricultural sector. We provide both theoretical and empirical evidence supporting this argument. Keywords: |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Employment, Structural change, Subsidies, Education, Credit Constraints, Agricultural and Food Policy, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126776&r=agr |
| By: | Negash, Martha |
| Abstract: | This paper provides microeconomic evidence on food security impacts of privately organized biofuel outgrower schemes in Ethiopia. We conducted a household and community level survey and evaluated the impact of castor bean farming. We use endogenous switching regressions to analyze the impact on food security. Food security (as measured by a “food gap”) and food caloric intake is significantly better in households producing castor beans. “Fuel” and “food” are complements rather than substitutes at the micro-level in castor production in Ethiopia. |
| Keywords: | biofuel, castor, food security, Ethiopia, Food Security and Poverty, Q42, Q16, O13, Q12, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126793&r=agr |
| By: | Gajigo, Ousman; Schwab, Benjamin |
| Abstract: | We analyze the consequences of seasonal variation in maternal consumption on child health using two nationally representative Gambian household surveys. Seasonal fluctuation in consumption stems from difficulties borrowing when incomes are low during the rainy season and saving when they peak after harvest. The resulting fluctuations in maternal nutritional intake can affect birth outcomes and lactational performance. Using mother fixed effects to isolate the effect of birth season, we find that child health—measured by weight-for-age and height-for-age—varies significantly with birth timing. Children in farm households born during dry seasons (February-June) fare considerably worse than siblings born in other seasons. |
| Keywords: | Child, Maternal Health, Consumption, Agriculture, Seasonal, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, I20, I22, O12, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126343&r=agr |
| By: | Cardillo, Concetta; Cimino, Orlando; Henke, Roberto; Vanni, Francesco |
| Abstract: | The recent CAP reform proposes a green component of the first pillar of the CAP that remunerates farmers for the provision of environmental public goods, by conditioning the 30% of direct payments to specific requirements. The paper focuses on two of the greening obligations of the reform proposal: the diversification of crops and the establishment of the ecological focus areas. The paper, through FADN data, aims at quantifying the impact of these measures on the gross margin (GM) of farms specialized in arable crops in Italy. The results show different impacts of the green payments on arable crops in Italy according to the characteristics of farms, their location and their economic and physical size, showing data the greening is an “horizontal measure” that does not take into adequate account the specific conditions where farmers operate and the different costs of providing public goods through agriculture. |
| Keywords: | The recent CAP reform proposes a green component of the first pillar of the CAP that remunerates farmers for the provision of environmental public goods, by conditioning the 30% of direct payments to specific requirements. The paper focuses on two of the greening obligations of the reform proposal: the diversification of crops and the establishment of the ecological focus areas. The paper, through FADN data, aims at quantifying the impact of these measures on the gross margin (GM) of farms specialized in arable crops in Italy. The results show different impacts of the green payments on arable crops in Italy according to the characteristics of farms, their location and their economic and physical size, showing data the greening is an “horizontal measure” that does not take into adequate account the specific conditions where farmers operate and the different costs of providing public goods through agriculture., Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q15, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126139&r=agr |
| By: | Wang, Jinxia; Huang, Jikun; Yang, Jun |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126714&r=agr |
| By: | Dhraief, Mohamed Zied; Oueslati, Meriem; Dhehibi, Boubaker |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126710&r=agr |
| By: | Ratinger, Tomas; Foltyn, Ivan; Jelinek, Ladislav; Kristkova, Zuzana |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with the potential effects of the CAP pillar 1 on farm incomes and structural changes. It uses a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium model and a specific analysis on distributional effects. The effect of payments ceiling in the current CAP 2020 proposal with subtracting labour costs will bring only insignificant payment reduction for most farmers except large extensive beef breeders whose direct payments will drop by 13% on average. However, if the condition on labour costs is removed, capping will become effective, payments in some specialisations will drop to half and the production and employment will decline by 6% and 10%, respectively, compared to the current situation. It is showed that small farm measures could easily miss its goal if there is no possibility to adjust the threshold measure more respecting national conditions. Analogously, due to prevalence of large corporate farms on land it is very unlikely that the measure targeted on young farmers will significantly reduce an ageing problem. Regarding greening, the current proposal will induce additional operating costs on farms between 4 and 10 hectares without adequate environmental improvements. We conclude that more flexibility at the national level for respecting national farm structure will be needed if the good intentions of CAP reform are to be effective and efficient. |
| Keywords: | CAP 2020, income distribution, structural change, Czech Republic, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q10, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126221&r=agr |
| By: | Samson, G.S. (Sabrina); Gardebroek, Koos; Jongeneel, Roelof A. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates potential impacts on milk production of Dutch dairy farms if feed prices increase, milk prices decrease and milk quotas are abolished. A quadratic cost function is estimated using panel data on individual dairy farms of the Dutch FADN. Marginal costs and revenues are evaluated to show the heterogeneous farm-level impact of changing prices on potential production developments. The main finding is that potential increases in milk production when quota are abolished, are offset by a decreasing marginal revenue due to lower milk prices, and increasing marginal costs due to higher feed prices. |
| Keywords: | Milk quota, Milk price, Feed price, Dutch dairy sector, Agricultural and Food Policy, Industrial Organization, Political Economy, Q1, D2, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:125956&r=agr |
| By: | Kassie, Menale; Jaleta, Moti; Shiferaw, Bekele A.; Mmbando, Frank; Mekuria, Mulugetta |
| Abstract: | Soil fertility depletion is considered one of the main biophysical limiting factors for increasing per capita food production for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. The adoption and diffusion of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs), as a way to tackle this challenge, has become an important issue in the development policy agenda in the region. This paper examines the adoption decisions for SAPs, using recent primary data of multiple plot-level observations collected in 4 districts and 60 villages of rural Tanzania. The paper employs a multivariate probit technique to model simultaneous interdependent adoption decisions by farm households. The analysis reveals that rainfall, insects and disease shocks, government effectiveness in provision of extension services, tenure status of plot, social capital, plot location and size, and household assets, all influence farmer investment in SAPs. Policies that target SAPs and are aimed at organizing farmers into associations, improving land tenure security, and enhancing skills of civil servants can increase uptake of SAPs in smallholder systems. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable agricultural practices, multiple adoption, multivariate probit, Tanzania, Farm Management, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea12:126779&r=agr |
| By: | Okello, Julius Juma; Lagerkvist, Carl Johan; Ngigi, Marther W.; Karanja, Nancy |
| Abstract: | Peri-urban areas play a major role in the supply of vegetables consumed in urban areas. In order to meet high demand for aesthetic quality characteristics, peri-urban farmers use intensive production practices characterized by use external inputs. This paper uses Means-End Chain analysis approach to examine the role farmers’ personal values play in the decision to use soil fertility improvement inputs namely, animal manures (organic fertilizer) and inorganic fertilizers. It found that use of animal manures and inorganic fertilizers was driven by the need to earn higher profit margins thus making more money in order to meet family needs. This in turn met farmers’ personal values relating to, among others, happiness, leading a comfortable life, independence and healthy life. The major implication of these findings was that farmers’ private goals could, with the urging of the market that demands unique aesthetic quality characteristics, promote intensive applications of both the organic and inorganic inputs with potential negative environmental consequences. |
| Keywords: | Peri-urban vegetable farmers, manure and fertilizer use, personal values, means-end chain approach, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126805&r=agr |
| By: | Brenes Munoz, T.; Lakner, Sebastian; Brummer, Bernhard |
| Abstract: | This article investigates which factors influence the economic growth of organic farms. Organic farming has experienced a substantial growth in Germany since the beginning of the 1990s until today. Most organic farms are concentrated in the southern region of the country, Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg. While some of these farms have expanded their business size, others have contracted, reconverted to conventional or ceased to operate. Using a panel data of 318 farms and a System GMM method, the economic growth of organic farms is analyzed. Regression results suggest that organic farms with high revenue from agriculture are less likely to grow than smaller farms. Growth is influenced by livestock intensity, multiple job holding, share of grasslands areas, soil quality and agri-environmental payments for organic farming. |
| Keywords: | farm-growth, organic farming, Gibrat’s law, part-time farming, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126756&r=agr |
| By: | Kimura, Shingo; Anton, Jesus; Cattaneo, Andrea |
| Abstract: | There is growing concern about the impact of climate change on agriculture and the potential need for better risk management instruments that respond to a more risky environment. This is based on the widespread assumption that climate change will increase weather and yield variability and will expose farmers to higher levels of risk. But it is not obvious what will be the net impact of those on the distribution of yields and its correlation with weather indexes. Five stylized scenarios for crop yields are built on the basis of the available empirical information: baseline, marginal climate change without adaptation, with adaptation and with misalignment of expectations, and an extreme events scenario. A micro simulation model is calibrated using micro farm level data from the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Four alternative policy measures are analyzed: three types of subsidized insurance (individual yield, area-yield and weather index) and an ex post disaster payment. Results on insurance uptake, budgetary costs and impacts on diversification, farmers’ welfare and farm income variability, are presented for three different types of farms. The paper goes beyond indentifying the effectiveness of risk management instruments under stylized climate change scenario and analyze the policy decision criteria when policy makers face ambiguous climate change contingencies. |
| Keywords: | climate change, crop insurance, risk management and weather index insurance, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, D81 / Q12, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126736&r=agr |
| By: | Rojas Lara, Teresa |
| Abstract: | Globally, land use changes and deforestation contribute with around 20% of the green house gases emissions. Payments for Environmental Services (PES) schemes constitute a way to cope with these problems and promote the conservation of natural resources using market-based incentives. Through empirical evidence from Peru, this study assesses the impact of payments for carbon reductions and analyzes factors which can contribute to the adoption of these projects. Household behavior is analyzed with a linear programming model. The preliminary results indicate that carbon payments would increase the income of the farmers, thus could contribute to increase the adoption of these projects. |
| Keywords: | Climate Change, Peru, Payments for Environmental Services (PES), Mathematical Programming, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126807&r=agr |
| By: | Saenger, Christoph; Qaim, Matin; Torero, Maximo; Viceisza, Angelino |
| Abstract: | In emerging markets for high-value food products in developing countries, processing companies search for efficient ways to source raw material of consistent quality. One widely embraced approach is contract farming. But relatively little is known about the appropriate design of contracts, especially in a small farm context. We use the example of the Vietnamese dairy sector to analyze the effectiveness of existing contracts between a processor and smallholder farmers in terms of incentivizing the production of high quality milk. A framed field experiment is conducted to evaluate the impact of two incentive instruments, a price penalty for low quality and a bonus for consistent high quality milk, on farmers’ investment in quality-improving inputs. Statistical analysis suggests that the penalty drives farmers into higher input use, resulting in better output quality. The bonus payment generates even higher quality milk. We also find that input choice levels depend on farmers’ socio-economic characteristics such as wealth, while individual risk preferences seem to be less important. Implications for the design of contracts with smallholders are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Contract farming, incentives, risk, experimental economics, framed field experiment, dairy, Vietnam, developing countries, Agribusiness, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126430&r=agr |
| By: | Cazzuffi, Chiara; McKay, Andrew |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the existing literature on agricultural commercialisation by focussing on the channels through which households sell their crops, as well as considering the determinants of their participation behaviour. An important innovation of this paper is to look at both the type of purchaser households use (trader or other household) and the location of sale (farmgate or not). We study these issues for the case of Vietnam, which over time has achieved an impressive success in agricultural commercialisation, and in relation to rice, drawing on data from a detailed rural panel survey for 2006, 2008 and 2010. We find that household asset endowments and access to public goods such as transport infrastructure significantly increase the probability of selling rice. We also find that larger scale of production and low transport costs are significant determinants of the probability of using more established channels of sale, such as traders or enterprises. Wealthier farmers are more likely to sell via this channel, but not if the quantity they produce is large, which is consistent with their better ability to meet costs for reaching more remunerative marketing opportunities. With respect to location of sales, we find that wealthier households with access to phones and own means of transport, but also households located in areas where transport infrastructure is less developed, are less likely to sell at the farmgate. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Market participation, Rice, Transactions costs, Vietnam., Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, Marketing, O13, Q12, Q13, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126566&r=agr |
| By: | Owuor, George; Shem, A.O. |
| Abstract: | It is widely documented that credit is an important instrument among resource poor farmers in developing economies. However, accessing loans from formal credit institutions has proved almost impossible for small and resource poor farmers leading to reliance on the least regulated informal credit sources such as the Grameen type institutions (Micro-Finance Institutions-MFIs) that peg lending to memberships in social networks such as groups. In spite of the growing preference to this type of lending, very little is known on their contribution among farm related productive activities in Kenya. This paper attempts to illuminate the role of lending via groups on economic performance of smallholder farmers via changes in purchased factor use between borrowers and non-borrowers. We employ endogenous switching regime approach (accomplished via heckman selection correction model) on a sample of 401 respondents made up of 180 borrowers and 221 non-borrowers from two districts in Kenya. Results show significant effects of group based lending on production via improved factors such as fertilizer, planting materials and crop chemicals, as well as on investment in non-farm businesses, hired labour, and in renting in more land. However, descriptive results indicate high fungibility of this type of credit, with over 20% use on non-productive activities, which infringe on expected output effects. Supervision and or issuing of credit in form of inputs could generate expected impact. |
| Keywords: | Informal Micro-Credit, Rural Smallholder Farmers, Productivity, Kenya, Agricultural Finance, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126624&r=agr |
| By: | Ciaian, Pavel; Kancs, d'Artis; Rajcaniova, Miroslava |
| Keywords: | Near-VAR, Energy, Bioenergy, Land use, Crude oil, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Land Economics/Use, C14, C22, C51, D58, Q11, Q13, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126379&r=agr |
| By: | Deppermann, Andre; Bruchof, David; Blesl, Markus; Boysen, Ole; Grethe, Harald |
| Abstract: | Over the last decades traditional energy sources are increasingly replaced by energy from biomass and this trend is expected to continue into the future. Assessing the efficiency of bioenergy policies requires a comprehensive analysis of the interrelationship between agricultural and energy markets. This study analyzes the impacts of two alternative EU greenhouse gas emission mitigation scenarios on the utilization of biomass for energy production and the price of agricultural products. To this end, we combine the energy system model TIMES PanEU and the agricultural sector model ESIM. We establish a consistent interface between the models and run them in an iterative procedure where TIMES PanEU represents the demand side for energy crops and ESIM their supply side. According to our results, an extension of the mandatory reduction of emissions has strong biomass demand effects and affects the agricultural sector in its entirety. Due to the increased demand for energy crops, average crop prices in the EU increase by an estimated 30 percentage points in 2050. The expanded area use for production of energy crops inside the EU27 turns the EU from being a net exporter to a net importer for many important agricultural commodities. |
| Keywords: | Biomass, bioenergy, energy system model, agricultural sector model., International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126754&r=agr |
| By: | Anne Gordon; Vanessa Oddo |
| Keywords: | Child Hunger, Obesity, Indian Country, Nutrition |
| JEL: | I0 I1 |
| Date: | 2012–01–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7367&r=agr |
| By: | Vandeplas, Anneleen; Minten, Bart; Swinnen, Johan F.M. |
| Abstract: | The impact of multinational firms on the domestic agricultural sector in developing countries is controversial, in particular in India. Relying on a unique set of household-level data from the state of Punjab, we study the biggest dairy company in the world (Nestlé) in India and compare its vertical spillover effects on upstream suppliers to other market channels (informal sector and cooperatives). We find that farmers that supply informal channels are less efficient and earn less profits per dairy animal than farmers supplying the cooperative and the multinational sector. Further, we find that farmers in the multinational channel are more efficient than farmers in the cooperative channel, but equally profitable. Hence, we do not find that supplying the cooperative channel is more beneficial for local dairy farmers than supplying the multinational channel. Overall, however, dairy productivity and profitability levels are still dramatically low, with tremendous scope for dairy development. |
| Keywords: | cooperatives, foreign direct investment, income, productivity, India, dairy, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Industrial Organization, International Development, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126892&r=agr |
| By: | Phani, Gayatri Yammanuru; Jose, Monish |
| Abstract: | Emissions trading is a market-based Kyoto mechanism that is aimed to assist the nations in achieving emission reduction targets in a cost effective manner. However, it is least explored in the agricultural sector though 15 percent of the global GHG emissions are from agriculture. Thus, the paper attempts to study the effect of emissions trading as a greenhouse gas mitigation mechanism in order to reduce methane emissions from paddy cultivation. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Emissions Trading and Methane emissions, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–08–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126322&r=agr |
| By: | Hoang Dinh, Quoc; Dufhues, Thomas; Buchenrieder, Gertrud |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of network based individual social capital on the access of rural households to services. In the context of development economics, an innovative data collection approach is used to determine network based social capital. The approach originates from the field of sociology and entails a personal network survey. We define four social capital variables according to tie strength (bonding/bridging) and social distance (bondinglink/bridginglink) between the respondent and his/her network member. The econometric results suggest that social capital with weaker ties in combination with socially distant ties bridginglink social capital) can potentially improve households’ access to rural services. |
| Keywords: | rural services, social capital, rural households, Vietnam, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Financial Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, Industrial Organization, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Labor and Human Capital, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, Political Economy, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Public Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126320&r=agr |
| By: | Chatellier, Vincent; Guyomard, Herve |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes an assessment of the October 2011 legislative proposals for CAP reform. The assessment is essentially qualitative, illustrated by static simulations of income effects for French professional farms. It uses the French case to highlight the diverging opinions between stakeholders on these proposals and argue why they are a step in the right direction but a too timid step as crucial issues are not adequately addressed. Furthermore several key parameters of the reform remain unknown. We first summarise the main elements of the proposals presented by the European Commission. We then highlight the main points that are subject to debate on the basis of French stakeholder reactions (public authorities, farmers’ unions, food companies and non-governmental organisations).We finally propose an assessment of these proposals focusing more specifically on the following points: the redistribution of direct payments between countries and categories of farms; the flat rate model for allocating decoupled payments; the removal of production quotas and the implementation of new tools of market regulation; and the allocation of funds specifically dedicated to innovation and knowledge transfer. |
| Keywords: | CAP, Direct payments, French agriculture, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126988&r=agr |
| By: | Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob; Jayne, Thomas S. |
| Abstract: | This study uses three waves of nationally representative household-level panel data from Malawi to estimate how receiving an additional kilogram of subsidize fertilizer affects maize production and the value of total crop output across the distribution of smallholder farm households. We use quantile regression and a correlated random effects estimator to deal with potential endogeneity of subsidized fertilizer. We then estimate the impact of subsidizing fertilizer at the 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 90% of the maize production and value of total crop output distributions. Results from this study indicate that an additional kilogram of subsidized fertilizer contributes 2.61 additional kilograms to household maize production at the 90th percentile, but just 0.75 additional kilograms to maize production at the 10th percentile. Results also indicate that an additional kilogram of subsidized fertilizer has an effect of generating an extra US $0.80 at the 90th percentile of the value of total crop output distribution, but has no statistically significant effect at the 10th percentile of the distribution. These results raise the question of whether or not fertilizer subsidies can substantially boost maize production and reduce poverty at the same time, because the major returns from the subsidy program seem to accrue to households at the top of the maize production and value of total crop output distributions. Many households at the bottom of theses distributions seem unable to generate a substantial response from the subsidized fertilizer that they acquire. |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2012–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126742&r=agr |
| By: | Nazzaro, Concetta; Marotta, Giuseppe; Pascucci, Stefano |
| Abstract: | The paper focuses on a new theoretical-methodological approach to interpreting functional transformation processes of farms located in rural areas and marked by a delay in development. We have defined a theoretical paradigm of value portfolio (VP) which considers -in a new light- multifunctional agricultural farms as an ensemble of governance structures optimizing the creation of value. The need to validate the OVP functionality has led us to identify a new methodological approach referred to as the Value Portfolio and Multifunctional Governance Analysis (VPMGA). This analysis embeds value chain analysis and governance value analysis and at the same time attempts to overcome the “sectoral” limits representing also a new and further development. We deem, in fact, that the VPMGA best responds to the specificities of multifunctional agricultural farms participating in cooperatives. Through the VPMGA we have identified four determining family variables which are internal and external to the farm (internal resources, market, territory, policies). We have also assessed the functional links with the boundary shift processes and the mechanisms governing transactions and the creation of an optimal value portfolio. In this way, the VPMGA can be a tool to inform policy makers, especially in the light of the new challenges facing rural development. |
| Keywords: | Multifunctionality, cooperation, value creation, policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Q12, Q13, Q18, Q19, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126113&r=agr |
| By: | Olwande, John; Mathenge, Mary K. |
| Abstract: | Kenya’s smallholder agriculture remains a major engine of rural growth and livelihood improvement, yet it is largely semi-subsistence. Therefore, any pathway that can lift large numbers of the rural poor out of poverty will require some form of transformation of smallholder agriculture into a more commercialized production system. This study used a three-year panel household data set collected in 2000, 2004 and 2007 and across nine agroecological zones of Kenya to assess the extent of market participation among poor smallholder farmers in Kenya with a view to identifying constraints to market participation among and potential market opportunities for the poor. Descriptive results reveal differences in market participation across selected commodity groups among poor and non-poor households, with poor households having generally lower market participation. Some characteristics of the poor households that could partly explain this low market participation include low literacy levels, small land sizes, low asset values, low access to credit and limited ability to produce surpluses for the market. In terms of factors that could enhance market participation for poor households, we find that land size and membership in farmer organization play significant roles. These results suggest that any hope for the poor to participate in markets and make any meaningful gains from agriculture lies in improving productivity of their land as well as improving their access to land. Increasing social capital through promotion of collective action among poor households can also be of great value in enhancing their access to markets. |
| Keywords: | Marketing, |
| Date: | 2012–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126711&r=agr |
| By: | Rault, Arnaud |
| Abstract: | Foot and Mouth disease, like other epizootic outbreaks, can have wide and lasting impacts exceeding the agricultural field. Within Europe various ad hoc policies exist to cope with these consequences. In this paper we develop a dynamic CGE model allowing us to simulate a FMD outbreak, its economic consequences and the effect of the implementation of a mutual fund as a structural risk management policy. Our results show that a financial support to farmers thanks to the mutual fund may encourage a quicker recovery from the market losses, especially helping to rebuild the cattle herds after a period of trade bans. However, counterproductive effects may be encountered in the case of mandatory participation of farmers to finance the mutual fund. |
| Keywords: | dynamic CGE, catastrophic event, animal disease, risk management policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Risk and Uncertainty, Q11, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:125994&r=agr |
| By: | Teklewold, Hailemariam; Kassie, Menale; Shiferaw, Bekele A. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126829&r=agr |
| By: | Wainaina, Priscilla W.; Okello, Julius Juma; Nzuma, Jonathan M. |
| Abstract: | Contract farming is a form of vertical coordination largely aimed at correcting the market failure associated with spot markets that arise due to imperfect information. However there is still no consensus in the literature on the impact of contract farming on the welfare of smallholder farmers. While some studies have argued that contact farming improves access to ready markets by smallholder farmers, other studies have suggested that contract farming lowers the incomes of smallholder farmers because the contractors wield greater market power over the farmers. Consequently, it is seen as a blessing by some and a necessary evil by others. This study uses a propensity score matching technique to shed light on the impact of contract farming on smallholder farmers. The study also examines the conditioners of participation in contract farming. It uses data collected from 180 smallholder poultry farmers stratified by participation in contract production. The study finds that, on average, contracted farmers earned more net revenue per bird compared to the independent farmers, by approximately 27 percent, and as such participating in contract farming could improve the welfare of these small holder poultry farmers. The study discusses the policy implications of the findings. |
| Keywords: | Contract farming, smallholder farmers, impact, propensity score matching, poultry production, Kenya., Agribusiness, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126323&r=agr |
| By: | Rodriguez, Divina Gracia P.; Nga, Nguyen Thi Duong |
| Abstract: | This study estimates the impact of the adoption of SSNM practices on rice production of smallholder farmers in Vietnam using cross-section household data (n = 371) gathered from the provinces of Ha Nam and Ha Tay in the Red River Delta. Specifically, it investigates the economic impact of SSNM, focusing on SSNM-induced changes in the yield, profit, nitrogen use and pesticide use of farmers. The instrumental variables (IV) approach is used to achieve this objective because it deals with endogeneity and self-selection bias present in the study. SSNM improves the paddy yield of farmers by 0.6 tons per hectare and profit by $150 per hectare. It has no statistically significant effect on the amount of pesticide and nitrogen use of farmers. The higher profits for adopters versus non-adopters of SSNM arise from increased grain yield rather from reducing fertilizer costs and pesticide costs. Results of the impact analysis identified several directions that can be pursued to improve further the adoption of SSNM. |
| Keywords: | Site-specific nutrient management, instrumental variables, nitrogen, Red River Delta, smallholder farmers, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126759&r=agr |
| By: | Mueller, Marc; Ferrari, Emanuele |
| Abstract: | Agricultural polices in the EU are increasingly targeting not only the agricultural sector but also other economic branches. The indirect effects of these policies, as the rural development ones, might be as important as the direct ones, mainly on factor markets as labour. In addition, in order to better scale the adopted agricultural measures, policy makers are devoting more attention to the regionalized impacts of these policies. For these reasons, a pure partial-equilibrium agricultural model is not enough to account the effects of the EU agricultural policies. The development of regionalized Computable General Equilibrium models and the linkages with already developed regionalized agricultural partial equilibrium models is a fundamental step for agricultural economists. The greatest challenge to build a regional general equilibrium model for all EU27 NUTS2 regions is the database construction. This work show the main steps needed to construct such a database, called IOTNUTS2. |
| Keywords: | regional input-output tables, non-survey method, location quotient, European Union, Agricultural and Food Policy, D57, R10, O52, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126942&r=agr |
| By: | Van Herck, Kristine; Vranken, Liesbet |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the impact of increasing direct payments on land rents in six new EU member states in which agricultural subsidies largely increased as a result of their EU accession. We find that up to 25 eurocents per additional euro of direct payments is capitalized in land rents. In addition, the results show that capitalization of direct payments is higher in more credit constrained markets, while capitalization of direct payments is lower in countries where more land is used by corporate farms. |
| Keywords: | Land rental prices, Farm subsidies, New Member States, Agricultural Finance, International Development, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126777&r=agr |
| By: | Jin, Songqing; Yu, Winston; Jansen, Hans G.P.; Muraoka, Rie |
| Abstract: | Using plot level production data from a nation-wide survey in India, we study the impact of irrigation on crop productivity, land prices and cropping intensities. Our main identification strategy is based on a sufficient number of households cultivating multiple plots of different irrigation status. After household fixed effects and plot characteristics are controlled for, our estimations show that irrigation has a strong and significant impact on all these outcomes with the dominant effects on cropping intensities. We find quality of irrigation also matters. Our results provide support for continuing investments to improve access and quality of irrigation in India. |
| Keywords: | India, irrigation, productivity, cropping intensity, fixed effect model., International Development, O12, O13, Q15, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126868&r=agr |
| By: | Venkataramana, M.N.; Reddy, B.V. Chinnappa |
| Abstract: | A study on farm level capital formation in two contrasting scenarios of agricultural development revealed that by and large capital formation was more on large and irrigated farms. The aggregate capital formation was higher in the progressive area than in less progressive area. The priority of investment was more on irrigation development. In the less progressive area, among rainfed farms, investment was more on livestock and perennial crops. The mean technical efficiency was higher in the more progressive area among all types of farms vis-à-vis less progressive area as a result of higher capital formation on productive assets. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126890&r=agr |
| By: | Grovermann, Christian; Schreinemachers, Pepijn; Berger, Thomas |
| Abstract: | This study quantifies private and social levels of agricultural pesticide overuse by combining an abatement function approach to estimate the marginal benefits of pesticide use with the Pesticide Environmental Accounting (PEA) tool to estimate marginal social costs. We applied the method to one intensive vegetable production system in the mountainous north of Thailand by using farm and plot level survey data. We find that the exponential specification for the abatement effect of pesticides gives more realistic outcomes than the logistic specification. Based on an exponential specification, we estimate that private overuse is 78-79% of the applied quantify of pesticides, while social overuse is 79-80%. The difference between private and social overuse is small as the exponential form reaches an optimum at a relatively low level of pesticide use. |
| Keywords: | Damage control, Externality, Pesticide Environmental Accounting (PEA), Southeast Asia, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126341&r=agr |
| By: | Douillet, Mathilde |
| Abstract: | Global general equilibrium simulations of “regional” (within Sub-Saharan Africa –SSA-) and “multilateral” (Doha and preferential) trade integration are compared to assess policy reform priorities. Their coherence with the objective of agriculture-led industrialization is tested. New results reveal that for SSA regional integration delivers as much as multilateral integration. Multilateral liberalization drives Sub-Saharan African countries further away from agricultural-led industrialization. On the contrary regional integration fosters the production and trade of processed agricultural products. Regional integration has heterogeneous impacts on countries in SSA and gains might be concentrated on a few countries. Accompanying redistributive policies to compensate the loosers might help bring the negotiations further. |
| Keywords: | trade policy, market integration, agriculture, computable general equilibrium, trade preferences, Sub-Saharan Africa, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Public Economics, F15, F47, O19, O24, O55, Q17, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126546&r=agr |
| By: | Constant, Labintan Adeniyi; Shijun, Ding |
| Abstract: | This paper explored the Benin agricultural productivity and profitability under occurred reform since 1961 to 2008. Productivity and profitability has been evaluated using the new approach developed by O’Donnell(2008).In the approach Productivity is obtain using Hick Moorsteen index decomposition into Technical Change, mix Efficiency change and Scale Efficiency Change while Profitability is obtain using productivity and Term of Trade product. To achieved the purpose of this paper, agricultural output-input quantity and prices data have been collected from FAO stat, Benin Country FAO statistical database and Benin National Agricultural Institute Database during the period 1961-2008. All data are computing using the DPIN software developed by O’Donnell (2010). It is found that since the country national independency in 1961, Benin agriculture productivity has decreased. The decreased has been more significant after the sector liberalization while the term of trade has been much improved and profitability increased. This situation explains that after the liberalization, competiveness has decreased and monopolization increased. It can be conclude that most private stakeholder involve in the sector during post liberalization has earn more profit than invest to contribute at the sector productivity growth. The paper indentify that the country doesn’t improved agricultural productivity after the sector liberalization in opposite to the normal figure that liberalization will stimulate technology transfer and development which will improve productivity. The situation will then highlight policies maker to identify news strategy which can help to optimize the production and agriculture resources efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural-Productivity- Profitability-Benin-Reform, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126748&r=agr |
| By: | Mogaka, Violet; Mbatia, Oliver; Nzuma, Jonathan M. |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the potential of Jatropha curcas Linnaeus (Jatropha) as an alternative source of energy for rural households. The plant is said to have potential to diversify rural incomes, reclaim unproductive lands, reduce importation of fossil fuels, and consequently accumulation of green house gases in the atmosphere. A cost benefit analysis was employed to evaluate the feasibility of producing Jatropha as a biodiesel feedstock in relation to other crops in Kwale district. An IRR of 11 percent, BCR of 0.62 and a NPV of (28267.56) showed that production of Jatropha is not feasible at the moment. However we conclude that the plant has a potential to achieve its intended purpose if there is coordination in research and development along the Jatropha value chain and if technical and financial support is accorded to actors at the production level of the chain. |
| Keywords: | Jatropha, Biofuel, feasibility, Cost-benefit-analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Financial Economics, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126427&r=agr |
| By: | Tachibana, Towa; Sakurai, Takeshi |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the determinants of rice-cultivation adoption in inland-valley bottom areas in Ghana. In West African countries, surging import of rice has shown farmers a new and potentially huge income source. Around the second largest urban area in Ghana, Kumsi, there are inland-valley bottoms which are suitable for rain-fed rice cultivation. The puzzle is that not much part of these inland-valley bottoms has been utilized for rice production. In 2001, in four villages around Kumasi, we conducted a detailed household survey both on lowland-rice and upland-maize farmers. We found that the profit from lowland-rice cultivation was significantly lower than that from upland-maize farming. This paper also examines our predictions made from the profit comparisons in 2001 survey by the results of rice-farmer census conducted in 2011 in the same four villages. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126684&r=agr |
| By: | Ciani, Adriano; Boggia, Antonio; Paolotti, L.; Rocchi, L. |
| Abstract: | Payments to the agricultural sector are designated to decrease gradually. One of the consequences of such a process will be a reduction in the number of farms and thereby in the defence of territory. The expansion of areas with hydro geological problems is a global matter. During the 2011 the damage caused by disasters around the world cost 380 BILIONS of USD. For the future, it is possible to suppose an increase in extreme events and disasters of hydro geological nature, also because of a reduction in territory protection by agriculture. The objective of this study is to propose an instrument to involve farmers in territory management, but before that disasters happen. We are looking for an ex-ante solution. In the paper, we propose a potential model, that of Territorial Management Contracts (TMC). |
| Keywords: | Territorial Management Contracts, Environmental protection, hydro geological risk, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q01, Q15, Q28, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126052&r=agr |
| By: | Aghajanzadeh-Darzi, Parisa; Jayet, Pierre-Alain; Domingues, M.J.P |
| Abstract: | A signicant part of crop productions is not marketed and can be totally (fodders and pastures) or partly (cereals) used on-farm. Regarding inputs, Nitrogen fertilizers are also not only provided by the market, but they are signicantly on-farm provided by livestock. When outputs and inputs are related through technical "dose-response functions, like Nitrogen (N)-yield functions, the optimal gross margin is easily com- puted at the plot level, when input and output are marketed. In this case, market prices are required. The question addressed in this article is how to assess the optimal values when one crop production (respectively one input) is entirely on-farm used (respectively on-farm produced). We propose a simple iterative computation method aiming at replacing market prices by shadow costs. We apply this method to a large set of the bio-economic agricultural supply model AROPAj, which covers a large range of agri- cultural activities over the European Union. This method allows us to keep ecient the basic linear framework of the model even when the yield functions make it non linear. |
| Keywords: | Bio-economic farm model, Mathematical programming, On-farm source products, Shadow prices, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q10, Q15, Q50, Q57, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126768&r=agr |
| By: | Rosa, Franco; Vasciaveo, Michela |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyze the interactions among the prices of some agricultural commodities in Italy and United States by using the time series analysis method. After a general overview of the world and European agri-markets, the agricultural commodity and oil prices are investigated in order to analyze the cross-market interactions and test the hypothesis that the increased volatility in agricultural prices is caused by the exogenous crude oil prices. For the analysis the data about the commodity spot price series of wheat, corn, soybeans in US and Italy and crude oil price are collected. The results suggest: i) the presence of causal nexus with an exogenous influence of the oil price on the agricultural commodities for the US markets; ii) the evidence of cointegration between US and Italian commodities supporting the unique price condition; iii) no clear evidence of causality between oil and Italian agri-commodities, suggesting that the oil volatility is transmitted directly to the US market and indirectly to the Italian one. |
| Keywords: | time series analysis, agricultural commodity prices, volatility, causality, market integration., Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126738&r=agr |
| By: | Polyakov, Maksym; Pannell, David J.; Pandit, Ram; Tapsuwan, Sorada; Park, Geoff |
| Abstract: | Changing land-ownership patterns transform many rural landscapes from agricultural to multifunctional, which may have significant implications for land management and conservation policy. This paper presents a hedonic pricing model that quantifies the value of the remnant native vegetation captured by owners of rural lifestyle properties in rural Victoria, Australia. Remnant native vegetation has a positive but diminishing marginal implicit price. The value of lifestyle properties is maximized when their proportion of area occupied by native vegetation is about 40%. Most lifestyle landowners would receive benefits from increasing the area of native vegetation on their land. Findings from this study will be used to support decisions about ecological restoration on private lands in fragmented agriculture-dominated landscapes. |
| Keywords: | lifestyle landowners, remnant vegetation, amenity values, spatial hedonic model, Victoria, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Q57, Q15, |
| Date: | 2012–06–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwauwp:126941&r=agr |
| By: | Gbegbelegbe, Sika; de Groote, Hugo |
| Abstract: | Maize is the major food crop and an important cash crop in East Africa, but yields have not increased in the last years. Maize prices fluctuate heavily both over time, causing price insecurity which hampers investment decisions, and over space which, combined with limited knowledge of that fluctuation, reduces opportunities to market surplus. In this paper, temporal and spatial price volatility is analyzed, based on monthly maize prices from various markets in East Africa, including 28 markets in Kenya. The hypothesis that the market liberalization of the 1990s increased efficiency and decreased volatility in Kenya is also tested. Preliminary results for Kenyan markets show a clear negative trend, indicating that real maize prices have decreased over time, on average 4% per year. Major factors in price variation are the differences between years, although a distinct one-season effect is demonstrated. Prices are clearly higher in the surplus zone during the high season, but lower otherwise. The coast has higher prices in the lower season. Generally, it can be concluded that price volatility has been decreasing over the years. The liberalization, most likely, has played a positive effect on this trend. |
| Keywords: | Market liberalization, maize, price variation, spatial analysis, Demand and Price Analysis, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126844&r=agr |
| By: | Sipilainen, Timo; Huhtala, Anni |
| Abstract: | Targeted environmental policies for farmlands may improve the cost-efficiency of conservation programs if one can identify those farms that produce public goods with the least cost. We derive shadow values of producing crop diversity for a sample of Finnish conventional and organic crop farms in the period 1994-2002 in order to examine their opportunity costs of conservation. Our results of Data Envelopment Analysis show that there is variation in the shadow values between farms and between the technologies adopted. The degree of cost heterogeneity and farms’ potential for specialization in the production of environmental outputs determine whether voluntary programs such as auctions for conservation payments are economically reasonable. |
| Keywords: | biodiversity, Shannon index, DEA, distance functions, shadow values, Finland, Crop Production/Industries, C21, D24, H41, Q12, Q24, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126652&r=agr |
| By: | Poudel, Krishna Lal; Yamamoto, Naoyuki; Johnson, Thomas G. |
| Abstract: | Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach was used to estimate technical efficiency and followed by regressing the technical efficiency scores to farm specific characters under tobit regression model. Primary data was collected from random samples of 240 (120 from each) coffee famers. Mean technical efficiency score was 0.89 and 0.83 in organic and conventional coffee farming respectively. Farms operating under constant return to scale (CRS), decreasing return to scale (DRS) and increasing return to scale (IRS) were 31.67, 3.83 and 37.5% respectively in organic coffee and 29.17, 25 and 45.83% respectively in conventional farming areas. These scale technology defines a production set that is closed and convex with property of strong disposability. Tobit regression showed the variation in technical efficiency was related education, farm experience and training/extension services and access to credit. Farmers would reconsider the rationing of input and learn from technically efficient farms practices. Policy implication will rest on production planning strategy. |
| Keywords: | Production frontier, Resource use, Technical efficiency, Organic, Altitude, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126882&r=agr |
| By: | Mutuc, Maria Erlinda M.; Rejesus, Roderick M.; Yorobe, Jose M., Jr. |
| Abstract: | The potential contributions of new biotechnologies to sustainable food and income security have been the subject of widespread discussions around the turn of the twenty-first century. But distributional issues of which segments of GMO adopters benefit the most have not been given ample attention. Using propensity scores, we apply the (a) stratification-multilevel method of estimating heterogeneous treatment effects (SM-HTE); and the (b) matching-smoothing method of estimating heterogeneous treatment effects (MS-HTE) proposed by Xi, Brand, and Jann (2011). We find that the incidence of higher yields, lower insecticide use and reduced seed utilization in the Philippines diminishes progressively as a farmer’s propensity to adopt Bt corn increases. Farmers with a low propensity to adopt Bt are those who farm smaller, non-irrigated farms located farther from seed suppliers and farmers without previous training on pest identification. In most cases, while these farmers are typically poorer farmers in smaller parcels, cannot afford irrigation and are situated in remote areas away from easily accessible seed suppliers, there is no evidence, however, that profits differ across farmers with varying propensities to adopt the Bt variety. |
| Keywords: | Bt corn, food security, GMO, propensity score, stratification-multilevel method of estimating heterogeneous treatment effects (SM-HTE), matching-smoothing method of estimating heterogeneous treatment effects (MS-HTE), Community/Rural/Urban Development, Crop Production/Industries, Food Security and Poverty, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, C31, Q16, Q12, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126363&r=agr |
| By: | Tian, Xu; Yu, Xiaohua |
| Abstract: | China is experiencing a nutrition transition which is coextensive with its rapid economic growth, and the most dramatic changes can be seen in food structure and nutritional demand. However, the relationship between income growth and changes in the demand for nutrients are still unclear. This paper uses household survey data and a direct method to estimate the income elasticities for 22 nutrients to fill the gap in the current literature. Our results show that the income elasticities of most nutrients are quite small and vary for different income groups, which implie that economic success has different influence on nutrition status for different families and the effect is not substantial. |
| Keywords: | Nutrient, Income elasticity, Nutrition improvement, China, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126325&r=agr |
| By: | D'Amico, Mario; Coppola, Adele; Chinnici, Gaetano; Di Vita, Giuseppe; Pappalardo, Gioacchino |
| Abstract: | In recent years EU agricultural system have been characterized by several development patterns and different policies tools have been adopted by each country as a means to reach economic development in rural regions, above all in advanced countries. The recognition of agricultural and territorial systems is essential to define regional development programs, especially in a period when the new rural development policies are going to be designed and planned. Present research tries to identify and analyse main structural models of “agricultures” within European Union, whose classification could be useful as decision tool to define policies of intervention, in view of new programming period (CAP 2014-2020). The research is focused on the analysis of agricultural features in 247 regional areas (NUTS 2) of all European countries and has been carried out adopting a Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to identify main factors that differentiate agricultural systems in EU countries, taking into account a specific group-set of social and economic indicators. Afterward, by applying cluster analysis on the results of PCA, we classified the different regional areas into homogenous groups. The results allow a general classification of “homogeneous agricultural areas”,, whose categorization may be useful for better understanding characteristics of the European Union countryside and better orientate ongoing planning of new CAP. |
| Keywords: | Rural regions, CAP 2014-2020, agricultural systems, NUTS2, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Q18, R12, R14, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126116&r=agr |
| By: | Brown, Jason P.; Goetz, Stephan J.; Fleming, David A. |
| Abstract: | Multifunctionality of agriculture is being heralded as a way to achieve food and fiber production while simultaneously providing ecological services and promoting rural development through the establishment of new enterprises. However, in order for multifunctional agriculture to achieve these objectives it must be viable. To date there have been no empirical studies assessing the current regional distribution of multifunctional activities in the U.S. Using the 2002 and 2007 Census of Agriculture we use regional econometric models to estimate the impact of county-level measures of multifunctional activities on farm viability as measured by the change in the number of farms. Results indicate that direct sales for human consumption were associated with increases in the number of farms only in New England. An increase in income from agritourism and recreational services within a county was associated with reduced farm viability nationally and in three regions. In three of the eight regions results confirm previous findings that off-farm labor income is a means of diversifying and potentially stabilizing total income of farm households, and that it may also serve as a financial platform for new entrants into farming. |
| Keywords: | multifunctional agriculture, farm viability, direct sales, agritourism income, regions, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Q11, Q13, R11, |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea12:126929&r=agr |
| By: | Olwande, John; Smale, Melinda |
| Abstract: | A globally-recognized maize “success story” since the 1970s, Kenya’s first maize hybrid diffused faster than did hybrids in the U.S Corn Belt during the 1930s-1940s. Today, a hybrid released in 1986 still dominates on farms in Kenya, despite the dramatic increase in the number of hybrids, breadth of seed suppliers, and range of hybrids sold as seed markets liberalize. Claims of stagnating yields and stagnating adoption are offset here, at least in part, by longitudinal survey data showing rising yields and adoption rates on farms. However, as the overall percent of maize farmers growing hybrids tops 80 percent and the seed industry matures, the slow pace of hybrid replacement may still be cause for concern. This paper begins an exploration of factors affecting the age of hybrids on farms in Kenya. We find a strong farmer response to the seed-to-grain price ratio—evidence of a commercial orientation even on household farms, and also of the need to “get (seed) prices right” in the industry. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126669&r=agr |
| By: | Li, Man; De Pinto, Alessandro; Ulimwengu, John M.; You, Liangzhi; Robertson, Richard D. |
| Abstract: | This paper develops an econometric model to explore the determinants of land use choices for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The model is not just capable of representing land use choices using large aggregation categories, but it also allocates agricultural area to the country relevant crops by augmenting the dataset with low-cost, widely available, agricultural statistics about crop areas and production. This is important to decision makers who want to plan for economic growth while trying to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. An empirical application indicates that the implementation of an ongoing government’s plan for road construction in the country would cause a reduction of about 2% of the existing standing forest stock, and a loss in biological carbon stock estimated to be 294 TgC. Encroachment of agriculture into forested land would contribute to the reduction in biological carbon stock by an estimated 112 TgC and would generate annual emissions estimated to be 21 thousand Mg CO2e with low nitrogen application or 300 thousand Mg CO2e from high nitrogen application. |
| Keywords: | Land use, deforestation, crop allocation, road construction, greenhouse gas emissions, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Q15, Q24, Q54, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126672&r=agr |
| By: | Magalhaes, Marcelo Marques de; Jardim da Silveira, Jose Maria Ferreira; Simoes do Carmo, Maristela; Lambais, Guilherme Berse Rodrigues |
| Abstract: | The model of Brazilian land reform is based on settlements of families without land, in unoccupied public lands, or by expropriation of unproductive estates. The market assisted land reform programs are considered complementary instruments of land reform. They are used to provide credit for land purchase by groups of landless farmers directly from the land market. The aim of this paper was to measure the profit efficiency, considering two different mechanisms of land access. In this paper, analysis of profit efficiency was performed using the stochastic frontier analysis. The frontier of production was estimated based on Cobb-Douglas production function. The data set represents the states: Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Pernambuco and the north region of Minas Gerais. The overall efficiency estimates were 0.3163. The efficiency estimates were 0.3678 for the farmers assigned by expropriation, and 0.3537 for the farmers with market land access. The production showed decreasing gains with the major partial elasticity for land. The positive efficiency effect sources are: off-farm labor, collective labor, location in superior soil class county areas, location in Maranhão and Ceará states, age of head of household, crops with irrigation or flood, and use of machinery. The negative efficiency effect sources are: outer incomes and family consumption of its own production. |
| Keywords: | Land Reform, Stochastic Frontier Analysis, Production Efficiency, Land Economics/Use, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126693&r=agr |
| By: | Djuric, Ivan; Gotz, Linde; Glauben, Thomas |
| Abstract: | We analyze how the governmental market interventions during the commodity price peaks 2007/2008 and 2010/2011 have affected the transmission of price changes along the wheat-to-bread supply chain in Serbia. We aim to investigate if consumers benefitted from the wheat and flour export restrictions or if other members along the supply chain were able to gain advantage. Our analysis of price dynamics between wheat and flour prices within a Markov Switching Vector Error Correction Model suggests that the mills increased their margin and thus profits in the aftermath of the food crisis. The simulation of bread production costs makes evident that bakeries and even more retailers profited substantially from the crisis policy. We find that consumers benefitted from the governmental interventions only to a limited degree and experienced overall welfare losses. Compared with laissez-faire policy, the bread price increase was dampened by the governmental market interventions only at the beginning of the crisis. The additional strong bread price increase in April 2008 indirectly resulted from the governmental wheat purchases from the Serbian market. |
| Keywords: | Markov-Switching Vector Error Correction Model, policy interventions, Serbia, vertical price transmission, wheat-to-bread supply chain, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126775&r=agr |
| By: | Fellmann, Thomas; van Leeuwen, Myrna; Salamon, Petra |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126810&r=agr |
| By: | Gelan, Ayele; Engida, Ermias; Caria, A. Stefano; Karugia, Joseph Thuo |
| Abstract: | Researchers and policymakers increasingly recognize that the livestock sector supports the livelihoods of a large proportion of rural households in most African countries and may have an important role to play in rural poverty reduction strategies. In order to develop this insight, economywide models should capture both the biological, dynamic relationships between the stocks and flows of livestock and the economic linkages between the sector and the rest of the economy. We extend an existing dynamic recursive general equilibrium model for the Ethiopian economy which better models the livestock sector. A separate herd dynamics module enables us to specify stock-flow relationship, distinguishing between the capital role of livestock and the flow of livestock products. We also improve the underlying system of economic accounts, to better capture draft power and breeding stocks. We use this model to simulate separate, realistic Total Factor Productivity (TFP) shocks to three agricultural subsectors—cereals, cash crops, and livestock—and compare them with a baseline scenario replicating the 1998 to 2007 productivity trends, following Dorosh and Thurlow (2009) who have examined CAADP productivity scenarios. The results we obtain reveal the important role of the livestock sector in increasing various measures of GDP and combating food insecurity. Agricultural GDP and overall GDP growth levels achieved in the livestock TFP shock scenario are very similar to those achieved in the cereal TFP shock scenario, unlike what previously thought. Importantly, as factors are dynamically re-allocated between agricultural activities, our analysis highlights the inefficiency of strategies focusing on cereal sector development alone. Moreover, livestock sector productivity growth leads to greater factor income growth, particularly labor income, than in the other simulations. Labor is the predominant asset of poor households and hence large income gains and food consumption growth are realized under the livestock-led scenario. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Livestock Production/Industries, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126800&r=agr |
| By: | Nin Pratt, Alejandro |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at past trends of agricultural R&D allocation in developing countries, projects future performance of agriculture in these regions based in past investment and determines the optimal allocation of R&D investment across regions to maximize global welfare using a dynamic linear programming model of global agriculture. Results suggest that present allocation of agricultural R&D in SSA is highly inefficient and substantial gains could be obtained by increasing investment in East Africa in the next twenty years. At the global level, differences between efficient and present investment allocation are smaller than those observed within SSA due to the importance of China as an innovator in agriculture. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, growth, optimization, poverty, R&D investment, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, International Development, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126802&r=agr |
| By: | Richards, Timothy; Mancino, Lisa |
| Abstract: | Policymakers have suggested the use of taxes to raise the relative cost of buying fast food. Yet, little is known of the structure of demand for food-away-from-home (FAFH) in general. This study provides estimates of the price-elasticity of demand for four different types of FAFH using a new dataset from NPD, Inc. and an econometric approach that accounts for the multiple discrete / continuous nature of FAFH demand. We find that cross-price elasticities of demand are small, so consumers are unwilling to substitute between FAH and any type of FAFH or among types of FAFH. Therefore, taxing fast food may be effective in reducing the number of fast food visits and shifting consumption to at-home meals. |
| Keywords: | food away from home, demand, obesity, continuous / discrete models, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:127103&r=agr |
| By: | Longwe-Ngwira, Abiba; Simtowe, Franklin; Siambi, Moses |
| Abstract: | Groundnut is an important component of the national food supply. It does not only have nutritional and dietary value, groundnut also provides cash to farmers; enrich the soil with nitrogen through biological nitrogen fixation; and its haulms can be used as fodder and fuel. Groundnut production has not kept up with the demands both local and export markets especially in terms of volumes over time. This has been in part due to low average yields resulting from continuous use of unimproved seed. In turn Malawi’s groundnut exports have also generally dwindled over time. The analysis of Malawian groundnut production using the Policy Analysis Matrix methodology shows that both traditional and improved technology groundnut production are both privately and socially profitable. This leads to the conclusion that protectionist policies that would raise domestic groundnut prices above the import parity prices determined in world markets are unnecessary. However, investments in improved technology show profits that are greater than traditional technology. These are likely to be areas in which government investments would yield a significant rate of return and reduce dependence on world markets. In addition to investments in improved seed technology, government should also invest in improved technologies for post harvest handling. |
| Keywords: | Policy Analysis Matrix, Groundnut Competitiveness, Malawi, improved technology., Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Marketing, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126429&r=agr |
| By: | Karunakaran, K. Ramanujam; Nedumaran, Swamikannu; Chandrasekaran, M. |
| Abstract: | bio-economic static land use model for identifying alternative crop set for the sustainable resource use |
| Keywords: | bio-economic model, sustainable resource use, homogeneous land units, optimization, crop income, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126502&r=agr |
| By: | Lupin, Beatriz; Rodriguez, Elsa M. |
| Abstract: | Potato is an important staple food and horticultural crop for Argentina and it is included in almost every meal prepared by households. The annual average per capita consumption of potatoes is 40 kg. Despite the rapid rise of supermarkets, small fruit and vegetable shops still dominate horticultural retail in Argentina. The fresh potato quality is a wide and subjective notion that deals with different kinds of attributes e.g., colour, flavor, nutritional contents, added substances during the productive processes and risks perceptions. Commercial channel preferences, knowledge about varieties, and opinions regarding bad quality attributes are important factors affecting fresh potatoes consumers choices. The aim of this research is to examine how consumers perceive quality characteristics of fresh potatoes and to identify quality attributes and socio-demographics factors affecting channels choices for buying potatoes. A representative sample of the population in this city included 500 randomly selected households. The urban households survey was carry out in the city of Mar del Plata, in June 2009 using a questionnaire – based on face to face interviews. The principal place of respondents choosing to purchase fresh potatoes is the fruits and vegetables stores (72 %), followed in importance with much lower percentages by supermarkets / hypermarkets (15 %) and other channels, such as community fairs, wholesaler market, self-production and direct vegetable delivery by producer (12 %). In order to examine the relationship between preferences for certain quality attributes of fresh potato and socio-economic variables of households about their choice of purchase channel, we applied a multinomial logit regression (MNL). According to the econometric results, we can conclude that fruits and vegetables stores are preferred by decision maker buying fresh potatoes with brown skin colour, with knowledge about potato carbohydrate contribution, and having age under 55 years old. Also this channel is chosen, compared with the supermarkets / hypermarkets, by those consumers that consider price as an important factor when buying unpacked fresh potatoes. |
| Keywords: | Consumer Preferences, Fresh potatoes, Marketing channels, Argentina, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, D Microeconomics, D01 Household Behavior and Family Economics, D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis, Q Agricultural and Natural Resources Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics, Q1 Agriculture, Q13 Agricultural Markets and Marketing, Cooperatives, Agribusiness, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126372&r=agr |
| By: | Jena, Pradyot Ranjan; Stellmacher, Till; Grote, Ulrike |
| Abstract: | What is the impact of product certification on small-scale farmers’ livelihoods? To what extent does the participation of Ethiopian small-scale coffee farmers in certified local cooperative structures improve their socio-economic situation? To answer these questions, this paper employs household data of 249 coffee farmers from six different cooperatives collected in the Jimma zone of Southwestern Ethiopia in 2009. Findings show that the certification of coffee cooperatives has in total a low impact on small-scale coffee producers’ livelihoods mainly due to (1) low productivity, (2) an insignificant price premium, and (3) poor access to credit and information from the cooperative. Differences in production and organizational capacities between the local cooperatives are mirrored in the extent of the certification benefits for the smallholders. ‘Good’ cooperatives have reaped the benefits of certification, whereas ‘bad’ ones did not fare well. In this regard the “cooperative effect” overlies the “certification effect”. |
| Keywords: | Coffee certification, cooperative, poverty reduction, Ethiopia, Crop Production/Industries, Q13, Q18, R11, R12, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126720&r=agr |
| By: | Garcia Alvarez-Coque, J.M.; Lopez-Garcia Usach, T.; Sanchez Garcia, M. |
| Abstract: | Innovation behaviour of agri-food firms depends on firm structure but also on the characteristics of the territory in which they are established. Spatial considerations are important to determine the propensity of a firm to innovate. Using a database of innovative and non-innovative agro-food firms located in the Autonomous Community of Valencia, the paper assesses the effect of firms’ variables and also the territorial features such as urban/rural areas, percentage of native population, education level of population and distance to technological institutes. Results show that rural areas are not a handicap for innovation but improved access to training services and technological institutes have a significant influence in innovation. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, territory, rural/urban, agri-food firms, Agricultural and Food Policy, Industrial Organization, Land Economics/Use, O18, P25, Q13, Q55, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126030&r=agr |
| By: | Perretti, Biagio; Favia, MariaFara |
| Abstract: | CBC programmes are a key pillar of the current neighbourhood policy of the EU, and will play an even stronger role in the next future. In this note a simple framework for the assessment of the relevance and impact of these programmes was proposed, and some preliminary findingswhere discussed, for the ENPI MED CBC and the Italy –Tunisia programme The neighbour regions were classified on the basis of structural heterogeneity and strength of interactions. In this framework, the Mediterranean neighbourhood, could be classified as “ separated” or “isolated” with a strong structural diversity, that generates a potential for intensive interaction, and strong risks of tensions and open crisis. Agriculture and rural areas are among the sectors where these features appear with the strongest intensity. In this scenario, CBC actions could contribute to the generation of a virtuous process of convergence, in the direction of declining structural dualisms, and increasing synergic flows. This role is not played, or at least is not significantly appearing yet in the ENPI CBC programmes. The ENPI CBC strategy doesn’t explicitly identify rural development issues as main priority. The only two programmes activated in the Mediterranean Basin MED and Italy Tunisia, show quite different focus on Rural Issues. In the ENPI MED, rural issues are still marginal, per quality and quantity of projects. The smaller, programme Italy-Tunisia seems much more focused on the theme, with a majority of projects directly targeting agro-food topics. A stronger impact of CBC programmes on rural development seems opportune, specially after the structural changes brought by the Arab Spring, that demand a new model of integration, and sustainable development in the Mediterranean Basin. |
| Keywords: | ENPI CBC Programmes, Rural development, Mediterranean Basin., Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, O19, R58, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126219&r=agr |
| By: | Adong, Annet; Mwaura, Francis; Okoboi, Geofrey |
| Abstract: | Farmer groups have returned to the policy agenda of many developing countries because of their attractiveness as facilitators and accelerators of technical and economic change in rural areas and as potential avenues for mobilizing farmers around a common objective especially in the delivery of services and formulation of policies that support agriculture development. In Uganda, the government and development agencies are targeting farmer groups as the vehicle for agricultural development in the country. Despite this significance of farmer groups in the policy agenda little is known on the level of membership and the factors influencing the decision of farmers to join these groups. Using the Uganda Census of Agriculture 2008/9 data, the study reveals that nationally, membership to groups is low at 9 and 16 percent amongst individual farmers and agriculture households respectively. Northern Uganda had the highest level of membership followed by Western Uganda. The Central region had the least membership. Farmer characteristics that influenced membership to groups were found to be: age, gender, marital status, major activity and education achievement. Distance to extension services was a major factor influencing membership to groups in addition to distances to the to all year gravel road for some regions. To increase membership to farmer groups, government and development agencies need to provide more time and resources to group formation with targeting directed towards illiterate farmers and those far away from extension workers. The use of the local language in publicity materials is also important in ensuring participation among the illiterate. Overall, there is a need for concerted efforts by all institutions supporting groups to ensure that groups’ approach succeeds in improving access to agricultural technologies and ensuring that noticeable outcomes are achieved for them to attract more farmers like the out grower schemes in Ghana. Other groups based factors including governance, capacity in knowledge, resources and sustainability should be enhanced as it will motivate the more riskaverse farmers to join the groups. |
| Keywords: | Farmer groups, Membership, Uganda Census of Agriculture, Industrial Organization, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126774&r=agr |
| By: | Saweda, Lenis; Liverpool-Tasie, O |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a double hurdle model to explore whether different methods of distributing fertilizer through groups in a targeted input subsidy program affects an intervention’s ability to increase farmer access to agricultural inputs. It uses a case study of Nigeria to demonstrate this. Farmer group membership was required for participating in a voucher program in Nigeria in 2009. However, for actual fertilizer distribution among participants, individual farmers were given their allotted share directly for one set of farmers while for the other set; the fertilizer was given indirectly through a group representative. Where fertilizer was given to a group representative for further distribution to members, respondents with close links to their farm group president received more bags of fertilizer than those without. Where fertilizer was given directly to farmers such results did not obtain. This differential outcome suggests that while groups may facilitate the process of farmer identification and coordination, intra group dynamics may affect their efficacy for providing equal access to inputs for members. A double hurdle model enables us to model the potentially separate processes that determine participation in the voucher program and one’s experience, upon deciding to participate. With intentions to adopt and scale up voucher programs in various food security and poverty alleviation programs across developing countries, it is important to understand the role that intra group dynamics play in the successful implementation of such programs. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126744&r=agr |
| By: | Dono, Gabriele; Cortignani, Raffaele; Giraldo, Luca; Doro, Luca; Ledda, Luigi; Pasqui, Massimiliano; Roggero, PierPaolo |
| Abstract: | Climate changes in agriculture act on various climate variables (precipitation, temperature, etc..) at different times of crop cycles. Many physical and technical relationships have to be represented even when analyzing a limited aspect of farm management. This work employs the net evapotranspiration (ETn) estimated with the EPIC model, as a synthetic index of the physical factors that the farmer considers in decisions on irrigation. The probability distribution of ETn is inserted into a territorial model of DSP that represents farm choices in conditions of uncertainty about water availability and irrigation requirements of crops. Recent trends of ETn suggest that the probability distribution of this variable may appreciably change in the near future. Also, water availability may become more variable due to changed rainfall. These modifications amplify uncertainty of management and, consequently, costs incurred by the farm typologies of the study area, which in many cases suffer an appreciable drop in income. |
| Keywords: | Discrete Stochastic Programming model, EPIC, climate change, Net Evapotranspiration, water availability, irrigation needs, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q54, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126099&r=agr |
| By: | Marenya, Paswel Phiri; Nkonya, Ephraim M.; Xiong, Wei; Rossel, Jose Deustua; Edward, Kato |
| Abstract: | Why do many smallholder farmers fail to adopt improved land-use practices which can improve yields and incomes? The reason is not always because these practices are uneconomical but sometimes it is because resource poverty prevents farmers from taking advantage of yield and income enhancing agricultural practices. In this study we examine the relative merits of using a carbon payment scheme compared to a subsidy policy to help reduce the cost of specific best management practices (BMPs) with productivity and ecosystem benefits. Using a 30-year crop simulation model, we examine the impacts of different soil fertility management treatments (SFTs) on yields and soil carbon and proceed to compute discounted incremental revenue streams over the same period. We find that the SFTs simulated are on average profitable given the conditions assumed in the DSSAT simulations and subsequent net present value analysis and revenue-cost comparisons. When carbon was priced at $8 or $12/t, the increase in incremental incomes generated from a carbon payment were higher than those imputed from a 50% fertilizer subsidy. When carbon was priced at $4/t, the increase was almost always equal and sometimes higher than that from the imputed income transfer from a 50% subsidy. If these indications hold in further research, it could imply that using fertilizer subsidies as the sole mechanism for stimulating adoption of improved soil fertility management practices may unnecessarily forgo other complementary and possibly superior alternatives. Given the fiscal burden on public finances and unavoidable opportunity costs of any substantial subsidy program, it is possible that a carbon payment system is a reasonable alternative even at low carbon prices especially if accompanied by measures to ameliorate the costs of fertilizer to farmers. |
| Keywords: | fertilizer subsidy, carbon payments, sub-Saharan Africa, Farm Management, International Development, Land Economics/Use, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126904&r=agr |
| By: | Avitia, Jessica; Costa-Font, Montserrat; Gil, Jose Maria; Lusk, Jayson L.; Echeverria, Gemma |
| Abstract: | For a variety of reasons, Spanish growth in demand for organic and integrated products has not kept up with supply. This work focused on the effect of information and sensory issues on purchase behaviour in relation to sustainable agricultural production. Using experimental auctions and results from (trained and untrained) sensory Panels, we studied the preferences for attributes related to food sustainability. Spanish consumers have a positive attitude towards sustainable food due to environmental concerns, health concerns, and trust in certification and market agents. However, the premium they are willing to pay for these products is lower than the current market price. Furthermore, “search” and sensory “experience” influence consumers’ purchase behavior. |
| Keywords: | Spain, organic production, integrated production, sensory issues, consumer behaviour, willingness to pay., Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126545&r=agr |
| By: | Magliocca, Nicholas; McConnell, Virginia (Resources for the Future); Walls, Margaret (Resources for the Future); Safirova, Elena |
| Abstract: | This paper uses an economic agent-based model of land use in a hypothetical urban fringe community to examine the effects of large-lot zoning on land conversion, land prices, and the spatial configuration and density of new development. The model incorporates the actions of heterogeneous housing consumers, developers, and farmer/landowners who make economic decisions in land and housing markets. The model allows for population growth and simulates the evolution of land use patterns and prices over a 20-year time period. Zoning regulations in the form of minimum lot size restrictions imposed in an outlying area are shown to have effects that vary with the stringency of the regulations: 2-acre minimum lot sizes have little effect on the spatial patterns of development, but they do increase land and housing prices and result in higher incomes in the region; 5-acre minimum lot sizes push development toward the city center, leaving agricultural land in the zoned region undeveloped until quite late in the simulation period. While house prices are higher with 5-acre zoning, land prices in the zoned region fall, highlighting the countervailing influences of lot size restrictions on land prices. The new modeling approach allows for the tracking of the transitional dynamics of development, both over space and time as the urban area grows. |
| Keywords: | land use, agent-based model, zoning, urban sprawl |
| JEL: | R11 R12 R14 R38 |
| Date: | 2012–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-11-32&r=agr |
| By: | Nzaku, Kilungu; Houston, Jack E.; Fonsah, Esendugue Greg |
| Abstract: | We estimate a dynamic version of an almost ideal demand system (AIDS) model for U.S.A. imports of fresh tropical fruits: bananas, pineapples, avocadoes, papayas, mangoes/guavas, grapes and other fresh fruit imports. An error correction model specification is justified after unit root and cointegration test results confirm nonstationarity and cointegration of the data. Estimated income elasticities show that fresh grapes and other fresh fruit imports appear to be considered luxury commodities. All own-price elasticities were negative and significant. While imported bananas, pineapples, U.S.A. grapes and other fresh fruit were quite inelastic, demand for papayas and mangoes/guavas were elastic. Fresh fruits that are shown to be complementary to imported fruits include bananas, imported grapes, U.S.A. grapes and avocados, and imported avocados/other fresh fruits. Key |
| Keywords: | Tropical Fruits, Import Demand, Almost Ideal Demand Systems, Error Correction, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126721&r=agr |
| By: | Trindade, Federico J. |
| Abstract: | Using linear programming data envelope analysis (DEA) I studied the impact that high temperatures have over the agricultural performance of counties in Nebraska. I have found that the incidence of high temperatures is no uniform for all the counties. There is an important negative incidence of temperatures over 32° Celsius during the growing season over agricultural performance on most counties, but for some counties this incidence is not significant. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126913&r=agr |
| By: | Ndoye Niane, Aifa Fatimata; Burger, Kees |
| Abstract: | Agricultural production is typically a risky business. Farm households have to tackle several risks. So, farm households’ risk attitude is an important issue connected with decision making and greatly affects their economic performance. Particularly in Senegal, for horticultural households, output market price is one of the foremost risks. Moreover, within the household, husband and wives may behave differently towards risk. This research provides theoretical and empirical evidence of measures and effects of risk attitude on economic performance and on choice of inputs across gender. More precisely, based on an experimental game implemented in of Senegal, this chapter investigates the gender dimension of risk attitude and the causal relationship between risk attitude and allocative inefficiency of choice of inputs. The results show that on average men and women producers display absolute risk aversion towards output market price, and that women are as risk averse as men. As expected, and in line with the theoretical model, the empirical evidence shows that allocative inefficiency in the use of inputs increases with risk aversion. We identify recommendations for policy decision makers in terms of strategies which may help to dampen men and women producers’ risk aversion towards output market price and repercussions for efficiency. |
| Keywords: | risk attitude, output market price, allocative inefficiency, inputs, horticultural household, gender, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126928&r=agr |
| By: | Singla, Rohit; Naseem, Anwar |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the potential economic impacts of ten novel traits in canola by employing a stochastic economic surplus model. Nitrogen use efficiency, water use efficiency, flea beetle resistance, cold/freeze tolerance and drought tolerance traits were found to have the largest economic impacts. Major beneficiaries of the surplus benefits are consumers, and Canadian producers and innovators. The magnitudes of economic impacts varied substantially across the three major canola growing provinces in Canada. Net benefits were found sensitive to supply elasticity and time spent in R&D and regulatory approval. The benefits, however, were not very sensitive to alternative probability distribution assumption for adoption rate, and correlation of adoption rate with expected yield change. |
| Keywords: | trait evaluation, canola, surplus analysis, agricultural genomics, molecular-assisted breeding, Crop Production/Industries, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q11, Q16, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126773&r=agr |
| By: | Lambarraa, Fatima |
| Abstract: | The horticulture sector plays a relevant role in Spanish agriculture and economy. Their participation in the final agricultural production reached 37% and it represents an important source of employment generating the half of the job in the entire Spanish agricultural sector (MARM, 2010). The purpose of this paper is the evaluation of dynamic technical efficiency for both outdoor and greenhouse Spanish farms specialized in horticulture production. A dynamic stochastic frontier model is developed to estimate the long run technical efficiency and it persistence for both samples. This analysis has been applied to 126 and 90 Spanish greenhouses and outdoor horticulture farms respectively using Farm Accounting Data Network. Those farms were observed during 6 years from 1999 to 2004. The static efficiency level of greenhouse farms is higher than outdoor farms by approximately 12%. The evolution of the static efficiency level during the studied period shows an increase by 15% in the greenhouse farms comparing to a decrease by 11% for outdoor horticulture farms. This difference can be explained by a best control of the use of different inputs in the case of greenhouse horticulture as well as the implantation of high technology that improves efficiency level over years. The empirical results also show a big difference of level between static and dynamic technical efficiency for both samples. These results are consistent with the high value of the technical inefficiency persistence parameter for both cases which suggests that the technical inefficiency is highly persistent and shows a strong competition in this sector. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126797&r=agr |
| By: | Wokker, Chris; Santos, Paulo; Ros, Bansok |
| Abstract: | In the context of increasing competition for water, knowledge of the marginal productivity of water is crucial in determining its opti- mal allocation between users. Using primary, plot level panel data, this paper estimates the marginal productivity of water from supple- mentary irrigation in lowland rice systems in Cambodia, taking into account farmer and plot heterogeneity as well as self-selection of sup- plementary irrigation. Our estimates indicate a range of elasticity for rice output with respect to water inputs between 0.057 and 0.069 for wet season production, and an estimate of 0.125 in the dry season, sub- stantially lower than previous estimates based on either aggregate or trial data. We discuss the policy implications of these results, in par- ticular with respect to the utility of demand management policies and the challenges they pose to the decentralization of water management to Water Users Groups that are meant to be nancially independent. |
| Keywords: | Water productivity Cambodia rice, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Land Economics/Use, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126321&r=agr |
| By: | Dhraief, Mohamed Zied; Oueslati, Meriem; Dhehibi, Boubaker |
| Abstract: | The aim of the paper is to analyze the impact of socio-economic and demographic variables on the demand for meat and fish for Tunisian consumers. This study is one of the first applications in Tunisia with respect to the demand for meat and fish that simultaneously covers two important aspects: the non-imposition of, a priori, a functional form and the use of cross-section data including demographic and socioeconomic variables. The main results show that meat and fish consumption patterns by age, level of income and level of education are relatively different as regards to the economic factors (food expenditure and price). The changes in demographic and economic characteristics are influencing the changes in meat and fish demand. |
| Keywords: | meat and fish demand, food demand systems, synthetic model, economic and socio-demographic factors., Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Political Economy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126432&r=agr |
| By: | Subervie, Julie; Vagneron, Isabelle |
| Abstract: | It has only been a few years since the private standard GlobalGap has been introduced in the Malagasy lychee value chain. Since the year 2005, under pressure from some European importers, many exporters have chosen to intensify relations with small-scale farmers and have assisted them in achieving GlobalGap certification. Indeed, in contrast with countries where farmers seeking certification have to pay for it, in Madagascar certification costs have been entirely supported by exporters themselves, often with financial support and technical assistance from donors and trade facilitators. This has entailed an unexpected situation, characterized by a boom in the number of certified farmers when development programs started, followed by a disengagement of some exporters, who have chosen to opt out of the GlobalGap compliance process as soon as financial supports ended. Taking advantage of this very specific context in the form of a natural experiment, we aim at understanding potential mechanisms through which Malagasy farmers may benefit from GlobalGap standards and assessing consequences on their marketing performances using original dataset. The results generally do not show any significant impact of certification on prices received by farmers. However, they suggest that certified farmers may have an opportunity to sell larger quantities because of a mechanical interest from exporters or because they are able to improve both quality and quantity by using new infrastructure built for requirements. On average, currently certified producers sell about 4.5 tons, which means 1 ton more than what they would have sold, had they not been uncertified. This estimate appears driven by certified farmers who carry their product to the treatment plant by themselves. |
| Keywords: | standards, certification, developing countries, exports, fresh produce, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Q12, Q17, Q56, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126704&r=agr |
| By: | Di Falco, Salvatore; Veronesi, Marcella |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the impact of climate change adaptation on farm households’ downside risk exposure in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia. The analysis relies on a moment-based specification of the stochastic production function. We use an empirical strategy that accounts for the heterogeneity in the decision on whether to adapt or not, and for unobservable characteristics of farmers and their farm. We find that (i) past adaptation to climate change adaptation reduces current downside risk exposure, and so the risk of crop failure; (ii) climate change adaptation would have been more beneficial to the non-adapters if they adapted, in terms of reduction in downside risk exposure; and (iii) climate change adaptation is a successful risk management strategy that makes the adapters’ more resilient to climatic conditions. |
| Keywords: | adaptation, climate change, downside risk exposure, environmental risk, Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, D80, Q18, Q54, |
| Date: | 2012–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126010&r=agr |
| By: | Peerlings, Jack H.M.; Polman, Nico B.P.; Dries, Liesbeth; Slangen, Louis H.G. |
| Abstract: | Firms are able to survive only if they adapt appropriately in response to disturbances. The ability of a farm to continue after a disturbance is defined as resilience. To analyse the resilience of EU farms we explain exit and the number of adaptation strategies that farmers follow under two scenarios. The current CAP will be continued in the base scenario, while it will be abolished in scenario 2. The outcomes show that under both scenarios large more specialised farms with young farm heads are most resilient, and small more diversified farms headed by old farmers are least resilient. |
| Keywords: | resilience, CAP reform, count model, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126696&r=agr |
| By: | Dill, Matheus; Dalla Corte, Vitor Francisco; Anselmi, Adriano Adelcino; Oliveira, Carlos Alberto; Finger, Maria Isabel |
| Abstract: | Problems related to obesity as a result of changing dietary habits have generated discussions. This study aimed to make connections between institutional theory and presumable strategies that supermarkets may adopt to minimize problems related to poor nutrition. Eating habits, obesity and overweight indexes were analyzed, leading to the following problem: How can supermarkets contribute to fight epidemic obesity and at the same time take advantages of it? |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126769&r=agr |
| By: | Mutuc, Maria Erlinda M.; Hudson, Darren; Reeves, Jeanne M. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we take the yield impacts of Schlenker and Roberts (2009), specifically on cotton, under a range of uniform temperature changes and apply it to a global fiber model to map changes in cotton production and prices. Although we use the 2011-2020 time period, the results should be viewed more as potential long-term market adjustments in the absence of new technology rather than a specific forecast. We find that in terms of extreme higher temperatures in the U.S. alone (+5°C) results in higher cotton prices as much as 17% against the baseline over the 2011-2020 projection period as production is cut back, on average, by 1.8%. Meanwhile, a 5°C increase in temperature in the U.S. and the rest-of-the-world (ROW) induces a price increase of as much as 135%, on average, throughout the projection period given a lower production of 20% from baseline levels that ignore temperature changes. More modest temperature changes (+1°C) result in much more modest (+6% in price and -1.3% in global production) changes in the cotton market. |
| Keywords: | cotton, climate change, production, trade, net trade model, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126362&r=agr |
| By: | Sbarai, Nathalia; Miranda, Silvia Helena Galvao de |
| Abstract: | This paper is part of the first author´s dissertation (Master degree). |
| Keywords: | Tariff-equivalent, non-tariff measure, heterogeneity, beef, trade, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, F13, F14, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126496&r=agr |
| By: | Mabuza, M.L.; Ortmann, G.F.; Wale, E.Z. |
| Abstract: | With over 90% of mushroom producers having opted to participate in the industry through informal farmer groups, this paper sought to identify the key factors that unify members of informal collective initiatives. In contrast to formal organisations, which are regulated by law, informal groups are fully autonomous and not regulated by any legal instrument in Swaziland. Based on a conceptual framework that uses social capital dimensions to study collective action, trust, cooperation and communication were identified as the key elements responsible for ensuring cohesion in informal groups engaged in mushroom production. Further analysis indicated that trust is positively influenced by gender, age and religion, while cooperation was found to be influenced by members’ dependence on mushrooms for food. Communication, on the other hand, was found to be positively influenced by the level of trust and member cooperation. The empirical evidence indicates that members from communities characterized by positive cognitive social capital are most likely to engage in voluntary collective action in an attempt to improve their livelihoods. The study, therefore, recommends that informal groups developed voluntarily by community members should be encouraged and embraced as an important element of Swaziland’s development agenda. |
| Keywords: | collective action, social capital, mushrooms, Swaziland, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126764&r=agr |
| By: | Zobena, Aija; Lace, I.; Benga, Elita |
| Abstract: | The main issue addressed in this study is interaction of development policy of agricultural and rural areas with the regional and cohesion policies. This paper is based on an empirical study of everyday commuting models and spatial practices of different social groups of rural people in Latvia. This article analyzes data from a survey “Place, capabilities, migration” conducted in 2011 with a total of 1009 respondents in Latvia. The theoretical basis of research is rooted in the mobility studies and sociological and geographical conceptualization of space and place. The main focus is on analysis of relationship between commuting, mobility and the placeattachment. What are the main reasons of rural population mobility and everyday commuting? What services and where rural people use? What should be done to make rural places more attractive for people as places of work and residence? |
| Keywords: | rural and local development, social cohesion, commuting, mobility, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, R58, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126119&r=agr |
| By: | Govindara, Gurrappa Naidu; Suryaprakash, Satrasala; Sivaramane, Nilakantan; Sundaramoorthy, Chandrasekaran; Murali, Palanichamy |
| Abstract: | Till 1990’s the dominant edible oil produced and consumed in India were rapeseed-mustard and groundnut. The technological, economic and policy changes thereafter induced dynamics in consumer demand for food, including edible oils. The markov chain analysis for rural and urban Tamil Nadu state revealed that there is perceptible shift in edible oil consumption from traditional groundnut oil to Other Edible Oils (OEO). The possible reason for these shifts are increased urbanization (changing lifestyles), increased awareness, availability of oils in packet form in varied quantities even in remote rural areas, change in relative prices of oils, and increased income levels of rural and urban households. The secondary data published by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) did not clearly disintegrate the OEO's, hence the primary data was employed to determine the current status of edible oil consumption. The results revealed that presently, the dominant edible oil consumed is sunflower oil in both the rural and urban regions of Tamil Nadu. The groundnut oil, which was traditionally consumed by households, has been replaced by sunflower oil, implying the need for appropriate changes in the production front. |
| Keywords: | dynamics, consumption, edible oils, households, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126318&r=agr |
| By: | Miranda, Silvia Helena Galvao de; Adami, Andreia Cristina de Oliveira; Bassanezi, Renato B. |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this paper is to estimate the potential impacts of the increasing dissemination of the Huanglongbing (HLB) disease in citrus orchards in São Paulo State, Brazil, which is the largest world producer of orange juice and to discuss the importance of phytosanitary programs in order to control the disease’s spreading in the territory. The methodology applied to evaluate the impacts and to discuss the importance of phytossanitary programs is the Cost-Benefit Analysis approach. A model has been used to project the orchard size and production along 20 years as well as to estimate the costs of production and disease control for the same period. Some assumptions have been made about the disease spread, prices and other variables for two basic scenarios: one considering the presence of an official phytosanitary program to eradicate and control the HLB, jointly implemented by Fundecitrus, which is a private institution; and the second one without the official program. The revenues for each scenario have been estimated and accumulated for 20 years, likewise the costs. The losses caused by the HLB considered to evaluate the avoided losses in the scenarios comprised basically those related to production reduction (yield) and reduction of the orchards’ size. Cost-benefit ratios have been calculated for both scenarios. Regarding the CBA results for economic impacts, we found that for each Real invested by government and by Fundecitrus in the phytosanitary program, there is an avoided loss that amounts to R$ 57.3, which consists on a very high benefit-cost ratio for this kind of investment. When the additional costs imposed to farmers to manage the HLB is computed in the CBA analysis, the ratio falls to 4.6, however it is still higher than one, indicating that this phytosanitary “investment” is recommendable. Despite criticisms on this approach and the assumptions made, it provides elements to decision making, for both public and private actors and it allows having some approximation of impacts. Estimating those impacts is relevant to prove policy makers that phytosanitary policy has a high net benefit for society. It is worth-mentioning that other economic and social losses might be incorporated in the analysis. |
| Keywords: | Citrus, Benefit-Cost Analysis, phytosanitary program, Brazil, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q1, H59, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126501&r=agr |
| By: | Rungsuriyawiboon, Supawat; Hockmann, Heinrich |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to understand the state of adjustment process and dynamic structure in Polish agriculture. A dynamic cost frontier model using the shadow cost approach is formulated to decompose cost efficiency into allocative and technical efficiencies. The dynamic cost efficiency model is developed into a more general context with a multiple quasi-fixed factor case. The model is implemented empirically using a panel data set of 1,143 Polish farms over the period 2004 to 2007. Due to the regional disparities and a wide variety of farm specialization, farms are categorized into two regions and five types of farm production specialization. The estimation results confirm our observation that adjustment is rather sluggish implying that adjustment cost are considerably high. It takes up to 30 years until Polish farmers reach their optimal level of capital and land input. Allocative and technical efficiency differ widely across regions. Moreover, efficiency is rather stable over time and among farm specialisations. However, their results indicate that the regions characterized by the larger farms perform slightly better. |
| Keywords: | Polish agriculture, dynamic efficiency, adjustment cost, shadow cost approach, Agribusiness, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, D21, D61, Q12, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126737&r=agr |
| By: | Yonatan Ben-Shalom; Mary Kay Fox; P.K. Newby |
| Keywords: | SNAP, Dietary Patterns, Low-Income Populations, Healthy Eaters |
| JEL: | I0 I1 |
| Date: | 2012–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7385&r=agr |
| By: | Abrahamova, Miluse; Boudny, Jan; Boskova, Iveta; Foltyn, Ivan; Hruska, Martin; Prazan, Jaroslav; Ratinger, Tomas; Voltr, Vaclav |
| Abstract: | Grasslands received policy attention in the Czech Republic only just fifteen years ago, when they were threatened to be abandoned in the economic transition process. The supports to farming on grasslands have grown gradually, particularly after the EU accession. The policy followed the notion of joitness between grassland management and beef cattle raising and conditioned AE and LFA payments by a minimum livestock density. There are many reasons why the current policy will change in the new programme period. The paper tries to assess the impact of the envisaged changes on grassland maintenance. It is showed that overall future supports to farming will be sufficient to keep positive profit on grassland farms, however the structure of supports might be less appropriate to the actual objectives of grassland protection and hence, there is a threat of policy failure in the end. |
| Keywords: | grasslands, beef cattle, mathematic programming model, Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q20, Q28, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126220&r=agr |
| By: | Perez Hernandez, Pedro Pablo; Martin Lozano, Jose Manuel; Salazar-Ordonez, Melania |
| Abstract: | Since 2006 to nowadays sugar beet in Europe has suffered a deep transformation with the new Common Market Organization. That year, in Spain, farms gave up 50% of production quota. New century has come accompanied by different EU strategies, including the obligation of stimulating new energy sources development especially renewable energies. From a double perspective, the authors have made an empirical approach to learn about future viability of this sector in Spain. First of all, we present an economic analysis to reflect the actual situation of market goods offered by this farming. Then we present environmental efficiency analysis (Greenhouse Gases emissions) caused by sugar beet farms with the aim of studying environmental non-market goods derived from bio-ethanol production. Goods that take part of the environmental function of this economical activity as a positive externality which has become an essential characteristic of EU agrarian system. |
| Keywords: | Sugar Beet, Environmental Efficiency Analysis, Greenhouse Gases emissions, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q15, Q16, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012–08–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126451&r=agr |
| By: | Chevassus-Lozza, Emmanuelle; Gaigne, Carl; Le Mener, Leo |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of input tariffs on the export status and export performance of processing firms. From a theoretical model with heterogeneous downstream firms, we show that lower input tariffs may increase the export sales of the high productivity firms at the expense of low productivity firms and may decrease the probability of firms entering foreign markets. We compare the predictions of the theoretical model with firm-level data from the French agrifood sector by developing a two-stage estimation procedure that uses an equation for selection into export markets in the first stage and an exports equation in the second stage. Liberalization of agricultural trade appears to favor the reallocation of market share from low to high productive firms. In addition, our result suggests that, whether lower input tariffs increase total exports sales and jobs, a large fraction of least productive exporting firms may lose from an additional decrease in agricultural product tariffs. |
| Keywords: | Input tariffs, heterogeneous donwstream firms, exports, Agricultural and Food Policy, Industrial Organization, International Relations/Trade, F12, L11, L66, |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:spaawp:126946&r=agr |
| By: | Cap, Eugenio; Malach, Valeria |
| Abstract: | During the last fifteen years, the impressive increase in the area planted with soybeans in Argentina, since the commercial release of glyphosate-tolerant varieties in 1996, has sparked a heated debate about its implications. There is wide concern about the detrimental effects of this process, especially on organic matter content (its main competitor for land, maize, provides a significant amount of organic matter, which is not the case with soybeans). A comparative analysis of the evolution of the area planted with both soybeans and maize was made between five countries in the Americas: The United States, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, for the crop seasons 1980/81 through 2011/12. An index was constructed to reflect deviations from an assumed equilibrium allocation of land, based on the ratio: area with soybeans / (area with soybeans + area with maize). This “relative land allocation index” (RLAI) was calculated for the countries included in the study for the period under analysis and the resulting trend lines were compared. Argentina was the country with the highest RLAI in 2011/12, with a deviation of 67% above the assumed equilibrium value for the RLAI (1.0), followed by Paraguay (that was already in “disequilibrium” at the beginning of the period of analysis), Bolivia and Brazil. The RLAI for the USA remained very close to the assumed equilibrium point for the entire period. Bolivia showed the highest positive rate for the RLAI series trend line (5%/yr), followed by Argentina (3%) and Brazil (2%). Both USA and Paraguay show a flat trend line (0%) but the casual factors are considered to be of a completely different nature. To estimate the effect of the commercial release of genetically modified (GM) glyphosate-tolerant soybeans on the RLAI, a simple linear regression model was constructed, using a dummy variable to control for the year in which glyphosate-tolerant varieties were made available to farmers. This variable turned out to be significant for Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. The adjusted R2 for Brazil resulted to be the highest (0.8), followed by Bolivia (0.6) and Argentina (0.5), suggesting that the availability of GM soybeans played a bigger role in the expansion of this crop in Brazil than it did in both Bolivia and Argentina. |
| Keywords: | soybeans, maize, land allocation, GMO, Argentina, the Americas, Crop Production/Industries, Land Economics/Use, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2012–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126376&r=agr |
| By: | Anders, Sven; Westra, Sabrina |
| Abstract: | The United States is the third largest consumer of seafood products in the world. The percentage of imported seafood consumed in the U.S. has steadily increased from 66% in 1999 to over 84% in 2009 (NOAA, 2012). Food safety, especially of imported foods and products from developing countries, has raised increasing concerns among American consumers and policy makers. Accordingly, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) border inspection system is considered critical for ensuring the safety of domestic seafood consumers (Ababouch et al., 2000). However, the potential non-tariff barrier to trade posed by FDA regulations, especially for many developing country exporters have been frequently cited in the literature. This paper investigates trends and patterns in U.S. import detentions and refusals of seafood products between 2000 and 2010. Data from U.S. FDA import refusal report is used to uncover patterns of detainments and import refusals across major exporting countries, World Bank income classification and time. The analysis in this paper suggests that the FDA’s approach to food safety regulation for seafood at U.S. ports of entry does not follow random selection based inspections. Instead, a system of Import Alerts results in targeted inspections and mandatory “flagging” of repeat code violation. We find evidence of increasing levels of seafood shipment detentions without physical examinations targeted at predominantly lower-middle income seafood exporting countries which make up the majority of the U.S. seafood supply. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126912&r=agr |
| By: | Cahyadi, Eko; Waibel, Hermann |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the impact of contract farming in the oil palm industry in Indonesia on smallholders’ well-being and investigates its implication for poverty reduction. Data were collected randomly from 245 smallholders in the province of Jambi, Sumatra. A treatment effects model was applied in order to capture endogeneity and selection bias. Results show that participation in contract farming is significantly associated with type of household, age of household head, size of oil palm plot, and the time of plantation establishment. While overall, contract farming has a significant positive effect on smallholder income; it discriminates against the poorer smallholders. It is recommended that agro industry and government should review contractual arrangements in order to increase the chances of the poor to benefit from oil palm expansion in Indonesia. |
| Keywords: | contract farming, oil palm, treatment effect model, poverty, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, O13, Q13, |
| Date: | 2012–07–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126327&r=agr |
| By: | Neetha, Rose C.D.; Kotrakerebasegowda, Umesh |
| Keywords: | Geographical Indication, willingness to pay, contingent evaluation willingness to accept, logistic regression, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126324&r=agr |
| By: | Okello, Julius Juma; Kirui, Oliver K.; Gitonga, Zachary |
| Abstract: | Smallholder farmers’ access to markets has traditionally been constrained by lack of market information. The need to facilitate farmers’ access to markets has seen the emergence of many projects that employ electronic tools in the provision of market information services (MIS). This study used a triple hurdle analysis to examine the factors influencing farmer awareness of electronic based (e-based) MIS projects, the decision by smallholder farmers in Kenya to participate in such projects and the use of services they provide. It finds that the drivers of awareness, decision to participate in e-based projects and use of the use of e-based MIS various farmer, farm and location-specific characteristics as well as endowments with physical, financial, human, and social capital. It specifically finds that education, distance to market, membership to farmer organizations, household income and cell phone ownership affect both the decision to participate in e-based projects and the use of MIS services such projects offer. The study concludes that transaction costs and social, financial and human capital endowments play an important role in smallholder farmer participation in e-based projects and the use of e-based MIS. The study discusses the implications of these findings for policy and practice. |
| Keywords: | Smallholder farmers, e-based projects, use of MIS, Kenya, Marketing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126804&r=agr |
| By: | Sikei, Geophrey; Nyangena, Wilfred |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Political Economy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126839&r=agr |
| By: | Silvie Colman; Ira P. Nichols-Barrer; Julie E. Redline; Barbara L. Devaney; Sara V. Ansell; Ted Joyce |
| Keywords: | WIC, Women, Infants, and Children, Supplemental Nutrition Program, Nutrition |
| JEL: | I0 I1 |
| Date: | 2012–01–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7369&r=agr |
| By: | Allen, Summer L.; Badiane, Ousmane; Ulimwengu, John M. |
| Abstract: | Using the most recent data from Tanzania, we investigate the impacts of district-level health and education expenditures on marginal productivities of agricultural inputs and overall production. We use a covariance structural model combined with a mixed linear model to account for the endogeneity of social outcomes and technological heterogeneity across districts. Our results confirm the significance of government social expenditures in human capital formation as measured through health and education indicators and their effects on agricultural productivity. Indeed, the marginal productivities of inputs (labor in particular) respond significantly and positively to health and education outcomes, especially considered jointly. The impacts also seem to be a function of the type of health constraint, with short-term health factors such as malaria and diarrhea impacting productivity from seeds and fertilizer while longer-term health constraints seem to have greater impacts on labor quality and land productivity. Our results also confirm the importance of considering intra-country heterogeneity as well as climate-related constraints, as the results show that annual precipitation has a signification impact on production for all specifications. |
| Keywords: | Tanzania, health, education, precipitation, marginal productivity, social expenditures, state variable, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126663&r=agr |
| By: | Henke, Roberto; Monteleone, Alessandro; Pierangeli, Fabio |
| Abstract: | The aim of the paper is to assess the impact of the CAP reform on the resources allocation by Member State and evaluate whether the new distribution actually fits better the agricultural policy objectives and equity criteria. The modification of the allocation systems is a particularly sensitive issue and it has been raising great attention during the negotiations. At a first glance, it seem that the European Commission, addressing the CAP post 2013, had to choose among different scenarios and it bent (at least partially) the theoretical framework of the proposal to the pragmatic matter of availability and robustness of data related to the criteria selected for the reallocations of financial resources. The paper analyses the effects on the national envelopes of the “convergence” criteria for direct payments (first pillar) combined with the scenarios (currently) most supported by the Commission for the distribution of the rural development resources (second pillar). |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126101&r=agr |
| By: | Lybbert, Travis J.; Magnan, Nicholas; Spielman, David J.; Bhargava, Anil K.; Gulati, Kajal |
| Abstract: | Demand heterogeneity often makes it profitable for firms to price and promote goods and services differently in different market segments. When private consumption brings public benefits, this same heterogeneity can be used to develop targeted public subsidies. We explore the design of public-private targeting and segmentation strategies in the case of a resource-conserving agricultural technology in India. To understand farmers’ heterogeneous demand for Laser Land Leveling (LLL), we conducted an experimental auction for LLL services with an integrated randomized control trial to estimate the private benefits of the technology. We use graphical and econometric approaches to characterize farmer demand for LLL. We then add detailed cost data from LLL providers to simulate and evaluate several potential targeted delivery strategies based on measures of cost effectiveness of expanded diffusion of LLL and market surplus in a welfare framework. These simulations demonstrate inherent tradeoffs between increasing the amount of land that is leveled and expanding the number of farmers adopting the technology. While segmenting and targeting are popular elements of many public-private partnerships to develop and disseminate agricultural technologies, formulating and implementing effective delivery strategies requires a rich understanding of costs, benefits and demand. Our experimental approach generates such an understanding and may be relevant in other contexts. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126806&r=agr |
| By: | Margarian, Anne |
| Abstract: | Zusammenfassung: Die Unterstützung des landwirtschaftlichen Sektors wird unter anderem mit dessen Beitrag für die ländliche wirtschaftliche Entwicklung gerechtfertigt. Die Rolle einer stabilen Landwirtschaft ist aber möglicherweise ambivalent: Positive Impulseffekte könnten ebenso von ihr ausgehen wie negative Konkurrenzeffekte. Unter diesen Bedingungen kann eine sektorale Förderung durch falsche Marktanreize mittel- und langfristig auch negativ auf die allgemeine wirtschaftliche Entwicklung wirken. Der vorliegende Beitrag analysiert den regional differenzierten Zusammenhang zwischen der landwirtschaftlichen und der außerlandwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung empirisch. Das verwendete Panel-Schätzmodel nutzt Daten der regionalen volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnung der NUTS 3-Regionen der EU27. Es werden verschiedene Entwicklungsregime mit unterschiedlichen Rollen der Landwirtschaft identifiziert. In entwickelten Volkswirtschaften dominieren die Konkurrenzeffekte zwischen den Sektoren, doch gerade in den Regionen Osteuropas mit geringer Produktivität wirkt die Landwirtschaft stabilisierend auf die Entwicklung von Wertschöpfung und Beschäftigung. Daraus ergibt sich die politische Herausforderung, den landwirtschaftlichen Strukturwandel zu unterstützen und gleichzeitig die Entwicklung anderer Sektoren in ländlichen Regionen zu stärken, damit frei werdende Produktionsfaktoren vor Ort genutzt werden können. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- Summary: Support of agriculture is justified, among others, by its contribution to rural economic development. Nevertheless, the relation between agricultural and general economic development may be ambiguous. On the one side, agriculture may affect other sectors positively via multiplier and income effects. On the other side, competition effects may arise due to the application of common factors, specifically labour, by agriculture and other sectors. Under these circumstances, support of agricultural production may create distorted market signals and thereby affect the medium and long-term economic development negatively. This research analyses the regionally differentiated relation between the agricultural and the non-agricultural development empirically. The panel estimation model applies data of the common regional accounts from NUTS3 regions of the EU27. It identifies different development regimes with different roles for agriculture. In the most developed economies, competition effects dominate. Nevertheless, in low-productivity regions of Eastern Europe, agriculture stabilises the development of employment and value added. Thereby, policy faces the challenge to support simultaneously structural change in agriculture and the development of other sectors in rural regions. |
| Keywords: | Europa, Regionalentwicklung, Strukturwandel, Sektorale Entwicklung, Rolle der Landwirtschaft, Europe, regional development, structural change, sectoral development, role of agriculture, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, O13, O18, Q10, R12, R15, |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:jhimwp:126870&r=agr |
| By: | Hockmann, Heinrich; Gataulina, Ekaterina |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the significance of risk, external and internal transaction costs in the agriculture of the Tatarstan Republic. The analysis is conducted for two categories of organ-isational forms, independent farms and members of agroholdings. Although average prices do not differ among organisational forms, the results indicate that external transaction costs are more pronounced in independent farms, whereas agroholding membership entails higher in-ternal transaction costs, thereby making agroholdings more vulnerable to inefficiency than independent farms. In addition, the estimation suggests that this higher inefficiency results from the more enhanced risk management in agroholding members. Since this strategy leads to a more intensive factor use, members of business groups are able to allocate inputs so as to increase production at the same time. |
| Keywords: | Risk production function, internal and external transaction costs, Risk and Uncertainty, Q110, D220, P230, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126676&r=agr |
| By: | Nguetse Tegoum, Pierre; Nakelse, Tebila; Ouedraogo, Issaka |
| Abstract: | Between 2001 and 2007, the poverty headcount in Cameroon has remained steady around 40%. In fact, poverty has reduced in urban areas while it has increased of about 3 points in rural areas. This, despite the numerous agro-pastoral programs that were undertaken by the government between 2002 and 2008 in favour of rural people. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of these actions on the productivity of famers’ organisations. The methodology is based on a combined assessment approach combining both qualitative and quantitative aspects. The qualitative analysis uses Likert scale. The quantitative approach is based on Rubin's causal model and uses propensity score matching techniques. The main data used are those of the survey on the assessment of the impact of programs (EIPA) conducted by Ministry of Economy and Planning in 2009. The results obtained with both methods (qualitative and quantitative) are consistent and indicate that programs implemented by Cameroun government and donors between 2002 and 2008 have had a positive impact on the productivity of farmers’ organizations. The analysis of satisfaction, while indicating an overall appreciation of programs by leaders and members of Famers organisations (FOs), shows that the level of satisfaction seems to be negatively correlated with the regional level of poverty. The matching techniques revealed that FOs aid recipients have experienced a 4% increase in their productivity. More specifically, the study reveals that the impact of government programs is more important in the livestock sector (16%) and in the crops growing sector; it is quite null. Furthermore, non-beneficiaries organisations of the livestock sector could have had an increase of their productivity of about 10% if they had benefited from government assistance. The study therefore recommends that the government to (i) put more means in the livestock sector, which seems to be very promising and can emerge as an important growth leverage of Cameroon economy; (ii) revise the assistance strategies of FOs engaged in the agriculture sector by adopting more targeting approaches and, (iii) establish a monitoring –evaluation system. |
| Keywords: | Famers organisations, Matching, Likert scale, Productivity, Cameroon., Community/Rural/Urban Development, Farm Management, Productivity Analysis, Public Economics, |
| Date: | 2012–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126365&r=agr |
| By: | Jia, Xiangping; Huang, Jikun; Xiang, Cheng; Bergmann, Holger; Zhang, Fusuo |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126726&r=agr |
| By: | Befus, Tanja; Brockmeier, Martina |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126789&r=agr |
| By: | MacDonald, Stephen; Pan, Suwen; Hudson, Darren; Tuan, Francis C. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of distribution channels on demand for apparel, home textiles and other textiles (such as shoes) in urban China. The estimation procedure we use in this study is implemented in three steps. First, we estimate the price/unit value information; second, we estimate the parameters for the demand systems based on QAIDs model; third, we use the J-test and determine the best suitable model for the data set. The results indicate that households spend more on apparel than home textiles and other textile products such as shoes if they purchase textile products from small stores. It also indicates that they would spend more on home textiles and shoes if they purchase from chain stores and supermarkets. |
| Keywords: | Chinese Textile Demand, Distribution Channels, Price and Income, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, C52, D12, D13, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126354&r=agr |
| By: | Diagne, Aliou; Alia, Didier Y.; Wopereis, Marco C.S.; Saito, Kazuki |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the ex-ante impact of rice research in Africa on income and poverty for the period 2011–2020, with the final purpose of setting priority for Africa Rice Center research activities. It describes the methodology and analyzes the main findings. The methodology used combines research solutions elicited from scientists, household- and community-survey data, and econometric models to assess the potential benefit of the research. We found that the potential annual income benefit from all research options across all value-chain actors and for all sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries is US$ 1.8 billion, which aggregated over the period 2014–2020 reaches US$ 10.6 billion. As consequence, it is expected that at least 11 million people will be lifted out of poverty by the end of the period (2020) and at least 5.6 million of people will no longer be undernourished. In terms of actors, rice farmers will receive the highest benefit; however, significant benefit will also accrue to other actors – namely consumers, processors, and traders. In terms of research disciplines, the impacts of research that alleviates major biophysical constrains are the greatest. This indicates that priority should be given to this type of research, but there is also a need to consider postharvest work in the future research agenda. In terms of research nature, breeding research is the most important, followed by agronomy (including integrated pest management, IPM). In terms of geographical area, the main rice-producing sub-region in SSA is western Africa, which will receive the highest research benefit. Eastern Africa will receive the second-highest level of benefits and Central Africa third. In general, lowland ecosystems will have the highest benefit, closely followed by the upland ecosystem. The irrigated system – the importance of which is increasing – will be the third major ecosystem. The analysis shows a significant contribution of rice research to import reduction, and agricultural GDP. In summary, the analysis shows evidence that rice research in Africa in economically and socially profitable. |
| Keywords: | Rice research, priority setting, sub-Saharan Africa, Crop Production/Industries, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126874&r=agr |
| By: | Finco, Adele; Bentivoglio, Deborah; Rasetti, Michele; Padella, Monica; Polla, Piergiuseppe; Cortesi, Davide |
| Abstract: | The Kyoto protocol and the EU Directive 2009/28/EC focus their attention on the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. The use of biofuels in the transport sector is one of the main measures proposed. This paper evaluates the environmental impact, in terms of GHG emissions, of the production and use of rapeseed biodiesel, comparing the results with conventional diesel. The methodology used is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The results of the analysis show that the production of rapeseed biodiesel entails a substantial reduction of the GHG emissions compared to the diesel production system. Furthermore, the agricultural phase is identified as the process which causes the largest amount of GHG emissions in biodiesel life cycle. Therefore it could be possible to improve further the environmental performance of biodiesel intervening properly at that stage. |
| Keywords: | Biodiesel, Sustainability criteria, GHG emissions, LCA, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q01, Q28, Q42, |
| Date: | 2012–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126447&r=agr |
| By: | Fasse, Anja; Grote, Ulrike |
| Abstract: | This paper1 investigates the determinants and impact of agroforestry for smallholders in rural Tanzania. Two questions are addressed: (1) Do these factors drive farmers to grow trees? (2) To what extent does tree cultivation contribute to income generation of households? The empirical results show households with higher environmental awareness, property rights, and less yield losses cultivate more trees per acre. Also the future evaluation plays an important significant role. Here, suitable measures to increase future expectations and environmental awareness need to be developed to increase tree cultivation. However, the impact assessment shows that only trees up to a certain income level influence income positively. For more prosperous households other income sources such as cash crop production play a more important role; here trees per acre influence the income per capita negatively. This leads to the conclusion that trees may be more important for the poorer households compared to the more prosperous ones. |
| Keywords: | agroforestry, time preference, quantile regression, Tanzania, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126666&r=agr |
| By: | Weber, Ron; Musshoff, Oliver |
| Abstract: | Using a unique dataset of a commercial microfinance institution (MFI) in Tanzania this paper investigates first whether agricultural firms have a different probability to get a loan and whether their loans are differently volume rationed than loans to non-agricultural firms. Second, we analyze whether agricultural firms repay their loans with different delinquencies than non-agricultural firms. Our results reveal that agricultural firms face higher obstacles to get credit but as soon as they have access to credit, their loans are not differently volume rationed than those of non-agricultural firms. Furthermore, agricultural firms are less often delinquent when paying back their loans than non-agricultural firms. Our findings suggest that a higher risk exposition typically attributed to agricultural production must not necessarily lead to higher credit risk. They also show that the investigated MFI overestimates the credit risk of agricultural clients and, hence, should reconsider its risk assessment practice to be able to increase lending to the agricultural sector. In addition, our results might indicate that farmers qualify less often for a loan as they do not fit into the standard microcredit product. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Access to Credit, Loan Repayment, Microfinance Institutions, Agricultural Finance, G21, G32, Q14, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126708&r=agr |
| By: | Wollni, Meike; Fischer, Elisabeth |
| Abstract: | This article investigates commitment in cooperative marketing relationships. Sideselling by members poses a serious threat to the viability of cooperatives, since services provided to members have to be financed through collective sales. We develop a model that demonstrates how the size of the producer determines the degree of individual commitment under the provision of public and private collective goods. Based on survey data from cooperatively organized coffee farmers in Costa Rica, we find that smaller and larger farmers are more committed, while medium-sized farmers side-sell a larger share of their produce to private buyers. Some broader implications for collective marketing relationships are discussed. |
| Keywords: | cooperatives, commitment, side-selling, coffee, Costa Rica, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, Marketing, Q12, Q13, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126884&r=agr |
| By: | Moreira, Victor H.; Bravo-Ureta, Boris E.; Dunner, Roberto; Vidal, Ricardo |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the connection between total factor productivity change and dairy farm size in Southern Chile, a translog stochastic production frontier is estimated using an unbalanced panel for 2005-2009 including 417 farms and 1,186 observations. Descriptive analyses and econometric evidence indicate that the farms exhibit decreasing returns to size, productivity gains through technical efficiency or management improvements are limited while technological progress is rather low; thus, investments in research appear promising. Although the findings reveal that farm size is not associated with productivity growth, a clear positive association between farm size and net income is found. |
| Keywords: | total factor productivity, stochastic frontiers, dairy farm size, Farm Management, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126895&r=agr |
| By: | Ogada, Maurice Juma |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the factors that influence participation of households in devolved system of forest management by joining community forest associations (CFA). It further employs Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to measure the impact of household’s participation in CFA on farm forestry decisions. The analysis uses cross-sectional data from a survey of Kakamega forest communities in Kenya in 2010. Generally, our findings reveal that participation in CFA by households is influenced broadly by socio-economic and institutional factors, and that participation in CFA has a positive impact on farm forestry development. Policy makers and development practitioners, therefore, need to devise, implement and sufficient fund interventions that would promote development of community forest associations with the ultimate goal of increasing forest cover in the country. |
| Keywords: | Participatory Forest Management, Selection Bias, Farm Forestry Development, Kenya, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q12, Q28, D52, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126319&r=agr |
| By: | Burnquist, Heloisa Lee; Souza, Mauricio Jorge Pinto de; Faria, Rosane Nunes de; Rau, Marie-Luise; Shutes, Karl |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces a methodological framework based on indices for regulatory heterogeneity which is useful to evaluate technical, sanitary and phytosanitary requirements in international agri-food trade. The study uses the index of regulatory heterogeneity in trade (HIT index), constructed to combine binary, ordered and quantitative information, and the index of directional heterogeneity in trade (DHIT), which excludes regulations introduced by importing countries that are less stringent than those in the exporting country. These indices were applied to evaluate the regulatory heterogeneity of MRLs for pesticides under the perspective of the EU. The results indicated that despite of the relatively high number of regulations introduced by the EU for the set of products selected for the analysis, in general, the heterogeneity indices are not higher than 0.6 (on a scale from 0 to 1) for the HIT and are lower than 0.3 for the DHIT, suggesting that most of these regulations are stricter in the EU bloc and are not expected to have a negative impact upon the European exports. |
| Keywords: | regulatory heterogeneity. agri-food trade. European exports, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2012–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126470&r=agr |
| By: | Reyes, Byron; Donovan, Cynthia; Bernsten, Richard; Maredia, Mywish K. |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a double hurdle regression analysis to estimate the factors influencing marketing decisions among potato growers in the central highlands of Angola, focusing on gender of household head, productive asset ownership and transaction costs. Although the results suggest that the quantity produced is exogenous in the models for market participation and for quantity sold, the methodology used provides a framework for others to follow when endogeneity is suspected in one or more variables. The wealth analysis suggests that potato growers, potato sellers and male heads were richer than their counterparts. The linear regression results on quantity produced suggest that female-headed households produced less than their male counterparts, owning productive assets or having access to public assets had no statistical effect on production, and that farmers who used fertilizer produced more than farmers who didn’t apply fertilizer to their fields. The double hurdle regression results suggest that (1) male-headed households were more likely to sell potatoes, (2) owning productive assets and having access to government extension services, conditional on market participation, positively affected the quantity sold, (3) transaction costs, conditional on market participation, negatively affected the quantity sold, and (4) quantity produced was a marginally significant positive factor on both the likelihood of selling potatoes and the quantity sold. In contrast, the unconditional average partial effects suggest that, (1) potato sales were gender neutral, (2) owning productive assets had no statistical effect on quantity sold, (3) transaction costs negatively affected the quantity sold, and (4) having access to extension services and the quantity produced both positively affected the quantity sold. Thus, to boost sales, investments may be needed to promote farmer participation in organizations and/or establish farmer organizations in villages without them, increase farmers’ access to extension services, invest in infrastructure, and help farmers increase their production. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126655&r=agr |
| By: | Marangon, Francesco; Troiano, Stefania |
| Abstract: | In this paper we try to understand if it is possible to create a market for ecosystem services deriving from rural landscape and environmental conservation. First of all to do this we consider the results of some studies we conducted during last years about monetary and no-monetary environmental evaluation. These studies help us firstly to identify some rural landscape features able to improve or to worsen landscape aspect and secondly to point out the willingness to pay of beneficiaries to maintain landscape and environment features. Then to understand if it is possible to increase social benefits by using market and economic instruments in favor of landscape and environmental resources conservation, we study Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). PES are economic instruments that can be used to support ecosystem services conservation and improvement. We describe this instrument and discuss the opportunity to introduce it in favor of some ecosystem services in Italy. |
| Keywords: | Payment for Ecosystem Services, landscape, environmental resources, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q56, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126053&r=agr |
| By: | Wendler, Cordula; Liebe, Ulf; Ihle, Rico; von Cramon-Taubadel, Stephan |
| Abstract: | Ethical aspects of food products have become increasingly important for Western European consumers. One example of such ethical consumption attributes are “peace products”, commodities produced in peaceful economic cooperation between members of conflicting parties in areas of political conflict. In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we investigate the willingness to pay of consumers from four European countries for two food products which are jointly produced by Israelis and Palestinians. We conduct a cross country web survey including a choice experiment addressed to the four European countries. Preference heterogeneity with regard to the willingness to pay for peace building products is taken into account by including survey questions on lifestyle factors, attitudes towards Israel, Palestine and the Israel-Palestinian conflict, personal and social norms as well as socio-demographics. Using random parameter logit models we find that consumers in Great Britain and Germany are willing to pay a premium first off all for European products compared with products from Israel or the Palestinian Territories alone. The willingness to pay for Israeli/Palestinian peace products is lower compared to the surplus for European products. But the cooperation product is favored instead of a single county product, just from Israel or the Palestinian Territories. Hence, cooperation in the form of joint production of peace products would generate benefits. |
| Keywords: | Choice experiments, ethical consumption, Middle East conflict, willingness to pay, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Relations/Trade, D12, M14, O57, Q13, Z13, |
| Date: | 2012–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126727&r=agr |
| By: | Akter, Shaheen; Fu, Xiaolan |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact of a mobile phone technology enhanced service delivery system on the speed and quality of agricultural extension services delivery in India. An impact analysis is carried out based on randomized survey data taking into account of potential systematic selection bias. Findings from the research show that the amount and quality of the services and the speed of services delivery have been improved significantly as a result of the intervention. Evidence from the evaluation suggests that disadvantaged farmers benefit more from this intervention than those who are better off. |
| Keywords: | Mobile phone technology, agricultural extension services, impact analysis, India, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126798&r=agr |
| By: | Wang, Sun Ling; Ball, Eldon; Fulginiti, Lilyan E.; Plastina, Alejandro S. |
| Abstract: | This paper uses panel data for the 1980-2004 period to estimate the contributions of public research to U.S. agricultural productivity growth. Local and social internal rates of return are estimated accounting for the effects of R&D spill-in, extension activities and road density. R&D spill-in proxies were constructed based on both geographic proximity and production profile to examine the sensitivity of the rates of return to these alternatives. We find that extension activities, road density, and R&D spill-ins, play an important role in enhancing the benefit of public R&D investments. We also find that the local internal rates of return, although high, have declined through time along with investments in extension, while the social rates have not. Yet, the social rates of return are not robust to the choice of spill-in proxy. |
| Keywords: | productivity, public R&D, R&D spill-ins, extension, road density, internal rate of return, cost function., Agricultural and Food Policy, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q16, O3, O4, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126368&r=agr |
| By: | Schroeder, Lilli A. |
| Abstract: | A better understanding of farmers' behaviour regarding agri-environment schemes (AES) can be one step towards further improving the schemes. To assess farmers' acceptance and perception of AES, the 'Theory of planned Behaviour' (TPB) was applied to identify factors influencing farmers' willingness to join AES. In a region in England, standardized face-to-face interviews were conducted with 32 farmers already participating in AES. The results show that the general attitude and acceptance of the scheme were high. Biodiversity, landscape, and natural resources were perceived to be improved by the scheme and to be valuable. An increase in weeds was perceived as an undesirable outcome. Farmers' families were ranked to have the highest and most positive social pressure on farmers' decisions to join AES. More paperwork and higher prescriptions would make it much more difficult to join the scheme. Environmental advice and generally more consideration of environmental conservation in policy were perceived to make the joining easier. |
| Keywords: | Agri-environment schemes, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Farmers' acceptance, Farmers' behaviour, Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Q57, Z1, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126032&r=agr |
| By: | Yonatan Ben-Shalom; Mary Kay Fox; P.K. Newby |
| Abstract: | This report reviews sociodemographic and dietary characteristics of individuals in each group and describes their distinct dietary patterns, as identified through a cluster analysis of dietary intake. Individuals were classified as healthy or less-healthy eaters according to their scores on the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) 2005. Among adults, characteristics associated with healthy eating include being female, older than 60, and foreign-born. Among children, they include being ages 2 to 5 and living in a household with a foreign-born individual. In addition, both child and adult healthy eaters were more likely than less-healthy eaters to eat breakfast, eat three meals daily, and consume fruits and vegetables. |
| Keywords: | SNAP, Dietary Patterns, Low-Income Populations, Healthy Eaters |
| JEL: | I0 I1 |
| Date: | 2012–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7386&r=agr |
| By: | Niemi, Jarkko K.; Sinisalo, Alina; Valros, Anna; Heinonen, Mari |
| Abstract: | Modern animal production has been criticised for the lack of animal-friendly production practices. The goal of this paper is to examine how animal welfare could be improved in pig fattening by providing producers with extra incentives. The focus is on three preventive and one mitigative measures, viz. proving the pigs with plenty of straw as enrichment, solid-floor housing (vs. partly slatted flooring), extra pen space per pig, and mitigation of tail biting once the first case has been observed. Each measure is modelled under two different situations and different support policies. The results suggest that producers have incentives to adjust prevention policy when new information about the risk of tail biting is obtained. Moreover, the resources would be used more efficiently by promoting enrichments use (as such or with type) than extra space, but this requires markets or public policy to provide producers with extra incentives. |
| Keywords: | Animal welfare, risk of tail biting, losses, subsidy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:125957&r=agr |
| By: | Mejía Cubillos, Javier |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to analyze, through the public policy approach, "Agro, Ingreso Seguro" -AIS-, key component of the Colombian agricultural policy of the late 2000s. Through this approach it is seen that AIS responded to real social problems and it was based on a set of guidelines used worldwide. Although the design and implementation of the program suffered from certain problems, the result indicators point it out as a relative success. AIS generated positive impacts on the competitiveness of the agricultural sector; no further progress in terms of employment and rural development were found. |
| Keywords: | Agro Ingreso Seguro; políticas públicas; política agropecuaria; Colombia |
| JEL: | F13 Q17 Q15 E65 D78 E61 Q18 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39998&r=agr |
| By: | Trindade, Federico J. |
| Abstract: | This article uses parametric and nonparametric methods to update estimates of agricultural productivity growth in 10 South American countries in 1969-2009 with the objective of checking if the slowdown being measured in other countries is present in the region. Results show that the increase in agricultural output during the period analyzed is explained by factor accumulation, but also by higher Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and that the slowdown present in the U.S. and some European economies does not seem to be present in South America. The region yearly average TFP growth went from 1.23 percent during the 1970s to 1.79 percent in the 1980s, 2.04 percent in the 1990s and 2.59 during the 2000s. This growth is not uniform across countries; the different performances can be associated to different environmental and institutional conditions. |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126915&r=agr |
| By: | Figiel, Szczepan; Kuberska, Dominika; Kufel, Justyna |
| Abstract: | It is quite widely believed that well developed clusters are vehicles for competitiveness and innovation. In the paper we test a hypothesis that occurrence of strong clusters in a country’s agro-food sector is positively related to its international competitiveness. Using the European Cluster Observatory dataset on cluster mapping and WTO data on international trade we have looked for correlation between relative strength of the clusters in the EU countries agro-food sectors and international trade measures of competiveness such as RCA, RMA and RC indices. We found that the EU countries differ in terms of both occurrence and relative strength of the agro-food clusters and levels of comparative advantage in agriculture commodities and food products. However, statistical evidence for relationships between variables under consideration appeared to be weak what leads to some suggestions regarding cluster mapping methodology and further studies in this area which could allow to formulate useful policy recommendations. |
| Keywords: | clusters, competitiveness, agro-food sector, international trade, International Relations/Trade, Q17, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126118&r=agr |
| By: | Vigani, Mauro; Olper, Alessandro |
| Abstract: | The paper develops a composite index of GMO standards restrictiveness for 60 countries, assigning objective scores to six different regulatory dimensions. Using this index and its components, we empirically investigate the political and economic determinants of GMO regulations. Results show that many of the determinants highlighted in the theoretical literature, such as the country trade position, the potential gains from GMO adoption, and the consumer risk aversion, are important determinants of the restrictiveness in GMO regulations. As a key result there emerges a prominent role for the market of information, showing that the structure of domestic mass media (public vs. private) is an important driver of GMO standards. |
| Keywords: | GMO standards, political economics, media market, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Political Economy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, D72, Q13, Q16, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126443&r=agr |
| By: | Chisari, Omar O.; Romero, Carlos A.; Timilsina, Govinda |
| Abstract: | Argentina is one of the world's largest biodiesel producers and the largest exporter, using soybeans as feedstock. Using a computable general equilibrium model that explicitly represents the biofuel industry, this study carries out several simulations on two sets of issues: (i) international markets for biofuel and feedstock, such as an increase in prices of soybean, soybean oil, and biodiesel, and (ii) domestic policies related to biofuels, such as an introduction of biofuel mandates. Both sets of issues can have important consequences to the Argentinean economy. The simulations indicate that increases in international prices of biofuels and feedstocks would increase Argentina's gross domestic product and social welfare. Increases in international prices of ethanol and corn also can benefit Argentina, but to a lesser extent. The domestic mandates for biofuels, however, would cause small losses in economic output and social welfare because they divert part of biodiesel and feedstock from exports to lower-return domestic consumption. An increase in the export tax on either feedstock or biodiesel also would lead to a reduction in gross domestic product and social welfare, although government revenue would rise. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,Energy Production and Transportation,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Renewable Energy,Food&Beverage Industry |
| Date: | 2012–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6124&r=agr |
| By: | Awondo, Sebastain N.; Datta, Gauri S.; Ramirez, Octavio A.; Fonsah, Esendugue Greg |
| Abstract: | Obtaining reliable estimates of insurance premiums is a critical step in risk sharing and risk transfer necessary to ensure solvency and continuity in crop insurance programs. Challenges encountered in the estimation include dealing with aggregation bias from using county level yield averages as well as properly accounting for spatial and temporal heterogeneity. In this study, we associate some of these challenges as classical small area estimation (SAE) problems. We employ a hierarchical Bayes (HB) SAE to obtain design consistent expected county level yields and Group Risk Plan (GRP) premiums for corm farms in Illinois using quasi-simulated data. Preliminary results show little bias (< 10%) in estimated expected county yields in several counties investigated. We found wide variation in GRP, APH and basis risk across counties for similar level of coverage and scale. Results show that farmers could lower their GRP premiums by as much as 30% by carefully choosing a coverage level and scale combination. |
| Keywords: | Crop Insurance, Small area estimation, Hierarchical Bayes, Farm Management, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea12:126778&r=agr |
| By: | Royer, Annie; Menard, Claude; Gouin, Daniel-Mercier |
| Abstract: | Because of their perishable nature and the impact of their quality on consumers, agricultural products have always raised important problems of coordination and control with high transaction costs. The recent period in the agrifood industry has registered substantial evolution in devices intended to provide vertical coordination among the various agents of value chains. The most noticeable evolution might be the progressive dismantlement of collective organizations in favor of a contractual approach that would be more compatible with market-oriented policies. In this paper, we revisit the role of marketing boards, mainly through the Canadian experience, more specifically in the Province of Québec. Examining their nature and their role, we intend to better understand the type of problems marketing boards were trying to face and still do, and to assess their success and failures in organizing complex transactions with strong asymmetries among partners who need to coordinate while keeping decision rights distinct. We shall argue that their occurrence in very different contexts as well as their resilience is rooted in a relatively successful combination of organizational properties, embedded in their hybrid nature, and institutional legitimacy, thanks to the guarantees they provide. |
| Keywords: | Hybrid Governance, Marketing Board, Institutions, Regulation, Transaction Costs, Marketing, D02, D23, L38, Q10, Q13, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126706&r=agr |
| By: | Almeida, Fernanda Maria de; Gomes, Marilia Fernandes Maciel; Silva, Orlando Monteiro da |
| Abstract: | This paper is focused on analyzing notification effects on TBT and SPS Agreements of worldwide green coffee exports. A gravity model was used to estimate Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) panel data, which considered the trade flow to be zero. Results indicated that notifications TBT would negatively affect coffee exports during the period from 1996 to 2010, but SPS notifications not. |
| Keywords: | Coffee, international trade, non-tariff measures, gravity model., Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, F10, Q17., |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126538&r=agr |
| By: | Tsehay, Abrham Seyoum; Bauer, Siegfried |
| Abstract: | This study is primarily intended to examine the dynamics and determinants of rural household poverty and vulnerability in Northern Highlands of Ethiopia. The data for this research is mainly based on the Ethiopian Household Survey (ERHS). Results from disaggregation of the poor indicate that ultra poverty is predominant in the area. Similarly, using a three steps feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) we found that many of the households in the region are vulnerable to poverty. However, the trend has been found to vary across villages for both poverty and vulnerability measures. Besides, poverty decomposition of sample households showed that chronic poverty is dominant while transient poverty is secondary. An implication of this is that programs targeting on poverty should primarily focus on factors causing persistence deprivation without undermining risk factors that drag households in to poverty. Finally, some of the important determining factors of observed poverty appear to impact on vulnerability to poverty differently. Therefore, strategies aimed at reducing poverty should critically consider factors that make households vulnerable to poverty. |
| Keywords: | Poverty Dynamics, Vulnerability, Rural Ethiopia, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Security and Poverty, I32, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126873&r=agr |
| By: | Doroudian, Ali; Vercammen, James |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the debate on the link between speculation and price volatility in two ways. First, a simple CAPM model is used to derive the demand for commodity futures contracts by institutional investors, and this derived demand is then integrated into a simple rational expectations model of a commodity market with a demand for hedging by merchants. Second, a GARCH model is used to measure volatility in the U.S. rice market before and after the introduction of a futures contract for rice in 1994. The theoretical and empirical analysis both demonstrate that speculation results in a first order decrease in commodity price volatility, but part of this decrease will be offset by second order pricing distortions that are caused by institutional speculators. |
| Keywords: | Commodity Futures, Speculation, Price Volatility, CAPM, Rice, Crop Production/Industries, Financial Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, Q11, Q14, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:spaawp:126947&r=agr |
| By: | Hansen, James M.; Tuan, Francis C.; Somwaru, Agapi |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the potential impact of climate change and the uncertainty of CO2 fertilization on China's corn, wheat and rice domestic agricultural markets and the international markets out to the year 2050. The study provides a brief background and reviews research literature of climate change effects on China's crop yields. The paper presents the potential impact of climate change on China's yields and attempts to quantify the domestic and global market impacts. The analysis has four scenarios, which assumes two future levels of greenhouse gas emissions with the effects of CO2 fertilization and no CO2 fertilization. A 27 country commodity partial equilibrium simulation mathematical programming model (PEATSim) is used for this analysis. Results indicate under CO2 fertilization, which increases yields, China's grain imports may decrease leading to a decrease in international prices. Under no CO2 fertilization, yields decrease, China's grain imports may increase leading to increased international prices. |
| Keywords: | China, trade, climate change, rice, wheat, corn, dynamic partial equilibrium simulation mathematical model., Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126878&r=agr |
| By: | Galli, Fabrizio; Naseem, Anwar; Singla, Rohit |
| Abstract: | The study provides the welfare implications of IPRs for the rice growers, and private innovators developing and introducing non-transgenic herbicide tolerant (HT) rice in southern Brazil. The results revealed that under strict IPR enforcement, both producers and innovators would realize larger economic gains. Farmers will continue to capture a substantial share of the total benefits. Sensitivity analysis showed that the benefits from higher yields due to introduction of HT rice technology are primarily captured by producers. It was concluded that IPRs enforcement is more likely to create an adequate economic environment for the private sector to conduct research and to introduce new technologies in Brazil. |
| Keywords: | IPRs, herbicide tolerant, rice, economic surplus model, Brazil, Crop Production/Industries, Q16, Q19, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126886&r=agr |
| By: | Gaeta, Davide; Begalli, Diego; Corsinovi, Paola |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to examine mechanism of Europeanisation trough the creation process example of a new wine law in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), combining domestic wine regulations and EU legislative frameworks. We will analyze criteria and implications of Europeanization process, focusing on mechanism of assistance to candidate and pre-candidate countries. The aim is to understand the genesis of the conflict that hinders the development process and represents a barrier to trade liberalization. Adoption of law in BiH, as well as ordinances and regulations for its implementation and enforcement, is a precondition for a harmonized legal framework and competitive rules for the agriculture sector. For the analysis, we used dimensions of integrations and institutionalism theories as lenses to explore this processes. This approach is the one of the theoretical perspectives that has won converts and provided in many cases a useful tool for analyzing EU integration. |
| Keywords: | Europeanisation, integration, wine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, K, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:126100&r=agr |
| By: | Sawada, Naotaka; Zhang, Jian |
| Abstract: | This study examines the major constraints of rural business entry and performance in Yemen. The Yemen rural investment climate survey made it possible to analyze rural investment climate constraints for rural businesses. The survey was used to investigate both farm and nonfarm rural enterprises. The rural investment climate was assessed using a combination of subjective impressions related by rural entrepreneurs, and a more objective, empirical set of analyses that employed indicators to rank the constraints to"doing business"in the areas surveyed. These empirical analyses included application of the entry model, the performance model, the closure model, and the migration model. The migration model was introduced to identify how the rural investment climate variables at the community level increase migration and economic activities. Based on the assessment of the rural investment climate, this paper identifies and explains four critical areas in which the rural investment climate in Yemen can be improved: market demand, access to markets, access to finance, and the provision of business services. Because farm and nonfarm businesses often experience common or similar constraints, the climate in which they operate can often be improved with the same measures and policies. Addressing the constraints that affect rural women entrepreneurs in particular, who play a vital role in rural nonfarm enterprises, warrants clear priority as a means to generate income and employment. Security and labor issues are identified as the key such constraints that disproportionately affect women. |
| Keywords: | Access to Finance,E-Business,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Financial Literacy,Rural Poverty Reduction |
| Date: | 2012–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6128&r=agr |
| By: | Kajisa, Kei; Payongayong, Ellen M. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126648&r=agr |
| By: | Reetz, Sunny W.H.; Schwarze, Stefan; Bruemmer, Bernhard |
| Abstract: | The negative impacts of climate change have made poverty and deforestation topics of heightened interest within global community discussions in recent years. Our study contributes to the debate over the links between poverty and deforestation by providing an alternative approach from the village level perspective, whilst broadening the range of poverty measures based on poverty proxies and subjective well-being (SWB). We use a beta regression in our empirical model. Our results suggest that there is a non-linear relationship between SWB, as well as other poverty proxies, and deforestation. We found that objective and subjective poverty measures yielded contrasting results. |
| Keywords: | Deforestation, Subjective well-being, Poverty proxies, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2012–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126326&r=agr |
| By: | Larochelle, Catherine; Alwang, Jeffrey Roger |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126762&r=agr |
| By: | Burrell, Alison M.; Ferrari, Emanuele; Mallado, Aida Gonzalez; Michalek, Jerzy |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how EU trade flows and production values are affected by introducing special treatment for developed countries’ sensitive products into a potential DDA agreement. In particular, it explores how the EU’s decisions regarding the size of the tariff cut for sensitive products and the corresponding size of TRQ expansion affect its protection levels, its own GDP and that of other countries and regions. It is assumed that the EU’s management of its sensitive product regime aims to maintain farm incomes and production values, rather than to minimise import access. A novelty of the paper is that it explores the extent to which achieving this aim depends on similar decisions taken by other developed countries. The simulation tool used to analyse thirteen scenarios, with a time horizon of 2020, is the global Computable General Equilibrium model GLOBE. Results indicate that the lowest tariff cuts for sensitive products may not necessarily lead to the smallest decrease in agricultural production. Moreover, the interdependencies between the sensitive product choices of developed countries are considerable. The extent to which EU management decisions relating to sensitive products matter for the impact of a DDA agreement on third countries’ GDP is also examined. |
| Keywords: | International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126950&r=agr |
| By: | Murali, Palanichamy; Balakrishnan, Raghupathy; Puthira Prathap, Duraisamy; Karpagam, Chidambara; Govindaraj, Gurrappa Naidu |
| Keywords: | total factor productivity, malmquist index and sugarcane, Food Security and Poverty, Productivity Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126346&r=agr |
| By: | Yashoda; Reddy, B.V. Chinnappa |
| Abstract: | An economic study on willingness to pay by general recreationists’ who visited Basavana Betta State Forest, Karnataka, India, for water recreation revealed that average WTP for conservation of the forest ecosystem, based on the double bounded dichotomous contingent valuation method, was Rs. 846 ($17.63) per visitor as onetime payment. On the contrary WTP of recreationists of a well developed recreation spot (resort) was higher at Rs. 2367 (US$ 49.31) per visitor. There was a negative relationship between the bid amount and WTP and a positive relationship between income and WTP in both the cases. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Public Economics, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126888&r=agr |
| By: | Fuwa, Nobuhiko; Balisacan, Arsenio M.; Mapa, Dennis; Abad Santos, Carlos; Piza, Sharon Faye |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the sources of rural non-farm sector growth in the Philippines, which has become the main driver of rural poverty reduction. We find that agricultural growth has significantly positive effects on service sector growth (with elasticity of about 0.20) but little effects on manufacturing growth, suggesting that rural labor force is sufficiently mobile or capital is relatively immobile across provinces. We also identify different roles played by national road networks, on the one hand, and local roads, on the other. We find that local road facilitates rural service sector development while national road facilitates agricultural growth. |
| Keywords: | sectoral linkages, nonfarm growth, agricultural development, road infrastructure, Philippines, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, |
| Date: | 2012–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126456&r=agr |
| By: | Ragasa, Catherine |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes incentive and capacity factors that explain variations in research productivity among 344 agricultural scientists in Nigeria and 237 agricultural scientists in Ghana using multilevel analysis. Education level, years of experience, research linkages, and perceived adequacy of resources and management plans are consistently significant capacity factors in explaining productivity. Reported job satisfaction and reported staff’s happiness or satisfaction on organizational climate are statistically significant incentive factors. |
| Keywords: | organizational culture, multilevel analysis, poisson, productivity, research, motivation, Ghana, Nigeria, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q16, L32, D23, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126627&r=agr |
| By: | Lehmann, Niklaus; Finger, Robert; Klein, Tommy; Calanca, Pierluigi; Walter, Achim |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126483&r=agr |
| By: | Luan, Hao; Jia, Xiangping; Huang, Jikun; Rozelle, Scott |
| Keywords: | Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126641&r=agr |
| By: | Simtowe, Franklin; Kassie, Menale; Asfaw, Solomon; Shiferaw, Bekele A.; Monyo, Emmanuel; Siambi, Moses |
| Abstract: | This paper applies a program evaluation technique to assess the causal effect of the adoption of improved groundnut technologies on consumption expenditure and poverty measured by headcount, poverty gap and poverty severity indices. The paper is based on a cross-sectional farm household level data collected in 2008 from a sample of 594 households in rural Malawi. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to test the robustness of the propensity score based results using the rbounds test and the mean absolute standardized bias (MASB) between adopters and non-adopters. The analysis reveals robust and positive and significant impacts of improved groundnut variety adoption on per capita consumption expenditure and on poverty reduction. The findings generally provide justification for continued public and private investment in groundnut research and outreach in Malawi. |
| Keywords: | groundnuts technology, propensity score matching, poverty, Malawi, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, C13, C15, O32, O38, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126761&r=agr |