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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2013‒01‒19
sixteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Abe, Shin; Takahashi, Ryo; Haruna, Akiko; Yamaji, Eiji; Wakatsuki, Toshiyuki |
| Abstract: | It is worthwhile to understand farming strategies of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, especially those of farmers who are in transition from traditional to alternative agriculture in terms of adoption of innovative technologies. In a case study of inland valleys in central Nigeria, we investigated the farming strategy of Nupe farmers who have a long-term tradition of wet rice cultivation and indigenous methods of land preparation for soil, water and weed management. In this region, a new method of land preparation has recently been introduced along with a recommendation to use improved seeds and chemical fertilizers. Our findings reveal that Nupe farmers directly sow traditional seeds and apply a marginal amount of fertilizer to paddy plots prepared by labor-saving methods on drought-prone hydromorphic valley fringes and flood-susceptible valley bottoms, whereas they preferentially transplanted improved seedlings and applied a relatively large quantity of fertilizer to paddy fields prepared by a labor-intensive and mechanized method on a valley position where they can access to optimum water condition (less risky against the drought and flood). |
| Keywords: | Nigeria, Agriculture, Agricultural technology, Farming techniques, Rice, Indigenous knowledge, Land preparation method, Rice cultivation, Risk management, Technology adoption |
| JEL: | N57 O33 Q16 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper355&r=agr |
| By: | Karlan, Dean (Yale University); Osei-Akoto, Isaac (University of Ghana); Osei, Robert Darko (University of Ghana); Udry, Christopher (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | The investment decisions of small-scale farmers in developing countries are conditioned by their financial environment. Binding credit market constraints and incomplete insurance can reduce investment in activities with high expected profits. We conducted several experiments in northern Ghana in which farmers were randomly assigned to receive cash grants, grants of or opportunities to purchase rainfall index insurance, or a combination of the two. Demand for index insurance is strong, and insurance leads to significantly larger agricultural investment and riskier production choices in agriculture. The salient constraint to farmer investment is uninsured risk: when provided with insurance against the primary catastrophic risk they face, farmers are able to find resources to increase expenditure on their farms. Demand for insurance in subsequent years is strongly increasing in a farmer's own receipt of insurance payouts, and with the receipt of payouts by others in the farmer's social network. Both investment patterns and the demand for index insurance are consistent with the presence of important basis risk associated with the index insurance, and with imperfect trust that promised payouts will be delivered. |
| JEL: | C93 D24 D92 G22 O12 O13 O16 Q12 Q14 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:yaleco:110&r=agr |
| By: | Nidhi Tandon (Researcher) |
| Abstract: | Two waves of change?long-term climate change and immediate-term economic crises?are bringing the issue of food security into sharper relief?particularly in those Caribbean countries where food security is already volatile and faces a series of risks and challenges. Climate change adds urgency and the need for renewed focus and prioritisation as well as ensuring that adaptation is wholly integrated into natural resource management, land use policies and, especially, into broader long-term macro-economic frameworks. (?) |
| Keywords: | Food Security, Women Smallholders and Climate Change in Caribbean SIDS |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:pbrief:33&r=agr |
| By: | Marc Pourroy (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne); Benjamin Carton (CEPII - Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales - Centre d'analyse stratégique); Dramane Coulibaly (EconomiX - CNRS : UMR7166 - Université Paris X - Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense) |
| Abstract: | The two episodes of food price surges in 2007 and 2011 have been particularly challenging for developing and emerging economies' central banks and have raised the question of how monetary authorities should react to such external relative price shocks. We develop a new-keynesian small open-economy model and show that non-food inflation is a good proxy for core inflation in high-income countries, but not for middle-income and low-income countries. Although, in these countries we find that associating non-food inflation and core inflation may be promoting bably-designed policies, and consequently central banks should target headline inflation rather than non-food inflation. This result holds because non-tradable food represents a significant share in total consumption. Indeed, the poorer the country, the higher the share of purely domestic food in consumption and the more detrimental lack of attention to the evolution in food prices. |
| Keywords: | Monetary policy; commodities; food prices; DSGE models |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00768906&r=agr |
| By: | Santiago Guerrero |
| Abstract: | In the late 80's and early 90's Mexico eliminated minimum price policies of main agricultural commodities and substituted those policies by government operated contract markets. Contracts can help smooth price variations and facilitate risk-sharing but their impact on price levels is uncertain. We simultaneously estimate the impacts of quantity supplied sold via contracts and the cash market on cash prices for grains participating in contracts: wheat, corn, soybeans and sorghum. By doing so we estimate an inverse grain demand function using supply shifters and other exogenous variables as exclusion restrictions. Our findings show that quantity supplied sold via contracts is a more important determinant of prices than quantity supplied in the cash market. A 10 % increase of volume sold via contracts is estimated to reduce cash market prices by 2.5 %. Additionally, we find no evidence that more contracts affect prices by reducing quantity supplied in the cash market. |
| Keywords: | Contracts, Inverse Demand, Three Stage Least Squares, Grains, Supply Shifters. |
| JEL: | Q11 Q14 Q18 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdm:wpaper:2012-15&r=agr |
| By: | Leisa Perch (International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth); Ammad Bahalim (ICTSD/IPC-IG); Lidia Cabral (ODI); Alex Shankland (IDS) |
| Abstract: | Focus on Africa: Making South-South Cooperation on Agricultural development more inclusive and sustainable With Rio+20 only a week away, the theme of this Poverty in Focus resonates clearly with the broader discourse on sustainable development, in particular the expanded efforts to mainstream inclusion and equity and to improve institutional frameworks for sustainable development. The United Nations Development Programme?s first Africa Human Development Report, launched on 15 May 2012, highlights the extent to which recent growth in Africa has neither sufficiently reduced extreme poverty and hunger nor provided the number and scope of opportunities envisioned. One of its key messages is a call for more investment in agriculture to ensure both sustained growth and poverty reduction. The evidence is clear. We need new mechanisms, approaches and tools to address an ever-increasing combination of deeply embedded inequalities and new variations of instability and unsustainability. The international seminar on the Role of South-South Cooperation in Agricultural Development in Africa held on 17 May in Brasília served as an important space for dialogue to explore some of these issues, specifically in the context of agricultural futures and in the broader context of development. Emerging clearly was the conviction that South-South cooperation, as a mechanism, could be catalytic, if well designed and harnessed, effectively shaped and defined within a context of exchange, mutual benefits and learning. With the increasing attention on both the inclusivity of growth and its environmental sustainability, now being framed in the context of inclusive green growth, more reliance is also likely to be placed on South-South cooperation in defining a number of answers to the ?how?. As the Government of Brazil hosts Rio+20, attention also falls on the country?s role as a broker for such forms of South-South exchange, particularly on models which can deliver triple wins for the economy, society and the environment. A number of successes in reducing inequality, enhancing both social and productive inclusion and, in particular, engaging smallholder farmers in the growth process while also maintaining a successful commercial agriculture sector are among the important lessons/entry points for Brazil-Africa exchange in this context. At the same time, successes and innovations are also emerging from sub-Saharan Africa, in discrete flagship programmes, policies and in sectors. Thus far, there has been less discussion about bi-directional flows of good practice, lessons learned and technology transfers than the current reality merits. This Poverty in Focus, designed as a value-added output of the May 17 seminar, gives specific voice to the above, as well as some of the challenges and opportunities facing South-South cooperation as a tool for ?development? and not just development cooperation. This opportunity to discuss agriculture not just as a sector but as a force for development, for poverty reduction, food security, for greater cooperation within the South, and for greater lessons from the South to emerge on the international landscape builds on other similar efforts and discussions in 2012. It resonates with a key motto of one of our coordinating partners?agriculture is a key pathway out of poverty. Looking forward, the nexus between agriculture and development highlights two key issues: eliminating hunger and rethinking agriculture, in light of sustainability and equity. Climate change, livelihoods and food security, in particular, represent both challenges and opportunities for achieving these two objectives, and many questions do remain. It is the role of knowledge-based institutions, such as IPC-IG, the Futures Agricultural Consortium, CIRAD, Articulação Sul, with the support of DFID and UN Women, and in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC), to probe and critically assess towards a greater understanding of both the potential and limits of South-South cooperation and to identify potential answers to urgent policy questions. It is our hope that the approach taken in the seminar and this Poverty in Focus defines a new scope for critical and inclusive policy dialogue, while shining a brighter light on some of the underlying development questions of our time, including how to maximise Africa?s incredible natural, social and cultural wealth into a source of sustainable growth for all its citizens. by Jorge Chediek, Interim Director, IPC-IG |
| Keywords: | The Role of South-South Cooperation in Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural Development: Focus on Africa |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:ifocus:24&r=agr |
| By: | Bridget Barry (IPC-IG) |
| Abstract: | Access to land and its associated power has stratified society for millennia. Non-market functions of land have historically delineated political power structures, arranging hierarchical relationships predicated on land ownership. The productive functions of land, for agriculture or associated environmental services, have defined its economic significance. In the past 30 years in Latin America, paths to development have been navigated with private property as the guide, prioritising formalised structures of ownership and dispossessing traditional, communal forms of land use and control. Though State policies may recognise the political-cultural rights of marginalised populations in their pursuit for equal access to land, the ?extension of the discussion into the economic realm? is often discouraged (Hale, 2009), and unequal land policy arrangements that maintain rural poverty and exclusion persist. (?) |
| Keywords: | Guatemala and Integrated Rural Development: Towards Inclusive Growth in the Rural Sector |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:pbrief:37&r=agr |
| By: | Benjamin Davis (FAO); Pamela Pozarny (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)) |
| Abstract: | The From Protection to Production (PtoP) project aims to identify the productive impacts of cash transfer programmes on household economic decision-making and the local economy. It takes advantage of ongoing impact evaluations of cash transfer programmes in seven sub-Saharan African countries to analyse the impact of these programmes on broader household economic activities, including labour supply and risk-sharing mechanisms and networks, as well as the local economy. The project is led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and uses a mixed-methods approach, combining econometric analysis of impact evaluation data, simulation modelling of the village economy and qualitative methods. (?) |
| Keywords: | Qualitative Research and Analyses of the Economic Impacts of Cash Transfer Programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:184&r=agr |
| By: | Ryan Nehring (IPC-IG) |
| Abstract: | The most recent constitution of Ecuador was signed into law in September 2008 and ushered in a new vision for Ecuadorian society under a series of policy promises aimed at transforming the rural development process in the country. Under this banner, Chapter 3 of the constitution states that: ?food sovereignty is a strategic objective and an obligation of the state that persons, communities, peoples and nations achieve self-sufficiency with respect to healthy and culturally appropriate food on a permanent basis? (Asamblea Nacional, 2008). The 2008 constitution is a progressive force that establishes the state?s obligation to fulfill the rights of citizens with regards to food security. Moreover, the constitution distinctly states ?food sovereignty? as the specific objective of the government. (?) |
| Keywords: | Politics and Policies of Food Sovereignty in Ecuador: New Directions or Broken Promises? |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:pbrief:31&r=agr |
| By: | Silvio Daidone (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Benjamin Davis (FAO) |
| Abstract: | Cash transfer (CT) programmes have become an important tool of social protection and poverty reduction strategies in low- and middle-income countries. However, most of their impact evaluations pay little attention to economic and productive activities. The From Protection to Production (PtoP) project aims to study the impact of CT programmes on household economic decision-making and the local economy. This research project is implemented jointly by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UNICEF, and builds on ongoing or planned impact evaluations in seven sub-Saharan African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. (?) |
| Keywords: | Analytical Framework for Evaluating the Productive Impact of Cash Transfer Programmes on Household Behaviour |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:185&r=agr |
| By: | Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj (University of Southern Denmark); Munch, Jakob R. (University of Copenhagen); Seidelin, Claus Aastrup (University of Southern Denmark); Skaksen, Jan Rose (Copenhagen Business School) |
| Abstract: | Many developed countries have recently experienced a significant inflow of immigrants in the agricultural sector. At the same time, the sector is still in a process of structural transformation resulting in fewer but bigger and presumably more efficient farms. In this paper, we exploit detailed matched employer-employee data for the entire population of Danish farms in the period 1980-2008 to analyze the micro-level relationship between these two developments. We find that farms that employ immigrants tend to be both larger and at least as productive as other farms. Furthermore, an increased use of immigrants is found to be associated with an improvement in farm performance as measured by job creation and revenue, and this seems at least in part to reflect a causal effect of the immigrants. |
| Keywords: | immigration, agriculture, matched employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J61 J43 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7133&r=agr |
| By: | Roy, Chandan; Roy Mukherjee, Sanchari; Ghosh, Shantanu |
| Abstract: | Employment generation is one of the major potentials of Sericulture and Silk Industry in India. The farm and non-farm activity of this sector creates sixty lakh mandays of employment every year mostly in rural sector. The industry helps to create egalitarian distribution of income as it transfers greater share of its wealth from high end urban customers to poor artisan classes. In West Bengal, more than one lakh families are occupied with sericulture activities where Karnataka is the state with the largest number of families involved with sericulture. Despite having high level family involvement, West Bengal produces smaller quantities of raw silk compared to Karnataka as well as Andhra Pradesh. This paper investigates the reason of this low production and finds out that low productivity of land is no way responsible for that. Different Employment Models constructed in this paper suggest that ‘area of mulberry cultivation’, ‘cocoon-market’ and ‘power-looms’ are powerful factors in changing the level of employment, while the primary survey exposes factors like ‘unitary household structure’, ‘income’ ‘years of education’ and ‘numbers of female in the household’ as the significant factors in accelerating average employment per family. The spillover effect of this employment generation is studied at the end. The study finds that as a poverty eradication measure, sericulture fails to expand in rural West Bengal vis-à-vis the other prominent states. But income inequality is undoubtedly diminished with the practice in sericulture. |
| Keywords: | Sericulture; Employment; Silk; Poverty; Inequality |
| JEL: | O13 J2 L7 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:43672&r=agr |
| By: | Diego Pereira Lindoso (University of Brasilia); Juliana Dalboni Rocha (University of Brasilia); Nathan Debortoli (University of Brasilia); Izabel Cavalcanti I. Parente (University of Brasilia); Flávio Eiró (University of Brasilia); Marcel Bursztyn (University of Brasilia); Saulo Rodrigues Filho (University of Brasilia) |
| Abstract: | Political uncertainties about the global capacity to keep greenhouse gases within safe concentration limits along with new evidence from science showing that some degree of climate change is unavoidable have drawn international attention to the urgency of considering adaptation measures as important as mitigation actions. As a result, many efforts have been made to provide decision-makers with integrated systems of vulnerability assessment that can guide policy action towards mainstreaming adaptation on the governmental development agenda. (?) |
| Keywords: | Indicators for Assessing the Vulnerability of Smallholder Farming to Climate Change: the Case of Brazil?s Semi-Arid Northeastern Region |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:163&r=agr |
| By: | Solomon Asfaw (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Silvio Daidone (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Benjamin Davis (FAO); Josh Dewbre (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Alessandro Romeo (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Paul Winters (American University); Katia Covarrubias (FAO); Habiba Djebbari (Universite Laval) |
| Abstract: | Cash transfer programmes have become an important tool of social protection and poverty reduction strategies in low- and middle-income countries. In the past decade, a growing number of African governments have launched cash transfer programmes as part of their strategies of social protection. Most of these programmes have been accompanied by rigorous impact evaluations. Concern about vulnerable populations in the context of HIV/AIDS has driven the objectives and targeting of many of these programmes, leading to an emphasis on those people who are ultra-poor, labour-constrained, with prevalence of adverse health conditions, elderly and/or caring for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) (Davis et al., 2012). As a result, the objectives of most of these programmes focus on food security, health, nutritional and educational status, particularly of children, and so, as would be expected, the accompanying impact evaluations concentrate on measuring these dimensions of programme impact. (?) |
| Keywords: | Analytical Framework for Evaluating the Productive Impact of Cash Transfer Programmes on Household Behaviour ? Methodological Guidelines for the From |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:wpaper:101&r=agr |
| By: | Inoue, Takeshi; Hamori, Shigeyuki |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to examine the market efficiency of the commodity futures market in India, which has been growing phenomenally for the last few years. We estimate the long-run equilibrium relationship between the multi-commodity futures and spot prices and then test for market efficiency in a weak form sense by applying both the DOLS and the FMOLS methods. The entire sample period is from 2 January 2006 to 31 March 2011. The results indicate that a cointegrating relationship is found between these indices and that the commodity futures market seems to be efficient only during the more recent sub-sample period since July 2009. |
| Keywords: | India, Financial market, Primary commodities, Prices, Futures markets, Commodity futures, Efficiency |
| JEL: | G13 G14 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper370&r=agr |
| By: | Oxford Policy Management (Oxford Policy Management) |
| Abstract: | This research guide was prepared as part of the joint FAO-UNICEF ?From Protection to Production? (PtoP) project (http://www.fao.org/economic/ptop/en/). The project takes advantage of ongoing impact evaluations of cash transfer programmes in sub-Saharan Africa to look at the impact of these programmes on household economic activities, including labour supply, as well as their impact on the local economy. The project is using a mixed-method approach, combining econometric analysis of impact evaluation data, local economy Social Accounting Matrix (SAM)/computable general equilibrium (CGE) models and qualitative methods. (?) |
| Keywords: | Qualitative Research and Analyses of the Economic Impacts of Cash Transfer Programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa ? a Research Guide Prepared for the from P |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:wpaper:100&r=agr |