|
on Agricultural Economics |
|
Issue of 2016‒03‒10
thirty-six papers chosen by |
| By: | Benson, Todd; Nankhuni, Flora; Mabiso, Athur; Maredia, Mywish |
| Abstract: | Over the past ten years, there have been several initiatives in Malawi to strengthen the processes through which national policies, strategies, and programs in the agriculture sector are designed and approved. These processes define how the nation assures the food security and nutrition of its citizens. As a consequence, in addition to the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Water Development (MoAIWD), which continues to coordinate these policy processes, a broader and more diverse range of civil society and non-governmental organizations, firms or representatives of sub-sectoral umbrella organization from the private sector, and agricultural and food policy researchers from various institutions all now engage in the policy processes more regularly. Development partners remain engaged, although more so than in the past their perspectives are now more harmonized through the Donor Committee on Agriculture and Food Security. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midcpb:232087&r=agr |
| By: | Isaure DELAPORTE (FERDI); Mathilde MAUREL (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne CNRS - Université Paris 1) |
| Abstract: | Climate change is expected to disproportionately affect agriculture; however, there is limited information on smallholder farmers ‘ overall vulnerability and adaptation needs. This paper estimates the impact of climatic shocks on the household agricultural income and subsequently, on farmers ‘ adaptation strategies. Relying on data from a survey conducted in several communities in Bangladesh in 2011 and based on an IV probit approach, the results show that a one percentage point climate induced decline in agricultural income pushes households to adapt by almost 3 percentage points. However, certain strategies are too costly and cannot be afforded in bad times. For those strategies, we provide evidence of barriers that constrain the development and deployment of adaptive measures, noticeably access to electricity and wealth. |
| JEL: | D10 Q12 Q54 Q56 O13 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fdi:wpaper:2681&r=agr |
| By: | Wouterse, Fleur Stephanie |
| Abstract: | Niger is a landlocked Sahelian country, two-thirds of which is in the Sahara desert, with only one-eighth of the land considered arable. Nevertheless, more than 90 percent of Niger’s labor force is employed in agriculture, which is predominantly subsistence oriented. Since the great famines of the 1970s and 1980s, the country has pursued agrarian intensification through technological change to address challenges to the food security situation. However, this approach has failed to recognize that the main characteristic of the Sahelian part of West Africa is the intricate complexity of the social, environmental, and economic dimensions that differentially affect male and female rural dwellers. One example is the patrilineal tenure system, which under increased population pressure has led to the exclusion of women and youth from agriculture in some areas. The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) indicates that access to land is one important dimension of empowerment. In order to assess the role of empowerment in agricultural production, we use new household- and individual-level WEAI data from Niger and regression analysis. Our results show that empowerment is important for agricultural production and that households in which adult individuals are more empowered are more productive. This means that other and possibly more effective pathways to agrarian intensification exist and important agricultural productivity gains could be made by empowering men and women in rural households. |
| Keywords: | households, productivity, gender, women, intensification, agricultural production, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1509&r=agr |
| By: | Houssou, Nazaire; Chapoto, Anthony; Asante-Addo, Collins |
| Abstract: | This paper characterizes the transition from small-scale farming and the drivers of farm size growth among medium- and large-scale farmers in Ghana. The research was designed to better understand the dynamics of change in Ghana’s farm structure and contribute to the debate on whether Africa should pursue a smallholder-based or large-scale oriented agricultural development strategy. The results suggest a rising number of medium-scale farmers and a declining number of smallholder farmers in the country, a pattern that is consistent with a changing farm structure in the country’s agricultural sector. More important, findings show that the rise to medium- and large-scale farming is significantly associated with successful transition of small-scale farmers rather than entry of medium or large farms into agriculture, reflecting small-scale farmers successfully breaking through the barriers of subsistence agriculture into more commercialized production systems. The findings in this paper also suggest that some of the factors thought to be important for change in farm structure are no obstacle to farm size growth, even though they may foster transition. Notably, the results here diverge from the patterns observed in Zambia and Kenya, which indicate that the emergent farmers came mostly from the urban elite. Unfortunately, past and current policy discussions have not featured these emergent farmers sufficiently in the quest to transform agriculture in Ghana. Government should capitalize on these emergent farmers who have a demonstrated ability to graduate productively as it strives to address challenges in the smallholder sector. |
| Keywords: | farm structure, smallholders, farm size, large farms, indigenous farm growth, emergent farmers, transformation, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1499&r=agr |
| By: | Isaure DELAPORTE (FERDI); Mathilde MAUREL (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne CNRS - Université Paris 1) |
| Abstract: | Climate change is expected to disproportionately affect agriculture; however, there is limited information on smallholder farmers ‘ overall vulnerability and adaptation needs. This paper estimates the impact of climatic shocks on the household agricultural income and subsequently, on farmers ‘ adaptation strategies. Relying on data from a survey conducted in several communities in Bangladesh in 2011 and based on an IV probit approach, the results show that a one percentage point climate induced decline in agricultural income pushes households to adapt by almost 3 percentage points. However, certain strategies are too costly and cannot be afforded in bad times. For those strategies, we provide evidence of barriers that constrain the development and deployment of adaptive measures, noticeably access to electricity and wealth. |
| JEL: | D10 Q12 Q54 Q56 O13 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fdi:wpaper:2679&r=agr |
| By: | Robinson, Sherman; Mason d'Croz, Daniel; Islam, Shahnila; Sulser, Timothy B.; Robertson, Richard D.; Zhu, Tingju; Gueneau, Arthur; Pitois, Gauthier; Rosegrant, Mark W. |
| Abstract: | The International Food Policy Research Institute’s International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT) supports analysis of long-term challenges and opportunities for food, agriculture, and natural resources at global and regional scales. IMPACT is continually being updated and improved to better inform the choices that decisionmakers face today. This document describes the latest version of the model. IMPACT version 3 expands the geographic and commodity scope of the model in response to desires expressed by researchers and policymakers to address more complex questions involving climate change, food security, and economic development into the future. IMPACT 3 is an integrated modeling system that links information from climate models (Earth System Models), crop simulation models (for example, Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer), and water models linked to a core global, partial equilibrium, multimarket model focused on the agriculture sector. This model system supports longer-term scenario analysis through the integration of these multidisciplinary modules to provide researchers and policymakers with a flexible tool to assess and compare the potential effects of changes in biophysical systems, socioeconomic trends, technologies, and policies. |
| Keywords: | mathematical models, simulation models, agriculture, international trade, food security, climate change, markets, welfare, hydrology, water use, water management, drought stress, International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade IMPACT model, scenario analysis, multi-market model, modular modeling approach, welfare analysis, global hydrology, water basin management, water stress simulation, crop simulation modeling, ex ante analysis, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1483&r=agr |
| By: | Declan Conway; Emma Archer van Garderen; Delphine Deryng; Steve Dorling; Tobias Krueger; Willem Landman; Bruce Lankford; Karen Lebek; Tim Osborn; Claudia Ringler; James Thurlow; Tingju Zhu; Carole Dalin |
| Abstract: | In southern Africa, the connections between climate and the water–energy–food nexus are strong. Physical and socioeconomic exposure to climate is high in many areas and in crucial economic sectors. Spatial interdependence is also high, driven, for example, by the regional extent of many climate anomalies and river basins and aquifers that span national boundaries. There is now strong evidence of the effects of individual climate anomalies, but associations between national rainfall and gross domestic product and crop production remain relatively weak. The majority of climate models project decreases in annual precipitation for southern Africa, typically by as much as 20% by the 2080s. Impact models suggest these changes would propagate into reduced water availability and crop yields. Recognition of spatial and sectoral interdependencies should inform policies, institutions and investments for enhancing water, energy and food security. Three key political and economic instruments could be strengthened for this purpose: the Southern African Development Community, the Southern African Power Pool and trade of agricultural products amounting to significant transfers of embedded water. |
| JEL: | N0 L81 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:63308&r=agr |
| By: | Mallika Meti (University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru); Suresha S V (University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru); Raghuprasad K P (University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru) |
| Abstract: | Contract farming has been in existence for many years as a means of organizing the commercial agricultural production of both large-scale and small-scale farmers. The approach has considerable potential in developing countries like India where small-scale agriculture continues to be widespread, as small-scale farmers can no longer be competitive without access to the services provided by contract farming companies. The present study was conducted in four districts of Karnataka viz., Tumkur, Kolar, Hassan and Koppal to study the economic status of farmers in contract farming and to know the problems and suggestions. Majority of the farmers practicing contract farming in the study were small and medium farmers with less than 5 acres of land and 5-10 acres of land holdings respectively. It is often difficult for small-scale farmers outside the contract-farming context to gain access to input and risk in quality production but the contractual arrangements involve considerable production support in addition to the supply of basic inputs and assist in risk management. Sponsors may also provide land preparation, field cultivation and harvesting as well as free training and extension, primarily to ensure proper crop practices in order to achieve projected yields and required qualities. Further, the results indicated that there was maximum per cent of increase in economic status of farmers from Hassan (12.12%), Tumkur (14.85%), Kolar (29.13%) and Koppal (18.34%) districts after adopting the contract farming in their fields respectively. Benefit-cost ratio of the four districts viz., Hassan (3.05), Tumkur (2.37), Kolar (2.76) and Koppal (6.18) gave positive signs towards the improvement of farmer’s economic status. Results also showed that majority of the farmers faced financial and situational constraints rather than technological and extension constraints. Financial constraints involve lack of financial assistance in agriculture for initial investments and situational constraints involve non-availability of inputs in time. |
| Keywords: | Contract farming, risk management, small farmers |
| JEL: | O13 Q19 Q16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:3305851&r=agr |
| By: | Nicholas Sim (School of Economics, University of Adelaide) |
| Abstract: | Having robust estimates of how global warming affects agricultural production is important for developing informed policies in response to food security, but the existing studies have been at odds on what this effect might be. This article conducts a meta-analysis based on 130 primary econometric studies to better understand the conflict among the existing estimates of warming on agriculture. We find that the difference in econometric model specification is an important source of disagreement, and that this disagreement can be greatly reduced if the studies model temperature nonlinearly, use a growing season temperature measure, and cross-sectional data which captures adaptations |
| Keywords: | Climate change impact, Agriculture, Meta-analysis, Inconsistency |
| JEL: | Q15 Q51 Q54 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adl:wpaper:2016-04&r=agr |
| By: | Benin, Samuel |
| Abstract: | Using data on 34 countries in Africa south of the Sahara (SSA) from 1980 to 2012, this paper assesses the returns to public spending in the agricultural sector, considering expenditures on agriculture as a whole versus expenditures on agricultural research. First, an aggregate production function is estimated using a fixed-effects, instrumental variables estimator to address potential endogeneity of agricultural expenditure and to obtain elasticities of land productivity with respect to total agricultural expenditure and agricultural research expenditure. Different model specifications are used to test the sensitivity of the results to different assumptions. The estimated elasticities are then used to estimate the rate of return to expenditure in different countries and groups of countries. The elasticity of land productivity with respect to total agricultural expenditure per hectare is estimated at 0.04, and elasticity with respect to agricultural research expenditure per hectare is estimated to be higher at 0.09. The aggregate returns to total agricultural expenditure and agricultural research expenditure in SSA are estimated at 11 percent and 93 percent, respectively. Comparative analysis of the estimates with those of previous studies, as well as across different countries and different groups of countries, is undertaken. Then implications are discussed for maintaining the high returns to agricultural research expenditure and for further studies on the low return to total agricultural expenditure, including more disaggregated analysis of expenditure on other functions besides research to better inform prioritization of agricultural expenditure. |
| Keywords: | agricultural growth, public expenditure, agricultural research, agricultural sector, investment, agricultural expenditure, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1491&r=agr |
| By: | Bachev, Hrabrin |
| Abstract: | The issue of governance and evaluation of sustainability of farming enterprise like individual and family farms, agro-companies, agro-cooperatives, etc. is among the most discussed among researchers, farmers, investors, politicians, interests groups and public at large. Despite the significant development of the theory and practice in that new area still there is no common understanding on “what is (how to define) sustainability of farming enterprises?”, „what is the difference and relations between farm and agrarian sustainability?“, “which are the critical factors of sustainability of farming enterprises?”, “which are the governing mechanisms and forms for farms sustainability?”, “how to select the most-efficient forms for governing of farms sustainability?”, and “how to evaluate the sustainability level of farming enterprises” in a dynamic world, where hardly there is anything actually “sustainable. This paper tries to give answer to all these questions. First, evolution of the “concept” of sustainability of farming enterprises is initially analyzed and discussed. On that base is suggested adequate definition of farming enterprise’ sustainability as ability of a particular farm to maintain its governance, economic, social and ecological functions in a long term. After that principle mechanisms and modes of governance of sustainability of farming enterprise are specified, including institutional environment, market, private, collective, public and hybrid modes. Following applicable for the contemporary conditions of the development of Bulgarian agriculture framework for assessing the farm sustainability level is suggested. The later includes a system of appropriate principles, criteria, indicators, and reference values, which characterise the governance, economic, ecological and social aspects of farms sustainability as well as approach for their integration and interpretation. Finally, a framework for analysing and assessing the efficiency of the individual components and the entire system of governance for farm enterprise’ sustainability is suggested. Ultimate objective of this study is to discuss and experiment efficiency of suggested framework, and after improving it to suggest it for a wider use in farm and agri-business management, and improvement of policies and modes of public intervention in agrarian sector. |
| Keywords: | farming enterprise, sustainability, governance, economic, social, ecological aspects, market, private and public modes of governance |
| JEL: | Q12 Q13 Q15 Q18 Q5 Q56 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2016–01–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:69734&r=agr |
| By: | Eric Nazindigouba Kere (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Somlanare Romuald Kinda (Université Ouaga - Université Ouaga - Université Ouagadougou [Université Ouagadougou]) |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes the role of spatial spillovers in the relationship between climate change and food security in developing countries over the period of 1971-2010. Using a Samuelson’s spatial price equilibrium model (theoretically) and Spatial Durbin Model (empirically), results show a strategic substitutability between the levels of food availability in the countries suggesting that an increase of food availability in a given country decreases the food availability of neighboring countries. Second climate change (water balance variability, droughts, floods and extreme temperatures) reduces food availability both in the affected countries and its main food trading partners. Third, food demand factors in a country may have the opposite (asymmetric) effect on its major trading partners. Fourth, supply factors have symmetric impact on food availability. |
| Keywords: | Food security, Climate change, Spatial spillovers, Spatial econometrics, Developing countries. |
| Date: | 2016–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01278873&r=agr |
| By: | Grace, Delia; Roesel, Kristina; Kang'ethe, Erastus; Bonfoh, Bassirou; Theis, Sophie |
| Abstract: | Food-borne disease remains a major public health challenge in Africa and Asia. Most of the foods that carry the highest pathogen risk are produced by smallholder farmers, marketed through the informal sector, and sold in wet markets. Given the significant role of informal markets in African and Asian food systems, attention is invested in understanding (1) how the people that participate in informal markets are exposed to risk, and (2) how they manage risk. We conduct a participatory risk analysis with a gender lens in 20 livestock and fish value chains to study whether gender-based differences influence risk of food-borne disease. We find that socially constructed gender roles are more important determinants of health risk than biological differences between men and women. Variations in risk exposure between men and women are mainly due to gender-based differences in occupational exposure, and secondarily to differences in consumption patterns. Women are important but under-recognized risk managers in the realms of food production, processing, selling, preparation, and consumption. Understanding the influence of gender on risk exposure and management is essential for improving food safety in informal markets. |
| Keywords: | gender, women, livestock, fish, food security, smallholders, markets, food systems, value chains, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1489&r=agr |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Adhikari, Rajendra Prasad; Kaphle, Basu Dev; Shivakoti, Sabnam; Kumar, Anjani |
| Abstract: | Although overall chemical fertilizer use has grown steadily in Nepal in the past two decades, much of that growth has occurred in the Terai agroecological belt while use has stagnated in the Hills and the Mountains regions. Differences in chemical fertilizer use intensity between the Terai and the latter regions are typically pronounced among medium-to-large-size farmers. Using three rounds of the Nepal Living Standards Survey as well as secondary data, we examine the determinants of inorganic fertilizer (urea and DAP) use, as well as the marginal income returns from fertilizer use at the farm-household level. Similarities in soil and climate between farm locale and Agriculture Research Station locale seem to increase demand for fertilizer—even after controlling for distance to those stations. Most important, demand for chemical fertilizer is affected by the real fertilizer price (particularly since the 2003 NLSS survey), but the price response is relatively weaker in the Hills and Mountains, suggesting that returns to fertilizer may be generally low in those regions, and that reducing fertilizer price through subsidies on fertilizer or transportation may not substantially increase fertilizer use. This is confirmed by assessment of the returns to chemical fertilizer use estimated through generalized propensity score matching and ordinary propensity score matching. The findings cast doubt on the effectiveness of fertilizer subsidies as an instrument for stimulating chemical fertilizer use in Nepal, particularly among medium-to-large-scale farmers in the Hills, and point toward alternative measures like increased research and development into technologies that raise overall returns to chemical fertilizer. |
| Keywords: | fertilizers, farm inputs, surveys, households, medium size farms, large scale farming, tobit model, Nepal living standards survey, generalized propensity score, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1507&r=agr |
| By: | Fuchs Tarlovsky,Alan; Wolff,Hendrik |
| Abstract: | Although weather shocks are a major source of income fluctuation, most of the world's poor lack insurance coverage against them. Absence of formal insurance contributes to poverty traps, as investment decisions are conflicted with risk management ones: risk-averse farmers tend to underinvest and produce lower yielding yet safer crops. In the past few years, weather index insurance has gained increasing attention as an effective tool to provide small-scale farmers coverage against aggregate shocks. However, there is little empirical evidence about its effectiveness. This paper studies the effect of the recently introduced rainfall-indexed insurance on farmers'productivity, risk management strategies, as well as per capita income and expenditure in Mexico. The identification strategy takes advantage of the variation across counties and across time in which the insurance was rolled-out. The analysis finds that the presence of insurance in treated counties has significant and positive effects on maize productivity. Similarly, there is a positive association between the presence of insurance in the municipality and rural households'per capita expenditure and income, although no significant relation is found between the presence of insurance and the number of hectares destined for maize production. |
| Keywords: | Debt Markets,Insurance&Risk Mitigation,Crops and Crop Management Systems,Labor Policies,Rural Poverty Reduction |
| Date: | 2016–02–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7565&r=agr |
| By: | Rahul Anand; Naresh Kumar; Volodymyr Tulin |
| Abstract: | Over the past decade, India has seen a prolonged period of high inflation, to a large extent driven by persistently-high food inflation. This paper investigates the demand and supply factors behind the contribution of relative food inflation to headline CPI inflation. It concludes that in the absence of a stronger food supply growth response, food inflation may exceed non-food inflation by 2½–3 percentage points per year. The sustainability of a long-term inflation target of 4 percent under India’s recently-adopted flexible inflation targeting framework will depend on enhancing food supply, agricultural market-based pricing, and reducing price distortions. A well-designed cereal buffer stock liquidation policy could also help mitigate food inflation volatility. |
| Keywords: | Asia and Pacific;India;Monetary policy;Central banks and their policies;food inflation, cereal buffer stocks, food, cereals, rice, wheat, food supply, Forecasting and Simulation, Monetary Policy (Targets, Instruments, and Effects), Fiscal and Monetary Policy in Development, |
| Date: | 2016–01–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:16/2&r=agr |
| By: | Roland Molerus; Namsuk Kim |
| Abstract: | Institutional constraints prevent the Least Developed Countries from fully utilizing the trade-related International Support Measures provided by development partners. A cost-benefit analysis has been developed as a methodology to identify institutional constraints and prioritize support measures comparing benefits with costs, based on survey data. Applied in Uganda, it identified critical institutional constraints: limited knowledge on how to access most of the assistance; inadequate institutional arrangements; ineffective communications regarding the use of support measures. International support measures related to sanitary and phytosanitary issues, among others, are expected to increase the trade value in Uganda. |
| Keywords: | cost-benefit analysis, Least Developed Countries, International Trade, Export Promoting, Uganda |
| JEL: | D61 F14 O19 O24 O55 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:une:cpaper:030&r=agr |
| By: | Jules RAZAFIARIJAONA; Andrianjakarivo Henintsoa RAZAFINDRAIBE; Manohisoa RAKOTONDRABE; Alexio Clovis LOHANIVO; Alain KARSENTY; Laura BRIMONT; Sigrid AUBERT; Sebastien DESBUREAUX |
| Abstract: | Protected areas (PAs) remain the primary conservation instrument of Madagascar’s unique but threatened biodiversity. We combine matching and panel regressions in a quasi-natural experiment setting to analyze PAs’ environmental effectiveness annually between 2001 and 2012 and study two channels that moderate the impact: initial poverty rates and local variations in law enforcement. Our findings show that PAs have stabilized deforestation around a positive trend without having halted it. Their overall environmental impact is however limited: PAs created before the 2000 have helped to slow down deforestation by approximately 20%, meaning that 80% of forests are still cleared even though they are protected. As for new PA created from the mid-2000s, the early impact is statistically not significant. As a result, the total welfare impact of protection is currently uncertain. We show that PAs have been effective for municipalities where overall law enforcement was the lowest: PAs have helped to limit what we call opportunistic deforestation. Meanwhile, PAs have been poorly effective when poverty rates were high: when necessity is the driver of deforestation, PAs are not sufficient to slow down deforestation. As a consequence, effectively stopping deforestation in Madagascar will require ambitious policies to trigger the necessary agricultural transition for the country. |
| Keywords: | Impact Evaluation; Protected Areas; Africa; Madagascar |
| JEL: | O13 Q58 Q28 Q2 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1787&r=agr |
| By: | Sebastien Desbureaux (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Sigrid Aubert (CIRAD - CIRAD - CIRAD); Laura Brimont (IDDRI - Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations Internationales - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Paris); Alain Karsenty (CIRAD - CIRAD - CIRAD); Alexio Clovis Lohanivo (CIRAD - CIRAD - CIRAD); Manohisoa Rakotondrabe (ESSA - Université d'Antananarivo); Andrianjakarivo Henintsoa Razafindraibe (ESSA - Université d'Antananarivo); Jules Razafiarijaona (ESSA - Université d'Antananarivo) |
| Abstract: | Protected areas (PAs) remain the primary conservation instrument of Madagascar’s unique but threatened biodiversity. We combine matching and panel regressions in a quasi-natural experiment setting to analyze PAs’ environmental effectiveness annually between 2001 and 2012 and study two channels that moderate the impact: initial poverty rates and local variations in law enforcement. Our findings show that PAs have stabilized deforestation around a positive trend without having halted it. Their overall environmental impact is however limited: PAs created before the 2000 have helped to slow down deforestation by approximately 20%, meaning that 80% of forests are still cleared even though they are protected. As for new PA created from the mid-2000s, the early impact is statistically not significant. As a result, the total welfare impact of protection is currently uncertain. We show that PAs have been effective for municipalities where overall law enforcement was the lowest: PAs have helped to limit what we call opportunistic deforestation. Meanwhile, PAs have been poorly effective when poverty rates were high: when necessity is the driver of deforestation, PAs are not sufficient to slow down deforestation. As a consequence, effectively stopping deforestation in Madagascar will require ambitious policies to trigger the necessary agricultural transition for the country. |
| Keywords: | Impact Evaluation, Protected Areas, Africa, Madagascar |
| Date: | 2016–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01278872&r=agr |
| By: | Roberto Roson; Richard Damania |
| Abstract: | In this paper we consider some of the economic implications of climate change scenarios as described in the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). By comparing potential water demand with estimates of (sustainable) water availability in different regions, we identify regions that are likely to be constrained in their future economic growth potential by the scarcity of water resources. We assess the macroeconomic impact of water scarcity under alternative allocation rules finding that, by assigning more water to sectors in which it has a higher value, shifting production to less water intensive sectors, and importing more water intensive goods, constrained regions can effectively neutralize these water related climate risks and adapt to a changing water environment. However, this adaptation effort is likely to imply some radical changes in water management policies. |
| Keywords: | Water, Economic Growth, Shared Socio-economic Pathways, Computable General Equilibrium, Virtual Water Trade. |
| JEL: | C68 F18 F43 O11 Q01 Q25 Q32 Q56 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcu:iefewp:iefewp84&r=agr |
| By: | Marc Baudry; Adrien Hervouet |
| Abstract: | Plant Breeders Rights (PBRs) are sui generis IPRs intended to promote plant variety creation. Two characteristics distinguish PBRs from patents: the research and the farmers’ exemptions. This article attempts to assess the impact of these exemption rules on the private value of PBRs. For this purpose, a microeconometric model of PBRs renewals is developed and estimated. This model extends previous models of patents renewals by allowing the use of PBRs-specific variables. It is argued that simple tests on the coefficients associated to key PBRs-specific variables can provide insights into the impact of the two exemption rules. Implementation to PBRs in France over the period 1973-2011 for six major crops suggests that neither the farmers’ exemption nor the research exemption have a clear cut effect on the private value of PBRs. We conclude that there is no evidence to argue in favor of a reform of PBRs. |
| Keywords: | IPRs, Inventors’ exemption, Farmers’ exemption, Plant variety creation, Renewals. |
| JEL: | O34 Q16 C41 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2016-7&r=agr |
| By: | Houssou, Nazaire; Johnson, Michael E.; Kolavalli, Shashidhara; Asante-Addo, Collins |
| Abstract: | This research was designed to understand better the patterns of agricultural intensification and transformation occurring in Africa South of the Sahara using the Ghanaian case. The paper examines changes in farming systems and the role of various endogenous and exogenous factors in driving the conversion of arable lands to agricultural uses in four villages within two agroecologically distinct zones of Ghana: the Guinea Savannah and Transition zones. Using essentially historical narratives and land-cover maps supplemented with quantitative data at regional levels, the research shows that farming has intensified in the villages, while farmers have increased their farm size in response to factors such as population growth, market access, and changing rural lifestyle. The overall trend suggests a gradual move toward intensification through increasing use of labor-saving technologies rather than land-saving inputs—a pattern that contrasts with Asia’s path to its Green Revolution. The findings in this paper provide evidence of the dynamism occurring in African farming systems; hence, they point toward a departure from stagnation narratives that have come to prevail in the debate on agricultural transformation and intensification in Africa South of the Sahara. We conclude that it is essential for future research to expand the scope of this work, while policies should focus on lessons that can be learned from these historical processes of genuine change. |
| Keywords: | intensification, green revolution, households, economic development, technological change, farming systems, stagnation, agricultural transformation, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1504&r=agr |
| By: | Johnson, Michael E.; Dorosh, Paul A. |
| Abstract: | Utilizing a spatial multi-market model for rice in Nigeria that explicitly takes into account the potential for smuggling, in this paper we analyze the welfare implications of alternative rice tariff rates given the government’s goals of spurring domestic production and reducing imports. Because smuggling occurs through the diversion of imports from Lagos, the official port of entry in the south, to the north, our modeling framework also captures the spatial effects of higher tariffs on changes in rural and urban prices, production and consumption, the flow of trade in rice, and welfare across different parts of the country. Results show that tariff rates that exceed about 40 percent introduce some smuggling of rice through the north when smuggling becomes more profitable than importing through official channels in the south. It is also at this tipping point that government tariff revenues are maximized. At higher tariff rates with smuggling, the south experiences greater welfare losses, especially in urban areas. |
| Keywords: | tariffs, rice, trade, trade barriers, spatial market equlibrium model, smuggling, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1493&r=agr |
| By: | Thomas, Timothy S. |
| Abstract: | Heat is a serious barrier to maize productivity increases, and heat is expected to rise as a result of climate change. Using county-level annual yields for rainfed maize for 2,616 US counties from 1980 to 2010, we conduct a multivariate, nonparametric yield response analysis to weather, maize price, and time trend to project climate impact on maize and to compare with climate projections from crop models. When we compare with climate impacts predicted by biophysical models, we find that our analysis tends to support the most pessimistic of the biophysical model projections for climate change. We also demonstrate that growth in maize yields in the United States between 1980 and 2010 was higher under high temperatures than under moderate temperatures, with yields growing 20.2 percent faster when the mean daily maximum temperature for the warmest month ranged from 34 to 35 degrees Celsius instead of 28 to 29 degrees. Similarly, we find that US maize has become more tolerant of lower rainfall levels, with yields growing 15.9 percent faster between 1980 and 2010 when rainfall is below 250 millimeters in the first four months of the growing period compared with when it is between 400 and 450 millimeters (the optimal amount of rainfall). This suggests that significant adaptation to current and future effects of climate change is already taking place for US maize. |
| Keywords: | maize, climate change, heat stres, water stress, productivity, climate change adaptation, model intercomparison, panel analysis, agricultural productivity, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1485&r=agr |
| By: | Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria); Zinnia Mukherjee (Department of Economics, Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, E-203J, Boston, MA 02115, USA); Peter Wanke (COPPEAD Graduate Business School, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rua Paschoal Lemme, 355. 21949-900 Rio de Janeiro) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the operational practices of three lobster fishing zones in Long Island using a finite mixture model that allows controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. More precisely, a stochastic frontier latent class model is adopted in this research to estimate the production frontiers for each of the different technologies embedded within this heterogeneity. Therefore, this model not only enables the identification of different groups within the fishing zones, but it also permits the analysis of their productive efficiency. Results indicate the existence of five different technology groups within the sample, suggesting that production technologies in lobster fishery are themselves quite heterogeneous despite the environmental conditions. Policy implications are also derived. |
| Keywords: | Long Island Sound, lobster fishery, stochastic production frontier, latent class model, technical efficiency, panel data |
| JEL: | Q22 Q57 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201614&r=agr |
| By: | Ragasa, Catherine; Nkonya, Ephraim M.; Ulimwengu, John M.; Randriamamonjy, Josée |
| Abstract: | In 2011, in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Democratic Republic of Congo’s government launched the Food Production, Processing, and Marketing project—which aimed to raise incomes and improve food security in the target areas by improving agricultural productivity, market efficiency, and the capacity of producers to respond to market signals. In August–October 2013 and February–March 2014, halfway through the project’s implementation, a midline survey was conducted to assess progress with respect to intermediate outcomes. The present paper highlights the results of that assessment survey. We pay close attention to accurate attribution of observed changes to the project and employ a double-difference method that compares the changes in indicators before the project and at the time of the survey (project midline) between the beneficiaries and comparable control groups. Overall, the survey results suggest weak impact on most of the outcome indicators, and they highlight challenges in implementing small-scale farmers’ capacity building within the context of weak institutions and a fragile political context. |
| Keywords: | capacity building, smallholders, productivity, food security, markets, food processing, evaluation, agricultural development, value chains, double-difference analysis, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1501&r=agr |
| By: | BRAJESH KUMAR (Jindal, Global Business School, O P Jindal Gobal University) |
| Abstract: | (NCY). It asserts that the positive NCY should have higher volatility as compared to negative NCY. This paper investigates asymmetric volatility behavior of NCY in Indian commodity futures markets. We model NCY as EGARCH process which captures the asymmetry in volatility of the series. The mean equation of NCY is modeled as autoregressive process with month and period dummies. We also include volatility of the spot prices as explanatory variable. Our results of the asymmetric behavior of NCY indicate that the theory of storage is not valid in Indian commodities market. In most of the agricultural commodities, we do not find asymmetric behavior; the negative shock to NCY increases the volatility of NCY rather than decreasing it. This result contradicts the implications of the theory of storage. In other words, when the spot prices are higher than the futures prices (backwardation), the volatility of spread is higher than volatility of spread when spot prices are lower than the futures prices. Only in case of crude oil, positive NCY has higher volatility than negative NCY. |
| Keywords: | Convenience yield, Asymmetric volatility, EGARCH, The theory of storage, Indian Commodity Futures Markets |
| JEL: | C22 G13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iefpro:3205752&r=agr |
| By: | Amigues, Jean-Pierre; Moreaux, Michel |
| Abstract: | The global economy produces energy from two sources: a polluting nonrenewable resource and a renewable resource. Transforming crude energy into ready-to-use energy services requires costly processes and more efficient energy transformation rates are more costly to achieve. Renewable energy is in competition with food production for land acreage but the food productivity rate of land can also be improved at some cost. The exploitation of non-renewable energy releases polluting emissions in the atmosphere. To avoid catastrophic climate damages, the pollution stock is mandated to stay below a given cap. In the interesting case where the economy would be constrained by the carbon cap at least temporarily, we show the following. When the economy is not constrained by the cap, the efficiency rates of energy transformation increase steadily until the transition toward the ultimate green economy; when renewable energy is exploited, its land acreage rises at the expense of food production; food productivity increases together with the land rent but food production drops; the prices of useful energy and food increase and renewables substitute for non-renewable energy. During the constrained phase, the economy follows a constant path of prices, quantities, efficiency rates, food productivity and land rent, a phenomenon we call the generalized ceiling paradox. |
| Keywords: | energy efficiency; carbon pollution; non-renewable resources; renewable resources; land use |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:30210&r=agr |
| By: | Galbreath, Jeremy |
| Abstract: | The wine industry faces significant risks climate change, such that the security of future production is under threat. To address this risk, in this paper, a framework is proposed to examine responses to climate change in the wine industry. Building upon the literature and relying on expert input, the framework takes into consideration mitigative and adaptive actions across market-based, regulatory/standards-based, and operational-based levels. To explore the framework, a case study is developed for Treasury Wine Estates (TWE), one of the world’s largest wine producers. The case study reveals verification of the framework, with TWE relying on several technologies and unique processes to engage in many mitigative and adaptive actions across the proposed levels. The findings suggest several opportunities for future study. |
| Keywords: | Australia, carbon emissions, climate change, greenhouse gases, strategy, wine, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aawewp:231251&r=agr |
| By: | Elodie Blanc; Eric Strobl |
| Date: | 2016–02–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2013-11&r=agr |
| By: | Elasrag, Hussein |
| Abstract: | The global halal market has emerged as a new growth sector in the global economy and is creating a strong presence in developed countries. The most promising halal markets are the fast-growing economies of the Asia, Middle East, Europe and the Americas. With a growing consumer base, and increasing growth in many parts of the world, the industry is set to become a competitive force in world international trade. The halal industry has now expanded well beyond the food sector further widening the economic potentials for halal. This paper will help to deepen understanding of the concept of Halal so as to familiarize non-Muslims about Halal principles and products. |
| Keywords: | Halal Industry ,Global Halal Food ,halal cosmetics market ,Halal tourism |
| JEL: | F1 L15 L7 M0 M00 M31 |
| Date: | 2016–01–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:69631&r=agr |
| By: | Sproule, Kathryn; Kieran, Caitlin; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Doss, Cheryl |
| Abstract: | Despite increasing evidence that households do not always function as one, policies regarding land and property rights are often formulated at the household level, assuming the primary adult male is the landowner. Because land policy reform has typically focused on changing household, rather than individual, rights to land, many of the data are collected at the household rather than the individual level. As a result of a combination of these factors, securing women’s land rights has remained a largely unaddressed issue by policymakers. So as to inform the formulation of policies and interventions to strengthen women’s land rights, this paper analyzes nationally representative data from Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam to understand the processes by which men and women acquire land; the social, cultural, and legal institutions surrounding gender and landownership; and the role of individual and household characteristics influencing an individual’s ability to own land. Our findings that women own less land than do men across different types of household structures and that gender inequality increases with household landholdings suggests that women’s land rights need to be strengthened within marriage and protected should the marriage dissolve. Although the impacts of gender-sensitive land policy reform are not well researched, early findings on policy reforms such as joint titling in Vietnam show that policies to strengthen women’s land rights have the potential to improve women’s well-being as well as their children’s without detrimental effects on productivity. Our findings of gender inequalities in intrahousehold land allocation and of increasing inequality as households accumulate land suggest an agenda for future research and policy that strengthens the land rights of women, particularly within marriage. |
| Keywords: | gender, women, land ownership, assets, households, land rights, legal rights, land policies, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1481&r=agr |
| By: | Hua Liao; Xin Tang; Yi-Ming Wei (Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEP), Beijing Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Solid fuels such as firewood and coal are widely used for cooking and heating in the developing countries, which result in serious indoor air pollutions and health effects. Governments and international organizations have been devoted to addressing this issue for a long time. Based on the micro survey data from 1989¨C2011, this paper quantitatively investigate the situations and evolutions of cooking fuel using and its health effects in rural China. We have four findings: (i) most rural households still rely on solid fuels for cooking in modern China. ii) the cooking fuels are slowly diversifying in the last two decades, (iii) there are considerably geographical differences in cooking fuel using across China, and (iv) those resident usually using solid fuel have lower levels of self-assessed health and higher prevalence of respiratory diseases. We then draw some policy implications to reduce cooking fuel use.. |
| Keywords: | rural residents; solid fuel; indoor air pollution (IAP); cooking; health |
| JEL: | Q54 Q40 |
| Date: | 2016–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:biw:wpaper:90&r=agr |
| By: | Masha Maslianskaia-Pautrel (GRANEM, University of Angers); Catherine Baumont pba148 (Laboratoire d’Economie de Dijon (LEDi), University of Bourgogne Franche-Comté, CNRS UMR 6307, U1200 INSERM) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the spatial dimension of the environmental effects. We use recent advances in spatial econometrics to show that hedonic equations produce estimates to be differently interpreted as implicit prices according to spatial models. In particularly, the implicit price of housing attribute combines a feedback effect and a propagation effect and may be interpreted in terms of local or global spillovers. We drive an empirical study in the estuary of the Loire, a rural and urban area well occupied by various natural areas and more artificialized ones. We study various spatial interaction patterns to test the robustness of our estimates and we find that spatial dependencies based on inverse distance and small neighborhoods provide stable estimations. It is consistent too with realistic spatial interaction patterns for household behaviors: information on closer housings is more reliable and comparison areas are in fact limited by the research process. As expected, positive impacts are concentrated on traditional attributes like the proximity to the ocean frontage and quiet places. On the contrary, the presence of various natural wet amenities is negatively valued because of the impression of housing density associated to flood risk. If urban places are more valued by households, it's rather because rural location are less desired than because of urban intrinsic attributes. |
| Keywords: | Environmental valuation, Direct and indirect effects, Spatial hedonic models, Spatial weight matrix, Spillovers |
| JEL: | Q51 C21 C18 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fae:wpaper:2016.04&r=agr |
| By: | Peters, Jörg |
| Abstract: | Inefficient firewood and charcoal usage contributes massively to global greenhouse gas emissions and causes four million mortal diseases a year: Relative to other climate protection measures, public investments in the dissemination of improved biomass cooking stoves provide a very effective low cost measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. More than three billion people in developing countries rely on inefficient cooking stoves fuelled by firewood and charcoal. Improved cookstoves have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas abatement costs to only 3 Euro per ton of CO2 equivalent and at the same time alleviate poverty. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwiimp:128152&r=agr |
| By: | Patricia C Melo (James Hutton Institute); Yakubu Abdul-Salam (James Hutton Institute); Deborah Roberts (James Hutton Institute); Alana Gilbert (James Hutton Institute); Robin Matthews (James Hutton Institute); Liesbeth Colen (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Sergio Gomez Y Paloma (European Commission – JRC - IPTS) |
| Abstract: | In order to combat malnutrition, economists and policymakers need to understand how food demand will change, as the continent further develops. Especially, a better understanding of, first, the factors underlying the relation between income and food demand, and, second, how this relation is changing according to the income level and/or characteristics of the country under study, may help improve the design and implementation of nutrition policies. There are a number of studies that have estimated the relation between income growth and food demand in Africa, but the resulting estimates are highly heterogeneous. This report provides a systematic review of the existing literature on income elasticities of food demand in Africa. Using a meta-analysis approach, this report identifies the factors determining the relation between food demand and income. Further research could usefully explore in greater detail some of the patterns identified and, in doing so, contribute to the design of policies aimed at addressing malnutrition. |
| Keywords: | Food demand, elasticity, Sub-Saharan Africa, malnutrition, food security |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc98812&r=agr |