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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2016‒03‒17
35 papers chosen by |
| By: | Dorosh, Paul A.; Rashid, Shahidur; Childs, Abigail; Van Asselt, Joanna |
| Abstract: | South Sudan faces serious problems of food insecurity due to low per capita levels of domestic food production, periodic droughts, widespread poverty, political unrest, and since late 2013, renewed armed conflict. Agricultural productivity is low, and the country is highly dependent on private-sector imports of cereals (maize, sorghum, wheat, and rice) from Uganda to supply domestic markets. National household survey data indicate substantial diversity in consumption of cereals across households, and our econometric estimates suggest highly price- and income-inelastic demand for the two major cereals, sorghum and maize. Drawing on a review of international experience and the constraints facing South Sudan, we conclude that a national food security reserve (NFSR) system with a small national food security stock is feasible for South Sudan. Cereal stocks would be kept mainly for targeted safety nets and emergency distribution, and market interventions would be limited in scope, in keeping with a long-run goal of market development. Nonetheless, even with a functioning NFSR, promotion of private-sector domestic and import trade will remain crucial for ensuring adequate supplies of grain and food security |
| Keywords: | food security, trade, food policy, agriculture, armed conflicts, productivity, imports, demand, sorghum, maize, food stocks, inelastic demand, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1482&r=agr |
| By: | Schuenemann, Franziska; Thurlow, James; Zeller, Manfred |
| Abstract: | Biofuel production can have conflicting impacts on economic growth, food and energy security, and natural resources. Understanding these trade-offs is crucial for designing policies that are consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals. This is particularly true in low-income countries, where the need to promote both energy and food security is most pressing. To this end, we develop an integrated modeling framework to simultaneously assess the economic and environmental impacts of producing biofuels in Malawi. We extend earlier studies by incorporating the effects of land use change on crop water use, and the opportunity costs of using scarce agricultural resources for biofuels rather than other export crops. We find that biofuel production is generally pro-poor and reduces food insecurity by raising household incomes. Irrigated outgrower schemes rather than estate farms lead to better economic outcomes, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and similar crop water requirements. Nevertheless, Malawi must reduce emissions from its ethanol plants in order to access European markets. We also find that the economic and environmental impacts of biofuels are preferable to those of tobacco or soybeans. The European Union has raised the standards expected of biofuel producers, but it should “level the playing field” by applying similar standards to other export crops from developing countries. |
| Keywords: | water use, land use, energy, biofuels, food security, bioenergy, fuels, natural resources, sustainability, emissions, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1500&r=agr |
| By: | Somlanare Romuald KINDA (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International(CERDI)); Eric Nazindigouba KERE |
| 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. |
| JEL: | Q54 Q18 Q17 C23 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1788&r=agr |
| By: | Ragasa, Catherine; Mazunda, John; Kadzamira, Mariam |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to test this hypothesis and to contribute to better understanding of strategies to revitalize the agricultural extension system in Malawi. Specifically, it examines the interplay between the fertilizer subsidy and access to extension services, and their impact on farm productivity and food security in Malawi. Results show that the fertilizer subsidy has inconsistent impact on farm productivity and food security; at the same time, access to agricultural advice was consistently insignificant in explaining farm productivity and food security. Further analysis, however, shows that when access to extension services is unpacked to include indicators of usefulness and farmers’ satisfaction, these indicators were statistically significant. Households who reported that they received very useful agricultural advice had greater productivity and greater food security than those who reported receiving advice that they considered not useful. This result implies the need to ensure the provision of relevant and useful agricultural advice to increase the likelihood of achieving agricultural development outcomes |
| Keywords: | extension services, fertilizers, subsidies, productivity, food security, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1498&r=agr |
| By: | Rob Vos |
| Abstract: | here are significant threats to sustainable food security and nutrition in the long-run, including demographic and environmental pressures and changing business practices in agriculture with the emergence of global values chains. The global nature and public good aspects of the challenges require coordinated responses and urgent improvement of the global governance of food security. This paper argues for the strengthening of the Committee on World Food Security to ensure greater coherence in the global approach to food security and the multilateral trade, financial and environmental regimes. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, food security, nutrition, global public goods, global governance, food safety, policy coordination |
| JEL: | F53 F55 O13 O19 Q15 Q18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:une:cpaper:029&r=agr |
| By: | Mason, Nicole M.; Wineman, Ayala; Kirimi, Lilian; Mather, David |
| Abstract: | Kenya joined the ranks of sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries implementing a targeted input subsidy program for inorganic fertilizer and improved seed in 2007 with the establishment of the National Accelerated Agricultural Inputs Access Program’s “Kilimo Plus” initiative. Implemented from 2007/08, Kilimo Plus aimed to provide 50 kg each of basal and top dressing fertiliser, and 10 kg of improved maize seed to resource poor smallholder farmers with the goals of increasing access to inputs,raising yields and incomes, improving food security, and reducing poverty. But did the program achieve its goals, and what are the lessons learned from Kilimo Plus and other targeted input subsidy programs (ISPs) in SSA for the design and implementation of future county-level input policies and programs in Kenya? Results suggest that, despite replacing what would have been commercial fertilizer purchases by farmers, Kilimo Plus did substantially increase maize production and reduce poverty depth and severity of recipient households. Moreover, the program’s positive effects are somewhat larger than those of targeted ISPs in Malawi and Zambia. Much of Kilimo Plus’s relative success vis-à-vis the Malawi and Zambia programs is likely due to its effective targeting of relatively resource-poor farmers and its implementation through vouchers redeemable at private agro-dealer shops. Kenyan counties considering implementing ISPs should bear in mind these findings, but also carefully weigh the cost effectiveness of ISPs relative to other much-needed investments, including rural roads and agricultural research, development, and extension. Indeed, since Kilimo Plus alone is not sufficient to bring households out of poverty, a more holistic approach to improving production and sustainable intensification is required. This may imply use of vouchers for other crops and inputs, particularly those which enhance soil health such as lime, as well as an increase in complementary public/private investments in research, extension, irrigation, transport infrastructure, information, and affordable and appropriate innovations. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midcpb:232093&r=agr |
| By: | Komatsu, Hitomi; Malapit, Hazel Jean L.; Theis, Sophie |
| Abstract: | There are concerns that increasing women’s engagement in agriculture could have a negative effect on nutrition because it limits the time available for nutrition-improving reproductive work. However, very few empirical studies have been able to analyze whether these concerns are well-founded. This paper examines whether an increase in women’s time in agriculture adversely affects maternal and child nutrition, and whether the lack of women’s time in reproductive work leads to poorer nutrition. Using data from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Mozambique, and Nepal, we find that on the whole, in poor households, reductions in women’s reproductive work time are detrimental to nutrition, especially for children. In contrast, women’s and children’s nutrition in nonpoor households is less sensitive to reductions in time on reproductive work. Working long hours in agriculture reduces women’s dietary diversity score in Ghana and nonpoor women’s in Mozambique. However, for poor women and children in Mozambique, and children in Nepal, working in agriculture in fact increases dietary diversity. This suggests that agriculture as a source of food and income is particularly important for the poor. Our results illustrate that women’s time allocation and nutrition responses to agricultural interventions are likely to vary according to socioeconomic status and local context. |
| Keywords: | gender, women, agriculture, poverty, nutrition, children, time, time allocation, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1486&r=agr |
| By: | Benin, Samuel |
| Abstract: | Using public expenditure and agricultural production data on Ghana from 1970 to 2012, this paper assesses the returns to public spending in the agricultural sector, taking into consideration expenditures on agriculture as a whole and then separately for expenditures in the cocoa versus the noncocoa subsectors. Production functions for the agricultural sector as a whole are estimated first, and then separately for the two subsectors, to obtain elasticities of land productivity with respect to total and sectorial agricultural expenditure. Different regression methods and related diagnostic tests are used to address potential endogeneity of agricultural expenditure, cross-subsector dependence of the production function error terms, and within-subsector serial correlation of the error terms. The estimated elasticities are then used to calculate the rate of return (ROR) to expenditures in the sector as a whole and within the two subsectors. The elasticities are estimated at 0.43 for total agricultural expenditure; 0.13 for aggregate expenditure in the noncocoa subsector; and 0.19–0.53 for expenditure in the cocoa sector, depending on aggregation or disaggregation of expenditure on the Ghana Cocoa Board and other industry costs. The ROR is estimated at 141–190 percent for total agricultural expenditure, 124 percent for expenditure in the noncocoa subsector, and 11–39 percent for expenditure in the cocoa subsector. The relatively higher ROR in the noncocoa subsector is mostly due to a much lower expenditure-to-productivity ratio. Implications are discussed for raising overall productivity of expenditure in the sector, as well as for further studies, such as obtaining actual time-series data on some of the production factors in the two subsectors and obtaining information on the quality of sectorial expenditures to model different time-lag effects of spending in the different subsectors. |
| Keywords: | cocoa beans, public expenditure, productivity, agricultural expenditure, rate of return, regression, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1503&r=agr |
| By: | Mwivei Shitima, Christina |
| Abstract: | River basin resources contribute in diverse ways in the livelihoods of rural people in Tanzania. People living around these areas depend on small scale agriculture, subsistence forestry, artisanal fishing, livestock keepings, artisanal mining and small-scale trade as sources of livelihoods. While it was expected that these important livelihood assets would be used in sustainable ways, the destructive practices behaviour related to the use of basins resources are increasing. Increase of population, declining of agricultural productivity without increase of employment in industrial sector are among the factors that lead to competition for the use of river basin resources. This paper aims at providing an analytical framework that elaborates the relationship between people’s access to and control over resources and sustainability of River basin resources in Tanzania. It uses the concept of livelihood framework, together with institutional theories to build the analytical framework that elaborates multiplicity of factors that affect sustainability of river basin resources in Tanzania. The livelihood framework is modified to include the concept of Ostrom’s polycentric governance system to study how different institutions interact in the governance of river basin resources in Tanzania to affect the sustainability of River basin resources. This is the first paper to link the concept of polycentric governance system with the livelihood framework. This paper is part of the literature review that will feed into the PhD research on household development strategies and their linkage to RBR degradation in Tanzania. |
| Keywords: | Tanzania; River Basin Resources; livelihoods |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iob:wpaper:201507&r=agr |
| By: | Michiel van Dijk; Maryia Mandryk; Marc Gramberger; David Laborde; Lindsay Shutes; Elke Stehfest; Hugo Valin; Katharina Zellmer |
| Abstract: | To guide policymaking, decision makers require a good understanding of the long-term drivers of food security and their interactions. Scenario analysis is widely considered as the appropriate tool to assess complex and uncertain problems, such as food security. This paper describes the development process, storylines and drivers of four new global scenarios up to the year 2050 that are specifically designed for food security modelling. To ensure the relevance, credibility and legitimacy of the scenarios a participatory process is used, involving a diverse group of stakeholders. A novel approach is introduced to quantify a selection of key drivers that directly can be used as input in global integrated assessment models to assess the impact of aid, trade, agricultural and science policies on global food and nutrition security. |
| JEL: | Q18 O13 C53 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fsc:fspubl:38&r=agr |
| By: | RAGHUPRASAD KODAGAVALLIHATTI PALAIAH (UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES); SHANABHOGA MAHANTHESH BHARATESH (UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES); SHIVANI DECHAMMA (UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES,); DEVARAJ K (UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES,) |
| Abstract: | Knowledge is an increasingly significant factor of production in modern agriculture. Information and communication Technology (ICT) generated lot of hopes to disseminate updated information to the farming community, overcoming the barriers of distance, socio-economic status, gender etc. ICTs can accelerate agricultural development by facilitating knowledge management. Several ICT initiatives in rural India and implementation of ICTs in agriculture has been proposed and developed in the recent decades. though there are so many ICT tools available in villages still many of the farmers are not making use of these tools for obtaining timely information due to physical, social and psychological barriers. Especially, attitude of the farmers plays a significant role in accepting and using these tools. since these initiatives are new to their social system and establish rare contact with the external world. Hence, the study was conducted in Karnataka state to know the attitude of farmers about ICT tools using for farm communication. The findings of the study revealed that more than two-fifth of the farmers had favorable attitude towards ICT tools followed by least favorable attitude and most favorable attitude towards ICT tools. Majority of the respondents had knowledge about TV and mobile which are providing agricultural information but majority of the respondents didn’t know regarding internet, agricultural DVDs, social media and interactive conferencing. Hence, there is need to educate the farmers regarding ICT tools like internet, conferencing and agricultural DVDs by means of providing training and make availability of these ICT tools in rural areas. |
| Keywords: | Attitude, ICT, DVDs, social media, internet |
| JEL: | D83 L82 Q10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:3305836&r=agr |
| By: | Basak Bayramoglu (Economie Publique, INRA, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay); Brian Copeland (Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia); Jean-François Jacques (Université Paris-Est, ERUDITE (EA 437), UPEMLV, and LEDa-CGEMP, Université Paris-Dauphine) |
| Abstract: | World Trade Organization members included fishery subsidies in the Doha round of trade negotiations, which subsequently stalled. This paper develops a simple model to show why prospects for a deal on fisheries subsidies may be difficult. Typically international spillover effects create incentives among exporters to negotiate reductions in subsidies: one country's subsidy worsens other exporters' terms of trade. These incentives may not exist in fisheries for 3 reasons. First, if fisheries are severely depleted, one country's subsidy reduces its long run supply of fish, raising prices and benefiting other fish exporting countries. Second, if governments use other policies to manage fish stocks, then changes in subsidies may not affect harvests and hence may not generate international spillover effects. And third, even if governments were compelled to reduce fishery subsidies, there may be little real effect because governments would be motivated to weaken other regulations targeting the fish sector. |
| Keywords: | Fishery subsidies, international trade, trade agreements |
| JEL: | F18 F53 Q22 Q27 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fae:wpaper:2016.08&r=agr |
| By: | Ali,Daniel Ayalew; Deininger,Klaus W.; Harris,Charles Anthony Philip |
| Abstract: | Although the nature and magnitude of (positive or negative) spillovers from large farm establishment are hotly debated, most evidence relies on case studies. Ethiopia's large farms census together with 11 years of nation-wide smallholder surveys allows examination and quantification of spillovers using intertemporal changes in smallholders'proximity and exposure to large farms, generally or growing the same crop, for identification. The results suggest positive spillovers on fertilizer and improved seed use, yields, and risk coping, but not local job creation, for some crops, most notably maize. Most spillovers are crop-specific and limited to large farms'immediate vicinity. The implications for policy and research are drawn out. |
| Keywords: | Livestock and Animal Husbandry,Climate Change and Agriculture,Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems,Agriculture and Farming Systems,Crops and Crop Management Systems |
| Date: | 2016–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7576&r=agr |
| By: | Martina Bozzola; Melinda Smale; Salvatore Di Falco |
| Abstract: | We explore how climate, climate risk and weather affect maize intensification among smallholders in Kenya. We find that they all play an important role in maize intensification choice. The economic implications of this choice are also analyzed. We find that the share of maize area planted to hybrid seeds contributes positively to expected crop income, without increasing exposure to income variability or downside risk. The promotion of maize intensification is potentially a valuable adaptation strategy to support the well-being of smallholder farmers. |
| JEL: | D81 O13 Q12 Q18 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fsc:fspubl:39&r=agr |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Adhikari, Rajendra Prasad; Poudel, Mahendra Nath; Kumar, Anjani |
| Abstract: | Although Nepal formulated an agricultural mechanization promotion policy in 2014, there is still much to learn about tailoring mechanization policies to different types of farm households. The Terai belt in Nepal has seen steady growth in tractor use in the past 20 years, but heterogeneity exists among farm households. In this study, we use Nepal Living Standards Survey data to analyze such heterogeneity from a farm typology perspective. We characterize farm households based on use of external agricultural inputs, including tractors. Growth of tractor use in the Terai is associated with input use intensification per cultivated area, rather than significant expansion of cultivated area. Tractor use in the Terai appears to have grown as part of such land-saving intensification, although larger farm owners do hire in more tractors. We find that differences in household income portfolios are not straightforward between tractor renters and nonrenters, without clear differences in specialization of economic activities as well as farming systems. Tractor renters consist of various types, including the power-intensive mechanizer, intensive labor hirer, and fertilizer-based intensifier. Such heterogeneity recommends the use of tailored mechanization policy options. |
| Keywords: | mechanization, households, farm household typology, modified cluster analysis, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1488&r=agr |
| By: | Obeng, Isaac Antwarko; Adu, Kofi Osei |
| Abstract: | This study examined the production efficiency of cocoa farmers in Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira area composed of two districts namely Twifo Ati Mokwa district and Hemang Lower Denkyira districts in the central region of Ghana using farm level data. Results presented were based on data collected from multi-stage sampling of 326 cocoa farmers in twenty (20) communities using standardized structured questionnaires. The productivity and technical efficiency in cocoa production were estimated through stochastic frontier production function analysis using the Frontier 4.1 software. Empirical results showed that cocoa farms in the study area exhibited increasing returns-to-scale (RTS=1.2109), indicating reducing average costs (AC) of production. This implies that cocoa farmers were operating in the irrational zone of production (stage I), an indication of inefficiency in production. The technical efficiency indexes of farmers varied from 0.116 (11.6%) to 0.9998 (99.98%), with mean of 0.54 (54%). The main factors that significantly affected technical efficiency in cocoa production were found to be estimated number of hybrid plant, level of education and age of tree. Among others, the study recommended that the Cocoa Rehabilitation Unit of the Cocobod should help farmers to rejuvenate and or re-plant the aged cocoa farms with hybrid varieties improve resource use efficiency in cocoa production in cocoa production. |
| Keywords: | cocoa, technical efficiency, production functions, stochastic frontier analysis |
| JEL: | Q1 |
| Date: | 2016–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:69679&r=agr |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Adhikari, Rajendra Prasad; Kumar, Anjani |
| Abstract: | Using results from the three rounds of Nepal Living Standard Surveys (conducted in 1995, 2003, and 2010), this study empirically assesses whether access to rented tractors or custom hiring services is a binding constraint on the income growth of farm households in Nepal. Because four-wheel tractors of medium horsepower are still the primary suppliers of these tractor services, access to these services can be restricted. First, we investigated the determinants of the adoption of hired tractors as well as the intensity of their use (measured by real annual expenditures on renting tractors). Results suggest that the adoption and the intensity patterns are generally consistent with the conventional theory of the demand for agricultural mechanization, indicating that the supply of these services may be relatively efficient in meeting the demand. However, adoption is still affected by the presence of tractor owners within the same village district committee, indicating that the proximity to tractor service providers may still partly determine accessibility. This second point was more formally tested using matching estimators within the Terai region of Nepal. It was found that, on average, the supply of tractor services might have evolved to a relatively efficient level in the Terai so that those who benefited from renting in tractors generally had access to such services. However, for at least certain segments of farm households in the Terai, insufficient access to tractor services was still a binding constraint on the growth of farm household incomes. The policy implications of these findings are briefly discussed in the last section. |
| Keywords: | mechanization, surveys, households, tractor service market, tractor rental, access constraint, heterogenous treatment effect, Nepal living standards survey, generalized propensity score, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1508&r=agr |
| By: | Lambrecht, Isabel; Asare, Sarah |
| Abstract: | For decades, policymakers and development practitioners have debated benefits and threats of property rights formalization and private versus customary tenure systems. This paper provides insights into the challenges in understanding and empirically analyzing the relationship between tenure systems and agricultural investment, and formulates policy advice that can support land tenure interventions. We focus on Ghana, based on extensive qualitative fieldwork and a review of empirical research and policy documents. Comparing research findings is challenging due to the use of different indicators, the varying contexts, and the diversity of investments. The interaction between land rights and investment make establishing causality extremely difficult. Setting policy priorities and strategies requires more and better insights into the diverse responses of different stakeholders and the tenure and cropping systems involved. |
| Keywords: | land rights, land tenure, land markets, customary land rights, smallholders, property rights, customary tenure, agricultural investment, tenure insecurity, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1492&r=agr |
| By: | Díaz-Bonilla, Eugenio |
| Abstract: | There is a heated debate among policy makers, civil society, and analysts about the impact of trade and trade policies on food security. While there have been several empirical reviews on these issues the controversy has not abated. This paper surveys possible reasons why the polemic continues and why it may be difficult to settle it unequivocally. The reasons are related to the different notions of trade, food and nutrition security, the variety of possible indicators for those concepts, the multiplicity of channels through which trade and food and nutrition security notions interact, the diversity of analytical and quantitative approaches utilized, and differences in values and conceptual priors about the operation of the world economy. The paper concludes with some reflections about what can be reasonably said about the potential impacts of trade on food security. |
| Keywords: | trade, food security, nutrition security, developing countries, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1490&r=agr |
| By: | Butzlaf, Iris; Minos, Dimitrios |
| Abstract: | The beginning rise in obesity prevalence rates in South Africa was first noticed already in the early 1990s. Since then, several articles have discussed how the nutrition transition has affected people’s body weights in the country. This article is the first one that uses longitudinal data from South Africa to reveal the short- and long-term effects that socio-economic and cultural factors have on the probability of becoming obese. The concept of “benign” obesity seems to influence people’s perceptions of an ideal body shape and thus model the preference for a higher body weight. Women are more affected by increasing body weights than men. We find that time invariant characteristics and long-term effects have the largest influence on the probability of becoming obese. To address the problems of obesity, we suggest implementing programs that Change people’s attitudes and behavior regarding food intake and physical activity. If people change their perception of what kind of body weight can be considered as being healthy, then a combination of different health programs can be successful. |
| Keywords: | obesity, nutrition transition, developing country, South Africa, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, I12, I18, P46, |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gagfdp:232025&r=agr |
| By: | Snyder, Jason; Smart, Jennifer; Goeb, Joey; Tschirley, David |
| Abstract: | Much of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is urbanizing rapidly and the economy is growing at a robust pace. The overall demand for food is likely to increase dramatically over the next three decades and the composition of this demand is likely to shift away from staple grains and towards processed and fresh perishable foods, including horticultural products. Horticultural farmers will have increasing incentives to boost yields and minimize crop damage while also minimizing rising labor costs. Responding to these incentives in tropical/sub-tropical climates with high pest pressure will likely involve the substantial use of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, all in a lax regulatory environment where farmers may lack training in safe and effective pest control. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midamp:230980&r=agr |
| By: | Hagos, Hosaena Ghebru; Pitoro, Raul; Woldeyohannes, Sileshi |
| Abstract: | This research is conducted to contribute to the currently ongoing policy debate on the benefits of collective vis-à-vis individual land tenure rights. The paper attempts to explore the Mozambican community land delimitation (CLD) program based on a community-level survey conducted in mid-September 2014. The survey revealed that land conflict is the main reason to initiate a CLD process, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are major players in initiating and helping the CLD process. Two-thirds of the CLD communities have completed all the necessary phases of the CLD process and received community land use certificates (Direito do Uso e Apreveitamento da Terra (DUAT). The major reason for not completing CLD processes is the withdrawal of the NGOs helping the process. More than 90 percent of the CLD communities mentioned improvement in land-related disputes both with other communities and within communities after the CLD process. Generally, not many significant differences are observed between the CLD and non-CLD communities. Land-related disputes are identified as the first most common dispute in 50 percent of the communities surveyed, with a difference between CLD (63 percent) and non-CLD (31 percent) communities. Similarly, land disputes are not only the first most common but also the first most difficult disputes in the surveyed communities. Among the surveyed communities were large-scale land acquisitions by domestic (35 percent) and foreign (10 percent) investors, with limited community involvement. The study found that CLD seems to have a strong demand from the non-CLD communities, as more than 50 percent of the non-CLD communities have a household-level willingness to pay for CLD process either in cash or in kind. |
| Keywords: | land rights, land tenure, land use, land conflicts, surveys, community land delimitation (CLD), Willingness to pay, Direito do Uso e Apreveitamento da Terra (DUAT), |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1484&r=agr |
| By: | Álvarez-Nogal, Carlos; Prados de la Escosura, Leandro; Santiago-Caballero, Carlos |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the role of agriculture in Spain's contribution to the little divergence in Europe. On the basis of tithes, long-run trends in agricultural output are drawn. After a long period of relative stability, output suffered a severe contraction during 1570-1620, followed by stagnation to 1650, and steady expansion thereafter. Output per head shifted from a relatively high to a low path that persisted until the nineteenth century. The decline in agricultural output per head and per worker from a relatively high level contributed to Spain falling behind and, hence, to the Little Divergence in Europe. Output per worker moved along labour force in agriculture over the long run, supporting the depiction of Spain as a frontier economy. Institutional factors, in a context of financial and monetary instability and war, along climatic anomalies, provide explanatory hypotheses that deserve further research. |
| Keywords: | agriculture; early modern Spain; labour productivity; little divergence; tithes |
| JEL: | N53 O13 Q10 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11125&r=agr |
| By: | Gozgor, Giray; Can, Muhlis |
| Abstract: | Countries try to stabilize the demand for energy on one hand and sustain economic growth on other, but the worsening global warming and climate change problems have put pressure on them. This paper estimates the environmental Kuznets curve over the period 1971–2010 in Turkey both in the short and the long run. For this purpose, the unit root test with one structural break and the cointegration analysis with multiple endogenous structural breaks are used. The effects of energy consumption and export product diversification on CO2 emissions are also controlled in the dynamic empirical models. It is observed that the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is valid in Turkey in both the short run and the long run. The positive effect of energy consumption on CO2 emissions is also obtained in the long run. In addition, it is found that a greater product diversification of exports yields higher CO2 emissions in the long run. Inferences and policy implications are also discussed. |
| Keywords: | environmental Kuznets curve; energy consumption; export product diversification; time series modeling; structural breaks |
| JEL: | C32 O13 Q56 |
| Date: | 2016–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:69761&r=agr |
| By: | Karim, Azreen |
| Abstract: | We examine the short-run economic impacts of recurrent flooding on Bangladeshi households surveyed in 2000, 2005 and 2010. In 2010 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES), households answered a set of questions’ on whether they were affected by flood and its likely impacts. We identify two treatment (affected) groups by using the self-reported data and historical rainfall data based flood risk index. We estimate a difference-indifference (DID) model to quantify the impacts on income, expenditure, asset and labour market outcomes and further extend our analysis to different income and expenditure brackets. Overall, we find robust evidence of negative impacts on agricultural income and expenditure. Intriguingly, the extreme poor (i.e. the bottom 15th quintile) experience significant positive impacts on agricultural income in the self-reported treatment case. |
| Keywords: | Development, Natural Disasters, Persistent, Difference-in-Difference, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vuw:vuwecf:4968&r=agr |
| By: | Díaz-Bonilla, Eugenio |
| Abstract: | In the 1990s, policy debates focused on global price levels and whether they were too low. Two recent food price spikes, in 2008 and 2011, have led to renewed concerns about the impact of high prices and shifted the focus back to food price volatility. The effects of changes in price trends on food production and food consumption (a discussion about price levels) are different from the effects of volatility changes around those trends (cycles and extreme events), but the two issues are related. This paper argues that analysis of these developments may benefit from differentiating between trends, cycles, and shorter-term events, including spikes and busts. After expanding on several methodological and data issues related to how these concepts are defined and measured, the paper concludes that although the price shocks of 2008 and 2011 focused the attention of the public and policymakers on price volatility, the decomposition of trends, cycles, and shorter-term volatility also suggests the need to find out whether price variations are responding to cyclical and shorter-term movements, or whether they are the result of a changing trend reflecting adjustments in long-term fundamentals that need to be properly understood. |
| Keywords: | prices, food security, macroeconomics, food prices, volatility, food prices crisis, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1505&r=agr |
| By: | Nielsen, Thea; Schunemann, Franziska; McNulty, Emily; Zeller, Manfred; Nkonya, Ephraim M.; Kato, Edward; Meyer, Stefan; Anderson, Weston; Zhu, Tingju; Queface, Antonio; Mapemba, Lawrence |
| Abstract: | This study summarizes the concept of the food-energy-water security nexus (FEW nexus). The aim is to create awareness about the importance of the nexus and to enable stakeholders to consider interconnections between the sectors in their work. The FEW nexus is discussed in the context of Africa south of the Sahara (SSA)—using Malawi and Mozambique as case studies. Even though analyzing food, energy, and water security issues simultaneously is critical given the interconnections, summarizing interventions with the FEW nexus approach in Malawi and Mozambique, we found that there are only a limited number of interventions in place. Additionally, this study reviews macro- and microeconomic models that are able to analyze the FEW nexus. On the macrolevel, especially general equilibrium models are discussed, because they show trade-offs and synergies of nexus interventions at all economic levels. These models can help guide policymakers’ understanding of nexus effects ex ante and convince them to think beyond their respective political departments. On the microlevel, the impact of nexus interventions can be assessed with qualitative and quantitative approaches. There are specific challenges for nexus interventions when it comes to aggregation and planning of the targeting. A secondary data analysis of nexus interventions shows that existing data is not sufficient to conduct research specifically related to the FEW nexus. The results of this study will help research programs to reflect the key questions required to enhance adoption of FEW technologies and inform policymakers as they formulate policies that will exploit the strong synergies of food security, energy, and water investments. |
| Keywords: | food, energy, water, macroeconomics, microeconomics, mathematical models, food policies, water policies, energy policies, nexus, interventions, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1480&r=agr |
| By: | David Coady; Valentina Flamini; Louis Sears |
| Abstract: | Understanding who benefits from fuel price subsidies and the welfare impact of increasing fuel prices is key to designing, and gaining public support for, subsidy reform. This paper updates evidence for developing countries on the magnitude of the welfare impact of subsidy reform and its distribution across income groups, incorporating more recent studies and expanding the number of countries. These studies confirm that a very large share of benefits from price subsidies goes to high-income households, further reinforcing existing income inequalities. The results can also help to approximate the welfare impact of subsidy reform for countries where the data necessary for such an analysis is not available. |
| Keywords: | Developing countries;Fuel subsidy reform, welfare impact, distribution, transport, fuel, subsidies, fuel prices, subsidy, Incidence, All Countries, |
| Date: | 2015–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:15/250&r=agr |
| By: | Naoko Uchiyama (Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration (RIEB), Kobe University, Japan) |
| Abstract: | This study empirically analyzes risk-sharing functioning in rural Mexico. It also aims to examine the vulnerability of rural households and whether the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program will reduce the vulnerability within the risk-sharing framework. I adopt the two most recent Mexican rural household panel data for 2003 and 2007—although rich in information, the data have not been fully utilized given the lack of pure control groups. Drawing on Townsend's (1994) risk sharing model, the empirical results reject the hypothesis of full risk sharing but confirm that risk-sharing functions serve better in securing basic needs such as food. In addition, the risk-sharing function, reinforced by longer exposures to the CCT program, serves to mitigate the liquidity constraints or vulnerability of poor households. |
| Keywords: | Risk sharing, Household vulnerability, CCT |
| JEL: | O12 D12 O54 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2016-06&r=agr |
| By: | International Monetary Fund |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses Niger’s Sixth and Seventh Reviews Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement, Request for Waivers of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria (PC), Request for Augmentation of Access, and Extension of the Current Arrangement. Niger’s growth slowed in 2015 owing to lower agricultural and natural resource sectors activity. Over the medium term, real economic growth is expected to pick up as major projects in oil and mineral extraction come to fruition. The IMF staff supports the authorities’ request for waivers for the unmet PC on domestic financing and domestic arrears repayments at end-December 2014, and that of domestic financing at end-June 2015. |
| Keywords: | Extended Credit Facility;Economic growth;Fiscal policy;Budgets;Natural resources;Debt management;Fiscal reforms;Economic indicators;Debt sustainability analysis;Letters of Intent;Staff Reports;Press releases;Performance criteria waivers;Niger; |
| Date: | 2015–12–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfscr:15/342&r=agr |
| By: | Díaz-Bonilla, Eugenio; Thomas, Marcelle |
| Abstract: | Food (in)security conditions differ across countries, and those differences affect the discussion of potential policy approaches. This paper reviews several approaches to creating country typologies of food (in)security conditions and then updates Díaz-Bonilla et al.’s 2000 IFPRI paper Food Security and Trade Negotiations in the World Trade Organization. The exercise uses five variables: domestic food production per capita (constant dollars per capita); a combination of calories and protein per capita; the ratio of total exports to food imports; the ratio of the nonagricultural population to total population; and a variable based on the mortality rate for children under 5. The raw values are all transformed into z-scores. The paper explains how the variables relate to the traditional dimensions of availability, access, and utilization in the definition of food security. Data for the variables correspond to the period 2009–2011 (or the latest available) and cover 155 developed and developing countries. Two clustering methods are applied: hierarchical and k-means. The hierarchical approach is used first, to determine potential outliers and to explore what would be a reasonable number of clusters. That analysis suggests that the maximum number of relevant clusters for the analysis is 10 and identifies three countries as outliers. We then use the k-means method to classify all other countries in one of the 10 different clusters or groups. The paper analyzes the average profile of each one of those groups and divides them into three categories of food insecure, intermediate, and food secure. We highlight the different profiles of each of the food-insecure clusters (such as whether they were rural or urban, trade stressed or not, and so on). Limitations related to land and water availability (measured as arable land, hectares per person, and renewable internal freshwater resources in cubic meters per capita) are incorporated into the analysis as an additional dimension to be considered. The paper closes with some policy considerations for the different types of clusters of food-insecure countries. |
| Keywords: | food security, nutrition security, agricultural policies, nutrition policies, typology, cluster analysis, clustering, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1510&r=agr |
| By: | Van Campenhout, Bjorn |
| Abstract: | Market participation by smallholders farmers has the potential to pull farmers out of poverty while at the same time increasing food security at the more aggregate level. This paper looks at the dynamics of smallholder maize and beans marketing in Uganda and Mozambique. Using panel data from both countries, we categorize households according to their gross sales position over multiple periods of time and differentiate the occasional seller from the persistent seller. We describe patterns in the dynamics of smallholder commodity marketing and explore correlations with factors identified in previous theoretical and empirical work that are assumed to affect market participation. We also estimate multinomial random-effects models and compare the results of such an analysis of the dynamics of smallholder marketing with a static analysis. |
| Keywords: | smallholders, maize, beans, commercialization, commodities, food security, marketing, panel data, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1478&r=agr |
| By: | Engelmann, Marc (Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences); Lagerkvist, Carl-Johan (Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences); Gren, Ing-Marie (Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to estimate hunters’ valuation of wild boar in Sweden. However, hunters have access to hunt, not only wild boar, but also other game such as moose and roe deer. Therefore, wild boar is regarded as an attribute of hunting together with other game, which includes moose, roe deer, and small game. A discrete choice experiment framework is used to elicit hunters’ trade-offs between wild boar, moose, roe deer and small game. Estimates with a mixed logit model showed that the average annual willingness to pay (WTP) for a wild boar is approximately SEK 330/animal, which corresponds to 1/8 of the average WTP for a moose and ¼ of that for a roe deer. The range in WTP is determined by the activity of the hunters, as measured by number of hunting days per year, the least active gives the lowest WTP (SEK 113) and the most active the highest WTP (SEK 529). This can be a result of the specific challenges when hunting the wild boars, which are active in night time and equipped with excellent hearing and smell. Hunters that are farmers also give a relatively low WTP (SEK 134), which can be explained by the damages on crops created by the animal. |
| Keywords: | wild boar; hunting value; Sweden; game as attributes; choice experiment |
| JEL: | Q29 Q57 |
| Date: | 2016–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:slueko:2016_001&r=agr |
| By: | Philippe Polomé (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Etienne - PRES Université de Lyon - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon); Jérôme Trotignon (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Etienne - PRES Université de Lyon - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon) |
| Abstract: | Brazilian Amazon deforestation rate is found to display a unit root and to be cointegrated with Brazilian GDP and its square – An Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Although, it is not the first time that such an EKC is detected, this may be the first such time-series evidence. Detecting an EKC is hampered by several econometric issues that have been shown to lead to possibly spurious results in cross-section and panel contexts, but are satisfactorily addressed in a cointegrated (time-series) framework. Alternative theories for explaining the deforestation path are rejected. There is evidence that the " Action Plan " of the Brazilian government against deforestation had an important effect. These results are in contrast to the economics literature on an EKC in emissions such asCO2, but appear to be consistent with a geographical sciences literature that considers that deforestation declines when alternative activities become available. |
| Keywords: | Amazon deforestation, unit root, cointegration, “ Action Plan ” policy, Environmental Kuznets Curve |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01274854&r=agr |
| By: | Clancy, S.A.; Gardner, J.C.; Grygiel, C.E.; Biondini, M.E.; Johnson, G.K. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nddmpu:231439&r=agr |