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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2016‒05‒08
105 papers chosen by |
| By: | Afzal, Muhammad; Ahmed, Tanvir; Ahmed, Gulzar |
| Abstract: | Global warming is exacerbating climate affect on agricultural productivity. The objective of present study is the empirical assessment of climate change on three major agricultural crops of Punjab, Pakistan. A variant of Cobb-Douglas production function is used for the panel data of the districts of Punjab covering period 1981 to 2012.Overall findings of the study reveal that temperature has positive impact on the production of wheat crops during the planting and harvesting stage. However, temperature negatively affects the production of wheat during the flowering stage. Rainfall has negative association with the production of wheat during all three stages. Further, results indicate that rainfall, minimum temperature and humidity positively affect the production of rice crop during planting and negatively affect during harvesting. Impact of rainfall during all three stages of cotton crop has positive effect on its production. Nevertheless, increase in the temperature during first and second stage has negative effect on the production of cotton crop, but during third stage it has positive impact. On the basis of empirical analysis, this study suggests that Government should conduct seminars and workshops for the awareness of farmers to mitigate the worse effect of climate change. Moreover, development of new varieties of seeds and allocation of more resources should be encouraged to provide the security against the problems of climate change. |
| Keywords: | wheat; Rice; Cotton; Temperature; Rainfall; Humidity; Production; Punjab |
| JEL: | Q15 Q54 |
| Date: | 2016–01–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:70958&r=agr |
| By: | Bai, Junfei; Liu, Haiyan; Wahl, Thomas; Seale, James L. Jr.; Zhang, Caiping |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of Ontario’s Greenbelt legislation, a land use policy that permanently protects over 1.8 million acres of land from non-agricultural development, on farmers’ exit and investment decisions. A farm-level panel data set for 32,512 farms in Ontario is used to perform two econometric estimations: a correlated random effects Probit model of farm exit and a dynamic unobserved effects Tobit model of farm investment. The Greenbelt policy is found to have influenced both farm exit and farm investment decisions, with the impact varying depending on location within the Greenbelt. In particular, the results indicate evidence of a negative impact on farm investment, which is contrary to one of the objectives of the Greenbelt policy. |
| Keywords: | Household composition, Income, Food-away-from-home, Demographics, Consumer/Household Economics, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212050&r=agr |
| By: | Kriti, Malhotra |
| Abstract: | Agricultural input subsidies have often been promoted as the solution to target food insecurity. This paper aims to investigate the impact of the National Agricultural Input Subsidy (NAIVS) on small-scale farmers in Tanzania particularly, for household food security, while investigating if the programme had any differential impact on female-headed households. On examining the general impact of the NAIVS on small-scale farmers, it is clear that the programme did affect food-security at the household level. Literacy also had a significant impact on household food-security and in terms of production. In terms of the specific impact of the programme on female-headed households, beneficiary female-headed households preferred spending more on education, birth control and family planning.They were also more food-secure and consumed more meals on an average, while the non-beneficiary households preferred spending more on food -- suggesting a lack of food self-sufficiency. However this cannot be attributed the input subsidy alone and needs further research. This paper aims to inform policy-making around agricultural input subsidies and its impacts on female headed households. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212221&r=agr |
| By: | Kan, Iddo; Kimhi, Ayal; Kaminski, Jonathan |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a structural econometric model of farmland allcoation that is linked to a market-level demand model. The farmland allocation model accounts for the presence of corner solutions in land-share decisions, which enables using disaggregated data for the estimation, and thereby allows treating prices as exogenous. Under partial equilibrium in the markets of vegetative products, the integrated model is then used to simulate the impacts of climate change on production, prices, agricultural profits and consimer surplus, making explicit the production responses of the micro units used for estimating the land-use model. We apply the method to Israeli data, and obtain negative projections of farm profits and consumer's surplus driven by climate change. Importantly, the effects of climate change on farm profits are significantly smaller compared with the case in which the price-feedback effects on agricultural supply are not accounted for. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:211828&r=agr |
| By: | Magrini, Emiliano; Vigani, Mauro |
| Abstract: | The paper analyses the impact of agricultural technologies on the four pillars of food security for maize farmers in Tanzania. Relying on matching techniques, we use a nationally representative dataset collected over the period 2010/2011 to estimate the causal effects of using improved seeds and inorganic fertilizers on food availability, access, utilization, and stability. Overall, the technologies have a positive and significant impact on food security, but substantial differences between the pillars are observed. Improved seeds show a stronger effect on food availability and access, while - in terms of utilization - both technologies increase the diet diversity and only improved seeds reduce the dependence on staple food. Finally, improved seeds reduce the household vulnerability while inorganic fertilizers guarantee higher resilience. The study supports the idea that the relationship between agricultural technologies and food security is a complex phenomenon, which cannot be limited to the use of welfare indexes as proxy for food security. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212216&r=agr |
| By: | Nuppenau, Ernst-August |
| Abstract: | With the introduction of biofuels a conflict newly remerges between cash crops, mostly for export, and food crops, mostly for food security. It is also feared that mo-no-cropping threatens the agro-ecology in developing countries impeding future food security. We seek coexistence minimizing negative impacts on productivity. We show how to model explicitly land distribution and transition through a dynamic approach containing large- and small-scale sectors competing for land and labour as stocks. We display short- and long-term effects on competitiveness of sectors and degradation potentials are addressed. Specifically skill and knowledge acquisition are modelled as dynamic processes beside soil fertility. Additionally transaction co-sts on land development are reckoned. Land transfer and food pricing are modelled as control variables and distinguished from stock variables incl. human capital and soil fertility. Yet control (policy) variables are land taxing and food subsidies. Soil fertility in smallholder farms is based on manure; biofuel uses imported fertilizer. |
| Keywords: | Biofuel Expansion, Dynamic Policy Modelling, Control Theory, Food Security, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, O4, Q13, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:225669&r=agr |
| By: | Mai Van Nam (School of Economics and Business Administration, Can Tho University); Nguyen Tan Nhan (Can Tho University); Bui Van Trinh (Can Tho University); Pham Le Thong (Can Tho University) |
| Abstract: | The management systems evaluated consists of buffer zone management system, strict protection, joint venture, and family/household commercial management system in the Melaluaca Forests of Mekong River Delta. Household survey in the four study sites consisting of Song Trem (contract household and joint venture-JV), Tram Chim (buffer Zone), Vo Doi (strict protection) and Giong Rieng (family/household commercial farms) was undertaken. The results of the study showed that forest products do not contribute much to the household income, especially in the light of the existing logging ban policy. The farmers had to rely mainly on rice farming, that is characterized by low yields, and on non-and off-farm activities such as hired labor that are highly seasonal and unstable. JV households are given very large land areas but earn less income from their forestlands. Harvesting of the forest is not allowed, which is potentially a big source of income for the JV households. Similarly, Buffer zone-contract households and those in the strict protection zone have not been able to benefit from their investment in forest management. There is therefore very little incentive to continue forest management activities for these households. The same cannot be 2 said for family/household commercial farms in forestland with about 50 years contract—where virtually “private ownership” exists. Income levels for this group are much higher, coming mostly from forestlands, with agriculture as the major land use system. |
| Keywords: | Forest Management Systems,Mekong River Delta, Vietnam |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr2016060&r=agr |
| By: | Ogundeji, Abiodun; Jordaan, Henry; Groenewald, Jan |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study is to develop an integrated model that can simulate the impact of climate change on farm structure and adaptation thereof. The future sustainability of the agricultural sector relies on the type of adaptation strategy put in place for farmers to cope with the projected impacts of climate change. The Ceres Dynamic Integrated Model (CDIM) was developed to evaluate different adaptation strategies, results show that it is unlikely that high water tariffs will reduce the level of water used for production. Depending on the availability of funds to make farm dams available for farmers, access to farm dam capacity and winter water allocations as well as increasing water use efficiency are potential adaptation options for the farmers. Improved water management practices that increase the productivity of irrigation water use may provide a significant adaptation potential under future climate. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Agricultural Sector, Integrated model, Adaptation, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212591&r=agr |
| By: | Wang, Xiaobing; Yamauchi, Futoshi; Otsuka, Keijiro; Huang, Jikun |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to examine the dynamics of land transactions, machine investments and the demand for machine services using farm panel data from China. Recently, China’s agriculture has experienced a large expansion of machine rentals and machine services provided by specialized agents, which has contributed to mechanization of agricultural production. The empirical results show that an increase in non-agricultural wage rates leads to expansion of self-cultivated land size. A rise in the proportion of non-agricultural income or the migration rate also increases the size of self-cultivated land. Interestingly, relatively educated farm households, however, decrease the size of self-cultivated land, which suggests that relatively less educated farmers tend to specialize in farming. The demand for machine services has also increased if agricultural wage and migration rate increased over time, especially among relatively large farms. The results on crop income also support complementarities between rented-in land and machine services (demanded), which implies that scale economies are arising in Chinese agriculture with mechanization and active land rental markets. |
| Keywords: | Wage growth, farm size, land rental, machine services, China, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, J31, Q12, Q15, |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212722&r=agr |
| By: | Marenya, Paswel; Kassie, Menale; Jaleta, Moti; Rahut, Dil Bahadur; Erenstein, Olaf |
| Abstract: | Minimum tillage combined with mulching (MTM) are two critical components of conservation agriculture (CA) that can have important economic benefits for adopting farmers and positive environmental impacts for the community. Using a unique set of plot level, four-country data that includes household demographic and plot characteristics, this paper uses a binary probit model followed by post-estimation simulations to examine the effect of micro-level factors (plot, farmer characteristics, social capital), meso-level factors (access to markets) and national level policy variables (government input subsidy expenditures and investments in agricultural extension staffing), as predictors of MTM in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania. Key policy principles in promoting CA should clearly focus on long term strategies to aggressively invest in agricultural extension but also reduce the costs of farm inputs. |
| Keywords: | adoption, agricultural extension, conservation agriculture, policy, input subsidy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q01, Q18, Q12, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212228&r=agr |
| By: | Stamatis Mantziaris (Postgraduate Program MBA in Agribusiness, Agricultural University of Athens); Stelios Rozakis (Environmental Engineering Department, Technical University of Crete) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impacts of the national implementation of the CAP reform 2014-20 and the fiscal policy derived from the Third Memorandum on the crop-mix decisions and the viability of business oriented Greek arable farming. A mathematical programming model is specified maximizing farmers' utility subject to agronomic, institutional and resource constraints. According to CAP reform scenario, reduction for cotton and durum wheat and on the other hand increase mainly for set aside and secondary for alfalfa cultivation areas is observed. Similar crop-mix is cultivated for the combined scenario of CAP and fiscal reform. Although gross margin decreases in both scenarios, almost all farms remain viable because 64% of their gross revenue is derived from the market. Consequently, farms are not sensitive enough in reform concerning reduction of subsidies but the combination with tax measures decrease the levels of viability significantly. |
| Keywords: | Utility function, mathematical programming, policy analysis, arable farming, Thessaly |
| JEL: | C61 Q12 Q18 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aua:wpaper:2016-1&r=agr |
| By: | Kihiu, Evelyne Nyathira; Amuakwa-Mensah, Franklin |
| Abstract: | Productivity of rangelands in Kenya is affected by increasing crop farming especially in more fertile range areas. This encroachment by crop farming on rangelands occurs as a response of the rural livestock producers’ to economic opportunities with the development of local and international crop markets. We hypothesize that the existing market inefficiencies characterizing livestock markets, especially the price disincentives that livestock producers face, are a major risk rangelands face. To analyze the effect of livestock market conditions on rangeland management, we draw on household survey and economic modeling tools. We find that traders’ rent seeking behavior and high transport costs act as disincentives to livestock producers’ participation in livestock markets and influence their decisions in seeking alternative rangeland uses to sustain livelihoods. However, improved livestock market access enhances livestock producers’ livelihoods and the stewardship of the ecosystems thus reducing pastoralists’ vulnerability to ecological climate variability associated with rangelands. |
| Keywords: | Extensive livestock production, market access, ecological-economic model, positive mathematical programming (PMP) model, Kenya, Crop Production/Industries, Livestock Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis, Q13, Q15, Q24, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212273&r=agr |
| By: | Rishi Ram Kattel |
| Abstract: | In this paper we examine the adoption of rainwater harvesting (RWH), a technology that has relatively recently been introduced to farmers in Nepal. Using data from 282 farmers in four districts, the study employs a treatment-effects model to identify factors that influence the adoption of RWH and the impact of adoption on farm income. We find that the adoption of rain water harvesting is mostly driven by farmer training. Further, adoption of this technology more than doubles householdagricultural and livestock income. With incremental annual benefits of NRs. 69,456 (USD 700), this technology is viable from a household perspective. Adopters benefit from an increased supply of irrigation water, which allows them to diversify their crops from cereal production to high-value vegetable crops. Our analyses suggests that if 10 percent of households (7000 households) in an average rainfed district receivefarmer training, the net benefits from training in the district would be approximately NRs. 134,907,710 (USD 1.3 million) per year from adoption of RWH technology. Given the many weather-related uncertainties faced by rainfed farmers in Nepal, rain water harvesting is potentially a very useful climate adaptation strategy. |
| Keywords: | Rainwater harvesting, Rainfed agriculture, Technology adoption, Nepal |
| JEL: | C31 C36 D61 O13 Q16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:snd:wpaper:102&r=agr |
| By: | Andersen, Lykke E.; Breisinger, Clemens; Jemio, Luis Carlos; Mason-D’Croz, Daniel; Ringler, Claudia; Robertson, Richard D.; Verner, Dorte; Wiebelt, Manfred |
| Abstract: | This food policy report is a response to growing concerns about the impacts of climate change on Latin American economies, agriculture, and people. It assesses both local and global effects of changing agricultural yields on the economy, subnational regions, and different household types, including male- and female-headed households in Brazil, Mexico, and Peru. The three countries reflect economic and geographic diversity in Latin America and more than half of the region’s population. Climate change impacts tend to be relatively small at an economywide level in all three countries. However, sectoral and household-level economic impacts tend to be diverse across countries and subnational levels. They mainly depend on projected changes in agricultural yields, the share of agriculture in regional gross domestic product (GDP), crop-specific international trade balances, net food buyer/seller position, and income diversification of households. As for gender, results from this study suggest that female-headed households may be less vulnerable than male-headed households to the effects of climate change, highlighting the importance of considering women as a source for solutions for building resilience to climate change. Given the relatively small impacts of climate change and the degree of uncertainty associated with them, it is too early to define specific policy recommendations. All three countries should try to maximize the benefits that may come with higher agricultural world market prices and to minimize the losses from reductions in agricultural yields. |
| Keywords: | BRAZIL, MEXICO, PERU, LATIN AMERICA, SOUTH AMERICA, NORTH AMERICA, climate change, households, socioeconomic development, trade, productivity, yields, agricultural sector, agricultural policies, economic policies, trade policies, prices, forecasting, gender, resilience, environmental shocks, economywide modeling |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:fprepo:9780896295810&r=agr |
| By: | Zhang, Lisha; Gao, Zhifeng; Vassalos, Michael |
| Abstract: | Consumer preferences for food have drastically changed over the last decades. Other than the nutrient provided by food, they increasingly care about the impact of food production on the environment and society. Consequently, consumers require more information regarding a number of intangible product attributes, such as the amount of fertilizer used, whether the farmer adopted sustainable production practices etc. The objective of this paper is twofold. First, the study seeks to identify sustainable consumer groups by examining their preferences of different tangible and intangible attributes of fresh strawberries. Second, it investigates the effect of consumers’ perceptions for different labels (i.e. organic, local etc.) and their willingness to pay for the examined attributes. This can provide valuable insights to retailers, farmers and policy makers to promote sustainable food production and increase profitability by meeting consumers’ increasing demands for sustainability. The study data set is obtained from a nationwide online survey of U.S consumers. Payment card method combined with ordered probit model is used to estimate consumer WTP. Preliminary results indicate that consumers who frequently purchase groceries in farmers markets or those who subscribe to community support agriculture services are willing to pay more for strawberries labeled intangible attributes. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230060&r=agr |
| By: | Asian Development Bank (ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB) (Pacific Department, ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB) (Pacific Department, ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB) |
| Abstract: | This report assesses the impact of climate change on agriculture and fisheries in three Pacific Island countries, including the impacts on agricultural production, economic returns for major crops, and food security. Alternative adaption policies are examined in order to provide policy options that reduce the impact of climate change on food security. The overall intention is to provide a clear message for development practitioners and policymakers about how to cope with the threats, as well as understand the opportunities, surrounding ongoing climate change. Project countries include Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. |
| Keywords: | pacific countries, climate change, food security, socioeconomic livelihood, agriculture, fisheries |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:asd:wpaper:rpt157643-2&r=agr |
| By: | Garr, Dillon; Taylor, Mykel |
| Abstract: | Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts take land out of production for at least ten years, hindering production flexibility in exchange for a guaranteed annual payment. This article analyzes the question of whether having a CRP contract on a parcel of land changes that parcel’s value by employing a hedonic model using data from 2005-2014 on agricultural land sales in Kansas. Results indicate CRP contracts reduce sale price by an average of 11 percent. However, the reduction in sale price is larger in periods of high farm profitability and smaller in periods of low farm profitability. |
| Keywords: | conservation reserve program, CRP, hedonic model, land value, Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, Q15, Q24, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230146&r=agr |
| By: | Mink, Stephen D. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether the consensus reached by the late 2000s among African Union member countries and their external partners on the need to reverse the decades-long decline in spending for essential public goods and services in agriculture has begun to result inimproved levels and quality of national expenditure programs for the sector. It synthesizes evidence from 20 Agriculture Public Expenditure Reviews (Ag PERs) that have been carried out in countries in Africa South of the Saharan (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia) with World Bank assistance during 2009–2015. This synthesis focuses on several measures: (1) the level of expenditures on agriculture, with particular reference to the explicit target by African heads of state in the 2003 Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security (reconfirmed in the Malabo Declaration) to allocate 10 percent of national budgets to the sector; (2) the composition and priorities of expenditures with respect to stated national strategies, evidence of impact, and sustainability; and (3) budget planning and implementation that aims to strengthen public financial management in general, and budget coherence, outputs, outcomes, and supporting mechanisms, such as procurement and audit, in particular. This paper uses Ag PERs to analyze budgetary trends across countries, identifies major expenditure issues, and synthesizes lessons regarding spending efficiency. The analysis results in evidence-based recommendations that address, inter alia, budget planning, budget execution, and monitoring for accountability; the creation of a reliable database; more effective intra-and intersectoral coordination; and the cost-effectiveness of different spending policies for meeting various objectives |
| Keywords: | public expenditure, agriculture, agricultural research, budgets, expenditure composition, Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1522&r=agr |
| By: | Zhong, Hua; Hu, Wuyang |
| Abstract: | Land premium added by the increase of environmental quality could motivate farmers to adopt Best Management Practices (BMPs). Local community also demands nearby farms to abate agricultural pollution and implement BMPs. Our study attempts to examine whether land values and local community characteristics can influence BMP adoption in addition to the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. We aggregate our survey data on BMP adoption conducted between 2011 and 2012 in Kentucky and the public data by using the geographic information, and then use Probit models to estimate choices of BMP adoption. In the model, we measure the land value effect by using percentage differences of farmland values between 2007 and 2012, and approximate the local community characteristic effect by including rural effect, urban effect, residential effect, and local farm business effect. Results show that increasing land values would motivate farmers to adopt additional riparian buffers; the local equine inventory have the positive impact on farmers’ future adoption of animal fences and nutrient management; farms located at the rural communities are less likely to fence off animal from water resources. |
| Keywords: | best management practice, land value, local community, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q52, Q56, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:229854&r=agr |
| By: | Woldeyohanes, Tesfaye Berhanu; Heckelei, Thomas; Surry, Yves |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how off-farm income affects crop output market participation decision and marketed surplus of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. A double-hurdle model is estimated using three waves of panel data from Ethiopian Rural Household Survey (ERHS). The article controls for unobserved heterogeneity using correlated random effect procedure and potential endogeneity of off-farm income using a control function approach. Results show that off-farm income has no significant influence on household output market participation. But conditional on positive market participation, each additional earning from off-farm work has negative and statistically significant effect on marketed surplus. This indicates farmers use earnings from off-farm source rather for consumption purpose than as a source of liquidity to invest in agricultural production and increase marketable surplus. Our result has policy implications that expanding higher earning rural enterprises through capacity building and human capital investment is vital. This could improve the returns to labor for off-farm work participating land-poor households in the process of smallholder agricultural commercialization. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, International Development, |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:211895&r=agr |
| By: | Min, Shi; Huang, Jikun; Bai, Junfei; Waibel, Hermann |
| Abstract: | Rubber plantations have been expanding rapidly in Mekong Region including Southern China. OFten this was accompanied by negative effects for ecoystems. Intercropping in rubber plantation is suggested as a means of reducing environmental and economic risks. Based onc ross section data of some 600 rubber farmers in Xishuangbanna, we develop four empirical models to analyze adoption of intercropping at farm and at plot level. Results suggest intercropping is an important source of income for the household in the lower income category. However, only a small proportion of rubber farmers have adopted intercropping, with tea being the most frequently adopted intercrop. Major factors of adoption are ethnicity, altitude and household wealth. At plot level the nature of land and the age of rubber trees are major factors. The findings provide important information for agricultural extension services who want to promote complementary income sources in the context of recently falling rubber prices. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212463&r=agr |
| By: | Hansen, Marc; Conteh, Mohamed; Shakya, Martina; Löwenstein, Wilhelm |
| Abstract: | The land grabbing issue has produced a plethora of debates ranging from ethical conduct of land grabbing agents, specifically concerning displacement, to evidence for and against positive externalities such as technological spill-overs and construction of infrastructure. An underexplored topic is the valuation of agricultural land and the compensatory payments made to land users, distinct from land owners, for the loss of their source of food security. This paper establishes a theoretical framework for the valuation of agricultural land from the perspective of land users, based on a household production function. For the analysis data were collected in a survey of 203 households in the land grab affected area in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone during 2013. It shows that, for the case of a specific land grab in Sierra Leone, the compensatory payments received by land users are far below the value of the land lost and as such the lease income is unable to allow these households to maintain their previously, already tenuous, levels of food security. A clear distinction is made between land owners and even more vulnerable non-landowning land users who depend on the agricultural land for their food security and livelihoods. The household level analysis showed that in addition to the level of compensation received by the average household being insufficient to maintain a priori welfare levels the distribution of compensation significantly favoured the wealthier households. Since the value of the land and the rent distribution were set in local positive law the project could correctly call itself fully compliant but the land grab still resulted in significant welfare losses. The methodology implemented by this ex-post study can identically be applied to an ex-ante scenario allowing land grabbing agents to define a minimum compensatory payment to land users not based on asymmetrical bargaining power but on actual land value to this vulnerable section of the local population. |
| Keywords: | Land Grabbing; Large Scale Land Leases; Productivity Method; Theory-Based Impact Evaluation; Smallholder Farmers; Customary Land Rights; Welfare Changes; Sierra Leone |
| JEL: | D13 D61 H43 Q12 Q15 R52 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bom:ieewps:211&r=agr |
| By: | Khasanov, Shavkat; Djanibekov, Nodir |
| Abstract: | Cotton production contributes considerably to Uzbekistan’s export earnings. The various reforms implemented to increase the operational autonomy of agricultural producers considered the stability of cotton production, yet often at the expense of farm incomes. Options for improving the farm incomes can be achieved through modifications of the cotton policy settings. Such options are analyzed by replacing the present area-based yield prescriptions by tradable cotton targets between cotton-growing farms. As part of ongoing research, the findings indicate the scope for promoting such modification to tradable production targets as it would potentially increase farm revenues, cotton yields, crop diversification, and sustainable water use at the same level of cotton output as today. The net benefits would increase due to the difference in land fertility and location to irrigation canal between contracted farms. However, the sustainability of such policy modifications would depend on strong mechanisms for price negotiation and conflict resolution |
| Keywords: | tradable production targets, pseudo-market price, optimization model, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, C61, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:211841&r=agr |
| By: | Gulati, Ashok; Saini, Shweta |
| Abstract: | India's policy responses were strong to the food price crisis. Exports of basic staples were banned, domestic support prices of wheat and rice were raised substantially, urea price increases in global markets were absorbed through enhanced fertilizer subsidy, and a National Food Security Mission was launched to raise grain production by 20 MMT over the next five years. The results: India contained food inflation below 7 percent in 2007-08; grain production increased by 42 MMT; and grains stocks touched 82 MMT. With freeing of exports in September 2011, India became a world leader in rice exports. The cost of this policy was rising subsidies on food and fertilizers, rising fiscal deficit, leading to double digit food inflation after 2009-10. Had India quickly reviewed its export ban policy, and opened exports earlier, it could avoid excessive grain stocks, reduced fiscal deficit, and benefited global markets, leading to a win-win situation. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212636&r=agr |
| By: | Muange, Elijah N.; Godecke, Theda; Schwarze, Stefan |
| Abstract: | The use of improved crop varieties is key to increasing food production, but in Sub- Saharan Africa traditional varieties still dominate smallholder farming. Lack of information is a major constraint to the adoption of improved varieties and the role of social networks in their diffusion is increasingly being studied. Social networks can, however, also affect the efficiency with which farmers use these technologies. In this paper we investigate the influence of social networks on technical efficiency of smallholder cereal producers. Using the case of Tanzania, we apply stochastic frontier analysis on data from sorghum and maize producers. Results show that the effects of social networks on efficiency differ by crop. Inter-village networks positively influence technical efficiency of improved sorghum varieties, but have no effect in case of maize. We further find that links to public extension officers increase efficiency of improved maize varieties. Some wider research and policy implications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Improved varieties, social networks, information, technical efficiency, stochastic frontier, Agribusiness, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, D24, D83, O33, Q16, |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:230221&r=agr |
| By: | Sibande, Lonester; Bailey, Alastair; Davidova, Sophia |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of a fertilizer subsidy program in Malawi on household food security and the total annual per capita consumption expenditure. The study uses the nationally representative two-wave Integrated Household Panel Survey (IHPS) data of 2010 and 2013. Fixed effect and correlated random effect quantile regression models are employed to estimate the conditional mean and heterogeneous effects of subsidized fertilizer. The study finds a positive effect of subsidized fertilizer on the availability of kilocalories per capita per day, the number of months of household food security, and the probability of a household being food secure over the whole year. The study also finds heterogeneous effects of the program with relatively higher impact on food secure households. However, the study finds no evidence of effects on annual per capita consumption expenditure. These results suggests that farm input subsidy programs could be beneficial for the improvement of food security, particularly of larger food crop producers, but such programs are less useful when the main policy objective is to decrease poverty. |
| Keywords: | Farm Input Subsidies, Food Security, Quantile Regression, Malawi, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, Q1, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212830&r=agr |
| By: | Dhaval M. Dave; Nadia Doytch; Inas Rashad Kelly |
| Abstract: | Nutrition is a key input in the health production function, and a better understanding of how we eat can aid in guiding effective policy change towards better population health. This study documents prevalence rates, trends in, and potential correlates of nutrient intake for panels of countries, categorized by geographical regions and levels of development. We assemble data from 209 countries, spanning 51 years (1961-2011), based on original data compilations using 960 country-years for BMI, 370 country-years for glucose, and 321 country-years for cholesterol. Our estimates inform the nature and scope of nutrient intake on a global scale, and contribute towards an understanding of the drivers of the general upward trend in food intake and obesity. The cross-national trends, across countries spanning the spectrum of economic development and geographic regions, suggest that simply analyzing aggregate caloric intake masks the heterogeneity in trends for the various food groups. Food groups analyzed include cereals, sugars and sweeteners, vegetable oils, meat, starch, milk, fruits, animal fats, alcoholic beverages, oil crops, pulses, vegetables, fish, and eggs. Fixed effects regression analyses reveal that caloric intake is strongly associated with hunger depth, body mass index, cholesterol levels, and glucose levels. Moreover, changes in real GDP per capita, labor force participation, and health care measures in a nation can partly explain the increase in caloric intake. We note that substantial heterogeneity remains. While these associations should not be interpreted as causal, they provide a first step towards understanding shifts in aggregate eating patterns across the globe and levels of economic activity. |
| JEL: | I1 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22179&r=agr |
| By: | Wiggins, Steve; Keats, Sharada |
| Abstract: | Rural wages in developing countries not only directly affect the welfare of many of the (very) poor, but they also affect the welfare of others through their impact on costs of food production and hence food prices. Since manufacturing in low income countries often recruits labour from the countryside, rural wages set the minimum level of factory wages 3 necessary to attract labour, and hence costs of production and thereby the growth of manufacturing. Rural wages in much of Asia seem to have been rising notably over the last 25 years or longer, with signs in some countries of accelerating increases since the mid-2000s. This study compiles the evidence for this; then examines the influence of potential determinants, including changes in agricultural labour productivity, manufacturing, and rural working population, on rural wages. It concludes by discussing the possible implications of the results for rural poverty, food prices and the location of manufacturing |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212615&r=agr |
| By: | Tayebi, Zahra; Fulginiti, Lilyan E. |
| Abstract: | The main purpose of this research is to determine the potential impact of weather variables on agricultural productivity for Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and Syria. A translog production function was used in estimating TFP growth in agriculture over the period 1980-2010. Precipitation, temperature, drought and irrigation were included in the analysis. The results indicate increasing agricultural productivity during the period with innovations contributing approximately 30% to agricultural output growth. Temperature and precipitation play a significant role in agricultural production and most frequent extreme drought episodes and irrigation affect, substantially, agricultural productivity growth in the region. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural productivity, Climate change, Greater Middle East, Stochastic frontier, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230019&r=agr |
| By: | Velazco-Bedoya, Daniel M.; Juliao, Leticia; Siqueira, Tiago T.S. |
| Abstract: | The Brazilian agribusiness is an important activity to Brazilian economy. This sector represents 22.54 % of 2013 Brazilian GDP and is composed of different actors in each production agribusiness chains. This sector is growing year by year in terms of production thanks to technology adoption and production strategies. Environmental respect concerns (e.g. deforestation) are crucial to maintain sustainable growing of agricultural production. In 2012, the Brazilian Forest Act was update to deal with production and environmental preservation. Therefore, changes in institutional level affect agribusiness chain arrangements and actor’s behavior. The aim of the work is to explore the changes in the agribusiness chain support structures and trade-off mechanisms emerging after the Brazilian Forest Act implementation. In order to dress this question, we use an internet survey to investigate Brazilian agribusiness actors’ perceptions in different Federal States. The respondent reported mainly major changes in agribusiness identity support structures. They emphasize the emerging and needs of trade-off mechanisms in resources management and production proceedings to deal with Brazilian Forest Act. The sample also reported that the Brazilian New Forest Act leads to major changes at a farm level. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212766&r=agr |
| By: | Boyer, Christopher; Jensen, Kimberly; McLeod, Elizabeth; Larson, James |
| Abstract: | Changes in the 2014 Farm Bill have reconnected federally-subsidized crop insurance to conservation compliance and eliminated direct payments that were tied to conservation compliance. The net effects of these changes on producers’ incentives to comply with conservation standards and on the environment are uncertain, especially in regions such as the Mississippi Delta. We propose pilot crop insurance programs to improve the link between federally-subsidized crop insurance and conservation compliance in the southern United States and for crops such as cotton. The objective of this study was to determine Tennessee and North Central Mississippi cotton producers’ willingness to participate in hypothetical pilot programs that would incentivize use of cover cropping and no-till practices coupled with crop insurance via an additional cost share payment above current Environmental Quality Incentive Program cost share payments. Data were collected using a mail survey of Tennessee and North Central Mississippi cotton producers conducted in early 2015. A bivariate probit model was estimated to ascertain the factors that impact cotton producers’ willingness to participate in two pilot programs that link cover cropping or no-till with Stacked Income Protection Plan crop insurance. Results found that 35% of the cotton producers would be willing to participate in the cover cropping and Stacked Income Protection Plan pilot program, while 28% indicated they would participate in the no-till and Stacked Income Protection Plan pilot program. Results from the bivariate probit model showed that producers already planning to use Stacked Income Protection Plan in 2015 were more willing to participate in the pilot programs. A producers’ age, income, and debt-to-asset ratio influenced their willingness to participate in the pilot programs. More producers stated they used no-till production than cover crops; therefore, we made pairwise comparisons between producers’ ratings of potential outcomes from using cover cropping and no-till as well as between users and non-users of each of those practices. The results provide unique insight into producers’ perceptions of these practices. Overall, the proposed hypothetical pilot programs could improve the linkage between federally-subsidized crop insurance and conservation compliance; however, future research should consider the potential for these pilot programs for other crops and regions of the United States. |
| Keywords: | Cotton, Cover crops, Crop insurance, No-tillage, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:234975&r=agr |
| By: | Kpadonou, Rivaldo; Barbier, Bruno; Denton, Fatima; Owiyo, Tom |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the authors analyze the linkage between and the determinants of organic fertilizer and modern varieties (MVs) adoptions in Burkina Faso. Using simultaneous recursive and endogenous switching probit models, we found a positive joint determination along with a negative endogeneity between the two technologies, indicating controlling for observable variables adoption decisions of the two technologies are positively correlated, but unobserved factors that affect one decision are negatively correlated with the other, or vice versa. After controlling for jointness and endogeneity, we found a significant positive effect of organic fertilizer application on MVs adoption. But, the two technologies are reversely affected by household head’s attending formal education and the incidence of soil fertility problem within the farm. The size of good land holding appears to have a positive effect on both adoption decisions. Other factors that significantly affect MVs adoption with positive effect are number of cashcrop grown and remittances. The study suggests that organic fertilizer can serve as enabling factor for greater adoption of MVs, especially in less favourable climate areas. In areas where farmers invest less in inorganic fertilizer because of higher climate and market risks, organic fertilizer can serve as an effective alternative to replace inorganic fertilizer in the adoption process of MVs. Policies to promote green revolution technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa could be more effective if jointly associated with the promotion of conservation agriculture technologies. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212016&r=agr |
| By: | Chawarika, Admire |
| Abstract: | Food security is an important aspect of every developing nation in the process of achieving sustainable development. This analysis therefore sought to discuss the methods and techniques which have been used by other researchers to understand food security. The analysis first presented the background on food security which showed the dire state of food insecurity in these nations. Objectives were then formulated on the basis of the presented background. The objectives of the analysis were to determine the factors affecting food security and discussing the methods and techniques which have been used in identifying them. Identifying the emerging issues which are affecting the achievement of food security was also tackled by the analysis. The theoretical framework on which food security is based was discussed in the analysis. This included availability, access and utilization components of the food security. It was important to note that for example the production functions guiding the supply of commodities accounted for the availability component. Empirical studies on food security were then presented to provide the evidence on what researchers have practically found in the field. The issues of household asset holding, climate and trade liberalization were identified as some of the issues affecting the attainment of food security. Emerging constraints were then presented against the theoretical and empirical studies provided by the analysis. These were shown as to negatively affecting the attainment of food security both at household and national level with countries like Zimbabwe being cited. Global climate change, bio-fuels and GMO’s were among the emerging issues which were affecting food security in the developed nations. However the analysis took into cognisance that these emerging issues have also presented an opportunity to meet food security. This can be shown by the GMO’s which have increased agricultural productivity in countries like South Africa. Conclusion and policy recommendations were then formulated based on the findings from the discussion. These included up-scaling nutritional programmes to deal with the utilization aspect. This was done under the background that there can be availability and access without food security as the utilization component is often neglected. Targeted social nets should also be implemented to cushion those households who cannot meet their requirements from normal agricultural activities. |
| Keywords: | Food Security, Developing World, Emerging Issues |
| JEL: | E3 O2 |
| Date: | 2016–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:71073&r=agr |
| By: | Jha, Girish; Kumar, Rajeev; Singh, Alka; Pal, Suresh |
| Abstract: | The expenses on energy based inputs have registered a phenomenal increase since the 1990s in Indian agriculture. The use of energy intensive inputs is higher on marginal farms than on large farms. In view of increasing share of energy costs, this paper examined the transmission mechanism of increase in energy prices in agricultural commodity markets in India using monthly wholesale price indices during April 1994 to March 2014. In order to assess the effect of deregulation of some petroleum products since April 2002, study period was divided into two sub-periods (April 1994 to March 2004 and April 2004 to March 2014), besides analyzing for full period. The co-integration analysis indicated evidence of parallel movement between prices of energy and all selected agricultural commodities after deregulation, which means higher transmission between crude oil and these commodity prices. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural commodity prices, Cost of cultivation, Crude oil prices, India, Multivariate co-integration, Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, O13, Q11, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:211805&r=agr |
| By: | Kirchner, Mathias; Schonhart, Martin; Schmid, Erwin |
| Abstract: | We assess anticipated changes in policy and regional climate on agrarian land use development indicators in Austria for the period 2025-2040. A spatially explicit bio-economic integrated assessment quantifies impacts at 1km grid resolution in order to take into account the heterogeneity of Austrian agricultural landscapes. The impacts of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2013 on regional producer surplus are slightly positive and payments shift from intensive to extensive production regions. The economic impact of climate change depends on changes in precipitation patterns. Policy change leads to intensification of land use in favorable cropland and grassland regions and extensification in marginal regions. Regional climate change amplifies land use intensification with increases in crop yields, e.g. in Alpine regions, and land use extensification with declining crop yields, e.g. in eastern cropland regions. Environmental indicators deteriorate at national level in all scenarios. The highly spatially diverging impacts call for more targeted policy measures. |
| Keywords: | Common Agricultural Policy, Climate Change, Agri-environmental, Land Use, Environment, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, O13, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212004&r=agr |
| By: | Traore, Togo M.; Fields, Deacue |
| Abstract: | With a population increasing rapidly and agricultural yields stagnant over the years, access to food is a major challenge in Burkina Faso. This study investigates households demand for staple cereal commodities in Burkina Faso, using data from the 2009/10 integrated household living condition survey. A complete demand system (AIDS) model is estimated taking into account demographics and zero consumption. Results show that maize, millet and sorghum are necessities while rice is considered a luxury. Demand for maize, millet and sorghum are less price elastic than rice. These results are consistent for most households except for wealthy, educated households living in urban areas where rice becomes a necessity. The analysis of the evolution of cereal prices shows an overall increase leaving many people in food insecurity and causing food riots. |
| Keywords: | AIDS model, staple cereals demand, consumption patterns, Burkina Faso., Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, D12, Q11, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:229989&r=agr |
| By: | Tewari, Rachna; Vann, Scott; Mehlhorn, Joey; Parrott, Scott; Pruitt, Ross |
| Abstract: | Federal nutrition assistance programs at farmers’ markets are considered effective strategies to support direct marketing of local produce, and to increase consumer access to healthy food in low-income communities. Review of existing literature suggests lack of significant research regarding FMNP programs in west Tennessee. The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the existing Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs (FMNP) from both producers’ and recipients’ perspectives. This will be achieved through an exploratory survey analysis for the participating west Tennessee farmers’. The results from this study will be instrumental in expanding the visibility of fresh farm produce from farmers as a means to promote health benefits among recipients, as well as a platform for farmers to improve their distribution and marketing network. |
| Keywords: | farmers markets, nutrition program, survey, west Tennessee, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, I38, Q13, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:229796&r=agr |
| By: | Lizin, Sebastien; Van Passel, Steven; Schreurs, Eloi |
| Abstract: | This paper reports on the findings from discrete choice experiments designed to estimate farmers’ perceived costs of land use restrictions, i.e. crop restrictions, additional fertilizing restrictions, and usage restrictions, as opposed to having no such restrictions. To this end, hypothetical land purchasing decisions were simulated based on the information about productivity, lot size, distance to other land, driving time to home, land use restrictions, and price. Farmers from the Campine area (Belgium) were invited to participate in the survey as the agricultural land in this region still faces the effects of historical heavy metal contamination resulting in crop restrictions. For identical pieces of land, we estimate the perceived cost, calculated as a change in the consumer surplus due to having a land use restriction, to be about 46,000 €/ha for the crop restriction, 50,000 €/ha for the usage restriction, and 70,000 €/ha for the fertilizing restrictions. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212054&r=agr |
| By: | Laroche-Dupraz, Cathie; Huchet-Bourdon, Marilyne |
| Abstract: | Our hypothesis is that the Bonilla Index can be used as a consistent indicator of food security vulnerability to trade at national level. In this article, we test the assumption that, with the aim of stabilizing national food availability and accessibility, developing countries use policy instruments for stabilizing their Bonilla Index. After analysing the role of the national rate of assistance and of the exchange rate vulnerability of food security to trade, we first present the Bonilla Index evolution paths of 39 developing countries from 2005 to 2010. Second, we measure the impact of their national policy responses to 2008 price surge, by using the national rate of assistance on importable food products. Finally we test, statistically, the extent to which our qualitative hypotheses and relationships are actually confirmed by the data over the period 2005-2010. Our results suggest that most developing countries have used their possibility to play with the nominal rate of assistance level to compensate the effects of the 2008 food price surge, and that exchange rate variations actually have few impact on food accessibility for consumers in a context of volatility of food prices. |
| Keywords: | national rate of assistance, food security, exchange rate, food trade, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, Q17, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:234941&r=agr |
| By: | Lyu, Kaiyu; Barre, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Risk aversion is a key determinate in risk management in the agricultural insurance market. Based on the unique datasets of risk preference experiment and maize producer survey in maize production areas in China, this paper explores the determinants of farmers’ CIP participation and scrutinizes the role of risk aversion in farmers’ CIP decision. Results show that risk aversion plays an important role in CIP decision, not only in the form of its’ direct effect, but also in the form of interaction term together with loss expected. We also find the purchase experience, CIP environment (village purchase ratio) and contract items (insured amount) are significant determinates in the CIP purchase decision. No significant evidence is found that serious adverse selection exists in the sampling areas. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212199&r=agr |
| By: | Lodovico Muratori |
| Abstract: | Relation between price transmission and structure of agricultural markets is strongly debated in the literature and no consensus has been reached about symmetry, degree of such transmission and its mechanisms, so that further research is needed. This paper tests whether in markets where infrastructure quality is poor and transport costs are relevant, geographic dispersion of smallholder farmers allows traders to exploit their market power against farmers with a large impact on market structure and reduction of farmers’ welfare. Following the intuition of (Fafchamps et al., 2005), (Sexton, 2013) and (Swinnen and Vandeplas, 2014), the study provides a structural approach based on a set of well-founded behavioural equations to evaluate whether spatial oligopsony power is prevailing in agricultural markets and in case how strong it is. The paper designs also a far-reaching empirical test of the hypotheses through the seemingly unrelated regression technique. Moreover, it provides a strong empirical base to value chain studies, by exploiting the database of the Living Standard Measurement Study. The paper addresses the issue of transportation infrastructure as hindering factor of development in Uganda as outlined in several reports by World Bank, FAO and MAFAP and assesses the costs of such bottleneck, which are larger than transport expenditures. Results confirm that geographic dispersion of smallholder farmers plays a significant role on price margin and that there is room for local oligopsony, because traders overcharge transport and transaction costs to farmers. |
| Keywords: | coffee value chain, wholesale-farm gate price spread, spatial dispersion, revenue distribution, traders’ market power. |
| JEL: | O13 Q12 Q13 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:saq:wpaper:1/16&r=agr |
| By: | MacDonald, Stephen; Gale, Fred; Hansen, James |
| Abstract: | This report examines China’s 2011-13 attempt to maintain a high level of price support for its cotton producers, analyzing the policy’s motivation, its consequences to date, and the impacts of various adjustment alternatives China might pursue. With China’s wages rising rapidly in recent years, cotton production costs there have been rising faster than in the rest of the world. Rising costs both helped motivate China’s policymakers to strengthen their price support for cotton production in 2011 and ensured that the policy ultimately proved unsustainable. After several years of sharply lower cotton consumption and sharply rising state-owned stockpiles of cotton, China in 2014 began switching producer support to direct subsidies, and focusing support on producers in the largest producing region, Xinjiang. Additional reforms include plans to restore market forces to a leading role in determining China’s cotton prices. But China’s large role in world cotton markets and the unprecedented size of the government’s stocks mean that difficult choices lie ahead for China’s policymakers. Policy decisions in China will continue to have a significant impact on the rest of the world, and lower Chinese import quotas for cotton could reduce world cotton prices significantly. |
| Keywords: | Cotton, China, agricultural policy, price supports, trade, textiles, trade policy, WTO, industrial policy |
| JEL: | D4 F1 F13 Q1 Q17 Q18 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:70863&r=agr |
| By: | Sneyers, Astrid; Vandeplas, Anneleen |
| Abstract: | In agriculture, women have been found to be less productive than men for a variety of reasons. Most of the studies in this domain focus on crop production, and so far there has been little evidence on the impact of gender on productivity in dairy. This paper provides empirical evidence of the impact of female decision-making power on dairy productivity in India, based on a unique household-level dataset collected in 2010 in 50 villages in Andhra Pradesh, a state in the South of India. Our analysis suggests that higher productivity is achieved in households where women take dairy production-related decisions. While caution is due in drawing overly strong conclusions, our results provide a more nuanced view on the impact of gender on agricultural productivity than the one usually put forward in the literature. |
| Keywords: | agricultural productivity, dairy sector, gender, female decision-making power, Agribusiness, Livestock Production/Industries, Q18, O13, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212062&r=agr |
| By: | Kabata, Tshepelayi |
| Abstract: | This paper appraises the environmental performance of US agriculture with respect to water pollution from pesticides through a parametric approach. The performance of the 48 continental States is evaluated through a translog stochastic and hyperbolic distance function allowing an environmentally adjusted productivity index and its components technical and efficiency change from 1960-1996. Water pollution is captured by four indicators of risk developed by Ball et al. (2004) : i) risk to human health from exposure to pesticide leaching; ii) risk to human health from exposure to pesticide runoff; iii) risk to aquatic life from exposure to pesticide leaching and iv) risk to aquatic life from exposure to pesticide runoff. The resulting environmentally adjusted productivity growth is slower than the conventional one but still driven by technical progress. Further finding reveals that innovation in the sector is biased toward crop and livestock rather than pollution mitigation. Results also show a potential for crops and livestock expansion and a contraction in water pollution and inputs. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212626&r=agr |
| By: | Rutsaert, Pieter; Demont, Matty |
| Abstract: | Although Vietnam is one of the biggest rice exporters today, there is an urgent need to restructure the sector. To guide the transition from a quantity focused producer to a credible supplier of high quality rice, this study explores the diversity in value chains and the sector’s opportunities for sustainable value chain upgrading. During a participatory multi-stakeholder workshop participants from the public as well as the private sector were guided through several collective tasks to uncover the strengths and weaknesses of the Vietnamese rice sector, and the opportunities and threats (SWOT) the sector faces to become more sustainable. Subsequently, a Strategic Orientation Round (SOR) was used to evaluate the relative importance of the SWOT components. Results show that the stakeholders perceive the sector’s capability to grasp opportunities (including growing export and domestic markets) to be higher than its resilience to potential threats (including more stringent food safety regulations and global warming). Three different strategies are discussed for making rice value chains more sustainable: embodying, disembodying and internalizing sustainability. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212204&r=agr |
| By: | Hermanto (Ministry of Agriculture) |
| Keywords: | food security, subsidy, climate change |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:pbrief:pb20160450&r=agr |
| By: | van Dijk, Michiel; Gramberger, Marc; Laborde, David; Mandryk, Maryia; Shutes, Lindsay; Stehfest, Elke; Valin, Hugo; Zellmer, Katharina |
| 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 highly 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. |
| Keywords: | Scenarios, food security, participatory scenario building, integrated assessment., Food Security and Poverty, International Development, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212624&r=agr |
| By: | Yehouenou, Lauriane S. M.; Barnett, Barry J.; Harri, Ardian; Coble, Keith H. |
| Abstract: | The Federal Crop Insurance Products offered for major field crops are either yield-based or revenue-based and offered at either the unit-level (farm or sub-farm) or county-level. The 2014 Farm Bill created the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) and Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) insurance products. These products provide county-level coverage against “shallow-losses” that can be added to the coverage provided by a unit-level yield or revenue insurance product. Historically, county-level insurance products have been based on National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) county yield estimates. However, in recent years NASS has reduced the number of counties for which it reports county yield estimates. As a result, the Risk Management Agency (RMA) is now basing all county-level insurance products (including SCO and STAX) on aggregated (to the county-level) farm-level yield data obtained from unit-level yield and revenue insurance policies sold. This paper analyzes how the performance of county-level insurance products might be impacted by this change. Specifically, the paper analyzes how differences across counties in factors such as unit-level insurance participation, the characteristics of producers purchasing unit-level insurance, and spatial yield correlation affect the performance of county-level insurance products based on aggregated unit-level insurance yield data. |
| Keywords: | crop insurance, estimated county yield, bias, Risk and Uncertainty, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230081&r=agr |
| By: | Barreiro-Hurle, Jesus; Perez-Dominguez, Ignacio; Jansson, Torbjoern; Fellman, Thomas; Weiss, Franz |
| Abstract: | The effectiveness of unilateral greenhouse gas mitigation efforts has been put in doubt due to the so called carbon leakage effect both for industrial and agricultural sectors. In such scenario production shifts to world regions with no carbon constraint and the region which has imposed the carbon constraint substitutes its former domestic production by imports of these now relatively cheaper products, reducing economic activity but not changing consumption bundles. In this paper we investigate how technology can dampen this effect. For this we use the CAPRI partial equilibrium model of the EU agriculture together with its global spatial multi-commodity model calculating endogenously GHG emission coefficients for nitrous oxide and methane following the IPCC guidelines. For the rest of the world we use emission intensities calculated for the past based on emission and production data. Technology is modelled considering trend functions for the emission intensities in the rest of the world which are continued into the future. Our results show that while leakage exists and is increasing with the stringency of the GHG mitigation target of the EU, it can be mostly offset by allowing the ROW to adopt better technologies. To maximize its impact on reducing carbon leakage, technology transfer should focus on meat commodities and the Asia and Central and South American regions. |
| Keywords: | climate change, agriculture, carbon leakage, CAPRI Model, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2016–07–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235079&r=agr |
| By: | Seok, Jun Ho; Saghaian, Sayed H. |
| Abstract: | Service sectors are really important since most of service sectors are used by other sectors (forward linkage). In this reason, the service trade may have huge effects on domestic industries. There has been the scare research between the service trade and domestic industries especially in agricultural and food industry sector since there is scare in data. The purpose of this paper is that figures out the relationship between the service trade and the TFP (Total Factor Productivity) of domestic agri-food industry. Moreover, this paper checks the difference between effect of service trade on the agricultural sector and the food sector since the food sectors has the processed industry characteristics compared to agricultural sector. Using multilevel model and STAN data set in OECD, this paper finds that the service trade has a positive effect on the domestic food industry considering the forward linkage of service sectors on food sectors. According to the result of random effect, the country with higher competitive in food industry has a small coefficient of service linkage on food sector compared to the country with lower competitive in food industry. |
| Keywords: | Service Trade, Total Factor Productivity (TFP), Multilevel Model, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:229705&r=agr |
| By: | Mockshell, Jonathan; Birner, Regina |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, many developing countries have moved from taxing their agricultural sector to subsidizing it, a phenomenon referred to as “overshooting”. Using Ghana and Uganda as case study countries, this study aims to contribute to explaining this phenomenon by examining the role of policy beliefs. The study is based on the Advocacy Coalition Framework and relies on discourse analysis as analytical method. In-depth interviews with policy actors in both countries served as empirical basis. A quantitative analysis of the transcripts was used to identify different discourse coalitions, and a qualitative analysis was conducted to examine the discourses and identify their underlying policy beliefs. The paper identified far-reaching differences in the agricultural policy beliefs between domestic policy makers and donors regarding the question: What does it actually take to develop small-holder agriculture? The evidence from this analysis highlights the role that divergent policy beliefs can play in influencing agricultural policy choices. |
| Keywords: | agricultural input subsidies, small-holder agriculture, policy beliefs, discourse analysis, agricultural policies, Africa, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212471&r=agr |
| By: | Li, Kai; Zhou, Jie-hong; Liang, Qiao; Huang, Zuhui |
| Abstract: | The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors, and may not be attributed to the Economic Research Service or the U.S. Department of Agriculture. |
| Keywords: | Food safety control, Governance structure, Farmer cooperative, Agricultural company, Family farm, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212046&r=agr |
| By: | Nakakeeto, Gertrude; Chidmi, Benaissa |
| Abstract: | Despite the human nutritional benefits of seafood such as shrimp, per capita consumption has been declining since 2004. A few studies have been conducted, but the literature is still limited. Indeed, studies that have analyzed the market demand for seafood and shrimp in the United States don’t furnish empirical estimates of the consumer behavior of this market. This void in literature is evident, as recent works have either used aggregated data on seafood or disaggregated shrimp data but focusing on shrimp imports. This paper uses the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) to estimate the demand for shrimp in Texas, using AC Nielsen Scanner consumption panel data collected from four metropolitan areas: Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and West Texas. The data ranges from 2006 to 2010. The demand for shrimp is estimated in a system of demand equations for ten fish species. The availability of data on these various kinds of fish enables the assumption of separability of seafood from other food products. The results suggest that all the fish species considered are normal goods and that shrimp demand is price sensitive with an uncompensated own price elasticity of -1.53 and an income elasticity of 0.98. This is partly attributed to the fact that consumers view other fish types as substitutes for shrimp. |
| Keywords: | Key Words: Shrimp, Almost Ideal Demand System, elasticities, metropolitan areas., Demand and Price Analysis, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230142&r=agr |
| By: | Vestal, Michael; Tewari, Rachna; Darroch, Barbara; Mehlhorn, Joey |
| Abstract: | This study was designed to determine if a relationship existed between corn (Zea mays) and soybean (Glycine max) yields and climate factors in West Tennessee from 1955 to 2013. Yield data was obtained from National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) annual crop surveys for the twenty one counties in United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) West Tennessee and Delta Districts. Climate data for was obtained from National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). Only climate data from April through October was used in calculations to more accurately reflect corn and soybean growing seasons. Correlations, linear regressions, and multiple regressions were developed to compare crop yields with climate factors for the year as well as three phases of the crop production process (planting, growing, and harvesting). Significant relationships were found to exist between corn yield and minimum temperature (r = 0.32; P = .01), precipitation (r = 0.29; P = .26), Palmer Z-Index (r = 0.26; P = .47), and one month Standardized Precipitation Index (r = 0.26; P = .049). Significant relationships were found between soybean yield and maximum temperature (r = -0.32; P = .01), precipitation (r = 0.43; P < 0.001), Palmer Drought Severity Index (r = 0.28; P = .03), Palmer Z-Index (r = 0.43; P < .001), and one month Standardized Precipitation Index (r = 0.46; P < .001). The study found that yields were dependent on multiple climatic factors due to the abundance of significant multiple regression models compared to linear regression models. However, West Tennessee corn and soybean yields were not statistically influenced by average temperature or climate factors during the planting stage of production. Overall, growing season temperature and precipitation factors were important and will continue to impact corn and soybean yields in West Tennessee. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230009&r=agr |
| By: | Mekonnen, Daniel Ayalew; Gerber, Nicolas |
| Abstract: | Despite some improvements in recent years, poverty and food insecurity remain widespread and the main challenges in Ethiopia. Using individual and household level data collected in rural Ethiopia, we examine if aspirations are strongly associated with well-being outcomes, as posited in the aspirations failure framework articulated by Ray (2006) and others. We employ both bivariate and multivariate analyses. We find that aspirations (particularly that of the household head) are indeed strongly associated with the household per-capita income and expenditure and with various triangulating measures of household food (in)security including per-capita calorie consumption, the food consumption score (FCS), the household dietary diversity score (HDDS), and the household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS). Contrary to a few other studies, we also find strong evidence that, in rural Ethiopia, aspirations are positively associated with satisfaction in life and/or happiness. Findings in this study provide suggestive evidence that policies aimed at improving well-being outcomes might benefit from multiple effects (both direct and indirect) if they incorporate aspirations raising strategies. |
| Keywords: | Aspirations, income, poverty, food security, subjective well-being, Ethiopia, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Security and Poverty, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, D03, I31, O12, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:234562&r=agr |
| By: | Khanal, Narayan Prasad; Maharjan, Keshav Lall |
| Abstract: | Sustainable intensification is considered a key strategy to harmonize economic and environmental goals in rice-wheat cropping system in the developing countries. This strategy encourages farmers to grow spring season crops in the land remaining fallows after harvesting wheat. This paper explores the impact of climatic, demographic, economic and institutional variables on area under spring season crops. Data for the study were collected from 640 households spreading across the eight Tarai districts of Nepal in 2010. The major crops grown in the spring season are mungbean, maize and rice, and farmers allocate difference amount of their land for these crops. So, three crops specific regressions were modeled through Tobit regression with the assumption that households’ allocate their lands considering the potential benefit they get from these crops during the spring reason. Result shows that rainfall has positive impact on maize and rice; whereas, it is negative on mungbean. Similarly, this study reveals that male-headed households allocate larger amount of their lands for each of these crops than female-headed households. This is due to better access of fertilizers and training to male-headed households. Moreover, higher operational holders allocate more land for the spring season crops as compared to their counterparts. |
| Keywords: | Spring season, gender, cropping system, tobit model, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:229068&r=agr |
| By: | Tankari, Mahamadou Roufahi; Badiane, Ousmane |
| Abstract: | Given that a diversified food contributes to the individuals' health reinforcement, this analysis has tried to identify the households' food diversity demand determinants in Uganda by using a latent class model. Its implementation reveals several important results. Beyond the traditional determinant (income), on the one hand, one can note that the characteristics of the household influence the food diversity demand with a variable intensity according to the class considered. On the other hand, it appears that the structure of the household is a significant factor determining the food diversity demand. Besides, there is also an area of residence impact on food diversity demand. Consequently, the consideration of this heterogeneity of the population in the formulation of nutritional policies is necessary in order to make those more efficient by targeting households, empowering women, facilitation access to markets or encouraging a diversified agricultural production. |
| Keywords: | Consumer demand, food diversity, determinants of variety, Uganda, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Security and Poverty, D1, Q11, |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:230230&r=agr |
| By: | Kirui, Oliver; Mirzabaev, Alisher |
| Abstract: | Land degradation is a serious impediment to improving rural livelihoods in Tanzania and Malawi. This paper identifies major land degradation patterns and causes, and analyzes the determinants of soil erosion and sustainable land management (SLM) in these two countries. The results show that land degradation hotspots cover about 51%, 41%, 23% and 23% of the terrestrial areas in Tanzania, Malawi and Ethiopia respectively. The analysis of nationally representative household surveys shows that the key drivers of SLM in these countries are biophysical, demographic, regional and socio-economic determinants. Secure land tenure, access to extension services and market access are some of the determinants incentivizing SLM adoption. The implications of this study are that policies and strategies that facilities secure land tenure and access to SLM information are likely to incentivize investments in SLM. Local institutions providing credit services, inputs such as seed and fertilizers, and extension services must also not be ignored in the development policies. Some of the actions taken by communities to address loss of ecosystem services or enhance or maintain ecosystem services improvement include afforestation programs, enacting of bylaws to protect existing forests, area closures and controlled grazing, community sanctions for overgrazing, and integrated soil fertility management in croplands. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212008&r=agr |
| By: | Mulwa, Chalmers; Marenya, Paswel; Rahut, Dil Bahadur; Kassie, Menale |
| Abstract: | Located in southern Africa, Malawi is a country increasingly facing numerous climate-related stressors including droughts and floods. Adaptation to these stressors is critical to the sustainability of the farming systems in the country. Using household and plot level data collected in 2011, we implement a multivariate probit model to assess the determinants of farmer adaptation behavior to climatic risks. The ex-ante adaptation practices considered by farmers include: planting drought, disease and pest tolerant varieties, early planting, soil and water conservation and crop diversification. We find that plot characteristics, credit constraints and availability of climate-related information explain the adoption of several of these adaptation practices. We also find that even when financial limitations are binding, availing climate-related information still motivate farmers to adapt. Policy effort to build resilience among rural farming systems should focus on extension education and information delivery with special emphasis on climate risks information and associated adaptation mechanisms. |
| Keywords: | Climate risks, Adaptation, Multivariate probit, Smallholder farmers, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212511&r=agr |
| By: | Stark, C. Robert Jr; Bryant, Kelly J |
| Abstract: | The Arkansas Soybean Research Verification Program (AR SRVP) has provided demonstrations of optimal management responses in soybean production for 30 years. This period has seen the adoption of early soybean production systems and increasingly widespread use of various irrigation approaches. Cooperating producers across the state have worked with county agents and state extension specialists to produce crops under top management conditions and refine extension recommendations. Individual field and cooperator agronomic and economic results have been published to benefit producers across the state and beyond. While considerable attention has been given to total costs of production, limited study has been made into the changes in distribution of these costs among expense categories. This study examines changes in magnitude of expenses and percentage distributions among major expense categories. Irrigated, early season soybean production system records are examined for a ten year period to identify expense changes that have been experienced. The distribution of expenses by commonly used categories is then calculated and compared to national results from periodic USDA/NASS surveys. A better understanding of the distributional changes in expenses borne by soybean producers can have benefits in crop enterprise decision making and facilitate financing procedures for both producers and land owners. |
| Keywords: | Soybean, verification program, proportional expense distributions, threshold recommendations, Farm Management, D24, Q10, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230127&r=agr |
| By: | Muraoka, Rie; Matsumoto, Tomoya; Jin, Songqing; Otsuka, Keijiro |
| Abstract: | As population pressure on land grows rapidly in Kenya, rural farmers have started to intensify land use, which has lef to the emergence of a new maize farming system. The new system is characterized by the adoption of high-yielding maize varieties, the application of chemical fertilizer and manure produced by stall-fed improved dairy cows, and intercropping, especially the combination of maize and legumes. This study aims to explore the determinants of the new maize farming system and its impact on land productivity. We examine not only the impacts of new technologies and production practices but also the impact of the entire new maize farming system by generating an agricultural intensification index based on a principal component analysis. The estimation results show that a decrease in the land-labor ratio accelerates farming intensification, and that the adoption of each new technology and production practice has positive and significant impacts on land productivity. These findings are further supported by the significantly positive impacts of the agriculture intensification index on land productivity. |
| Keywords: | Farming system, agricultural intensification, population pressure, Maize, green revolution, Kenya, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212034&r=agr |
| By: | Revoredo-Giha, Cesar; Akaichi, Faical; Arakelyan, Irina; Barnes, Andrew; Chagunda, Mizeck; Chalmers, Neil; Chitika, Rollins; Jumbe, Charles; Leat, Philip; Moran, Dominic; Thompson, Steven; Toma, Luiza |
| Abstract: | Fractured supply chains have been identified as a barrier to growth for the agricultural sector. Dairy is a key investment sector for the Government of Malawi, donors such USA, Japan and Belgium have focused part of their development aid on the sector. Despite this, domestic production response is unimpressive. This is not surprising several factors hamper the sector development. This case study presents some of the results of an analysis of the dairy supply chain in Malawi. The methodology used consisted of a combination of surveys, semi-structure interviews and secondary information from farmers to consumers. Highlights of the results are: efficiency heterogeneity in dairy production and lack of cows constraining the pass-on programme; infrastructure constraints at the milk bulking group level; prices paid to farmers are sporadically adjusted in an inflationary context; low milk quality standards due to lack of enforcement; high margins for mass consumption milk in supermarkets.. |
| Keywords: | Malawi dairy supply chain, development economics, industrial organisation., Agribusiness, Marketing, O, L., |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212296&r=agr |
| By: | Zaffou, Madiha; Campbell, Benjamin; Rabinowitz, Adam |
| Abstract: | The special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children program (WIC) allows its participants to purchase food items from a WIC approved list at retail grocery stores. However, this program restricts not only the type and the quantity of food to be purchased but also the specific food brand. In fact, participants are often required to purchase private label brands –the least expensive brand- for some of the food products. Using Nileson home-scan data on daily food purchases across the county, this study aims to evaluate how these food brand restrictions may impact consumer brand preference even outside of the WIC program. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230100&r=agr |
| By: | Josephson, Anna Leigh; Michler, Jeffrey D. |
| Abstract: | This article answers the empirical question: what is the relationship between the choice to specialize or diversify in crop production and household poverty status? We use household panel data from Ethiopia and a recently developed parametric method for estimating dynamic binary response models with endogenous contemporaneous regres- sors. Our results provide evidence that households which grow a diverse set of crops are less likely to be poor. Additionally, crop diversity reduces the probability that a house- hold will fall into poverty and reduces the probability that a household will remain in poverty. We conclude that policies which encourage households to specialize in cash crops may be counter-productive while policies which encourage crop diversification may reduce poverty. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212459&r=agr |
| By: | Arriya Mungsunti (Charles Stuart University) |
| Abstract: | The muang fai irrigation system is a traditional, small-scale, communal irrigation system that has been practiced for centuries in northern Thailand. The value of this traditional system is currently being challenged by modernization, specifically through the introduction of various alternative irrigation technologies, such as the privately-owned underground pump irrigation. This study attempted to determine the various factors that influence farmers’ participation in the muang fai Sop Rong in Chiang Mai province and compared this traditional irrigation system with the underground pump irrigation system by determining which is better in terms of generating economic and environmental benefits. To do this, longan growing farmers, both muang fai system members and those who use underground pumps, were surveyed. The data generated was used to estimate a Logistic model of muang fai participation in an attempt to explain what factors affect the likelihood of a farmer joining the muang fai instead of installing underground pump irrigation. The Propensity Score Matching (PSM) technique was used to estimate the impact of muang fai participation on farm productivity and water use efficiency. Study results suggest that farm characteristics and several social and economic factors influence the possibility of muang fai participation. Results indicate that the farm’s distance to the closest muang fai canal strongly affects farmer participation. The size of the farm is also found to be quite a strong predictor of farmer participation. The relationship is found to be non-linear where probability of participation in muang fai first increases with farm size, but then decreases after a point. |
| Keywords: | Irrigation system, farming, water efficiency, Thailand |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr2016048&r=agr |
| By: | Li, Jian; Chavas, Jean-Paul; Etienne, Xiaoli; Li, Chongguang |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the linkages between commodity price bubbles and macroeconomic factors, with an application to agricultural commodity markets in China from 2006 to 2014. Price bubbles are identified using a newly-developed recursive right-tailed unit root test. A Zero-inflated Poisson Model is used to analyze the factors contributing to bubbles. Results show that a) there were speculative bubbles in most of the Chinese agricultural commodities during the sample period, though their presences are rather infrequent; b) economic growth, money supply and inflation have positive effects on bubble occurrences, while interest rate has a negative effect; c) among all macroeconomic factors considered, economic growth and money supply have the greatest effects on bubble occurrences. Our findings shed new light on the nature and formation of bubble behavior in the Chinese agricultural commodity markets. |
| Keywords: | price bubbles, macroeconomic factors, agricultural commodity, right-tailed unit root test, Zero-inflated Poisson model, China, Demand and Price Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty, G12, G13, Q13, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235068&r=agr |
| By: | Kibira, M.; Affognon, H.; Njehia, B.; Muriithi, Beatrice; Ekesi, S. |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluated economic benefits of managing mango infesting fruit flies in Embu County, Kenya using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy that composed of Male Annihilation Technique (MAT), protein bait spray, releases of exotic parasitoid Fopius arisanus and the use of augmentorium. The Difference-in-difference (DD) method was used to assess the impact of the mango IPM on magnitude of mango rejection and insecticide expenditure and net income. The study revealed that on average, mango IPM participants had approximately 54.5 percent reduction in magnitude of mango rejection; spent 46.3 percent less on insecticide per acre and received approximately 22.4 percent more net income than the non participants. These imply a high economic benefit from the application of the fruit flies IPM technology and mango farmers would profit significantly if the intervention is expanded to widely cover other mango growing areas in Kenya. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:211846&r=agr |
| By: | May Arunanondchai (Department of Economics, University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | An applied general equilibrium model of the global trade in forest products has been used to assess the impact of tariff and export tax reductions on forestry, the wood processing sector and the agricultural sector. The focus of this study is on Malaysia and Indonesia and the implications for their forest resources. Three key results have emerged: firstly, trade liberalisation does not necessarily lead to increased log production since the real producer’s price does not always rise. Secondly, the Uruguay Round tariff changes may make forestry a less-attractive form of land use when compared with agriculture. Thirdly, the proliferation of log export barriers amongst tropical countries has a cartel-like effect; thus elimination of such barriers may be detrimental to tropical exporters. |
| Keywords: | Trade Policy,Welfare,Timber Exporters,Forest Resources |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr2016056&r=agr |
| By: | Amponsah, Lawrence |
| Abstract: | Using annual time series data for Ghana, the current study investigates the public investment and agricultural productivity nexus for the period 1961-2013. The empirical assessment is done by using the Johansen test (JT), the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), and the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression test. The results indicate significant stable long run link between public investment and agricultural productivity in the JT. However, there is insignificant short run link between public investment and agricultural productivity in the VECM. The results of the OLS indicate negative significant link between investment and agricultural productivity. The findings suggest that Public investment has led to a decrease in agricultural productivity. Policy makers should manage public investment very well in order to achieve positive impact on the agricultural sector. The argument in support of public investment in agriculture sector needs to be re-examined as the current findings does not support the debate. Future study should examine the current issue using accounting for causality and structural breaks issues since the present study did not consider these issues. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural economics, public investment, agricultural sector, economic growth, long run, short run. |
| JEL: | H54 Q20 Q58 |
| Date: | 2016–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:70924&r=agr |
| By: | Liu, Bing; Hudson, Darren; Farmer, Michael |
| Abstract: | Over the past decade, construction of starch-based ethanol plants has expanded rapidly across the United States to meet growing (largely policy-induced) ethanol consumption. On the one hand, locating an ethanol plant in a small rural city potentially benefits a local economy significantly in terms of increased job opportunities and tax revenue. In the Texas High Plains, however, there are growing concerns that the introduction of a new demand source for sorghum as feedstock is likely to affect farmers’ cropping decisions in the area around the ethanol plant. Thus, it is important to quantify how the opening of an ethanol plant causes farmers to alter their planting decisions. This study models the cotton acreage response from 2002 to 2014, using county-level panel data collected from Hockley County, Texas, that currently has a 40 million gallon per year sorghum-based ethanol plant in operation. Spatial econometric models are employed to account for any spatial dependence and other factors are used to control for prices, water availability, and other production decision variables. The spatial tests results show that cotton area planted around Hockley County is highly clustered. But after controlling for spatial autocorrelation and dependence, the model results suggest that the existence of the ethanol plant has no effect on the surrounding cotton acreage. |
| Keywords: | Ethanol Plant, Cotton Acreage, Spatial Models, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:229799&r=agr |
| By: | Sahrbacher, Christoph; Brady, Mark; Dong, Changxing; Sahrbacher, Amanda |
| Abstract: | An indicator of soil fertility is the content of organic matter measured by the share of carbon in the soil, which is negatively affected by many conventional land management practices. As those heavily depend on individual land use decisions, the agent-based model of regional structural change AgriPoliS is applied to assess carbon losses resulting from behaviors and interactions of individual farms. The extended model now considers nitrogen input and the development in soil’s carbon content. Three scenarios are implemented where farms have either to use 7%, 15% or 25% of their land as ecological focus area (EFA). Results show that although carbon losses continue at a slower pace under the 7%-scenario, 25% of the land is to be set aside to stop them completely. However this implies short-term income losses for farmers but better plant resistance and improved soil productivity in the long-run if soil organic matter can be maintained. |
| Keywords: | soil organic carbon, CAP, agent-based modelling., Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Q24, Q18, C63, Q57., |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212284&r=agr |
| By: | Yigezu, Yigezu A.; Tizale, Chilot Y.; Aw-Hassan, Aden |
| Abstract: | This paper argues and provides empirical evidence that adoption decisions on multiple technologies involve a series of three sequential sub-decisions. Using a multivariate tobit and multivariate probit models and a nationally representative data from Ethiopian highlands, we find that decisions on the area shares of barley and potatoes in total farm size and the plot/field-level decision on the adoption of improved varieties of the two crops are independent. The farm-level decisions on the adoption of improved varieties of the two crops however exhibit strong simultaneity. A striking result from this analysis is that, the number of extension visits affects neither crop choice nor variety adoption decisions which, along with the relatively high density of extension agents in Ethiopia, shows the poor performance of the extension system. Targeting farmers dedicating higher proportion of their lands to the particular crop and introducing other models of extension could increase technology adoption. |
| Keywords: | adoption, multiple technologies, simultaneity, multivariate tobit, multivariate probit, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:211867&r=agr |
| By: | May, Daniel; McCorriston, Steve |
| Abstract: | Global trade agreements in agriculture have been unsuccessful. Current explanations argue that this outcome reflects the fact that governments have motivations other than maximising social welfare. At the current state of the knowledge, there is not a suitable framework that can be used either to assess the veracity of these explanations or determine how these biases influence the international trade structure. The objective of this article is to fill this gap by proposing a formal international trade network adapted to study the issue of global agreements in agriculture. The network approach outlined here accounts for the bias of government policies towards farmers or consumers; but we also allow for intermediaries in agricultural markets that have the potential to exercise market power are largely ignored in current approaches to modelling agricultural trade. We show that accommodating these features of agricultural markets offers important insights in understanding why promoting free trade in agricultural markets has proved to be so elusive. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212451&r=agr |
| By: | Han, Yang; Bi, Xiang |
| Keywords: | Willingness to pay, price premium, seafood, food safety incidents, effect, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2016–02–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230120&r=agr |
| By: | Yaoqi Zhang (Auburn University); Jussi Uusivuori (University of Wisconsin-Madison); Jari Kuuluvainen (University of Helsinki) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the effects of economic, demographic andinstitutional factors on land allocation between forestry and other uses.A panel data set from Hainan Island in China and a generalized least squaresestimation method, allowing individual effects for counties, are applied.The results indicate that higher timber prices have led to accelerationin rainforest exploitation, but encouraged forest investment in plantationforests. Population growth is the driving force behind the loss of naturalforests, but is positively related to plantation forests. De-collectivizationseems to have promoted plantation forests, but have not saved therainforest. A higher share of forestry land owned by state-owned enterprisesalso fosters afforestation on wasteland, but seems to lead to faster exploitationof natural forest, at least initially. The uncertainty that existed inthe early period of economic reform quickened the pace of resource extractionand deterred investment. |
| Keywords: | Forestland tenure, economic transition,deforestation, reforestation, panel data |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr2016050&r=agr |
| By: | Qu, Song; Heerink, Nico; Xia, Ying |
| Abstract: | The expropriation of farmland in China by local governments and the compensations paid to farmers are a major source of social conflicts. Using rural household survey data collected among 450 households in three provinces, this paper examines the impacts of compensation payments and different compensation modes on farmers’ satisfaction with the land compensation. The major findings are: (1) farmers’ satisfaction with the compensation depends not only on the size of the compensation but also on the gap between the compensation and the market value of the expropriated land; (2) the compensation amount positively affects farmers’ satisfaction when the social security compensation mode is used, but does not significantly affect farmers’ satisfaction when other modes are used. We conclude by discussing the policy relevance of our findings. |
| Keywords: | farmland expropriation, farmers’ satisfaction, compensation amount, compensation mode, Farm Management, International Development, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212702&r=agr |
| By: | Lambrecht, Isabel |
| Abstract: | Improving women’s access to land is high on the agricultural policy agenda of both governmental and non-governmental agencies. Yet, the determinants and rationale of gendered access to land are not well understood. This paper argues that gender relations are more than the outcomes of negotiations within households. It explains the importance of social norms, perceptions, and formal and informal rules shaping access to land for male and female farmers at four levels: (1) the household/family, (2) the community, (3) the state, and (4) the market. The framework is applied to Ghana. Norms on household and family organization and on men’s and women’s responsibilities and capabilities play a key role in gendered allocation of resources. However, these norms and perceptions are dynamic and evolve jointly with the development of markets and changes in values of inputs such as labor and land. Theoretical models that represent the gendered distribution of assets as the result of intrahousehold bargaining should be revised, and extrahousehold factors should be included. From a policy perspective, laws that ensure gender equality in terms of inheritance and a more gender-equitable distribution of property upon divorce can play a key role in improving women’s property rights. Yet, their impact may be limited where customary rights dominate and social norms and rules continue to discriminate according to gender. |
| Keywords: | gender, women, land rights, households, customary land rights, customary law, marriage, social norms, household model, female farmers, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1514&r=agr |
| By: | Otieno, David; Ogutu, Sylvester |
| Abstract: | In developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, policy makers have been reluctant to formulate animal welfare policies. This is despite potential benefits of such policies including increased domestic and global consumers’ demand for products that are compliant with humane treatment of animals. This study employed a choice experiment method to establish consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for animal welfare attributes in chicken. Data were drawn from 200 chicken consumers in Nairobi, Kenya and estimated using a random parameter logit model. The results indicate that consumers were willing to pay a premium for humanely-treated chicken. The consumers had a positive and significant preference for use of certified transportation means, humanely slaughtered chicken and animal welfare labelling. However, the consumers showed a negative preference for use of antibiotics in chicken production. These findings are vital for formulation of product differentiation strategies in the industry as well as food policy. |
| Keywords: | Animal-welfare, Chicken, Choice Experiment, Kenya, Agricultural and Food Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, D18, D63, F18, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212602&r=agr |
| By: | Nehring, Richard; Hallahan, Charlie |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates performance measures on cotton farms, following an input distance stochastic production frontier (SPF) approach and compares the relative performance of farm operator households with and without off-farm wages and salaries. We use 2002 to 2014 USDA data for twelve major cotton producing states-Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas-- identifying different performance measures. Previous studies suggest that off-farm work influences economic performance—by “improving” managerial performance. We find that off-farm income boosts scale efficiency on larger operations for the data set analyzed, and is also consistent with significantly higher farm and household returns. We also find that the number of hours worked off-farm by the operator contributes to lower technical efficiency but we find no impact on technical efficiency for hours worked off-farm by the spouse (80 percent of total hours worked off-farm). |
| Keywords: | input distance function off-farm hours scale efficiency cotton, Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230413&r=agr |
| By: | Acklie, Paige; Popp, Jennie |
| Abstract: | The US Agricultural Census show that between 2002 and 2012, the number of women operators in Arkansas grew 14 percent (from 19,856 to 22,637). These women operators have made up an increasingly larger percent of all farm operators in the state (from almost 29% to nearly 33%). There is little published information regarding how women’s roles, challenges and factors important to their success may have changed over time. While some surveys of farm women have been conducted, these surveys are generally insufficient because data exist only for one point in time. This poster uses survey data collected across ten years (2005-2014) at Arkansas Women in Agriculture (ARWIA) conferences to compare women’s perceptions regarding: 1) their roles in agriculture, 2) the successes and challenges they face, 3) how their roles have changed over time, and 4) how that change has influenced their family lives, agriculture and the rural community. It is hoped that this set of baseline information can be useful not only to researchers and educators interested in addressing needs of local women but also in illustrating the continuing changes in women’s roles and their needs and thus the need for extended research over time to address these changes. |
| Keywords: | women in agriculture, farm labor, leadership, Agribusiness, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Q10 J01, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:229975&r=agr |
| By: | Stark, C. Robert Jr; Lorenz, Gus; Faske, Travis; Spurlock, Terry; Seiter, Nick; Studebaker, Glenn |
| Abstract: | Arkansas soybean producers spend significant amounts of money on annual input costs. 2015 UA Division of Agriculture crop enterprise budgets estimated irrigated soybean average operating expenses at $328.75 per acre across Roundup Ready, Liberty Link, and conventional systems. Commodity market price declines, such as have been seen in late 2015, increase the importance of input cost evaluations to maintain profitable returns. This study compares “automatic applications” made on crop phenology versus “treating as needed” systems where applications are made based on scouting for insect and disease thresholds. Seven large block trial locations were initiated in 2015 with five treatments utilizing insecticides, fungicides, combinations of products, and application system approaches. Partial budgeting methodology is employed to estimate economic outcome under each system. Cost, yield, and profitability measures are calculated for each treatment. The agronomic and economic research results will be used to evaluate overall profitability of current state extension recommendations including treatment threshold levels. |
| Keywords: | soybean, partial budget, threshold, treated-as-needed, automatic application, Farm Management, Q10, D24, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230096&r=agr |
| By: | Kelly, Edel; Heanue, Kevin; Buckley, Cathal; O'Gorman, Colm |
| Abstract: | Resource use efficiency is at the core of sustainable farming practices for the future of agriculture. Given the abolition of quotas in the EU and the increasing demands for food globally food producers are faced with a challenge to increase production in an environmentally sustainable manner. This paper examines the adoption of a suite of grassland management practices by Irish dairy farmers which are proven to improved grass utilisation. The Technology Acceptance Model is applied to a nationally representative sample of specialist Irish dairy farmers to investigate the use of belief based variables and traditional socio-economic and demographic variables in predicting intention to use six grassland management practices. |
| Keywords: | technology acceptance model, adoption, grassland management practice, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, O330, Q160, Q240, Q550, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:229067&r=agr |
| By: | Rashid, Shahidur |
| Abstract: | Improving price discovery, linking smallholders to markets, reducing transactions costs, and increasing agricultural export earnings are some of the popular claims about benefits of Agricultural Commodity Exchanges (ACX) in developing countries. Based on the case studies, and a review of available literature, this paper examines the validity of these popular claims and associated public policies. Our analysis suggests that most of these popular claims cannot be supported by empirical evidence. While agricultural commodity exchanges have been successful in emerging countries, they have either failed or remain in operation with government or donor supports. Underlying reasons for the failures, considerations for future investments in such institutions, and implications for alternatives to centralized exchanges are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Marketing, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212488&r=agr |
| By: | Gulati, Ashok; Saini, Shweta |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212713&r=agr |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki |
| Abstract: | Abstract: Growths of mechanization service supply have been considered generally frictionless outside Africa South of Sahara (SSA). However, the dominance of large tractors that are sparsely populated in SSA countries like Nigeria today suggests significant imperfections in tractor hiring service market due to technology indivisibility and low spatial mobility. Empirically testing market imperfections for scale-biased technologies like tractors has been challenging, partly due to the difficulty of separating the effect of marginal technology adoptions from intensive technology adoptions that potentially generate scale effects. We fill this knowledge gap by applying covariate matching, ordinary propensity score matching, as well as generalized propensity score matching methods to Nigerian household data. Tractor hiring service market in Nigeria is found imperfect, potentially due to the supply-side constraints. The effect of this imperfection is also sizeable; in the case of Nigeria, overcoming this imperfection can potentially increase farm households’ income by as much as 30%. This effect is from the marginal adoption of tractors alone, even without the potential scale effects from intensive tractor use upon adoption. |
| Keywords: | International Development, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:211937&r=agr |
| By: | Miller, Maryfrances |
| Abstract: | Dairy policy under the 2014 farm bill is an insurance program based on national milk and feed prices, despite considerable regional variation in feed costs and milk prices. Milk production response to low margin periods between 2000 and 2012 is compared by region. Consistent with prior research, the response is much greater in the West. There is no evidence that eastern and mid-western dairies reduce production in response to low margins. Implications for potential total and regional government expenditures for the Dairy Margin Protection Program are evaluated in the context of historical supply response and 2015 participation rates. |
| Keywords: | Dairy, Agricultural Policy, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, R38, Q13, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230075&r=agr |
| By: | Mario J. Crucini; Gregor W. Smith |
| Abstract: | We study the role of distance and time in statistically explaining price dispersion across 32 Swedish towns for 19 commodities from 1732 to 1914. The resulting large number of relative prices (502,689) allows precise estimation of distance and time effects, and their interaction. We find an effect of distance that declines significantly over time, beginning in the 18th century, well before the arrival of canals, the telegraph, or the railway. |
| JEL: | E37 F61 N70 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22175&r=agr |
| By: | Kristkova, Z. Smeets; Gardebroek, K.; van Dijk, M.; van Meijl, H. |
| Abstract: | The understanding of the drivers of technological progress and their impact on food security is still limited. The paper contributes to the lacking empirical evidence on the speed of technical change affecting various sectors and production factors differently, which leads to contradicting projections of food demand in the global ex-ante assessment models. The aim of the paper is to quantify endogenous factor-augmenting technical change driven by R&D investments in a panel of 13 OECD countries over 1987-2006. A CES framework with cost minimization behavior was chosen to derive the system of equations that were estimated by GMM system estimator. Statistically significant effects of domestic and foreign manufacturing R&D were found on labor-augmenting technical change in manufacturing, agriculture, transport and retail sector. The results of this study provide a starting point for incorporating endogenous factor-biased technical change in impact assessment models aimed at policy analysis of food security. |
| Keywords: | factor-biased technical change, R&D, CES function, production sectors, GMM regression., Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, C3, O3, Q16, |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:230229&r=agr |
| By: | Niemi, Jarkko; Hyytiainen, Kari; Camara, Astou; Fall, Cheick; Msangi, Siwa |
| Abstract: | Semi-arid regions in the Sahel have faced increasing environmental pressure due to population growth and decreasing rainfall. Building on earlier research we develop a stochastic dynamic programming model that describes extensive, common-pasture-based livestock under stochastic and spatially varying weather. We extend previous research by allowing animals’ movements between two regions and allow decisions to be adjusted when new information about the weather arrives. Decision rules to sell and move animals under exogenous price, market and climate scenarios are investigated. Our numerical analysis demonstrates that in the absence of efficient feed markets and under unpredictable weather, transhumance can be a rational livestock management strategy. Increased frequency of extreme weather conditions, such as heavy drought or rainfall, can have cross-regional spillovers and larger impacts on livestock husbandry than gradual changes in the mean annual rainfall or temperature suggest. Hence, policies should aim at mitigating the negative consequences of extreme weather across regions. |
| Keywords: | livestock, common pasture, grazing, climate change, climate variability, drought, resilience, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, D80, O13, Q12, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212531&r=agr |
| By: | Rodriguez, Elsa M.M.; Lupin, Beatriz; Gonzalez, Julia |
| Abstract: | Choice Modelling was applied to assess the importance of attributes and willingness to pay for a fresh potato produced with a low environmental impact production system. Among the stated preference methods, this is the most used to study consumer preferences for attributes of goods with little or no market share. We interviewed 402 individuals, aged 18 and over, in super / hypermarkets and grocery stores. Four different attributes of potato: price, agrochemicals content, cooking quality and treatment were selected according to previous research carried out by the authors. For this purpose, a Conditional Logistic Model (McFadden, 1973) was applied. On average, ceteris paribus, the full sample participants were willing to pay between US$ 0.60 and US$0.49 more per 1kg of potatoes with low agrochemical content. In regards to cooking quality attributes, participants were willing to pay between US$ 0.31 and US$ 0.25 more per kg of high quality potatoes |
| Keywords: | Choice Modelling, willingness to pay, consumers´ preferences, fresh potatoes, Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, C90, D1, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212288&r=agr |
| By: | Weber, Regine |
| Abstract: | India has been experiencing rising food prices during the last five years. In this paper we explore how inflationary food prices impact India’s consumer welfare and poverty ratios, by calculating the compensating variation as a welfare measure. We account for changes in consumption patterns, i.e. substitution effects among food items, by including own and cross price elasticities obtained through the estimation of a demand system, i.e. QUAIDS. Our results show that consumers substitute high value commodities, e.g. milk, livestock products and fruits in case of rising prices. Moreover, a 10 per cent price increase on average causes a welfare loss of 5 to 6 per cent of monthly income in rural areas and 3 to 4 per cent welfare loss in urban areas. As a result, there is a drop below the poverty line of an additional 4.69 per cent and 2.19 per cent of households in rural and urban regions respectively. |
| Keywords: | QUAIDS, compensating variation, welfare impacts, poverty dynamics., Demand and Price Analysis, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, I32, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:211901&r=agr |
| By: | Nguyen Nghia Bien (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development) |
| Abstract: | The North Upland of Vietnam is characterized by biophysical, social and cultural diversity as well as its important role in the national economy’s development. However, the region, like those in other developing countries, suffers from serious environmental problems such as deforestation, soil degradation, loss of biodiversity and unsustainable livelihoods. Major causes are attributed to ineffective institutional arrangements such as inadequate property rights and enforcement, lack of local participation and empowerment, and misguided government policies. This research project began in early 1999 with financial and technical supports from the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA). It aimed to determine the better institutional structures for promoting sustainable forest management in the North Upland using the multiple criteria decision making and participatory approaches. In other words, the project assessed and compared various forest management regimes against different socio-economic, environmental and institutional variables. Methods used in this research included Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), Criteria and Indicators (C&Is) Framework (CIFOR approach) and Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). PRA is used to learn about rural livelihoods and identify problems emerging from forest resource management and use, making sure that all information from the grassroots, including their views, interests and desires, is taken into consideration. C&Is Framework is widely used by CIFOR to test and develop C&Is for sustainable forest management in various locations around the world. It can result in a number of context-specific and locally adapted C&Is which are used for further treatment with MCDA. TopDec, one of the recently developed MCDA programs, was chosen for data analysis. |
| Keywords: | Forest management, Vietnam |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr2016052&r=agr |
| By: | Ahmed, Osama; Serra, Teresa |
| Abstract: | This study assesses price transmission along the Egyptian tomato food marketing chain in the period that followed the Arab Spring, which accentuated economic precariousness in Egypt. Static and time-varying copula methods are used for this purpose. Results suggest a positive link between producer, wholesaler and retailer tomato prices. Such positive dependence is characterized by asymmetries during extreme market events, that lead price increases to be transferred more completely along the supply chain than price declines. |
| Keywords: | food prices, asymmetric price transmission, dependence analysis, static and time-varying copula, Financial Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, C5, Q11, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212523&r=agr |
| By: | Nguyen Thi Y Ly (Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of Agriculture and Forestry) |
| Keywords: | Vietnam, Payment for Forest Environmental Services |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:pbrief:pb20160442&r=agr |
| By: | Abbott, Philip; Boussios, David; Lowenberg deboer, jess |
| Abstract: | Monthly WASDE reports by USDA estimate current and future global supply-utilization balances for various commodities, including corn. Existing literature has shown that markets respond to WASDE releases (news effects) but has not quantified the value or distribution of benefits from those reports. We use Monte Carlo simulations of a quarterly model of the U.S. corn market to estimate the value of the WASDE forecast and its components. Our results show significant value to market participants from the WASDE reports, roughly $301 million or 0.55% of overall corn market value. The results also show significant value for each forecasted component of the reports: area ($145 million), yield ($188 million), production ($299 million), demand/stocks ($300 million) and exports ($320 million). The benefits of each component do not strictly sum when new information is added because substantial redistribution of benefits occurs, since specific information components help specific interest groups. The expected benefits or losses realized by consumers, producers or traders is often nearly as large as (and sometimes larger than) the net benefits to society from better information. In the base case benefits from WASDE information largely accrues to producers ($153 million) and consumers ($341 million). Traders lose $192 million, as they are presumed to buy at harvest, before valuable demand, stocks and export data is known. Farmers behave as traders when they choose to store, sell forward, or participate directly in futures markets. Thus, the net trader benefit or loss accrues partially to farmers as traders and partially to commercial agents. These results are sensitive to elasticity assumptions that capture both how agents behave in markets and how their welfare is measured. |
| Keywords: | Market information, public information, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE), agricultural commodity markets, Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:234902&r=agr |
| By: | Moser, Stefan; Mubhoff, Oliver |
| Abstract: | Palm oil production creates negative externalities, e.g., through intensive fertiliser application. Policies to limit externalities need an effective, sustainable and efficient measure We use a business simulation game in a framed field experiment in Indonesia to test ex ante different incentives for reducing such negative externalities. This setting allows inclusion of adequate contextual features, required for reasonable ex ante evaluation of policy measures. The different designs of the test incentives (either a reward or punishment) varied in their magnitude and probability of occurrence but with constant effects on expected income. Results show that participants react differently to these incentives, indicating that the design can contribute significantly to effectiveness, sustainability or efficiency. A high reward with a low probability was found to be the most effective and sustainable incentive. Moreover, for the most efficient design, a low and certain reward is indicated. |
| Keywords: | Ex ante policy impact analysis, reward, punishment, framed field experiment, business simulation game, palm oil production, Indonesia, fertiliser use, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, C91, Q18, Q52, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212475&r=agr |
| By: | Villanueva, Anastasio J.; Rodriguez-Entrena, Macario; Arriaza, Manuel; Gomez-Limon, Jose A. |
| Abstract: | Agri-environmental schemes (AES) in irrigated olive groves (IOG) in southern Spain are assessed using a double analysis from the supply and demand side. Regarding the supply-side analysis, a choice experiment is used to assess farmers’ preferences toward AES, including some innovative issues, such as uptake in irrigated permanent crops, ecological focus areas and collective participation. With regard to the demand-side analysis, secondary sources of information are used to explore gains obtained from the implementation of such schemes in IOG. Results indicate that only the implementation of the most stringent AES scenarios could provide positive net social welfare gains and a priori only these scenarios should be considered for implementation by policy-makers. However, the implementation of these most stringent AES would only result in very low net social welfare gains. Further research is required to provide more accurate estimates of such gains and replicate this assessment in other agricultural systems. |
| Keywords: | Agri-environmental schemes, intensive agricultural systems, public goods, choice experiment, net social welfare gains., Marketing, Production Economics, Q18, Q58., |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:211919&r=agr |
| By: | Catherine Leining (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Suzi Kerr (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research) |
| Abstract: | The New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) is the New Zealand government’s cornerstone policy instrument for meeting New Zealand’s climate change responsibilities. The New Zealand system was designed based on strong linkages to international carbon markets. Understanding how these have affected the New Zealand market is critical both for policymakers in New Zealand and designers of international emissions trading schemes who are considering linkages. We adapt Pizer and Yates' 2013 model of a linked tradable permit systems to conditions in the NZ ETS. We compare the model with price and surrender data and find that the international linkage works as expected. When New Zealand is a buyer of units and linking is certain, NZU prices are roughly equal to the Kyoto unit price. When the New Zealand government announces that New Zealand will de-link – no longer allowing any international units – prices diverge and New Zealand participants meet almost all current obligations with Kyoto units, saving their NZUs for the delinked future. |
| Keywords: | New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS), Emissions trading, linked tradable permit market, Kyoto units, Certified Emission Reductions (CERs), Emission Reduction Units (ERUs), greenhouse gas, carbon markets. |
| JEL: | Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:16_06&r=agr |
| By: | Galor, Oded; Özak, Ömer |
| Abstract: | This research explores the origins of the distribution of time preference across regions. It advances the hypothesis, and establishes empirically that geographical variations in the natural return to agricultural investment have had a persistent effect on the distribution of time preference across societies. In particular, exploiting a natural experiment associated with the expansion of suitable crops for cultivation in the course of the Columbian Exchange, the research establishes that pre-industrial agro-climatic characteristics that were conducive to higher return to agricultural investment, triggered selection and learning processes that had a persistent positive effect on the prevalence of long-term orientation in the contemporary era. |
| Keywords: | Time preference, Delayed Gratification, Economic Growth, Culture, Agriculture, Economic Development, Evolution, Comparative Development, Human Capital, Education, Smoking |
| JEL: | D14 D9 E2 I12 I25 J24 J26 O1 O3 O4 Z1 |
| Date: | 2016–04–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:70719&r=agr |
| By: | Sproul, Thomas; Michaud, Clayton; Turvey, Calum |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc016:233765&r=agr |
| By: | Nghiem Thi Hong Nhung (Department of Public Health, University of Otago) |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this study is to find out optimal management strategies for productive planted forests when carbon benefits are considered. With a given initial state of forest, the research attempts to: a) determine the planting and harvesting patterns, which can maximize net returns from selling timber and sequestering carbon; b) compare the optimal management strategy when carbon has or does not have market value; c) compare the optimal management strategy for two dominant tree species; d) analyse the sensitivity of the optimal management strategy to forests’ area, prices and discount rate; and e) identify the policy implications in further developing multiple-use forests in Vietnam. The Faustmann formula was applied to find the optimal rotation age and the net present value (NPV) for planted forest at stand-level. We extended the Faustmann model to include multi-stands and spatial arrangement among forest stands in order to analyse the optimal strategy at forest-level. A simple search algorithm was used to look for optimal sets of planting and harvesting. The model was coded in GAMS. To evaluate the model, 293 household forest farmers who grow Eucalyptus urophylla and Acacia mangium in Yen Bai province, Northern Vietnam were interviewed. Survey results show that the actual tree cutting age is five years. However, at the stand-level, we find that the optimal rotation age of E. urophylla (when only timber has market value) is 10 and 9 years for households and forest enterprises, respectively, at a 5% discount rate. For A. mangium, the optimal rotation age is 13 years for both households and forest enterprises. The NPV is VND 16 million per hectare for households of both E. urophylla and A. mangium. For forest enterprises, the NPV is VND 57 million and VND 62 million per hectare for E. urophylla and A. mangium, respectively |
| Keywords: | forest management, carbon sequestration, Vietnam |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr2016046&r=agr |
| By: | Ramirez, Octavio; Shonkwiler, J. Scott |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc016:233761&r=agr |
| By: | Gupta, Vivek; Bhandari, Basu D.; Gautam, Tej K. |
| Abstract: | Nepal is predominantly an agricultural country. More than 35% of its GDP depends on agriculture. About 65% of Nepalese people rely agriculture for their livelihood. Agricultural credit plays a major role in agricultural development. Different sources are available in the agricultural credit market in Nepal. Formal sources include agricultural development bank, farmers’ cooperatives, and other financial institutions while informal sources include borrowing from farmers group, women group, and money lender individual (mostly relatives). Several factors might play a role in selecting different credit sources: types of agricultural commodities, buying different operating inputs (machinery, seeds, and fertilizers), buying fixed inputs (machinery and equipment), interest rate, and reimbursement plan. In this paper, we want to determine which source is the most popular among the farmers of Nepal and explain why that particular source is a choice for farmers. We use Nepalese agricultural census data for the fiscal year 2011/12 and multinomial logit model for this analysis. The result of this study will explain the factors affecting the choice of agricultural credit and most popular credit sources in Nepal and come up with some policy recommendations. This would enrich literature in explaining the choice of agricultural credit sources in other developing countries like Nepal. |
| Keywords: | subsistence farming, commercial agriculture, cash crops, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230131&r=agr |
| By: | Zaffou, Madiha; Campbell, Benjamin |
| Abstract: | Over the last decade there has been a move by many consumers to purchase locally grown products. Many studies have focused on food with limited studies examining plants. Utilizing a choice experiment in conjunction with latent class modeling with examine the impact of locally labeling and retail outlet on preference and willingness to pay for azaleas. Results indicate that only one of the latent classes, about 43% of the sample, valued locally labeling. Furthermore, the same class that valued local also preferred a nursery/greenhouse outlet over a home improvement center. Recommendations for the different retail outlets are given based on the results. |
| Keywords: | local labeling, retail outlet, plants, green industry, Agribusiness, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230056&r=agr |
| By: | Darmawan, Rivayani; Klasen, Stephan; Nuryartono, Nunung |
| Abstract: | Indonesia now has the highest deforestation rate in the world, with an average increase of about 47,600 ha per year. As a result, the nation is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world and is putting its rich biodiversity at risk. Although the literature discussing the political economy of Indonesia commercial's logging is growing, only a small amount focuses on the relation-ship between migration and deforestation. Migration may contribute to the forest cover change, as migrants often face serious constraints from the local residents in claiming the land, and thus tend to find new forest land which can be used as a means of living or converted into an agricultural planta-tion. This paper empirically investigates the relationship between recent in-migration and deforestation in Indonesia. By combining available population census data with the satellite image data MODIS, we find a significant positive relationship between migration and deforestation at the district level using a fixed effects panel econometric framework. The results also suggest that the expanding oil palm production is one significant driver for the fast disappearance of Indonesia's forest. |
| Keywords: | deforestation,migration,oil palm,Indonesia |
| JEL: | Q23 R14 J61 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:crc990:19&r=agr |