|
on Agricultural Economics |
|
Issue of 2016‒07‒30
thirty-six papers chosen by |
| By: | Dulys, Elena; Swinton, Scott; Klammer, Sarah |
| Abstract: | Timber residues, a wood production byproduct, are a low cost source of biomass that avoids the environmental and food market consequences of other energy feedstocks. We studied the effect that price, acreage owned, bio-energy attitudes, environmental amenities, and environmental disamenities have on the decision to harvest for non-commercial private forest owners in northern Michigan and Wisconsin. Over 60% of landowners were willing to provide timber residues at timber harvest or stand improvement (tree thinning) at prices starting at just $15 per acre. Important drivers of willingness to supply timber residues include the price offered for timber residue, single-species forest acreage owned, duration on land, and the aversion to environmental disamenities. The propensity to supply timber residues was highest among educated owners of larger scale, single-species forest who made less than $133,000/year. |
| Keywords: | Bioenergy, timber residue, willingness to accept, non-industrial private forest, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q23, Q42, |
| Date: | 2016–07–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:242363&r=agr |
| By: | Peter Hazell (Independent consultant); Jacob Ricker-Gilbert (Purdue University); Steve Wiggins (Overseas Development Institute); David E. Sahn (Cornell University); Ashok Mishra (Arizona State University) |
| Abstract: | How smallholders may contribute to food and nutrition security remains a key challenge in many developing countries. Despite being the main rural actors, smallholders are frequently the most food insecure, given an array of biophysical and socioeconomic challenges that were addressed during the workshop. These proceedings discuss the potential role of smallholders in food security and in poverty reduction. The opportunities and constraints are assessed, by analysing the availability, access and utilisation of production factors. The key message is that enhancing smallholders’ production capacities and their economic and social resilience may have a positive impact on food security and nutrition at different levels. However, not all smallholders are the same, and assistance strategies need to differentiate between smallholders who should be ‘moving up’ into more productive systems and those who should be ‘moving out’ of farming. The choice should depend on the type of constraints smallholders face. The analysis considers, in addition to the role of small farmers as food suppliers, smallholders’ role as consumers and their level of nutrition security. The link between agriculture and nutrition is analysed to understand how agriculture affects human health and dietary patterns. Given the importance of smallholder farms, strategies to increase productivity in agriculture are essential to improve food and nutrition security, as is food diversity. Finally, synergies and trade-offs between economic, environmental and social objectives and outcomes are analysed through an overview of the methods and tools used to assess food security on small farms at household level. Models at country level are usually focused on long-term conditions, but short-term analyses would also be welcome. Developing global models to assess food security is also relevant, to include trade issues in the analysis. Models at farm household level in developing countries have a valuable role to play in the analysis of the impact of any policy on small farmers. |
| Keywords: | food security, agriculture, smallholders, nutrition |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc101229&r=agr |
| By: | Wouter Zant (VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | Transaction costs play a key role in the behaviour of smallholders in developing countries. We investigate smallholder tobacco cultivation in Malawi, Malawi’s major export crop, and exploit the introduction of an additional tobacco auction floor to measure the impact of a reduction in transaction costs on smallholders’ decisions on tobacco crop area and production. Estimations are based on annual data by Extension Planning Area, from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, combined with data from other sources. A 10% reduction in transport cost is shown to lead to an increase in crop area and production of around 4% and 2.5%, respectively. Supply response runs along the extensive margin: both area and production increase, but production slightly less, leading to a decrease in yield, most likely because tobacco cultivation expands to less suitable areas and/or less productive farmers. In view of the non-experimental nature of the data, we confirm impacts by estimating a dose response function using generalised propensity scores. Supply response increases substantially within a distance to auction floor of less than 60km. We find no empirical support for conversion of crop area from maize and other crops into tobacco. |
| Keywords: | transaction costs; market access; subsistence farming; food & cash crops; Malawi; Africa |
| JEL: | D23 O13 O55 Q11 Q13 |
| Date: | 2016–07–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20160054&r=agr |
| By: | Carletto,Calogero; Gourlay,Sydney; Murray,Siobhan; Zezza,Alberto |
| Abstract: | In rural societies of low- and middle-income countries, land is a major measure of wealth, a critical input in agricultural production, and a key variable for assessing agricultural performance and productivity. In the absence of cadastral information to refer to, measures of land plots have historically been taken with one of two approaches: traversing (accurate, but cumbersome), and farmers'self-report (cheap, but marred by measurement error). Recently, the advent of cheap handheld GPS devices has held promise for balancing cost and precision. Guided by purposely collected primary data from Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania (Zanzibar), and with consideration for practical household survey implementation, the paper assesses the nature and magnitude of measurement error under different measurement methods and proposes a set of recommendations for plot area measurement. The results largely point to the support of GPS measurement, with simultaneous collection of farmer self-reported areas. |
| Date: | 2016–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7759&r=agr |
| By: | Pavel Ciaian; d'Artis Kancs; Dusan Drabik |
| Abstract: | In this chapter, we review land market institutions in the European Union (EU) and their potential impact on land markets. We first review land tenure-/ownership regulations and find that they vary heavily across EU Member States. Four types of tenure-/ownership measures are implemented in the EU: to protect the tenant, to protect the owner, to protect the (non-farm) land owner, and to prevent land fragmentation. We then examine EU land-related environmental regulations whose general objective is to address land market failures linked to externalities and the provision of public goods. Despite possibly reducing private benefits of land owners or users, environmental regulations may generate welfare gains to society by improving the environmental services on land. Finally, we investigate how area-based subsidies affect land prices. These subsidies are empirically found to be partially capitalized into land values, albeit at a lower rate than suggested by theory. |
| Keywords: | Land markets, institutions, tenure, ownership, externalities, public goods. |
| JEL: | H22 L11 Q11 Q12 Q15 Q18 P32 R12 |
| Date: | 2016–01–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2016_10&r=agr |
| By: | Cevriye Aysoy; Duygu Halim Kirli; Semih Tumen |
| Abstract: | The market for fresh food is often characterized by a large number of intermediaries delivering the product from the farmer to the retailer. The existence of these intermediaries, especially the informal ones, is often claimed to introduce market frictions that push fresh food prices up. We test the hypothesis that scaling down these frictions reduces the level of prices. Our data come from a policy reform in Turkey concerning the supply chain regulations in the market for fresh fruits and vegetables. Starting from January 1st, 2012, a new law is enacted (i) to remove informal intermediaries, (ii) to reduce the farmers' cost of access to formal intermediaries such as wholesale market places, and (iii) to provide the farmers with the option to directly sell their products to retailers—bypassing the wholesale intermediaries. This policy reform resembles a natural experiment that exogenously reduces the supply chain barriers in the market for fresh fruits and vegetables. Using quasi-experimental methods, we show that the policy reform has strikingly reduced the prices in the wholesale market. We also provide some rough evidence that there is no price effect in the retail market, which suggests that part of the wholesale markups may have been transferred to the retailers. Taken at face value, these results provide some hints that consumers have not received any direct benefits from the reform—ignoring the general equilibrium effects. |
| Keywords: | Supply chain reform, Fresh food prices, Incomplete pass-through, Quasi-experimental design. |
| JEL: | C21 L52 Q11 Q18 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:1528&r=agr |
| By: | Adelaja, Adesoji O. |
| Abstract: | Several studies have examined the causes and consequences of major national security threats, especially terrorism, which has become a key global challenge. Others have explored the place targeting behavior of terrorist groups. While food security is widely accepted as an important element of national security, few studies, if any, have explored the nexus between both. Using Nigeria’s Boko Haram insurgency as a case study, this study explores three dimensions of the food-national security nexus: (1) food insecurity as a root cause of terrorism; (2) the socio-economic consequences/impacts of terrorism on agriculture and food security; and (3) why and how terrorists target agriculture and food security. To explain the vulnerability of food security to terrorism, the study further develops a theoretical model of terrorist motivation and place-targeting behavior, as well as several related hypotheses about their goals of causing food insecurity and enhancing their own food production and supply capacities. The application of this model to data from the Boko Haram insurgency yielded empirical evidence to support a number of hypotheses, including the greater vulnerability of specific agricultural and food production places to terrorist attacks and fatalities due to the commodities they produce. The paper concludes by recommending that the nexus between food security and national security should be more aptly investigated. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Attacks, Food Security, National Security, Terrorism, Insurgency, Inclusive Growth, Root Causes, Boko Haram, Nigeria., Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, O55, O38, q18, P16, N47, N57, |
| Date: | 2016–07–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:242359&r=agr |
| By: | Morsink,Karlijn; Clarke,Daniel Jonathan; Mapfumo,Shadreck |
| Abstract: | Agricultural index insurance offers the promise of an affordable and sustainable insurance product for farmers that can help reduce their vulnerability to aggregate agricultural shocks such as large-scale drought or flooding. However, index insurance provides claim payments based on a trigger that is only imperfectly correlated with losses. This implies that it carries basis risk: it may provide claim payments in years when there are no losses, and no claim payments in years when there are losses. The impact of index insurance on poverty outcomes is highly sensitive to the degree to which the product offers reliable protection. Offering unreliable index insurance may lead to high reputation risk for donors, governments, and the private sector. This study proposes to measure the reliability of index insurance in terms of two policy objectives that stakeholders may have when offering index insurance: the extent to which the insurance captures losses caused by the peril covered by the contract (insured peril basis risk) and the extent to which the insurance covers losses from agricultural production (production smoothing basis risk). For both types of basis risk two indicators are proposed: the probability of catastrophic basis risk and the catastrophic performance ratio. Donors, governments, and insurers can use the proposed monitoring indicators without much prior technical knowledge. Although the indicators specifically focus on agricultural index insurance for low-income farmers, they can be applied to any context where payments are provided based on indices that are correlated with losses. |
| Date: | 2016–07–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7744&r=agr |
| By: | Rafael Isidro PARRA-PEÑA; Mark LUNDY; Jana BISCHLER; Bilver Adrian ASTORQUIZA; John Jairo HURTADO |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on assessing the evidence that Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) work well for producers from vulnerable backgrounds and/or located in post conflict zones. Looking at data from the Rural Productive Partnership Project (PAAP), a decade long program designed to overcome market barriers in Colombia, and using a combination of statistical and econometric techniques such as principal component analysis, survival models and impact assessment methods, results reveal that partnerships with vulnerable populations perform similar to others with better off participants. Partnerships in post-conflict zones perform slightly worse than those in other areas. Additionally, there is no difference in the duration of agribusiness contracts, regardless of producers’ backgrounds and location in a post-conflict zone or not. The impact assessment exercise confirms an increase in households’ sales of the PAAP product. These findings suggest that market access PPPs such as the PAAP can be inclusive, helping to link marginalized smallholder farmers to modern agricultural value chains. |
| Keywords: | Rural productive partnership project, productive alliance, agribusiness, agricultural policy, vulnerable farmers |
| JEL: | Q12 Q13 Y Q18 |
| Date: | 2016–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000118:014846&r=agr |
| By: | R. Quentin Grafton, Mahala McLindin, Karen Hussey, Paul Wyrwoll, Dennis Wichelns, Claudia Ringler, Dustin Garrick, Jamie Pittock, Sarah Wheeler, Stuart Orr, Nathanial Matthews, Erik Ansink, Alice Aureli, Daniel Connell, Lucia De Stefano, Kate Dowsley, Stefano Farolfi, Jim Hall, Pamela Katic, Bruce Lankford, Hannah Leckie, Matthew McCartney, Huw Pohlner, Nazmun Ratna, Mark Henry Rubarenzya, Shriman Narayan Sai Raman, Kevin Wheeler and John Williams |
| Abstract: | We analyse the threats of global environmental change, as they relate to food security. First, we review three discourses: (i) ‘sustainable intensification’, or the increase of food supplies without compromising food producing inputs, such as soils and water; (ii) the ‘nexus’ that seeks to understand links across food, energy, environment and water systems; and (iii) ‘resilience thinking’ that focuses on how to ensure the critical capacities of food, energy and water systems are maintained in the presence of uncertainties and threats. Second, we build on these discourses to present the causal, risks and options assessment for decision-making process to improve decision-making in the presence of risks. The process provides a structured, but flexible, approach that moves from problem diagnosis to better risk-based decision-making and outcomes by responding to causal risks within and across food, energy, environment and water systems. |
| Keywords: | food security, sustainable intensification, nexus, resilience, sustainable development |
| Date: | 2016–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:appswp:201624&r=agr |
| By: | Pavel Ciaian; Dusan Drabik; Jan Falkowski; d'Artis Kancs |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to review new restrictions imposed on land sales in selected Eastern EU Member States and to investigate the potential impacts of these restrictions on land prices, transaction distortions, and access to land. The main common element of the new regulations across the four studied countries (Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia) is the introduction of the pre-emption rights to selected groups of potential buyers which tend to favor domestic and local farmers relative to external competition. However, the coverage of pre-emption rights differs strongly across countries. The regulation adopted in Slovakia is the most restrictive, followed by Latvia and Poland; Romania has adopted the least restrictive measures. We expect market transactions as well as land prices to decline due to reduced competition, causing foregone income to non-farming landowners. |
| Keywords: | Land Market, SAPS, institutions, agricultural policy, CEE. |
| JEL: | F12 L11 Q11 Q12 P32 |
| Date: | 2016–01–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2016_02&r=agr |
| By: | Katsushi S. Imai (Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration (RIEB), Kobe University, Japan and School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, UK); Raghav Gaiha (Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, India and Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University Boston, USA); Alessandra Garbero (Research and Impact Assessment Division (RIA), Strategy and Knowledge Department, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Italy) |
| Abstract: | Based on cross-country panel datasets, we find that (i) an increase in population share in agriculture is associated with poverty reduction once the longer- term poverty change or the dynamic is taken into account; (ii) rural non-agricultural sector also is poverty reducing in some cases; and (iii) increased population in the mega cities has no role in poverty reduction. In fact, the growth of population in mega cities is "poverty-increasing" in a few cases. Given that a rapid population growth or rural-urban migration is likely to increase poverty, more emphasis should be placed on policies that enhance support for rural agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. If our analysis has any validity, doubts are raised about recent research emphasising the role of secondary towns or urbanisation as the main driver of extreme poverty reduction. |
| Keywords: | Inequality, Poverty, Growth, Agriculture, Non-agriculture |
| JEL: | C20 I15 I39 O13 |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2016-25&r=agr |
| By: | Pavel Ciaian; d'Artis Kancs; Maria Espinosa |
| Abstract: | Decoupled direct payments were introduced in the European Union (EU) by the 2003 CAP reform in form of the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) and the Single Area Payment System (SAPS). The 2013 CAP reform changed both the implementation of decoupled payments as well as its budget. We assess the possible effects of the 2013 CAP reform on the capitalization of decoupled payments in land rental values. Our estimates suggest that the CAP reform leads to an increase in the capitalization of decoupled payments by additional 16 cents for each EUR of decoupled payments relative to the pre-reform situation. However, there is a relatively large variation in the reform effects between MS particularly between Old Member States (OMS) and New MS (NMS). In NMS the capitalization rate slightly reduces from 76% in the pre-reform period to 72% in the post-reform period. Although, the rate is significantly lower in OMS, it almost doubles (from 20% to 39%) due to the reform. The main source of the post-reform capitalization in the EU are the entitlement stock changes accounting for 19% of total post-reform capitalization level, followed by the internal convergence of payments with 18%, the budget change (including external convergence) with 1%, and the differentiation of payments (redistributive payment) with -7%. Overall, our estimates suggest that on average in the EU, the non-farming landowners’ policy gains are 25% of total decoupled payments in the post-reform period compared to 17% in the pre-reform period. |
| Keywords: | Capitalization, Decoupled subsidies, CAP reform, Land market, Land prices, Land rents, EU. |
| JEL: | H22 Q11 Q18 |
| Date: | 2016–01–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2016_04&r=agr |
| By: | Jean-Paul Faguet; Fábio Sanches; Marta-Juanita Villaveces |
| Abstract: | Over two centuries, Colombia transferred vast quantities of land, equivalent to the entire UK landmass, mainly to landless and poor peasants. And yet Colombia retains one of the highest concentrations of land ownership in the world. Why? We show that the effects of land reform on inequality and economic and human development were heterogeneous. On average, rural properties grew larger, land inequality and dispersion fell, and development increased across Colombia’s 1100+ municipalities between 1961-2010. But pre-existing inequality counteracts these effects, resulting in smaller rural properties, greater dispersion, and lower levels of development. How? Land reform increased public investment in agriculture, raising consumption of public and private goods. But land concentration again counters these effects. Elites seem to have distorted local decision-making to benefit themselves. We conclude that land reform’s second-order effects, on the distribution of local power, are more important than its first-order effects on the distribution of land. |
| Keywords: | land reform; inequality; development; latifundia; poverty; Colombia |
| JEL: | H27 N16 Q15 |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:67193&r=agr |
| By: | Emran,M. Shahe; Mookherjee,Dilip; Shilpi,Forhad J.; Uddin,M. Helal |
| Abstract: | Commodity traders are often the focus of popular resentment. Food price hikes in 2007-2008 resulted in protests and food riots, and spurred governments to regulate traders. In March 2011, Government of Bangladesh banned delivery order traders in the edible oils market, citing cartelization, and replaced them with a dealer's network appointed by upstream refiners. The reform provides a natural experiment to test alternative models of marketing intermediaries. This paper develops three models and derives testable predictions about the effects of the reform on the intercept of the margin equation and pass-through of international price. Using wheat as a comparison commodity, a difference-of-difference analysis of high frequency price data shows that the reform led to (i) an increase in domestic prices and marketing margins, and (ii) a weakening of the pass-through of imported crude prices. The evidence is inconsistent with the standard double-marginalization-of-rents model wherein intermediaries exercise market power while providing no value-added services, or with a model where delivery order traders provide credit to wholesalers at below-market interest rates. The evidence supports a model where delivery order traders relax binding credit constraints faced by the wholesale traders. |
| Date: | 2016–07–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7745&r=agr |
| By: | Hasan, Mohammad Monirul; Gerber, Nicolas |
| Abstract: | We investigated the impacts of piped water on water quality, sanitation, hygiene and health outcomes in marginalized rural households of north-western Bangladesh using a quasi-experimental analysis. A government organization – the Barindra Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) – established a piped water network to provide these rural households with improved water as they have poor access to potable water. Using propensity score matching, the study compares a treatment and a control group of households to identify gains in water-sanitation, hygiene and health outcomes. We found that the BMDA piped water infrastructure had a positive impact on access to improved water and significantly reduced the distance traveled for and time spent on collecting drinking water. However, we found no improvement in the drinking water quality, which was measured by the extent of fecal contamination (E. coli count per 100 ml of water) at the point of use. The hygiene status of food utensils also did not show any improvement; food utensils were tested positive for E. coli in both the control and treatment group. Although access to BMDA piped water in the premises involves cost, it didn’t improve hygiene behavior: handwashing with soap after defecation and before feeding children. The treated households own larger water containers which implies that the intervention has had a clear impact on the quantity of water used for household purposes. However, we did not find evidence of health benefits, such as decreased diarrhea incidence of in under-five children, improved child anthropometrics stunting, underweight and wasting of children due to piped water use. |
| Keywords: | Child diarrhea, Child growth, Piped water supply, Water-Sanitation, Hygiene, Irrigation agriculture, Propensity Score Matching, water quality, food utensil hygiene., Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, D12, I12, I31, O12, O18, Q15, Q25, P46, |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:240761&r=agr |
| By: | Newton, John; Coppess, Jonathan |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:242088&r=agr |
| By: | Araar,Abdelkrim; Verme,Paolo |
| Abstract: | The paper compares the distribution of energy and food subsidies across households and the impact of subsidy reforms on household welfare in the Middle East and North Africa region. The analysis uses a unified model and harmonized household data. The results show that the distribution of subsidies and the welfare effects of subsidy reforms are quite diverse across countries and products. Energy subsidies tend to be pro-rich in terms of absolute amounts, but tend to be more important for the poor in terms of expenditure shares. Instead, food subsidies are larger for the poor in absolute and relative terms. These findings do not apply everywhere, and the scale of these phenomena are different across countries and products. The welfare effect of a 30 percent reduction in subsidies can be important, especially considering the cumulated effect across products, but the cost of compensating the loss in welfare for the poor is generally low compared with the budget benefits of decreasing subsidies. |
| Date: | 2016–07–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7755&r=agr |
| By: | Bartkowski, Bartosz |
| Abstract: | Biodiversity is an important environmental public good. However, the literature suggests that it is not clear how its economic value should be estimated; there is no established framework for doing this. This paper summarises concepts of biodiversity value from the ecological and economic literatures and combines them to a comprehensive and consistent framework. It is argued that biodiversity is the main carrier of insurance value, option value and spill-over value, and also influences the aesthetic appreciation of ecosystems. On that basis, an extension of the TEV framework is proposed to incorporate biodiversity values better. Furthermore, a number of specific challenges of biodiversity as an economic good are identified and used as criteria to inform the choice of suitable valuation methods. |
| Keywords: | biodiversity,economic valuation,insurance value,option value,TEV |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ufzdps:92016&r=agr |
| By: | Ezihe, Jacqueline A.C.; Otitoju, Moradeyo A.; Ekechukwu, C. Augusta |
| Abstract: | IN: Nigerian Journal of Agricultural and Development Economics (NIJADE), Vol.4, No.2, Dec. 2014 (ISSN:2276-8378) |
| Keywords: | Efficiency, Fish production, Stochastic Frontier Cost Function, Farm Management, Productivity Analysis, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miscpa:242032&r=agr |
| By: | Tang, Liqun; Zhou, Jiehong; Yu, Xiaohua |
| Keywords: | Climate extremes, rice, stress tolerant variety, yield, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:241957&r=agr |
| By: | Tang, Liqun; Zhou, Jiehong; Yu, Xinhua |
| Keywords: | Climate extremes, rice, stress tolerant variety, yield, Crop Production/Industries, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:241956&r=agr |
| By: | Oo, Aung; Muntasir, Nafis; Poon, Kenneth; Weersink, Alfons; Thimmanagari, Mahendra |
| Abstract: | The agricultural-based biomaterial industry in Ontario is investigated with an overarching goal of formulating strategies to accelerate the industry’s establishment and development. The availability of current and potential biomass feedstock for use in the biomaterial sector is assessed. The current market status of selected biomaterials is analyzed, and the promising biomaterials for immediate commercial establishment in Ontario are identified. Policy instruments to promote the biomaterial industry are examined and compared with those in other jurisdictions. The influential factors in commercializing biomaterials and barriers are reviewed, and an evaluation matrix to screen the biomaterials/firms is developed. The strategic approach to accelerate the industry development is proposed with the prioritized market sectors and biomaterials. |
| Keywords: | biomaterial, biocomposites, fibreboards, innovation, Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uguiwp:241708&r=agr |
| By: | Chowdhury, Shyamal; Krause, Annabelle; Zimmermann, Klaus F. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of drinking arsenic contaminated water on mental health. Drinking water with an unsafe arsenic level for a prolonged period can lead to arsenicosis and associated illness. Based on rich and newly collected household survey data from Bangladesh, we construct several measures for arsenic contamination that include the actual arsenic level in the respondent’s tubewell (TW), and past institutional arsenic test results as well as their physical and mental health. To account for potential endogeneity of water source, we take advantage of the quasi-randomness of arsenic distribution and employ the pre-1999 use of TW as an instrument and structural modelling as alternatives for robustness checks. We find that suffering from an arsenicosis symptom is strongly negatively related to mental health, even more so than from other illnesses. Calculations of the costs of arsenic contamination reveal that the average individual would need to be compensated for suffering from an arsenicosis symptom by an amount of money over 10 percent of annual household income. |
| Keywords: | Arsenic, Water Pollution, Mental Health, Subjective Well-Being, Environment, Bangladesh, Environmental Economics and Policy, Health Economics and Policy, Q53, I10, I31, |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:242033&r=agr |
| By: | Lee, Youngjae; Kennedy, P. Lynn |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2016–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:242361&r=agr |
| By: | Rosete, Alfredo (Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst) |
| Abstract: | Of late, incorporating smallholder land, through partnerships with agribusiness firms that cultivate export crops has received some attention among scholars, policymakers and non-government organizations (NGOs). Some see such partnerships as a means of raising smallholder incomes, and achieving rural development. However, several case studies have shown that such partnerships can result in low incomes, and effective dispossession of smallholders. This essay examines how this dynamic occurs by comparing the experiences of smallholders in the Davao Region of the Philippines. I argue that despite the smallholders observable and enforceable property rights, the costs and risks of cultivation, coupled with an unfavorable political environment generate conditions under which smallholders cede control over their holdings in a partnership. This results in both lower incomes, and exclusion from the use of their land. |
| Keywords: | Rural Development, Land Conflict, Agribusiness, Agrarian Reform |
| JEL: | F63 N55 N75 O13 O19 O53 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ums:papers:2016-09&r=agr |
| By: | Liebenberg, Frikkie |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2015–07–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:upaewp:241722&r=agr |
| By: | Maria d'Errico; Alessandro Laio; Guido L. Chiarotti |
| Abstract: | We propose a stylized model of production and exchange in which long-term investors set their production decision over a horizon {\tau} , the "time to produce", and are liquidity constrained, while financial investors trade over a much shorter horizon {\delta} ( |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1607.07582&r=agr |
| By: | Usman, Muhammed Abdella; Gerber, Nicolas; Pangaribowo, Evita Hanie |
| Abstract: | Safe and adequate water supply is a vital element to preserve human health; however, access to clean water is limited in many developing countries. Furthermore, improved water sources are often contaminated with fecal matters and consumption of unsafe water poses a great public health risk. This study seeks to identify determinants of microbial contamination of household drinking water under multiple-use water systems in rural areas of Fogera and Mecha districts of Ethiopia. In this analysis, a random sample of 454 households was surveyed from February to March 2014, and water samples from community sources and storage containers were collected and tested for fecal contamination. The number of Escherichia coli (E.coli) colony forming units per 100ml (cfu/100ml) water was used as an indicator of fecal contamination. The results show that 50% of households used protected water sources, 38% used unprotected wells/ spring and 12% used surface water sources. However, water microbiological tests demonstrated that 58% of household storage water samples and 74% of water sources were contaminated with E.coli. After controlling for household sanitary factors, high level of E.coli bacteria colonies were observed in unprotected water compared to surface water and protected wells/springs sources. To ensure the quality and safety of water stored in the household, our findings suggest that point-of-use water treatment, safe water handling and storage, proper hygiene practices such as washing hands after critical times and proper disposal of household garbage should be promoted. On-site water wells should be properly designed to prevent seepage from unhygienic household pit latrine. Furthermore, community water sources should be adequately protected and sanitary measures should be undertaken regularly to reduce contamination from human and animal waste. |
| Keywords: | drinking water quality, water source, Escherichia coli, sanitation and hygiene, rural Ethiopia., Consumer/Household Economics, Health Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, I10, Q25, Q53, |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:241763&r=agr |
| By: | Goodrich, Brittney |
| Abstract: | Managed honey bee colonies provide pollination services, which are an essential input in the production of many crops in the United States. Over the last decade, the supply of U.S. honey bee colonies has become volatile as a result of multiple factors inhibiting colony health. This paper investigates the impact that colony supply uncertainty has on the California almond pollination market, the largest user of managed pollinators in the world. I develop a theoretical model and show that almond growers can reduce moral hazard in pollination agreements by paying beekeepers according to delivered colony strength. I utilize two unique datasets to identify determinants of almond pollination fees and test the predictions of the theoretical model. Using the California State Beekeeper's Association pollination fee survey for years 2008-2015, I find that providing low strength colonies for almond pollination results in lower fees collected by the beekeeper. I pair the beekeeper-reported data analysis with an empirical study of an almond grower pollination contract survey that I conducted at the 2015 Almond Conference. The results of the almond grower data analysis suggest that growers whose pollination contracts specify minimum colony strength requirements of at least the industry standard pay higher pollination fees than those who have lower or no colony strength requirements. The empirical results support the theoretical model finding that almond growers use colony strength requirements to elicit beekeeper effort. Since almond pollination represents only part of a commercial beekeeper's yearly income from honey production and pollination services, this paper highlights the need for additional research on the total economic impact of volatility of U.S. honey bee colony populations to effectively implement policies that promote managed pollinator health. |
| Keywords: | Contracts, Pollination, Bees, Ecosystem Services, Colony Strength, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Industrial Organization, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, Q12, Q13, Q57, |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:242324&r=agr |
| By: | Krieger, Tim; Meierrieks, Daniel |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of large-scale land acquisitions on the risk of ethnic tensions for a sample of 133 countries for the 2000-2012 period. Running a series of fractional response models, we find that more land grabbing activity is associated with a higher risk of ethnic tensions, indicating that the negative effects of land deals outweigh their potential benefits. In addition to that, we also show that democratic institutions may moderate the relationship between land deals and ethnic tensions. That is, non-democratic countries face a substantially higher risk of ethnic tensions as the level of large-scale land acquisitions increases; by contrast, strongly democratic countries tend to see lower ethnic tension risk. |
| Keywords: | large-scale land acquisitions,land grabbing,conflict,ethnic tensions,democratic accountability,weak institutions |
| JEL: | F21 F63 O13 O43 Q15 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wgspdp:201604&r=agr |
| By: | Siddig, Khalid |
| Abstract: | Many countries in the developing world lack the required capacities and data to provide evidence-based policymaking. As a consequence, they apply a trial-and-error approach to their exchange rate, trade and domestic tax policies, among others. Some countries base their policies on the experiences of other countries that are not necessarily similar in terms of economic structure, sectoral linkages and trade openness. This could be partially justified as well by the difficulty of basing economic policies on researched evidence due to the forward and backward linkages that prevail in any economy, which necessitates ex post and ex ante policy impact analysis on the entirety of economic actors. This reality was recognized during the 1960s by researchers and Johansen (1960) was the first to envisage a solution for it in the form of what is currently known as Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models. The importance of CGE models rests on their ability to provide economy-wide impact assessments with huge flexibility in capturing a detailed representation of the economy depending on the availability of data. Despite the widespread use of CGE models, no comprehensive review of their applications to the different geographical regions of the world, the different types of problems they contributed to and the different disciplines they addressed is available. This kind of review is expected to show their usefulness and identify the regions, themes and disciplines that lack their applications and, hence, to direct future research. These are the main objectives of this study, which starts by exploring the history of CGE models, including the intensity of their applications worldwide and the areas of research in which they have been applied through the time, with a special focus on the period between 1980 and 2014. The study also explores classifying CGE applications by the kind of services they have provided to advise policymaking, especially in developing countries. Afterwards, the study focusses on four countries to provide deep assessments of CGE applications and identify areas for future research using CGE models. The selected countries are Palestine, Israel, the Sudan and Nigeria. The selection of these countries is related to research projects in which the author is involved, as well as personal interest. The study reviews all the CGE applications to the selected countries, their areas of applications and the type of problems they addressed. |
| Keywords: | CGE application, policy research, Palestine, Sudan, Nigeria., Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Labor and Human Capital, Political Economy, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–07–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ukdawp:241970&r=agr |
| By: | Kevin Dayaratna (Heritage Foundation, Washington DC.); Ross Mckitrick (Department of Economics and Finance, University of Guelph); David Kreutzer (Heritage Foundation, Washington DC.) |
| Abstract: | Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) require parameterization of both economic and climatic processes. The latter includes Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS), or the temperature response to doubling CO2 levels, and Ocean Heat Uptake (OHU) efficiency. ECS distributions in IAMs have been drawn from climate model runs that lack an empirical basis,and in Monte Carlo experiments may not be constrained to consistent OHU values. EmpiricalECS estimates are now available, but have not yet been applied in IAMs. We incorporate a new estimate of the ECS distribution conditioned on observed OHU efficiency into two widely-used IAMs. The resulting Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) estimates are much lower than those from models based on simulated parameters. In the DICE model the average SCC falls by 30-50% depending on the discount rate, while in the FUND model the average SCC falls by over 80%. The span of estimates across discount rates also shrinks substantially |
| Keywords: | Social Cost of Carbon, Climate Sensitivity, Ocean Heat Uptake, Carbon Taxes, Integrated Assessment Models |
| JEL: | Q54 Q58 H23 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gue:guelph:2016-08&r=agr |
| By: | Santeramo, Fabio Gaetano; von Cramon-Taubadel, Stephan |
| Abstract: | Studies on the causes for asymmetries in vertical price transmission date back to decades ago, but the attention of theorists and empirical economists is still vivid. In particular the role of perishability is not fully defined. We investigate the vertical price transmission for a heterogeneous group of fruits and vegetables that differ for their degree of perishability. The error correction model we estimate allows toconclude that asymmetries in vertical price transmission tend to vanish for perishable products. |
| Keywords: | Asymmetries, AVECM, Fruits and vegetables, Perishability, Vertical price transmission. |
| JEL: | C32 D40 Q11 Q13 |
| Date: | 2016–07–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:72735&r=agr |
| By: | Tomas Balint; Francesco Lamperti; Antoine Mandel; Mauro Napoletano; Andrea Roventini; Alessandro Sapio |
| Abstract: | We provide a survey of the micro and macro economics of climate change from a complexity science perspective and we discuss the challenges ahead for this line of research. We identify four areas of the literature where complex system models have already produced valuable insights: (i) coalition formation and climate negotiations, (ii) macroeconomic impacts of climate-related events, (iii) energy markets and (iv) diffusion of climate-friendly technologies. On each of these issues, accounting for heterogeneity, interactions and disequilibrium dynamics provides a complementary and novel perspective to the one of standard equilibrium models. Furthermore, it highlights the potential economic benefits of mitigation and adaptation policies and the risk of under-estimating systemic climate change-related risks. |
| Keywords: | climate change, climate policy, climate economics, complex systems, agent-based models, socio-economic networks |
| Date: | 2016–10–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2016/29&r=agr |
| By: | Joaquim Bento de Souza Ferreira Filho; Mark Horridge |
| Abstract: | Recent internal migration flows in Brazil differ from historical patterns observed since the seventies. In the past internal migration typically flowed from states in Northeast Brazil and Minas Gerais towards the richer states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. According to Brito and Carvalho (2006) between 1960 and 1990 about 8.1 million people left the Northeast and 3.8 million left Minas Gerais. This was the "normal" internal migration pattern in Brazil until the eighties, when, according to Brito and Carvalho (2006), a succession of economic crises and expansion of the agricultural frontiers changed the picture. Actually, during the nineties emigration from the Northeast region slowed down considerably; the region became a net recipient of population in recent years. At the same time, the Southeast states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the main destination for migrants until the end of the eighties, have recently lost population. Some of the migrants leaving the Southeast return to the Northeast, but many go to the dynamic new agricultural Center-west regions. |
| Keywords: | Computable General Equilibrium, Climate, Internal Migration |
| JEL: | C68 E17 Q54 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cop:wpaper:g-262&r=agr |