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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2016‒08‒28
sixteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Francis, Mwaura; Miriam Katunze; Tony, Muhumuza; Isaac, Shinyekwa |
| Abstract: | Uganda’s government has prioritized enhancing agricultural production and productivity as a primary intervention in developing the economy. The advantages of enhancing agricultural production and productivity include improving food security at the household level, increasing income for farmers, reducing food prices for both farmers and non-farmers, and the potential of this reduction for spurring economic growth. Increased productivity is also viewed as a panacea to the challenge of increased pressure on the land, demand for more food and need for employment creation resulting from the high population growth rate. Investment in water for agriculture production (WfAP) infrastructure has been recommended as the best-bet intervention that will break the constraints facing Uganda’s agriculture. The provision and adoption of WfAP will have multiple effects on the agriculture sector by reducing risk associated with agricultural production and thereby enhancing the adoption of higher yielding technologies. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eprcop:244087&r=agr |
| By: | Parwez, Sazzad |
| Abstract: | This article is an attempt to explore the problems faced by Indian agriculture for food security in terms of inadequate infrastructure and highly inefficient supply chain. Due to lack of efficient infrastructure, supply chain mechanism and food processing, around 30–35 per cent of all foods produced in India are wasted. This article examines the critical issues at subsystem of agriculture supply chain, with a view to integrating them in efficient and effective manner. This article broadly covers some important aspects of agriculture supply chain in India—identification of issues at different levels in the supply chain; transformation in the agriculture due to various supply chain interventions; and the role of information technology in supply chain management. As this article is based on both primary and secondary research methodology, it has led us to finding that there is not much research in this field in India and importance of integration in agricultural development. The article concludes that efficient supply chain plays a very important role for development and is a contemporary issue for agriculture, therefore, the government and the corporates must address the issue of integration, infrastructure development and information management to achieve the objective of a feasible agricultural sector which will lead to food security for all. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, supply chain, integration, infrastructure, food security, development, investment, socioeconomic |
| JEL: | M0 O5 R4 R41 |
| Date: | 2015–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:73263&r=agr |
| By: | Ramamoorthy, Dr. R. Ravikumar |
| Abstract: | The Precision Farming Project was first started in Tamil Nadu in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri during 2004-05. It was implemented initially on 250 acres, then 500 acres in 2005 – 06 and 250 acres in 2006 -07. The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University was the nodal agency that implemented this project with total budget of 720 lakhs for a period of three years. Most parts of the Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts are semi-arid tracts with low rainfall and low productivity. In this context, there is a need for studying the impact of technological innovations like precision farming on resource-poor regions and underprivileged farm households particularly the production, income, marketing, under precision farming. To understand the practices at farm level under precision farming In Dharmapuri district. Farmers adopting precision farming methods of cultivation for long period and persistently were considered for the case study. Generally, they are well-respected farm managers, and typically viewed as successful farmers in the local farm community. Certainly the case study farmers should not be thought as representative of all farmers. Still, the information received from the case studies will be instructive for the larger groups. The study found that both farmers were successful in adopting precision method of cultivation in the study area. |
| Keywords: | Case Study, Production, income, and marketing. |
| JEL: | Q1 Q15 |
| Date: | 2016–08–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:73233&r=agr |
| By: | Philippe Le Coent; Raphaelle Préget; Sophie Thoyer |
| Abstract: | In the economic literature on the motivations underlying voluntary contributions to environmental public goods, little attention is granted to the way the overall objective of the environmental program is framed. A program which contributes to an increase of environmental quality can be perceived differently from a program designed to bring back the environmental quality to its original level, after it was damaged by human intervention, even if net environmental gain is equivalent in both programs. How does it impact participation rates and contribution levels? This paper addresses this issue in the context of agri-environmental contracts for biodiversity conservation. It compares farmers’ willingness to participate in two equivalent agri-environmental schemes, one being framed as part of a biodiversity offset program, the other one as a biodiversity conservation program. We demonstrate with a discrete choice experiment that biodiversity –offsets programs must offer a greater payment to enroll farmers compared to the latter. This is explained by the sensitivity of farmers to environmental issues. |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lam:wpaper:07-16&r=agr |
| By: | Kirsty Lewis; Carlo Buontempo |
| Abstract: | Given that the population of the Sahel depends largely on rain-fed agriculture and transhumant livestock rearing, there is a growing concern about the future climate of the region as global warming may alter the availability of water resources. The lack of consensus on climate projections for West Africa results partly from the inability of climate models to capture some basic features of present-day climate variability in the region. As a result, climate model projections are difficult to analyse in terms of impacts and provide little guidance to inform decision making on adaption and resilience-building. However, by engaging with users of climate information to better understand their activities and their sensitivities to weather and climate, and by looking beyond the user to understand the wider systems context in which climate change occurs, progress can be made in interpreting climate impacts. This paper reviews the latest climate projections for West Africa and considers alternative ways in which the knowledge generated from climate science can be understood in the context of preparing for an uncertain future that provides practical help for decision makers. La population du Sahel étant dépendante de l’agriculture pluviale et de l’élevage transhumant, les futures conditions climatiques de la région constituent un sujet de préoccupation majeure, le réchauffement climatique pouvant affecter la disponibilité des ressources en eau. L’absence de consensus sur les projections climatiques en Afrique de l’Ouest résulte en partie de l’incapacité des modèles à saisir certaines des caractéristiques de la variabilité actuelle du climat. Les impacts des projections des modèles climatiques sont ainsi difficiles à analyser et peu d’informations utiles à la décision en termes d’adaptation et de renforcement de la résilience sont disponibles. Néanmoins, en travaillant de pair avec les utilisateurs d’informations climatiques pour mieux comprendre leurs activités et leur sensitivité aux conditions météorologiques et au climat tout en saisissant le contexte général des systèmes dans lequel le changement climatique se produit, l’interprétation des conséquences climatiques s’améliore. Dans un contexte marqué par l’incertitude sur l’avenir, cette note passe en revue les projections climatiques les plus récentes sur l’Afrique de l’Ouest et aborde des approches alternatives d’interprétation des sciences du climat, susceptibles d’apporter une aide concrète aux décideurs. |
| Keywords: | climate change, climate projections, climate variability, West Africa, climate science, projections climatiques, sciences du climat, variabilité du climat, changement climatique, Afrique de l’Ouest |
| JEL: | Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2016–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:swacaa:2-en&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); Wenya Cheng (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) |
| Abstract: | Drawing upon cross-country panel data for developing countries, the present study examines the role of agricultural growth in reducing inequality and poverty by modelling the dynamic linkage between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. For this purpose, we have compared the role of agricultural growth and that of non-agricultural growth and have found that agricultural growth is more important in reducing poverty, while the negative effect of agricultural growth on inequality is found in a few models where specific definitions of inequality are adopted. Our analysis generally reinforces the case for revival of agriculture in the post-2015 discourse, contrary to the much emphasised roles of rural-urban migration and urbanisation as main drivers of growth and elimination of extreme poverty. |
| Keywords: | Inequality, Poverty, Growth, Agriculture, Non-agriculture, MDG, SDG |
| JEL: | C20 I15 I39 O13 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2016-27&r=agr |
| By: | Ramamoorthy, Dr. R. Ravikumar; A, Mr Jagan Gopu |
| Abstract: | Precision farming uses a system approach to provide a new solution to contemporary agriculture. In Tamil Nadu, precision farming was implemented under the Tamil Nadu Precision Farming Project (TNPFP) in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts on about 400 ha from 2004-05 onwards. Most parts of the Krishnagiri district are semi-arid tracts with low rainfall and low productivity. In this context, there is a need for studying the impact of technological innovations like precision farming on resource-poor regions and underprivileged farm households. Specifically, the study has looked into the productivity, income and employment at farm level. Hence, Krishnagiri district was selected as the study area. As per the report of the government of Tamil Nadu, the number of precision farmers was high in Krishnagiri district. The study covered 168 precision farmers and 84 non precision farmers as the sample respondents to collect data. Thus the total size of the sample came to 252. The study found that the share of cost in the case of precision farmers was highest for human labour 27.17 per cent because to increase yield more labour required especially at the time of harvesting or cutting of the vegetables and flowers. Found that farmers used four types of fertilizer they are, straight fertilizer (urea, potash), farm yard manure (FYM - cow dung, poultry manure and vermin compost), bio-fertilizer (trichoderma) and water soluble fertilizer (19-19-19, Multi K) in the study area. Furhter observed that the FYM and bio- fertilizers involve high cost due to scarcity of cattle and awareness about the importance of FYM on soil quality. |
| Keywords: | Key Words: Precision Farming, Cost, Production, Fertilizers and Employment. |
| JEL: | Q1 Q15 |
| Date: | 2016–08–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:73273&r=agr |
| By: | Alex Armand; Orazio Attanasio; Pedro Carneiro; Valérie Lechene |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the differential effect of targeting cash transfers to men or women on the structure of household expenditures on non-durables. We study a policy intervention in the Republic of Macedonia, offering cash transfers to poor households, conditional on having their children attending secondary school. The recipient of the transfer is randomized across municipalities to be either the household head or the mother. Using data collected to evaluate the conditional cash transfer program, we show that the gender of the recipient has an effect on the structure of expenditure shares. Targeting transfers to women increases the expenditure share on food by about 4 to 5%. To study the allocation of expenditures within the food basket, we estimate a demand system for food and we find that targeting payments to mothers induces, for different food categories, not only a significant intercept shift, but also a change in the slope of the Engel curve. |
| Keywords: | CCT, intra-household, gender, expenditure. |
| JEL: | D12 D13 E21 O12 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nva:unnvaa:wp06-2016&r=agr |
| By: | Angelucci, Manuela; Prina, Silvia; Royer, Heather; Samek, Anya |
| Abstract: | Little is known about how peers influence the impact of incentives. We investigate two mechanisms by which these effects can occur: through peers' actions and peers' incentives. In a field experiment on snack choice in the school lunchroom (choice of grapes versus cookies), we randomize who receives incentives, the fraction of peers incentivized, and whether or not it can be observed that peers' choices are incentivized. We show that, while peers' actions - picking grapes - have a positive spillover effect on children's take-up of grapes, seeing that peers are incentivized to pick grapes has a negative spillover effect on take-up. When incentivized choices are public, incentivizing all children to pick grapes has no statistically significant effect on take-up, as the negative spillover offsets the positive impacts of incentives on take-up. |
| Keywords: | food choice,incentives,spillovers,field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 I1 J13 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbmbh:spii2016205&r=agr |
| By: | Guglielmo Maria Caporale; Alanoud Al-Maadid; Fabio Spagnolo; Nicola Spagnolo |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates a bivariate VAR-GARCH(1,1) model to examine linkages between food and energy prices. The adopted framework is suitable to analyse both mean and volatility spillovers, and also allows for possible parameter shifts resulting from four recent events, namely: 1) the 2006 food crisis, 2) the Brent oil bubble, 3) the introduction of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) policy, and 4) the 2008 global financial crisis. The empirical findings suggest that there are significant linkages between food and both oil and ethanol prices. Further, the four events considered had mixed effects, the 2006 food crisis and 2008 financial crisis leading to the most significant shifts in the (volatility) spillovers between the price series considered. |
| Keywords: | Energy and food prices; VAR K-model; mean and volatility spillovers |
| JEL: | C32 F36 G15 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nva:unnvaa:wp02-2016&r=agr |
| By: | Lili Yan Ing (Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), University of Indonesia); Olivier Cadot (University of Lausanne, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and Foundation for International Development Study, and Research FERDI); Janine Walz (The World Bank) |
| Abstract: | We construct an index of transparency in non-tariff measures based on notifications to the World Trade Organization under the agreements on sanitary and phytosanitary measures and on technical barriers to trade, the existence of a trade portal giving ready access to trade-relevant regulations, the existence of NTM data collected under the Multi-Agency Support Team classification, and the results of an experiment conducted between 2015 and 2016 where we asked for specific regulations concerning the import of a particular product on behalf of a private company. The resulting country ranking shows that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries are, by and large, the most transparent, but also shows that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states score well compared to other developing countries. |
| Keywords: | International trade, non-tariff measures, transparency, governance, index, ranking |
| JEL: | F12 F13 F14 F15 F16 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2016-23&r=agr |
| By: | Zimmerhackel, Johanna S; Pannell, David J; Meekan, Mark; Kragt, Marit E; Rogers, Abbie |
| Abstract: | This working paper describes Ms. Zimmerhackel’s proposal for PhD research at the School of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Western Australia. At the time of writing, the research has not yet been conducted. |
| Keywords: | diving tourism, shark sanctuary, compliance, market valuation, decision models, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q22, Q26, Q57, |
| Date: | 2016–08–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwauwp:243921&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 (Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University Boston, USA); Fabrizio Bresciani (Asia and the Pacific Division of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the dynamics of transformation in rural Asia and the Pacific, with a focus on their effect on poverty. It draws upon an up-to-date country panel data in the region. First, transformation of the agricultural sector in terms of commercialisation and product diversity has dynamically increased agricultural value added per capita and its growth, and consequently reduced both rural and urban poverty significantly. The effect of agricultural transformation in reducing child malnutrition is also corroborated, while inequality in rural area is reduced only at the initial stage of development of agriculture in low income countries. Our analysis has also confirmed that agricultural transformation, in terms of commercialisation and product diversification, has promoted total factor productivity (TFP) with lags, which reduced both rural and urban poverty significantly. Second, a higher degree of agricultural transformation and higher levels of population in the working age group are important for a country to move up from the low income country group to the lower middle income country group. Higher education attainment and lower dependency rates distinguish upper-middle income countries from low and lower-middle income countries. Poverty concentration has shifted from low income countries to lower-middle income countries from 1990 to 2014. Third, in India, gender-related factors (e.g. female headedness or having more female members), larger areas of owned land, higher education, and employment in agricultural self-employment became more important determinants of poverty in 2004-2005 than in 1993-1994. Finally, investigating the extent to which manufacturing and service sectors could absorb growing rural labour force, it is worrying that in more recent years the employment elasticities of these sectors have declined. |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2016-30&r=agr |
| By: | Anne Gordon; Katherine Niland; Mary Kay Fox |
| Abstract: | This brief describes how School Nutrition Dietary Assessment (SNDA) studies have informed policies governing the content of school meals. |
| Keywords: | SNDA, nutrition, lunch standards, saturated fat, school breakfast, milk, healthy hunger-free kids act |
| JEL: | I0 I1 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:3121d696cde3458dacef258d908cf4d9&r=agr |
| By: | Antony Millner; Thomas K. J. McDermott |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2016–07–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:67122&r=agr |
| By: | Effiong, Ekpeno |
| Abstract: | Africa’s rapid urbanization pose challenges for her sustainable development. This paper investigates the environmental impact of urbanization for 49 African countries from 1990 to 2010. Using the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) framework, a recently developed semi-parametric panel fixed-effects regression technique, and two atmospheric air pollutants, namely carbon dioxide (CO2) and ambient particulate matter PM10 emissions, the evidence indicates that urbanization reduces environmental pollution. The semi-parametric analysis reveals that the result is more pronounced with PM10 but weaker for CO2 emissions. Moreover, there is no evidence to confirm the Kuznets hypothesis of an inverted U-shaped curve between urbanization and environmental pollution. To reap the benefits of urbanization, there is need for a strategic urban planning with basic infrastructure investment that promotes a green environment. |
| Keywords: | Urbanization; Environmental Quality; STIRPAT; Semi-parametric method; Africa. |
| JEL: | C14 C33 O55 Q2 Q20 Q5 R11 |
| Date: | 2016–07–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:73224&r=agr |