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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2018‒09‒17
129 papers chosen by |
| By: | Ogutu, Sylvester Ochieng; Goedecke, Theda; Qaim, Matin |
| Abstract: | Commercialization of smallholder agriculture is widely seen as an essential pathway towards rural economic growth. While previous studies have analyzed effects of commercialization on productivity and income, implications for farm household nutrition have received much less attention. We evaluate the impact of commercialization on household food security and dietary quality, with a special focus on calorie and micronutrient consumption. We also examine transmission channels by looking at the role of income, gender, and possible substitution between the consumption of own-produced and purchased foods. The analysis builds on survey data from 805 farm households in Western Kenya. A control function approach is used to address issues of endogeneity. Generalized propensity scores are employed to estimate continuous treatment effects. Commercialization significantly improves food security and dietary quality in terms of calorie, zinc, and iron consumption. For vitamin A, effects are positive but statistically insignificant. Commercialization contributes to higher incomes and added nutrients from purchased foods. It does not reduce the consumption of nutrients from own-produced foods, even after controlling for farm size, which can be explained by higher productivity on more commercialized farms. Enhancing market access is important not only for rural economic growth, but also for making smallholder agriculture more nutrition-sensitive. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261285&r=agr |
| By: | Abadi Mistru, N. |
| Abstract: | The evidence to date on the links between nutrition –sensitive agricultural interventions and dietary diversity has been scant and inconclusive. This study contributes to the debate by analyzing the impacts of sweet potato production on dietary diversity of farm households in northern Ethiopia. Survey data collected in 2014 from 524 sample households was used in the analysis. Endogenous switching regression model supported by binary propensity score matching methods were used to empirically assess the impact of adopting sweet potato on food consumption score or dietary diversity of farm households. Results show that education of household head, farm size, access to information, extension visit, and institutional services are the major determinants of household decisions to adopt sweet potato. The average treatment effect results also show that the food consumption score or dietary diversity is high for adopters as compared to the non-adopter counterparts. The results are robust and consistent in both methods. Thus, policies and development strategies encouraging further adoption of nutrition sensitive agricultural technologies could enhance dietary diversity of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:275992&r=agr |
| By: | Elliott, John; Image, Mike |
| Abstract: | The Green Low-Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) is the main agri-environment scheme (AES) in Ireland, funded under the CAP rural development programme (RDP) 2014-2020. GLAS was designed to support and encourage more sustainable production practices at farm level and underpins a range of over-arching environmental objectives as set down in EU Directives and National and International Strategies. AES have been widely used as a policy instrument to deliver environmental protection and enhancement on commercial farms, above and beyond the regulatory baseline. To be effective, this requires a number of individual land managers within a given landscape or catchment to voluntarily participate in schemes and select and implement an appropriate mix of actions over time. There is a wealth of literature on the design of agri- environmental schemes based on theories of behaviour change (scheme uptake and attitudinal change) and how to affect environmental change (effectiveness of actions at site and landscape scale). This paper considers both. In 2015, ADAS and Scott Cawley were contracted to undertake the monitoring and evaluation of GLAS to evaluate scheme structure, composition and effectiveness. The approach started with a detailed literature review of the existing research on agri-environment measures in Ireland and the development of a sampling plan and protocols for a longitudinal (5 year) field-based assessment of GLAS actions targeting biodiversity. Actions for water and climate change are being assessed through a modelling approach, using FARMSCOPER, a decision support tool to assess diffuse agricultural pollutant loads to water and air. The work also includes an attitudinal survey of the GLAS sample farmers as well as a counterfactual group (non-participants) to understand farmer motivations to participate in the scheme, secure feedback on their experience and identify influences of participation on environmental behaviour. Critically, all elements measure change over time (3 field surveys and 2 attitudinal surveys) and include a baseline assessment, while the evaluation of motivations and influence on attitudes is an important element for a voluntary scheme. A desk-based evaluation of GLAS will provide evidence of scheme impact for the 2019 enhanced RDP reporting and make recommendations for future agri-environment schemes. The baseline field survey has been completed on a sample of 313 farms, using ‘Measures of Success’ for 26 actions to assess site condition and action implementation. Bird actions and simple habitat actions were generally well implemented and most measures of success were met but this was less so for more complex habitat actions. The attitudinal survey found that half of scheme participants were part-time farmers, mainly cattle rearing (37%) and mixed livestock farms (31%) and key reasons for participation in GLAS were financial. For water and climate change, the model development provides a spatially explicit baseline assessment of pollutants. Catchment scale impact is based on action uptake by farm type for each WFD waterbody at Ireland level. Nationally 32% of agricultural land is in the GLAS scheme but only 13% of farms are specialist dairying and this is expected to limit the contribution to mitigating the impacts of agriculture on water quality and climate change. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa166:276181&r=agr |
| By: | Vårdal, Erling; Blandford, David; Gaasland, Ivar |
| Abstract: | At the UN climate change conference in Paris in November 2015, Norway committed itself to a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Agriculture accounts for 8% of Norway’s total GHG emissions. If GHGs from drained and cultivated wetland (categorized under land use, land use change and forestry) are included, the share is 13%; this for a sector that accounts for roughly 0.3% of GDP. As is the case in most countries, agriculture is currently exempt from emission reduction measures, including the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), in which Norway participates. But the country has recently signaled its intention to include agriculture in future emission reduction efforts. Consideration is being given to how best to achieve GHG reductions in the sector. A recent report by the Norwegian Green Tax Commission, established by the government to evaluate policy options for achieving emission reductions, (Government of Norway, 2015) emphasizes the importance of including agriculture. The Commission suggests that agricultural emissions should be taxed at the same rate as for other sectors. It also recommends that reductions in the production and consumption of red meat should be specifically targeted, through cuts in production grants to farmers and the imposition of consumption taxes. Unsurprisingly, this proposed policy shift is extremely controversial and faces resistance, particularly from the farmers’ unions. Farmers argue that the maintenance of domestic agricultural production is crucial for achieving national food security objectives, in addition to pursuing other aims such as the maintenance of economic activity in rural areas and landscape preservation. Food security, which has been a key policy objective since the end of the Second World War, has been interpreted in Norway as requiring high levels of selfsufficiency in basic agricultural commodities. To achieve this, substantial subsidies are provided to farmers and domestic prices of many commodities are kept at high levels by restricting imports. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates that the total financial support provided to Norwegian agriculture in 2015 was equivalent to 62% of the value of gross farm receipts, which made Norway (along with Switzerland) a leader in the amount of support provided to agriculture by the 50 OECD member and non-member countries monitored by the Organization (OECD, 2016). In this paper we analyze policy options for achieving a 40% reduction in agricultural GHG emissions, consistent with the economy-wide target, while imposing the restriction that national food production measured in calories should be maintained (the food security target). This is consistent with the way that the Norwegian government identifies the country’s food security objective. In section 2 we outline the current situation with respect to GHG emissions in Norwegian agriculture. In section 3 we illustrate the policy issues involved by considering two product aggregates that are intensive in the use of land for crop production (grainland) and grassland, respectively. The aggregates are based on data for the main commodities in Norwegian agriculture relating to GHG emissions, land use, caloric content, subsidies, and costs per unit of production. We show that even though the opportunity set (i.e., the production combinations that are possible within technical constraints) is narrow, a 40% cut in emissions is achievable by substituting from ruminant products that are intensive in the use of grassland to products based on grainland. We also show that the emissions reduction both reduces government budgetary costs and land use, i.e., ruminant products are characterized by relatively high subsidies and land use. Two-dimensional analysis ignores the fact that per unit emissions from dairy production are low compared to other ruminant products (i.e., beef and sheep production). Both in terms of production value and agricultural employment, dairy farming is the most important component of Norwegian agriculture. Consequently, milk production deserves to be separated from ruminant meat production. Finally in section 4, we present a detailed analysis 3 of policy options derived from a disaggregated model that includes all the major products in Norwegian agriculture. In the model-based analysis, we examine first the imposition of a carbon tax, while maintaining existing agricultural support policies and import protection, and achieving the food security (production of calories) target. Since the imposition of a carbon tax in agriculture presents both technical and political challenges, we then examine an alternative approach of changing the existing structure of agricultural support to approximate the same result. We show that it is possible to change current subsidy rates to mimic the carbon tax and calorie target solution. The explanation for this is that ruminant products not only generate high emissions per produced calorie, but they are also the most highly subsidized products. Meat from ruminants is relatively unimportant in achieving Norway’s food security objective of calorie availability. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260829&r=agr |
| By: | Bayramoglu, Basak; Chakir, Raja; Lungarska, Anna |
| Abstract: | Since the mid 1980s, freshwater ecosystems have experienced larger declines in biodiversity than terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Pressures on freshwater ecosystems are mainly human-induced and driven by land use changes. The objective of this paper is to evaluate how land-use adaptation to climate change affects freshwater ecosystems in France. For this purpose, we use data on land use shares (agriculture, pasture, forest and urban) and on an indicator of the ecological status of surface water, namely a fish-based index (FBI) measured for various French rivers observed between 2001 and 2013. We estimate two models: a spatial econometric land use share model and a statistical spatial panel FBI model. The land use share model describes how land use is affected by economic, physical and demographic factors, while the FBI model explains the spatial and temporal distribution of the FBI score by land use and pedo-climatic variables. Our estimation results indicate that land-use adaptation to climate change reduces freshwater biodiversity. We use our estimation results to analyze how two command-and-control policy options could help France to comply with the EU Water Framework directive and mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change on freshwater biodiversity. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261440&r=agr |
| By: | Kubitza, Christoph; Krishna, Vijesh; Urban, Kira; Qaim, Matin |
| Abstract: | The expansion of agricultural land remains one of the main drivers of deforestation in tropical regions, with severe negative environmental consequences. Stronger land property rights could possibly enable farmers to increase input intensity and productivity on the already cultivated land, thus reducing incentives to expand their farms by deforesting additional land. This hypothesis is tested with data from a panel survey of farm households in Sumatra, Indonesia, one of the hotspots of recent rainforest loss due to agricultural area expansion. The survey data are combined with satellite imageries to account for spatial patterns, such as historical forest locations. Results show that plots for which farmers hold formal land titles are cultivated more intensively than untitled plots, even after controlling for other relevant factors. Land titles also contribute to higher crop yields, hence confirming expectations. However, due to land policy restrictions, farmers located at the historic forest margins often do not hold formal titles for the land they cultivate. Without land titles, these farmers are less able to intensify and more likely to expand into the surrounding forest land to increase agricultural output. Indeed, forest closeness and past deforestation activities by households are found to be positively associated with current farm size. The findings suggest that the observed land policy restrictions are not conducive for forest conservation. In addition to improving farmer’s access to land titles for non-forest land, better recognition of customary land rights and moreeffective protection of forest land without recognized claims could be useful policy responses. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261166&r=agr |
| By: | Nicholas J. Sitko and T.S. Jayne |
| Abstract: | To cope with and reverse the worrying trend of widespread soil degradation, declining productivity and increased vulnerability of African food systems to climate change requires a holistic approach to sustainable intensification, which recognizes that action is required within the agricultural sector and beyond. This includes approaches that enable farmers to make long-term soil fertility-augmenting investments and more effective public investments that help farmers identify best practices under the wide range of micro-environments in the region. More broadly, it requires developing policies that make labor and financial markets more flexible and supportive of climate-smart outcomes. This may include: 1) substantially increase investments in public agricultural research and participatory extension services in tandem with efforts to identify more effective modes of implementing such programs; 2) prioritize macro-economic stability, with an emphasis on low inflation and borrowing rates, to enable greater investment in the food system and beyond; 3) transform public subsidies in ways that support the development of markets for organic matter, in particular harvest waste from growing urban areas (e.g., livestock production yards, sawdust mills, waste from retail food markets) as sources of organic compost for farm production; 4) develop policy frameworks to legitimize and strengthen emergent land rental markets; 5) improve labor market flexibility and foreign direct investment policies, coupled with a social safety net fund; and 6) substantially reform staple food market policy in order to create a level playing field for alternative crops and livestock systems. Given the enormity of the challenges facing food systems in the context of rapid population growth and climate change, and the importance of collective action in address them, public sector action and effective use of scarce public expenditures to agriculture will be decisive in achieving sustainable agricultural productivity in the r egion. Once enacted, the proposals made here will take time togenerate their full impacts. That is why there is no time to waste in getting started. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:270643&r=agr |
| By: | GIULI KESHELASHVILI (Iv.Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University) |
| Abstract: | Work offers discussion of the issues of value chain management and development in agribusiness. In particular, based on the study of business entities in Georgia it analyzes and assesses the process of value chain formation and role of the involved stakeholders that increase the product value for the consumers through organized cooperation.Value chain connects the raw material producers, middlemen, processing enterprises, sales markets, service providers and different parties, whose activities promote competitiveness of one another at marketplace and its maintenance through introduction of innovations in the processes of value chain. Value chain management is the instrument of strategic business analysis and planning that is used for coordination of the value chain components and resources. Effective management of value chain directly affects profitability of the involved stakeholders and satisfaction of consumers. The work demonstrates the main challenges hindering development and effectiveness of agribusiness management in Georgia, including land fragmentation, low availability of advanced technologies, lack of business management awareness and skills, poor organization of logistics and supply process, low opportunities of negotiating and performing agrarian marketing etc.Within the scopes of the research various cases of the agricultural cooperatives involved in the sector were studied and business cycles of priority sectors of Georgian agriculture were surveyed. Work was prepared on the basis of in-depth interviews with the industry experts, agribusiness managers and parties involved in the value chain. Secondary data (desk research) were collected through studying of the publications related to the issue and value chain reports.Seasonality of raw materials production and their insufficiency was found to be one of the main causes of instability of value chain and supply chain in agriculture sector. Participants of value chain do not perceive one another as partners and do not care properly about the quality stability thus reducing competitiveness of their businesses. In the process of research the emphasis was made on the problems of value chain management. In agribusiness, necessity of formation and setup of the full production chain allowing significant reduction of production costs was identified as one of the significant directions for production growth and development.Recommendations offered by the work would contribute to improvement of value chain management in agribusiness, in Georgia. |
| Keywords: | value chain, management, agribusiness, agricultural cooperative, production costs, supply chain, coordination. |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:6409097&r=agr |
| By: | Kim, Jongwoo; Mason, Nicole M.; Snapp ,Sieglinde |
| Abstract: | Food insecurity, child malnutrition, and land degradation remain persistent problems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Agricultural sustainable intensification (SI) has been proposed as a possible solution to simultaneously address these challenges. Narrowly defined, SI entails raising agricultural productivity while preserving or improving the natural resource base, but broader definitions of SI require that it also maintain or enhance human well-being, including child nutrition. Yet there is little empirical evidence on if adoption of practices that contribute to SI from an environmental standpoint do indeed improve child nutrition. To begin to fill this gap, this study uses nationally representative household panel survey data from Tanzania to analyze the child nutrition effects of rural households’ adoption of farming practices that contribute to the SI of maize production, an important staple. We consider three soil fertility management practices and group households into four categories based on their use of the practices on their maize plots: Non-adoption; Intensification (use of inorganic fertilizer); Sustainable (use of organic fertilizer, maize-legume intercropping, or both); and SI (joint use of inorganic fertilizer with organic fertilizer and/or maize-legume intercropping). |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:265406&r=agr |
| By: | Smeets Kristkova, Zuzana; Smeets, Edward; Van Meijl, Hans |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to evaluate the possibilities and limitations of avoiding the undesirable effects of energy crops on land use and food security by increasing agricultural productivity through investments in R&D. An extended version of the MAGNET CGE model is used to model the R&D investments in agriculture to compensate the effects of 15 EJ to 100 EJ biomass supply from woody and grassy energy crop plantations. We conclude that investments in agriculture R&D are a potentially effective and low-cost strategy, but early planning and timing of bioenergy policies with investments in R&D in agriculture is essential. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260822&r=agr |
| By: | CORSI, ALESSANDRO; NOVELLI, SILVIA; BIAGINI, DAVIDE |
| Abstract: | Agriculture is among the major contributors to climate change, accounting for 24 percent of global CO2 emissions. Within the agricultural sector, livestock has a major role in greenhouse gas emissions. However, animal husbandry also affects the environment through nitrogen leaching to water tables from manure and slurry spread or stored on the soil. Both impacts can be diminished by appropriate practices, concerning the effluents storage and the modalities of their spreading on the soil. We investigate to what extent farmers adopt such practices and, more importantly, which are farm and farmers’ characteristics more conducive to the adoption of such practices. In particular, given the predominance of small farms in Italian agriculture, we assess the effect of farm size on the adoption of appropriate practices. To this purpose, we estimate ordered and binomial probit models of the adoption of virtuous practices from data of the 2010 Agricultural Census in Piedmont (Italy). The results suggest that, in general, larger farms are more likely to adopt virtuous practices, but the effect of farm size is nevertheless rather weak. Technical and cost issues linked to the physical conditions (location in hills and mountains) are apparently a relevant impediment to these practices. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa166:276182&r=agr |
| By: | Wineman, Ayala; Jayne, Thomas S. |
| Abstract: | Although the inverse farm size-productivity relationship (IR) is sometimes used to motivate arguments in favor of smallholder-led agricultural development, it remains unclear what drives this relationship. It may be attributed to market imperfections that compel small farms to use land more intensively than large farms. Using a three-wave longitudinal household survey from Tanzania, we examine whether the intensity of the IR is related to local factor market activity for land, labor, credit, and animal and machine traction. The IR is evident in Tanzania, although it disappears when family labor is valued at the prevailing local agricultural wage rate. This suggests that labor market imperfections (possibly linked to other market failures) drive the IR. Furthermore, the IR is significantly weakened in the presence of relatively active markets for most factors of production. This suggests that the IR is at least partly driven by imperfections in rural factor markets, underscoring the importance of strategies to improve the functioning of these markets. |
| Date: | 2017–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:265405&r=agr |
| By: | Traoré, Abdramane; Samaké, Amadou; Sanogo, Ousmane; Haggblade, Steven; Maredia, Mywish |
| Abstract: | Policy influences agricultural performance in fundamentally important ways. In Mali, a wide range of laws, regulations and programs affect land tenure, water infrastructure and access, plant and animal health, availability of new seed technologies, transport cost, electricity, labor markets, input prices and trade. Together these policy incentives shape the investment, production and marketing decisions of farmers and agribusinesses. Decisions by key private sector actors, in turn, drive agricultural growth trajectories. Sound policies, therefore, become a critical pre-requisite for broad-based, sustainable agricultural productivity gains and improved food security for Malian citizens. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:264395&r=agr |
| By: | Viccaro, Mauro; Rocchi, Benedetto; Cozzi, Mario; Egging, Rudolf G.; Perez-Valdes, Gerardo A.; Romano, Severino |
| Abstract: | The development of bioenergy, as a new business model integrated with environment and territory, may be a valuable opportunity for farmers with positive effects both in socio-economic and environmental terms. However, largescale biomass plantations might increase pressure on the productive land and might cause a substantial increase of food prices. The main goal of the current study is to support the policy decision making in the renewable energy sector by quantitatively assessing impacts of alternative policy instruments at the sub-state regional level. The scenario analysis is performed using a multi-regional multi-sector Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model applied to Basilicata region, Southern Italy, with, given the importance of agriculture in the area, a great deal attention on agricultural production level, food prices and land competition. Results shows that promoting bioenergy sector do not generate negative impact on food price, land use and welfare, supporting the continuation of policies to incentive the bioenergy sector, combining tax policies with other policy tools (e.g. agricultural or climate policies) in order to make the sector more competitive. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261158&r=agr |
| By: | Burke, William J.; Frossard, Emanuel; Kabwe, Stephen; Jayne, Thomas S. |
| Abstract: | As populations continue to rise and land becomes scarcer in Africa’s rural areas, there is increasing urgency for farmers to adopt land management practices that sustainably raise land and labor productivity. Considerable effort has focused on promoting inorganic fertilizers, but it is increasingly recognized that smallholder farmers’ demand for fertilizer can be depressed by soil conditions that reduce crop response to and the profitability of fertilizer use. This article quantifies the impacts of soil characteristics on maize response to fertilizer in Zambia using a nationally representative sample of 1,453 fields. In addition to economic and farm management surveys, composite soil samples were collected and analyzed for several characteristics at the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute. Soil’s role in agricultural production and fertilizer efficiency is more nuanced than most economic literature has acknowledged. We believe ours is the first model in economic literature that simultaneously allows for the effects of multiple soil characteristics. We estimate critical threshold effects on yield response to fertilizer to be between pH levels of 5.4 and 5.6, soil organic matter levels of 1.2-1.4%, and find significant soil texture―and cation exchange―related thresholds. Depending on these soil characteristics, average maize yield response estimates range from insignificant (0) to 5.7 maize kg per fertilizer kg. We estimate fertilizer use on maize is not profitable at commercial prices for the majority of Zambian farmers (under current practices). Even ignoring transfer costs, about 80% of fertilized maize fields still have an estimated average value-cost-ratio for fertilizer less than one at commercial prices. To the best of our knowledge, the flexibility of our model and data with this scope of geography and content are novel contributions to the literature. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2016–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259510&r=agr |
| By: | Zawalińska, Katarzyna; Milczarek-Andrzejewska, Dominika |
| Abstract: | Urban sprawl is one of the most important reasons behind conflicts over farmland use. In that context, agricultural policy can be perceived as a guardian protecting farmland for agricultural purposes. The paper aims at investigating the role of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in shaping farmland market in Poland. With use of regional Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model we found out that CAP has led to farmland price distortions in most Polish regions but at the same time it has allowed to maintain land in agricultural use particularly in regions which heavily depend on agriculture and have fragmented farm structure. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260883&r=agr |
| By: | Sheryl L Hendriks, Wegayehu Fitaweck, Elizabeth Mkandawire, and Leonard Mkusa |
| Abstract: | The 2014 Malabo Declaration is an ambitious call to action with the vision of dramatically transforming agricultural growth and development in Africa. In the Declaration, African leaders approved seven commitments that include recommitting to the principles and values of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and ensuring mutual accountability to results and impact through a continental-level Biennial Review (ReSAKSS 2018). The CAADP was initiated through the 2003 Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa (AU 2003), and sought to achieve Millennium Development Goal one (MDG-1) to halve the turn of the century levels of extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 (AU 2003). The Maputo Declaration on CAADP sets broad targets of 6 percent annual growth in agricultural gross domestic product, and allocation of at least 10 percent of public expenditures to the agricultural sector. In 2013, after a decade of implementation, demand for more clarity was expressed by African Union (AU) Member States and stakeholders in terms of further elaboration and refinement of the CAADP targets, and assessment of technical efficacies and political feasibilities for success in agricultural transformation (AU 2018). As a result, AU Heads of State and Government adopted the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation (Doc. Assembly/AU/2(XXIII)) in June 2014 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The Malabo Declaration sets the Africa 2025 Vision for Agriculture which is implemented within the Framework of CAADP as a vehicle to implement and achieve the First Ten Year Implementation Plan of Africa’s Agenda 2063 (AU 2018). The seven Malabo Commitments were translated into seven thematic areas of performance: (i) recommitting to the principles and values of the CAADP Process; (ii) enhancing investment finance in agriculture; (iii) ending hunger in Africa by 2025; (iv) reducing poverty by half, by 2025, through inclusive agricultural growth and transformation; (v) boosting intra-African trade in agricultural commodities and services; (vi) enhancing resilience of livelihoods and production systems to climate variability and other related risks; and (vii) strengthening mutual accountability to actions and results. African countries are currently in the process of reviewing and refining their National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans (NAFSIPs). The first NAFSIPs sought to support the achievement of MDG1. The revised NAFSIPs (II) will support the achievement of the Malabo commitments that align with the Sustainable Development Goals. Commitment 2 of Malabo aligns with SDG2 that seeks to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. The Malabo Declaration on Nutrition Security through Inclusive Economic Growth and Sustainable Development in Africa targets are: i. Ending hunger by 2025; ii. Ending child stunting and bringing down stunting to 10 % and underweight to 5% by 2025; and iii. Continuing dialogue and strengthening advocacy in support of improved nutrition. The first two targets offer benchmarks and impact indicators for the NAFSIPs. However, up-todate data are not always available in each country. The attached sheets offer summaries of the currently available indicators and data on food security in 20 priority countries. These data can assist countries in identifying indicators for use in monitoring and evaluation systems for the NAFSIPs. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:270645&r=agr |
| By: | Duffy, Colm; O’Donoghue, Cathal; Ryan, Mary; Kilcline, Kevin; Upton, Vincent; Spillane, Charles |
| Abstract: | For the first time, afforestation in Europe will contribute towards the achievement of European Union (EU) Paris Agreement commitments. The increase in afforestation across Europe may have unintended environmental trade-offs. Afforestation, agriculture and other land uses can have a significant impact on water quality outcomes. In Europe, over 70 percent of land use is dominated by forest cover and agriculture and up to 18 percent of the population rely on Independent Waste Water Treatment Systems (IWWTS). While much of the previous forestry research has focused on the potential negative impacts of afforestation and harvesting on water quality, this study investigates the impact of afforestation and forest cover (in a predominantly agricultural setting) on water quality over a 20-year period. In addition, we present an analysis of a land use change simulation on water quality outcomes resulting from an increase in afforestation and forest cover and a corresponding decrease in agricultural area. The results show a net gain in terms of water quality outcomes when agricultural land use is replaced by forestry. Such findings have important implications for future land use planning and the delivery of ecosystem services from different land uses. |
| Date: | 2018–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa166:276187&r=agr |
| By: | Loughrey, Jason; Hennessy, Thia |
| Abstract: | The economic sustainability of farm households is frequently dependent on the availability of off- farm employment. This paper uses farm-level data to examine the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) direct payment scheme, farm household characteristics and agricultural market conditions on farm households’ labour allocation decisions in Ireland. Among other things, the hypothesis that decoupled direct payments induce farm household members to allocate more time to off-farm employment is tested. The analysis presented here suggests that decoupled direct payments are significantly and negatively associated with both the probability and amount of time allocated to off-farm work in the case of the farm operator. For married couples, the analysis finds a negative relationship between decoupled payments and the probability of both the farm operator and the spouse working in off-farm employment. Interestingly, decoupled payments have no significant relationship with the probability of the spouse only working in off-farm employment. This result corresponds to the finding of (El-Osta et al. 2008) and suggests that decoupled payments tend to play a very limited role in explaining the off-farm employment decisions of the spouse. At a time of increased volatility in farm incomes and uncertainty in agricultural policy, this analysis contributes to our understanding about the importance of off-farm labour in supporting farm household income. Furthermore, the analysis contributes to our understanding about the role of the farm spouse in contributing towards farm household income, the farm viability and the relationship between off-farm labour decisions and agricultural policy. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–09–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa166:276230&r=agr |
| By: | Resnik, Danielle; Okumo, Austen |
| Abstract: | Over the last decade, land governance has become a major priority for the development community1. A particular focus has been on sub-Saharan Africa due to the recognized paradox of high levels of land availability and low productivity in the region (see Deininger et al. 2012). While poor land governance systems have long been identified as a key reason for this disjuncture, the relatively recent large-scale impetus to improve land governance emerged from the inclusion of land management in 2009 as one of the four pillars under the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP). Subsequently, in the wake of the G-8’s launch of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in 2012, many international initiatives have emerged to promote better land governance. These include the African Union’s Land Policy Initiative (AULPI) and the World Bank’s Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF). At the national level in Africa, land registration and land titling are the most common approaches to reform (Sikor and Müller 2009), with governments selecting among a broad spectrum of modalities to pilot. These include rural land use plans in some francophone countries (e.g., Benin, Burkina Faso, and Côte d’Ivoire), systematic land tenure regularization (Ethiopia, Madagascar, Rwanda), and communal land demarcation and registration (e.g., Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania) (see Byamugisha 2013). |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Land Economics/Use, Political Economy |
| Date: | 2017–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259578&r=agr |
| By: | Hardesty, Shermain |
| Abstract: | Smaller-scale farms in the US are in a tenuous position as they face rising production costs and costs to comply with regulations. Farmland conversion is threatening the vitality of many rural communities. However, over two-thirds of the agritourism operations in California that participated in this study are sustainability motivated; they are seeking economic, social and environmental benefits by operating agritourism enterprises. These sustainability motivated agritourism farms are demographically different and operate differently when compared to other agritourism farms in California. Unlike the European Union, there are few government programs or regulations in the United States that strengthen agritourism opportunities. However, government support for agritourism appears to be growing in California as public interest in local food and sustainable agriculture increases. Collaboration through coordinated promotional efforts and networking is very beneficial to agritourism farms in California. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–09–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa166:276207&r=agr |
| By: | Brown, Mark; Ferguson, Shon M.; Viju, Crina |
| Abstract: | We decompose the impact of trade reform on technology adoption and land use to study how aggregate changes were driven by reallocation versus within-farm adaptation. Using detailed census data covering over 30,000 farms in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada we find a range of new results. We find that the reform-induced shift from producing low-value to high-value crops for export, the adoption of new seeding technologies and reduction in summerfallow observed at the aggregate level between 1991 and 2001 were driven mainly by the within-farm effect. In the longer run, however, reallocation of land from shrinking and exiting farms to growing and new farms explains more than half of the aggregate changes in technology adoption and land use between 1991 and 2011. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, International Relations/Trade |
| Date: | 2017–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:263492&r=agr |
| By: | Theriault, Veronique; Assima, Amidou; Vroegindewey, Ryan; Tschirley, David; Keita, Naman |
| Abstract: | The Malian agri-food system is transforming rapidly, in part due to increased demand for processed foods that are easy-to-prepare and ready-to-eat by the growing urban consumers. Yet, little is known about the scale and scope of this ongoing transformation in the agri-food system. To better understand the general trends in terms of diversity, availability and prevalence of imports as well as key characteristics of processed foods, we conducted a city-retail outlet inventory of processed dairy and cereal foods in 2016. We visited 100 retail outlets, including central and neighborhood markets, supermarkets as well as neighborhood and grocery stores, located across low, medium, and high income neighborhoods of four major cities in Mali. Findings show that: 1) there are 15 and 36 different types of processed dairy and cereal products; 2) availability of processed foods differs widely across neighborhoods, cities, and retail outlets; 3) there is a relatively high dependence on imports; and 4) there exist differences in product attributes across local and imported food products. Taken together, our results indicate that the transformation of the agri-food system is still at its early stages in Mali. The greatest opportunity for the expansion of the Malian agro-processing segment lies in making and selling more processed food items out of locally available raw agricultural materials, since it is where local firms are the most competitive. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–07–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:261675&r=agr |
| By: | Agustin L. Arcenas (School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether changes in climatic conditions significantly contribute to incidence of poverty in the Philippines. Due to the lack of sufficient regional estimates of poverty, this study utilized food cpi data to proxy for poverty level. The relationship between poverty level and food cpi were tested and found to be moving in parallel direction, and hence, could be substituted for each other for this study’s purposes. The relationship between poverty and food prices has also been verified in the literature, as higher food prices is the dominant variable that results in higher poverty levels. The results show that higher agricultural wages as well as extreme climate-influenced shocks such as El Niño and La Niña were significant determinants of poverty. Higher agricultural wage benefits agricultural workers, but the income effect may be small, and that overall, the net effect of is higher food prices that, in turn, exacerbates overall poverty. The negative impact of El Niño and La Niña on food prices (and therefore, poverty level) could be attributed to the consistent and appropriate government response to these weather shocks, which have stabilized supply of food. Government programs to stock up on rice during weather shocks, and the automatic assistance to farmers during calamities, have had the overall effect of neutralizing the potential poverty impacts of climate-related shocks. These are useful insights in carving out a climate-resilient economic development plan, and emphasize the importance of timely and appropriate government action and adaptation programs. |
| Keywords: | Poverty; El Niño; La Niña; climate change; food inflation |
| JEL: | Q11 Q15 Q18 Q20 Q21 Q54 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phs:dpaper:201801&r=agr |
| By: | Olabisi, Laura Schmitt; Liverpool-Tasie, Saweda; Olajide, Adeola |
| Abstract: | The impacts of climate change on the agricultural sector in Nigeria going forward are expected to be severe, but so far there is a dearth of systemic analysis of how these impacts would develop over time, or how they would interact with other drivers impacting Nigerian agriculture. Such a systemic analysis could contribute to adaptation efforts by identifying policy mechanisms that serve as system ‘levers’ to effect change given the considerable uncertainty associated with both the socio-economic and ecological aspects of climate change. This study begins to provide a systematic analysis of the impact of climate change on agricultural production in Nigeria using a participatory research method. We convened a workshop of key stakeholders with diverse and in-depth knowledge of Nigerian agriculture in Ibadan, Nigeria, in June, 2016. Using a causal loop diagramming (CLD) technique, we grouped these stakeholders by region and led them through an exercise in which they drew diagrams depicting the barriers to, and opportunities for, Nigerian agricultural development. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2016–09–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259066&r=agr |
| By: | Ang, Frederic; Dakpo, Hervé |
| Abstract: | Abstract. A growing population leads to rising food demand, which requires a substantial increase in food supply. However, agricultural production is often an important driver of environmental problems. The ”Sustainable Intensifica- tion” (SI) paradigm envisions the process of increasing production from existing farmland while minimizing pressure on the environment. This paper quantita- tively assesses the global progress towards SI for the period 1961−2014, using an environmental Total Factor Productivity (TFP) index that incorporates green- house gas emission. Although the environmental TFP index increases in this period, there is substantial heterogeneity. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa166:276190&r=agr |
| By: | Bostian, AJ; Bostian, Moriah; Laukkanen, Marita; Simola, Antti Mikko |
| Abstract: | Environmental management practices for mitigating nutrient runo aect the productivity of agricultural land. Finland's agricultural policy oers a number of such practices, and we use Finnish grain farms as a case study of these productivity impacts. Productivity is endogenous with adoption when decisionmakers can choose from a menu of policy options, but few studies actually address this endogeneity. Our identication strategy thus involves a novel approach for correcting endogeneity, combining classic methods from stochastic frontier analysis and selection models. Using registry data from 2007-2013, we nd that the more ecient farms are also more likely to enroll in management practices. Standard estimates without the endogeneity correction understate productivity losses after adoption. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261154&r=agr |
| By: | Oluwatoyin Ademola, Saweda Liverpool-Tasie and Adewale Obadina |
| Abstract: | Over the past two decades, food systems in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) have transformed rapidly. This transformation is driven by several factors including increased incomes and rapid urbanization rates which have caused consumption patterns to change significantly (Tschirley et al. 2017). Two characteristics of this transformation are the rise in food purchases (particularly by rural households) and the consumption of processed and packaged foods. In Nigeria for example, nationally representative data in 2015 reveals that almost 75% of foods consumed are purchased with over 65% processed in some form (Liverpool-Tasie et al., 2016). These high and increasing rates of purchased and processed foods are revealed broadly across the continent and in both rural and urban areas within countries (Tschirley et al., 2015; Liverpool-Tasie et al., 2016). Increased consumption of processed foods can be met from two sources; domestically processed foods and imports. In addition to foreign exchange savings, domestically produced processed foods create numerous opportunities for domestic entrepreneurs and farmers; the potential source of inputs for these industries. However, they also raise key concerns related to food safety and nutrition. Consequently, regulations are necessary to ensure that these new products meet necessary food safety and nutrition standards. Similarly, incentives need to be aligned properly for economic agents along food supply chains for food safety considerations to be widely incorporated into these supply chains. Domestic production of substitutes for previously imported items (to meet increasing local demand for processed foods) in any developing country should be an area of key policy concern. Though there is evidence of a rise in domestic processed food production and consumption (Liverpool-Tasie et al. 2016; Tschirley et al., 2015) the extent to which standards exist and are enforced for domestic processed foods is not well understood in many countries in Sub Saharan Africa. Consequently, this paper explores one particular issue related to food safety in Nigeria; the presence and potential effects of aflatoxins along Nigeria’s maize value chain. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:270639&r=agr |
| By: | Chang, Chiao-Ya; Witzke, Heinz-Peter; Latka, Catharina |
| Abstract: | Economic fish and aquaculture modelling is still at the beginning. The lack of a comprehensive and consistent data set for the production and trade of fish and other fishery products has restrained the modelling attempts so far. Here we show a methodology for filling the present data gaps and for overcoming existent inconsistencies to create a database that may support modelling of the fish sector, illustrated at the case of the fish module in the CAPRI model. We avoid double counting with respect to fishmeal and fish oil production and trade by disentangling the available data from key statistical sources relying on a minimization of normalized least squares. The presented data correction procedure and the resulting database may furthermore be of value for other models of global fish markets analyzing the importance of fishery and aquaculture products for global food security. The impact of the data correction procedure is demonstrated for the most relevant fish and fishery products producing and trading countries, comparing the resulting consolidated to the initial data. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance |
| Date: | 2018–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi18:275842&r=agr |
| By: | Noriko Amano |
| Abstract: | In the U.S., lower income households have a less healthy consumption basket than higher income ones. This paper studies the drivers of such nutrition inequality. I use longitudinal home-scanner data to estimate a demand system on food products, and measure the contribution of prices, disposable income and preferences to nutrition inequality. Disposable income and preferences have a predominant and quantitatively similar role in explaining consumption basket differences across income groups. Instead, prices have a limited effect. Further, I merge nutritional label information to assess, through a series of counterfactual exercises, the effect of income subsidies on nutrition quality. For example, I show that increasing the budget of a low-income household to the average level of the higher income households (a 45% increase in food expenditures) leads to an increase in protein consumption of approximately 5% and a decrease in sugar consumption of approximately 10%. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed018:453&r=agr |
| By: | Belton, Ben; Filipski, Mateusz; Hu, Chaoran |
| Abstract: | Fish farming (aquaculture) has grown rapidly in Myanmar over the last two decades and plays an increasingly important role in national fish supply, but its technical and economic characteristics have been poorly studied. This report addresses this knowledge gap by presenting data from the first statistically representative survey of fish farms conducted in Myanmar - the Myanmar Aquaculture-Agriculture Survey (MAAS). |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2017–04–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259568&r=agr |
| By: | Loughrey, Jason; O’Donoghue, Cathal; Meredith, David; Murphy, Ger; Shanahan, Ultan; Miller, Corina |
| Abstract: | A motivation provided for the provision of substantial agricultural subsidies to low income farmers is that it is an effective mechanisms to transfer resources into poorer rural areas. In this study we look at the local impact of a low income farming sector, cattle farming in a typical cattle farming county in the West of Ireland, County Clare. The input-output analysis reveals that cattle farmers in the county purchase and sell approximately 80 per cent of their livestock within the county and rely upon Clare suppliers for almost 90 per cent of their inputs and overheads. We have examined the impact in particular of a reduction in the size of the herd as a direct consequence of requirements to meet national level greenhouse gas emissions targets. The overall impact of such policies is capable of reducing household income within Clare by €9.5 million. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–09–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa166:276231&r=agr |
| By: | Guerrero-Baena, Maria Dolores; Villanueva, Anastasio J.; Gómez-Limóna, José A.; Glenk, Klaus |
| Abstract: | In irrigated agricultural systems, the main source of uncertainty to irrigators relates to water supply, as it significantly affects farm income. This paper investigates farmers’ utility changes associated with shifts in the probability density function of water supply leading to a higher water supply reliability (higher mean and lower variance in annual water allotments). A choice experiment relying on a mean-variance approach is applied to the case study of an irrigation district of the Guadalquivir River Basin (southern Spain). To our knowledge, this is the first study using parameters of these probability density functions of water supply as choice experiment attributes to value water supply reliability. Results show that there are different types of farmers according to their willingness to pay (WTP) for improvements in water supply reliability, with some willing to pay nothing (44.9%), others (28.6%) with relatively low WTP, and the remainder of farmers (26.5%) having high WTP. A range of factors influencing farmers’ preferences toward water supply reliability are revealed, with those related to risk exposure to water availability being of special importance. The results will help to design more efficient policy instruments to improve water supply reliability in semi-arid regions. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa166:276193&r=agr |
| By: | Di Corato, Luca; Zormpas, Dimitrios |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use stochastic dynamic programming for modelling the investment decision of a landowner contemplating the conversion of idle land to farmland. The landowner may, by investing, develop land for active farming counting, whenever farming is not protable, on the support secured by the CAP for land kept in good agricultural and environmental condition, i.e. land "passively" farmed. We determine, under the current CAP frame, the optimal capital intensity and the optimal investment timing and show that, if compared to a scenario where no support is provided, land development occurs earlier in expected terms and the associated capital intensity is lower. Our results contradict arguments against the support paid to farmers that passively manage their land and show that the current policy frame allows maintaining land in good state at limited cost in terms of excess capacity. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261110&r=agr |
| By: | Kanchanaroek, Yingluck; Aslam, Uzma |
| Abstract: | Incentive based policies can play an important role in improve agricultural sustainability. This paper applies a Choice Experiment approach to elicit small scale farmers’ preferences for a potential policy scheme. Latent class models were used to analyse the farmers’ responses to investigate their preferences, heterogeneity in preferences and the willingness to accept compensations. The results revealed that farmers are willing to participate however; overall they show an aversion to drastic changes in their farming activities. The analysis suggested that majority of the farmers preferred schemes with shorter contract lengths and moderate reduction in chemical use. Furthermore, the study also informs policy makers by identifying the farm and farmer characteristics that influence farmers’ behaviour. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260888&r=agr |
| By: | Udita Sanga, Laura Schmitt Olabisi, Saweda Liverpool-Tasie |
| Abstract: | Nigeria is the second largest producer of maize on the African continent with more than 5 million hectares of land under maize production and an annual area and yield growth rate of 4.1 % and 2.7% respectively (Beyene et al., 2016). However, maize yields in sub-Saharan African countries, including Nigeria, remain low compared with global averages. Yields may be further impacted by shifts in temperature and rainfall under climate change in the coming several decades, given that most maize in Nigeria is rainfed. We used a system dynamics model combined with stakeholder input to simulate maize production in Kaduna state, Nigeria, under a range of scenarios including 1) adoption of hybrid early maturing maize varieties; 2) optimal fertilizer use; and 3) shifts in climate regimes. System dynamics modeling is a technique which allows researchers to investigate the future state of a complex system with both social and ecological components. Our goal with this model was not to replicate the accuracy of yield prediction generated by data-intensive agronomic models, but to build a tool for supporting policy decisions in the region while incorporating socio-ecological dynamics and stakeholder insights. Overall, the model suggests that agricultural policies with respect to maize production should focus on developing and disseminating knowledge and accessibility of early maturing /drought tolerant maize varieties alongside efforts to promote more efficient integrated fertilizer management strategies (such as mixed organic and conventional fertilizers) which increase the agronomic use efficiency of EM hybrid maize varieties. However, even under these optimal efforts to improve maize production in the face of climate change, maize productivity is expected to first rise, and then decline by mid-century under expected precipitation and temperature shifts, demonstrating an inverted U-shaped curve. In the context of a growing population, and therefore a growing demand for food, in Kaduna and in Nigeria more broadly, the results of this study imply the need for a diversification of the agricultural sector towards staple crops that will be less climate-sensitive than maize. This is consistent with other recent agronomic modeling work in sub-Saharan Africa which has found that climate change could severely impact staple food crop production, even under scenarios of technological advancement and fertilizer use (Ittersum et al. 2016; Sulser et al. 2014). |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–03–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:270646&r=agr |
| By: | Czyżewski, Bazyli; Kułyk, Piotr; Kryszak, Łukasz |
| Abstract: | Although mainstream economics says that farmland values are determined by the discounted stream of returns, many researchers have identified non-agricultural attributes of land that significantly contribute to its value. It is claimed that in sustainable agriculture, an increasing proportion of the value of land is explained by amenities. It is necessary to consider whether the neoclassical RDM remains applicable to the valuation of farmland. The main aim of this work was to test RDM of Saphiro–Gordon type for farmland prices in Poland. It was found that in spite of changes to the CAP, the RDM continues to perform well. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261270&r=agr |
| By: | Alem, Habtamu1; Lien, Gudbrand1; Kumbhakar, Subal C1; Hardaker, J. Brian |
| Abstract: | The aim in this paper is to investigate economies of scale and scope among Norwegian dairy and crop producing farms, controlling for regional differences. Unlike previous studies in which a common technology was assumed, we estimate economies of scale and scope to account for different technologies for specialized and mixed (diversified) farms. Our analysis is based on translog cost functions using farm-level data for the period 1991-2014. The results suggest that both economies of scale and scope persist in Norwegian dairy and crop producing farms. We also find that dairy farms have an economic incentive to integrate dairy farming with crop production in all regions of Norway. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260907&r=agr |
| By: | Resnick, Danielle; Mather, David |
| Abstract: | Ghana’s Fertilizer Subsidy Programme (GFSP) was initiated in 2008 in response to the global food and fuel price crisis. Although initially intended to be a temporary measure that became increasingly expensive as Ghana’s macroeconomy deteriorated, farmers, civil society organizations, and politicians began to expect the subsidy on an annual basis. This paper applies the kaleidoscope model for agricultural and food security policy change to the case of GFSP. In doing so, it uses a variety of analytical tools to highlight how many of the weak outcomes of GFSP can be attributed to the nature of the broader policy process that has surrounded GFSP as well as the underlying political and institutional context in which policy making occurs in Ghana. Based on semistructured interviews conducted with knowledgeable stakeholders spanning the government, donor, civil society, and research communities, the paper identifies the bottlenecks that need to be addressed if the program is to be more effective in the future. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2016–08–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259059&r=agr |
| By: | Chamberlin, Jordan; Jayne, T. S. |
| Abstract: | This study attempts to evaluate the impact of farmland concentration on rural income growth among smallholder households in Tanzania. Conceptually, farmland concentration occurs when relatively few farms have relatively large shares of the arable land resources in a given area. Based on the pioneering structural transformation work of Mellor, Johnston and others, the distribution of productive assets in primarily agrarian areas might influence the strength of agricultural growth multiplier effects on both farm and off-farm economic activity and hence on household incomes. Land is the most important productive non-labor asset in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. If large farms bring benefits that spill over to surrounding smallholders, then we might expect positive impacts of greater land concentration on household incomes. If, on the other hand, a small set of large farms dominates production, then growth multipliers may be lower than for areas with more egalitarian land distributions. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:265608&r=agr |
| By: | Ngoma, Hambulo; Sitko, Nicholas J; Jayne, Thomas; Chapoto, Antony; Maredia, Mywish |
| Abstract: | Successive Zambian governments have committed to coordinated, all-inclusive developing planning to assure food and nutrition security and reduce poverty. Despite these efforts, questions remain around policy coherence and consistency in the agricultural sector and this—it is argued—is likely to crowd out private sector investment and engagement in the sector. This paper addresses several questions around the policy processes space in Zambia. What drives policy change? How does it happen? What accounts for the policy reversals or failure to fully adopt agreed upon policy changes? |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:265404&r=agr |
| By: | Diarra, Amadou; Tasie , Oyinkan |
| Abstract: | This paper examines pesticide1 markets and regulations in Ghana. This study explores progress to date in Ghana’s country-level implementation of ECOWAS regional pesticide policies. As part of a seven-country set of comparative case studies, this work collectively aims to explore the reasons for uneven rates of country implementation of regional agricultural input policies. West African countries have long recognized their strong regional interdependencies in agricultural and food markets. For many centuries, long distance trading routes have linked different agro-ecological zones within the region. In more recent years, cross-border movements of people, livestock, farm inputs and outputs have underscored the importance of regional interdependencies for ensuring food security. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–08–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:264391&r=agr |
| By: | eppermann, Andre; Balkovič, Juraj; Bundle, Sophie; Havlík, Petr; Leclère, David; Lesiv, Myroslava; Schepaschenko, Dmitry |
| Abstract: | Russia and Ukraine are countries with large untapped agricultural potentials, both in terms of abandoned agricultural land and low yields. In this study, we apply a global economic agricultural sector model to provide a comprehensive analysis of different scenarios, simulating the utilization of different crop production potentials in Russia and Ukraine and their impacts on a regional and global scale. Our results show that substantial potentials in crop production do exist and that large parts of the additional production would be exported to world markets. Production potentials due to intensification are higher than potentials due to re-cultivation of abandoned land. |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260899&r=agr |
| By: | Jayne, T.S.; Mason, Nicole M.; Burke, William J.; Ariga, Joshua |
| Abstract: | This study reviews the evidence regarding the recent wave of smart input subsidy programs in Africa and identifies components of a holistic and sustainable agricultural productivity growth strategy that could improve the contribution of input subsidy programs to African governments’ national development objectives. African governments’ commitment after the Abuja African Fertilizer Summit (2006) to increase fertilizer use from 8 to 50 kg of nutrients per hectare by 2015 reinforces the importance of inorganic fertilizer for increasing crop productivity and attaining food security in Africa. The impacts of achieving this target, however, will depend greatly on the agronomic efficiency of applied fertilizer. Many African governments’ efforts to raise agricultural productivity have focused on programs to increase fertilizer use. Relatively little effort has been made in recent decades to help African farmers raise the efficiency with which they use fertilizer. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2016–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259509&r=agr |
| By: | Gorman, R.; Brockmeier, M.; Boysen-Urban, K. |
| Abstract: | As 2050 drawers nearer, global food production faces growing demand for food, challenges from climate change and globalization. As ensuring food security for a growing global population will require innovative and sustainable solutions, research in this field endeavors to understand the landscape of food security in the coming decades. As such, global food security and computable general equilibrium modelling have partnered to help assess how these challenges will affect our ability to produce food. However, knowledge and research gaps remain. Thus, this paper innovatively highlights that food security analysis using computable general equilibrium modelling can be enhanced by filling one part of the mineral resource gap by including the critical element phosphorus. This paper provides a detailed literature review on current approaches in phosphorus modeling and their contributions to economic modeling and how current knowledge gaps can be bridged by including phosphorus into food security analyses using computable general equilibrium modeling. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276011&r=agr |
| By: | Karavolias, Joanna; House, Lisa; Haas, Rainer; Briz, Teresa |
| Abstract: | Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been present within the food industry for years. Past research focuses on consumer’s willingness to pay for GMOs based on labels, and perceived risks and benefits. An online survey with a choice experiment will estimate different willingness to pay estimates for various producers and uses in the US, Germany and Spain. Respondents were divided into five treatment groups and presented with various uses of biotechnology. The choice experiment included price, producer and seedless as attributes for a pound of oranges. Results showed that respondents in all countries required a discount to purchase oranges produced with biotechnology regardless of information treatment or producer type. The discount rate was consistently larger for German participants than US or Spanish participants. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261176&r=agr |
| By: | Zezza, Alberto; Carletto, Gero; Fiedler, John L; Gennari, Pietro; Jolliffe, Dean M |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the results of an international multi-disciplinary research project on the measurement of food consumption in national household surveys. Food consumption data from household surveys are possibly the single most important source of information on poverty, food security, and nutrition outcomes at national, sub-national and household level, and contribute building blocks to global efforts to monitor progress towards the major international development goals. The paper synthesizes case studies from a diverse set of developing and OECD countries, looking at some of the main outstanding research issues as identified by a recent international assessment of 100 existing national household surveys (Smith et al., 2014). The project mobilized expertise from different disciplines (statistics, economics, food security, nutrition) to work towards enhancing our understanding of how to improve the quality and availability of food consumption and expenditure data, while making them more valuable for a diverse set of users. The individual studies summarized in this paper analyze, both theoretically and empirically, how different surveys design options affect the quality of the data being collected and, in turn, the implications for statistical inference and policy analysis. The individual studies and a synthesis chapter (on which this paper is based) are forthcoming in a special issue of Food Policy. The conclusions and recommendations derived from this collection of studies will be instrumental in advancing the methodological agenda for the collection of household level food data, and will provide national statistical offices and survey practitioners worldwide with practical insights for survey design, while providing poverty, food and nutrition policymakers with greater understanding of these issues, as well as improved tools for and better guidance in policy formulation. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260886&r=agr |
| By: | Mili, Samir; Martínez-Vega, Javier |
| Abstract: | We provide a sustainability assessment of Spanish agriculture at provincial scale using a multidimensional set of indicators selected according to established frameworks for sustainable development, their relevance in the Spanish context and data availability. Results point to the existence of four clusters of provinces according to their performance in terms of agricultural sustainability. Higher economic sustainability in provincial agriculture seems to be mostly associated to more intensive use of agricultural labour and agricultural machinery and where wealth growth is faster. Social sustainability seems to be linked to higher diversification of economic activities and quality productions under PDO and PGI. Best environmental sustainability is achieved where the extension of agricultural land is larger, where less agricultural area is burned, and where there is better carbon stock and sequestration by agricultural ecosystems. It is expected that results could improve policy coherence and decision- making for more sustainable agricultural systems in Spanish regions. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–09–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa166:276206&r=agr |
| By: | Keita, Naman; Assima, Amidou; Kergna, Alpha Oumar |
| Abstract: | To develop sound agricultural policies, policymakers need accurate empirical evidence on the conditions prevailing in the field that will help document the situation and the impact of ongoing programs through the use of data. Farmers who are testing new technologies and are the primary beneficiaries of agricultural subsidies are fundamental sources information for policymakers. Most farm surveys require hours of preparation and implementation but their findings are not always communicated to respondents for validation purposes. We consider this a loss—since the experts who are the most qualified to validate these findings are the farmers themselves. Thus, farmers are not always given the opportunity to ask questions to researchers and assist in the interpretation of survey findings. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259527&r=agr |
| By: | Van Dijk, M.; You, L.; Havlik, P.; Palazzo, A.; Mosnier, A. |
| Abstract: | Detailed information on the location and size of crop area is essential for the assessment of agricultural production, food security and emissions resulting from land use change. Although, there exist several initiatives to produced spatially explicit crop distribution maps, these are generally too coarse for detailed country assessments, which require high resolution spatial maps. Using Malawi as a case-study and building on the Spatial Production Allocation Model (You et al. 2014), this paper presents an approach to produce high resolution crop distribution maps that incorporate all available information, including subnational agricultural statistics, crop specific land use information and national irrigation surveys. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276038&r=agr |
| By: | Ding, Jiping; Moustier, Paule; Ma, Xindong; Huo, Xuexi; Jia, Xiangping |
| Abstract: | Are public and private standards affecting farmer knowledge and moving farm practices toward food safety and environmental sustainability in China? We surveyed a total of 355 apple farmers, involved in chains supplying a diversity of retailing points, including supermarkets. Using a multivariate regression model, we find no measurable evidence that the certification schemes of farm bases and agribusiness companies lead to improved apple growers’ knowledge regarding pest and disease management. The behavioral changes were mainly prompted by delegated decision-making towards farm bases, which raises questions on the long-term changes in farmers’ practices. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260897&r=agr |
| By: | Bunkus, Ramona; Theesfeld, Insa |
| Abstract: | Even though in Europe agriculture plays a decreasing economic role for rural livelihoods, the increases in land transactions by non-local and/or non-agricultural investors pervades rural life. Farms become larger and agricultural land more expensive. We conducted an empirical study in Saxony-Anhalt in 2016 to find out about the relationship between agriculture and rural people. Moreover, we analyzed literature about land grabbing in developed industrialized countries. There is evidence, that processes of land grabbing are taking place, yet land grabbing needs to be newly defined in a westernized developed context. Therefore, we propose six socio-cultural criteria: legal irregularities, non-residence of new owners, centralization in decision-making structures, treating land as an investment object, concentration of decision-power and limited access to land markets. |
| Date: | 2018–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi18:275859&r=agr |
| By: | Berges, Miriam; Casellas, Karina; Echeverría, Lucía; Urquiza Jozami, Gonzalo |
| Abstract: | In Argentina, the incidence of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is high, with approximately 420 new cases observed each year. A strain called VTEC 0157 of Escherichia coli (E. coli) was identified as the primary cause of HUS. The retail sale of beef in Argentina is marketed mainly without labels, brands or certifications, in butchers shops that represent 75% of the market share. In the context of the Healthy Butchers program, bacteriological evaluations at butcher shops detected cross contamination of food with pathogens in beef retail environment. In this paper, we measure consumer preferences for selected food safety attributes in beef and butcher shops, taking their information and knowledge about safety into account. We use a discrete choice experiment to assess consumers WTP using primary data from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Results suggest that consumers' utility increases when there is a cashier at the butcher shop, the butcher wears gloves and uses recommended tables to cut meat, and beef products have a properly lay out at meat display fridge at consumers' sight. Consumers' knowledge and information about foodborne diseases and beef contamination risks increase the WTP for safety attributes at butcher shops. This effect is especially stronger for the last two mentioned attributes, which require a more detailed observation from consumers. Implications for food retail managers and policy-makers are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Preferencias del Consumidor; Seguridad Alimentaria; Atributos de Calidad; Disposición a Pagar; Carne; Modelo de Elección Discreta; |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nmp:nuland:2956&r=agr |
| By: | de Zegher, Joann F. (Stanford University); Iancu, Dan A. (Stanford University); Plambeck, Erica (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | Millions of poor smallholder farmers produce global commodities, often through illegal deforestation. Multinational commodity buyers have committed to halt illegal deforestation and improve farmers' livelihoods in their supply chains. We propose a profitable way to do so, motivated by field research in Indonesia's palm oil industry. Currently, farmers suffer from delay in payment by processors, and buyers expensively attempt to avoid sourcing from illegally-deforested land by monitoring individual farmers. Instead, we propose that buyers reward all farmers in a village by eliminating payment delay if no production occurs on illegally-deforested land in the village. Using field data, dynamic programming and game theory, we show how eliminating payment delay improves productivity and profitability for farmers, processors and buyers, and how village-level incentives best halt illegal deforestation. |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:3684&r=agr |
| By: | Hamza Haider, Melinda Smale and Véronique Thériault |
| Abstract: | In Mali, over 60% of the population lives in rural areas and about half of them live under the poverty line (World Bank 2017). Since most rural people depend on agriculture as their main source of livelihood, increasing agricultural productivity is crucial for decreasing poverty. This article explores the effectiveness of nitrogen fertilizer for increasing dry-land cereal crop yields. Using the LSMS-ISA and a Sudan-Savanna dataset, simple econometric analysis suggests there is little effect of nitrogen fertilizer use on crop yields. However, when we account for the endogeneity of fertilizer use, we find yield response rates that are within the range reported in the literature. As expected, sorghum yields have a lower response to fertilizer than maize yields. Dryland cereal yield responses to fertilizer are stronger in the Sudan Savanna region (sample) than nationwide (nationally-representative dataset), highlighting the importance of agroecological factors and farming system. Soil texture and practices (anti-erosion structures) affect both yields and estimated effects of fertilizer. We also find phosphorus to be a binding constraint in increasing agricultural productivity. While most emphasis in the literature is placed on understanding nitrogen fertilizer use, it is crucial to promote balanced use of fertilizers so that other complementary nutrients are available in the soil. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2018–01–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:270642&r=agr |
| By: | Belton, Ben; Filipski,Mateusz; Hu, Chaoran; Oo, Aung Tun; Htun, Aung |
| Abstract: | The Rural Economy and Agriculture Dry Zone Survey (READZ) community survey was conducted in mid-2017 in 300 villages in 14 townships across Mandalay, Sagaing, and Magway. These regions are located in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone - one of the country’s most important agricultural zones. The survey was designed to facilitate analysis of recent changes in the rural economy of the Dry Zone. Data was collected through group interviews conducted with knowledgeable long term residents in each of the communities surveyed. The survey collected data on recent changes in physical and social infrastructure, transport and mobility, irrigation access, cropping patterns, agricultural mechanization and labor costs, numbers of off-farm enterprises, and access to credit. Key findings are summarized below. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–07–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:261673&r=agr |
| By: | Dinterman, Robert1mailto; Katchova, Ani1mailto; Harris, J. Michael |
| Abstract: | We evaluate farm financial stress within the U.S. over the past twenty years and the agricultural and economic factors which have impacted farm businesses. We further evaluate the effect of the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) on farm financial stress. In particular, Chapter 12 bankruptcies ‐‐ which can only be filed by farmers ‐‐ were only a temporary measure until BAPCPA made Chapter 12 a permanent fixture in bankruptcy law. We utilize filings of Chapter 12 bankruptcies from 1997 until 2016 as a proxy for farm financial stress. Panel fixed effects models are used to determine relevant factors affecting financial stress for farmers from agricultural and macroeconomic perspectives. Further, models incorporating pre‐ and post‐BAPCPA regimes are utilized. We find that macroeconomic factors (interest and unemployment rates) are strong predictors of farm bankruptcies for farms while agricultural land values are the only consistent strong predictor among the agricultural factors. When evaluating the post‐BAPCPA regime, only agricultural land values continue to be a significant predictor of farm bankruptcies. Our findings also indicate a dynamic relationship with agricultural land values, where current year values are negatively related but previous year land values are positively related to bankruptcies. We provide an analysis of the post‐BAPCPA regime on farm bankruptcies that was not previously evaluated. Further, our findings illuminate discussion on a potentially dynamic relationship with financial stress and agricultural land values. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260823&r=agr |
| By: | Ghebru, Hosaena; Girmachew , Fikirte |
| Abstract: | Despite growing consensus on the socio-economic benefits emanating from enhanced land tenure security, issues related to how best to measure it and what constitute universal indicators of tenure (in)security are poorly understood. As a result, issues of what drives tenure security are poorly understood and inconclusive. This study, thus, examines the drivers of perceived tenure insecurity in Nigeria using the Nigeria LSMS-Panel General Household Survey of 2012/13. The determinants of perceive tenure insecurity are assessed across two indicators: private (idiosyncratic) tenure risk and collective (covariate) tenure security risk. The analysis shows that perceived risks of private land dispute are higher for female-headed households, households with lower social/political connectedness, and for land parcels acquired via the traditional/customary system, in contrast to having been purchased. Private tenure risk/insecurity is also higher in communities with vibrant land market and for households that are located close to urban centers, while the opposite is the case in communities with relative ease of land access. On the other hand, collective tenure risk is lower in communities with improved economic status. Finally, signifying the need to account for intra-household dimensions in implementing land reform interventions, results from a more disaggregated analysis show that tenure security is relatively higher on female-managed plots of female-headed households, while the opposite is the case for female-managed plots of male-headed households. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:264394&r=agr |
| By: | Sauer, Christine M.; Mason, Nicole M.; Maredia, Mywish K.; Mofya-Mukaka, Rhoda |
| Abstract: | Despite the many potential benefits of legume cultivation, there is scarce empirical evidence on whether and how producing legumes affects smallholder farm households’ food security. We use nationally representative household panel survey data from Zambia to estimate the differential effects on cereal-growing households of incorporating legumes into their farms via cereal-legume intercropping, cereal-legume rotation, and other means. Results suggest that cereal-legume rotation is positively and significantly associated with households’ months of adequate food provisions, and calorie and protein production. In contrast, cereal-legume intercropping generally has no statistically significant effect on the indicators of food security of Zambian smallholders. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:251853&r=agr |
| By: | Todd Benson, Josee Randriamamonjy, Peixun Fang,; David Nyange, James Thurlow, and Xinshen Diao |
| Abstract: | To guide economy-wide modeling efforts to identify specific public investments under Tanzania’s second Agricultural Sector Development Programme (ASDP II), this report provides an analysis of the performance of the rural economy of mainland Tanzania over the period 2008 through 2015, with a focus on the agriculture sector. More broadly, we seek to assess the nature and extent of any structural transformation in the rural economy by understanding trends in various components of it. The insights gained will then be used in the economy-wide modeling work to propose portfolios of public investments to foster both agricultural development in the short term—in alignment with the ASDP-II—and, in the longer-term, a sectoral transformation of the rural economy in which far fewer households rely solely on agriculture for their livelihoods. International data sets were used to examine the macroeconomic performance of the economy of Tanzania as a whole, trade performance, trends in labor productivity by sector, and aggregate crop production. To compile information on employment and several features of agricultural production —crop and livestock production, use of inputs, and agricultural commercialization—plus food consumption patterns, we analyze data from the Tanzania National Panel Survey to generate economic performance indicators specific to the rural mainland. Encouraging trends are seen along several dimensions, including in changes in food consumption patterns, uptake of improved seed, and an increase in the share of crops harvested that are sold. However, we also see a generally stagnant agricultural sector, maize productivity levels that are scarcely moving, a seemingly moribund livestock sub-sector, and a breakdown in the provision of technical information to farmers. In sum, despite some positive signs, the rural economy in Tanzania is not yet on the threshold of significant changes in its structure. It is unlikely that rural households will soon be as likely to pursue non-agricultural livelihoods as to engage in farming. Given these findings, using the economy-wide model for Tanzania, we next will assess a range of possible public investments that might be made to accelerate the positive trends observed and to address those factors hindering Tanzania from significant economic growth and transformation, particularly in the agricultural sector. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:270634&r=agr |
| By: | Mack, Gabriele; Kohler, Andreas |
| Abstract: | In recent years, concentrate supplementation in milk production has increased worldwide with negative eects on the environment and food security. To counteract this trend, Switzerland introduced an agri-environmental program to support grassland-based milk production in 2014. This paper combines ex-post and ex-ante methods to evaluate short- and long-run eects of this policy on environmental and economic outcomes and to evaluate the policy's contribution to food security. We nd that the policy has no eect on environmental outcomes like ecological area and N surplus but substantial eects on economic outcomes like milk yield per cow and farm income. Furthermore, the program aects food security positively. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261116&r=agr |
| By: | Chatzopoulos, T.; Perez Dominguez, I.; Zampieri, M.; Toreti, A. |
| Abstract: | Economic simulation models typically assume ‘normal’ growing conditions in eliciting agricultural market projections, contain no explicit parameterization of climate extremes on the supply side, and confound multifarious sources of historical yield fluctuation in harvest-failure scenarios. In this paper we augment a partial equilibrium model of global agriculture with a recently developed compound indicator of agroclimatic stress. We perform a multi-scenario analysis where the most extreme temperature and soilmoisture anomalies of the last decades, both negative and positive, recur in the near future. Our results indicate that extreme agroclimatic conditions at the regional level may have significant impacts both on domestic and international wheat and maize markets. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Marketing |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276039&r=agr |
| By: | Mogues, Tewodaj; Olofinbiyi Tolulope |
| Abstract: | Agriculture offers significant potential for pro-poor growth and improved food security and nutrition in many African countries, including Nigeria (World Bank 2007; Diao, Hazell, and Thurlow 2010; de Janvry and Sadoulet 2010). The sector employs approximately 49 percent of Nigeria’s total workforce and contributes about 20 percent of Nigeria’s gross domestic product (United Nations 2016). Moreover, a significant accumulation of evidence demonstrates that public spending in agriculture is one of the most direct and effective ways of promoting agricultural growth, generating income, and reducing poverty (see Fan 2008; Mogues and Benin 2012). Evidence is also mounting on the potential for public agricultural spending to significantly improve nutrition and health outcomes (see Mogues, Fan, and Benin 2015). However, public agricultural spending in Nigeria remains low by several measures. Between 2003 and 2014, only 3 percent of Nigeria’s total budget, on average, was spent on agriculture (ReSAKSS 2016). This level of spending falls short of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme target of 10 percent—a prominent commitment of the Maputo and Malabo Declarations1. A more appropriate measure is the sufficiency of public agricultural spending relative to the sector’s contribution to the economy—also known as the intensity of public spending (Mogues et al. 2012). During the same period, the intensity of public spending on agriculture in Nigeria averaged 1.9 percent—a level too low to sustain the nation’s investment needs in agriculture. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Political Economy |
| Date: | 2017–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259576&r=agr |
| By: | Sitko, Nicholas J.; Burke, William J.; Jayne, T.S. |
| Abstract: | Ongoing transformations of agri-food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are garnering considerable attention from policy-makers, researchers, and development partners. While a growing body of literature has examined transformations occurring within the farm production, processing and retail segments of the food systems, there has been surprisingly little attention to the so-called middle segments—trading and wholesaling. Beneficial changes in African grain markets hold considerable potential to improve livelihoods in the region, because grain-marketing costs typically account for 50-60% of the price paid for staple foods by African consumers (Jayne et al. 2010). This lack of empirical attention, particularly for staple cereals, is an important blind spot in our knowledge of recent transformations of these food systems. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259554&r=agr |
| By: | Tocco, Barbara; Davidova, Sophia; Bailey, Alastair |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the phenomenon of part-time farming in Italy and investigates the drivers of farm holders’ labour supply based on the farm size. Since the definition of ‘small farm’ is arbitrary, the study explores different criteria taking into account the farm type and the utilised agricultural area. A random effects ordered probit is estimated using micro-data from the Italian Agricultural Business Survey for the period 2003-2009. The findings indicate significant differences in labour market responses between small and large farms, highlighting structural diversity in the farming systems and thus different incentives and business requirements. The conclusions support the policy claim that for smaller farmers rural development policies which encourage diversification activities and support commercialisation are much more important than farm subsidies. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261289&r=agr |
| By: | Bonjean, Isabelle |
| Abstract: | In conditions of poor soil fertility and increasing importance of global value chain, agricultural extension projects have been one of the main channel to increase farmer’s production and income. In the literature assessing the return to these innovations, prices received by farmers for their production are usually assumed to be homogeneous. We dispute this over-simplification: prices and production levels in developing countries are often jointly determined. The analysis relies on an extension programme in the Peruvian highlands, where the main income source is the dairy sector characterised by a highly segmented market. A simple theoretical model is developed to show how the segmented market conditions, i.e. price levels, induce non-linear return to the investment and affect the incentive to innovate. The econometric analysis confirms the propositions derived from the model: producers that were not included in the formal market at baseline, but close to it, have more intensively innovated. The consequence of this investment is a higher price increase than the rest of the population, creating heterogeneous impact of the programme and social mobility. |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260891&r=agr |
| By: | Amondo, E.; Simtowe, F. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of adopting drought tolerant maize varieties (DTMVs) on farm productivity and risk exposure using a moment based approach on households growing maize in Zambia. First, second and third moments of farm production were used in estimations. The study applied an endogenous switching regression model that controls for both observed and unobserved sources of heterogeneity between adopters and non-adopters. The study revealed that the adoption of DTMVs increases maize yield, reduces yield variability and exposure to downside risk significantly. The adoption of DTMVs increased maize yield by 8% while reducing yield variance and the risk of crop failure by 35% and 27%, respectively. These results underscore the need for concerted efforts to scale-out the production of DTMVs for both maize productivity enhancement as well as for risk mitigation against climatic shocks. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276049&r=agr |
| By: | Hansen, Line Block; Termansen, Mette; Hasler, Berit |
| Abstract: | Degradation of water ecosystem caused by excessive loads of nutrient from agricultural sources continues to be a problem in many countries. Targeted regulation has been suggested for implementation of nitrogen (N) abatement measures to achieve N reductions. Achieving cost-efficient implementation of N abatement actions may depend on farmers’ response to the suggested policy. In this paper we present a method for analysing farmers’ likelihood of engaging in N abatement trading contracts. By use of a hypothetical market experiment we derive the demand and supply functions for Danish farmers. Our findings suggests, that farm and farmer characteristics influence, not only the decision whether to participate or not and whether to supply or sell N abatement, but also on the amounts to be traded. We conclude that introducing trade as an N abatement policy measure involves challenges due to the spatial specificity of the abatement targets leading to small markets and lack of heterogeneity. The results can be used to support the design of policy incentives used to address nutrient reductions. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260887&r=agr |
| By: | Wineman, Ayala; Jayne, Thomas S. |
| Abstract: | Although studies of the determinants of farmland prices are common in developed country settings, such analyses are extremely scarce in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper offers a comprehensive examination of land values across Tanzania. Land prices rose significantly between 2008/09 and 2012/13, presenting a potential obstacle to land access for poor and aspiring farmers. A hedonic analysis reveals that indicators of agricultural potential, local population density, and access to markets/urban centers are all statistically significant determinants of land values in Tanzania. The paper concludes with a discussion of promising directions for future research on land values in SubSaharan Africa. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–07–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:261670&r=agr |
| By: | Coderoni, Silvia; Esposti, Roberto |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the possible role played by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Fischler Reform on the agricultural GHG emissions at the farm level. The empirical analysis concerns a balanced panel of Italian Farm Accountancy Data Network farms observed over years 2003-2007. Multinomial Logit models are estimated in sequence to express how the farm level emissions (and the respective production choices) vary over time also in response to CAP expenditure. Results suggest that CAP expenditure had a role in the evolution of the farm-level emissions, though the direction of this effect may differ across farms and deserves further investigation. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260905&r=agr |
| By: | Femenia, Fabienne; Latruffe, Laure; Chavas, Jean-Paul |
| Abstract: | Understanding how farmers respond to prices can shed light into investment behavior and inform policy makers. We investigate the investment behavior of French crop farmers between 2002 and 2014, with a focus on adjustments to market prices. The analysis relies on a structural investment model derived from the maximization of farmers’ future expected profit. Our estimation results show evidence of significant changes in investment behavior over time, farmers’ investment being more responsive to output price before 2006, and to investment price from 2007. This suggests that government intervention through investment price may have positive impacts during periods of price volatility. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261421&r=agr |
| By: | Ochieng, I.J. |
| Abstract: | For the first time in history, in 2015, a majority of governments across the globe came to a consensus on the way forward in relation to mitigation and adaptation to the effects of climate change. As a response to this, countries set out ambitious national targets towards achievement of the objectives of the Pars Agreement. However, there was no clear approach of how countries would achieve these ambitious targets especially for a country like Kenya which heavily depends on agriculture as a contributor of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The specific objective was to understand how the agricultural sector is dealing with the effects of climate change. The findings of the study indicated that Kenya has set an enabling environment through various policies and legislations that support climate change mitigation and adaptation actions. In addition, The results from the study indicated that Kenya has adopted a sector approach in dealing with matters of climate change and in particular, the agricultural sector has set various guidelines through various laws that promote Climate Smart Agriculture that can be applied in the various County Governments of the Country and for possible replication in other countries across the globe. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276036&r=agr |
| By: | Nankhuni, Flora Janet |
| Abstract: | The design, organization, and provision of agricultural extension and advisory services in Malawi is guided by the 2000 national agriculture extension policy, “Agriculture Extension in the New Millennium: Towards Pluralistic and Demand-Driven Services in Malawi”. An implementation guide for the policy, “Agricultural Extension Implementation Guide” was published in 2004. Historically, the colonial government of Malawi (Nyasaland) established a national agricultural extension and training system in 1950 as part of government’s response to the severe drought and famine of 1948/49. The Agricultural Development Divisions (ADDs) and Extension Planning Areas (EPAs) were established in this era. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–04–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259565&r=agr |
| By: | Latruffe, Laure; Dakpo, K.Hervé; Desjeux, Yann; Justinia Hanitravelo, Giffona |
| Abstract: | With a sample of farms in the European Union (EU) and Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data completed by additionally collected data, we illustrate how the effect of farm subsidies on technical efficiency changes when environmental outputs are incorporated in the calculation of technical efficiency. Results indicate that the effect of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) operational subsidies on farm technical efficiency changes when environmental outputs (namely greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen balance and ecological focus areas) are taken into account in the efficiency calculation: some effects change significance, and more importantly, some effects change sign. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260902&r=agr |
| By: | Ortega, David L.; Bro, Aniseh S.; Clay, Daniel C.; Lopez, Maria Claudia; Church, Ruth Ann; Bizoza, Alfred R. |
| Abstract: | Agricultural cooperatives operate under the notion that smallholder farmers are better off working collectively. Rwanda’s coffee sector has experienced a significant transformation over the past two decades, which includes farmers coming together to establish cooperative coffee washing stations (CWSs). Our data and analysis show that these collectives provide farmers with a myriad of services that include economic, agronomic and social benefits. We find that cooperative membership affects adoption of specific practices, most notably pesticide application. This finding, however cannot be generalized to all best management practices as we find that membership is not associated with uptake of some practices (like fertilizer use) and in some instances it can contribute to a lower likelihood of adoption. Among other differences, we find that cooperative members attain higher levels of productivity, however our analysis cannot confirm this to be a causal relationship. We note that collective action in Rwanda’s coffee sector needs additional research attention, as these types of farmer associations don’t always thrive or provide the same level of services that their members expect. We derive implications of our findings and identify areas in need of further inquiry. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2016–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259507&r=agr |
| By: | Resnick, Danielle; Okumo, Austen |
| Abstract: | When and why do policymakers implement land governance reforms? We address this question by focusing on differential implementation of Systematic Land Tenure Regularization (SLTR) across six states in Nigeria. Although improved land governance has many long-term benefits, including developed property and housing markets, increased agricultural investment, and an expanded source of revenue, the short-term outcomes are less visible to citizens. In theory, this would create low political incentives for implementation among policymakers. In practice, we observe higher levels of implementation in some states compared to others despite almost universally low public demand for SLTR. To explain this puzzle, we use a structured comparative analysis that draws on interviews with more than 90 federal and state-level stakeholders in Cross River, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, and Ondo states. We find that the collective presence of bureaucratic autonomy, diversity of donor funding, and continuity in state government administrations are more likely to explain where SLTR implementation has progressed the most. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:265412&r=agr |
| By: | Zeweld, Woldegebrial; Van Huylenbroeck, Guido; Girmay, Tesfay; Speelman, Stijn |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how socio-psychological issues affect farmers’ decisions to adopt sustainable farming practices using a cross-sectional data from 350 farmers. The data are analysed by multivariate probit and ordered probit models. We find that the probability to adopt sustainable farming practices is affected by education, risk attitudes, information, intentions, social capital and attitudes. The intensity to adopt two and more farming practices jointly is influenced by labour supply, education, livestock ownership, information, risk attitudes, social capital, attitudes, intentions and perceived resource, implying education, social capital, attitudes, risk attitudes and information affect both the probability and the intensity of adoption decisions. Thus, the focus should be given to social and psychological factors to stimulate farmers in dryland and water stressed areas to adopt various sustainable agricultural practices. |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261148&r=agr |
| By: | Mather, David; Ndyetabula, Daniel |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study fertilizer subsidy schemes in Tanzania from 2003/04 through 2015/16 to better understand the key factors that led to the design and reform of various fertilizer subsidy programs in Tanzania over time and to serve as a case study to test the hypotheses from the Kaleidoscope Model of the key drivers of agricultural policy change. The analysis is based on a combination of key informant interviews and secondary literature. Focusing events played a key role in getting fertilizer subsidies on the policy agenda in Tanzania: a drought in 2002/03 was a key factor in the return of fertilizer subsidies to Tanzania in 2003/04, while the international food price crisis of 2007/08 was a key factor in Tanzania scaling up an existing pilot fertilizer voucher scheme into the large-scale National Agricultural Input Voucher Scheme (NAIVS) in 2008/09. A second key factor that put a large-scale subsidy approach on the agenda (NAIVS) was the support of powerful advocates including the President. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2016–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259516&r=agr |
| By: | Cho, Ame; Belton, Ben; Boughton, Duncan |
| Abstract: | Agriculture is central to Myanmar’s rural economy, and Ayeyarwady and Yangon regions are considered to be the country’s ‘rice bowl’. Yet few detailed data are available on the characteristics of agriculture in this important area. The Myanmar Aquaculture-Agriculture Survey (MAAS) addressed this knowledge gap through a statistically representative survey of 329 agricultural households in Maubin, Nyaungdon, Twantay and Kayan townships in Ayeyarwady and Yangon regions, as part of a larger survey of 1,102 rural households. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–08–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:264387&r=agr |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki |
| Abstract: | Agricultural mechanization often accompanies agricultural transformation. In some countries in Africa south of Sahara (SSA), such as Nigeria, the mechanization process appears slow despite the declining share of the agricultural sector in the economy and employment. Knowledge gaps exist regarding this slow mechanization process, and filling these knowledge gaps is important in identifying appropriate policies on agricultural mechanization in Nigeria. In Nigeria, despite the scarcity of tractors, average horsepower and prices of tractors appear high. These patterns are different from the experiences in other parts of the world where initially tractor horsepower was often smaller, such as Asia, or farmers were better endowed with land and wealth, such as Latin America. In Nigeria, joint ownership of tractors is rare, and formal loans are often unavailable due to high transactions costs. IFPRI’s survey in Kaduna and Nasarawa states in 2013 suggested that the spatial mobility of tractors is generally low and the use of tractors is highly seasonal. There do not seem to be plausible explanations for the seeming dominance of large tractor use based on available information on prices and soils. Nevertheless, these patterns seem driven by the own initiative of the private sector rather than by government policies. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259539&r=agr |
| By: | Anderson, J.; Birner, R.; Naseem, A.; Pray, C. |
| Abstract: | The recent literature on economic development in Africa emphasizes that the agricultural transformation still needs to play a key role for poverty reduction and food security. As compared to the situation of the Green Revolution in Asia, there are new opportunities for the agricultural transformation in Africa, but also new challenges. Against this background, the paper shows that is essential that countries develop sufficient political will to achieve an agricultural transformation. The paper presents a concept of political will and applies this concept empirically, using a range of indicators of political will, such as government expenditure on agriculture. The paper proposes various demand-side and supply-side strategies to strengthen the political will to promote the agricultural transformation in Africa. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:275988&r=agr |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Adeoti, Adetola; Popoola, Oluwafemi Adebola |
| Abstract: | Despite substantial past investment and continued interest in irrigation dam construction in Nigeria, evidence on the impact of such dams on household welfare is generally scarce. In particular, relatively few studies have been done on the geographical scope that their benefits may reach, despite growing evidence from elsewhere that the benefits of large irrigation dams can extend beyond the districts or hydrological basins that contain them, reaching particularly to hydrological basins located downstream. This study assesses the short-term effects of large irrigation dams on household consumption in the northern part of Nigeria. Using two rounds of the Nigeria LSMS survey, we apply multinomial logit inverse probability weighting (MIPW) methods to construct matching samples across three different types of hydrological basins – dam basins, which are basins that contain large irrigation dams and the area upstream of such dams; downstream basins, which are located downstream of large irrigation dams; and non-dam basins, which are not associated with large irrigation dams. Our analyses particularly focus on the benefits provided by such dams for mitigating the drought risks faced by farm households. Drought is an important factor that affects adversely the welfare of farm household in Nigeria. Supplemental irrigation is often used during drought to provide water to crops. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2017–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259574&r=agr |
| By: | O'Neill,Stephen; Loughrey, Jason; Hynes, Stephen; O'Donoghue, Cathal; Hanrahan, Kevin |
| Abstract: | The agricultural sector in Europe is heavily dependent on support payments made as part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In 2013, a political agreement on a CAP reform was reached that led to the introduction of a Basic Payment Scheme (BPS). The agreement allowed for a wide range of implementations across EU member states with BPS implementation options ranging from models with flat rate per hectare payments determined at regional or national level, to models where existing historically determined payment rates per hectare transition towards, but not to, a flat rate per hectare. This paper explores the role that such payments and changes in their distribution could play in reducing farm income inequality in the UK and Ireland. Flat rate per farm payments are also considered here to explore how a more dramatic reform would reduce inequality. Movement towards flat rate per hectare payments does not uniformly decrease inequality of Farm Net Value Added (FNVA) in contrast to what one may anticipate a priori, in fact in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland the inequality of FNVA increases in this analysis. In contrast, flat rate per farm payments reduce inequality substantially. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261107&r=agr |
| By: | Hoehl, Stephan; Hess, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | Agricultural supply reactions in response to output price changes remain far from being well understood. German milk supply response is studied using a global vector autoregressive (GVAR) model of milk output in the seven largest German states. Based on this model, the effect of a positive shock of one standard deviation on the farm gate milk price has been simulated. Results indicate that farms on average reacted with increased output. However, this effect was substantially more pronounced in the years 1961-1983 prior to introduction of the dairy quota than during the quota years (1984-2015). Both Northern and Southern German states showed similar short-term output reactions, while northern states exhibited more pronounced long-term output expansion effects than southern regions. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis |
| Date: | 2018–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi18:275844&r=agr |
| By: | Roussy, Caroline; Rider, Aude; Chaib, Karim; Boyet, Marie |
| Abstract: | This article presents an analysis of risk management by French cereal farmers Producers are subject to market and production risks and to environmental restrictions. The paper analyses cereal farmers’ strategies to manage risks through marketing contracts and production decisions. Three main categories of marketing contracts are adopted bearing different risk levels: forward contracts, average price contracts and spot contracts. A hundred wheat producers are surveyed in SouthWest France. The quantitative analysis of their contractual choices shows that risk perceptions and the farmer’s level of education have an influence on contractual choice while crop diversification is negatively correlated with forward contracts. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261106&r=agr |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Nasir, Abdullahi Mohammed |
| Abstract: | Despite the importance of location-specific adaptive crop breeding research, past reforms of breeding systems in Nigeria have focused more on centralizing the breeding activities into fewer locations. This has been based partly on the premise that such research systems can still effectively meet the need for a diverse set of varietal technologies that are suitable for different agroecological conditions through the use of numerous outstations and multilocational trials, regardless of the locations of the headquarters or the outstations where breeders are located. However, little empirical evidence exists to support this premise. Using panel data for agricultural households in northern Nigeria, as well as spatial data on agroecological factors, this study fills this knowledge gap. Specifically, it empirically shows that agricultural productivity and technical efficiency at farm household level is significantly and positively affected by similarity between the agroecological conditions of the locations of these households and where major crop breeding institutes are headquartered in Nigeria, namely Maiduguri, Kano, Zaria, Badeggi, Ibadan, and Umudike, after controlling for the agroecological conditions and various relevant household characteristics of these households. These findings suggest that where improved varieties are developed or evaluated affects agricultural productivity and technical efficiency in different locations. Overall agricultural productivity in Nigeria can be significantly increased not simply by increasing support for public sector varietal development, but by doing so in a manner that increases the similarity in agroecological conditions between areas where crop breeding is conducted and the areas where farm households produce those crops. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:264393&r=agr |
| By: | Braha, Kushtrim1mailto; Cupák, Andrej; Qineti, Artan; Pokrivčák, Ján; Rizov, Marian |
| Abstract: | We analyze the link between diet quality and health outcomes measured by body-mass index (BMI) in a sample of 8,900 Kosovar individuals utilizing household expenditure micro-data. Using a household model of health production we devise a two-stage empirical strategy to estimate the antecedents of diet diversity and its effect on BMI. Economic factors and demographic characteristics play an important role in the choice of more balanced diets. Results from the BMI analysis support the hypothesis that diet diversity is associated with optimal BMI and thus healthier status. One standard deviation increase in diet diversity leads to 2.3% increase in BMI of the underweight individuals and to 1.4% reduction in BMI of the obese individuals. The findings have important implications for food policies aiming at enhancing the public health in Kosovo. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261150&r=agr |
| By: | Kassie, M. |
| Abstract: | Using household and individual survey data in rural Kenya, this paper assesses the impacts of women’s empowerment in agriculture individually as well as in combination with push–pull technology (PPT) on women’s and households’ nutritional status. We adopt a multiple treatment endogenous switching regression framework to control for potential endogeneity of women’s empowerment. The analysis shows that women’s empowerment has a positive and significant effect on women’s and households’ dietary diversity scores. The impact is significantly higher for empowered women belonging to PPT-adopting households than for their counterparts who have not adopted PPT. Similarly, disempowered women from PPT-adopting households have higher dietary diversity scores compared with disempowered women from non-adopting households. These results imply that individual and household welfare could be enhanced to a greater degree by combining women’s empowerment with technology adoption than by treating the two elements as separate development issues. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276003&r=agr |
| By: | Tschirley, David; Cunguara, Benedito; Haggblade, Steven; Reardon, Thomas; Kondo, Mayuko |
| Abstract: | We investigate the implications of diet change associated with income growth for the level and distribution of employment and income earning opportunities at farm level in Tanzania. We find that (1) rice provides strong opportunities for labor and income growth among the smallest smallholder farmers, (2) vegetables deliver strong income growth for these small farmers, but generate far less labor, (3) other grains, pulses, and roots & tubers generate labor growth but with less concentration of benefits among the smallest farmers and with very low returns to labor, and (4) all labor growth in these crops is highly sensitive to productivity growth associated with farm structure change. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2017–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259542&r=agr |
| By: | Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso |
| Abstract: | This report aims to test whether the inclusion of environmental provisions in Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) has contributed to the improvement of environmental quality among the Parties to these agreements through empirical modelling and analysis. Three indicators are considered as a proxy for environmental quality: concentrations of suspended particulate matter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx). |
| Keywords: | environment policy, environmental provisions, free trade agreements, Regional trade agreements, trade and environment, trade policy |
| JEL: | F13 F18 Q56 Q58 R11 |
| Date: | 2018–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:traaaa:2018/02-en&r=agr |
| By: | Zheng, Yu; Gohin, Alexandre |
| Abstract: | Recent models assessing the market impacts of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms are mostly static, non-stochastic and do not account for risks. This paper is a first attempt to fill this gap. We develop a stochastic version of GTAP-AGR model in which we introduce productivity risk and farmers' attitude towards risks. In addition to the price expectation, the expectation on price volatility becomes a key factor for the farmers' decisions. We show that under the endogenous modeling of the CAP instruments, risk aversion leads to larger production and price effects. The impacts are even larger if wealth effect is considered. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260903&r=agr |
| By: | Vårdal, Erling; Asche, Frank; Straume, Hans-Martin |
| Abstract: | Trade with highly perishable agricultural products like fresh fish has increased substantially. The perishability of these products appears to challenge conventional wisdom when it comes to food trade, which emphasizes the importance of large shipments to reduce transportation costs. In this paper, gravity models and several margins of trade are estimated for the trade with fresh salmon, a highly perishable product. The results indicate that increased geographical distance have a larger negative effect than what is generally reported. Most interestingly, the number of exporters and the shipment frequency increase while there is little impact on shipment size when trade increase. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261278&r=agr |
| By: | Saint-Cyr, Legrand Dunold Fils; Storm, Hugo; Heckelei, Thomas2mailto; Piet, Laurent |
| Abstract: | Accounting for spatial interdependence is relevant for the analysis of structural change in farming because of potential interactions between farms. To identify specic farms' relationships considering farm survival, a mixture modelling framework that enables capturing heterogeneity in spatial interdependence between farms is developed. An application to a panel of farms in Brittany in France from 2004 to 2014 shows that relationships between farms are more in terms of competition for land than positive spill overs of new technology adoption, leading to a negative impact of neighbouring farms' size on the probability to survive for a majority of farms. |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/ Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260828&r=agr |
| By: | Sitko, Nicholas j.; Babu, Suresh; Hoffman, Barak |
| Abstract: | Agricultural policies are shaped by complex interactions between political, economic, social, and cultural forces, many of which are not easily understood (Binswanger and Deininger 1997). These forces are particularly magnified in the context of developing, predominantly agrarian countries, where food and agricultural policies can dramatically influence livelihoods outcomes, economic growth prospects, and political fortunes. Because of this, agricultural policy reforms are essential for achieving development objectives, and frequently incredibly difficult to achieve. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259556&r=agr |
| By: | Santeramo, Fabio Gaetano |
| Abstract: | Several studies, focused on the understanding of price volatility determinants in agricultural commodity markets, revealed that the joint influence of a plethora of causes is able to generate market instability. We investigate the contribution of endogenous and exogenous factors to global price volatility of four major grain (wheat, rice, corn, barley), adopting a Seemingly Unrelated Regression Equations model. We analyze global volatility, to conclude on short-run and long-run dynamics of markets instability. Our paper builds on existing literature by proposing a richer set of determinants of grain price volatility. |
| Keywords: | Industrial Organization |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260908&r=agr |
| By: | Flachsbarth, Insa; Lay, Jann; Garrido, Alberto |
| Abstract: | Rural Peru has shown poverty and inequality reductions, but some regions lag behind. We analyse the driving forces behind these trends by using microsimulation-based decompositions. We find that poverty and inequality reductions are mainly attributable to positive price effect in Peru’s agricultural sector, in part due to international market forces. Favourable developments have increased incomes also in non-agricultural sectors, and created new jobs, but were less pro-poor than is ideal. Further, shrinking farm sizes have hampered poverty reduction. Policies should target the participation in cash cropping and non-agricultural activities, especially if positive commodity price developments are only transitory. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261109&r=agr |
| By: | Baldoni, Edoardo; Coderoni, Silvia; Esposti, Roberto |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to assess whether and to what extent the farm-level productivity performance (measured by Total Factor Productivity, TFP) affects the farm-level environmental performance. In particular, the attention focuses on GHG emissions expressed by the farm’s Carbon Footprint (CF). The relationship occurring between these two performance indicators is investigated on a panel of Lombardy farms observed from 2008 to 2013. Once the TFP and the CF have been measured using farm-level data, a dynamic panel model is specified and estimated (via GMM estimation). The dynamic specification allows to take the time dependence of TFP into account while a polynomial form and group-specific effects allow for a specific TFP-CF nexus across heterogeneous farms in terms of size and specialization. Results confirm that a TFP-CF nexus exists but it may significantly differ and also be conflicting across farm typologies. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260895&r=agr |
| By: | Margarita Gafaro (Banco de la República de Colombia); Heitor S. Pellegrina (NYU Abu Dhabi) |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of the selection of farmers into trade on agricultural productivity using new data on the universe of farms in Colombia. To guide our analysis, we formulate a spatial economy model where better market access induces high skill farmers to switch from subsistence to cash crops that are traded in urban centers. We estimate reduced form effects of market access using distance to historical settlements as an instrument and calibrate our model according to these effects. Structural estimates indicate that the selection of farmers into trade have a large effect on agricultural productivity. **** RESUMEN: En este documento estudiamos la elección que hacen los agricultores entre la producción de cultivos comerciales con altos costos fijos y la producción de cultivos de subsistencia con menores costos de producción. Formulamos un modelo de economía espacial en el que un mejor acceso al mercado induce a agricultores de mayor habilidad a pasar de la producción de cultivos de subsistencia a la producción de cultivos que se comercializan en los centros urbanos. Probamos las predicciones del modelo utilizando datos para Colombia que provienen del Tercer Censo Nacional Agropecuario. Explotamos la variación exógena en la ubicación de los asentamientos indígenas en el siglo XVI para estimar efectos de forma reducida del acceso al mercado sobre la decisión de producir cultivos comerciales. Utilizamos los resultados de estas estimaciones para calcular los efectos sobre la productividad agrícola de la existencia de altos costos fijos en la producción de cultivos comerciales. Los restados sugieren que las barreras a la entrada que imponen estos costos fijos en la producción de cultivos comerciales tienen un efecto importante sobre la productividad del sector agrícola en Colombia. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Trade, Spatial Economics, Selection into trade, Comercio en agricultura, Economía espacial, selección en comercio |
| JEL: | F14 J43 N56 O13 Q12 Q17 R14 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:borrec:1050&r=agr |
| By: | Bareille, Francois; Letort, Elodie; Dupraz, Pierre |
| Abstract: | Previous studies on productive value of biodiversity underlined the fact that crop diversity increases crop yields. Here, we focus on the management of crop diversity for wheat, winter barley and rapeseed productions, what we call biodiversity productive capacity. We introduce biodiversity productive capacity into a structural dynamic model with supply, variable input demand and acreage functions. We estimate the model on a sample of French farms from 2007 to 2012. We highlight that biodiversity indicators influence the yield of crops and variable input uses. We find evidences that farmers manage their acreage in order to benefit for biodiversity productive capacity. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260894&r=agr |
| By: | Schuler, Johannes; Uthes, Sandra; Porwollik, Vera; Kaiser, Annemarie; Kersebaum, Kurt Christian; Zander, Peter |
| Abstract: | Irrigation is seen as an appropriate adaptation measure to the effects of climate change. However, the costs of irrigation are not always covered by the additional revenue. Based on simulated yields using the crop growth model HERMES for different climate scenarios we estimate the profitability for three typical agricultural crops for different soil quality levels in the federal state of Brandenburg. The results show that not in all cases irrigation can be profitably applied. Medium quality soils are in general the sites that turn irrigation into a profitable revenue. Future crop price increases could turn irrigation more profitable, but the increasing irrigation water demands need to be met by water availability which is already a concern in some regions of Germany. |
| Date: | 2018–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi18:275900&r=agr |
| By: | Ahtiainen, Heini; Tienhaara, Annika; Pouta, Eija; Czajkowski, Mikolaj |
| Abstract: | We analyse information effects in the valuation of agricultural genetic resources using choice experiments. We define two respondent groups based on their information use. Our findings indicate that socio-demographic and attitudinal variables affect information use. There is significant individual preference heterogeneity, but there are no significant differences in scale between the information groups after allowing the mean coefficients for the attributes differ. Those having read the additional information derive higher utility from the protection of agricultural genetic resources. Our results highlight the importance of genetic resource conservation and controlling for the effects of information use in choice experiment models for unfamiliar goods. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261423&r=agr |
| By: | Kinuthia, Emmanuel Karanja; Omondi, Immaculate; Baltenweck, Isabelle |
| Abstract: | This survey used data from the East Africa Dairy Development project which utilizes farmer based organizations to evaluate whether producer organizations have been efficiently used by the project to impact on inputs use and income. Propensity score matching results show that project participants generated higher dairy revenues than non-participants. They also spent more on hired labour and animal breeding and had a higher probability of having improved breeds. The findings have important implications for development agents and policy makers seeking productivity improvement and increased market participation of poor smallholder dairy farmers as establishment and growth of producer organizations. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260909&r=agr |
| By: | Lynch, J. |
| Abstract: | A tax on agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has been suggested as a potential means of reducing the GHG emissions associated with agriculture and improving the emissions intensity of production. One of several difficulties in implementing such a tax is the potential uncertainty in emissions estimates. This paper explores this topic using Irish dairy farm production and economic data from the 2015 Teagasc National Farm Survey. On-farm agricultural emissions were estimated by applying the National Inventory Report methodologies at farm level, and the uncertainties in total emissions and emissions per unit of milk produced were demonstrated using a Monte Carlo Simulation approach. The average GHG emissions footprint per kg fat and protein corrected milk (FPCM) was 1.07 kg CO2e with a relatively small uncertainty range of ± 2.59 %. If taxed at a rate of €20 per tonne of CO2e, a typical farm would have to pay €7141 (± 2.25 %), which could have a significant impact on farm incomes, but is not strongly affected by emissions uncertainties. Therefore, although there would remain a number of difficulties in designing an agricultural emissions tax, the level of uncertainty in emissions does not appear to be a significant barrier in this example. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276019&r=agr |
| By: | Clay, Daniel C.; Bro, Aniseh S.; Church, Ruth Ann; Bizoza, Alfred; Ortega, David L. |
| Abstract: | Coffee production has been at the core of farm family livelihoods in Rwanda for many generations and today it serves as source of cash income for over 355,000 households across the country. Since 2001, the coffee value chain has seen a transformation in quality (fully-washed coffee) and is now well-established in specialty coffee markets around the globe. With the construction of 245 washing stations, the processing segments of the sector have prospered. Dry mills and export companies, both domestic and international, have similarly emerged during this period. While the value-added from this transformation has benefited Rwanda, those at the base, the coffee producers, have shared the least in the new prosperity. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Production Economics |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:246953&r=agr |
| By: | Sekabira, Haruna; Qaim, Matin |
| Abstract: | Mobile phone (MP) technologies have been widely adopted in developing countries. Previous research has shown MP use to enhance market access through information exchange and market price integration. However, the impact of MP use on several smallholder welfare aspects has barely been investigated. In particular, we are not aware of any studies that have analyzed the effects of MP use on gender equity and nutrition – two welfare dimensions of particular importance in the context of United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs). We address the gap by using a two wave balanced panel data from smallholder farm households in Uganda to examine the impact of MP use on household incomes, gender, and nutrition. Using regression models, we find that, MP use is positively and significantly associated with improvements in household income, women empowerment, and dietary diversity. Gender disaggregated analysis shows that female MP use bears stronger associations. Female MP Use’s positively associated influences on dietary diversity are channeled through increased incomes and women empowerment. These effects are due to lower transaction costs and better access to information through MP use. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261271&r=agr |
| By: | Hoffman, V. |
| Abstract: | When aspects of quality are unobservable in the market, returns to quality will be low and producers will lack incentives to invest in quality. In the case of food safety, this can have significant implications for health, as with the example of aflatoxin, a toxin produced by a fungus commonly found on maize and groundnut. We show that Kenyan farmers who produce maize for sale are less likely to undertake postharvest practices that increase the unobservable quality of aflatoxin safety, as compared to farmers who produce maize only for their own family’s consumption. Employing randomized discount vouchers, we find that willingness to pay for a new post-harvest technology to prevent aflatoxin contamination in maize is significantly lower among market producers than subsistence farmers. However, we find that take-up of the technology among market producers is increased by an opportunity to sell aflatoxin-safe maize at a premium a few months after harvest. This suggests that testing-based market incentives could address the underinvestment in unobservable quality in agriculture. However, widespread testing, if not accompanied by technologies to significantly reduce aflatoxin prevalence, could result in increased consumption of aflatoxin-contaminated maize by the poorest members of society. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276022&r=agr |
| By: | Devadoss, Stephen; Luckstead, Jeff |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade |
| Date: | 2017–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:263491&r=agr |
| By: | Meemken, Eva-Marie; Spielman, David J.; Qaim, Matin |
| Abstract: | Millions of smallholder farmers in developing countries participate in different types of sustainability standards. A growing body of literature has analyzed the welfare effects of such participation, with mixed results. Yet, there are important knowledge gaps. First, most existing studies look at the effects of one standard in one country. When comparing between studies it is not clear whether dissimilar outcomes are driven by differences in standards or local conditions. Second, most studies use cross-section, observational data, so that selectivity issues remain a challenge. Third, the existing work has primarily analyzed effects in terms of purely economic indicators, such as income, ignoring other dimensions of household welfare. We address these shortcomings using panel data from small-scale coffee producers in Uganda and comparing the effects of two of the most popular sustainability standards, namely Organic and Fairtrade. Welfare effects are analyzed in terms of household expenditures, child education, and nutrition. Results show that Organic and Fairtrade both have positive effects on total consumption expenditures. However, notable differences are observed in terms of the other outcomes. Organic contributes to improved nutrition but has no effect on education. For Fairtrade it is exactly the other way around. We explore the mechanisms behind these differences. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261267&r=agr |
| By: | Resnick, Danielle; Mason, Nicole |
| Abstract: | When and why do sub-optimal agricultural policies persist despite technical evidence highlighting alternatives? And what explains episodes of reform after prolonged periods of policy inertia? This paper addresses these questions by applying the Kaleidoscope Model for agricultural and food security policy change to the specific case of agricultural input policy in Zambia. Since 2002, the Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) (formerly the Fertilizer Support Program, FSP) has been a major cornerstone of Zambia’s agricultural policy. Over the years, however, many researchers have highlighted weaknesses with the program and proposed other options. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:246951&r=agr |
| By: | Prager, Daniel |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance |
| Date: | 2017–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao17:260503&r=agr |
| By: | Berg, Ernst |
| Abstract: | Recent fluctuations of agricultural commodity prices have stimulated the debate on the potential causes of price volatility. One explanation is that weather shocks or other external factors perturb supply, thus leading to price fluctuations. An alternative explanation proposes that the persistent fluctuations are the result of nonlinear dynamics and would even occur in the absence of external shocks. This paper focuses on the latter explanation. We investigate under which conditions price volatility is primarily caused by nonlinear dynamics. Using a system dynamics modelling approach we show that plausible behaviour of actors can lead to persistent price fluctuations, even in the absence of external shocks. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261281&r=agr |
| By: | Mohd Suhaimi, Nurul Aisyah; de Mey, Yann; Oude Lansink, Alfons |
| Abstract: | In order to meet increasing demand and boost self-sufficiency, Malaysia wants to strengthen the production and marketing of domestic dairy products. This study aims at explaining Malaysian dairy farmers’ marketing channel selection based on transaction cost theory. A multivariate probit analysis is used to explain 200 farmers’ selection between three non-mutually exclusive marketing channels: through (i) the government, (ii) direct selling or (iii) intermediaries. Our results highlight the dependency among the market channel choices and identify the following influential factors: price expectation, delay of payment, trust in buyer, price fluctuation, price expectation and provision of farm services. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261436&r=agr |
| By: | Hillen, Judith |
| Abstract: | Web scraping is a method for extracting large amounts of data from online sources. In food price analysis, however, this data collection technique has not yet received a lot of attention. We discuss how this method can be used in food price research and identify areas of application. We find that web scraping is a promising method to collect customized, high-frequency data in real time, overcoming several limitations of currently used food price data. While today’s applications mostly focus on (online) consumer prices, the scope of applications broadens as more and more price data are published online. To better deal with the technical and legal challenges of web scraping and to exploit its scalability, joint data collection projects in the field of agricultural and food economics should be considered. |
| Date: | 2018–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi18:275840&r=agr |
| By: | Danielle Resnick |
| Abstract: | In 2009, Ghana began pursuing the devolution of functions and responsibilities from the central government to the country’s 216 Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs). Agriculture was among one of the first sectors to be devolved, a process that became effective in 2012. This paper analyzes how this transition has proceeded, with a focus on the implications for agricultural civil servants within the MMDAs, accountability to citizens, and agricultural expenditures. Empirically, the paper draws on a survey of 960 rural households, 80 District Directors of Agriculture (DDAs), district level budget data from 2012 to 2016, and semi-structured interviews with a range of national and local government stakeholders. The findings show a number of positive benefits of the transition for DDAs, including more opportunities for employment mobility and the chance to engage more with local citizens in designing agricultural projects. Yet, financial constraints are the main complaint, with low and uncertain funding a common hindrance to delivering services and adequately staffing offices. Budget data reveals that the share of funding budgeted for agriculture has changed only marginally since 2012 while agricultural expenditures in absolute terms and as a proportion of agricultural households has declined, even in comparison to other devolved sectors. Political incentives may be partially responsible for these trends in budgeting as elected Assembly members tend to prioritize other sectors with more visible outcomes. Citizens are influenced by these dynamics, with those who have access to agricultural goods and services being significantly more likely to claim that they are satisfied with the agricultural devolution process. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:270644&r=agr |
| By: | Hao, Jinghui; Heerink, Nico; Heijman, Wim; Bijman, Jos |
| Abstract: | Cooperatives are regarded as an institutional vehicle to help farmers mitigate market imperfections and improve smallholder welfare. Though much research has been done on what effect cooperatives have on farmers’ welfare, the question of how cooperatives affect farmers’ welfare remains largely unanswered. By using the case of apple farmers in China, we seek to answer this question by examining the effect of cooperative membership on yield and profit. The empirical analysis is based on field survey data collected among 551 apple farm households in Shaanxi and Shandong. An endogenous treatment regression model is employed to assess the average treatment effects of cooperative membership on the yield and profits per unit area. Our research shows that cooperative membership has a significantly positive effect on yields, but no significant effect on profits per unit area. Two pathways explain the different effects. First, cooperative services change members’ production practices, especially the use of inputs that lead to higher land productivity. Second, members on average spend more on fertilizers and use more hired labor than non-members, which results in higher production costs. The extra revenues generated by the increased yields roughly compensates the extra production costs of the members. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260914&r=agr |
| By: | Harig, Andrew |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing |
| Date: | 2017–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao17:260487&r=agr |
| By: | Walsh, Margaret |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2017–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao17:260537&r=agr |
| By: | Guesmi, Bouali; Gil, Jose Maria |
| Abstract: | The main purpose of this article is to assess the impact of public agricultural research effort on agricultural total factor productivity in Catalonia. A complementary approach based on accounting and econometric techniques is applied to annual data over the period 1985–2015 to fit the relationship between agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) and agriculture research spending. The results show that TFP grows on average at an annual rate less than one percent. TFP growth was much faster during the tow first decades of the analysis, with a considerable slowdown in the last decade. Our empirical findings indicate that public agricultural research has statistically significant positive impact on Catalan agricultural productivity. Furthermore, from a cost–benefit perspective, our study reveals that the social marginal annualized real rate of return to public resources invested in agricultural research is about 15–28%. |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261279&r=agr |
| By: | Chang, C.-Y.; Witzke, H.P.; Latka, C. |
| Abstract: | Economic fish and aquaculture modelling is still at the beginning. The lack of a comprehensive and consistent data set for the production and trade of fish and other fishery products has restrained the modelling attempts so far. Here we show a methodology for filling the present data gaps and for overcoming existent inconsistencies to create a database that may support modelling of the fish sector, illustrated at the case of the fish module in the CAPRI model. We avoid double counting with respect to fishmeal and fish oil production and trade by disentangling the available data from key statistical sources relying on a minimization of normalized least squares. The presented data correction procedure and the resulting database may furthermore be of value for other models of global fish markets. The impact of the data correction procedure is demonstrated for the most relevant fish and fishery products producing and trading countries, comparing the resulting consolidated to the initial data. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Livestock Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276013&r=agr |
| By: | Varma, P. |
| Abstract: | Abstract The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is recognized as a promising systemic approach to enhance rice production at affordable costs without harming the environment. Yet there is no consensus in the literature with respect to the factors influencing the adoption as well as the welfare outcomes of adoption. This paper identifies the factors that affect farmers’ decisions to adopt SRI in major rice producing States of India and its impact on rice yield and household income. The multinomial endogenous treatment effects model adopted in the present study analyses the factors influencing the adoption and the impact of adoption in a joint framework. Results suggest that household assets, irrigation, access to information etc. increased the likelihood of household adopting SRI whereas the size of landholding, the number of years household stayed in rice cultivation, fear of poor yield, etc. decreased the likelihood of adopting SRI. The welfare impacts of SRI adoption revealed that all combinations of SRI individually and as a group (plant management, water management and soil management) had an impact on yield. However, the impact of SRI adoption on household income was quite mixed. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:275986&r=agr |
| By: | FILIPPI, MARYLINE |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa166:276198&r=agr |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Maji, Alhassan |
| Abstract: | Seed is an essential input in agriculture, and the availability of quality seed of superior varieties is often critical for improved food security and poverty reduction in developing countries like Nigeria. However, while the Nigerian government recognizes the importance of improving seed availability, its recent focus in the seed sector has mostly been on improving seed quality rather than on varietal development. This report argues that this is partly due to a knowledge gap regarding the relationship between varietal technology levels and the effectiveness of seed sector policies. We first provide a brief conceptual discussion on how the effectiveness of selected seed sector policies, such as certification, subsidies, and private sector promotion, may depend on underlying varietal technology levels. Using rice as an example, we then provide key historical and international perspectives on how varietal technology development by the public sector through intensive rice breeding had preceded the expansion of seed certification and testing, and show that there still is a substantial need for the Nigerian government to develop improved rice varieties through intensified domestic plant breeding in order for its seed certification and seed subsidy programs to be more effective. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259570&r=agr |
| By: | Denni Tommasi |
| Abstract: | I use a structural model of households to recover how much resources each individual controls in the context of the Mexican PROGRESA program. I find that the eligibility to receive the cash transfers induces a redistribution of resources from the father to both the mother and children, although the mother is the one benefiting the most. With these information I compute individual poverty rates and quantify to what extent the program reduces within-household inequality. I also combine these measures to construct a proxy for women’s bargaining power and, using causal identification techniques, I estimate its direct effects on household demand for food. Exploiting random assignment of the cash transfers as an instrumental variable for the treatment of interest, I show that mothers having majority control of household resources relative to fathers increase food consumption as a share of the household budget by 6.5-8.3 percent. I use these estimates to argue that, by knowing (i) The distribution of pre-program resources inside the household, and (ii) How much influence each decision maker can have on the desired policy outcome, a policymaker can improve the cost-effectiveness of a cash transfer program by targeting the cash to resource shares in addition to gender. |
| Keywords: | cash transfers, PROGRESA, structural model, collective model, resource shares, poverty, causality, LATE, engel curves, food |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/276472&r=agr |
| By: | Lema, D.; Egolf, P. |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the potential impact of the recently enacted forest protection laws on the number of forest fires in Argentina. The forest protection laws (at a federal and provincial level) restricts the use of forestry land in several ways, and limit the expansion of the agricultural frontier. This restriction can make forest arson potentially profitable to clear land and to expand the agricultural frontier circumventing the laws. We present a conceptual model based in the economic theory of crime to analyze forest arson decisions, and to predict individual behavior. Using panel data from 2002 to 2014 at a provincial level we present empirical evidence of systematic effects in the occurrence of forest fire as a function of the new regulation and its sequential implementation. Fixed effects and difference-in-differences estimates show that the number of fires increased transitory some 100% -200% in the main crop producer provinces during the law implementation process (2009-2011). |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:275984&r=agr |
| By: | Sanjuan, Ana Isabel; Rau, Marie-Luise; Oudendag, Diti; Himics, Mihaly |
| Abstract: | In the prospect of on-going EU trade negotiations, we investigate non-tariff measures (NTMs) on key EU dairy exports markets. After combining latest publicly available NTM datasets, we calculate frequency and coverage ratios in order to take stock of existing measures. Subsequently, we quantify the NTM impact on EU dairy exports by a gravity estimation. In our model, we explicitly single out SPS and TBT measures and find that they dominate the negative trade effect. Our results underline the need to address NTM issues in EU trade negotiations to secure potential export markets. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261426&r=agr |
| By: | Pierre, Guillaume; Kaminski, Jonathan |
| Abstract: | We model twenty seven sub-Saharan African domestic maize markets within a Global Vector AutorRegression framework. The main purpose is to fully embed multilateral trade flows as a way to better structure local price transmission dynamics and interdependencies and get a more comprehensive picture of food price shocks propagation. We found a generally weak integration of domestic maize markets with regional and global markets. However, even in the absence of long run integration, between-country market contagion remains significant and short run price shocks propagate rapidly. Most local markets appear to be significantly more responsive to local than to global shocks. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261280&r=agr |
| By: | Morais, G.; Braga, J.M. |
| Abstract: | The main goal of this paper is to evaluate how irrigated areas with flooding, furrows, sprinkler, centralpivot, drip and other methods of irrigation as well as the source of water used to irrigation influence the technical efficiency. Furthermore, we evaluate the behavior of the technical efficiency by farm size. The TE scores are obtained through the Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA), which simultaneously models the production technical inefficiency. The results showed that, initially, there is a positive and linear relationship between efficiency and farm size, however, when the farms reaches 100 hectares the relationship becomes inverse, characterizing U-inverted shape. In general, the irrigated areas with different methods of irrigation and the source of the water have a positive influence on the technical efficiency of farmers. Other factors such as cooperatives membership, education, experience and rural credit also have a positive influence on efficiency. Finally, we conclude that large farmers are less efficient than small-scale farmers. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:275987&r=agr |
| By: | Giddings, L. Val |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2017–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao17:260529&r=agr |
| By: | Gocht, Alexander; Ciaian, Pavel; Bielza, Maria; Terres, Jean-Michel; Röder, Norbert; Himics, Mihaly; Salputra, Guna |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the economic and environmental impacts of CAP greening. The simulated results reveal that the economic and environmental impacts of CAP greening are rather small. The CAP greening leads to a small increase in prices and a small decrease in production. Farm income slightly increases because the price effects offset the production decline. The environmental effects are positive on a per hectare basis, but the increase in UAA can reverse the sign for total impacts. GHG and ammonia emissions decrease in the EU, while the total N surplus, soil erosion and biodiversity-friendly farming practices slightly increase. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261424&r=agr |