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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2018‒11‒19
107 papers chosen by |
| By: | Glenn P. Jenkins (Department of Economics, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada and Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus); Mikhail Miklyaev (JDINT’L Executive Programs Department of Economics, Queen’s University, Canada and Senior Associate/ Economist Cambridge Resources International Inc.); Noel Ujeneza (Agronomist,Cambridge Resources International Inc); Shahryar Afra (Financial Analyst / Economist Cambridge Resource International Inc.); Brian Matanhire (Financial Analyst / Economist Cambridge Resource International Inc.); Primrose Basikiti (Financial Analyst / Economist Cambridge Resource International Inc.); Alice Nsenkyire (Financial Analyst / Economist Cambridge Resource International Inc.) |
| Abstract: | The study evaluated the crop cultivation practices that currently prevail in Rwanda and recommends interventions to improve yields and reduce post-harvest losses. The recommended agricultural practices are expected to reduce the unit cost of production and increase farmers’ income. The study attempts to analyze comparative economic advantage of Rwandan crops as well as the financial profitability of these crops for farmers. The comparative economic advantage is assessed using the economic cost of inputs and economic value of outputs which is frequently different from market prices due to various distortions such as taxes and subsidies. The financial income from cultivation of crops is, in turn, estimated using market prices. The current agricultural policies toward achieving food self-sufficiency are evaluated. Acknowledgements The assistance of Trade specialist, Mrs. Gaudence Mukamurenzi. Agronomists; Mrs. Speciose Kantengwa, Mr. Didier Uhoraningoga, John Twiringiyimana, Jean Marie Vianney Hatangimana, Jean Marie Vianney Ndaberetse, Jean Bosco Tumusifu, Landouard Semukera and Dieudonné Twahirwa, during the completion of this report is greatly appreciated. A special thanks to the officials of the Rwanda's Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), who provided overall guidance and support to the team. The team is incredibly grateful for the support given by the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Honorable Dr. Geraldine Mukeshimana and by the Director General of Strategic Planning and Programs Coordination (SPPC), Dr. Octave Semwaga.The team extends special thanks to the local authorities, public officials, farmers, their cooperatives as well as many other stakeholders, who generously gave their time to help the team to collect needed data and related information. |
| Keywords: | Rwanda, Crops, Agricultural practices, Comparative Economic Advantage |
| JEL: | Q12 Q18 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:dpaper:3006&r=agr |
| By: | Micha, E.; Tsakiridis, A.; Ragkos, A. |
| Abstract: | As global population rises there is added pressure on agricultural systems to intensify. On the other hand International organizations call their members to commit to environmental protection, including water quality. In Europe agriculture is a major water pollutant, with Phosphorus (P) considered to be contributing highly to water quality degradation. Hence, controlling phosphorus fertilizer use should be a priority. As farmers are responsible for the amount of phosphorus fertilization on their farm, they are expected to be aware of their soil P status. Farmers are advised to soil test their farms before they allocate P fertilizers, based on the assumption that soil test result will assist them in making informed decisions, and lately policy design discussions mention inclusion of soil testing in the agricultural policies regulations. To ensure the correctness of this decision a good understanding of the relation between soil testing and P fertilizer allocation is required. This paper examines dairy farm systems in Ireland, where farmers are strongly encouraged to soil test their farms regularly. National data were used in a censored tobit model to investigate the relation between a farmer s decision to soil test and Phosphorus fertilizer use intensity, among other factors. Results indicate a negative relationship suggesting that soil testing leads to reduced P fertilizer use. Acknowledgement : The authors would like to thank the Teagasc Agricultural Economics and Farm Surveys department for the data, as well as, Dr. A. Lymberopoulos and Dr. D. Chatziplis for their invaluable help. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277103&r=agr |
| By: | Qaim, M.; Ogutu, S. |
| Abstract: | While previous studies have examined the impacts of agricultural commercialization on farm household welfare in terms of income, the implications on multidimensional poverty have rarely been analyzed. We examine the impacts of commercialization on farm household welfare measured in terms of multidimensional poverty, with income-based poverty indicators as robustness checks. Using data from a sample of 805 farm households in Western Kenya and various econometric models, we measure average treatment effects, continuous treatment effects, and impact heterogeneity. Commercialization significantly reduces multidimensional poverty headcount by 35% and share of multiple deprivations in education, healthcare, and living standards by 39% and income poverty gap by 86% above the mean of less commercialized households. The impacts on per capita income are positive and significant. Generalized propensity score estimates show that commercialization continuously reduces multidimensional and income-based poverty. Quantile regressions results show that the absolute gains in per capita income are larger for the better-off, suggesting that commercialization may contribute to higher inequality. The effects of commercialization on multidimensional poverty are significant across different quantiles, but are largely homogeneous. The policy implications are discussed. Key words: agricultural commercialization, welfare, multidimensional poverty, Kenya JEL codes: C21, I31, Q12, Q13 Acknowledgement : This research was financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) based on a decision of the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany (grant number 2813FSNu01). The authors thank Jonathan Nzuma (University of Nairobi) for his research cooperation. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277249&r=agr |
| By: | Ludwig, T. |
| Abstract: | On-farm production diversity of smallholder farmers can improve the nutrition security of the household. The objective is to determine the significance and relevance of this relationship by considering the different degrees of separability between both the commercial and consumptive production of food. A household-level survey covering socioeconomic, agricultural and nutritional data was conducted in three regions of India from January to June 2017 including 1324 households in 119 villages. Various regression specifications (OLS, Poisson, Probit, IV / non-IV) were used to estimate the effect of production diversity on dietary diversity. Average yearly rainfall since 1981 is the excluded instrument. A positive association is estimated ( : 0.417 / 0.016 | IV / non-IV). Access to markets improve dietary diversity on average by 0.5 food groups. The increase is significant only for a few food groups (dairy products, nuts and vegetable) and primarily, it is the higher income groups that benefit from market integration. In conclusion, production diversity does improve nutrition security, but the positive market effect is stronger for farming households that have a higher income. Acknowledgement : The author would like to thank Professor Joachim von Braun and Professor Arijita Dutta for their guidance and suggestions. The author gratefully acknowledges the support of Pravah, Welthungerhilfe and GIZ for conducting the surveys. The author also thanks Guido L chters, Chiara Kofol, Davide Pesenti, Claudia Witkowski, Poornima Thapa, Gayatri Mitra, and Krishna Kant without whom the study would have not been possible. Financial support was provided by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and by the Fiat Panis Foundation. All errors are my own. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277437&r=agr |
| By: | Dorosh, Paul; Thurlow, James; Kebede, Frehiwot Worku; Ferede, Tadele; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum |
| Abstract: | This paper explores these issues for Ethiopia utilizing an economy-wide computable general equilibrium (CGE) model based on a detailed social accounting matrix (SAM). We present the results of four alternative investment scenarios -- faster investment in i) cities; ii) crop agriculture; iii) the rural non-farm sector and agro-industry; and iv) livestock. The simulations suggest that investments in cities generate faster economic growth and structural transformation. However, given the large share of the population with incomes linked to agriculture and the rural economy, investments in the rural economy are likely to continue to be more pro-poor than urban public investments through the mid-2020s. After the mid-2020s, investments in cities become more pro-poor. In short, though rapid economic growth and structural transformation have diminished the relative importance of the agricultural sector in Ethiopia’s economy, continued public investments in agriculture and the broader agri-food system remain crucial for equity and poverty alleviation in Ethiopia, as well as for reducing food import dependency. |
| Keywords: | ETHIOPIA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA ; poverty; agricultural sector; public investment; rural urban relations; economic growth ; computable general equilibrium (CGE) model; social accounting matrix (SAM) |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:esspwp:123&r=agr |
| By: | Ochieng, D. |
| Abstract: | In many developing countries, supermarkets are increasingly replacing traditional markets as preferred points of food purchases in urban areas. This has welfare implications on smallholder farmers that supply supermarkets. While previous studies have analyzed the welfare effects of smallholder participation in supermarket channels, many have focused on economic effects alone. Very little is known about the effects on farm household diets. Besides, most existing studies that have looked at economic effects used cross-sectional data that are limited in controlling for time-invariant differences between supermarket and traditional channel farmers. This study uses panel data from vegetable farmers in Kenya to examine the effects of supermarket contracting on farm household income and diets. The results show that supplying supermarkets has increased household income by 66%, and is associated with 8% higher consumption of calories, as well as better dietary diversity, and higher levels of zinc consumption. Using these results for simple simulations suggests that wider participation of smallholders in supermarket channels could reduce the prevalence of undernourishment by 8% and the prevalence of zinc deficiency by 12%. Hence, enhancing smallholder market access could significantly contribute to reduction of undernourishment, micronutrient malnutrition and increased income of farm households. Acknowledgement : Financial support from the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) and the German Research Foundation (DFG, grant number RTG 1666) is gratefully acknowledged. I also thank Elizaphan J.O. Rao, Christine G.K. Chege, and Camilla Andersson for sharing their data. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277423&r=agr |
| By: | Ba, H.A.; Demont, M.; Veettil, P.C. |
| Abstract: | With the growing concern for issues related to climate change, the development of sustainable agricultural value chains is of prime concern. Using a Discrete Choice Experiment, we examine both firms and farmers prospective responses to the internalization of sustainability through contract farming in the Vietnamese rice sector. Our findings suggest that farmers are more willing to internalize environmental sustainable production standards in contract farming than agribusiness firms. The latter are found less likely to mandate GlobalGAP/VietGAP production standards due to the cost of implementation and the lack of institutional support. It may be more interesting for firms to invest in standards with lower entry barrier. Furthermore, the internalization of the socio-economic pillar of sustainability in contract farming may require stimulating demand for sustainable rice and providing an enabling institutional environment for both farmers and firms to grasp new market opportunities. Acknowledgement : This research was conducted as part of the CORIGAP project: Closing Rice Yield Gaps in Asia with Reduced Environmental Footprint. The project was funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Additional funding was provided by the CGIAR Research Program on Rice. The authors would like to acknowledge Nguyen Thi Kieu and Nguyen Thi My Phung from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), Can Tho and An Giang, Vietnam for their excellent research support. |
| Keywords: | Marketing |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277390&r=agr |
| By: | Jaghdani, T. Jamali; Tleubayev, A.; Gotz, L.; Svanidze, M. |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of Russia s food import ban implemented in August of 2014 on the Russian dairy market based on the price transmission and price dispersion approach. Cheese is the only dairy product for which domestic production has significantly increased since the implementation of the import ban whereas cheese imports have strongly decreased. Results show that for most of the regional price pairs under study, cointegration of cheese prices between producing and consuming regions has substantially increased with the import ban. In 29 out of the 39 price pairs cointegration emerged after the implementation of the import ban. Furthermore, in 5 price pairs the degree of long term price transmission and speed of adjustment improved significantly during the import ban regime. Moreover, the dispersion of cheese prices between consuming metropoles and cheese producing regions has significantly increased. The export ban, reduction in import level of cheese and milk, and increase in agricultural price index has affected the dispersion significantly. We conclude that in spite of the observed reinforced integration of regional markets, the market efficiency in general has not increased necessarily by the boosted domestic cheese trade. Acknowledgement : This study was conducted within the STARLAP project, financially supported by the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) through the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE). |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277373&r=agr |
| By: | Ginevra Virginia LOMBARDI; Rossella ATZORI; Stefano BENEDETTELLI; Gianluca STEFANI; Anna ACCIAIOLI; Donato ROMANO; Silvia PARRINI |
| Abstract: | Urban population growth has raised concerns about food security. Agricultural systems are asked to satisfy a growing demand of food while addressing sustainability issues and facing resource constraints. Ecological footprints are a widespread instrument for the study of human dependence on natural resources. Among these tools, Land Food Footprint (LFF) is used to measure the land actually used to produce the food needed to satisfy the demand of a specific region or country. Understanding the differences between alternative production methods and the gaps between available and needed land is crucial in order to integrate food security and sustainability into rural development programmes and urban planning. The objective of this study is to analyse the Land Food Footprint of Tuscany (Italy) both for organic and conventional production methods, taking into account the nexus of diet. In this aim, we assess Land Food Footprint for the considered production processes under four different diet scenarios with different levels of animal protein consumption. The study shows that the gap between organic and conventional land requirements varies considerably between vegetable and animal foods. It confirms that organic agriculture needs more land than conventional one, but the gap between land footprints shrinks as consequence of dietary changes. The most important finding is that, in the case study, organic agriculture could feed the population if the diet shifts towards reduced intake of animal protein. In fact with a 50% diet reduction in animal proteins, the organic land food footprint value is equal to the conventional land food footprint under the status quo scenario. |
| Keywords: | sustainable food system, land food footprint, diet nexus, organic agriculture, food security |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2018_15.rdf&r=agr |
| By: | Wang, X.; Dietrich, J.P.; Lotze-Campen, H.; Biewald, A.; Munson, T.S.; Muller, C. |
| Abstract: | The study analyzes the impacts of agricultural trade liberalization on cropland use dynamics, focusing not only on the total amount of cropland area, but also on the spatial allocation among regions. With an agro-economic dynamic optimization model, the study is able to analyze the leakage effects resulted from trade liberalization as well as climate impacts on crop yields, by using crop yields simulation output from a vegetation model based on different climate models. In the scenario of high-end climate impacts on crop yields, although trade liberalization mitigates the negative impacts of climate impacts on agricultural supply and spares the land resource on the global scale, it further deteriorates the virtual trade of cropland among regions. The absolute amount of total cropland imbalance will increase by 272.2 million hectares at the end of the twenty-fist century. Latin America and China are the main exporters of cropland relate to food production, while Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are the regions of exporting cropland. By considering climate projection uncertainty, the study finds that the general trend of cropland displacement remains, although there exists a wide range for the amount of traded cropland in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276997&r=agr |
| By: | Barrett, C.; Jagnani, M.; Liu, Y.; You, L. |
| Abstract: | Does heat affect agriculture in regions where temperatures are not high enough to directly, adversely affect crop growth? Combining daily weather data with a qualitatively rich, longitudinal survey of Kenyan agricultural households in rural maize-growing areas where daily average temperatures are well below 30C, we find that higher temperatures early in the growing season increase the use of pesticides, while reducing fertilizer use, with comparatively modest effects of temperature later in the growing season. Suggestive evidence indicates that greater heat increases the incidence of pests, crop diseases and weeds, compelling farmers to divert investment from productivity-enhancing technologies like fertilizer to adaptive, loss-reducing inputs like pesticides. Acknowledgement : Tim Johnson and Yating Ru provided excellent research assistance. We thank Nicholas Flores, Teevrat Garg, Ariel Ortiz Bobea, Cynthia Lin Lawell and Vis Taraz for helpful comments. We are grateful for feedback from seminar participants at Cornell University and the International Food Policy Research Institute, as well as conference participants at the 2017 CU Boulder -- Environmental and Resource Economics Workshop, and the 2017 Association of Environmental and Resource Economists Annual Meetings. Funding support came from the African Development Bank through the Structural Transformation of African Agriculture and Rural Spaces (STAARS) project. All errors are our own |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277019&r=agr |
| By: | Grote, U.; Nguyen, T.T. |
| Abstract: | Human induced degradation of land due to over-extraction of water and forest resources is a threat to sustainable development in many developing countries. Solving this requires an understanding of the factors affecting the extraction and its impacts on rural welfare. In this study, we determine the factors affecting the extraction of and dependence on forest and water resources and examine the impacts of the extraction on rural household welfare in Laos. We address our research questions with an econometric framework that models the extraction and its implications simultaneously. We use the data of 430 rural households from a survey undertaken in 2013 in 38 villages of Savannakhet province. Our findings show that extraction is a shock-coping strategy of rural households but contributes to reducing household income inequality. For extracting households, extraction increases household income, consumption and food security. However, for non-extracting households, although extraction would increase food security, it would reduce their income and consumption. We suggest that promoting rural education and off-farm employment opportunities, enhancing investments in physical infrastructure, and developing livestock rearing would reduce the extraction of and the dependence on the resources of extractors and prevent non-extractors from being forced to extract the resources. Acknowledgement : We thank the farmers in Savannakhet province for their support and cooperation. We also acknowledge the support and appreciate the efforts of our partners in Lao PDR as well as all our colleagues at the Leibniz University Hannover for data collection. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277061&r=agr |
| By: | Trindade, F.; Fulginiti, L.; Perrin, R. |
| Abstract: | Considering different scenarios of future trends in climate, several authors have found that the impact that climate change will have on agriculture will most likely be negative. Most of these studies consider regions with low level of irrigation and do not control for purchased farm inputs. An important step towards understanding the evolution of agricultural production is to carefully estimate the effect that different temperatures and precipitation have on agricultural productivity considering also inputs under farmers control and the farmers profit-maximizing behavior. This research develops a county level biomass production function for an 800-mile climatic gradient from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River (41N). Our results quantify the critical effects that high temperatures have on agricultural productivity in the region, after controlling for irrigation, other managed inputs, soil characteristics, precipitation, and technological change. We find a negative and increasing (nonlinear) effect of temperatures over 30 C on crop yields; a full day of temperatures between 30 C and 35 C decreases expected yield by 1.7% and a day of temperatures over 35 C decreases yields by 23.1%. In addition, converting rainfed crops to irrigated crop will produce a sharp decrease in the negative impact of the higher temperature interval. Acknowledgement : Support is acknowledged from the Agricultural Research Division s Strategic Investments: Enhancing Interdisciplinary Teams Program Forty-First Parallel Agro-Ecosystem Sustainability and Productivity, University of Nebraska, and from USDA, NIFA NEB-24-164 and NEB-24-172. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277264&r=agr |
| By: | Wineman, A.; Jayne, T. |
| 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. Acknowledgement : The authors are grateful for the encouragement and support of the Food Security Group in the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics of Michigan State University. This work was supported by the USAID/Bureau for Food Security through the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Cooperative Agreement with Michigan State University, and by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the Guiding Investments in Sustainable Agricultural Intensification in Africa grant to Michigan State University. |
| Keywords: | Marketing |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277030&r=agr |
| By: | Khan, M.T.; Joshi, P.K.; Khurana, R.; Kishore, A. |
| Abstract: | Watershed development helps reduce farmers vulnerability to droughts and increase their incomes by rehabilitating the productive capacity of the land through water and soil conservation techniques. We estimate the impact of India s largest watershed development program called Integrated Watershed Management Program (IWMP) in four of the most drought affected districts of Maharashtra, India. We collected data from a random sample of 800 farmers in the four districts. Watershed programs may not show any impact on crop area or yields in years of normal of high rainfall. We, therefore, collected recall data on cropped area and yields for the last 4 years from our respondents. Our analysis shows that cotton yields were 11-32 percent higher and soybean yields were 12-25% higher for farmers whose land received watershed treatment. Four years recall data on crop area and yield, also allows us to look at the effect of IWMP on resilience of agriculture to droughts. We find that drought led to 30-40% yield loss in soybean and cotton compared to the yield in a normal year. However, watershed treatment reduced the yield loss due to drought by more than 30 percent. Acknowledgement : The authors would like to thank the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security for its generous financial support of research that led to this paper. We also thank the Indian Council of Agricultural Research for providing partial research funding. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277385&r=agr |
| By: | Bosch, C.; Zeller, M. |
| Abstract: | Large-scale agricultural investment in land was found to lead to positive employment and poverty reduction effects, however depending on the institutional context and the type of investment. This article aims to provide insights into the relationship between wage work for a large-scale Jatropha project and household food security, namely dietary diversity and food shortage. After the initial hype and the subsequent downfall of Jatropha, new projects are still being undertaken, yet little evidence in quantifying the long-term impacts of large-scale Jatropha production on smallholders livelihoods exists. This article contributes to addressing this gap by using five rounds of panel data collected from 2008 to 2013 from 390 randomly selected households near a Jatropha project in Madagascar. Results show that labour demand declined substantially after the build-up phase and incomes from wage work were mostly used for food and other necessities. Impacts are estimated with the help of fixed effects models. Jatropha wage work contributed significantly to improved dietary diversity but not to a reduction of food shortage. Food production and consumption furthermore were highly influenced by seasonality, drought and locust plagues, which implies that complementing income creation with agricultural development strategies might have further positive effects on food security. Acknowledgement : We thank the foundation Stiftung Energieforschung Baden-Wuerttemberg for funding this research, the respondents in the commune of Fenoarivo for their continued participation in the survey, and the field assistants and enumerators for their efforts in data collection. We are grateful to Romaine and Sylvain Ramananarivo for useful discussions and Ana Lucia Kassouf for providing comments on an earlier version of the article. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277227&r=agr |
| By: | Mohammadi, H.; Abolhasani, L.; Shahnoushi, N.; Shabanian, F. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of the business cycle indicators on stock market indices of food industry companies in Iran stock market. Using dynamic panel and Panel VAR methods for seasonal data of 2001-2015, the results show that the effect of GDP and agricultural value-added as indicators of business cycle on stock market indices of sales volume, price index, net profit and stock return are positive. The results of panel VAR models also show that the shocks entered by GDP and agricultural value ?added have a different effect on stock market indices of sales volume, price index, net profit and ?stock return. Due to the positive effects of the business cycles indicators on the stock market indices of food industry companies, it is recommended that policy-makers consider strategies to increase GDP and agriculture value-added. Acknowledgement : I am attaching herewith a manuscript entitled ?The Impacts of Business Cycle Indicators on Stock Market Indices of Food Industry for the 30th international conference of agricultural economics. With the submission of this manuscript, I would like to undertake that the above-mentioned manuscript has not been published elsewhere, accepted for publication elsewhere or under editorial review for publication elsewhere. Please don't hesitate to contact me for further information. Thanks in advance for your time and consideration. Sincerely Hosein Mohammadi, Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277425&r=agr |
| By: | Loos, T.; Sariyev, O.; Zeller, M. |
| Abstract: | Empowering women is considered to affect households livelihood outcomes both directly through emphasizing expenditure for food or social aspects (health, education), and indirectly through higher adoption rates of agricultural technologies increasing productivity, thus raising on-farm food availability and agricultural income. Drawing on women s intra-household decision-making power, the possibility of all (adolescent) household members actively participating in family decisions is widely ignored or undervalued in the literature. Therefore, this article applies a new decision-making index that allows all household members to be considered in decision-making processes. It investigates how women s bargaining power influences livelihood outcomes through different pathways: (i) the direct effect is measured as impact on social expenditures; (ii) the indirect effect is measured as impact on adopting crop rotation leading to higher agricultural productivity. Using data of 378 farming households living in a 200 km radius around Hawassa town, we estimate the effects by employing Tobit and log-linear regression models. Our findings suggest that women s participation in decision-making positively influences livelihood outcomes directly, reflected in higher social expenditures; and indirectly through increasing the adoption of crop rotation practices, thus improving farm productivity. Therefore, we conclude that households with higher women empowerment are likely to achieve higher livelihood outcomes. Acknowledgement : The financial support of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is kindly acknowledged. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277120&r=agr |
| By: | Miranda, J.; Borner, J.; Kalkuhl, M.; Soares-Filho, B. |
| Abstract: | The Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado biomes have been subject to strong pressure from agricultural expansion over the past decades. It is frequently claimed that the associated tree cover loss was partly driven by land speculation. In the mid-2000s, the Brazilian government implemented an innovative policy regime to combat deforestation with a strong focus on the Amazon region. While there is solid evidence that the new environmental governance approach was effective in reducing Amazon forest loss, some research indicates that leakage effects have contributed to increasing land conversion in the Cerrado. In this paper, we contribute to investigating these hypotheses using land market data covering the period from 2001 to 2012. Based on land rent and hedonic valuation theory, we use a first difference panel regression analysis to decompose forestland prices into land rent, conversion costs, and speculative attributes. We then assess whether, where, and to what extent conservation policy shocks affect forestland prices over time. Our measures of speculation and conservation are significant in all our model specifications. Our findings suggest that land prices represent an indicator for spatially and temporally shifting land demand and related speculative behavior, and the presence of conservation policy leakage in Brazil. Acknowledgement : Funding: This work was supported by the Robert Bosch Foundation (Grant: 32.5.8043.0012.0), www.bosch-stiftung.de |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277285&r=agr |
| By: | Bahru, B. |
| Abstract: | Climate change poses a serious challenge to achieving the SDG2 of ending hunger by 2030 and leaves billions of people at risk of food insecurity, illness, and malnutrition. This paper analyzes the long-term impacts of climatic shocks on the nutritional status of 1,911 sample children in Ethiopia. To this end, the study employed a linear mixed effect model, random intercept probit model, and structural equation modeling. Accordingly, climatic shocks are negatively associated with child nutrition. Moreover, early life exposure to climatic shocks is negatively associated with nutritional status at later age. Therefore, if appropriate measures are not taken, the predicted increase in the frequency of extreme events might slow down the secular progress in reduction of child undernutrition in Ethiopia. The role of other covariates was also analyzed. Accordingly, despite their biological and behavioral advantage, girls were more likely to be stunted than boys. This finding highlights the need for a gender-sensitive intervention and the role of intra-household food allocation during shocks. This study also revealed that program participation by drought-affected households has a positive association with child nutrition. Therefore, programs targeted to shock affected households might have a potential to smooth the impact of climatic shocks on child undernutrition Acknowledgement : The data used in this study come from Young Lives, a 15-year study of the changingnature of childhood poverty in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam (www.younglives.org.uk). Young Lives is funded by UK aid from the Department forInternational Development (DFID). The views expressed here are those of the author(s). They are not necessarily those of Young Lives, the University of Oxford, DFID or other funders. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277297&r=agr |
| By: | Muricho, G.; Kulundu, D.; Sule, F. |
| Abstract: | Welfare implication of agricultural commercialization in developing countries is not clear. Particularly not clear is its effect on household food security. Using panel data collected from smallholder farmers in Kenya, we analyze the impact of agricultural commercialization on household food security by fitting endogenous switching regression model in a correlated random effects framework. The results show that agricultural commercialization significantly improves household food security. Food security probability of commercialized and non-commercialized households was 62% and 32%, respectively. This 30% food security gap between the two groups of households could be reduced by 39 percentage points (12% gap) if non-commercialized households could be as efficient as commercialized household in their resource use. The other 61% percentage points (18% gap) emanated from differences in resource amounts between commercialized and non-commercialized households. The implication of these findings is that policies that stimulate and enhance agricultural commercialization are critical in improving household food security. Acknowledgement : This study was supported by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and Australian International Food Security Research Centre (AIFSRC) through International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) led Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) program, and Adoption Pathways Project. The views expressed here are those of authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the donor or authors institution. The usual disclaimer applies |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277325&r=agr |
| By: | Ecker, Olivier; Hatzenbuehler, Patrick L.; Mahrt, Kristi |
| Abstract: | The release by the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) in 2010 and its successor strategy document, the Agriculture Promotion Policy (APP), in 2016 as official policy strategy documents signals a shift in policymaker attention toward improving the performance of the agricultural sector in the country after decades of neglect. This paper discusses the potential effects of changes in agricultural production practices due to these adjustments in strategy on food consumption, and, hence, on food security and nutrition in Nigeria. Weoutline the theoretical linkages between changes in agricultural production patterns by farm households and their food consumption decisions. |
| Keywords: | NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; agricultural development; food security; nutrition; agriculture; malnutrition; child nutrition; diet; diversification ; agricultural transformation; dietary diversity; nutrition indicators |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:nsspwp:56&r=agr |
| By: | De Pinto, A. |
| Abstract: | Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is a relatively new approach to agricultural development that aims at increasing productivity in the agricultural sector under changing climate regimes while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We perform an ex-ante assessment of the effects of widespread adoption of CSA by linking spatially-disaggregated data from three different models and focus on three crops, maize, wheat, and rice, which represent about 41% of the global harvested area and 64 % of GHG emissions generated by crop production. The impact of adoption of selected CSA practices is evaluated against a plausible business-as-usual scenario for the period 2010 2050 under two climate change scenarios. We find that the highest possible impact of the CSA practices considered is to increase global maize and wheat production by about 4%, and global rice production by 9%. These changes lead to a decrease in the number of people at risk of hunger estimated to be between 23 and 40 million worldwide. Average annual reduction of GHG emissions ranges between 44 and 101 Mt CO2 e. While substantial, this reduction is only 4 10% of the estimated global reduction in emissions from the agricultural sector necessary to remain below a 2 C warming. Acknowledgement : We would like to thank Jennifer Lieberman, Daniel Mason-D'Croz, and Keith Wiebe for their help and useful comments. The authors take sole responsibility for the opinions expressed within this article. The authors acknowledge the generous support of the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and funded by CGIAR Fund Donors and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security, which is carried out with support from CGIAR Fund Donors and through bilateral funding agreements. For details, please visit https://ccafs.cgiar.org. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277524&r=agr |
| By: | Chaboud, G.; Moustier, P. |
| Abstract: | In developing countries, food losses and waste (FLW) are expected to be high at post-harvest stages (e.g. storage, transport, retail) due to poor infrastructure, poor post-harvest handling and technical constraints, especially for perishable products. The paper intends: i) to assess the volume of unsold food products (i.e. quantitative FLW) for the tomato chain supplying Cali, and ii) to identify the determining factors, in particular, the nature of marketing chains. It is based on primary data collected along the tomato supply chain of Cali in Colombia, from production to retail stage. We find relatively low levels of FLW: 12% for farmers on average, less than 5% for traders. The lowest levels are observed when farmers combine different food chains, i.e. supermarket and non-supermarket driven. This behaviour is adapted to the diversity of social and economic characteristics of consumers. It is discussed in reference to theories of plural forms of governance in food chains. Key words Food losses and waste, food supply chain, supermarkets, plural forms, market complementarities, case study Acknowledgement : This article is an outcome of a PhD thesis at the Doctoral School of Economics and Management in Montpellier and at the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (Cirad). The authors gratefully acknowledge the CIAT in Cali for the material and financial support provided for data collection and for the dissemination and discussion of the results with the stakeholders. A special thanks to Guy Henry for his helpful advices in the field. We are sincerely grateful to the many stakeholders of the tomato chain that took the time to participate in the survey. |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277359&r=agr |
| By: | Asante Gyamerah, Samuel; Ngare, Philip; Ikpe, Dennis |
| Abstract: | Weather is a key production factor in agricultural crop production and at the same time the most significant and least controllable source of peril in agriculture. These effects of weather on agricultural crop production have triggered a widespread support for weather derivatives as a means of mitigating the risk associated with climate change on agriculture. However, these products are faced with basis risk as a result of poor design and modelling of the underlying weather variable (temperature). In order to circumvent these problems, a novel time-varying mean-reversion L´evy regime-switching model is used to model the dynamics of the deseasonalized temperature dynamics. Using plots and test statistics, it is observed that the residuals of the deseasonalized temperature data are not normally distributed. To model the nonnormality in the residuals, we propose using the hyperbolic distribution to capture the semiheavy tails and skewness in the empirical distributions of the residuals for the shifted regime. The proposed regime-switching model has a mean-reverting heteroskedastic process in the base regime and a Levy process in the shifted regime. By using the Expectation-Maximization algorithm, the parameters of the proposed model are estimated. The proposed model is flexible as it modelled the deseasonalized temperature data accurately. |
| Keywords: | Levy Process, Weather Derivative, Temperature, Regime-Switching |
| JEL: | C44 C53 Q5 Q54 |
| Date: | 2018–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:89680&r=agr |
| By: | Kabunga, N.; Bizimungu, E. |
| Abstract: | Agricultural productivity is still very low in Africa largely due to low use of improved agricultural technologies. Existing adoption studies are marred by univariate analyses, often focusing on single technologies over a limited scope while assuming uniform effects of the explanatory variables across farm households. In this study, we use a large dataset that covers a wide geographical and agricultural scope to describe use-patterns of improved agro-technology in Uganda. Using latent class analysis, and over 12,500 households collected across the four regions of Uganda, we classify farmers based on the package of improved agro-technologies used. We find that the majority of farmers (61%) do not use any improved agricultural practices ( non-users ) while only 5% of the farmers belong to the class of intensified diversifiers , using most of the commonly available agro-technologies across crop and livestock enterprises. Using multinomial regression analysis, we show that education of the household head, access to extension messages and affiliation to social groups, are the key factors that drive switching from the non-user reference class to the other three preferred classes that use improved agro-technologies to varying levels. Results reveal that different farmer categories with different agro-technology needs, which may have implications for optimal targeting. Acknowledgement : The authors would like to thank the International Institute for Impact Evaluation (3ie) for financial support. This work was undertaken as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). |
| Keywords: | Livestock Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277007&r=agr |
| By: | Komarek, A.; Thurlow, J.; De Pinto, A.; Kwon, H.-Y.; Koo, J. |
| Abstract: | Promoting climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is now a common policy in many developing countries. Yet researchers rarely quantify CSA s economic value as opposed to traditional input-intensive technologies, particularly CSA s contribution to economy-wide indicators, such as economic growth and poverty reduction. This study applied a bioeconomic modeling approach to quantify the economy-wide effects of promoting CSA and traditional input-intensive technologies (fertilizer and irrigation) in Ethiopian cereal systems. We combined a cropping systems model with a computable general equilibrium model that was linked to a poverty module. We simulated the economy-wide effects for 40-year sequences of variable climate with and without climate change. Our results suggest that adopting CSA technologies (related to no tillage and integrated soil fertility management) on a quarter of Ethiopia s maize and wheat land (approximately 900,000 hectares) would increase national gross domestic product (GDP) by an average US $146 million annually and assist 367,000 people to move out of poverty. This benefit exceeds the GDP gain of US $95 million and poverty reduction of 105,000 people expected from a similarly-sized expansion of fertilizer and irrigation. Results also suggest that the gains from CSA are greater with climate change and that CSA improves stocks of soil organic carbon. Acknowledgement : The United Nations Development Programme funded part of this study. We thank Richard D. Robertson for providing the climate data. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277095&r=agr |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Hatzenbuehler, Patrick L.; Edeh, Hyacinth |
| Abstract: | Agricultural mechanization has often been characterized by scale-effects and increased specialization. Such characterizations, however, fail to explain how mechanization may grow in Africa where production environments are more heterogeneous and diversification of production may help in mitigating risks from increasingly uncertain climatic conditions. Using panel data from farm households and crop-specific production costs in Nigeria, we estimate how the adoption of animal traction or tractors affects the economies of scope (EOS) between rice, non-rice grains, legume/seed crops, and other crops, which are the crop groups that are most widely grown with animal traction or tractors in Nigeria. The results indicate that the adoption of these mechanization technologies is associated with lower EOS between non-rice grains, legume/seed crops, and other crops, but greater EOS between rice and other crops. An increase in EOS for rice is indicated in both primal and dual analytical approaches. Mechanical technologies may raise EOS between crops that are grown in more heterogeneous environments, even though it may lower EOS between crops that are grown in relatively similar environments. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that shows the effects of mechanical technologies on EOS in agriculture in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; agricultural mechanization; crop production; rice; diversification; innovation adoption; production economics; tractors; animal resources; economies of scope (EOS); inverse probability weighting |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:nsspwp:53&r=agr |
| By: | Ghebru, Hosaena; Amare, Mulubrhan; Mavrotas, George; Ogunniyi, Adebayo |
| Abstract: | The paper examines the role of land access in youth migration and employment decisions using a two wave panel data set from the Living Standards Measurement Study—Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) from Nigeria. Overall, the findings show that the size of expected land inheritance is significantly and negatively associated with long distance migration and migration to urban areas, while a similar impact is negligible when a broader definition of migration is adopted and when migration is deemed as temporary. A more disaggregated analysis by considering individual characteristics of the youth shows that results are more elastic for older youth and those that are less educated, while we find no difference when comparisons are made by gender. Similar analysis on the influence of land access on youth employment choices shows strong evidence that the larger the size of the expected land inheritance the lower the likelihood of the youth being involved in non-agricultural activities and a higher chance of staying in agriculture or the dual sector. The results further reveal that youth in areas with a high level of agricultural commercialization and modernization seem to be more responsive to land access considerations in making migration and employment decisions than are youth residing in less commercialized areas. Finally, the results from the differential analysis suggest that rural-to-urban migration and the likelihood of youth involvement in the dual economy is more responsive to the size of the expected land inheritance for less educated youth as compared to more educated ones. |
| Keywords: | NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA ; land access; migration; youth; employment; rural urban migration; land inheritance |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:nsspwp:58&r=agr |
| By: | Mullally, C. |
| Abstract: | International migration is an important source of employment and remittances for households in the developing world. In a male-dominated international migration system, females are more likely to head households after the exit of a migrant. In this study, we decompose impacts of international migration into effects attributable to a change in the gender of the household head and effects attributable to other mechanisms. We use an unbalanced panel dataset collected over fourteen years from 2000-2014 in Bangladesh, where international migrants are almost all men. Combining instrumental variable estimation with causal mediation methods, we find that sending an international migrant reduces household participation in crop farming, livestock production, and non-farm businesses at the intensive and extensive margins. However, the average impacts of changes in the gender of the household head due to migration show an opposite effect. We find similar results for input expenditure, capital stock, and time allocation in farming, livestock, and business activities as well. Results show that migration increases household expenditures in food and non-food items, but the newly formed female-headed households induced through migration spend less on food and non-food items and invest more on productive activities. Acknowledgement : We are grateful to BRAC for providing us the data set and to Mr. Mahafuzur Rahman for his support during the study. We would also like to thank Marc Bellemere, Spiro Stefanou, Pilar Useche, Hector Sandoval, Charles Moss, Dianne Cothran, and seminar participants at the AAEA Annual Meeting in Chicago and the University of Florida for their comments and suggestions. The standard caveats apply. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276993&r=agr |
| By: | Jia, R.; Lu, Q. |
| Abstract: | Based on the data of rural households in the Loess Plateau of China, this paper uses exploratory factor analysis to measure the degree of participation of farmers in collective action from the information, participation, organization and effect of action. Through Bootstrap mediation effect test, this paper tests the direct impact of land transfer area and period on farmers implementation of soil and water conservation measures, and the indirect impact of transfer area and period on the implementation of soil and water conservation measures by changing the participation of farmers in collective action. The result shows: transfer area has a direct impact on the using of terraced fields, plastic film and afforestation. The transfer period has a direct impact on the implementation of terraced fields, plastic film, afforestation and water-saving irrigation techniques. While collective action plays a mediating role in the process of transfer area affecting farmers use of terraced fields, afforestation and water-saving irrigation techniques, its mediating role in the use of plastic film is not significant. While the mediating role of collective action is significant in the transfer period affecting the implementation of terraced field and water-saving irrigation techniques, it is not significant in using plastic film and afforestation. Acknowledgement : This paper was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 71473197 and 71673223) and the Humanity and Social Science Youth foundation of Ministry of Education of China (Project No. 17YJC790059). |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277124&r=agr |
| By: | Elum, Z. |
| Abstract: | Climate variability and climate change pose a threat to the livelihoods of developing countries due to their adverse impacts on infrastructure and other production systems most notable in agriculture where such impacts lead to water and food insecurities. The magnitude of the impacts of climate variability and climate change are location specific and depend on the vulnerability and sensitivity of a locale to those effects. Focused on three provinces in South Africa namely the Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, the main objective of the study is to provide empirical results on the vulnerability of the selected provinces to climate change. The study is imperative because of a perceived paucity of private and public systems preparedness to deal with the present and future adverse impacts of climate variability and climate change. The study uses a composite vulnerability index and a fixed effect regression model in the analysis of data. Results showed that the selected provinces were vulnerable to climate change but to different extents. Further, it was observed that food grains production was significantly affected by climatic stressors. The study recommends the provision of efficient irrigation facilities, drought-tolerant crops, dissemination of information on integrated pest management and provision of non-agricultural jobs. Acknowledgement : This research is supported by funding from the Department for International Development (DfID), UK under the Climate Impact Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement (CIRCLE) Programme. The University of South Africa (UNISA) as well the University of Port Harcourt are acknowledged for providing support for the CIRCLE fellowship which was undertaken by the first author at UNISA. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277522&r=agr |
| By: | Wongnaa, C.A.; Awunyo-Vitor, D.; Mensah, A. |
| Abstract: | The study analysed the factors influencing profit and its efficiency for smallholder maize farmers in Ghana. The data used was collected from 576 maize farmers in Ghana s four main agro ecological zones using structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and the stochastic frontier translog profit function were the methods of analysis employed. The results showed that generally, an increase in the prices of fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide, seed and labour decreased the profitability of maize production in Ghana. Also, an increase in farm size by Ghanaian maize farmers decreased their profit levels. Furthermore, the maize farmers were found to be seriously profit inefficient as the mean profit efficiency was 48.4%. Maize farmers in the transitional zone of the country were also found to be more efficient in their profit levels than those in other zones. Finally, male gender, formal education, extension contact, access to good roads and credit as well as uses of fertilizer, pesticides and improved seeds were found to be positively related to profit efficiency of the farmers. Recommendations aimed at improving profit efficiency of maize farmers are suggested. Acknowledgement : We are especially indebted to the staff of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in the West Mamprusi, East Gonja, Nkoranza, Ejura Sekyedumase, Fanteakwa, Sekyere South, Gomoa and Ketu districts/municipalities of Ghana for the information they provided about the maize crop and also assisting in the data collection. We are also grateful to the respondent maize farmers in the aforementioned districts/municipalities without whose co-operation the study could not have taken place. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277009&r=agr |
| By: | Chen, H. |
| Abstract: | China is attempting to increase average farm size for relaxing laborers from land, however, the potential farm land size and productivity Inverse Relationship (IR) is triggering an intensive debate. As the China s agricultural insurance market has grown rapidly in recent years, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether the insurance can be a tool for mitigating the IR. We first model how risk causes IR. The finding brings an additional layer to the existing literature: a constant relative risk averse farmer still suffers from IR due to the Income Share Effect. When farm land size increases, the share of risky farm income rises, result in farmers to be more conservative, which causes efficiency loss. With insurance scheme, the lost productivity is recovered. A large-scale filed survey data is employed to test theoretical findings. Results show that, for farmers without insurance, the IR does exist. As land size increases 1 mu, the productivity significantly decreases 0.5 jin/mu, which is 4.5% decrease in total production if the government wants to increase average farm size from 10 mu to 100 mu. For the farmers with insurance purchase, the lost productivity is fully recovered as the theoretical model predicted and IR disappears. Acknowledgement : I am extremely grateful to my advisors Michael R. Carter and Stephen R. Boucher for invaluable discussions, guidance, and support. I also thank Danie A. Sumner, Jikun Huang, Wuyang Hu, Kevin Novan, Meilin Ma for helpful comments, as well as seminar participants.I would like to express special thanks to researchers at China Center for Agricultural Policy (CCAP) as well for their great efforts in conducting field surveys and collecting first-hand household data used in this study. |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277003&r=agr |
| By: | Hatzenbuehler, Patrick L.; Mavrotas, George; Maikasuwa, Mohammed Abubakar; Aliyu, Abdulrahaman; Bashir, Amina |
| Abstract: | While there are many aspects to agricultural market modernization that are linked and mutually affect and reinforce each other, we argue in this paper that investment in Nigeria in physical market infrastructure, such as storage units, remains relatively neglected, especially in rural areas. That this is the case undermines successful agricultural development in the country. We examine the transactions cost, spatial market equilibrium, and industrial policy literatures to provide a conceptual context for understanding how and why investments in physical market infrastructure can lower transactions costs for traders and for farmers, and, thus, increase market participation. We also implemented a marketplace characteristics survey in Kebbi state, an agriculture-based state in northwestern Nigeria, to determine whether further investments in marketplace infrastructure are needed. We found that some markets, especially those in rural areas, lacked storage units and communications technologies. Hence, traders and farmers in those markets operate in a challenging environment. We argue that investments such as these are likely to be more successful in the long-run and have more immediate effects on local agricultural development than would national initiatives. Local governments have better knowledge of local conditions and can better design initial investments to strengthen markets and then implement follow-on initiatives required to meet needs that arise as market conditions evolve. |
| Keywords: | NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; economic competition; infrastructure; local government; investment policies; agricultural development; grain; transaction costs; public investment; grain markets; market participation |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:nsspwp:54&r=agr |
| By: | Bacha, C.; Carvalho, L. |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an analysis of the main determinants for the increase in Brazilian production and exportation of agro-based products from 1990 through 2013. The analysis led to some interesting conclusions. First, Brazil did not follow a predetermined model calibrated for success in the international agricultural and agro-processed markets. Rather, it altered its budget to support market-oriented agricultural policies in a responsive manner that reflected the constraints and opportunities arising in both the domestic and international markets while taking advantage of abundant agricultural land, a favourable climate, and a willingness to invest by farmers and larger agribusiness companies. Second, increasing agricultural production and capacity facilitated increasing exports of both agricultural and agro-processed products. Third, Brazilian exports of agro-based products were increasing before and after the 2002 through 2008 international surge in food prices. Our econometric model revealed that increased Brazilian agricultural and agro-processed food production and overall world GDP growth, rather than international prices, have been the main drivers of Brazilian agricultural and agro-processed exports. Acknowledgement : This document is an output from a project funded by the UK Aid from the Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. However, the views expressed and information contained in it are not necessarily those of or endorsed by DFID, which can accept no responsibility for such views or information or for any reliance placed on them. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277740&r=agr |
| By: | Tamru, Seneshaw; Minten, Bart |
| Abstract: | Local value-addition in developing countries is often aimed at the upgrading of agricultural value chains, since it is assumed that doing so will make farmers better off. However, transmission of the added value through the value chain and constraints to adoption of value-adding activities by farmers are not well understood. We look at this issue in the case of coffee in Ethiopia – the country’s most important export product – and value-addition in the coffee value-chain through ‘washing’ coffee, which is done in wet mills. Washed coffee is sold internationally with a significant premium compared to ‘natural’ coffee, and we find that this premium is largely transmitted to producers. However, while wet mills have become more widespread, the share of washed coffee in Ethiopia’s coffee exports is not increasing over time and, even if coffee farmers have access to a wet mill, they often do not sell all their coffee cherries to them. Relying on a unique primary large-scale dataset and a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, we examine the reasons for this puzzle. The reasons seemingly are twofold. First, labor productivity in producing red cherries, which wet mills require, is lower than for natural coffee, reducing incentives for adoption, especially for those farmers with higher opportunity costs of labor. Second, only impatient, often smaller, farmers sell red cherries, as more patient farmers use the storable dried coffee cherries as a rewarding savings instrument, given the negative real deposit rates in formal savings institutions. |
| Keywords: | ETHIOPIA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA ; agricultural value chains; coffee; mills; inflation; agricultural development; exports; productivity; labor; innovation adoption; value added product |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:esspwp:121&r=agr |
| By: | Gert Peersman (-) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the causal effects of shifts in international food commodity prices on euro area inflation dynamics using a structural VAR model that is identified with an external instrument (i.e. a series of global harvest shocks). The results reveal that exogenous food commodity price shocks have a strong impact on consumer prices, explaining on average 25%-30% of inflation volatility. In addition, large autonomous swings in international food prices contributed significantly to the twin puzzle of missing disinflation and missing inflation in the era after the Great Recession. Specifically, without disruptions in global food markets, inflation in the euro area would have been 0.2%-0.8% lower in the period 2009-2012 and 0.5%-1.0% higher in 2014-2015. An analysis of the transmission mechanism shows that international food price shocks have an impact on food retail prices through the food production chain, but also trigger indirect effects via rising inflation expectations and a depreciation of the euro. |
| Keywords: | Food commodity prices, inflation, twin puzzle, euro area, SVAR-IV |
| JEL: | E31 E52 Q17 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:18/947&r=agr |
| By: | Birner, R.; Adu-Baffour, F.; Daum, T. |
| Abstract: | After many years of neglect, there is a renewed interest in agricultural mechanization in Africa. This paper analyzes an initiative of the company John Deere and its dealer AFGRI to promote smallholder mechanization in Zambia. The analysis focuses on the impact of this initiative on smallholder farmers who receive tractor services and on the demand for hired labor. The results of a Propensity Score Matching (PSM) analysis indicate that farmers who access tractor services for land preparation can almost double their income by cultivating a much larger share of the land that they own. The analysis also suggests that the increased income is used for children s education and for purchasing more food, but does not result in increased food diversity. The findings indicate that the demand for hired labor increases due to the expansion of the cultivated area and due to a shift from family labor, including that of children, to hired labor. Questions that require further investigation are identified, including strategies to increase the incentives of tractor owners to provide services to smallholders; and strategies to avoid new forms of dependency of agricultural laborers that may result from a shift in the timing of the labor demand. Acknowledgement : We would like to thank all persons who were interviewed for this study. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support, which was provided by the "Program of Accompanying Research for Agricultural Innovation (PARI)", a program funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). We are also grateful to The Deere & Company, which enabled this study and funded the fieldwork of two Master students. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277288&r=agr |
| By: | Niedermayr, A.; Schaller, L.; Kieninger, P.; Kantelhardt, J. |
| Abstract: | In the context of an upcoming CAP-reform which will most likely condition payments to farmers stronger on a measurable provision of public goods, the aim of this study is to elicit the willingness to pay (WTP) for public goods (PGs) provided by agriculture in the Marchfeld, a dynamically developing and semi-urban region in Austria. Situated between Vienna and Bratislava it is marked by an intensive agricultural production and at the same time rising environmental awareness of the local population. We carry out a discrete choice experiment for the 3 public goods ground water quality, landscape diversity and climate stability, which were pre-selected via focus groups. Due to high preference heterogeneity we estimate a random parameters logit model and include interactions with socio-demographic factors in order to further disentangle differences in preferences. We find a positive and significant WTP for all three public goods, with groundwater quality being most important for the participants, followed by landscape diversity and climate stability. The results of this study in combination with a supply-side assessment, consisting of different management options for farmers, could form the basis for the development of governance mechanisms for the smart provision of public goods by agriculture in the Marchfeld region. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276963&r=agr |
| By: | Mbugua, M.; Nzuma, J.; Muange, E.; Njuguna, M.; Jaeckering, L. |
| Abstract: | An important driver of household dietary diversity is nutrition knowledge which can be improved through access to nutrition information. However, in many rural areas, formal flow of nutrition information is limited, and social networks could play an important role as an informal source of such information. This paper evaluates effects of social network on household dietary diversity in Kenya. Cross sectional data collected from 198 farmers using multi stage sampling technique, was analysed using a Poisson regression model. The results show that the average household dietary diversity of an individual s network members has a positive effect on the dietary diversity of the individual. The effects are more when the network includes at least a strong tie. Household size and farm size also have a positive effect on household dietary diversity. These results imply that farmers social networks could be used as a complementary tool for effective delivery of nutrition education which targets to enhance nutritional quality. Acknowledgement : Acknowledgements The field research of this paper was jointly carried out by the University of Nairobi, University of Gottingen and Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International. The authors warmly acknowledge the Germany Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture for funding this study through Agriculture and Dietary Diversity in Africa (ADDA) project (grant number ADDA-UGOE/UoN: 2813FSNU01) . Last but not list, our gratitude goes to Theda Godeke (University of Gottingen) for her support and guidance through the field research. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277341&r=agr |
| By: | Biliang, L. |
| Abstract: | Purpose - Based on the brief historical review, this paper expounds the target and bottom line for the farmland institutional reform of in China, analyzes the Chinese scenes and historical heritage of farmland institutional arrangement, evaluates the policies and their effects over the last four decades and outlines the keynotes and possible direction of the future reform. Design/methodology/approach - Build the analytical clue of institutional target - institutional heritage - policy effort - realistic dilemma future direction and review and forecast the Chinese farmland institutional reform. Findings - The farmland institutional is an important issue with Chinese characteristics. Over the last four decades, the farmland institutional reform in China has focused on stabilizing the land property rights and promote the farmland transfer . As the study indicates, the promotion of farmland transfer has not effectively improved the scale economy of agriculture and stabilizing land property rights by titling may restrain the development of farmland transfer market, because farmland transfer is of special market logic. Originality/value - It depends on the revitalization of farmland management rights to resolve the transaction constraint of personal property and its endowment effect in farmland transfer. And classifying the land management property to involve farmers into the economy of division can be reference for the reform of traditional agriculture worldwide. Acknowledgement : This paper is sponsored by the key project of National Natural Science Foundation of China: Research on Rural Land and Relevant Element Market Cultivation and Reform (Grant No. 71333004) and by the key policy research project of National Natural Science Foundation of China: Farmland Titling: Realistic Background, Policy Objective and Effect Evaluation (Grant No. 71742003). |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277032&r=agr |
| By: | Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Minten, Bart; Tadesse, Fanaye; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum |
| Abstract: | Livestock is important in Ethiopia’s agricultural economy as almost all farmers own some livestock. Livestock assets are valued at 720 USD per farm on average. Overall livestock output has grown rapidly over the last decade, estimated at almost 6 percent per year, but about 80 percent of that growth came from increases in the number of livestock. The stock of different livestock species was about 50 percent higher in 2015 than a decade earlier, while modern input use and improvements in production methods contributed little to growth in the livestock sector. Linked to improved access to extension and markets, adoption of improved breeds and improved feeding practices increased, but such adoption patterns started from a very low base. Within the livestock sector, cattle are dominant, making up an estimated three-quarters of the value of livestock stock. However, the share of cattle in total livestock output is declining, and small ruminants are on the rise, especially in pastoralist areas. Given the rapid growth in livestock numbers and the increasing livestock density per unit of land, we find that feeding practices are changing. Grazing land is declining in availability, so reliance on commercial feed markets is increasing. Access to vaccinations and veterinary service provision have improved, and livestock death rates declined slightly over the last decade. However, the number of livestock lost to deaths is still more than twice the number sold for meat production, indicating important challenges remaining for the development of the livestock sector in Ethiopia. |
| Keywords: | ETHIOPIA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA ; livestock; commercial farming; animal production; livestock breeding; livestock productivity; economic growth; innovation adoption; cattle; ruminants; small ruminants; sheep; goats |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:esspwp:122&r=agr |
| By: | Kilic, T.; Djima, I. Yacoubou; Carletto, C. |
| Abstract: | Research has provided robust evidence for the use of GPS as the new, scalable gold-standard in land area measurement in household surveys. Nonetheless, facing budget constraints, survey agencies often measure with GPS only plots within a given radius of dwelling locations. It is, subsequently, common for significant shares of plots not to be measured, and research has highlighted the selection biases resulting from using incomplete data. This study relies on nationally-representative, multi-topic household survey data from Malawi and Ethiopia with near-negligible missingness in GPS-based plot areas to validate the accuracy of a Multiple Imputation (MI) model for predicting missing GPS-based plot areas in household surveys. The analysis randomly creates missingness among plots beyond two operationally-relevant distance measures from the dwelling locations, conducts MI for each artificially-created dataset, and compares the distributions of the imputed plot-level outcomes, namely area and agricultural productivity, with the distributions of their true, observed counterparts. MI procedure results in imputed yields that are statistically undistinguishable from the true distributions with up to 82% and 56% missingness, respectively for Malawi and Ethiopia, for plots located more than 1 kilometer away from dwellings. The study highlights the promise of using MI for reliably predicting missing GPS-based plot areas. Acknowledgement : The authors thank Tomoki Fujii and Alberto Zezza, Heather Moylan for their comments on the earlier versions of this paper. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277734&r=agr |
| By: | Ceballos, F.; Kramer, B.; Robles, M. |
| Abstract: | This paper describes and tests the feasibility of Picture-Based Crop Insurance (PBI), a new way to deliver affordable and easy-to-understand insurance. Under PBI, loss assessments are based on damage visible from a time-series of pictures taken by the farmer using regular smartphones. PBI aims at boosting uptake, trust, and understanding of insurance by reducing basis risk as well as costs of and delays in loss assessment, and by engaging farmers to participate directly, with one s own pictures being more tangible than other indices. Results from a pilot implementation in the rice-wheat belt of India speak to PBI being a feasible and valuable alternative to existing insurance products. Damage is visible from smartphone pictures, farmers can take pictures of sufficient quality for loss assessment, and PBI helps reduce severe downside basis risk at minimal cost. Acknowledgement : We gratefully acknowledge Braulio Britos and Matt Krupoff for excellent research assistance; and Azad Mishra, Siddhesh Karekar, Dr. Mann S. Toor, Koen Hufkens, Michael Mann, and Eli Melaas. We received valuable suggestions from participants at G ttingen University, PARM K-Sharing and Learning Workshop; IPA s 3rd Annual Researcher Gathering on Financial Inclusion and Social Protection; CEAR Academic Pre-Conference in Microinsurance; and the Regional Dialogue on The Role of Agricultural Research in the Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Agricultural Insurance. Funding support was provided by the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie). |
| Keywords: | Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277141&r=agr |
| By: | Kotchikpa Gabriel Lawin; Lota Dabio Tamini; Ibrahima Bocoum |
| Abstract: | In this article, we review the literature on the best ways to identify the causal effects of microcredit, present, and discuss some empirical results of the impact of microcredit on the adoption of innovations, investments, farm incomes, and profits. The results of empirical studies converge toward a positive impact of access to microcredit on the adoption of agricultural technology and investment. In terms of the effect on the technical efficiency of farms, agricultural income and profit, and consumption, the results do not all point in the same direction. The effects of microcredit are likely to vary depending on the context of the study. |
| Keywords: | Microcredit,Experimental Studies,Causal Effects,Farms,Rural Households, |
| JEL: | C68 C82 D58 R13 R15 |
| Date: | 2018–04–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2018s-07&r=agr |
| By: | Dawang, C. |
| Abstract: | The issues of nutrition insecurity and de?ciencies of micronutrients consumption among households of rural communities in developing countries is widespread and constitute serious public health problem. This study evaluated the nutrition impact of participants and non-participants of an innovation of government regulated (RENLAF) and unregulated (URENLAF) ?sheries in Plateau State, Nigeria. We examine Profit index and nutrition security status of captured ?sheries on data collected from observations made at Catch Assessment Survey (CAS) and a seven- day- food consumption recall. Also through questionnaire from 80 ?shers randomly selected at four lakes (URENLAF) and 30 other ?shers purposively selected from regulated Pandam Lakes. RENLAF Participation has signi?cantly positive e?ects: higher net farm income by N 187,431.28 per month, consumption levels increase by 26%, 79%, 31% and 46% for calorie, vitamin A, iron and zinc. Socioeconomic characteristics such as income, females involved in sales and fishing gears owned and educational status of main female were positive and signi?cantly a?ects nutrition. Hippopotamus and high cost of gears constraints fishing and transformation for higher impacts required educated ?shers, extension education, gear limit, and setting more RENLAF sites from the existing URENLAF sites by rede?nition of property rights. Keywords: micronutrients, ?shing, Nigeria, nutrition, income Acknowledgement : The authors are indebted to our enumerators and fishing households at the study areas for their assistance during field surveys. To our employer, University of Jos, Nigeria for providing enabling environment for all the research work. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277174&r=agr |
| By: | Carol Newman; Finn Tarp |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the impact of exposure to uninsured risks on the investment decisions of farmers. We distinguish between households’ perceived exposure to uninsured risk, measured as past exposure to deviations in average rainfall levels, and the actual realization of shocks. We examine how households cope with the latter in terms of consumption smoothing and the depletion of assets. We also consider the interaction between past weather-risk exposure and the actual realization of weather shocks to ascertain the extent to which the investment strategies of risk-exposed households ‘pay off’ by buffering them in the face of actual shocks. We use panel data on rice farmers in Viet Nam for the 2008–16 period and match this to annual rainfall data. Our results show that households that are exposed to risk invest more in unproductive assets to avoid the downside risk associated with exposure to flooding. This translates into lower income levels. The investment in these assets does not appear to pay off once actual risks are realized. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2018-122&r=agr |
| By: | Reddy, B.S.; Shivakumara, C.; Dixit, A.K. |
| Abstract: | Sheep and goat farming is a profitable and sustainable enterprise to different categories of rural households. The study was conducted in Karnataka state of India. The results revealed that majority of the sheep and goat farmers belonged to age group of above 40 years and were illiterate (50-52%) and maximum number of farmers were having income of less than Rs.1 lakh per annum, who belonged to backward class, scheduled caste and scheduled tribe. The results also revealed that the annual net returns per animal of goat farm was relatively higher (Rs.1980) compared to sheep (Rs.1507) farming. Among sheep herd size, the net returns was more in large (Rs.1772) herd size as compared to medium (Rs.1431) and small (Rs.1008) herd size. Similarly, net returns was higher (Rs.2138) in large flock size compared to medium (Rs.1962) and small (Rs.1513). The mean technical efficiency of goat farming (92%) was relatively higher compared to sheep farming (89%). Non availability of grazing land with high cost of feed, especially during summer, incidence of PPR, ET and FMD diseases were the major constraints in sheep and goat rearing as perceived by the farmer. Keywords: Sheep herd, Goat flock, net returns, Technical efficiency Acknowledgement : Authors sincerely thank Dr. Suresh S Patil, Dean(Agriculture), University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, for his guidance and valuable suggestions during the course of this study; and to Mr. Ravi, S. C, PhD scholar in Agricultural Economics, UAS, Bengaluru(India) for their critical comments on the earlier draft, which helped us to bring this paper in its present shape. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277419&r=agr |
| By: | Christophe Gouel; David Laborde |
| Abstract: | Climate change effects on agricultural yields will be uneven over the world with a few countries, mostly in high latitudes, that may experience gains, while most will see average yield decrease. This paper aims at quantifying the role of international trade in attenuating the effects of climate change by allowing the expression of the new climate-induced pattern of comparative advantages. To do this, we develop a quantitative general equilibrium trade model where the representation of acreage and land use choices is inspired from modern Ricardian trade models but also consistent with theoretical and empirical literature on land use choices. The model is calibrated on spatially explicit information about potential yields before and after climate change coming from the agronomic literature. The results show that the climate-induced yield changes generate large price movements that incentivize adjustments in acreage and trade. The new trade pattern is very different from the current one, showing the important role of trade flows in adapting to climate change. This is confirmed by larger welfare losses from climate change when adjustments in trade flows are constrained versus when they are not. |
| JEL: | D58 F18 Q17 Q54 R14 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25221&r=agr |
| By: | Jin, S.; Guo, H.; Wang, H.H.; Delgado, M.S. |
| Abstract: | Growing investment from developing and transition economies flows to global agri-food industry, among which Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in the agri-food industry attracted much more global attention in recent years. In this paper, the authors documented the evolution of Chinese OFDI in the agri-food industry from 1950s. Besides, conditional logit model is mainly used to econometrically analyze how the host country characteristics affect Chinese firms country choices on investing in foreign agri-food industry based on the panel data between 2006 and 2015. Both the conditional logit result and the robustness check (negative binomial result) show that Chinese OFDI in the agri-food industry has both motivations of agricultural resources seeking and market seeking. The result of sub agri-food industries indicates that market seeking motivation is distinct in the agriproduct processing and food manufacturing industries. Chinese OFDI flowing to these two industries are attracted by both GDP and population growth rate. In addition, lack of sufficient food is also an attraction to Chinese OFDI to flow into target country s food manufacturing industry. Acknowledgement : The authors would like to thank research assistant Yue Jin, Suxian Ma, Sai Du for their helpful support. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC-71273233, 71333011) and the Major Program of the Key Research Institute of Chinese Ministry of Education (No. 15JJD790032). |
| Keywords: | Marketing |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277186&r=agr |
| By: | Garcia-Alvarez-Coque, J.-M.; Gharsi, O.; Martinez-Gomez, V.; Roig-Tierno, N. |
| Abstract: | Determinant factors of high performing agricultural regions. One indicator of agricultural performance is the agricultural labour productivity, as measured by the gross value added per annual working unit. Econometric approaches have been used to evaluate factors contributing to such productivity. However, these estimates require detailed data that often are not available at the regional level. We propose an alternative approach to disentangle the contribution of different drivers that lead to high productivity in EU regions, defined at NUTS 2 level. The fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) provides a framework to identify combinations of attributes present in the most productive EU regions, by revealing pathways or sets of sufficient drivers present in such cases. We selected drivers based on previous research, and our findings show that there is not a unique pathway to reach high agricultural productivity. However, some drivers as strong farm structure and relevant public support appear in most of the pathways. Other dimensions related to research, development and innovation, and to natural conditions, seem also relevant. Acknowledgement : Dr. Garcia-Alvarez-Coque and Dr. Mart nez-G mez acknowledge support of the Project AGL2015-65897-C3-3-R funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, for this research. Ms. Olfa Gharsi benefited from a scholarship from the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza. |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277456&r=agr |
| By: | Kumar, A.; Saroj, S.; Thapa, G.; Joshi, P.K.; Roy, D. |
| Abstract: | The demand for compliance with food safety measures (FSM) at farm level, an integral component of food security, is increasing. Yet, literature on the assessment of FSM at the farm level is scarce, especially for developing countries. To bridge the gap, this study investigates the status, estimates the cost, identifies the determinants, and analyzes the impact of compliance with food safety measures (FSM), using cross-sectional data from a survey of 684 dairy farmers in India. We use an ordinary least square (OLS) regression to examine the drivers of FSM adoption and we use the dose response function (DRF) technique to estimate the impact of FSM adoption on milk yield and profitability. The empirical results reveal that compliance with FSM at the farm level is low, with wide variations among milk producers. Drivers of FSM adoption include education, income, training, herd size, landholding, proportion of self-consumed milk, and households' perception of food safety. The DRF estimates reveal the positive impact of FSM adoption on milk yield and milk profitability. Keywords: food safety, compliance cost, dairy profitability, dose response function, Bihar, India Acknowledgement : We are grateful to the United States Agency for International Development for extending financial support to conduct this study through the Policy Reform Initiative Project (PRIP) in Nepal. We express our sincere thanks to all the dairy farmers who provided the needed information for the accomplishment of this study. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277176&r=agr |
| By: | Rodriguez Garcia, V.; Meyfroidt, P.; Gaspart, F. |
| Abstract: | The growing societal demands for land-based products and services, linked to increasing population, can be satisfied through either clearing new land for agriculture or intensifying production on existing land. Agricultural intensification is promoted as a central strategy to fulfill these demands while reducing pressure on land. We used cross-country panel data on cropland area and productivity to test three hypotheses on the relationships between agricultural intensification, land use expansion and contraction. The induced intensification hypothesis postulates that restrictions on cropland expansion can induce intensification. The land sparing hypothesis postulates that intensification allows reducing cropland expansion, while the competing rebound-effect hypothesis asserts that intensification, by making agriculture more profitable, can trigger further land expansion. We used cointegration to disentangle the long-run and short-run causal relationships between the variables. In the short run, we found support for the induced intensification hypothesis for high-income countries, and rebound effect for middle- and low-income countries (due to increases in yield or total factor productivity (TFP) that lead to cropland expansion). In the long run, the land sparing hypothesis holds for low- and middle-income countries (due to increases in yield negatively affecting cropland area). TFP has a positive effect on yields for low- and middle-income countries. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277206&r=agr |
| By: | Ouma, E.; Asindu, M.; Elepu, G.; Naziri, D. |
| Abstract: | This study was undertaken to assess farmer demand and willingness-to-pay for sweet potato silage-based diet as pig feed by smallholder farmers in Uganda. Information for the study was collected through secondary data review and semi-structured questionnaire interviews to assess farmer WTP. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 256 respondents randomly drawn from 16 purposive clusters formed at a radius of 3 km around 16 farmers piloting sweet potato silage based diets for pig feed. The results show that pig farming is mainly the responsibility of women, with farmers mean willingness to pay price ranging from 679 to 697 Ugandan shillings, for a kilogram of sweet potato silage based diet. At the mean prices, annual demand for silage is 17,679 tons with a market potential estimated between 12.0 to 12.3 billion Uganda shillings. The study concludes that at the mean willingness to pay prices, there is a huge market potential that can be exploited by SMEs venturing in the livestock feed industry. Acknowledgement : This study is an output of Expanding Utilization of Roots, Tubers and Bananas and Reducing Their Postharvest Losses (RTB-ENDURE), a 3-year project (2014-2016) implemented by the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) with funding by the European Union and technical support of IFAD. Special thanks also go to VEDCO and CHAIN Uganda as well as district production officers of Masaka and Kamuli and other participants who fully took part in this study. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276945&r=agr |
| By: | Liu, C.; Yi, F.; Xu, Z. |
| Abstract: | This study pioneers the application of the New Economics of Labor Migration theory to outline and estimate two opposite effects of labor loss driven by the migration and remittances of adult children on the health of left-behind elderly parents through the changing rural market constraints. We use China's rural household survey data and simultaneous equation econometric techniques to estimate the effects of migration on the physical and mental health of left-behind elders. Results indicate that the loss of labor to migration has a significantly negative effect on the health of left-behind elders, but remittances from migrants can compensate for the adverse effect. This study provides a comprehensive understanding that remittances from migration relax the constraints on household resource allocations in undeveloped rural areas with imperfect market conditions. Overall, left-behind elderly parents benefit from migrant children both physically and mentally. Acknowledgement : Authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support by National Science Foundation of China (Grants: 71673137), Nanjing Agricultural University (Grants: Y0201400037, SKCX2015004), Education department of Jiangsu province (Grant: 2014SJD069), Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), China Center for Food Security Studies at Nanjing Agricultural University, Jiangsu Rural Development and Land Policy Research Institute, and Jiangsu Agriculture Modernization Decision Consulting Center. All remaining errors are ours. |
| Keywords: | Health Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276975&r=agr |
| By: | Bahta, S.; Temoso, O.; Mekonnen, D.; Malope, P.; Staal, S. |
| Abstract: | The study examined the production technologies and productive performance of smallholder beef production systems to determine the levels of technical inefficiency in the agricultural districts of Botswana. The analysis draws on data from 26 districts of Botswana for the period of 2006-2014 to estimate latent class stochastic frontiers in which the technological class to which the agricultural district belongs is determined within the model. To enable efficiency comparisons between agricultural districts across these technological classes, a meta-frontier that encompasses all the class frontiers is estimated. Components of efficiency drivers are embedded in this estimation to explain agricultural districts technical inefficiency with respect to their respective class frontiers. Results show that beef production efficiency is positively associated with the rate of formal education and negatively related with an increase in proportion of exotic breeds, high mortality and low offtake rates, indicating the presence of considerable scope for animal husbandry improvement. The mean technical efficiency scores for beef production between 2006 and 2014 for agricultural districts in class one is 18 % whereas it is 13 % for agricultural districts in class two, implying high potential to improve beef production using the same level of agricultural inputs through efficiency-enhancing investments. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/ Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277207&r=agr |
| By: | Ma, X.; Zhou, Y.; Heerink, N.; Shi, X.; Liu, H. |
| Abstract: | In the developing countries rental transactions between partners with close social relations that use informal contracts are still widespread and this may reduce the potential of the land rental market to enhance productivity and equity. Based on household data collected in Jiangxi and Liaoning provinces in China in 2015, this paper examines the relationship between land tenure security, social relations and land rental contract choices, using a nested logit framework. The empirical results show that landlords are more likely to rent out land to tenants who live in the same village, rather than to relatives or strangers, and that insecure land tenure encourages landlords to select informal contracts. Our findings suggest that these decisions (of partner-type and contract-type) are made simultaneously, and that they are made on the basis of a landlord s perceived security of his land rights and the priority he gives to establishing a flexible rental relationship. Key Words: land rental market; contract choice; tenure security, social relations Acknowledgement : Financial support for our research is provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71773054; 71373127; 71503174) and by the Programme Strategic Scientific Alliances of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Ministry of Science and Technologies of P.R. China (SURE+ project, 2016YFE0103100). |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277478&r=agr |
| By: | Agossadou, A.J.; Fiamohe, R.; Tossou, H.; Kinkpe, T. |
| Abstract: | Nigeria is facing two major problems. The high rate of post-harvest losses in rice value chain and high rate of youth unemployment. This study assessed farmers perception on business opportunities for youth as well as farmers willingness to upgrade and to pay for two mechanized harvesting equipment, mini-harvester and reaper that youth can use to provide services. The study is conducted in the two rice development hubs in Nigeria on 290 farmers. Contingent valuation method combine with a two stage approach is used to elicit farmers willingness to pay. Descriptive statistics show that farmers perceive harvesting and threshing as the main business opportunities for youth in rice value chain. Moreover, majority of farmers prefer mechanized harvesting equipment to traditional method and are willing to pay for that with a strong preference to reaper. Compared to the cost of traditional method, farmers are willing to pay 27.33% and 21.59% less respectively for mini-harvester and reaper. Double hurdle model reveals that access to credit, extension, training and perceptions increase farmers willingness to upgrade and to pay. The study suggest many policy actions Key words: Youth, Nigeria, Rice value chain, willingness to pay, contingent valuation Acknowledgement : Authors are grateful to CGIAR research program on rice for financing the study. Thanks to partners of State Agricultural and Rural Development Programs of the two rice hubs, executive of innovation platforms and all enumerators and facilitators in Nasarawa and Kano rice hubs. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277553&r=agr |
| By: | Muriithi, B.; Gichungi, H. |
| Abstract: | Improved technology or production strategies increases returns in agriculture. This escalates women loss of control to agricultural production and marketing due persistent gender disparities in access to productive resources. The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) developed an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy for suppression of mango fruit flies among smallholder mango farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the impressive direct impacts of the icipe s fruit fly IPM strategy, no study had been conducted to determine whether adoption of the strategy has any influence on gender roles in mango production and marketing decision-making. A sample of 600 households from Machakos County was used to investigate the impact of the fruit fly IPM strategy on the gender roles in mango production and marketing decision making. The results showed thatthe proportion of women involved in decision making decreased in 9 of the 13 mango production and marketing decisions. Female spouse access to training, membership to a mango production or marketing group, access to credit, proportion of investment in mango production significantly influenced theirdecision making index. Acknowledgement : The authors would like to acknowledge the Department for International Development (DFID) for financial support. We are also thankful to the African Fruit Fly Programme (AFFP), International Center for Insect Psychology and Ecology (ICIPE), and all farmers who volunteered information and enumerators for their effort. |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277398&r=agr |
| By: | Schaub, S.; Buchmann, N.; Luscher, A.; Finger, R. |
| Abstract: | Grasslands cover a major share of the world s agricultural area and are important in global food security. Species diversity in grasslands is known to increase and stabilize biomass yields. In this paper, we valuate these effects of species diversity from an agro-economic perspective. We extend earlier research by accounting for species diversity effects on nutrient content and nutrient yield and we use a rich dataset from 16 intensively managed grassland sites across Europe. Combining this information, we focus on milk production potential and potential revenues from milk production. The results show a higher potential milk production, thus, higher revenues with higher species diversity. We also report reduced production risk in more diverse grasslands because of lower variance of nutrient yield. Further, we find considerable gains in certainty equivalent as the expected value and total insurance value increase with species diversity. These findings are supported using tests based on stochastic dominance analysis. Furthermore, we also find a positive diversity effect when the best performing monocultures are compared with all and best performing mixtures. Overall, we find that farmers economically benefit from higher species diversity and our results facilitate decision making to sustainably intensify grassland based production. Acknowledgement : This study was supported by the Mercator Foundation Switzerland within a Z rich-Basel Plant Science Center PhD Fellowship program. |
| Keywords: | Livestock Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276948&r=agr |
| By: | Hirvonen, Kalle; Hoddinott, John F. |
| Abstract: | Economists typically default to the assumption that cash is always preferable to an in-kind transfer. We extend the classic Southworth (1945) framework to predict under what conditions this assumption holds. We take the model to longitudinal household data from Ethiopia where a large-scale social safety net intervention – the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) – operates. Even though most PSNP payments are paid in cash, and even though the (temporal) transaction costs associated with food payments are higher than payments received as cash, the overwhelming majority of the beneficiary households prefer their payments only or partly in food. However, these preferences are neither homogeneous nor stable. Higher food prices induce shifts in preferences towards in-kind transfers, but more food secure households and those closer to food markets and to financial services prefer cash. There is suggestive evidence that preferences for food are also driven by self-control concerns. |
| Keywords: | ETHIOPIA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA ; food aid; food security; poverty; food prices ; social protection; food transfers; cash transfers; Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP); in-kind transfers |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:esspwp:125&r=agr |
| By: | Chrisendo, D.N.; Krishna, V.; Qaim, M. |
| Abstract: | Oil palm has been claimed as one of the major drivers for the land-use change in Indonesia. Research regarding the environmental degradation and biodiversity loss because of oil palm has been performed massively. However, how the land-use change influence the household nutrition and gender roles are still limited known. We analyze the association between land-use change in Jambi, Indonesia with dietary quality and gender roles of smallholder farm households. Results show that oil palm liberates women and men from the on-farm employment, but it only increases the men s participation in off-farm employment. It is the education - of both men and women in the household - which increases off-farm employment for women. We find positive effects of oil palm adoption on the household nutrition. However, it is not achieved through women empowerment while women participation in off-farm could help increase the household nutrition significantly. This suggests that improving household wealth and promoting women s participation in the off-farm sector could have a significant impact on household s dietary quality in Jambi, Sumatra. Keywords: oil palm cultivation, smallholder livelihoods, women s role, gender, nutrition, dietary quality, Indonesia Acknowledgement : This study was financially supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in the framework of the collaborative German-Indonesian research project CRC990, the University of G ttingen. The authors also thank the Indonesian government who give the scholarship to the first author through the Indonesian Endowment Fund for Education scheme. |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277267&r=agr |
| By: | Simons, J.; Hartmann, M.; Klink-Lehmann, J.; Vierboom, C.; Harlen, I. |
| Abstract: | Based on a large qualitative study the paper confirms previous and provides interesting new insights into societal acceptance of current animal husbandry in Germany. Regarding perception and evaluation of animal husbandry two concepts and visual depictions are dominant. In this paper, we name them museums husbandry and mass animal production whereby the first describes a common feeling about an acceptable way of animal husbandry while the opposite holds for the latter which is perceives as a rotten system driven by greed. Omnivores feel entangled in this system and deal with the meat paradox by finding excuses for their behavior. Interviewees felt guilt and concern to a different extend. No one really accepted what they perceived as the current way of animal husbandry, but tolerance was quite diverse among participants. The latter implies to be willing to go on with the system because of the many benefits linked to it. Moreover, it has to be taken into account that not own experience but media and peoples fantasies and horror scenarios as well as their longings drive perception of animal welfare. That leads to the question to what extend potential future adjustments in animal husbandry change peoples perception. Acknowledgement : The project is supported by funds of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) based on a decision of the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany via the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) under the innovation support program. |
| Keywords: | Livestock Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277367&r=agr |
| By: | Lotjonen, S.; Temmes, E.; Ollikainen, M. |
| Abstract: | We provide a comprehensive theoretical analysis of private and social optimum in dairy production when society accounts for greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient runoff to waterways. The private farmer maximizes revenue from milk production by choosing herd size, diet, fertilization and land allocation between crops. Changes in the diet impact milk production, manure composition, and land allocation between crops. A critical radius emerges for the choices of crops and fertilizer type (mineral and manure); it is independent of the chosen crops in the private optimum but not in the social optimum. Fertilizer intensity is higher in the manure fertilized fields than in the fields where mineral fertilizer is used. Moreover, manure application rate decreases in distance to the farm centre. In contrast to what has generally been thought, the socially optimal fertilizer application follows the same spatial pattern than the private fertilization but at a lower level of intensity. A simulation model applied to the Finnish agriculture is used to further examine the features of the model. Acknowledgement : The work presented is part of the BONUS GO4BALTIC project: . The BONUS GO4BALTIC project is supported by BONUS (Art 185), funded jointly by the EU and national funding institutions in Denmark (the Innovation Fund), Estonia (Estonian Research Council ETAG ), Finland (Academy of Finland), Poland (NCBR) and Sweden (FORMAS). The work has also received funding from Stockholm University Baltic Sea Center project Baltic Eye. |
| Keywords: | Livestock Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277111&r=agr |
| By: | Katunyo, P.N.; Otieno, D.J.; Oluoch-Kosura, W.; Okello, J.J. |
| Abstract: | Focus on youth has considerably increased in the developing countries, especially within Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in recent times. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector is one of the rapidly developing sectors in the developing world, with the young generation being presently engaged in use of new technologies. The ICTs are beneficial in agriculture, but there is less evidence of their use for agricultural purposes particularly by the youth. The desire to change the face of agriculture for youth to find it appealing has seen the need to assess the relevance of youth participation in agriculture and integration of ICTs into the sector as a solution to youth migration and unemployment. This study analyzed the determinants of ICT usage in agricultural value chains among rural youth in Busia County, Kenya. A total of 213 young farmers were randomly selected and interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and Poisson regression model were applied in data analysis. Findings showed youth participation using ICTs was concentrated at the marketing level of the agricultural chain activities. Age, marital status, transport cost, distance to market, land size and extension services were significant in explaining the intensity of use of ICTs for agriculture. Key Words: Youth, ICTs, Agricultural value chains, Western Kenya Acknowledgement : We thank the ValueSec project for providing funding that facilitated successful completion of this study. |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/ Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277370&r=agr |
| By: | Behura, D.; Haldar, S.; Pal, A. |
| Abstract: | Rice yield underperformance coupled with production instability in Odisha is primarily due to low irrigation potential, the spatiotemporal disparity in rainfall pattern and relentless confrontation with biotic and abiotic stresses. System of rice intensification (SRI) was introduced in the state during early 2000 with the promises of higher production horizon. However, the present scenario of patchy adoption pattern has necessitated comprehensive study on dynamics and determinants of adoption of SRI. Increased SRI area allocation is observed at the expense of reduced number of adopting farmers. Economic scarcity of skilled labour, difficulties in transplantation and mechanical weeding, low irrigation potential and poor on-farm water management were major constraints as experienced by SRI adopters as well as dropouts. Farmers compliance in following different resilient SRI components that also varied spatiotemporally has resulted in realized incremental yield. Irrespective of severe drought during 2015-16, SRI yielded significantly higher than conventional one with a considerable decline in hazardous and environment polluting chemicals usage. Probit analysis indicated that active social involvements of NGOs, on-farm training and demonstrations, and realized incremental rice income influenced SRI adoption. Further SRI area expansion hindered mainly because of infeasible land topography, area saturation and lack of farmers interest. Acknowledgement : Authors acknowledge Tata Trusts for funding this study under Systematic Approach to Research and Adoption of SRI (SARAS) project in East and North East India |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277448&r=agr |
| By: | Chamberlin, J.; Sitko, N.; Jayne, T. |
| Abstract: | While the bulk of migration literature in Africa has focused on the movement of people from rural to urban areas, much less is known about rural mobility, including its magnitude, drivers, and implications for agricultural development. Using nationally representative survey data for Zambia, we document very high levels of rural mobility throughout the country, and show that this movement is correlated with both land and labor market conditions. About 20% of rural households on average have moved from elsewhere, with highest in-migration rates (~30%) in more accessible, higher density areas, reflecting the importance of wage-employment and services as pull factors. We find that rural in-migrants in relatively accessible areas are wealthier than in-migrants in less accessible areas, although in-migrants are wealthier than non-migrants in all areas. Furthermore, rural in-migrants exhibit greater use of inputs, agricultural productivity, land use intensity and market integration than their non-migrant neighbors. Impacts of in-migration on receiving communities appear to be virtuous: in addition to descriptive indicators that indicate cash injections into local economies (e.g. via greater propensity to hire in labor and services), we find econometric evidence of positive spillover effects of neighborhood in-migration rates on farm-level land productivity outcomes. Acknowledgement : This work was funded by a grant from the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), which is led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and funded by CGIAR Fund Donors. |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277404&r=agr |
| By: | Poku, A.-G.; Birner, R.; Gupta, S. |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a comparative case study approach of a public and private cassava outgrower scheme in Ghana to investigate which contract farming arrangements are equitable and sustainable for both farmers and agribusiness firms. A complementary combination of qualitative and quantitative methods is employed to assess the sustainability of these institutional arrangements. The results indicate that ad hoc or opportunistic investments that only address smallholders marketing challenges are not sufficient to ensure mutually beneficial and sustainable schemes. The results suggest that firms capacity and commitment to design contracts with embedded support services for outgrowers is essential to smallholder participation and the long term viability of these arrangements. Public-private partnerships in outgrower schemes can present a viable option that harnesses the strengths of both sectors and overcomes their institutional weaknesses. Acknowledgement : The authors are thankful to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for funding this research through the collaborative project Improving food security in Africa through increased system productivity of biomass-based value webs. The research conducted for this paper was also supported by a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which is gratefully acknowledged. We would also like to thank the communities and staff respondents from the outgrower schemes who kindly contributed their valuable time and perceptions towards the data collection. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277471&r=agr |
| By: | Dupraz, P.; Osseni, A.; Bareille, F. |
| Abstract: | Agriculture contributes to the production of a large range of externalities. Their valuation is a critical issue for the design of agro-environmental policies. Hedonic pricing method allows for such valuation using house prices and attributes. However, several endogenous biases affect the estimation. Some of these biases are due to spatial effects, which arise when observations are spatially correlated. The objective of the paper is to apply latest developments of spatial econometrics on a hedonic model to estimate the value of agricultural externalities from Brittany (France). We focused especially on externalities from breeding. We distinguish between direct and spatially indirect impacts of nitrogen pollution, but also on green algae presence, i.e. a nitrogen-related pollution arising on Breton seacoasts for years. Using a database of 8,075 transactions from 2010 to 2012, we run several linear and spatial hedonic models. A Spatial Durbin Error Model (SDEM) is selected as the best model. Our estimations reveal that swine and poultry breedings reduce house prices while cattle breeding has almost no impact on house prices. We highlight that the pollution from swine and poultry overlaps from the municipality where the production occurs. The green algae pollution of the closest beach decreases houses prices by 13.5%. Acknowledgement : This research was funded by the EU s Horizon 2020 program under grant agreement n 633838 (PROVIDE project, http://www.provide-project.eu/). This work does not necessarily reflect the view of the EU and in no way anticipates the Commission s future policy. |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/ Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276994&r=agr |
| By: | Van Deynze, B. |
| Abstract: | This study examines how landowners prior experience with bioenergy feedstock crops affects their intentions to lease land to produce those crops, and how attitudes and concerns about bioenergy affect intentions differently for landowners with differing levels of experience. I analyze stated preference data from a representative sample of landowners in Northern Michigan and Wisconsin. Landowners were asked whether they would provide cropland or farmable noncropland to produce three different bioenergy feedstocks: corn stover, switchgrass, and poplar. I develop measures of landowner attitudes and concerns through confirmatory factor analysis and use the resulting measures along with a proxy for experience as covariates in probit models with intention to provide land as the dependent variable. The results indicate that experience has a significant effect on landowners decisions for switchgrass and poplar, but less of an impact on the decisions for corn stover. Experience also activates pro-bioenergy attitudes while nullifying concerns about rental and process disamenities. However, experience can increase the impact of concerns about environmental disamenities created by poplar. These findings suggest that targeted outreach can significantly increase the supply of land to produce bioenergy feedstocks. Acknowledgement : This research was funded by the Department of Energy Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (DOE BER Office of Science DE-FC02- 07ER64494), DOE OBP Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (DE-AC05-76RL01830), the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, MSU AgBioResearch, and the USDA National Institue of Food and Agriculture. For access to the survey data and methodological guidance, I thank Scott Swinton. For feedback on earlier drafts of this paper, I thank Soren Anderson and Frank Lupi. |
| Keywords: | Resource/Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277001&r=agr |
| By: | Dalemans, F.; Muys, B.; Maertens, M. |
| Abstract: | Agroforestry-based biofuel production has recently been proposed as a rural development strategy in the South. However, there exists a complete lack of empirical evidence on farmer adoption rates and determinants for these novel systems. This study describes adoption rates of oilseed tree mixtures on smallholder farms in Hassan district, South India, and quantifies how these rates are determined by a biofuel extension program (BP) and farm(er) characteristics. This is done through a set of regression-based analyses, addressing various forms of selection bias. The findings reveal that although 60% of the farmers cultivate oilseed trees, oilseed collection rates are generally low (13%), and the adoption of both practices is driven by different determinants. More specifically, BP activities are found to stimulate tree cultivation and therefore agroforestry establishment, but not seed collection and biofuel production. This calls for a better understanding of adoption profitability in function of the opportunity costs of land, labour and capital involved, and conditional on these results for intensifying BP activities and value chain development. Acknowledgement : Thanks go to the UAS Bangalore Department of Agricultural Extension and all individual enumerators for their assistance in data collection and data entry. We would also like to thank the Biofuel Park Hassan staff for their scientific support and for their assistance in data collection. This work was supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) [Aspirant PhD grant]. |
| Keywords: | Resource/Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276990&r=agr |
| By: | Baba, S.H.; Wani, S.A. |
| Abstract: | Besides supplier of provisional services, agricultures role as source of ecosystem services to the ecology is being increasingly recognized. The two way relationship between agricultural production and ecosystem services made it imperative to examine farmers perception of importance of and their ability to manage various ecosystem services from and to the agriculture. This study, motivated by limited availability of literature, is an attempt to fill this research gap through focusing on farmers' perceptions of four different attributes towards 17 ecosystem services and 15 dis-services in Kashmir, a mountainous region in India. Results revealed that farmers attributed high rating to the importance of all ecosystem services, professed severity of dis-services to and from agriculture and perceived their inability to fully manage them. The farmers revealed concerns about vulnerability of agriculture to any threat causing deterioration in ecosystem services though their concerns vary across services. The farmers WTP for enriching services and reducing vulnerability of agriculture to ecosystem service deterioration coupled with their views passed a message to policy makers for implementation of some market-based instruments to overcome any potential loss to services. Study highlighted a need of an environmental policy to encourage socially acceptable and ecosystem-oriented approaches towards land-use management. Acknowledgement : Authors gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance granted by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India for generating data for this piece of research. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277556&r=agr |
| By: | Costa, Lorena Vieira; Helfand, Steven M.; Souza, André Portela Fernandes de |
| Abstract: | Public policies frequently are implemented simultaneously rather than in isolation. We estimate the impacts—and possible synergies—of a rural development project (Pro-Gavião) and the Brazilian conditional cash transfer program (Bolsa Família). In partnership with the State Government of Bahia, Pro-Gavião was an IFAD-supported rural development project in 13 contiguous municipalities between 1997 and 2005. Census tract level data were extracted for the analysis from the 1995-96 and 2006 Agricultural Censuses. The evaluation uses propensity score matching to construct a control group of untreated census tracts, and a difference-in-differences estimation to identify impacts. The outcomes analyzed include land productivity, agricultural income and child labor. Although Pro-Gavião involved significant investments in the region, the results suggest little if any program impact, or synergies between the two programs. The unexpected null findings are robust to alternative approaches to identifying the treated census tracts, matching techniques, and heterogeneity of impacts by initial level of poverty. We show that the lack of impacts is not driven by adverse rainfall in the treated communities, or the influence of other programs in the control communities. Alternative explanations for the null results are explored. |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fgv:eesptd:489&r=agr |
| By: | Patrice Cottet (REGARDS - Recherches en Économie Gestion AgroRessources Durabilité Santé- EA 6292 - SFR Condorcet - URCA - Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne - UPJV - Université de Picardie Jules Verne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - URCA - Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne); Jean-Marc Ferrandi (EA LEMNA - ONIRIS - Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire Agroalimentaire et de l'Alimentation Nantes Atlantique); Marie-Christine Lichtlé (MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UM1 - Université Montpellier 1 - UM3 - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UM2 - Université Montpellier 2 - Sciences et Techniques - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier (GSCM) - Montpellier Business School - UM - Université de Montpellier); Véronique Plichon (CERMAT - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en MAnagement de Touraine - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Tours) |
| Abstract: | The goal of this research is not only to analyze the reliability and validity of the "Food Choice Questionnaire" scale, rarely applied in a French context, but above all to segment the eaters, based on a sample of 280 individuals, according to the determinants of their dietary choices and to check the link between these determinants and other variables involved in eating behavior: regulatory orientation, weight control, or healthy eating behaviors. On the basis of these results, managerial recommendations, aimed at companies and public authorities, are suggested. |
| Abstract: | L'objectif de cette recherche est non seulement d'analyser la fiabilité et la validité de l'échelle « Food Choice Questionnaire », rarement appliquée dans un contexte français, mais surtout de segmenter les mangeurs, sur un échantillon représentatif de 280 individus, en fonction des déterminants de leurs choix alimentaires et de vérifier le lien entre ces déterminants et d'autres variables entrant en jeu dans le comportement alimentaire : l'orientation régulatrice, le contrôle de son poids ou l'adoption de comportements alimentaires sains. Sur la base de ces résultats, des recommandations managériales, à destinations des entreprises et des pouvoirs publics, sont suggérées. |
| Keywords: | eating behaviors,consumer typology,Food Choice Questionnaire,typologie de consommateurs,comportements alimentaires |
| Date: | 2017–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01900329&r=agr |
| By: | Mittal, S.; Hariharan, V.K.; Kumar, A. |
| Abstract: | The participation of women has been increasing in agriculture, especially as agricultural labour in the farms. Thus, it is important to understand the role that women play in the production system. As per the literature, increased cost of labour and out-migration of men to urban locations is leading to increased participation of women labour in cultivation and specially in wheat which is the man staple crop in India. But it is also envisaged that her role in decision making is still limited. This is mainly constrained by the cultural and social barriers, low bargaining power and gender gap in terms of education, and access to knowledge. Empirically there is limited information about gender disaggregated labour use information, by crop, especially for cereals like wheat, which is one the important staple crop for India and contributes to the food security. Thus, using the household survey of wheat producers conducted in three states of India- Haryana, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, the paper analyses the extent of involvement and proportionate time a woman spends at different stages of wheat production as compared to men. Further the paper analyses the role of women in decision making linked to wheat production and examines the socio-economic factors which impact her participation in the decision making. Acknowledgement : The authors duly acknowledge the support from CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT) for funding the household level survey which is used for analysis in this paper. We are also sincerely thankful to the colleagues Christian Boeber, Meeta Punjabi Mehta, Subash S.P for their inputs on this paper and Soumik Kundu, and Birendra Pun for help in data collection. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277065&r=agr |
| By: | Chang, H.H. |
| Abstract: | Literature on capitalization of agricultural policies documents that government subsidies can increase farmland values, and empirical evidence has been found in a variety of agricultural programs. However, little attention has been paid on agricultural disaster relief programs (ADRP). This paper argues that the well-documented capitalization effect of agricultural subsidies on farmland prices may not be directly applied to the ADRP because disaster shocks may also result in a negative effect on farmland values due to their stigmatized effect on the affected farmland. This paper empirically examines the effect of the ADRP payments on farmland prices using the case of Taiwan as an illustration. A unique dataset of 97,864 parcels of farmland transacted in the farmland market is used. Information of ADRP payments was drawn from the administrative profile. By estimating the fixed effect and instrumental variable fixed effect model, a negative effect of the incidence and level of the ADRP payments on farmland prices is evident. Moreover, the effect is more pronounced among farmland that is located in urban areas. This finding provides evidence that the negative stigmatized effect dominants the positive capitalization effect of the ADRP payments on farmland values, especially for farmland that is located in urban areas. Acknowledgement : The author thanks technical assistance provided from the Council of Agriculture, Ministry of Interior, the Central of Weather Bureau in Taiwan. This project was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan under Grant No.106-2410-H-002-019-MY2. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not reflect the policies of the institutes above. All remaining errors are mine. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276977&r=agr |
| By: | Bareille, F.; Zavalloni, M. |
| Abstract: | In a context of reflections around the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, the European Commission is considering the possibility to decentralize the provision of environmental goods towards lower level of governments. We examine the gains of such potential policy using a simple model of an economy constituted of homogeneous regions and considering that agriculture produces jointly local and global PGs (public goods). We assume that the central government faces lower deadweight losses than the local government but that the local government can better target their subsidies. Our analytical results present the differences of landscape structure (constituted of two areas) and welfare in three cases of governance: full-centralization (EU is in charge of environmental good provision), full-decentralization (local government is in charge of environmental good provision) and partial decentralization (EU allocates a share of its budget to the local government for the provision of environmental goods). We apply our theoretical model to the case of abandoned wetlands in Brittany. Based on this example and the actual CAP budget dedicated for environmental good provision, we illustrate the difference of welfare between the three cases of governance. Acknowledgement : The authors acknolewdge funding from the project: PROVIDE, PROVIding smart DElivery of public goods by EU agriculture and forestry; H2020 programme of the European Commission, grant number 633838. This work does not necessarily reflect the view of the European Union and in no way anticipates the Commission s future policy in this area. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277109&r=agr |
| By: | Bopp, C.; Engler, A.; Poortvliet, M.; Jara-Rojas, R. |
| Abstract: | This article examines the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, as well as the interplay between the two, on the adoption intensity of soil conservation agriculture (SCA). It seeks to understand the drivers of SCA among annual crop farmers using three conservation practices subject to be financed by an economic incentive for degraded soils in Chile; namely conservation tillage, stubble incorporation, and use of organic manure. The incentive to conservation represents an extrinsic motivation, while intrinsic motivations was represented by several beliefs about SCA based on the Planned Behavior Approach. To account for selection bias on unobservable factors between the incentive and behavior, a two-step model was performed to estimate the intensity of SCA adoption. Farm/farmers characteristics and control variables were also included in the model. Results of the econometric analysis show that attitudes and the exogenous incentive are both significant, but also the interaction with each other. Farmers with low intrinsic motivation are heavily dependent on extrinsic motivation to adopt SCA, while those intrinsically motivated seem to act in a sustainable way regardless the existence of external rewards. Finally, soil degradation was also found to play a key role on the intensity of SCA adoption. Acknowledgement : This work was supported by the Chilean National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT), through its Programme Becas Chile for Phd studies 2016. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277300&r=agr |
| By: | Hamsa, K.R.; Bellundagi, V.; S.M.P.S. |
| Abstract: | This study aimed to develop an optimum crop planning for maximization of farm net income in central dry zone of Karnataka by assessing scarce resources like land, labour, groundwater and capital availability. It evaluates the potential of the land resources for recommending optimum, sustainable and appropriate land utilization in agriculture development. The study used quantitative analytical approach using microsoft excel premium solver in optimal crop plan allocation analysis. A total of 90 structured questionnaires were used to gather data necessary for analysis. The Linear programming model with an objective function that seeks to maximize net farm income subject to land, labour, capital, groundwater and minimum area for production constraints was run. Linear programming technique indicated that, at market prices, as per the optimum crop plan, the area allocated for rainfed crops was about 1,03,100 ha and for borewell irrigated area it was 41,361 ha. According to Economic pricing criteria, 40,900 ha is to be allocated under borewell irrigated and 10,3673 ha for rainfed situation. Total optimum area allocated to different crops would be 14,4461 ha and 14,4574 ha which maximizes net returns at Rs. 185.1 crores and Rs. 73 crores at market prices and economic prices, respectively. Acknowledgement : This study is part of my M.Sc work under the National Institute of Agricultural Economics and policy Research, Government of India. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277731&r=agr |
| By: | Griffith, G.; Fleming, E.; Mounter, S.; Hartmann, M.; Simons, J. |
| Abstract: | Food value chain businesses form alliances with horizontal and/or vertical partners to take collective action to either overcome or ameliorate chain failure, or to take advantage of new opportunities available due to innovations in products or processes. The desired outcomes from the collective action would not be possible to achieve if these businesses acted independently. While such alliances may take many forms, depending on degree of commitment and infrastructure linkages, they can often be considered to be clubs. Four mini-case studies are presented which demonstrate the breadth of past collective actions that have been undertaken by a substantial proportion of businesses in food value chains, two in Europe and two in Australia. These are (1) the Euro Pool System, (2) Global Standards certification in Europe and globally, (3) Meat Standards Australia, and (4) the East Gippsland Food Cluster in Australia. Each case study yields insights into the rationale of how businesses in different food value chains in different countries have acted as a club to use their joint resources to internalise positive innovation and coordination externalities that would not have been possible to achieve were these businesses to act independently. Acknowledgement : This study was made possible by a travel grant funded by Universities Australia and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) through the Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277339&r=agr |
| By: | Patrice Cottet; Jean-Marc Ferrandi (EA LEMNA - ONIRIS - Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire Agroalimentaire et de l'Alimentation Nantes Atlantique); Marie-Christine Lichtlé (MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UM1 - Université Montpellier 1 - UM3 - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UM2 - Université Montpellier 2 - Sciences et Techniques - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier (GSCM) - Montpellier Business School - UM - Université de Montpellier); Véronique Plichon (CERMAT - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en MAnagement de Touraine - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Tours) |
| Date: | 2018–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01900339&r=agr |
| By: | Raghunathan, K. |
| Abstract: | Effective agricultural extension is key to improving productivity, increasing farmers access to information, and promoting more diverse sets of crops and improved methods of cultivation. In India, however, the coverage of agricultural extension workers and the relevance of advice they provide is poor. We investigate whether another platform that of women s self-help groups could be an effective way of improving access to information, women s empowerment in agriculture, improved agricultural practices, and production diversity. We used cross-sectional data on close to 3000 women from 5 states in India, and employ nearest-neighbor matching models to match SHG and non-SHG women along a range of pre-determined characteristics. We find that participation in an SHG increases women s access to information and their participation in some agricultural decisions, but has limited impact on agricultural practices or outcomes. Other constraints like income and social norms could be limiting the translation of knowledge into practice. Since SHGs are uniquely placed to change even these constraints, it is important to identify and account for them when advocating the use of these groups in improving agriculture and livelihoods. Acknowledgement : This work was undertaken as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH). The opinions expressed here belong to the authors, and do not necessarily reflect those of A4NH or CGIAR. We acknowledge the generous support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through the research project Women Improving Nutrition through Group-based Strategies, OPP1132181. The authors would also like to thank Purnima Menon for useful feedback on this paper. |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277537&r=agr |
| By: | Oyinbo, O.; Maertens, M.; Chamberlin, J.; Vanlauwe, B.; Craufurd, P.; Kamara, A. |
| Abstract: | Efforts aimed at addressing low productivity of maize in Nigeria and most parts of SSA via improved soil fertility management have largely been based on the conventional blanket extension recommendations rather than site-specific recommendations which take into consideration the heterogeneity in farmers growing conditions. To contribute in addressing this challenge, a computer-based tool known as Nutrient Expert (NE) for maize is been developed. In anticipation of the introduction of the tool, we use discrete choice experiment to evaluate maize farmers preferences for site-specific extension recommendations at the development phase of the tool where farmers preferences can improve the tool development. We find that farmers have strong preference for site-specific extension recommendations on nutrient management over the traditional blanket recommendations. However, there is heterogeneity of preferences giving rise to two segments of farmers (innovators and conservatives) defined largely by differences in resource endowment. Our empirical findings have implications for improvement, potential uptake and targeting of the tool to meet the needs of different categories of farmers. Acknowledgement : We deeply appreciate the support of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) for funding Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale (TAMASA) project and the PhD research activities that produced this paper. |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/ Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277328&r=agr |
| By: | Mishra, K. |
| Abstract: | Increasing agricultural efficiency via technology adoption is high-priority among development practitioners. One potential tool for furthering this objective is using drought index insurance to increase access to credit. Accordingly, the objective of this paper is to investigate whether coupling agricultural loans with micro-level and meso-level drought index insurance can stimulate the demand and supply of credit and increase technology adoption. To this end, in partnership with 14 rural banks and the Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool, we implemented a randomized control trial in northern Ghana that targeted maize farmers organized in credit groups. Our empirical analysis indicates that on the demand side, coupling loans with micro-insurance increases the likelihood of loan application for female farmers, potentially because of the payouts being directly made to them and a lack of trust in the bank. In contrast, coupling loans with meso-insurance increases the likelihood of loan application for those farmers who place the highest trust in the bank. On the supply side, coupling loans with meso-insurance increases the likelihood of loan approval, but with a larger impact for males. Overall, our results indicate that insured loans hold significant promise for expanding credit access and technology adoption among smallholder farmers. Acknowledgement : This research was partly funded by a USAID/BASIS grant. We are grateful to the participants in the 2015 BASIS technical Meeting at UC Berkley and the PhD Seminar in Agricultural, Environmental, and Department Economics at the Ohio State University for their feedback. The usual disclaimer applies. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277089&r=agr |
| By: | H, K.; Zasada, I.; Sagebiel, J. |
| Abstract: | Well-managed, agriculturally used peatlands play an important role for the storage of greenhouse gases. A new agri-environmental measure (AEM) was established in the European Common Agricultural Policy to incentivise a land management, which conserves climate functionality of peatlands through high water levels. To investigate which factors influence the willingness of farmers to participate in this measure, we carried out an empirical study applying a discrete choice experiment (DCE). The aim was to identify optimal contract designs that can also reduce transaction costs for farmers. Besides monetary compensation, measure characteristics such as contract length, assured purchase of the cut grass, support in the cooperation with neighbouring farmers, and administrative efforts are considered as decisive attributes. Results show that the average willingness to adopt the measure is set at 522 /ha*a. Moreover, we find that factors such as supporting cooperation among farmers and regional value chain approaches have a statistically significant and large positive influence on the adoption decision. Based on our results, the uptake and success of the new measure could therefore be increased by a more appropriate tailoring towards different farm types and their needs. Adjustments would increase the climate protection potential of the proposed measure. Acknowledgement : This research was financially supported by the European Comission under the funding scheme Research and Innovation Action (RIA) under grant no. 633838 and conducted in the H2020 Project PROVIDE - PROVIding smart DElivery of public goods by EU agriculture and forestry. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277450&r=agr |
| By: | Van Der Merwe, M.; Kirsten, J.; Trienekens, J. |
| Abstract: | The quest for appropriate governance and enforcement mechanisms in niche food products with a protected designation of origin is increasingly receiving attention as more and more food products are differentiated based on their regional identity and reputation. The general consensus is that if public certification bodies adequately instil consumer confidence in these products, then market like mechanisms will be the most effective governance mode. However, if public certification bodies are insufficient, market like mechanisms seize to be effective, and alternative modes are required to protect the interests of consumers adequately. This paper therefore aims to make an empirical contribution by investigating the enforcement and governance mechanisms required to protect and govern a regional food product when public certification fails. As one of the recent additions to South Africa s repertoire of products with a designated origin, Karoo Lamb made for an interesting case study. This investigation is based on survey data and a conjoint experiment among 73 farmers, five abattoirs, two processors/packers and five retail outlets. The results indicate that, due to its failed public certification body, Karoo Lamb is better off being governed by a hierarchical arrangement which allows for a stronger focus on continuous monitoring, and private enforcement mechanisms. Acknowledgement : The Red Meat Research and Development SA and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for their financial support. |
| Keywords: | Marketing |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277232&r=agr |
| By: | Shimokawa, S.; Niiyama, Y.; Kito, Y.; Kudo, H.; Yamaguchi, M. |
| Abstract: | Six years on from the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan, some consumers still avoid purchasing foods from Fukushima prefecture even when their safety is scientifically guaranteed. Exploiting this situation, we demonstrate how the willingness-to-pay (WTP) approach can be misleading to analyze the demand for food that is stigmatized by some consumers. Conducting choice experiments for rice in Japan in 2016, we explicitly separate the consumers who excessively avoid Fukushima foods (no-tolerant consumers) from other ordinary consumers. We then investigate whether the WTP for Fukushima rice and the safety standard label are systematically different between the two types of consumers. We also examine how providing additional scientific information influences the WTP differently between the two types. We found that 33% of our sample were no-tolerant consumers, and their WTP for Fukushima rice was substantially lower than the market price while ordinary consumers WTP was higher than the market price. Without distinguishing the two types, the average WTP became lower than the market price even with the safety standard label, which misleadingly understated the value of Fukushima rice and the label. Lastly, we found little effect of providing additional scientific information on the WTP in both types. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277198&r=agr |
| By: | Stifel, D.; Headey, D.; You, L.; Guo, Z. |
| Abstract: | Reducing undernutrition requires improving access to goods and services from a wide range of economic and social sectors, including agriculture, education and health. Yet despite broad agreement on the multisectoral nature of the global burden of undernutrition, relatively little research has analyzed how different dimensions of accessibility, such as urbanization and travel times to urban centers, affect child nutrition and dietary outcomes. In this paper we study these relationships in sub-Saharan Africa, a highly rural continent still severely hindered by remoteness problems. We link spatial data on travel times to 20,000 person cities to survey data from 10,900 communities in 23 countries. We document strong negative associations between nutrition indicators and rural livelihoods, but only moderately strong associations with remoteness to cities. Moreover, the harmful effects of remoteness and rural living largely disappear once education, wealth, and social/infrastructural services indicators are added to the model. This implies that the key nutritional disadvantage of rural populations stems chiefly from social and economic poverty. Combating these problems requires either an acceleration of urbanization processes, or finding innovative cost-effective mechanisms for extending basic services to isolated rural communities. Acknowledgement : This paper was funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation under the project Advancing Research on Nutrition and Agriculture (ARENA), Phase II, as well as the CGIAR program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH). We thank Marie Ruel for comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277147&r=agr |
| By: | Zhang, C.; Sun, Y.; Hu, R. |
| Abstract: | The large urban-rural income inequality and indiscriminate use of fertilizer and pesticide, as well as the related environment degradation in China during the past decades concern the society. However, little is known about the relationship between the urban-rural income inequality and agricultural fertilizer and pesticide use in China. Based on the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis, this study aims to reveal how the urban-rural income inequality affects fertilizer and pesticide use from 1995 to 2015 in China. The results show that the relationship between per capita income of the rural households and per hectare fertilizer and pesticide use supports the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. Meanwhile, there exists a significant and positive relationship between the urban-rural income inequality and per hectare fertilizer and pesticide use. The share of agricultural value added in provincial gross domestic product not only directly influences fertilizer and pesticide use, but affects the relationship between the urban-rural income inequality and fertilizer and pesticide use. This study demonstrates that more efforts should be devoted to narrowing the urban-rural income inequality and deepening the reform of agricultural research and extension system to reduce agricultural fertilizer and pesticide use in China. Acknowledgement : This study was supported by the Beijing Institute of Technology [grant number 20172242001] and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China [grant number 2016YFD0201301]. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277033&r=agr |
| By: | Engler, A.; Rodriguez, M.F.; Cofr, G. |
| Abstract: | For the Chilean economy, the blueberry and apple sector have an important role regarding production and employment. To remain competitive in the export supply chain, farmers require to adjust to more efficient and productive systems. One important way to increase agricultural productivity is through the introduction of improved agricultural technologies and management systems. In particular, the study focuses on how levels of innovation, measured by complexity and investments requirements of the adopted technologies, relates to innovative behavior and complying with social responsibility practices, as two indicators of the farmer's behavior towards innovation. A typology of farmers with different technological levels was constructed based on multivariate techniques, according to the adoption of seven technologies. Findings showed three clusters: cluster I of high technology farms (32.2%), cluster II of farms with complex and low-cost technologies (27%), and cluster III of farms with low technology (40.68%). Within the cluster, it was identified that cluster I, farmers have a positive attitude toward innovation and the highest SR implementation rates. The farmers from cluster I were similar from cluster II in structural variables, but they significantly differ in innovative behavior attitudes. Cluster III, significantly differ with cluster I in structural variables, behavioral variables, and SR practices. The results showed the heterogeneity among farmers and the complexity of the adoption decision-making process shading lights on policy design to enhance innovation, research and technology transfer among farmers Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277281&r=agr |
| By: | Tufa, A.H.; Alene, A.D.; Manda, J.; Akinwale, G. |
| Abstract: | This study assesses the impacts of adoption of improved soybean varieties and agronomic practices on soybean yields and net crop incomes in Malawi using data collected from over 1200 soybean growing households. The yield and crop income effects were analyzed using stochastic dominance analysis (SDA), propensity score matching (PSM) and inverse-probability-weighted regression adjustment (IPWRA). The results from the SDA show that the cumulative distribution functions for soybean yield and net crop income for the adopters of improved soybean varieties and agronomic practices significantly dominate those of the non-adopters. This indicates if randomly chosen, there is a higher probability that the adopters will on average have higher soybean yield and net crop income than the non-adopters. The results from the PSM and IPWRA show that adoption of improved soybean varieties and agronomic practices increase soybean yields by 193-198 kg/ha and net crop income by 24 USD/ha. This implies that adoption of improved soybean varieties and agronomic practices increases soybean yields by 20% and net crop income by 19%. The results point to the need for further scaling up of seeds of improved soybean varieties and complementary agronomic practices for greater adoption and impact on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Malawi. Acknowledgement : The authors are grateful to USAID and IITA for the financial support. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277239&r=agr |
| By: | Solomon Hsiang; Robert E. Kopp |
| Abstract: | Climate change management is a global challenge that requires social science as much as it requires natural science. We provide a brief introduction to the physical science of climate change, written to provide essential background for economists and other social scientists. We also highlight some key areas in which economists—including those studying macroeconomics, political economy, and development—are in a unique position to help climate science advance. |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25189&r=agr |
| By: | Frija, A.; Afi, M.; Dhehibi, B. |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to analyze the contribution of livestock to the resilience of major agricultural systems in the MENA region. We considered study areas from Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco. We started by providing a typology of resilience profiles of production systems in these study areas and then we calculated resilience indexes for the identified farm types in the different countries. Secondly, we analyzed the role of livestock in each of these systems by testing the correlation between a set of livestock variables and the resilience indexes. Results show that livestock is playing a crucial role in enhancing agricultural systems resilience in the MENA region. Mixed crops-livestock systems, in addition to the pastoral production systems, identified in the considered countries, were found to have significantly high resilience indexes. Beside being an important source of income in the dry rain fed areas, animal heads are being considered as assets that could be easily converted into cash to face financial shortage and crisis. Our results also show that livestock producers appear to be more socially engaged and more open to their neighborhood, this is mainly due to practicing transhumance and sharing rangeland with other farmers, which enhances their positioning over the resilience scale. Acknowledgement : This paper has partly benefited from the financial support of the Consortium Research Program (CRP) on Livestock, Led by ILRI. Data of the paper has been collected during the CRP Dryland System. The paper also benefited from financial support of the Erasmus Mundus program. |
| Keywords: | Livestock Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277547&r=agr |
| By: | Lakner, S.; Zinngrebe, Y.; Koemle, D. |
| Abstract: | The following paper provides insights in the adoption-behavior of farmers in Saxony due to the Fauna-Flora-Habitat directive (habitat-directive) of the European Union (EU). For the implementation of the habitat directive, the federal state of Saxony has introduced the instrument of managementplans in combination with agri-environmental programs. The paper shows that the combination of managementplans and agri-environmental programs can be successful for the implementation of nature-conservation measures under specific circumstances. The paper investigates the determinants of the farmers decision to optimize their farming practices towards the objective of nature conservation. The data set consists of interviews with 139 farmers between 2004 and 2011 and additionally information of 333 grassland-sites. A multinomial logit model was applied. The results show that location factors and the design of AEPs exhibit an influence on the implementation of measures of the Habitat Directive. At the plot level, we can (among other factors) observe an impact of specific (dark green) agri-environmental programs on the willingness of farmers to adopt nature conservation measures within the framework of the EU habitat directive. We also investigate the determinants of participation in light green and dark green AEPs. The findings highlight the potential of integrated policy packages to incentivize specific measures of nature conservation within the Natura 2000 framework. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277545&r=agr |
| By: | Suranjan Priyanath, Hunuwala Malawarage; Premaratne, S.P.; Yoosuf, Amina; Maurice, D. |
| Abstract: | The study aimed to identify the determinants of the technical efficiency of Smallholder Tea Farmers (STFs) under UTZ certification system in Sri Lanka by employing stochastic production frontier using a sample survey of 75 STFs supported by the UTZ programme conducted between January and March in 2016. The results showed that a small number of STFs (11.8 percent) were over 90 percent efficient and the level of efficiency was found to be negatively related to coefficients of UTZ certified STFs and positively related to number of years with the same plants. The results further showed the labor and fertilizer were the significant factors that determine the tea production of STFs. |
| Keywords: | Smallholder Tea Farmers, Stochastic Production Frontier, Technical Efficiency, UTZ Certification. |
| JEL: | D6 M2 |
| Date: | 2018–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:89683&r=agr |
| By: | Maligalig, R.; Umbeger, W.; Demont, M.; Peralta, A. |
| Abstract: | Using an experimental methodology based on investment games, this study examines whether smallholder rice farmers from Nueva Ecija, Philippines have heterogeneous preferences for improvements in ten rice varietal traits. On average, farmers invested the most in VTIs that can potentially reduce losses caused by lodging, insects, and diseases. A latent class cluster approach was employed to identify different segments of rice producing households and their distinct preferences. The identified clusters were characterised post-hoc using household and farm characteristics. We found four classes of farmers with distinct preferences for improvements in variety traits. The results also revealed that the clusters are significantly different in terms of household, farm, and marketing characteristics. The findings can guide breeding research in the development of varieties that have the traits farmers identified for improvement, and that will address distinct farmer segments and needs. Acknowledgement : We acknowledge funding support from the Lee Foundation Rice Scholarship Program and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the data collection. We also acknowledge the research scholarship received by the first author from the Australian Government Research Training Program. We are also grateful for the assistance provided by Ms. Jhoanne Ynion and Mr. Donald Villanueva from IRRI during the data collection. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277476&r=agr |
| By: | Spielman, D.; Kouser, S. |
| Abstract: | Despite substantial research on the economic impacts of Bt cotton, there is still limited work on the technology s impacts on human health, particularly the impacts associated with reductions in pesticide use. Using household and biophysical survey data collected in 2013-14, this study provides the first evidence of a direct association between Bt expression and farmers health benefits in Pakistan. We employ a cost-of-illness approach and double-hurdle model to estimate the relationship between Bt cotton and health costs incurred by a representative sample of cotton farmers. Double hurdle estimates show that farmers self-reported adoption of Bt technology could not reduce pesticide induced cost of illness due to inconsistencies between their Bt beliefs and levels of Bt expression in a developing country context. Results with more effective Bt gene expression drawn from laboratory tests show that Bt expression is associated with 33 percent reduction in the cost of illness. Extrapolating the results to the entire Bt cotton area in Pakistan reveals that 1 ?g/g increase in Bt expression is associated with health cost savings of US$ 0.82 million. Hence, better seed regulation and monitoring of seed quality would enhance Bt technology s health effects, which could have important implications for farmers overall welfare. Acknowledgement : This study was conducted under the auspices of the Pakistan Strategy Support Program of the International Food Policy Research Institute with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development and support from the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets. Any and all errors are the sole responsibility of the authors. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277546&r=agr |
| By: | Kishore, A. |
| Abstract: | Would the households get to buy more of subsidized grains from a food safety-net program if the difference between the price in the program and in the open market were to increase? This is an important question for safety-net programs anywhere in the world, but particularly so for the Public Distribution System (PDS) of grains in India. The standard economic intuition suggests that price controls distort signals and create incentives for unintended transactions. Dreze and Sen (2013), however, posit an opposite entitlement effect where an increase in arbitrage potential increases the value of PDS entitlement. Increase in the stake in the PDS for the eligible beneficiaries results in increased accountability and ultimately an increase in household purchase of grains from the PDS. We test these two competing hypotheses using the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) panel data and find evidence for both kinds of effects. In states where welfare programs are better governed, the Dreze and Sen (2013) conjecture holds, but in states like Bihar and Jharkhand where welfare programs are poorly run, the opposite pattern holds as households purchase of subsidized grains declines with increase in arbitrage. Acknowledgement : This paper was undertaken as a part of the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), led by IFPRI and benefited from financial support from the Technical Assistance and Research for Indian Nutrition and Agriculture (TARINA), joint initiative between IFPRI and Tata Cornell Initiative supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The opinions expressed here belong to the authors, and do not necessarily reflect those of PIM, IFPRI, CGIAR, or BMGF. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277073&r=agr |
| By: | Cao, H.; Zhao, K.; Huang, H. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, 797 households in Henan and Ningxia were selected as sample, and the binary Logit Model was used to analyze the influencing factors of pro-environmental behavior in grain farmers production and operation. The results show that: farmers in production and management have begun showing a pro-environmental trend. The main factors that affect the production and management of grain farmers include the characteristics of farmers' personal characteristics, family characteristics, cultivated land resources endowment, cognitive characteristics and location characteristics. The educational level, participation in skills training , income level, breeding status, joining cooperatives, awareness of arable land protection policy, whether the main grain producing areas and other factors have a significant positive impact on the pro-environmental behavior of farmers. And age, management type, fragmentation of cultivated land and other factors have a significant negative impact on the pro-environmental behavior of farmers. The factors such as the quantity of labor force, the importance of protecting the cultivated land and the cognition of person liable of the cultivated land protection have no significant effect on the pro-environmental behavior of the farmers. Other factors have different effects on the pro-environmental behavior of farmers. Acknowledgement : Hui Cao thanks Jingjing Sun and other research group members for the contribution made in the questionnaire survey and data processing. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277110&r=agr |
| By: | UNCTAD; World Bank |
| Keywords: | Agriculture - Agricultural Sector Economics Agriculture - Climate Change and Agriculture Agriculture - Food Security Environment - Sustainable Land Management Private Sector Development - Corporate Social Responsibility Rural Development - Rural Land Policies for Poverty Reduction Social Development - Social Accountability |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:29477&r=agr |
| By: | Ayinde, O.E.; Fatigun, O.; Ogunbiyi, K.; Ayinde, K.; Ambali, Y.O. |
| Abstract: | Agriculture is a major source of livelihood and the main engine of economic growth in developing countries therefore the development of agricultural production is a public priority but most farmers are poor, hence there is gap in cash resources which blocks the adoption of new technologies innovation and credit is needed to fill the gap in Nigeria .Therefore, this study was carried out to assess anchor borrower s programme a central bank of Nigeria's intervention on rice production in Kwara State, Nigeria. Data for the data were sourced primarily from rice producers with the aid of a structured questionnaire. The findings reveal that 88.1% of the beneficiaries breached the agreement and refuse to deliver their produce to the Anchor Borrowers Programme due some reasons and their average estimated yield per hectare of paddy rice for all beneficiaries was 3.94 metric tons per hectare. Anchor Borrowers Programme had a positive effect on the income of the beneficiaries. Therefore the study recommended that the governments must intervene with subsidized lending (seeking no profit, amortizing high transaction costs, spreading the risk on a national basis),since most borrowers in rural areas are small farmers (i.e. poor), low cost credit responds to poverty alleviation considerations . Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277429&r=agr |
| By: | UNCTAD; World Bank |
| Keywords: | Agriculture - Agricultural Sector Economics Agriculture - Climate Change and Agriculture Agriculture - Food Security Environment - Water Resources Management Water Resources - Water and Food Supply Water Resources - Water and Human Health Private Sector Development - Corporate Social Responsibility |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:29478&r=agr |
| By: | Lanfranco, B.; Saldias, R.; Penengo, C.; Ferraro, B. |
| Abstract: | This research outlines the fundamental elements of a pathway for transforming Uruguay s rice sector in a way that is consistent with post-2015 SDGs. Uruguay is the most export-oriented rice producing country in the word, selling around 95% of its total production in the international market. This article introduces the methodologic approach followed for setting the productivity and environmental targets for 2030, which constitute the basis of the sustainable intensification process chosen by the country, and follows with the process of developing the transformation pathway that is necessary for achieving the goals. The simulated economic and environmental results are then presented and discussed in order to extract useful lessons for the development of SDGs in the case of other situations involving small open economies highly relying on agribusiness activities. This is precisely the reason why Uruguay was chosen as a relevant case study by United Nations, under the Sustainable Development Solutions Network initiative (SDSN). Acknowledgement : The authors want thank all the stakeholders of the rice sector in Uruguay. for their strong support to this projetc and their commitment with the development of a sustainable transformation pathway for the national agriculture. Special recognition to ACA, GMA,OPYPA-MGAP and all the other institutions and persons that colleboratedI with this initiative. To our institution and to our colleagues at INIA, goe also our appreciation. All errors that could appear in this article are the sole responsibility of the authors.. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277495&r=agr |
| By: | Lunduka, R.; Kassie, G.; Tahirou, A.; Babu, S. |
| Abstract: | This study assesses the influence of selling maize grain on re-investing in Improved Maize Varieties (IMV). It uses a unique data set from five southern African countries of Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe where the selling of maize grain in 2011 season was linked to buying of IMV in 2012 season form sample 2,954 households. Using a control function approach to correct for the endogeneity of selling maize grain in 2011 and the accessing IMV through government subsidies, the study employed a double hurdle model and finds that households that sold maize grain in 2011 had the high probability of growing IMV in 2012. This study points to the fact that when households are able to raise income through grain market participation, reinvestment into land productivity-enhancing technologies could be possible and household food security is also addressed. Therefore developing a better agribusiness environment will take care of food security and hence government goals should not stop at being food secure but developing a condition where a household aims at selling its surplus output. Acknowledgement : This work was done for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), as part of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The authors wish to thank Deborah Maleni, , Mekonnen Sime, Samson Katengeza, Bernadette Chimai, and Shamiso Chikobvu for collaboration on the design and implementation of the surveys in Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Many thanks are due to our respondents at the study sites. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277378&r=agr |
| By: | Sihvonen, M.; Valkama, E.; Hyytiainen, K. |
| Abstract: | Discrete dynamic optimization is applied to examine the difference between socially and privately optimal fertilization patterns and to develop an incentive mechanism for efficient simultaneous nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loading management. The problem formulation accounts for the causal interactions between P and N fertilization, crop yield, P carry-over, and P and N loading into waterways. Our analysis shows that the balance between private and social shadow values of the P carry-over is an essential feature for the design of the input tax-subsidy scheme for both N and P. Numerical analysis carried out for spring barley on clay soils and current damage costs in Southern Finland suggests that the difference between privately and socially optimal steady-state fertilization levels is substantial. The economic losses for the producer from the tax-subsidy scheme internalizing the damage costs are in the range of 18-32% of the profits, even at simultaneously adjusted N and P fertilizer inputs. Our sensitivity analysis indicates that other abatement measures, such as catch crops, are often competitive to fertilizer input reductions. For the producer, the computed break-even level of a subsidy for catch crops is well in line with the current subsidy levels applied in Finland. Acknowledgement : This work resulted from the BONUS BALTICAPP project and was supported by BONUS (Art 185), funded jointly by the EU and Academy of Finland. We would like to thank Risto Uusitalo for constructive comments. All remaining errors are the authors responsibility. |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/ Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277119&r=agr |
| By: | Lubinga, M.; Mazibuko, N.; Sotsha, K. |
| Abstract: | We seek to evaluate how the National Red Meat Development Program has impacted on livestock farmers in the rural communities of South Africa. Specifically, we compare whether the average weight of cattle that benefit through the Custom Feeding Programme (CFP) initiative differs from that of their counterparts. In addition, we compare the average price received by farmers whose cattle are fed at the CFP facility versus what non-participating farmers earn. A two-sample t test was used to test the hypotheses. Findings indicate that cattle sold through the CFP facility weigh more than those sold through non-CFP facilities. Generally, CFP participating farmers receive higher incomes from cattle sales but when we took into consideration of the R800 fee paid per animal sold through the CFP facility, results were insignificant t (499) = 0.83, p = 0.41. This implies that higher mean price of about R125 received by farmers participating in CFP did not differ from the prices received by non-participants. Conclusively, the NMRDP plays a vital role in enabling farmers to gain access into the formal cattle market. As recommendation, the NMRDP team should devise means to reduce the R800 fee per animal sold through the CFP facility. Acknowledgement : Input provided by members of the National Read Meat Development Programme (NRMDP) team, especially Dr Ngetu Xolile, Mrs Khumbuzile Mosoma, Ms Thendo Ndou and the field officers as well as other stakeholders is duly acknowledged. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277396&r=agr |