nep-cwa New Economics Papers
on Central and Western Asia
Issue of 2018‒09‒10
four papers chosen by
Sultan Orazbayev


  1. Participation in formal and informal cooperation and its effect on productivity in Central Asia: Empirical evidence from Uzbekistan By Bobjonov, I.; Teuber, R.
  2. Evaluating Agricultural Price Policy through Positive Information in Iran By Aghabeygi, M.; Donati, M.; Arfini, F.; Salami, H.A.
  3. The expansion of dairy herds in Russia and Kazakhstan after the import ban on Western food products By Petrick, Martin; Götz, Linde
  4. The Timing Impact of Agricultural Support Policies on Farmers’ Stated Intentions in Turkey By Demirdogen, Alper; Olhan, Emine

  1. By: Bobjonov, I.; Teuber, R.
    Abstract: This study discusses the importance of cooperation in Central Asian Uzbekistan. Determinants of cooperation as well as benefits from cooperation are investigated using survey data of 405 farms in the central grain producing region of Uzbekistan. The study distinguishes between formal and informal cooperation which could have vital importance in transition economies, which is not explicitly discussed in the existing literature so far. The analysis of the determinants shows that participation in cotton procurement mechanisms is the main factor which brings farmers to membership in formal cooperatives. Informal cooperation seems to be more pronounced among middle-scale and commercially-oriented farmers than among large-scale or subsistence-oriented household farms. Larger demand for informal cooperation than formal cooperation is explained by limited type of services in formal cooperatives designed to serve cotton producers. Therefore formal cooperatives need to diversify their services to cover wider demand currently fulfilled by informal cooperation. Besides, our results indicate that participation in both formal and informal cooperatives has a positive effect on wheat productivity. This positive impact of cooperation might stem from improved access to machinery, proper timing and increased input quality.
    Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development
    Date: 2018–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276002&r=cwa
  2. By: Aghabeygi, M.; Donati, M.; Arfini, F.; Salami, H.A.
    Abstract: Supplying food to a growing population has always been a concern for authorities in Iran. In this regard, agricultural sector plays an important role in food supply and food’s security by increasing agricultural production. But the most important concern in Iranian agricultural sector are the scarcity and resource constraints. Therefore, it seems that only way to increase food supply along with food security purpose is to increase productivity. One of the policy used to increase productivity is the output price policy, in particular for those strategic products that provided Iran's political security. The aim of this paper is to assess the effect of output price policy for Iranian agriculture. This latter is represented by a regional agricultural model, based on PMP, that groups the agriculture supply of 30 Iranian regions. The assessment of IAP presented in this paper confirms the biggest effects regions. It means that the effect of new IAP scenario is different in each region and each region has special cropping pattern. In this regard, policy makers should implement different sustaining policies at regional level. Also, if Iran wants to join WTO, it should be reduced or removed the amount of payments for inefficient crops.
    Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development
    Date: 2018–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:275999&r=cwa
  3. By: Petrick, Martin; Götz, Linde
    Abstract: Self-sufficiency in dairy products is a central policy goal of the Russian government, as the ban on food imports from the West imposed by the Kremlin vividly demonstrated. Western export opportunities into the Eurasian Economic Union depend inversely on the growth of milk production within the Union. Against this background, we explore the evolution of herd sizes and the role of state support among commercial dairy producers in Russia and Kazakhstan between 2012 and 2015. We show that dairy farms did grow as long as they kept less than 70 cows. Less than 10% of our 180 randomly selected dairy farms received livestock-related subsidies. Regression analysis using an innovative simultaneous equation framework shows that subsidised farms were bigger and younger than their peers, although they usually did not belong to vertically integrated agroholdings. Our results suggest that broad-based herd growth will be stimulated if many farms receive small subsidies, not if very few receive individually large amounts. However, the effects of good management practice and access to milk marketing contracts were much bigger than the subsidy impact. Processors provided inputs or services to only 5% of farmers in our sample. 25 years after the end of central planning, structural change among dairy farms in Eurasia in many ways resembles the patterns observed in the West.
    Keywords: International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics
    Date: 2017–08–15
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi17:261996&r=cwa
  4. By: Demirdogen, Alper; Olhan, Emine
    Abstract: The paper aims to evaluate the timing effect of support policies on farmers’ stated intentions in Turkey. Farmers are provided with a scenario in which supports would be paid immediately after the harvest rather than the current practice of being paid one year later. We ask how farmers would behave when the support payments are paid after the corn harvest. If the timing of the payment was changed, 41% of the farmers state that they would increase their land. However, if farmers compensate for the need for capital from other crops, such as citrus fruits, then the timing becomes unimportant.
    Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy
    Date: 2018–04–26
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa162:271960&r=cwa

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