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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2012‒12‒15
37 papers chosen by |
| By: | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| Abstract: | The year 2011 highlighted ongoing challenges to global food security, from food price volatility, extreme weather shocks, and famine to unrest and conflicts. On the policy front, major developments at the global and national levels both offered grounds for encouragement and pointed to areas where further action is needed. |
| Keywords: | Food prices, Climate change, Biofuels, Land degradation, food security, Famine, Nutrition, health, Food policy, Local governance, Rio20, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:resrep:2011globalfoodpolicyreport&r=agr |
| By: | Jean-Philippe Boussemart (University of Lille 3 and IESEG School of Management (LEM-CNRS)); Jean-Pierre Butault (INRA Paris and INRA Nancy); Oluwaseun Ojo (IESEG School of Management (LEM-CNRS)) |
| Keywords: | Index numbers, Total Factor Productivity, Factor income distribution, Agricultural and food policy |
| JEL: | C43 D24 D33 Q18 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ies:wpaper:e201215&r=agr |
| By: | Salam, Abdul |
| Abstract: | The marketing of farm inputs and outputs has become a major problem for farmers in Pakistan. Farm input supplies are irregular, characterized by shortages and high prices at critical times. This report reviews the input and output policies for cereals implemented in Pakistan during the period 1996–2010. Pakistan has a long and varied history of intervening in farm input and output markets, going back decades before the period under review. Most significantly, in the wake of economic reforms launched during the 1980s, it has withdrawn from most of the commodity markets except wheat. In other commodity markets, intervention is by and large notional and without much practical involvement. The rolling back of the public sector from markets has certainly saved public funds, but the savings have come at a cost. Some of the cost, in terms of higher prices and variability stemming from the uncertain economic environment and supply, is borne by consumers, and some, in terms of lower producer prices at harvest, is borne by farmers, especially small and medium farmers, whose farms account for more than 50 percent of the area under cereals. |
| Keywords: | Cereal crops, cereal production, Agriculture, food security, Markets, price policies, Research and development, Price support, Agricultural research, research system, distortion, Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1223&r=agr |
| By: | Ragasa, Catherine; Kinwa-Muzinga, Annie; Ulimwengu, John M. |
| Abstract: | Based on the 2011 Global Hunger Index, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has the most severe level of hunger and malnutrition. There is growing recognition that development in the agriculture sector and increasing productivity will be critical to reverse this trend. A growing set of literature looks at gender disparity in access to critical inputs, knowledge and markets, which have been shown to contribute to low productivity and nutrition insecurity. This assessment contributes to the knowledge gap by compiling existing empirical evidence and investigating the gender gaps in access to resources and opportunities in the agriculture and food sector in the DRC. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Nutrition, food security, Agricultural productivity, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1201&r=agr |
| By: | Qin, Yu; Zhang, Xiaobo |
| Abstract: | Because many rural poor live in areas far away from markets, we investigate whether better road access could help improve their livelihood and reduce rural poverty. We use three waves of a primary panel survey at the household level conducted in 18 remote natural villages in China to study how road access shapes farmers’ agricultural production patterns and input uses and affects rural poverty. Our results show that access to roads is strongly associated with specialization in agricultural production. In natural villages with better road access, farmers plant fewer numbers of crops, purchase more fertilizer, and invest more money in labor. In combination with such factors, road connections improve household agricultural income—in particular, cash income—and contribute to poverty reduction in the surveyed villages. However, better access to rural roads does not appear to bring about significant changes in nonagricultural income. |
| Keywords: | roads, Agricultural specialization, Input use, rural areas, Rural poor, Household income, Household surveys, Poverty reduction, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1221&r=agr |
| By: | von Grebmer, Klaus; Ringler, Claudia; Rosegrant, Mark W.; Olofinbiyi, Tolulope; Wiesmann, Doris; Fritschel, Heidi; Badiane, Ousmane; Torero, Maximo; Yohannes, Yisehac; Thompson, Jennifer; von Oppeln, Constanze; Rahall, Joseph |
| Keywords: | Children, Data, Developing countries, Energy, Food availability, food crises, food crisis, food security, Global Hunger Index (GHI), Gross income, Hunger, indicators, Land, Malnutrition, Mortality, Natural resources, OECD countries, Policies, Poverty, property rights, smallholders, Sustainable development, sustainable livelihoods, transition economies, Undernutrition, Underweight, Water, Nutrition, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:resrep:2012ghienglish&r=agr |
| By: | Nin-Pratt, Alejandro; Johnson, Michael E.; Yu, Bingxin |
| Abstract: | The improved performance of the agricultural sector in Africa south of the Sahara during the most recent decade (2000–2010) has raised questions about the drivers behind the growth. Skeptics argue that rising commodity prices, as world markets experience a commodity boom, are the main cause of the agricultural growth. Others point to improvements in the policy environment and increased investments in agriculture at a time when African governments and donors have been rallying to increase their support to agriculture. Is African agriculture undergoing a new and sustained recovery after many decades of stagnant and volatile growth rates—or is it simply riding the current global commodity boom? We attempt to answer this question by analyzing the structure of overall agricultural growth in the past 30 years using a growth decomposition approach. Results show both good and bad news for future prospects of African agricultural growth. The good news is that a changing policy environment and increased attention to agriculture has had a major effect on overall productivity growth based on technical efficiency gains. The bad news is that most of this productivity growth is the result of countries recovering from the poor performance of the 1980s and 1990s together with favorable domestic prices. A key challenge for African countries in the years to come is to transform the current windfall gains from favorable high commodity prices and the one-time effects of policy reforms into sustainable growth based on technical change. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Agricultural growth, Agricultural productivity, growth accounting, economic growth, Commodities, Agricultural policies, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1224&r=agr |
| By: | Bräutigam, Deborah; Tang, Xiaoyang |
| Abstract: | The recent expansion of Chinese economic engagement in Africa is often poorly documented and not well understood. This paper is the second in an IFPRI-sponsored effort to better understand Chinese engagement in Africa’s agricultural sector. A clearer picture of Chinese activities in agriculture is important as a foundation for Africans and their development partners to more fruitfully engage with an increasingly important actor. Chinese engagement in agriculture and rural development in Tanzania is long-standing. Changes in this engagement reflect the changes in China’s engagement in Africa more generally. This overview paper explores China’s engagement in historical perspective, focusing on foreign aid, other official engagement, and investment by Chinese firms between 1964 and 2011. |
| Keywords: | agricultural sector, Agricultural development, Rural development, research and development, Agribusiness, Agriculture, Foreign aid, Foreign investment, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1214&r=agr |
| By: | Dey, Madan M.; Spielman David J.; Haque, A.B.M. Mahfuzul; Rahman, Md. Saidur; Valmonte-Santos, Rowena |
| Abstract: | Efforts to unlock the genetic potential of both rice and fish, when combined with efforts to improve the management of rice–fish systems, have considerable proven potential for increasing agricultural productivity and food security. In Bangladesh, estimates suggest that the country’s potential rice–fish production system encompasses between two and three million hectares of land. Despite three decades of research on biophysical and technical aspects of rice–fish systems, this potential has not been realized fully due to insufficient attention given to the social, economic, and policy dimensions of system improvement. This paper provides a characterization of the diverse and changing nature of rice–fish systems in Bangladesh by combining data from a novel upazilla-level (sub-district-level) survey of fishery officers with household surveys, focus group discussions, and a meta-review of the literature on aquaculture in the country. The resulting analysis sheds new light on the economic viability of different rice–fish systems and recommends policy and investment options to further improve the development and delivery of rice–fish technologies. Findings indicate that in addition to concurrent rice–fish systems, alternating rice–fish systems and collectively managed systems offer considerable potential for increasing productivity and farm incomes in Bangladesh. Findings also suggest that although the emergent innovation system around these rice–fish systems is fairly dynamic, there is a need for more supportive policies and investments—and analysis of the intended and unintended impacts of these policies and investments. |
| Keywords: | productivity, income, Policies, rice-fish systems, aquaculture, Household survey, Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1220&r=agr |
| By: | Headey, Derek D.; Ecker, Olivier |
| Abstract: | Although food security measurement has been substantially expanded in recent decades, there persists significant dissatisfaction with existing measurement systems, especially in the wake of the global food and financial crisis. In this paper we first set out a list of criteria that an ideal food security measurement system should satisfy. We then benchmark existing indicators and measurement systems against those criteria as a means of systematically identifying their relative strengths and weaknesses. Our concluding section outlines possible steps for improving food security measurement through a mixture of extension, coordination, and innovation. |
| Keywords: | food security, Nutrition security, food crises, food crisis, Shocks, climatic shocks, measurement, climatic shocks, economic growth, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1225&r=agr |
| By: | Clarke, Danielle; Das, Narayan C.; de Nicola, Francesca; Hill, Ruth Vargas; Kumar, Neha; Mehta, Parendi |
| Abstract: | Farmers in rural Bangladesh face multiple sources of uninsured risk to agricultural production and household assets. In this paper, we present results from an experimental demand-elicitation exercise in rural Bangladesh to shed light on smallholder farmers’ interest in formal insurance products. We propose a suite of insurance and savings products, and we randomly vary the price of one insurance option (area-yield insurance) and the presence of one of the savings options (group savings). Consistent with economic theory, farmers buy more of the insurance products that cover the risks they primarily face. However, because farmers are subject to a variety of risks, they do not focus on only one type of insurance; instead, they evenly split their endowment between life and disability insurance and agricultural insurance. Demand for area-yield insurance falls with price; we also observe important cross-price elasticities with other insurance products. The presence of group savings does not alter demand for insurance, though group savings is found to be a particularly popular risk management tool, especially when decisions are made in groups. |
| Keywords: | Risk, Insurance, demand, Elasticity, Decision-making, rural areas, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1202&r=agr |
| By: | Minten, Bart; Singh, K. M.; Sutradhar, Rajib |
| Abstract: | Local brands are rapidly gaining agricultural market share in developing countries. However, it is not well understood how they reshape agricultural value chains and what the implications are for consumers and producers. In a detailed case study of the value chain of makhana in Bihar, we see the fast emergence —a doubling over five years—of more expensive packed and branded products. The effect on consumers is ambiguous. While the emergence of brands leads to increasing differentiation in retail markets, the brands in these settings provide mostly incomplete or misleading information for the consumer, and the quality of products contained in branded bags is often lower than for loose products. We also find that farmers realize few direct benefits from the presence of these brands. |
| Keywords: | value chain, Branding, Consumer behavior., Consumer preferences, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1207&r=agr |
| By: | Femenia, Fabienne |
| Abstract: | Currently, there is increased focus on the methods in which public interventions stabilize agricultural markets. The subsidization of private storage is one of the options advocated. However, the efficiency of such an instrument is still being discussed and has not yet been explored in the context of imperfect information. Nevertheless, this is one of the potential sources of market fluctuations and one of the arguments in favor of a public intervention on agricultural markets. To fill this gap, our main objective in this paper is to simulate the effects of a subsidization of storage costs, aimed at stimulating private storage at the world level, on markets fluctuations following Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms, so as to stimulate private storage at the world level, and to study the welfare effects of this public intervention. |
| Keywords: | Dynamic Computable General Equilibrium (DCGE), subsidies, Agricultural policy, volatility, Price stabilization, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1205&r=agr |
| By: | Fan, Shenggen; Pandya-Lorch, Rajul |
| Abstract: | The fundamental purpose of agriculture is not just to produce food and raw materials, but also to grow healthy, well-nourished people. One of the sector’s most important tasks then is to provide food of sufficient quantity and quality to feed and nourish the world’s population sustainably so that all people can lead healthy, productive lives. Achieving this goal will require closer collaboration across the sectors of agriculture, nutrition, and health, which have long operated in separate spheres with little recognition of how their actions affect each other. It is time for agriculture, nutrition, and health to join forces in pursuit of the common goal of improving human well-being. In Reshaping Agriculture for Nutrition and Health, leading experts, practitioners, and policymakers explore the links among agriculture, nutrition, and health and identify ways to strengthen related policies and programs. The chapters in this book were originally commissioned as background papers or policy briefs for the conference “Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health,” facilitated by the International Food Policy Research Institute’s 2020 Vision Initiative in New Delhi, India, in February 2011. |
| Keywords: | Food supply, Nutrition policy, Agriculture, Public health, Nutrition, health, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:resrep:2020conferencebook&r=agr |
| By: | Harris, Jody; Drimie, Scott |
| Abstract: | Due to the predominance of direct, specific interventions in nutrition for development, the health sector tends to own nutrition, with interventions customarily implemented through health programs. The premise that the agriculture sector should also be a vehicle for improved nutrition is intuitive, but this sector often delivers neither good nutrition nor food security to the most vulnerable in the population. The complex and multisectoral nature of malnutrition may explain why it has not been effectively addressed. Though we know many of the solutions, such as intersectoral action which is critical to addressing this complexity, to date there is no consensus on how intersectoral solutions are best implemented or institutionalized. This review brings together experiences from across Sub-Saharan Africa in order to draw out recommendations for improved intersectoral implementation going forward, and assesses how these findings apply specifically to the Zambian context. |
| Keywords: | Nutrition, malnutrition, health, agricultural sector, Private sector, Public sector, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1200&r=agr |
| By: | Debowicz, Dario; Segal, Paul |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates structural change in Argentina between 1935 and 1960, a period of rapid industrialization and of relative decline of the agricultural sector. This has been the subject of a long-running debate that has exercised Argentine economists throughout the twentieth century, and remains politically salient today. It has been argued that this this relative decline of agriculture was due to the policies of import-substituting industrialization (ISI). This was also the period, however, that directly followed the closing of the land frontier, resulting in a declining land-labor ratio as the population continued to grow. We use a stylized, dynamic three-sector computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the period to analyze the respective effects of ISI policies and the observed changes in factor endowments on the structure of the economy. We find that the declining land-labor ratio was more important than ISI in explaining relative stagnation in agriculture. ISI gave a substantial boost to manufacturing but primarily at the expense of nontraded services, rather than of agriculture. |
| Keywords: | structural transformation, Computable general equilibrium (CGE), Industrialization, agricultural sector, Import substitution, Economic history, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1212&r=agr |
| By: | Marc Pourroy; Benjamin Carton; Dramane Coulibaly |
| Abstract: | The two episodes of food price surges in 2007 and 2011 have raised the question of how monetary authorities should react to such external relative price shocks. These inflation shocks have been particularly challenging for developing and emerging economies’ central banks who have adopted inflation targeting strategies during the last decade. We develop a new-Keynesian small open-economy model that distinguishes three price indexes: an overall consumer prices index, the exact index of core inflation based on sticky prices, and a proxy for the core inflation index based on non-food prices. We show that nonfood inflation is a good proxy for core inflation in high-income countries, but not for middle-income and low-income countries. Although, in these countries we find that associating non-food inflation and core inflation may be promoting badly-designed policies, and consequently central banks should target headline inflation rather than non-food inflation. This result holds because non-tradable food goods represent a significant share in total consumption. Indeed, the poorer the country, the higher the share of purely domestic food goods in consumption and the more detrimental lack of attention to the evolution in food prices. |
| Keywords: | Monetary Policy;Commodities;Food prices;DSGE models |
| JEL: | E32 E52 O23 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2012-33&r=agr |
| By: | Mogues, Tewodaj |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the determinants of public expenditure policies, by reviewing theories and empirical investigations of what features explain the budget process and how the various attributes of actors—including politicians, bureaucrats, interest groups, and donors—and of institutions and political and economic governance environments affect the prioritization of public investments. It draws conclusions with regard to the determinants of agricultural public investments. |
| Keywords: | Political economy, Agricultural Investment, Public investment, Governance, budget process, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1216&r=agr |
| By: | Dorosh, Paul A.; Rashid, Shahidur |
| Abstract: | The extent to which Bangladesh should rely on imports for rice price stabilization is a contentious policy issue. This issue was underscored in the wake of the 2007–08 world food crisis, during which international rice prices skyrocketed and rice import supplies from India were disrupted. For more than a dozen years, from 1994 to 2007, private-sector rice imports made a major contribution to price stabilization and food security in Bangladesh, adding to domestic supplies following production shortfalls. In particular, following massive floods in 1998, private-sector imports sourced from wholesale rice markets in India contributed more than 2 million tons to rice supply in Bangladesh. Subsequently, between 2003 and mid-2007, Bangladesh prices were particularly stable. This paper presents econometric evidence that trade with India was a determining factor in this price stability. In particular, the authors show that in this period, Bangladesh domestic wholesale prices were co-integrated with import parity prices of subsidized below-poverty-line rice from India’s public stocks. Import flows in these years generated an estimated total of 1.0 to 1.6 billion US dollars in consumer surplus for Bangladesh households but reduced producer surplus by a similar amount. |
| Keywords: | Price stabilization, International trade, Rice Bangladesh, Rice trade, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1209&r=agr |
| By: | Adato, Michelle; Bassett, Lucy |
| Abstract: | As HIV and AIDS simultaneously undermine livelihoods and household and community safety nets, families are especially vulnerable to poverty, food insecurity, and threats to their children’s nutrition, health, and education, with irreversible consequences. With more than 33.3 million people affected by HIV globally, a new focus on the risks for families and the long-term well-being of children has accelerated international, regional, and national commitments to social protection programs in heavily AIDS-affected countries. |
| Keywords: | Social protection, food security, HIV/AIDS, Cash transfers, Safety nets, conditional cash transfer, Education, health, food consumption, Nutrition, Economic aspects, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:resrep:michelleadato&r=agr |
| By: | Kolavalli, Shashidhara; Vigneri, Marcella; Maamah, Haruna; Poku, John |
| Abstract: | The cocoa sector in Ghana is one of few examples of an export commodity sector in an African country that has withstood the pressure to fully liberalize. Despite substantial government control over internal and external marketing via the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), the current institutional arrangement is able to pass on a significant share of export prices to farmers, a key objective of the liberalization of commodity markets in Africa. As Ghana continues to capitalize on its recent discovery of off-shore oil reserves, the government and donors alike are concerned that the competitiveness of the cocoa sector may be threatened. The overall objective of this study is to examine the competitiveness of the cocoa sector by focusing on four aspects of the current set of institutions, including (1) the process of determining producer prices; (2) the outcomes of the introduction of private licensed buying companies; (3) COCOBOD’s role in maintain quality, and the costs and benefits of this process; and (4) trends in COCOBOD expenditure on the provision of various goods and services. The methodology adopted for this study is primarily that of an expenditure review. |
| Keywords: | Liberalization, Quality, Tree crops, Cocoa, agricultural services, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1213&r=agr |
| By: | Sébastien MARCHAND (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International); Huanxiu GUO |
| Abstract: | In this case study, we attempt to re-evaluate the performance of organic farming in developing countries using the indicator of Environmental Efficiency (EE) within the framework of Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). A set of plot-season level panel data was collected from an NGO-led organic paddy rice project in southern China. This original dataset is used to calculate EE scores across both the organic and conventional plots. Our two-stage analysis reveals two essential points. First, in poor rural areas, organic farming doesn't systematically reduce the pure nitrogen input for paddy rice production. In order to maintain the yield, organic farmers may apply the same, or an even greater quantity of pure nitrogen than conventional farmers. Second, organic farming loses its environmental efficiency in the scaling up period due to the excessive pure nitrogen input. Therefore, we argue that beyond the simple substitution of chemical fertilizer by organic fertilizer, more sustainable organic farming necessitates additional e fforts on the control of nutrient input. |
| Keywords: | Organic farming, Environmental efficiency, Stochastic frontier analysis, China |
| JEL: | D71 O53 R15 Q57 Q12 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1410&r=agr |
| By: | Paul Castãneda Dower (New Economic School); Tobias Pfutze (Oberlin College) |
| Abstract: | An important aspect of property rights is specificity, the ability of a third party to enforce rights. The empirical literature rarely isolates the effect of specificity because exogenous changes, due to land reforms, either simultaneously change both control and specificity or exclusively change control. We investigate the effect of specificity in the context of the 1992 Salinas land reforms in Mexico, which constitutionally changed individual control rights for all communal landholders but reserved changes to specificity for a subsequent voluntary land certification program. We are able to address selection into the program by taking advantage of the peculiarities in the certification process. Using agricultural production data from before and after the reform, we demonstrate that land certification significantly increases agricultural investments but only for investments directly affected by the changes in control. We explain the results using a simple model that shows how specificity can better coordinate landholders' beliefs about the implementation of changes in control. |
| Keywords: | Property Rights, Specicity, Land Reform, Mexico, Ejido |
| JEL: | K49 O10 O12 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfr:cefirw:w0188&r=agr |
| By: | Nazli, Hina; Haider, Syed Hamza; Tariq, Asjad |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the projections of future demand and supply for these two main cereals for 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025, and 2030. For projecting household demand, the Almost Ideal Demand System (LA-AIDS) is estimated for eight food items using the data of nationally representative household survey. The results are used to project the household demand under three different scenarios. These scenarios are: a business-as-usual situation (per capita income is assumed to grow at a rate of 3 percent per year), an optimistic situation (assumed growth rate of per capita income 4 percent per year), and a pessimistic situation (per capita income is assumed to grow by 2 percent per year). Cereal supply is projected using a short-run production function approach (with such variables as area and share irrigated fixed exogenously at observed levels). This projection is then used to estimate the levels of wheat and rice produced for 2009–2030, with the projections of the exogenous determinants of production based on linear time trend models. The results show that the demand for wheat and rice will more than double by 2030. The projections of supply show an increase in the output of wheat and rice by 2030. From 2008 to 2030, the demand for wheat will increase from 19 million tons to 30 million tons. Projection estimates of wheat supply based on the production function technique show that by 2030, wheat output will reach 28 million tons, and rice output will be 11 million tons. The demand for wheat is expected to be greater than its supply whereas production of rice will be higher than consumption. |
| Keywords: | Cereal crops, cereal demand, cereal supply, cereal production, Wheat, rice, household consumption, Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1222&r=agr |
| By: | Francisco Rosas (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD)) |
| Abstract: | We compute the fertilizer use in corn, cotton, soybeans, and rapeseed in the period from 1990 to 2010 for a set of selected countries. In each case, we present the consumption of nitrogen, phosphate, and potash by crop and by year, reporting both the fertilizer application rates (in kilograms per hectare) and the fertilizer consumption (in thousand metric tonnes). We allocate a country’s total nutrient consumption in a given year among competing crops based on publicly available statistics. The resulting allocation of fertilizer among crops is a function of the country’s nutrients total use, the country’s cropped areas, crop world prices, and crop- and country-specific fertilizer application rates for some years. In this report we show results on fertilizer consumption by crop for the top fertilizer consuming countries, and a downloadable MS Excel file “FertilizerDemandByCropData.xls†shows the complete set of results. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, fertilizer, nitrogen, phosphate, potash JEL codes: Q10, Q12, Q18 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:12-wp535&r=agr |
| By: | Breisinger, Clemens; Ecker, Olivier; Al-Riffai, Perrihan; Engelke, Wilfried; Al-Bataly, Abdulmajeed |
| Abstract: | This paper has been produced to support the Government of Yemen and the international community in designing a transition plan for the country. The political crisis and conflict situation in Yemen has led to a sharp decline in economic output beginning in 2011—a decline from which Yemen is estimated to recover only in 2015, if favorable conditions apply. Moreover, the impact of the crisis on the poor is dramatic |
| Keywords: | Conflict, Poverty, food security, Investment, infrastructure, Qat, Arab region, Water policies, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1210&r=agr |
| By: | Saak, Alexander E. |
| Abstract: | Recent food safety events have raised concerns about food traceability in both developed and developing countries. In this paper we study the decision to adopt a traceability system in a supply chain with repeated upstream and downstream moral hazard and imperfect consumer monitoring. In deciding whether to maintain information regarding product origin, firms face a trade-off. On one hand, the downstream firm’s threat to punish upstream shirking is more credible when products are traceable to their firm of origin. On the other hand, the downstream firm has less incentive to collude with a subset of upstream firms to shirk in the provision of quality when it cannot tell whether a product originates from a shirking or non-shirking firm. We show that firms achieve higher joint profits when products are not traceable to upstream suppliers if the cost savings from upstream shirking and the discounted cost savings from downstream shirking are sufficiently similar or the consumer experience is a sufficiently noisy signal of quality. |
| Keywords: | Food safety, Health, Supply chains, Traceability, Reputation, Monitoring, contracts, moral hazard, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1211&r=agr |
| By: | Chen, Xi; Zhang, Xiaobo |
| Abstract: | Participating in and presenting gifts at funerals, weddings, and other ceremonies held by fellow villagers have been regarded as social norms in Chinese villages for thousands of years. However, it is more burdensome for the poor to take part in these social occasions than for the rich. Because the poor often lack the necessary resources, they are forced to cut back on basic consumption, such as food, in order to afford a gift to attend the social festivals. For pregnant women in poor families, such a reduction in nutrition intake as a result of gift-giving can have a lasting detrimental health impact on their children. |
| Keywords: | Social norms, Social relations, food consumption, Stunting, malnutrition, Women, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1206&r=agr |
| By: | Kumar, Neha; Quisumbing, Agnes R. |
| Abstract: | There is growing interest in the role of policy reforms to promote gender equality and empower women, two key objectives of development policy. From a policy perspective, it would be ideal for reforms undertaken in different policy areas to be consistent, so that they reinforce each other in improving gender equity. We use data from the Ethiopian Rural Household Survey (ERHS) to show how two seemingly unrelated reforms—community-based land registration, undertaken since 2003, and changes in the Family Code implemented in 2000—may have created conditions for mutually reinforcing gender-sensitive reforms. Our analysis confirms previous studies’ findings of gender gaps in awareness and information about the land registration process. Male-headed households are, on average, more likely to have heard about the process, to have attended meetings (and a greater number of meetings), and to have received some written material with information about the process. Having female members in the Land Administration Committee (LAC) has a positive impact on attendance at meetings relating to land registration. In our analysis of the changes in the family law, we find that awareness about the land registration process is positively correlated with the shift in perceptions toward equal division of land and livestock upon divorce. The presence of female members in the LAC also has a positive effect on the shift in perceptions toward a more equal division of assets upon divorce. Taken together, these findings suggest that the land registration process and the reform of the Family Code may have mutually reinforcing effects on women’s rights and welfare. While this example is obviously rooted in the Ethiopian context, it raises the possibility that similar reform efforts may be complementary in other countries as well. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Reforms, land registration, Family code, Land policy, Land ownership, Land rights, Land tenure, Land titling, Women, Household survey, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1226&r=agr |
| By: | Heikkilä, Anna-Maija; Myyrä, Sami; Pietola, Kyösti |
| Abstract: | In the long term, productivity and especially productivity growth are necessary conditions for the survival of a farm. In this paper, we focus on the technology choice of a dairy farm, i.e. the choice between a conventional and an automatic milking system. Our aim is to reveal the extent to which economic rationality explains investing in new technology. The adoption of robotics is further linked to farm productivity to show how capital-intensive technology has affected the overall productivity of milk production. In our empirical analysis, we apply a probit model and an extended Cobb-Douglastype production function to a Finnish farm-level dataset for the years 2000–10. The results show that very few economic factors on a dairy farm or in its economic environment can be identified to affect the switch to automatic milking. Existing machinery capital and investment allowances are among the significant factors. The results also indicate that the probability of investing in robotics responds elastically to a change in investment aids: an increase of 1% in aid would generate an increase of 2% in the probability of investing. Despite the presence of non-economic incentives, the switch to robotic milking is proven to promote productivity development on dairy farms. No productivity growth is observed on farms that keep conventional milking systems, whereas farms with robotic milking have a growth rate of 8.1% per year. The mean rate for farms that switch to robotic milking is 7.0% per year. The results show great progress in productivity growth, with the average of the sector at around 2% per year during the past two decades. In conclusion, investments in new technology as well as investment aids to boost investments are needed in low-productivity areas where investments in new technology still have great potential to increase productivity, and thus profitability and competitiveness, in the long run. |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eps:fmwppr:142&r=agr |
| By: | Boukary OUEDRAOGO (CEDRES - Université de Ouaga II); Sylvie FERRARI (GREThA, CNRS, UMR5113) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to analyse closely the role and the incidence of forest income on reducing poverty and income inequalities among forest fringe households who are located in joint forest management (JFM) areas in Burkina Faso. Poverty indexes (Foster et al., 1984) and Gini coefficient are used to examine how forestry can reduce poverty and income inequalities in these JFM sites. Furthermore, a first attempt to analyse interactions between wealth and environmental resources is discussed through the ecological inequality concept. A specific environmental variable, \"rainfall\", is introduced into the analysis to simulate the relationship that may exist between forest households’ well-being and rainwater collected in these JFM sites. The study outcomes show a higher dependency of forest fringe households to forest resources and how forest incomes have a great contribution to poverty and income inequalities reduction among these households. Moreover, rainfall variability in these JFM villages affects significantly both forest income sources (positively) and these households’ poverty level (negatively). |
| Keywords: | joint forest management, poverty, income inequalities, ecological inequalities. |
| JEL: | Q56 D63 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2012-28&r=agr |
| By: | Paul Castãneda Dower (New Economic School and the Center for Economic and Financial Research); Elizabeth Potamites |
| Abstract: | Many land titling programs have produced lackluster results in terms of achieving access to credit for the poor. This may re ect insufficient emphasis on local banking practices. Bankers commonly use methods other than collateral to ensure repayment, such as targeting borrower characteristics that, on average, improve repayment rates. Formal land titles can signal to the bank these important characteristics. Using a household survey from Indonesia, we provide evidence that formal land titles do have a positive and significant effect on access to credit and at least part of this effect is best interpreted as an improvement in information ows. This result stands in contrast to the prevailing notion that land titles only function as collateral. Analysts who neglect local banking practices may misinterpret the observed effect of systematic land titling programs on credit access because these programs tend to dampen the signaling value of formal land titles. |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfr:cefirw:w0186&r=agr |
| By: | Ved, Rajani; Menon, Purnima |
| Abstract: | India’s record of undernutrition presents a stubborn challenge. Given the multiple determinants of child undernutrition, effective action to tackle this problem in India and globally requires a range of inputs across various sectors. Delivering nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions to entire populations requires that these various sectors come together at critical points and in meaningful ways to ensure delivery of key nutrition-related actions for communities and households. However, currently in India, a major challenge is bringing sectors together to deliver for a common goal. Although the lack of convergence is well documented, there lingers a substantial gap in articulating what needs to be assessed to ensure that convergence is indeed happening, or not happening. In an effort to close this gap, in this paper we describe a possible framework to enable convergence across sectors for action on nutrition. Our framework notes that issues related to convergence must be resolved in relation to three major steps in the policy process: policy formulation, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. We articulate here questions related to convergence that must be asked at each of these stages of the policy process. We also conduct a desk review to analyze health and nutrition policies in India for evidence of attention to these aspects of convergence. |
| Keywords: | Nutrition, Convergence, Policy, child malnutrition, undernourishment, Monitoring and evaluation, policy formulation, implementation, Health, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1208&r=agr |
| By: | Howard Kunreuther; Geoffrey Heal; Myles Allen; Ottmar Edenhofer; Christopher B. Field; Gary Yohe |
| Abstract: | The selection of climate policies should be an exercise in risk management reflecting the many relevant sources of uncertainty. Studies of climate change and its impacts rarely yield consensus on the distribution of exposure, vulnerability, or possible outcomes. Hence policy analysis cannot effectively evaluate alternatives using standard approaches such as expected utility theory and benefit-cost analysis. This Perspective highlights the value of robust decision-making tools designed for situations, such as evaluating climate policies, where generally agreed-upon probability distributions are not available and stakeholders differ in their degree of risk tolerance. This broader risk management approach enables one to examine a range of possible outcomes and the uncertainty surrounding their likelihoods. |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18607&r=agr |
| By: | Aberman, Noora-Lisa; Johnson, Michael E.; Droppelmann, Klaus; Schiffer, Eva; Birner, Regina; Gaff, Peter |
| Abstract: | A major rationale for conducting policy research is the contribution the results can make to policy improvement efforts. Over the years, funders of international policy research have placed increasing emphasis on making sure that the research they fund influences policymaking, challenging research organizations to document the impact of their research. To improve the integration of research into policy, stakeholders need to understand the policy process itself. |
| Keywords: | Policy process, Public policy, fertilizer policy, Social network analysis, fertilizer subsidy, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1204&r=agr |
| By: | Masha Maslianskaia-Pautrel (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - Université de Nantes : EA4272); Marc Baudry (EconomiX - CNRS : UMR7166 - Université Paris X - Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense) |
| Abstract: | The article highlights the role of heterogeneity in the formation of hedonic prices. The article distinguishes between continuous and groupwise heterogeneity. The distinction helps understanding two important points. First, the analysis of market equilibrium with group wise heterogeneity makes explicit the role of participation and incentives compatibility constraints for groups of buyers. The case of continuous heterogeneity may be thought of as a limit case of groupwise heterogeneity when the number of groups goes to infinity and their masses go to zero. The hedonic price curve is then obtained as the solution of a differential equation resulting from a market clearing condition. Second, the article outlines that submarkets emerge from market equilibrium only in the case of groupwise heterogeneity. The existence of submarkets means that the hedonic price function is continuous but the implicit price of characteristics is discontinuous at endogenous threshold values separating submarkets. Major implications for the valuation of environmental quality follow on. Based on numerical simulations, the article gives some insights into the way significant biases and drawbacks in the estimation of the implicit price of environmental quality can arise if the usual two steps procedure is implemented. |
| Keywords: | environmental valuation ; discrete heterogeneity ; hedonic modeling ; vertical differentiation. |
| Date: | 2012–10–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00759247&r=agr |
| By: | Michele Baggio (Chair of Environmental Policy and Economics, Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the optimal management of a natural resource that can shift between different dynamics at random times. Using a classical linear control model I investigate how the switching behavior influences the optimal extraction of the resource. I use exogenous sea-surface temperature anomalies to study how future climate change affects the optimal management of the resource. The model is applied to the Peruvian anchoveta fishery, which has shown evidence of structural differences in the biological relationship over time. Results indicate that a management policy that adapts to a changing dynamic leads to mean biomass and resource rents that are 2 and 2.5 times higher than a non-adaptive policy. This analysis provides a framework that can be used to quantitatively address the effects of adaptation in the context of a natural resource. Specifically, it gives important indications for the management of a natural resource with alternating dynamics, which can be used to design policies that adapt to the variability of the physical environment. |
| Keywords: | Bioeconomic modeling, Climate change, Peruvian anchoveta, Real option, Regime switching |
| JEL: | C61 Q22 Q54 Q57 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ied:wpsied:12-19&r=agr |