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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2019‒11‒25
twenty-one papers chosen by |
| By: | Pernechele, Valentina; Balié, Jean; Ghins, Léopold |
| Abstract: | The study summarizes the results emerging from the 2017 update of the Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) indicators for the 2005-2016 period for 14 sub-Saharan African countries. These indicators - comparable across commodities, countries and years - are commonly used to assess the extent of policy support in agriculture. They measure the effect of trade and market policies and inefficiencies on the degree of price incentives faced by farmers in key commodity value chains, as well as the level and composition of public expenditures in support of the agriculture sector. Despite results being very heterogeneous across countries and commodities, aggregate figures indicate that price incentives to agriculture are overall increasing across the period. Policies focused on supporting domestic production, through import tariffs and price support, are likely to be the main drivers of such a trend, following the food price crises period (2007–2011) when policy-makers were mainly concerned about consumer protection. Despite that, market inefficiencies still persist as a source of price disincentives to farmers and a major constraint on agricultural development. Consistently, public expenditure indicators confirm that direct budget transfers in support of producers, mainly in the form of input subsidies, continue to represent the largest part of agriculture expenditure in most countries. In general terms, only a few countries increased the share of agricultural expenditure within total public budgets in 2015. Expenditures on research and knowledge dissemination are overall stagnant or declining. Food crops continue to dominate public budgets while spending on cash crops or “innovative” products as well as on value chain integration and commercialization remains limited. Some efforts to convert resources that were previously allocated to input subsidies into investments in agricultural and rural infrastructures are seen. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–04–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:faoets:296658&r=all |
| By: | Bachev, Hrabrin |
| Abstract: | On March 11, 2011 the strongest ever recorded in Japan earthquake occurred which triggered a powerful tsunami and caused a nuclear accident in Fukushima nuclear plant. The later was a “man-made” disaster having immense impacts on people’s life, health and property, infrastructure, supply chains, economy, policies, natural and institutional environment, etc. This paper assesses preparedness for and agri-food impacts of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, identifies challenges in post-disaster recovery, and withdraws lessons for improving disaster risk management. Japan was not well prepared for such huge disaster while agri-food sector and consumption have been among the worst hit areas. The triple disaster was a rare but a high impact event, therefore, it is necessary to “prepare for unexpected”. Risk assessment is to include diverse hazards and multiple effects of a likely disaster, it is to be discussed with all stakeholders, and measures taken to educate and train all for complex disasters. It is necessary to modernize property rights, regulations, safety standards, and norms, enhance capability of responsible public authorities and improve coordination between divers actors. It is important to set up mechanisms for effective public resource allocation and reduction of agents’ costs. Different elements of agri-food chain have dissimilar capability requiring differential public support. There is a strong “regional” interdependency of agrarian, food and rural assets (and damages), and it is important to properly locate risk and take prevention and recover measures. Disaster response demonstrated the important role of small scale farms and food organizations, and high efficiency of private, market and collective governance. Before, during and after a disaster all available information from all sources is to be immediately publicized in understandable form through all possible means. Disaster provides opportunity to discuss, introduce and implement fundamental changes in agricultural, economic, regional, energy, disaster management, etc. policies. It is important to learn from the past experiences and make sure that “lessons learned” are not forgotten. |
| Keywords: | Fukushima, nuclear accident, agri-food impact, risk management |
| JEL: | Q12 Q13 Q16 Q18 Q4 Q52 Q54 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:96917&r=all |
| By: | Hinkel, Niklas (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln (EWI)) |
| Abstract: | Soil acidity is crucial for crop yields. Acidic soils decrease the availability of important nutrients to plants, causing lower yields. This applies to both naturally occurring nutrients and fertilizer. A well-known remedy is to provide soils with alkaline materials, like ground limestone. This raises their pH levels, increasing the availability of nutrients to the plant and eventually crop yields. So far, this practice is not widespread in Zambia, a country with largely acidic soils in agricultural areas. The agriculture of Zambia is dominated by smallholder farmers, growing predominantly maize. This paper seeks to quantify the effects on welfare that the introduction of liming would have in the Zambian smallholder maize market. For this purpose, I develop a dynamic, deterministic, open market, spatial partial equilibrium model. Solving the model requires bounded, monotonic, non-convex mixed-integer optimizations with equilibrium constraints. Model results indicate that liming in this market would reduce prices by 22.8% and increase welfare by 3.4% without international trade. With exports at 350 USD/t, the local price would drop by 16.1% and welfare would increase by 5.6% due to liming. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Economics; Liming; Partial Equilibrium Model; Zambia |
| JEL: | C61 O12 O33 O55 Q15 |
| Date: | 2019–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:ewikln:2019_006&r=all |
| By: | Micha, Evgenia; Fenton, Owen; Daly, Karen; Kakonyi, Gabriella; Ezzati, Golnaz; Moloney, Thomas; Thornton, Steven F |
| Abstract: | Sustainable intensification of agriculture (SIA) has become an important concept to ensuring food security in the context of increasing agricultural production while minimising negative externalities in contemporary agronomic systems. In supporting this, there is a need to establish a decision-making and management system that involves the views and opinions of different stakeholders and unifies the goals of SIA amongst them. The objective of this work is to identify and describe pathways toward farm-level SIA. An explanatory network approach and fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) support the analysis of stakeholder views across the three pillars of sustainability: social, economic and environmental. Different stakeholder groups were asked to collectively map the pathways towards farm level SIA in a workshop exercise. The respective groups considered a common set of pre-selected factors as potential descriptors of sustainability and created unique maps by adding their own components and descriptors and identifying causal links between them. While the relative weighting of factors by each group differed, according to their perspectives and interpretation, yield, knowledge transfer, water quality, weather extremes and technology/infrastructure were scored as priority descriptors of farm-level sustainability by all groups in an aggregate analysis. Exploratory analysis of FCMs was found to provide an efficient mechanism to investigate stakeholder views on pathways towards farm-level SIA, by identifying causal relationships and interactions between factors and actors that affect its achievement. The study shows that sustainable intensification is a complex dynamic system that includes institutional structures, personal goals, stakeholder interests and socio-economic factors, and is affected by cognitive beliefs and particular knowledge within stakeholder groups. Our results show how experience, knowledge and beliefs affect the perception of farm-level SIA by various stakeholder groups, and how this knowledge is often fragmented and miscommunicated. The exercise confirmed the hypothesis that farm-level SIA has to be seen as a dynamic process in which farm performance is affected by various factors, with the complexity of the process increasing when different stakeholder interests and beliefs combine for farm management. |
| Date: | 2019–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:2rqjd&r=all |
| By: | Sally Owen (Victoria University of Wellington); Ilan Noy (Victoria University of Wellington); Jacob Pástor-Paz (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); David Fleming (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research) |
| Abstract: | Climate change is predicted to make extreme weather events worse and more frequent in many places around the world. In New Zealand, the Earthquake Commission (EQC) was created to provide insurance for earthquakes. In some circumstances, however, homeowners affected by extreme weather events can also make claims to the EQC – for landslip, storm or flood events. In this paper, we explore the impact of this public natural hazard insurance on community recovery from weather-related events. We do this by using a proxy for short-term economic recovery: satellite imagery of average monthly night-time radiance. Linking these night-time light data to precipitation data records, we compare houses which experienced damage from extreme rainfall episodes to those that suffered no damage even though they experienced extreme rainfall. Using data from three recent intense storms, we find that households which experienced damage, and were paid in a timely manner by EQC, did not fare any worse than households that suffered no damage from these extreme events. This finding suggests that EQC insurance is serving its stated purpose by protecting households from the adverse impact of extreme weather events. |
| Keywords: | climate change, extreme weather, public insurance, recovery, New Zealand |
| JEL: | Q15 Q10 Q17 Q02 |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:19_19&r=all |
| By: | Asma Khatun Mst (School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology); Koji Kotani (School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | An increase in surface and ground-water salinity due to climate change is reported to have become a great threat to the health of coastal inhabitants in Bangladesh. However, little is known about how much such salinity affects the risk of water-related diseases and how such risk can be mitigated in the field. This research examines the association between water-related diseases and coastal salinity along with sociodemographic and anthropometric factors. We conduct questionnaire surveys with 527 households: 273 subjects from the non-salinity and 254 subjects from the salinity rural coastal areas of Bangladesh. The logistic regression analysis demonstrates that the probability of suffering from water-borne, water-washed and water-related diseases are 8%, 14% and 11% higher in the salinity areas than in the non-salinity areas, respectively. However, it is identified that people who consume rainwater as a drinking source and/or belong to “normal body mass index†have less chances of being affected by water-related diseases even in the salinity areas than those who drink ground/pond water and/or belong to “underweight body mass index.†Overall, the results suggest that the long-term reservation of rainwater and addressing communitybased food security & nutrition programs shall be effective countermeasures to reduce the risk of health problems in the coastal population and to sustain their lives even under the threat of land salinity. |
| Keywords: | Water-borne diseases, water-washed diseases, water-related diseases, salinity, body mass index |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kch:wpaper:sdes-2019-9&r=all |
| By: | Luo, Jay |
| Abstract: | Poverty alleviation is a hallmark of post-revolution Chinese policymaking. Since 1978, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has implemented successive waves of poverty alleviation policies whose effects have become the focus of an ever-increasing body of academic literature. This paper reviews this diverse but limited literature that evaluates the impact of the CPC’s poverty reduction programs through four major channels, namely fiscal investment programs, social safety nets, rural governance on the village-, county- and provincial level, and the relocation of rural populations from destitute regions. This paper aims to synthesize results and evaluate whether and how the abovementioned poverty alleviation programs have had distinct positive or negative impacts on regional development outcomes. Furthermore, I highlight contradictions in empirical findings to motivate the discussion about contextual importance when designing and implementing future poverty alleviation programs. Finally, I suggest that an exhaustive and critical appraisal of the empirical strategies used in this literature would further the development and application of more accurate and informative methodologies. |
| Date: | 2019–09–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:gmuav&r=all |
| By: | Funjika Patricia; Nsabimana Aimable |
| Abstract: | Access to mobile phone has increased substantially over the last decade in sub-Saharan Africa. The evidence suggests that increased use of mobile phones in the region has upgraded the market prices received by producers for their cash crops, but so far there is limited knowledge on labour market transitions effects of mobile phone access.In this study, we use farm household and individual labour force information, from LSMS-ISA Tanzania National Panel Survey, to examine the impact of mobile phone ownership on labour markets and farm productivity in the country. The study shows that successive increases in mobile phone use lead to movement of labour share from agriculture into non-farming sectors. The results also show that mobile phone access significantly reduces the intensity of work by household members on the farm and is instead associated with an increase in hired farm workers. Our results also show that mobile phone access has heterogeneous labour market effects, depending on the age of individuals.Given the important surge of information communication technology in sub-Saharan Africa, including Tanzania, the results suggest that using mobile phones to stimulate agricultural developments would improve marginal productivity of labour in the farming sector and induce a surge in off-farm employment opportunities. |
| Keywords: | Market prices,Mobile phones,Agricultural productivity,Tanzania |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2019-71&r=all |
| By: | Maggio, Giuseppe; Sitko, Nicholas J.; Ignaciuk, Ada |
| Abstract: | Does receiving information on potential adverse weather conditions induce adaptive responses by smallholders? Do market institutions ease constraints to adaptation of these practices? This report examines these questions using a unique panel dataset of Zambian smallholder households collected before and after 2015/16 El Niño Southern Oscillation event. The analysis finds that farmers receiving drought-related seasonal forecasts are more likely to integrate drought tolerant crops into their cropping systems and to acquire improved maize seed varieties. These farmers, on average, are found to apply double the quantity of improved maize seeds than farmers residing in the same zones but not receiving weather information. Larger and more competitive private output markets function as enablers of smallholder adaptive responses to seasonal forecast information, as farmers with improved market access are more likely to shift toward drought resilient technologies than farmers with low output market access. Three policy recommendations emerge from the findings. First, while seasonal forecast information can induce adaptive responses by farmers, there is the need of improving access to this information, particularly for households in remote areas or limited asset ownership. Second, targeting voucher-based farmer input support programs based on seasonal forecast information can enable the crowding in of private investments in these regions and increase the adaptive responses of farmers, particularly resource constrained farmers. Finally, this analysis suggests that policies that incentivize private investment in agricultural markets should be considered within the broader framework of smallholder climate adaptation and resilience in Zambia. This includes strategies to improve agricultural trade predictability. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2019–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:faoaes:296656&r=all |
| By: | Moustafa, Khaled |
| Abstract: | High levels of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere and toxic pollutants in the air, water and food have serious repercussions on all life's systems, including living beings, environment and economy. Everyone on the Earth is concerned by pollution in some way or another, no matter where and how the pollution is produced as airborne and foodborne pollutants could circulate around the world in different ways, through for example climate components (wind, rain) and/or import and export of foodstuffs. Similarly to living beings that take advantage of day-night circadian rhythms to recover after diurnal hardships, the environment in its entirety could also be seen as a complex living system that needs regular breaks to assimilate or ingest toxic pollutants produced during intensive and continuous industrial processes. If greenhouses gas emissions and pollution rates continue to increase at the same rates as they are nowadays, uncontrollable climate effects might be inevitable and the air quality in some crowded cities in the world might be hardly respirable in the future. A global "Clean Environmental Week" is discussed as an attempt toward reducing air pollution and CO2 emissions through the interruption or reduction of industrial polluting activities regularly, for a week or so per year, to let the nature 'breathe' and recover from environmentally challenging pollutions. A clean environmental period of 10 days per year could reduce CO2 emissions by about one billion tons of CO2 per annum |
| Date: | 2018–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:arabix:zwexq&r=all |
| By: | van Seventer Dirk; Mondlane Silvana |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the impact of agriculture and international trade development on income distribution and economic activity in Mozambique. A social accounting matrix multiplier decomposition model is used—in particular, an extension of the standard model that details the process of income distribution through the economy’s institutions. When we focus on the impact on rural low-income households, the emphasis is on the food crop and food-processing sectors. The results suggest surprisingly that such households do not benefit much from exogenous increases in agricultural crops; high-income rural and urban households benefit more. A full decomposition of the multipliers suggests that rural low-income households link strongly to foodprocessing, but that the latter is not very prominent in the Mozambican economy due to high import penetration. The second focus is therefore on international trade, which reveals that the high rates of imports regarding food-processing are mainly sourced from South Africa. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture,multiplier effects,Decomposition methods,Social Accounting Matrix,Trade,Income distribution |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2019-77&r=all |
| By: | Chigumira Gillian |
| Abstract: | This working paper is the fourth in a series that forms part of the project ‘Southern Africa – Towards Inclusive Economic Development’, a three-year partnership between UNU-WIDER and the South African government aimed at$ |
| Keywords: | SADC,Industrialization,Agricultural industries,Agro-processing,Manufacturing |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2019-70&r=all |
| By: | Romanus Osabohien (CEPDeR, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria); Evans S. Osabuohien (CEPDeR, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria); Precious Ohalete (Ndufe Alike, Ebonyi, Nigeria) |
| Abstract: | This study examines how the performance of the agricultural sector can be enhanced in the long-run through institutional framework thereby ensuring food security in Nigeria. It employs the ARDL (Autoregressive Distributed Lag) with data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Development Indicators (WDI), and World Governance Indicators (WDI). Food security is used as the dependent variable proxied by the number of the people undernourished under the stability dimension; agricultural sector performance and institutional framework as the independent variables, while population is a control variable. Two agricultural variables (agriculture production and agriculture credit) are employed with six variables of institutional framework. The findings show that in the long-run, agriculture production and agriculture credit (agriculture variables) will increase food security by reducing the number of people undernourished by 2% and 18%, respectively. In terms of institutional framework; political stability and absence of violence and rule of law increase food security by reducing undernourishment by approximately 69% and 29%, respectively; control of corruption and voice and accountability tends to reduce food security by increasing the number of the people undernourished by 74%, 51% and 63% respectively. Therefore, the study concludes by recommending, among others, that the Nigerian institutional framework should be improved (especially the control of corruption) in addressing the challenges in the implementation of food security programmes and ensuring timely distribution of food resources. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Food Security, Governance, Institutions |
| JEL: | G38 H1 O43 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:19/083&r=all |
| By: | Falchetta, Giacomo; Gernaat, David E.H.J.; Hunt, Julian; Sterl, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | In sub-Saharan Africa, 160 million grid-connected electricity consumers live in countries where hydropower accounts for over 50% of total power supply. A warmer climate with more frequent and intense extremes could result in supply reliability issues. Here, (i) a robust framework to highlight the interdependencies between hydropower, water availability, and climate change is proposed, (ii) the state-of-the art literature on the projected impacts of climate change on hydropower in sub-Saharan Africa is reviewed, and (iii) supporting evidence on past trends and current pathways of power mix diversification, drought incidence, and climate change projections is provided. We find that only few countries have pursued a diversification strategy away from hydropower over the last three decades, while others' expansion plans will reinforce the dependency. This will occur irrespective of the fact that some of the largest river basins have experienced a significant drying during the last century. Agreement is found on likely positive impacts of climate change on East Africa's hydropower potential, negative impacts in West and Southern Africa, and substantial uncertainty in Central Africa. Irrespective of the absolute change in gross technical potential, more frequent and intense extremes are projected. One possible paradigm to increase resilience and fulfil the pledges of the Paris Agreement is a synergetic planning and management of hydropower and variable renewables. |
| Date: | 2019–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:eartha:w7rj3&r=all |
| By: | Lele, U. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Financial Economics, Labor and Human Capital, Marketing, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2019–11–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iwmirp:296735&r=all |
| By: | ICFAE |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:icfae3:296726&r=all |
| By: | Thorp, Rosemary |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the role and modus operandi of the National Coffee Federation of Colombia. Much respected and much criticized over time, today its role is being challenged as inappropriate to the new commitment to a free market economy. The paper evaluates the historical role of the federation, and finds its rationale in collective action problems with an important role for historical continuity and an evolving culture. The present-day role of the federation is also discussed, under the new market paradigm, and it is concluded that it would be rash to ignore the value-added from the special historical characteristics built up over time. The value added applies to both efficiency and equity outcomes. |
| Keywords: | International Development |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:widerw:295511&r=all |
| By: | Platteau, Jean-Philippe |
| Abstract: | A large part of Africa is chronically affected by a severe food crisis which threatens the food security of many of her inhabitants. A peculiarity of this continent is that food production is not only a source of food but also a source of incomes for the numerous smallholder producers who form the most important group exposed to the risk of hunger. Therefore, growing food insecurity is generally associated with a crisis of food production. This paper is an attempt to analyze various structural factors which underlie this production crisis. It is grounded on the hypothesis that these factors are far more constraining that the inadequate policy mixes which have received so much attention in the economic literature, and that their impact tends to impose serious handicaps on Africa compared to Asia and Latin America. |
| Keywords: | International Development |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:widerw:295574&r=all |
| By: | Pera, Massimo; Bavagnoli, Margherita; Benni, Niclas |
| Abstract: | The roots and tubers industry in sub-Saharan Africa has been growing steadily in recent years. Nevertheless, a series of challenges, including lack of access to finance and climate change related events, has prevented the majority of actors in these value chains, who are mainly small farmers and small processors, from taking advantage of such growth. In order to properly assess such challenges, the project “Strengthening linkages between small actors and buyers in the roots and tubers sector in Africa” conducted a series of studies to identify relevant gaps, constraints and opportunities to develop tailored financial products and risk management strategies for small farmers. The present publication provides a summary of the most important lessons learned, with the related policy recommendations. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Financial Economics |
| Date: | 2019–07–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:faoets:296659&r=all |
| By: | Osmani, S. R. |
| Abstract: | In the preceding pages we have attempted a detailed rebuttal of the view that, given the prevailing structural constraints imposed by the unequal distribution of land and other assets, growth through Green Revolution must impoverish, or at best by-pass, the majority of rural poor. The approach has been essentially analytical rather than empirical, although empirical evidence has been drawn upon, mainly from South Asia, to validate the analytical conclusions. First, from the critical literature, a number of 'transmission mechanisms' were identified through which the new technology was supposed to either impoverish the poor or prevent them from gaining any benefits. Next, each of these mechanisms was subjected to a detailed analytical scrutiny in the light of both economic theory and empirical facts. This enquiry has led to the conclusion that the arguments typically advanced to support the thesis that the Green Revolution is no friend of the poor are fraught with severe problems. A more satisfactory analysis of the very same transmission mechanisms shows that the poor should actually benefit from the spread of the new technology, even without a radical redistribution of assets. |
| Keywords: | International Development |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:widerw:295429&r=all |
| By: | Førsund, Finn (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | The generation of unintended residuals when producing intended outputs is the key factor behind our serious problems with pollution. The way this joint production is modelled is therefore of crucial importance for our understanding and empirical efforts to change economic activities in order to reduce harmful residuals. Estimation of efficiency and productivity when producing both intended and unintended outputs has emerged as an important research strand. The most popular models in the field are based on weak disposability between the two types of outputs and null jointness introduced by Shephard. The purpose of the paper is to show that these model types are seriously flawed. An alternative model based on the production theory of Frisch introduces technical jointness for the case when the unintended output is unavoidable. The materials balance based on physical laws tells us that when material inputs are used unintended outputs are unavoidable. The modelling of joint production must therefore reflect this. A key feature is that the two types of outputs should be separated using different production relations. This facilitates estimating two independent frontiers and calculating efficiency scores and Malmquist productivity changes for the two types using a non-parametric DEA model. |
| Keywords: | Intended and unintended outputs; joint production; Materials balance; Technical jointness; pollution; weak disposability |
| JEL: | C14 D24 D62 Q50 |
| Date: | 2019–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2019_009&r=all |