vietnam assessing the achievements of doi moi following a decade of reform and the 1988 89 stabilisation programme vietnam appears well positioned to become a new east asian dragon below the main macroeconomic dimensions of the reform process are examined in particular improved terms of trade for food agriculture is seen as a key determinant of stabilisation more generally it is argued that the authorities have rightly given broad priority to macro stability over micro efficiency while the process of institutional change is necessarily a lengthy one rising domestic and foreign savings will help sustain rapid growth mitigating any adverse distributional consequences of reform the vietnamese experience clearly contains lessons for other market transition economies

household coping in war and peacetime cattle sales in rwanda 1991 2001 abstract the economic literature has given due attention to household coping strategies in peacetime in contrast little is known about such strategies in wartime this paper studies the use of cattle as a buffer stock by rwandan households during 1991 2001 a period characterized by civil war and genocide it is found that the probability of selling cattle increases upon the occurrence of both peacetime and wartime covariant adverse income shocks the peacetime cattle sales are largely explained by shifts in the household asset portfolio in contrast in 1994 the year of the genocide almost half of the cattle sales were motivated by the need to buy food however we argue that the effectiveness of this coping strategy was severely reduced due to the wartime conditions first during the year of ethnic violence cattle prices plummeted to less than half of their pre genocide value second we find that households most targeted in the violence did not sell cattle we discuss several explanations for this latter finding

upgrading primary production a global commodity chain approach abstract global commodity chain gcc analysis has been concerned mainly with examining power relations in global manufacturing industries although it has been preoccupied increasingly by the question of how developing country dc producers can upgrade this paper extends gcc analysis to traditional primary commodities where international traders exercise the driving role and suggests a new agenda for their upgrading in dcs based upon public action

the globalization of organic agro food networks summary this article analyzes the booming world trade in organic agro foods such as tropical products counterseasonal fresh produce and processed foods research focuses on expanding south north networks linking major us and european markets with major production regions particularly in latin america employing a commodity network approach i analyze organic production distribution and consumption patterns and the roles of social political and economic actors in consolidating international trade organic certification proves central to network governance shaping product specifications production parameters and enterprise participation my analysis identifies key contradictions between mainstream agro industrial and alternative movement conventions in global organic networks 2004 published by elsevier ltd

agricultural production amid conflict separating the effects of conflict into shocks and uncertainty abstract this paper examines the effect of conflict on agricultural production of small farmers first an inter temporal model of agricultural production is developed in which the impact of conflict is transmitted through violent shocks and uncertainty brought about by conflict we test the model using a unique household survey applied to 4800 households in four micro regions of colombia our findings suggest households learn to live amid conflict albeit at a lower income trajectory when presence of non state armed actors prolongs farmers shift to activities with short term yields and lower profitability from activities that require high investments if violence intensifies in regions with presence of non state armed actors farmers concentrate on subsistence activities

transnational corporations and non fuel primary commodities in developing countries abstract this article first reviews trends in the involvement of transnational corporations tncs in the non fuel commodity industries of developing countries noting that while the role of these firms in primary production has been eroded somewhat their role in downstream activities is as strong as ever empirical estimates of the retained value from these industries are presented showing that the developing countries generally receive only a part of the value of exports and only a fraction of the retail price of the end products of the commodities the strategies of the developing producer countries are discussed focusing on the experience of taxation and state participation the article ends with some brief comments on the prospects for the future

the cost of fear the welfare effect of the risk of violence in northern uganda although the effects of insecurity are believed to be important these have never been directly measured previous estimates of the costs of conflict have only captured the joint effect of violence and insecurity the distinction is important for understanding the origins of the costs and for policy design spatially disaggregated measures of insecurity are created based on the spatial temporal variation in the placement of violence these are used to generate the first estimates of the relative causal contributions of the risk and experience of violence the article also provides the first micro data based counterpart to the cross country literature on the costs of conflict

the effect of price advertising on prices evidence in the wake of 44 liquormart the 44 liquormart decision eliminating rhode island s ban on liquor price advertising made rhode island the subject of a natural experiment for measuring the effect of advertising on prices using massachusetts prices as controls we find that advertising stores substantially cut only prices of the products that they advertise prices of other products at both advertising and nonadvertising stores do not change advertising stores cut their prices on products advertised by rivals while nonadvertising stores do not we find no reductions in price dispersion across stores newspaper advertising stores appear to draw a higher share of customers after they advertise

the welfare effects of trade in phytomedicines a multi disciplinary analysis of turmeric production summary international trade in medicinal herbal products is growing while value chains are becoming more complex and governed by a range of public and private standards there is a debate over the extent to which phytomedicine production can be beneficial for farmers in low and middle income countries more generally there are varied views about the extent to which small farmers are disadvantaged by stringent public health and private consumer standards in northern markets for agricultural products this paper proves a comparative analysis of value chains using case studies of turmeric production in india it marries a qualitative investigation of turmeric producing sites in india with an investigation into the chemical quality of various turmeric products the aim of the paper is to understand the way that varied structure and governance of value chains changes the benefits to both producer and consumer when production is for the organic northern market we found evidence of a captive value chain where the lead firm requires strict adherence to conditions of production and processing prices for farmers were relatively stable at a reasonably high level in contrast where farmers were producing for local markets including the major auction at erode prices were volatile and farmers bore considerable risk we found that competition and volatility in the market based chain can lead to turmeric adulteration and contamination both intentional and unintentional our case study suggests that many small turmeric farmers would find it difficult to meet both public and private health standards in contrast to some academic literature that argues that public health standards do not discriminate against small farmers more than this our study adds to the discussion of the impact of standards suggesting clear consumer benefits in northern markets however there are also indications that only larger and more dynamic farmers can participate in the lucrative phytomedicine trade as such our study tentatively supports previous literature suggesting that the application of standards in northern markets lead to increasing farmer differentiation

pricing of eco labels with retailer heterogeneity abstract eco labels are important features of many natural resource and food markets they certify that a product has some desirable unobserved quality typically related to a public good such as being sustainably produced two issues that have received limited attention are whether pricing varies across different eco labels that may compete with each other and to what extent different retailers charge different prices using a unique data set of salmon prices in eight different united kingdom retail chains we investigate these issues by estimating a price attribute model that includes two eco labels and one country of origin label results show substantial variation in the prices of the different eco labels and that eco label premiums vary across retail chains specifically salmon certified with the marine stewardship council msc label has a high premium in low end retail chains but no statistically significant premium in the high end chains these findings question the ability of the msc label to transmit consumer willingness to pay for public goods through the supply chain to incentivize sustainable management in contrast premiums for organic certification are similar in magnitude across retailer types in general failure to account for retailer heterogeneity will over or under estimate a label s premium

trade policy reform and the competitive response in kwazulu natal province south africa like many other formerly protected economies the liberalization of the external trade regime has placed new competitive pressures on south african enterprises detailed research in over 130 enterprises in the kwazulu natal kzn province of south africa shows the extent to which firms have been able to respond to these new competitive pressures and particularly on their ability to hear and to meet more demanding customers requirements inevitably the response has been varied but there are reasons to be concerned that the pace of adjustment has been suboptimal this reflects imperfections in information markets the challenges poses by the need for new social relations in production and the limited implementation of new supply sided policies designed to compensate firms for the reduction in protective barriers

the latte revolution regulation markets and consumption in the global coffee chain abstract coffee is a truly global commodity and a major foreign exchange earner in many developing countries the global coffee chain has changed dramatically as a result of deregulation new consumption patterns and evolving corporate strategies from a balanced contest between producing and consuming countries within the politics of international coffee agreements power relations shifted to the advantage of transnational corporations a relatively stable institutional environment where proportions of generated income were fairly distributed between producing and consuming countries turned into one that is more informal unstable and unequal through the lenses of global commodity chain analysis this paper examines how these transformations affect developing countries and what policy instruments are available to address the emerging imbalances

governance of global value chains in response to food safety and certification standards the case of shrimp from vietnam summary we use global value chain gvc theory to understand governance of vietnam s shrimp farming industry we describe this gvc as buyer driven with important food safety standards imposed by governments of importing countries and new certification systems promoted by nongovernmental organizations ngos governance relations are clear between governments in importing countries and vietnam and between importers and ngos governance relations become more fragmented further down the chain where large numbers of small scale producers and traders operate this fragmentation may adversely affect access to the most lucrative markets and have the unanticipated effect of marginalizing small scale farmers and traders

the effect of sustainability standard uncertainty on certification decisions of firms in emerging economies voluntary sustainability standards that establish global rules for firms environmental and or social conduct and allow for verification of firm compliance via third party certification hold the promise to govern firms sustainability conduct in a globalizing world economy however the recent proliferation of competing and overlapping global sustainability standards that have been developed by various stakeholders with different agendas creates uncertainties for firms that likely reduce their propensity to adopt any standard without widespread adoption these standards cannot effectively govern firm conduct and in contrast create barriers for firms access to export markets we suggest that the uncertainties associated with competing standards and the effect of these uncertainties on standard certification decisions are especially large for firms in emerging economies because these firms lack access to information about current and future standards and the resources to obtain certifications to multiple standards we theoretically propose and empirically identify three distinct sources of sustainability standard uncertainty i diversity of customer requirements ii dynamism of customer requirements and iii the unpredictability of the future evolution of standard and propose that each of these sources reduces firms propensity to obtain certification to any standard our empirical results based on certifications to food safety standards by a sample of 97 mexican food exporting firms confirm that three distinct sources of sustainability standard uncertainty exist and that all of them negatively impact certification we discuss ethical implications and offer recommendations for both suppliers as well as standard setting organizations

what shapes food value chains lessons from aquaculture in asia in this article we explain what shapes food value chains through the analysis of selected aquaculture industries in four key asian producing countries worldwide production of aquatic resources has grown rapidly in the past few decades and aquaculture production in asia has played a decisive role in this growth we examine the main forms of coordination found along these value chains and the role that institutional frameworks play in governing them we observe that negative publicity driven by ngo and media campaigns has led to increased use of third party certification and the adoption of public and private standards we find that the most sophisticated aquaculture operations in asia are found in value chains led by retailers and branded processors and where the quality of domestic institutional frameworks has facilitated compliance with increasing demands from buyers overseas finally we reflect on the sustainability challenges of aquaculture and provide four broad observations on the governance of food value chains

governance and trade in fresh vegetables the impact of uk supermarkets on the african horticulture industry production of fresh vegetables for export has grown rapidly in a number of countries in sub saharan africa over the last decade this trade brings producers and exporters based in africa together with importers and retailers in europe large retailers in europe play a decisive role in structuring the production and processing of fresh vegetables exported from africa the requirements they specify for cost quality delivery product variety innovation food safety and quality systems help top determine what types of producers and processors are able to gain access to the fresh vegetables chain and the activities they must carry out the control over the fresh vegetables trade exercised by uk supermarkets has clear consequences for inclusion and exclusion of producers and exporters of differing types and for the long term prospects for the fresh vegetables industry in the two major exporting countries studied kenya and zimbabwe

displacement due to violence in colombia a household level analysis abstract civil wars and ethnic conflicts have resulted in an estimated number of approximately 35 million refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide understanding the determinants of forced migration is an important prerequisite for the definition of appropriate policies of prevention assistance and relocation we develop a conceptual framework for the empirical analysis of displacement decisions at the household level while similarities to conventional migration theories exist there are also important differences implied by the presence of violent conflict for example risk aversion and lack of information may hamper conventional migration but enhance displacement factors such as landholdings and social capital at the place of origin may not only reduce displacement in the conventional sense of raising opportunity costs but may also spur displacement indirectly by increasing the household s likelihood of becoming the victim of direct threats for the case of colombia we conduct an econom

comparison of private incentive mechanisms for improving sustainability of filipino tuna fisheries this paper analyzes the influence of three private incentive mechanisms over decision making related to improved sustainability of fishing practices in filipino tuna fisheries the three mechanisms compared are the world wildlife fund for nature s fishery improvement project model marine stewardship council certification and the international seafood sustainability foundation pro active vessel register the main question addressed in this paper is how and to what extent the private incentive mechanisms support the development of fisher capabilities to respond to the requirements set out by these mechanisms applying a global value chain approach to analyze results collected from key actors involved in philippine tuna fishers contributing to both domestic and regional economic development in the western pacific we explore the structure and function of these private incentive mechanisms in achieving both environmental and economic development outcomes our results show that these private incentive mechanisms deliver different direct and indirect incentives for changing to more sustainable fishing practices and that the success of these mechanisms is dependent on the extent to which the mechanisms support the development of target fisher capabilities to comply with their sustainability requirements we conclude that the future success of these incentive mechanisms depends for a large part on stricter sustainability requirements but also on the capacity of the mechanisms to incentivize the inclusion of more developing country fishers these findings contribute to a wider understanding of how the capabilities of developing country producers are influenced by their relationship with chain and non chain actors and with the wide institutional arrangements that the producers operate in

contribution of fisheries and aquaculture to food security and poverty reduction assessing the current evidence following a precise evaluation protocol that was applied to a pool of 202 articles published between 2003 and 2014 this paper evaluates the existing evidence of how and to what extent capture fisheries and aquaculture contribute to improving nutrition food security and economic growth in developing and emergent countries in doing so we evaluate the quality and scientific rigor of that evidence identify the key conclusions that emerge from the literature and assess whether these conclusions are consistent across the sources the results of the assessment show that while some specific topics are consistently and rigorously documented thus substantiating some of the claims found in the literature other areas of research still lack the level of disaggregated data or an appropriate methodology to reach consistency and robust conclusions more specifically the analysis reveals that while fish contributes undeniably to nutrition and food security the links between fisheries aquaculture and poverty alleviation are complex and still unclear in particular national and household level studies on fisheries contributions to poverty alleviation lack good conceptual models and produce inconsistent results for aquaculture national and household studies tend to focus on export value chains and use diverse approaches they suggest some degree of poverty alleviation and possibly other positive outcomes for adopters but these outcomes also depend on the small scale farming contexts and on whether adoption was emergent or due to development assistance interventions impacts of fish trade on food security and poverty alleviation are ambiguous and confounded by a focus on international trade and a lack of consistent methods the influences of major drivers decentralization climate change demographic transition are still insufficiently documented and therefore poorly understood finally the evaluation reveals that evidence based research and policy narratives are often disconnected with some of the strongest and long lasting policy narratives lacking any strong and rigorous evidence based validation building on these different results this paper identifies six key gaps facing policy makers development practitioners and researchers

the blue revolution in asia upgrading and governance in aquaculture value chains summary in this article we examine the upgrading trajectories of selected aquaculture value chains in four asian countries and the links between upgrading and three factors of value chain governance coordination mechanisms types of drivers and domestic regulation we find instances of improving products processes and value chain coordination while moving up the value chain is rare we also find that the type of value chain driver and the quality of the domestic regulatory framework are main facilitators of upgrading we conclude by highlighting lessons on the potential limits and risks of upgrading the blue revolution in asia

food standards certification and poverty among coffee farmers in uganda summary voluntary standards are gaining in importance in global markets for high value foods we analyze and compare impacts of three sustainability oriented standards fairtrade organic and utz on the livelihoods of smallholder coffee farmers in uganda using survey data and propensity score matching with multiple treatments we find that fairtrade certification increases household living standards by 30 and reduces the prevalence and depth of poverty for the other two certification schemes no significant impacts are found several factors that can explain differential impacts are discussed overly general statements about the effects of sustainability standards on smallholder livelihoods may be misleading

who governs socially oriented voluntary sustainability standards not the producers of certified products summary voluntary sustainability standards setting organizations vsssos create standards to improve the social and or environmental impacts of globalized production networks vsssos are often assumed to have multi stakeholder governance structures that include the producers of certified products e g farmers artisans and workers this article argues that including producers in governance is desirable however analysis of 33 vsssos constitutions shows two thirds do not even imply intention to include producers at most 25 ensure producers have votes seats and 18 give producers veto power the discussion examines what is lost when vsssos do not bring traditionally marginalized voices to global economic governance