bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Sources of EC horticultural import growth from developing countries
Authors: Alvarez‐Coque José María García , Bautista Romeo M. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractA decomposition analysis of horticultural trade flows is carried out to identify the main sources of change in EC horticultural imports from different LDC regions. Sources of change are associated with each region's international competitiveness, the relative openness of the EC market, the degree of trade preference enjoyed by the region, and the EC global import growth. The main contribution to the LDC export growth of fruit and vegetables to EC between 1975–79; and 1985–89 is found to be attributable to the global import growth effect. However, it has been significantly counteracted by the negative effect of a declining share of non‐EC suppliers as a group. Marked interregional differences in changes in regional preferences show a lack of a strong correlation between LDC export performance and the existence of preferential trade agreements with EC. While the potential for LDC export growth to EC is clear, the results seem to indicate that in general EC protection policies have adversely affected import growth from LDCs. Various factors influencing LDC export performance in horticultural products are discussed. Apart from EC protection policies and changes in trade preferences, domestic supply factors are of significance in explaining export growth, including a liberal trading environment, but also specific policies to promote exports of horticultural products. While non‐price competition weakens the discriminatory effect of preferential tariffs, there is a pressing need for developing countries to adapt to the demands of the European distribution system relating to quality, grades, and regularity of supplies.
Evidence of the empirical relevance of the infant industry argument for the protection of Brazilian ethanol production
Authors: Rask Kevin 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThe infant industry argument for protection of import competing industries has a long and almost entirely theoretical history in the literature. In this paper the empirical evidence of infant industry dynamics in the Brazilian ethanol industry is investigated. In Brazil ethanol has developed into a primary automotive fuel over the past 18 years. This import substitute is attractive because it allows decreased dependence on international oil supplies while at the same time it addresses environmental concerns because it is a clean‐burning renewable fuel. While ethanol was initially a high‐cost alternative to imported oil, observed cost reductions have led to an increased belief that this industry may in fact warrant the subsidization it has received because of infant industry reasons. The results of this study suggest that there is no empirical evidence of economies of scale and very little technical change. There appears to be no empirical validity to the infant industry argument for subsidization of the Brazilian ethanol industry.
‘Second‐generation’ MVs and the evolution of the Green Revolution: the case of Central Luzon, 1966–90
Authors: Otsuka Keijiro , Gascon Fe , Asano Seki 
Published: January 2020

AbstractBy now new modern rice varieties (MVs) with multiple pest and disease resistance have completely replaced early MVs, such as IR5 and IR8, except in a few areas of Asia. This study attempts to identify the changing impacts of ‘first‐generation’ and ‘second‐generation’ MVs on productivity in rice farming by estimating the yield function, while correcting selectivity bias arising from the choice of varieties. For this purpose, we used farm‐level survey data collected for eleven cropping seasons in Central Luzon in the Philippines from 1966 to 1990. We found that while the yield advantage of first‐generation MVs over traditional varieties was limited, the yield‐increasing effect of second‐generation MVs over first‐generation MVs was highly significant. In particular, the adoption of improved MVs significantly contributed to yield growth under the irrigated condition and during the dry season. Thus, we conclude that the Green Revolution would not have been revolutionary without the development and the diffusion of second‐generation MVs with multiple pest and disease resistance.
Effects of household size and composition on consumption in rural households in Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe
Authors: Young Trevor , Hamdok Abdalla A. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThis study, using a survey of rural households in Zimbabwe in 1990/91, focuses on the effects of changing household composition on patterns of expenditure and provides estimates of the ‘cost of a child’ as well as of family members in other age groups. In addition to age differences in the size and direction of responses to changing family composition, the paper highlights significant differences across product groups. These effects are more muted in larger households.
The cost of agricultural production risk
Authors: Babcock Bruce A. , Shogren Jason F. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractWe examine the relative influence of preferences and technology on producers' ex ante willingness to pay for a reduction in production risk. A risk averse producer pays both an Arrow‐Pratt risk premium to stabilize income and a ‘production premium’ to stabilize yield. Using soil‐nitrate risks as our motivating example, we demonstrate that the production premium accounts for 40‐85% of producers' willingness to pay for risk reduction. These results demonstrate the relative importance of technology over risk preferences when estimating the costs of agricultural production risk.
Farmers' perceptions and adoption of new agricultural technology: evidence from analysis in Burkina Faso and Guinea, West Africa
Authors: Adesina Akinwumi A. , Baidu‐Forson Jojo 
Published: January 2020

AbstractEconomists investigating consumer demand have accumulated considerable evidence showing that consumers generally have subjective preferences for characteristics of products and that their demand for products is significantly affected by their perceptions of the product's attributes. However, the role of farmers' preferences in adoption decisions have received very limited attention in adoption studies conducted by economists. This paper tests the hypothesis that farmers' perceptions of technology characteristics significantly affect their adoption decisions. The analysis, conducted with Tobit models of modern sorghum and rice varietal technologies in Burkina Faso and Guinea, respectively, strongly supports this hypothesis. Our results provide a strong case for future adoption studies to expand the range of variables used away from the broad socio‐economic, demographic and institutional factors to include farmers' subjective perceptions of the characteristics of new agricultural technologies.
Agriculture as a provider of public goods: a case study for Norway
Authors: Brunstad Rolf Jens , Gaasland Ivar , Vårdal Erling 
Published: January 2020

AbstractA valid argument for support is that subsidies are remedies for market failures. Agriculture contributes positively to public goods as food security, landscape preservation and maintenance of population in remote areas. Using a numerical model we simulate what Norwegian agriculture would look like if the only purpose of supporting agriculture was to provide such public goods. This is compared to the consequences of the Uruguay round in GATT and possible future EU membership for Norwegian agriculture. Although the GATT agreement will change agriculture in the desirable direction, the agreement puts no substantial pressure on the current agricultural policy. EU membership on the lines laid down by the accession treaty between EU and Norway prior to the referendum in 1994 would have given a stronger impetus towards the optimal solution.
Sources of agricultural productivity growth and stagnation in sub‐Saharan Africa
Authors: Frisvold George , Ingram Kevin 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThis paper examines sources of agricultural growth in sub‐Saharan Africa. Growth in the stock of traditional inputs (land, labor, livestock) remains the dominant source of output growth. Growth in modern input use was of secondary importance, but still accounted for a 0.2‐0.4% annual growth rate in three of four sub‐regions. Econometric results support earlier studies that suggest that land abundance may be a constraint on land productivity growth. Growth in agricultural exports and historic caloric availability had positive impacts on productivity. These latter results suggest that positive feedback effects exist between export performance and food security on one hand and agricultural productivity on the other.
Implications of alternative environmental policies on phosphorus loading from poultry litter
Authors: Govindasamy Ramu , Cochran Mark J. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractDegraded groundwater, impaired swimming, fishing, algae and weed problem are often associated with eutrophication from phosphorus (P) loadings in surface and groundwater. The concentrated growth of poultry industry and over application of litter on pasture lands may lead to excessive nutrient loadings in surface and groundwater. The Cooperative Extension Service recommendation suggests that no poultry litter should be applied if the soil test P exceeds 300 pounds per acre, irrespective of the marginal costs and benefits associated with one more unit of litter application on that piece of land. The objective of this paper is to model the economics of P loadings from poultry litter and analyze the policy implications of Cooperative Extension Service's recommendation on quantity restriction on litter applications with empirical evidence. The results indicate that there exists significant difference in the marginal values of soil between different soil series, indicating that the permit system can achieve the target at a lesser cost. In particular, the society as a whole can gain $2.7 per acre by allocating the litter to soil series 16 instead of soil series 20, provided that the contribution towards groundwater contamination from these two acres are the same.
Planting strategies of maize farmers in Kenya: a simultaneous equations analysis in the presence of discrete dependent variables
Authors: Hassan Rashid M. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractA fairly comprehensive range of planting choices made by maize farmers in Kenya (including discrete endogenous variables creating self‐selectivity) is modelled and estimated as one system of interrelated decisions. Two‐stage and three‐stage probit procedures are used to handle the simultaneity and self‐selectivity problems. Results showed that population pressure and agroclimatic diversity are important determinants of crop intensification and planting regimes among maize farmers and further supported the importance of focusing maize research in terms of agroclimate and socio‐economic domains. Shorter maturity and efficient double and multiple cropping methods are needed to increase land productivity and intensity of labour use in areas of high population pressure and bimodal rainfall, i.e. mid‐altitude zones. On the other hand, technologies that would lead to increased productivity of capital and higher response to external inputs are desired for the highlands of Kenya. Access to extension and machine services, distance to the maize plot, and time of onset of the rains were also found to significantly influence the planting strategies of maize farmers.
Relative efficiency of women as farm managers: Profit function analysis in Côte d'Ivoire
Authors: Adesina Akinwumi A. , Djato Kouakou K. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThe efficiency of women farmers in the agricultural sector of developing countries is passionately debated. Very few studies have examined this issue in African agriculture. All previous studies were based on production functions, but have been criticised as suffering from simultaneous equation bias because the input levels are endogenous. The profit function method avoids these problems. No previous study has used the profit function method to lest for technical, allocative and economic efficiency differences between women and men farmers. The objective of this paper was to determine whether women rice farmers are less efficient than men rice farmers in Côte d'Ivoire using the restricted normalised profit function method. Our results show that the relative degree of efficiency of women is similar to that of men. The paper provides empirical support for efforts to eliminate bias against women farmers in African agriculture.
The supply response of aggregate agricultural output in Jamaica
Authors: Gafar John 
Published: January 2020

AbstractA dominant theme in the development literature is that individual agricultural products responds to price incentives, not because of shifts Between products, but that total agricultural output is not responsive to price. The econometric evidence tor Jamaica shows that this presumption is not valid. The paper begins by reviewing the growth experience of the Jamaican economy. It then analyzes the trends in agricultural production. The remainder of the paper provides the econometric estimates of broad agricultural output to price. The empirical evidence shows that aggregate agricultural output is responsive to price, but it will take lime for agricultural production to materialize. A summary of the published estimates of the supply response for individual crops is also presented.
Developments in biophysical and bioeconomic simulation of agricultural systems: a review
Authors: Oriade Caleb A. , Dillon Carl R. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThis paper reviews the features and uses of some recent biophysical and bioeconomic simulation models in agricultural economics research. Problems associated with earlier models are discussed and the extent to which recent simulators have addressed these concerns is appraised. Some salient factors that will enhance the continued relevance of simulators as research and decision support tools are indicated.
Four case studies of agri‐food CVDs and a proposal for reforming national administered protection agencies
Authors: Meilke Karl D. , Sarker Rakhal 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThis paper reviews the role of national administered protection agencies, whose primary responsibility is the enforcement of national teade remedy laws. After reviewing four recent cases of trade disputes between Canada and the United States, it is argued that the role of national administered protection agencies should be changed. The growth of regional trading blocks, the increasing use of anti‐dumping and countervailing duty actions against fairly traded imports and the additional responsibilities assumed by the WTO in administering the Agreement on Agriculture strongly suggest that all trade disputes should be taken to the WTO for settlement. The role of national administered protection agencies should be changed to make them agents for trade liberalization. This would involve these agencies taking on three primary functions: (i) as transparency agents; (ii) as investigatory agents; and (iii) as advocacy agents.
Cap reform: modelling supply response subject to the land set‐aside
Authors: Ball V. Eldon , Bureau Jean‐Christophe , Eakin Kelly , Somwaru Agapi 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThis paper uses duality theory to develop a model of European Community agriculture. The model is used to investigate the impact of the land set‐aside provision of the recent package of reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy. We assume that producers chose output and variable input levels that maximize difference between revenue and variable cost. By including first‐order conditions for the allocation of land across its uses, we impose that the observed allocations are profit‐maximizing allocations. To overcome the problem of incorporating many outputs into an estimable production structure, we imposed a priori the restriction that the technology was weakly separable in major categories of outputs. With this restriction, it was possible to model production decisions in stages using consistent aggregates in the latter stages.
Buyer preferences for sheep and goats in southern Nigeria: A hedonic price analysis
Authors: Jabbar M.A. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractA survey of two rural markets in southwest Nigeria over 14 months showed that supplies, sales and prices of sheep and goats varied widely during the period with a sharp peak during the Muslim festival of' Eid‐el‐Kabir and a smaller peak during the Christmas‐New Year period. Local West African Dwarf (WAD) sheep and goats and northern Y'ankasa sheep and Red Sokoto goats were traded in the markets and animals were purchased for rearing, trading, ceremonies, butchering/catering, sacrifice, and festivals. There were significant differences between species/breeds purchased for various purposes. A hedonic price model was fitted to determine factors influencing price. After adjustments were made for age, weight, sex, time of transaction and market, WAD sheep commanded higher prices than WAD goats and Red Sokoto goats for all purposes except for butchering/catering; Red Sokoto goats commanded similar or lower prices than WAD goats depending on the purpose for purchase; and Y'ankasa sheep, principally purchased for the Eid‐el‐Kabir festival, commanded marginally higher prices than WAD sheep. The market share of WAD sheep is currently small and is under competition from northern sheep and goats, so increased production of WAD sheep in the south will benefit both producers and consumers in the area. In general, the results indicate that buyers have preferences for specific breeds and species for specific purposes, so producers and sellers may benefit by targeting specific buyer categories and times of the year.
Investigating improved pasture productivity change on the New South Wales tablelands
Authors: Vere D.T. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThe productivity of improved pastures in Australia's southeastern grazing regions is now believed to be in a state of long‐term decline. As yet, there is little economic evidence to support this perception. The analysis reported in this paper seeks to examine improved pasture Productivity change from an economic standpoint in a major Australian grazing area. The analysis rests on the central proposition that the Productivity of the livestock enterprises is a direct reflection of pasture productivity. Using both index number and econometric methods, the results indicate that while the annual growth in livestock and hence, improved pasture productivity has been positive over the period, there has been a significant decline in legume pasture productivity. Because these pastures comprise the bulk of improved pastures, the livestock Productivity of all improved pastures has declined in recent years. In contrast, the growth in livestock productivity from the perennial grass pastures continues to be high. The main reasons for legume pasture livestock productivity decline appear to be various important biological Problems and the long‐term decline farmers' terms‐of‐trade.
Measuring the social costs of suboptimal combinations of policy instruments: A general framework and an example
Authors: Bullock D.S. , Salhofer K. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractSince most agricultural programs employ two or more policy instruments simultaneously, it is notable thai little research has attempted to find optimal instrument combinations and no research exists which evaluates the social costs (unrealized benefits) of combining instruments suboptimally. In our paper we report a simple and feasible method to find optimal policy instrument combinations, and we provide the first general, formal approach to measuring the social costs of suboptimal policy instrument combinations. Our approach is illustrated in an analysis for live major U.S. crops (corn, feed grains, wheat, rice, cotton). The simple model we employ for the illustration suggests that except lor the feed grains program, the observed programs combined policy instruments quite suboptimally. We conclude that agricultural economics research now can and should begin placing increased emphasis on studying optimal policy instrument combinations.
Understanding farmers' decision making processes and improving managerial assistance
Authors: ÖhlméYr Bo , Olson Kent , Brehmer Berndt 
Published: January 2020

AbstractFew studies have been made of how farmers make decisions. Most research and teaching has focused on the decision event, not the whole process. Current knowledge of the decision making process is reviewed and described as a set of eight functions or elements: values and goals, problem detection, problem definition, observation, analysis, development of intention, implementation, and responsibility bearing. The relevancy of this view of farmers' decision making behavior is tested through a series of case studies. Based on these observations, the conceptual model of the decision process is revised to include four phases and four subprocesses. The four phases are problem detection, problem definition, analysis and choice, and implementation. The four subprocesses are searching and paying attention, planning, evaluating and choosing, and checking the choice. In addition, we note that farmers prefer the ability to continually update their evaluation and plans, a qualitative vs. quantitative analysis, a “quick and simple” vs. detailed and elaborate analysis, small tests and incremental implementation, and feed forward and compensation vs. post‐implementation evaluation. Implications of this fuller view of the decision making process for management assistance are discussed.
Credit constraints and smallholder dairy production in the East African highlands: application of a switching regression model
Authors: Freeman H.A. , Ehui Simeon K. , Jabbar Mohammad A. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractAccurate assessment of farmers' credit constraint condition is important in order to understand the circumstances under which credit would have its greatest impact. In this study a switching regression model was used to determine the impact of credit on smallholder dairy farms in the East African highlands using farm level data from Ethiopia and Kenya. Farmers were classified as credit constrained or credit non‐constrained based on their responses from the farm level surveys. No consistent relationship was found between farmers' credit constraint condition and their borrowing status. Most of the variation in milk output per farm was explained by the number of crossbred milking cows in the dairy herd. As credit is likely to facilitate investment in crossbred dairy cows it will have substantial impacts on smallholder dairy farms especially if it is targeted to credit constrained farms.