Search results for "agricultural economics"
showing 10 items of 112 documents
Brokers in the tea trade between China and West Africa
2021
Brokers have played important roles in the trade of green tea between China and Mali, from the 19th century when tea first came to Mali up to the present. They mediate between tea buyers and sellers, work on their own account, use soft skills, knowledge and networks and make a living from the commission they gain. This article examines the work of brokers in the tea trade, the social constellations in which they are active and the scope of their activity. Based on extensive field research in Mali and China, this article shows how brokers create their own jobs in a dynamic business landscape, which is often delimited by governmental policies, competing entrepreneurial activities and social …
The contribution of geographical certification programs to farm income and rural economies: The case of Pecorino Siciliano PDO
2021
This study attempts to measure the capacity of the EU geographical certification scheme to positively influence the price of certified products and the incomes of their producers. A comparison of the economic results of two cheese-producing dairy farm enterprises with different business strategies and locations within the Sicilian hinterlands is performed in order to determine the transformation value of each dairy’s sheep milk into pecorino cheese (with and without the Protected Designation of Origin, or PDO, certification) and the related joint products (ricotta). The economic convenience of the total transformation of sheep milk into Pecorino Siciliano PDO and ricotta is also appraised. …
A SOLUTION TO THE DILEMMA BETWEEN R&D EXPANSION AND THE PRODUCTIVITY DECLINE: LESSONS FROM THE R&D MODELS IN AMAZON AND FINLAND
2019
As a consequence of the two-faced nature of information and communication technology (ICT), a majority of ICT leaders have been confronting the critical problem of a dilemma between R&D expansion and productivity decline in the digital economy. However, Amazon has been able to accomplish a skyrocketing increase in R&D and market capitalization. Finland has also accomplished balanced advancement not only of welfare but also economic resurgence. This paper attempted to elucidate the miracle of two ICT leaders. By means of a comparative empirical analysis of respective development trajectories, the sources of their success were analyzed thereby the comparative advantage and disadvantag…
Retail Evolution in Eastern European Countries: An Overview
2020
Retail has evolved a lot in the last years. Still, compared to more mature markets (such as US, UK, Germany, France, Sweden, the Netherlands), retail in Eastern European countries is less developed, with more balanced supply and demand. According to GfK’s report on European Retail in 2018, in 2017 there was a slight increase (+1.9 percent) in the purchasing power within the European Union (EU28) countries, Romania having the biggest increase (+7.8 percent) [1]. However, Romania’s low per capita purchasing power shows a gap in wealth levels across Europe. Huge differences between Western and Eastern Europe are visible also in terms of per capita values for retail space. Thus, the purpose of …
Use of retail market data to assess prices and flows of non-wood forest products in Latvia
2020
In northern Europe, largest part of non-wood forest products (NWFPs) are gathered for recreational purposes and household consumption, but considerable amount of forest berries and mushrooms are sold as well. Retail market, largely invisible for the official statistics, reveals the lifestyle-related aspects of NWFP trade and may help to understand the flows of this ecosystem service when information on wholesale trade is inaccessible. The prices and flows of most common NWFPs â edible berries, mushrooms and tree sap â in the retail market in Latvia in 2017 and 2018 were analysed based on direct interviews with the sellers in marketplaces and telephone interviews with online retailers. T…
Climate variability and agricultural production efficiency: evidence from Ethiopian farmers
2020
It is known that climate and weather variability have negative impacts on agricultural production efficiency. The aim of this study is to analyse the impact of climatic variables on farms’ efficiency in Ethiopia making use of nationally representative datasets from Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) 2011/2012. By using the Stochastic Frontier Approach, we estimate simultaneously the farmers’ optimal production function and technical inefficiency equations, taking into account unobserved heterogeneity of farmers. Our main findings show that climate change variables have a positive effect on households’ efficiency but the impact depends on the diff…
Survey on the innovation in the Sicilian grapevine nurseries
2012
This paper deals with quality innovation in the grapevine nursery sector. The vegetative propagation of grapevines, scarcely considered by economic research, is the first step in the wine production chain as it influences both the type and the quality of wines as well as the quality and quantity of the performance of farm investments.This paper gives the results of a study carried out through a structural analysis of both national and regional grapevine nurseries and then through a direct survey of the largest Sicilian nurseries. The survey covers the main structural and productive issues as well as the commercial aspects of eight Sicilian grapevine nurseries and their innovative investment…
Dealing with preference uncertainty in contingent willingness to pay for a nature protection program: A new approach
2013
In this paper, we propose an alternative preference uncertainty measurement approach where respondents have the option to indicate their willingness to pay (WTP) for a nature protection program either as exact values or intervals from a payment card, depending on whether they are uncertain about their valuation. On the basis of their responses, we then estimate their degree of uncertainty. New within this study is that the respondent's degree of uncertainty is "revealed", while it is "stated" in those using existing measurement methods. Three statistical models are used to explore the sources of respondent uncertainty. We also present a simple way of calculating the uncertainty adjusted mea…
Carbon sequestration in French agricultural soils: A spatial economic evaluation
2021
International audience; Soil organic carbon sequestration measures entail costs to farmers with different individual characteristics and located in different areas. A cost‐effective analysis taking into account these heterogeneities is crucial for developing effective public policy aimed at increasing carbon sequestration. We undertake such an analysis focusing on three soil organic carbon sequestration measures: no‐till, extension of temporary grasslands, and hedgerows. Through an optimization model applied to France, our results show that only extension of temporary grasslands can store carbon at low cost, though their potential for carbon sequestration is also low. For an ambitious carbo…
How efficient is maize production among smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe? A comparison of semiparametric and parametric frontier efficiency analyses
2018
The controversial Fast Track Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe that redistributes commercially-owned farmland to smallholder households has caused concerns about the efficiency of agricultural prod...