The water footprints of Morocco and the Netherlands: Global water use as a result of domestic consumption of agricultural commodities

The volume of international trade in agricultural commodities is increasing faster than the global volume of production, which is an indicator of growing international dependencies in the area of food supply. Although less obvious, it also implies growing international dependencies in the field of water supply. By importing food, countries also import water in virtual form. The aim of the paper is to assess the water footprints of Morocco, a semi-arid/arid country, and the Netherlands, a humid country. The water footprint of a country is defined as the volume of water used for the production of the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the country. The internal water footprint is the volume of water used from domestic water resources; the external water footprint is the volume of water used in other countries to produce goods and services imported and consumed by the inhabitants of the country. The study shows that both Morocco and the Netherlands import more water in virtual form (in the form of water-intensive agricultural commodities) than they export, which makes them dependent on water resources elsewhere in the world. The water footprint calculations show that Morocco depends for 14% on water resources outside its own borders, while the Netherlands depend on foreign water resources for 95%. It is shown that international trade can result in global water saving when a water-intensive commodity is traded from an area where it is produced with high water productivity to an area with lower water productivity. If Morocco had to domestically produce the products that are now imported from the Netherlands, it would require 780 million m³/year. However, the imported products from the Netherlands were actually produced with only 140 million m³/year, which implies a global water saving of 640 million m³/year.     

Impacts of considering climate variability on investment decisions in Ethiopia

Extreme interannual variability of precipitation within Ethiopia is not uncommon, inducing droughts or floods and often creating serious repercussions on agricultural and nonagricultural commodities. A dynamic climate module is integrated into an economy‐wide model containing a detailed zonal level agricultural structure. This coupled climate‐economic model is used to evaluate the effects of climate variability on prospective irrigation and infrastructure investment strategies, and the ensuing country‐wide economy. The linkages between the dynamic climate module and the economic model are created by the introduction of a climate‐yield factor (CYF), defined at the crop level and varied across Ethiopian zones. Nine sets of variable climate (VC) data are processed by the coupled model, generating stochastic wet and dry shocks, producing an ensemble of potential economic prediction indicators. Analysis of gross domestic product and poverty rate reveal a significant overestimation of the country's future welfare under all investment strategies when climate variability is ignored. The coupled model ensemble is further utilized for risk assessment to guide Ethiopian policy and planning.     

Food price increases and net food importing countries: lessons from the recent past

Recent increases in food and other commodity prices have highlighted concerns that many poor countries are net food importers and higher food prices would worsen their trade balances. In this article, we analyze the changes in food trade balances associated with the 32% increase in food prices from 2000/2001 to 2004/2005. We find a small deterioration in food trade balances of low‐income countries and an improvement in middle‐income countries. The deterioration is most severe for countries in conflict and small island states, so attention should be placed first on these countries and on a few very‐low‐income countries that are also vulnerable. Because low‐income countries as a group had much lower agricultural GDP growth rates than middle‐income countries, the answers to food vulnerability in low‐income countries should probably be addressed within the context of incentives for agricultural production.     

从能源短缺看我国农业的发展方向

随着全球经济的快速发展,能源问题日益凸现,能否解决好能源短缺问题决定着各国经济能否持续发展。我国是农业大国,农业一直是我国的基础性产业,因此,解决好农业能源问题显得至关重要。本文认为,我国农业的发展应该走节约型农业道路,即发展能源农业,其不仅能够缓解农业能源短缺,而且还能促进农民收入增长,有效改善环境。     

Seasonal labor constraints and intra-household dynamics in the female fields of southern Cameroon

African agricultural production is modeled as a sequential decision process, with men's labor first allotted to clearing, then women's labor allotted to harvesting. A switching regression is then used to measure the constraints due to clearing labor capacity and harvesting labor capacity. The import of men's clearing labor depends on the valuation of shadow wages. Output appears to be more frequently constrained by husband's clearing labor, and in this situation male labor appears under‐utilized. However, output is also significantly constrained by female harvest labor, although the findings imply that female labor is over‐utilized at this stage.     

新疆农业水土资源平衡分析

该文基于新疆水资源及农业用水现状,以目前的灌溉面积为约束条件,深入分析新疆农业水土资源平衡的可能性。以2000~2013年的相关数据资料为基础,采用灰色关联度分析法分别预测了2015年、2020年、2030年新疆有效灌溉面积和灌溉面积,后验差检验(C值)为0.15和0.16,小于标准判断值0.35,表明预测结果很好。结合回归分析的方法,进一步对新疆农业用水需求进行预测,结果显示有效灌溉面积和灌溉面积的用水量均不断提高。在此基础上,模拟了无农业用水总量控制和农业用水总量控制两种情景下水土资源的平衡性,结果发现无农业用水总量控制条件下是不可能实现水土资源平衡的;在农业用水总量控制的条件下,并且灌溉面积控制在3986.25千公顷或有效灌溉面积控制在3667.98千公顷,才可能实现水土资源平衡。为了实现新疆农业水土平衡,分析了三种解决办法,其中发展节水灌溉是当前有效、可行的解决途径。     

Perspectives on integrated rural development in peninsular Malaysia

Development strategies in the rural economy of peninsular Malaysia are examined in this article. Tactics used have included land settlement schemes, a guaranteed minimum price for paddy, input subsidies, grants, and agricultural credit at low or zero rates of interest. The number of development institutions has been multiplying. However, the author argues that the success of integrated rural development policies must be measured in terms of improved income for farmers. He concludes that Malaysian policy planners have yet to define their objectives clearly and to identify the priority target groups. The result has been little improvement in farm efficiency and rural poverty.     

发挥基层央行职能作用 提升“三农”金融服务水平

近年来,中国人民银行长春中心支行认真贯彻落实总行、分行关于改善＂三农＂金融服务的各项部署和要求,从加强政策引导、推动农村金融创新、改善农村支付环境、探索构建农村信用体系以及推进农村信用社改革等方面积极开展工作,并取得了显著成效,从而有力支持了＂三农＂的健康发展。长春中心支行将继续认真贯彻落实总行、分行的部署,不断推进金融支农工作扎实深入开展,从而为全面建设小康社会做出积极贡献。     

基于三产互动与城乡统筹的区域经济空间分析

随着经济社会的发展,城乡关系与区域经济空间结构不断从低级向高级阶段演化.长期以来,我国三次产业之问与城乡之间的非有效联动发展导致了城乡经济空间的二元割裂,而这又进一步制约了产业的升级与区域经济空间结构的优化.现阶段,三产互动已成为提升产业现代化的重要途径,以此为基础和重要内涵的城乡统筹发展模式在有效促进城市经济空间从大...     

城市农业研究回顾与展望

着重对近期城市农业的研究文献从概念探讨、基本功能、生产内容、空间布局,发展空间及对城市形态的影响等八个方面进行了回顾和简评,并对未来的城市农业研究做出了展望。