Incentives for mechanized cane harvesting in Thailand: A choice experiment

Sugarcane burning is a significant problem in Thailand. Cane burning is undertaken before harvest mostly due to labor shortages. A cane harvester has been promoted to counter labor shortages and increase cane productivity; however, its adoption has been slow. This paper examines incentive schemes for harvester adoption using a choice experiment. Forty large-scale farmers with the capacity to buy their own harvesters and 400 small-scale farmers who could potentially use harvesters on a fee basis were surveyed. The results suggest a variety of economic incentives for harvester adoption. Most important among these is subsidizing of interest rates for purchase. Also of merit at the milling stage are priority queuing, and subsidies for unburned cane to a lesser extent.     

河西走廊凉州绿色农业示范区环境质量评价

该研究以绿色农业理念为基础,参照国家绿色食品和无公害食品产地环境质量标准,通过大范围调查取样、测试分析,对河西走廊凉州绿色农业示范区环境质量状况进行了评价,示范区土壤、灌溉水及大气环境质量总体状况良好,处于"清洁"水平,达到"安全"等级,符合目前国家所规定的绿色食品及无公害产品环境质量的要求。     

Agricultural productivity growth and the development of manufacturing in developing Asia

In this paper, it is argued that agricultural productivity is an important determinant of the extent of manufacturing development. Specifically, it was hypothesized that agricultural productivity played a significant role in influencing the share of employment in the manufacturing sector as a proportion of total employment. This hypothesis was tested empirically utilizing data from eleven Asian countries over a thirty-five-year period. The results support the hypothesis. In addition, the results show that human capital accumulation has also played an important role in positively influencing the share of manufacturing employment in total employment for the countries in the sample.     

DEA efficiency in agriculture: Measurement unit issues

The selection of inputs and outputs in DEA models represents a vibrant methodological topic. At the same time; however, the problem of the impact of different measurement units of selected inputs is understated in empirical literature. Using the example of Czech farms, we show that the DEA method does not provide consistent score estimates, neither a stable ranking for different popular measurements of labour and capital factors of production. For this reason, studies based on DEA efficiency results for differently measured inputs should be compared only with great caution.     

推动小农高质量发展：日本农业新政的指向与启示

2020年3月,日本政府对《食物·农业·农村基本计划》进行了第五次修订。本次修订基于推动小农高质量发展的基本导向,设置了2030年日本农业在保障食物自给方面的奋斗目标,围绕该目标的实现,从增强食物供给能力、强化小农生产基础、激发偏远地区活力、推动小农绿色生产、提升小农抗冲击能力和检视农民组织改革成效等6个维度进行了未来10年的政策部署。本次修订对中国的启示是:立足小农、服务小农、强化小农是推动小农高质量发展的根本出路;确保粮食安全是推动小农高质量发展的第一要义;实现"人""地"和"技术"的高质量是推动小农高质量发展的关键;强化农村内生发展是推动小农高质量发展的重要方面;加大农业投入是推动小农高质量发展的重要手段。     

Land and housing: The twin forces of non-balanced growth

In a three-sector closed economy where housing land is accumulated for the construction of houses, we depict significant effects of housing and land market on sectoral growth. We assume agriculture is the most intensive in the use of land, followed by manufacturing and then services. In the long run, land intensity differences in conjunction with labor growth contribute to sectoral growth gaps. In the short run, due to housing land accumulation, the economy transitions along a non-monotonic convergent path to the steady state. Using the US data, we quantify that land accounts for about one-tenth of long-run and short-run sectoral output growth gaps. We also incorporate sector-specific land-use restrictions to show that, despite these regulations, land and housing have qualitative effects on non-balanced growth.     

广西岩溶石模化地区农业发展战略研究

广西岩溶地区面广量大,岩溶地区石漠化现象严重,已成为社会主义新农村建设和构建和谐社会的最大障碍。该文在调查的基础上,分析了广西岩溶石漠化地区农业发展的现状和优势,找出了广西岩溶石漠化地区农业发展存在的问题,确定了广西岩溶石漠化地区农业发展目标及战略重点,提出了5项对策建议。     

Use of blockchain in the agri-food value chain: State of the art in Spain and some lessons from the perspective of public support.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union, in effect since January 2023, seeks to differentiate products on quality, provide greater transparency on food origin, and on the transactions and the actors involved in the supply chain. At the same time, in Spain, the adoption of new technologies for the digitization of the agri-food sector has been proposed as a solution to address structural issues such as lack of competitiveness and innovation. In fact, systems using blockchain-related technologies for food control and traceability have seen great progress in recent years and, currently, the use of blockchain in supply chain management is almost doubling year on year. In this context, this paper investigates the level of development of blockchain technology in the agri-food sector in Spain and its applications for certifying food production conditions within the supply chain, and how it is supported by public policies. It identifies several challenges that need to be addressed for a widespread adoption could take place, such as data recorded on the blockchain, lack of standards, limited scope of projects, and integration of data capture automatically or with other technologies like RFID and AI. The document proposes to reorient public development policies to address these challenges, such as reusing data from, already in place, European data collections for production control and food traceability, educating users and stakeholders about the use of blockchain technology, and fostering legal and technical provisions which ensure system transparency to facilitate a successful implementation of blockchain.