Underpayment of Small Producers of Coffee and Cocoa in Sierra Leone

Fieldwork shows that many Sierra Leonean producers do not receive the official producer price for their coffee and cocoa, due to the concentration of buying stations, credit relations, the small quantities offered for sale, and the lack of marketing knowledge of the numerous and unorganized farmers. To the traders underpayment may seem economically justifiable to a certain extent, but to the farmers it means poverty and debt. A new village marketing centre project aims at remedying this situation and has already led to higher prices. Although no longer allowed to take their "just" share from the producers, traders are still willing to deal with the new centres.     

基于索洛余值法的马铃薯全要素生产率探析

[目的]根据2011—2016年的全国农产品成本收益数据,从物质资料投入、劳动力投入和技术投入等方面确定5个指标对全国16个省(区、市)的马铃薯全要素生产率的变动进行研究。[方法]运用含参数的索洛余值法,构建柯布道格拉斯生产函数模拟我国马铃薯生产的投入和产出之间的关系,通过回归分析得到各个生产要素对马铃薯生产的贡献大小和影响程度。[结果](1) 2012—2016年,我国马铃薯全要素生产率变化呈"N"型,未来有上升趋势;(2)在规模报酬不变的假定条件下,广义的科技进步对马铃薯单产的贡献率高达57%,肥料和劳动力投入的弹性分别为0. 28和0. 15,广义的科技进步对马铃薯生产影响十分显著;(3)我国马铃薯TFP变化区域差异明显。[结论]基于以上研究提出了提高肥料的科技含量、加速马铃薯经营主体的人力资本积累、强化政策扶持与制度建设和不断推进科技创新等政策性建议。     

Price Behavior in a Dynamic Oligopsony: Washington Processing Potatoes

Punishment strategies are necessary to sustain a collusive oligopsony in a repeated game context when demand is uncertain and only market variables are observable. This paper proposes a test for tacit collusion among potato processors in Washington state using a dynamic regime-switching model estimated with a finite mixture method. The results support the existence of punishment and collusive regimes and show the welfare losses due to anti-competitive behavior on the part of processors to be significant. Processors' oligopsony power is enhanced by higher domestic production, imports, and existing stocks, but it is ameliorated by high capacity utilization rates and exports.     

Multi-stakeholder platforms for linking small farmers to value chains: evidence from the Andes

Value chains linked to urban markets and agro-industry present new opportunities for adding value and raising rural incomes. Small farmers, who produce small volumes, struggle to enter these markets. A lack of trust among value chain actors increases transaction costs and short-circuits innovation. This paper explores how multi-stakeholder platforms have been used to address these problems in potato-based value chains in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. It uses the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to understand how platforms work. Differences in characteristics of the value chains, the participating actors and institutional arrangements have led to the emergence of two types of platforms. The first type brings traders, processors, supermarkets and others together with farmer associations and research and development (R&D) organizations to foster the development of new market opportunities through commercial, institutional and technological innovation. The second type is structured around geographically delimited supply areas, meshing farmers and service providers to address market governance issues in assuring volumes, meeting quality and timeliness constraints and empowering farmers. Evidence from these cases indicates that platforms that bring stakeholders together around value chains can result in new products, processes, norms and behaviours that benefit poor farmers, which could not have been achieved otherwise.     

Marketing Organic and Conventional Potatoes in Germany

We apply a bivariate probit model and cluster analysis to German household survey data to evaluate factors influencing consumption of conventional and organic potatoes. Results show there is a positive but insignificant correlation between the consumption of conventional and organic potatoes and consumers associate organic potatoes with healthy ingredients, trusted origin, and food safety. Furthermore, consumers' sociodemographics such as education and children in households affect their choice of potatoes. Cluster analysis results group potato consumers into the market segments “Industry trusting,” “Healthy diet oriented,” and “Price oriented.” These results suggest an adoption of different marketing strategies to promote fresh potatoes to the different market segments.     

中国鲜、冷藏马铃薯出口贸易的比较优势及影响因素研究

中国是马铃薯第一生产大国,并且在马铃薯出口构成中,鲜、冷藏马铃薯(0701)占有十分重要的出口地位,再加上2015年中国提出推进马铃薯主食产品及产业开发的规划,在这样的背景下,对中国鲜、冷藏马铃薯出口贸易进行研究,就显得十分有意义。为此,利用国外市场占有率、出口价格、RCA指数和TC指数对中国鲜、冷藏马铃薯出口贸易的比较优势进行了研究,发现不同指标下,中国鲜、冷藏马铃薯出口贸易的比较优势呈现出不同的状态;利用回归分析对中国鲜、冷藏马铃薯出口贸易的影响因素进行了研究,发现出口价格、地理距离、出口对象国的GDP会反向影响出口数量,中国的人口数量会正向影响出口数量,货币兑换比率、中国马铃薯产量和出口对象国的人口数量对出口数量无任何统计意义上的影响力。最后,提出要加大对马铃薯产业链建设的扶持,要注重中国周边市场的开发,要充分发挥国内市场对马铃薯产业发展的引导作用,不要忽视价格竞争优势的作用,加强与马铃薯有关的文化建设活动,加强国际物流与供应链管理,适时引导企业走出去。     

Applied Policy Analysis of the Rice Marketing Subsector of Guinea-Bissau

Simple analytical techniques are used to diagnose and demonstrate problems observed in the rice marketing subsector of Guinea-Bissau. The problems are typical of those encountered by liberalizing economics. The recommendations favor policies that enhance competition.     

Respondents' ignoring of attribute information in a choice modelling survey

One debate in economics centres on consumers' decision-making strategies and whether they should be explicitly considered. The default assumption for choice modelling has been that all the attributes presented to respondents somehow influence their choices. More recently, choice modelling research has begun examining how respondents use information. This article presents research that focused on which pieces of information respondents used in responding to a choice modelling survey. The use of information by respondents was captured in the course of the administration of a computer-aided survey, so the research did not rely on posterior self-reporting. Access to the information was captured for each attribute of every alternative, which allowed flexibility in assessing use of information. Three mixed logit models are presented, based on three different assumptions about information use. The results suggest that accounting for respondents' information use affects modelling results, but the impact on estimates of willingness to pay may be relatively small.     

The Use of Organic vs. Chemical Fertilizer with a Mineral Losses Tax: The Case of Dutch Arable Farmers

The paper focuses on farm-level nitrogen fertilization strategies of Dutch arable farmers for analyzing the substitution of organic fertilizers (manure) with chemical fertilizers. The model developed investigates the impact of the major parameters affecting the inferiority of manure compared with chemical fertilizers, including the low availability and non-uniformity of the nitrogen in manure, and the low level and high non-uniformity of plant-available nitrogen supplied via manure. The sensitivity of the optimal fertilization decisions and its associated environmental impact to product price, manure cost, and environmental tax is also examined. The theoretical analysis is applied to a representative Dutch grower of ware potatoes in the northern part of the Netherlands. The results suggest that in the absence of a subsidy the representative farmer will prefer to apply nitrogen only via chemical fertilizers.     

浅谈农村绿色土豆利益最大化的策略

绿色土豆是农村的产物和宝贵的物质财富,开发其有效的产业链可提高农村经济发展,提高人民生活水平,满足城市人民生活需求。本文通过实地调研,分析现有土豆产业链的问题现状,在此基础上提出自己的见解,有望达到农村土豆利益最大化。