Governance and Agricultural Production Efficiency: A Cross‐Country Aggregate Frontier Analysis

This study uses a stochastic frontier approach to investigate the relationship between six governance indicators and agricultural efficiency. We find that improvements in rule of law, control of corruption and government effectiveness enhance agricultural productivity significantly if each indicator enters the inefficiency equation independently. When all six indicators are included in the equation, we find that an improvement in rule of law raises agricultural efficiency significantly, but increases in voice and accountability and political stability appear to significantly reduce agricultural efficiency. Grouping the six indicators into three dimensions, we find that an improvement in ‘respect for institutional framework’ raises agricultural efficiency significantly, but an enhancement in ‘selection of authority’ reduces agricultural efficiency significantly. Our results imply that poorer countries can enhance their agricultural efficiency substantially by strengthening the state and citizens’ respect for institutional framework. However, our results show that greater democracy is associated with lower agricultural efficiency. This finding is consistent with interest group capture and political failure arguments of the political economy literature.     

The Effects of Direct Payments on Technical Efficiency of Irish Beef Farms: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis

The 2003 Mid‐Term Review of the CAP sought to refocus the EU's farm support policy to foster a more competitive and market‐orientated agricultural sector. The foundation of this reform comprised the introduction of decoupled payments to farmers, replacing the EU's previous system of supports that were directly linked to production of designated crops and livestock. This paper explores the effect of coupled payments and their subsequent replacement by decoupled support, on the technical efficiency of specialist beef farms in Ireland. Given the high reliance of beef farmers in Ireland on CAP payments, the decoupling of payments has been especially important for the sector. A stochastic production frontier is estimated using a panel dataset comprising detailed accountancy data for Irish beef farms between the years 2000 and 2013. Our results indicate that technical efficiency in the beef farming sector has been consistently poor, with an average efficiency score of only 0.53 during the period analysed. However, we found that direct income received in the form of coupled payments had a positive impact on farm efficiency, and that this positive effect was maintained after their replacement with decoupled income support.     

Bias from Farmer Self‐Selection in Genetically Modified Crop Productivity Estimates: Evidence from Indian Data

In the continuing debate over the impact of genetically modified (GM) crops on farmers of developing countries, it is important to accurately measure magnitudes such as farm‐level yield gains from GM crop adoption. Yet most farm‐level studies in the literature do not control for farmer self‐selection, a potentially important source of bias in such estimates. We use farm‐level panel data from Indian cotton farmers to investigate the yield effect of GM insect‐resistant cotton. We explicitly take into account the fact that the choice of crop variety is an endogenous variable which might lead to bias from self‐selection. A production function is estimated using a fixed‐effects model to control for selection bias. Our results show that efficient farmers adopt Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton at a higher rate than their less efficient peers. This suggests that cross‐sectional estimates of the yield effect of Bt cotton, which do not control for self‐selection effects, are likely to be biased upwards. However, after controlling for selection bias, we still find that there is a significant positive yield effect from adoption of Bt cotton that more than offsets the additional cost of Bt seed.     

Women’s Labour Contribution to Productivity and Efficiency in Agriculture: Empirical Evidence From Bangladesh

This article examines the contribution of women’s labour input to productivity and efficiency in crop farming using a large survey dataset of 1,839 households from 16 villages in two agro‐ecological regions of Bangladesh. Results reveal that female labour accounts for a substantial 28% of total labour use (mainly supplied from the family) and contributes significantly to productivity as well as technical efficiency. Contrary to expectation, the cost share of female labour input is significantly higher than the male share, and has a substitution relationship with all other inputs, including male labour. The estimated mean level of technical efficiency is 0.90, implying that crop output might be increased by 10% by eliminating technical inefficiency. Both male and female education have a significant impact on improving technical efficiency. Other significant technical efficiency shifters are farming experience, family size and crop diversification. Owner operators are found to be technically inefficient relative to the tenants. Policy implications include creation of a hired labour market for female labour so that more women can be involved in the production process, and can contribute to towards improving productivity and efficiency. In addition, investment in education for both men and women, strategies to promote crop diversification and effective regulation/modification of the tenancy market will significantly improve technical efficiency in this case.     

Modeling the Effects of Input Market Reforms on Fertiliser Demand and Maize Production: A Case Study from Kenya

Kenya is one of the few countries in Sub‐Saharan Africa to experience an impressive rise in fertiliser use following a series of input market reforms in the early 1990s. Two major consequences of these reforms were declining fertiliser marketing margins and distances between farmers and fertiliser dealers. We quantify the effects of these changes on commercial fertiliser use and maize production in Kenya by estimating fertiliser demand and maize supply response functions using nationwide household survey data. Our results indicate that between 1997 and 2010, the estimated 27% reduction in real fertiliser prices that can be attributed to falling marketing margins associated with market reforms led to a 36% increase in nitrogen use on maize fields and a 9% increase in maize production resulting from both yield and acreage effects. On the other hand, decreasing distances to fertiliser retailers from the perspective of a given household did not appear to raise fertiliser use or maize supply, although a comparison across households using average distances over the panel indicate that those closer to retailers do apply more fertiliser on their maize fields.     

The Effects of Non‐tariff Measures on Agri‐food Trade: A Review and Meta‐analysis of Empirical Evidence

The increasing policy interest and academic debates on non‐tariff measures (NTMs) has stimulated a growing literature on how NTMs affect agri‐food trade. The empirical literature provides contrasting and heterogeneous evidence, with some studies supporting the ‘standards as catalysts’ view, and others favouring the ‘standards as barriers’ explanation. To the extent that NTMs can influence trade, understanding the prevailing effect, and the motivations behind one effect or the other, is a pressing issue. We review a large body of empirical evidence on the effect of NTMs on agri‐food trade and conduct a meta‐analysis to disentangle potential determinants of heterogeneity in estimates. Our findings show the role played by the publication process and by study‐specific assumptions. Some characteristics of the studies are correlated with positive significant estimates, others covary with negative significant estimates. Overall, we found that the effects of NTMs vary across types of NTM, proxies used for NTMs, and levels of detail of studies. The estimated effects are also influenced by methodological issues and publication processes.     

Information,Certification and Demand for Food Safety: Evidence from an In‐store Experiment in Mumbai

Is demand for safe food in developing countries low because of limited ability to pay, or because of lack of consumer awareness and absence of credible certification? To answer this question we conducted a controlled market experiment in Mumbai, India, selling grapes with credible certification labels alongside unlabeled grapes while providing randomly selected consumers with information on salient features of food safety certification. We confirm that informed consumers are more likely to purchase labeled grapes, controlling for prior information and attitudes, and using two (intensive versus extensive) information treatments. Policies related to information/certification could be an important component of improving public health by mobilising latent demand for food safety and hence supply of safer food for the public.     

Efficiency and equity of rural land markets and the impact on income: Evidence in Kenya and Uganda from 2003 to 2015

This study examines the evolution of land sales and rental markets and their impact on agricultural efficiency in rural Kenya and Uganda using panel data spanning over 10 years. Both countries show that land markets induce efficiency by transferring land to households with higher farming ability. In both countries, land markets enhance equity by transferring land from land-abundant to land-constrained households. Although renting in land increases crop income in Kenya, we find no evidence that it enables households to escape from poverty. In contrast, increase in owned land helped decrease poverty in Uganda. Parcel-level analysis reveals that rented-in land and owned land differ in productivity levels and crop choice. These findings point to the potential weaknesses in the land markets in Kenya and Uganda that impede their ability to contribute to poverty alleviation.     

经济增长目标管理对城市土地绿色利用效率的影响 ——基于282个地级及以上城市的经验证据

研究目的：利用2006—2021年全国282个地级及以上城市的面板数据,系统考察经济增长目标管理对城市土地绿色利用效率的影响。研究方法：超效率SBM模型,固定效应模型。研究结果：（1）经济增长目标对城市土地绿色利用效率呈现明显的负向影响效应,且这一结论通过了克服内生性等一系列稳健性检验。（2）正式与非正式环境规制均能够减缓经济增长目标对城市土地绿色利用效率的负向影响,且后者的调节效应更强。（3）经济增长目标存在明显的自上而下逐级加码现象,且目标加码行为会对城市土地绿色利用效率产生抑制作用。（4）当目标约束程度为一般约束和硬约束,以及目标完成情况从未完成、正常完成到超额完成时,经济增长目标对城市土地绿色利用效率的负向影响显著且逐渐增强。研究结论：进一步淡化GDP增速在官员绩效考核中的重要性,尽量采用“留有余地”的软约束方式设定经济增长目标,重视环境规制的约束作用。     

农地“三权分置”对村集体经济发展的影响研究——基于农业农村部固定观察点的实证检验

研究目的：探究农地“三权分置”改革对集体经济发展的影响。研究方法：基于农业农村部固定观察点数据，采用双重差分方法，实证检验农地“三权分置”改革对农村集体经济收入的影响及其机制。研究结果：（1）农地“三权分置”增加了农村集体经济收入，且主要推动了财产性集体经营收入增加，非财产性集体经营收入无明显变化。（2）机制分析表明，农地“三权分置”增强了村集体主体地位。一方面，村集体通过增加地力投资，获得新增土地的增值收益和集中统一流转的管理费；另一方面，农地“三权分置”改革后，村庄能够吸引农业新型经营主体，进而增加农村集体经济收入。（3）异质性分析表明，“三权分置”对农村集体经济收入的提升作用对处于城郊的村庄、村干部受教育年限高的村庄和产业化水平较高的村庄更为明显。研究结论：应当继续深化农地“三权分置”改革，强化农村土地集体所有权落实，增强集体经济活力；同时，鼓励农业新型经营主体发展，完善农村集体经济组织、新型经营主体与农户利益联结机制，促进农村共同富裕。     

Targeting,bias, and expected impact of complex innovations on developing‐country agriculture: evidence from Malawi

Agronomic analyses of new technologies are often conducted under carefully controlled research station programs or trials managed by self‐selected farmers. Oftentimes, the technologies are then scaled up with minimal evaluation under real‐world conditions. Yet, the interim step between agronomic trials and large‐scale promotion is crucial to generate evidence on the social and economic impact of technologies that is both internally valid and generalizable. The article focuses on a participatory action research program in Malawi designed to test and identify scalable technology options to intensify the smallholder sector and contribute to poverty reduction and food and nutrition security. We examine the socioeconomic characteristics of farmers testing technologies and find evidence of systematic targeting of better‐endowed farmers. After controlling for observable differences using matching and a doubly robust estimator, we find evidence of early positive effects on maize yield and harvest value, although placebo tests suggest possible selection on unobservables. We note that attention should be given to program design and household characterization to better define and improve targeting criteria, technology selection, and external validity.