新农村建设的实施难点

新农村建设是国家在新时期实施的一项新的发展战略.由于学术理论界和政府部门对新农村建设的认识不一,目前的新农村建设在实施中尚有不少难点:一是新农村建设的实施主体不明确,政府在新农村建设的实施中也缺乏足够的动力;二是新农村建设的实施路径不清晰.新农村建设的主体应该而且只能是政府;新农村建设的实施路径必须是系统设计、整体规划、逐步推进.     

求真务实 扎实工作 建设社会主义新农村

冷静面对吕梁市农业农村工作的严峻形势,充分认识建设社会主义新农村的长期性、艰巨性和复杂性;正确把握建设社会主义新农村的丰富内涵,科学谋划和开展新农村建设工作;以更加宽广的视野和思路,探索和建立新农村建设的推进机制;坚持基本原则,把握正确方向,稳步推进新农村建设。     

当前我国新农村建设中存在的问题与对策思考

我国新农村建设虽然取得了一定成绩,但是仍然存在不少问题:机械化程度过低严重制约着农业综合生产能力提升;农业天生弱质的地位未能从根本上改变,农业增收效应过弱;政府项目调控的非科学性导致新农村建设资金严重浪费;新村聚居点缺乏科学规划,未能坚持因地制宜原则;公共服务成为新农村建设中最为薄弱的环节.因此,科学规划是新农村建设取得成功的前置条件;合理安排新村建设示范点是新农村建设的关键环节;培育新型农民是新农村建设的重中之重;公共服务建设是新农村建设的硬核;新农村综合体是新农村建设的新型载体.     

发挥广播电视的宣传作用 促进社会主义新农村建设

明确宣传工作的总体目标,营造全社会关注、支持、建设新农村的良好氛围;建设宣传工作的主要阵地,不断完善农村的文化基础设施建设;报道新农村建设的重点工程和惠农实事,让农民群众在享受成果中再鼓干劲;开设新农村建设宣传的专栏节目,让群众见到实效、增强建设新农村的主动性;加强内部管理,狠抓工作落实,为顺利开展新农村建设宣传工作提供坚强保障。     

加强社会主义新农村建设的意见

正确把握中央关于建设社会主义新农村重大战略决策的丰富内涵,全面推进我省新农村建设;以统筹城乡发展、工业反哺农业、城市支持农村的宽广视野和思路,谋划社会主义新农村建设;规划先行、样板引路,稳步扎实推进全省新农村建设。     

建设社会主义新农村需要把握的几个重大问题

该文提出社会主义新农村建设新是关键、建是重点,应按照生产发展、生活富裕、乡村文明、村容整洁、管理民主来进行社会主义新农村建设。新农村建设要坚持三个阶段、五个重点、六项原则。提出搞好宣传、提高认识;筹集资金、增加投入;因地制宜、选准新农村建设的切入点;制定规划、有步骤推进新农村建设等6项政策。     

关于新农村建设几个问题的思考

准确把握新农村建设工作的着力点;认真选择新农村建设发展模式;积极创新新农村建设的体制机制,为新农村建设提供体制保障和强大动力。     

以科学发展观为统领 全面推进社会主义新农村建设

抓保证,不断加强新农村建设形势下的村级班子建设;抓关键,认真搞好新农村建设的发展规划;抓中心,大力培育新农村建设的优势产业;抓根本,培养教育新农村建设需要的一代新型农民。     

从解决民生问题入手建设新农村

阐述建设新农村关注民生问题的重大意义;在建设社会主义新农村中民生变化显著;改善民生推进新农村建设症结所在;建设新农村中解决民生问题的具体措施。     

新农村建设中的规划问题及对策建议

<正>建设社会主义新农村是现代化进程中的重大历史任务。规划作为推进新农村建设的总蓝图,是推进城乡统筹发展和城乡一体化的有效途径,是加快社会主义新农村建设的基础工作,对指导和建设新农村起着举足轻重的作用。一、规划是新农村建设的基础和引领推进城乡统筹,建设新农村,规划是龙头,也是基础。必须进一步提高对新农村规划编制工作重大意义的认识,切实把规划编制和执行工作抓紧抓好。搞好村庄规划是建设新农村的基     

Price transmission between products at different stages of manufacturing in forest industries

The theory of demand and supply implies a positive relationship, or “price transmission” between the prices of products at different stages of manufacturing. This relationship was investigated with quarterly prices of softwood stumpage in the US South, and national prices of forest products, from 1977 to 2002. All prices, net of inflation, were found to be nonstationary and there was no evidence of co-integration between prices. Vector autogressive models, augmented by Granger causality tests and multiplier analysis showed that there was a one-to-one permanent positive response of the southern sawtimber stumpage price to a permanent change in the national lumber price. There was also a one-third permanent positive response of the national paper price to a permanent change in the national pulp price. There was no relation between regional pulpwood prices and national pulp or paper prices. When price transmission was significant, the full adjustment took about 2 years.     

Application of an ecosystem function framework to perceptions of community woodlands

Owners, local residents, government, and conservation organisations can express divergent preferences in the development and management of local woodlands. The perceptions of these four groups were examined, in the context of three community woodlands in Eastern England, using an ecosystem function framework. In a pilot study, residents were able to allocate a relative importance to woodland ecosystem services which were then related to “regulation”, “habitat”, and “production” or “information” functions. However residents also placed importance on negative services or “dis-services” associated with the woodland ecosystem. Therefore a fifth category of “dis-services” was included in the main survey which included 84 local residents, three woodland owners, three government institutions, and six representatives from conservation groups. Each of the four groups placed greatest importance on services associated with habitat (16–39% of the total importance) and information (30–50%) functions suggesting, in this example, mutual interest in the use of woodlands as a habitat or recreational resource. By contrast a potential area of difference was the particularly high importance placed by one owner on dis-services such as fly tipping. In addition the woodland owners placed higher importance (10–20%), than local residents and conservation groups (7–9%), on the productive services of the wood. This suggests a need for communication when production-related operations affect recreation. The ecosystem function framework appears to be a useful approach for highlighting potential tensions and areas of mutual interest in the management of semi-natural ecosystems.     

In Vino ‘No’ Veritas: impacts of fraud on wine imports in China

China is one of the largest wine importing countries in the world and is poised for continued import growth in the future. Increased wine purchases throughout China have given rise to persistent fraud where fake wines are packaged and sold with counterfeit contents and labels. For exporting countries like France, counterfeit wines displace market share, damage foreign brand reputation, and cause distrust in consumers who are aware of counterfeiting problems throughout the country. We examine the impact of fraudulent wine events (as measured by negative media reports) on Chinese wine demand differentiated by supplying country. We employ the Rotterdam demand system and a switching regression procedure to estimate import demand and compare results across different media variable specifications. Results consistently show that negative reports disproportionately affect French wine regardless of how the media variable is specified. This is not surprising because most fraudulent events involve French wine counterfeits.     

An evaluation framework for earthquake-responsive land administration

In recent years earthquakes and their secondary hazards have claimed the largest number of lives of all large natural disasters. Some of the world’s most earthquake-prone zones are also areas of high population density. The impact is magnified by vulnerability factors including non-enforcement of building codes, knowledge gaps, urban poverty and poor governance capacity to manage and reduce earthquake risks. Poor security of land tenure and property rights increases the vulnerability of people and affects their ability to respond to natural disasters.Earthquake recovery and reconstruction provides very significant challenges for land agencies, with these challenges differing from one country to the next due to differences in the local context. Drawing on contrasting case studies in Haiti, Nepal and New Zealand this paper identifies the common post-earthquake land administration functions and challenges that may apply to many contexts. These lessons provide land agencies and other key stakeholders with a summary of the challenges an earthquake poses for land administration at different post-disaster stages. We also discuss the policy and regulatory, institutional, operational and preparedness lessons for land administration. From these lessons we propose a framework for evaluating the earthquake-responsiveness of a land administration system. This framework can be used by a land agency in an earthquake prone region, or where an earthquake has recently occurred, to assess what challenges to land administration might occur in the event of an earthquake, and the preparedness of their land administration system.     

Agrarian Poverty,Nutrition and Economic Class – A Study of Gujarat,India

This paper analyses poverty and calorific undernourishment in the Indian state of Gujarat, where high and market‐led industrial growth has resulted in rapid economic improvement. The study is carried out through a combination of secondary and survey‐based data. We conclude that the neoliberal agenda of uncontrolled, outward‐looking growth has not resulted in significant reduction of poverty or malnourishment in rural areas. Furthermore, while land ownership is officially used as a proxy for wealth distribution, class position appears a better predictor of poverty status in the rural areas than landownership per se. At the policy level, there is a need to revive the agrarian economy and create new non‐agricultural assets, and the primary focus in the state must shift to the distribution of created assets rather than a single‐minded focus on growth.     

Does sustainable agricultural growth require a system of innovation? Evidence from Ghana and Burkina Faso

This paper tests the ‘systems of innovation’ hypothesis for a selection of crops in Ghana and Burkina Faso that have shown significant growth in production over an approximately 20-year period. The question is whether such growth can only occur if supported by a system of innovation. Using two indicators (a common understanding on objectives and priorities, and a high level of interactivity), we find little evidence for the existence of anything that might be considered a high functioning system of innovation.     

Local impacts of industrial tree plantations: An empirical analysis in Indonesia across plantation types

The values ascribed to industrial tree plantations are often controversial. Hence knowledge of their perceived impacts is important for improving their integration in rural landscapes. In 2016 we conducted household surveys with 606 respondents living in villages adjacent to acacia, teak and pine plantations across three islands in Indonesia (Java, Borneo, Sumatra). Results show that perceptions toward pine and teak plantations tend to differ from those toward acacia pulpwood plantations in several ways. Pine and teak plantations are perceived to have a higher number and variety of benefits and services, a higher number of positive impacts, a better environmental record, and to present more opportunities to local people for use of plantation land and products for improving rural livelihoods. In addition, we find that villagers around acacia pulpwood plantations tend to seek economic development and infrastructure to open up remote areas, yet their expectations were often only partially met. Recommendations from our analysis include: the role of the State in plantations must be clarified and potentially reinforced; the role of institutions as intermediaries is fundamental; and contributions by communities to design of management plans should be accommodated.     

Upstream demand for water use by new tree plantations imposes externalities on downstream irrigated agriculture and wetlands*

Large‐scale tree plantations in high rainfall upstream areas can reduce fresh water inflows to river systems, thereby imposing external costs on downstream irrigation, stock and domestic water users and wetland interests. We take the novel approach of expressing all benefits and costs of establishing plantations in terms of $ per gigalitre (GL) of water removed annually from river flows, setting upstream demands on the same basis as downstream demands. For the Macquarie Valley, a New South Wales sub‐catchment of Australia’s Murray‐Darling Basin, we project changes in land and water use and changes in economic surpluses under two policy settings: without and with a policy requiring permanent water entitlements to be purchased from downstream parties, before plantation establishment. Without the policy, and given a high stumpage value for trees ($70/m³), upstream gains in economic surplus projected from expanding plantations are $639 million; balanced against $233 million in economic losses by downstream irrigators and stock and domestic water users for a net gain of $406 million, but 345 GL lower mean annual environmental flows. With the policy, smaller gains in upstream economic surplus from trees ($192 million), added to net downstream gains ($138 million) from sale of water, result in gains of $330 million with no reduction in environmental flows. Sustaining the 345 GL flow for a $76 million (406–330) reduction in gains to economic surplus may be seen to cost only $0.22 million/GL; but this is much lower than the market value of the first units of that water to agriculture and forestry.     

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.     

Malaria incidence and agricultural efficiency in Uganda

The cost of accessing healthcare can be a major determinant of disease prevalence, which in turn has short‐ and long‐term welfare implications on poor households. In response, governments in developing countries often resort to subsidizing the cost of drugs, which, while perhaps easier to administer, may not always be the most effective way of addressing healthcare cost. In this regard, we analyze the impact of different types of household level health expenses on disease incidence and agricultural production efficiency. We use data from the 2006 Uganda National Household Survey, which covered approximately 7,400 households. The results suggest that a 10% increase in consultation, medicine, and hospitalization expenses would reduce malaria incidence respectively by 35.6%, 20.5%, and 21.3 %, which translates into a 1.1%, 0.6%, and 0.6 % decrease in agricultural inefficiency, respectively. The results indicate that helping poor households meet expenses for consultation through subsidies or eliminating consultation fees has a larger impact on malaria incidence and agricultural productivity among poor rural households than subsidizing the cost of medical drugs, the most common avenue chosen by developing country governments in the fight against the disease.