MECHANISATION OF SMALL RICE FARMS IN THE PHILIPPINES: SOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION ASPECTS

Considerable controversy exists about the desirability of farm mechanisation in the Philippines. Survey evidence shows that the introduction of tractors has not directly resulted in yield and cropping intensity increases yet the employment displacement potential is great. Income shares are presented for different classifications of mechanised and irrigated farms and the effects of new technology on the welfare of landless labour households are discussed.     

ANALYSIS OF THE TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OVER TIME OF WEST JAVANESE RICE FARMS

The high costs and effectiveness of Indonesia's current mix of policies aimed at maintaining rice self-sufficiency, for example fertiliser and other subsidies, has been questioned. Consequently, attention has turned to developing policies to increase farmers yields through efficiencies, for example as a result of better extension. The main issue investigated in this article is whether existing yields can be significantly improved through increasing the efficiency of individual farmers. Production frontiers are estimated and technical efficiencies/inefficiencies predicted from panel data and for one year at a time. Different results are explained in relation to a number of aspects, especially the rate of adoption of new technologies, and policy actions are recommended. The robustness of the analysis is examined as conclusions obtained from past analyses have often been inconsistent.     

SUPPLY RESPONSIVENESS OF RICE FARMERS IN LAGUNA,PHILIPPINES

The supply response and input demand by farmers using modern rice technology in Laguna, Philippines were estimated using profit function analysis. The results indicate that farmers do maximise short-term profits and respond to price changes efficiently. The supply elasticity of rice with respect to its own price was approximately unity. Changes in real wages were estimated to have a greater impact on rice profit and supplies than changes in the real prices of mechanised land preparation, fertiliser or pesticides. Production elasticities derived from the profit function were consistent with those estimated directly from the underlying production function.     

MEASURING FARM EFFICIENCY OVER TIME ON PHILIPPINE RICE FARMS

This paper measures farm-specific technical efficiencies of rice farms in Central Luzon, the Philippines, at discrete points in time. Stochastic frontier production functions are estimated from the International Rice Research Institute's Loop Survey for the years 1970, 1974, 1979 and 1982. From the results, a measure of relative technical efficiency is calculated for each farm for each year. The four distributions of technical efficiencies are examined. Results show that technical inefficiency is the major reason for deviation from the frontier production function. All four samples show a large range of inefficiency but in general efficiency has improved, particularly between 1979 and 1982.     

分析预测·2005年稻米市场展望

一、国家政策扶持农业生产,粮食继续增产2004年我国粮食大丰收,靠得是“政策好,人努力,天帮忙”。而年初出台的旨在鼓励恢复和发展粮食生产和农民增收的“中央一号文件”,最具有代表意义,成为我国扭转粮食生产不利局面的纲领性文件。随后实行的一系列惠农政策:粮食直补,尤其是稻谷最低收购价政策更是让稻谷种植农户吃下了定心丸。在2005年国家将继续实施这一系列政策。2004年12月召开的全国农村工作会议已经明确宣布:2005年国家给予的种粮优惠政策不会减少,并将进一步加大对农业生产和基础设施的投入。至目前,全国已经有26个省、市、区宣布…     

THE MEASUREMENT OF MANAGERIAL EFFICIENCY IN AGRICULTURE*

This paper is an outline only of a Ph.D. thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham. The paper proposes a socio-economic model of farm production with special emphasis placed on the role of management: formulates an econometric model, to represent the socio-economic model, in which the degree of managerial efficiency appears as a variable, and suggests means of interpretation of the econometric model to aid farm planning at the individual farm level.     

THE COST OF DIFFERENTIAL GENDER ROLES IN AFRICAN AGRICULTURE: A CASE STUDY OF SMALLHOLDER BANANA-COFFEE FARMS IN THE KAGERA REGION,TANZANIA

In 1982/83, due to either economic pressure or profit motivation, 30 per cent of the men in a random sample of 200 smallholder banana-coffee farms in the Kagera region of Tanzania had adopted a more liberalised division of labour, and engaged in operations and horticultural farm enterprises that traditionally are the responsibility of women. A linear programming model is used to estimate the impact of gender roles on farm incomes and resource productivity among the sample. The results suggest that by liberalising sex roles, cash incomes could increase by up to 10 per cent while the productivity of labour and capital would improve by 15 per cent and 44 per cent respectively. In view of the economic benefits to be reaped, it is recommended that, within the framework of economic adjustment, African governments should launch campaigns to enhance this process because gender roles impair efficiency.     

AN INDEX OF MANAGEMENT EFFICIENCY FOR EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE: A CASE STUDY OF LARGE FARMS

An index of management efficiency in cotton production is formed for each of five geographical regions in Egypt for farms of large enough size for the functions of management and labour to be separated. The index is introduced as a variable in the production function and reveals distinct differences between the regions in the scope for improving management efficiency.     

MEASUREMENT OF TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY IN THE NORTH-WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE OF PAKISTAN

The objective of this study is to measure technical efficiency, using a translog frontier production function on cross-sectional data from 397 farms in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan in 1988–89. The estimated farm level technical efficiency is found to be dependent upon levels of credit and education, farmers' ages and the extent of land fragmentation. Lack of education, restricted credit and fragmented holdings are found to be causes of inefficiency; hence policies which consolidate holdings, provide credit or educate farmers will tend to improve efficiency in agriculture.     

THE DEMAND FOR LDC EXPORTS OF PRIMARY COMMODITIES: THE CASE OF THE PHILIPPINES*

The economic case for taxing exports rests on the elasticity of demand for the exports concerned, but the true values of these elasticities are controversial. The international demand for Philippine exports of coconut products is examined in this paper. The hypothesis that the Philippines is a 'small country' exporter of coconut products is rejected using the specification of a price-normalised demand equation and the implications of this finding are discussed.     

内湖与江河网箱养鱼效果的比较分析

通过网箱养殖效果的比较分析,证实对水质要求较高的鱼种适合江河网箱养殖,而耐低氧的鱼类,则适合肥沃的内湖养殖.     

A LINEAR PROGRAMMING STUDY OF FAMILY-RUN DAIRY FARMS IN NORTHERN IRELAND

The paper presents the results of a study in which multiperiod linear programming models were used to examine the probable responses of small and medium sized dairy farms in Northern Ireland to various policy, farm indebtedness and development options and to project consequent structural change in the dairy sector. The introduction of quotas has curtailed the considerable potential for expansion of output on these farms while having a less detrimental effect on farm profits and the survival of the smaller dairy herd than the price cut necessary to produce the same reduction in output.     

掌握大米安全主动权与大米加工企业发展

当前我国粮食形势很好,2007年是连续丰收的第四年,粮食总产突破了5亿吨的大关。从稻谷看,当年达到18549万吨,比上年增长377万吨,是跨人21世纪后的最好收成。从大米加工业来看,不论产量、质量还是效益2007年都是全面发展的好年份。据中国粮食行业协会的统计,2007年度入统的大米加工企业7698个,同比增加150个,年生产能力达到14666万吨。当年加工大米4381万吨,工业总产值达到1257亿元,产品销售收入1264亿元,利润24．5亿元,均比上年增加15％以上,其中利润增加58．9％,是近几年来最好的一年。全行业出现了又好又快发展的好势头,     

ADOPTION OF MODERN VARIETIES AND FERTILIZER USE ON RICE IN THE EASTERN TARAI OF NEPAL

Factors influencing the adoption of MV (modern variety) rices and fertilizer in the Tarai of southeastern Nepal were examined through multivariate probit (varietal adoption) and tobit (fertilizer adoption and use rates) regression models. This study reaffirms the finding that the adoption of modern rice technology is highest where irrigation exists. Tenure status and access to credit were significantly related to varietal adoption but family and farm size and the operator's education were not. Similar variables, in addition to fertilizer price, influenced the probability of fertilizer adoption and use rates on rice.     

PRICING EFFICIENCY IN THE RETAIL MEAT MARKET*

The degree of pricing efficiency achieved in the retail meat market is reconsidered in this paper. The approach adopted is to develop an economic model of the pricing behaviour of retail butchers, to postulate a behavioural model consistent with the economic model, and to test this model using the data supplied by three retail butchers. The results indicate that the deleterious effects of price levelling and averaging practices on pricing efficiency may have been understated in earlier studies. It is concluded that further research is required to re-assess the extent of the problem of pricing efficiency in the retail meat market.     

THE ECONOMIC STUDY OF AFRICAN SMALL FARMS; SOME KENYA EXPERIENCES

As a basis for both planning and evaluation, improved statistical information is required on the peasant section of developing economies. Developments made in Kenya since 1960 are discussed, covering the trial of various methodological approaches to the economic study of small farms, and the evolution of satisfactory procedures which can be applied in a large government research organisation in which technical accuracy and efficiency must be combined with administrative simplicity and the quick production at reasonable cost of specific information that is required for economic planning. Consideration is given to full farm business studies, enterprise studies and the collection of agricultural statistics in conditions where the complexities of mixed farming systems create unusual problems.     

转基因大米:开拓中的新农场

<正>稻米是我国的主粮之一。我国约有1.6亿户农民从事稻米生产,近40%的粮食耕地种的是稻米。而目前,世界上还没有任何国家种植转基因水稻。这项可能是"科学史上遭到最强烈反对的技