Fair Trade and Organic Agriculture in Developing Countries: A Review

Fair trade regimes and organic agricultural systems are 2 innovations that increasingly play an important role for agriculture in developing countries. Whereas fair trade regimes have their origin in the developing countries, organic agriculture was started in the rich countries and has only recently become popular in the Third World. Both innovations can be mutually reinforcing as fair trade often combined with organic production standards opens up new market prospects. In this article we explore the opportunities and constraints of marketing organic products from developing countries under fair trade regimes. Based on available literature, we review evidence of the magnitude of organic production and fair trade systems in developing countries. We also propose a framework for studying the impact of fair traded organically produced commodities using the case of black pepper in India. The framework will generate testable hypotheses regarding the 2 innovations.     

Welfare Implications of Community Forest Plantations in Developing Countries: The Orissa Social Forestry Project

Community forest plantations are a common intervention in developing countries. We use household and remote sensing data from Orissa, India, to estimate welfare effects of community forest plantations, in terms of the value of decreased collection times plantations afford users. A selection model, accounting for possible jointness in site location and productivity, is used to estimate collection production functions for different household labor categories in natural and community forests. Two measures of an opportunity cost of time are used to determine welfare effects of time saved due to community forests. We find access to community forests is important to marginal productivity of different labor categories, but to different degrees, highlighting the need to disaggregate household data when analyzing these interventions. We also find substantial welfare improvements from time savings for many households and villages.     

Canadian Industry And Food Production in Developing Countries —An Approach

Some form of assistance for Canadian firms engaged in agribusiness to invest in developing countries should be an important element in any government aid program. This paper discusses why investment of this nature would provide new opportunities for expansion in markets requiring commercial development, as well as a base for expansion in the future, as the economic potential of the developing country is realized and as gains are made in its national output and in the welfare of its inhabitants. New processing facilities would assist the developing country to increase its food production capability, stimulate employment and better the living standards of its people by alleviating hunger and malnutrition. L'inDUSTRIE CANADIENNE ET LA PRODUCTION ALIMENTAIRE DANS LES PAYS SOUS-DÉVELOPPÉS Ce document nous fait part d'une opportunité qu'aurait un programme gouvernemental positif d'encourager des entreprises canadiennes engagÉes dans la production alimentaire, dans l'approvisionnement agricole, ou dans des industries connexes, d'investir dans des pays sous-développés. De tels investissements fourniraient à ces entreprises de nouvelles occasions pour s'agrandir à l'intérieur de marchés présentement prêts pour le développement commercial. Ceci procurerait une base d'expansion constante dans l'avenir, à mesure que le potentiel économique d'un pays sous-développé se réalise et que les gains s'accumulent dans sa production nationale et dans le bien-être de ses habitants. De nouvelles usines alimentaires et des entreprises approvisionnant l'agriculture assisteraient ce pays sous-développéà augmenter sa capacité de production d'aliments, à stimuler l'emploi, et à améliorer le niveau de vie de son peuple en apaisant sa faim et sa sousalimentation. Un marché pour l'exportation canadienne des produits et des services surgirait lorsque ce pays sous-développé atteindrait un niveau plus élevé de développement économique, et une demands accrue de produits et de capitaux deviendrait évidente avec une augmentation du revenu per capita et une accumulation du fond de réserve pour le commerce extérieur.     

Changing Food Consumption of Households in Developing Countries: A Bangladesh Case

Increasing incomes, urbanization, and population growth are transforming developing countries. This structural transformation is changing lifestyles and consequently food consumption and agri-food systems. The present study uses Bangladesh as a case study, a rapidly growing developing economy in South Asia to examine the changing food consumption pattern. Using information from more than 29,000 households, the present study demonstrates that, with the increase in income and urbanization, this traditional rice-consuming country is increasingly consuming more wheat. The changes in the relative consumption in Bangladesh are prominent both in rural and urban areas. The literature often is based on the premise that with increasing income, households switch from staple cereals to high food-value items. The present study highlights the need to also consider within-staple substitution.     

Agricultural Exports and Economic Growth in Developing Countries: A Panel Cointegration Approach

This paper quantifies the contribution of agricultural exports to economic growth in developing countries. We estimate the relationship between GDP and agricultural and non‐agricultural exports for 42 countries using panel cointegration methods. Results show that a long‐run relationship exists, the agricultural export elasticity of GDP is 0.07 whereas that of non‐agricultural exports is 0.13, and total exports Granger‐cause GDP, which supports the export‐led growth hypothesis. Structural differences exist in the relationship by broad income group. Balanced export‐promotion polices are implied for the poorest countries, but, for those with higher incomes, higher economic growth is achieved from non‐agricultural exports.     

Capital Flows and Growth in Developing Countries: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis

This paper unravels the capital flow–growth nexus by employing a model that incorporates contemporaneous influences and contemporaneous expectations. Using an unbalanced panel data set, the paper considers and highlights the role of indirect effects, through the spillover or interaction channel, in influencing economic development. Rigorous tests—incorporating tertiary education, alternative capital flow types and an interaction term—confirm the hypothesis that private capital flows are growth promoting in general, and upper middle-income countries appear to gain more from such flows than low-income countries.     

Farm Level Models: A Review of Developments, Concepts and Applications in Canada

Development and use of farm-level models has been a major activity of agricultural economists in Canada during the past twenty-five years. In this paper, a review is made of the major contributions of Canadian agricultural economists to farm-level modelling. These activities are interpreted in the context of emerging competition technologies as well as improved understanding of farm-level decision making.
L'élaboration et I'application de modèles d'analyse agro-économique à I'échelle de I'exploitation agricole individuelle ont été une activité importante des économistes agricoles du Canada au cours des vingt-cinq dernières années. Les auteurs passent en revue les contributions importantes du Canada dans ce domaine et les interprètent en regard des nouvelles technologies de concurrence, de même que de la meilleure compréhension des mécanismes de prise de décision chez I'exploitant agricole.     

Dynamic Clusters in Developing Countries: Collective Efficiency and Beyond

The alleged beneficial effects of regional industrial clusters for competitiveness and growth in developing countries have been subject to intensive study. A prominent place in the debate has been occupied by the collective efficiency approach. In this paper we extend that approach by incorporating insights from the literature on firm-level technological learning in development. The resulting framework is applied to the software cluster of Bangalore (India), to illustrate the ways in which spatial proximity of firms and other parties interacts with cluster knowledge creation in a dynamic environment. A number of new insights emerge, including the importance of "old economy" factors such as high demand for innovation, international technology transfer, low wages and strong technology and education institutions. To the extent that "new economy" regional factors also matter, spontaneous agglomeration advantages appear to be important alongside active collective efficiency.     

Demand for Crop Insurance in Developing Countries: New Evidence from India

Determining farmers’ real demand for crop insurance is difficult, especially in developing countries, where there is a lack of formal financial sector integration and a high reliance on informal risk mitigation options. We provide some new estimates of farmers’ willingness‐to‐pay for insurance in the context of a large‐scale subsidised programme in India. We conducted a discrete choice experiment with agricultural households across four states in India, enabling us to estimate preferences for specific insurance policy attributes such as coverage period, method of loss assessment, timing of indemnity payments and the cost of insurance. Our results suggest that farmers do value crop insurance under certain conditions and some are willing to pay a premium for such coverage in excess of the subsidised rates they are currently required to pay under this programme. In particular, farmers value the assurances that they will receive timely payouts when they incur losses, and may not have a strong preference for the method with which losses are assessed. On the other hand, farmers are quite sensitive to coverage periods. Our baseline assessment shows that when optimised to farmer requirements, there can be a sizeable demand for crop insurance by developing country farmers.     

Market Integration in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Selected Vegetables in Indonesian Markets

Abstract

Market integration has retained and increased in importance in the recent years, particularly in developing countries, where it has potential application to policy questions regarding government intervention in markets. Specifically, it provides evidence of competitiveness of the market, effectiveness of arbitrage and efficiency of pricing. In this study, selected vegetables in Indonesian markets are used as a case study. Indonesia, consisting of 17,000 islands and 182 million people, provides an interesting case study because of the importance of vegetable production and marketing in the rapidly growing economy. The results suggest that none of the markets are segmented. Short- and long-run market integration tests suggest that transportation and product perishability are important in explaining the speed of price transmission. Another important result is that market integration is directional.