Supply response in Ethiopia: accounting for technical inefficiency

Few empirical studies of supply response using the profit function have accounted for technical inefficiency. Using farm‐level panel data from Ethiopia, this study examines the effect of incorporating technical inefficiency in estimating the supply response of peasant farmers. Two systems of output supply and input demand equations are estimated and compared: the conventional model in which technical efficiency is assumed and another in which technical inefficiency is explicitly incorporated. The model with technical inefficiency is preferred on grounds of theoretical consistency and improved estimates, although model comparison tests are not conclusive. Incorporation of inefficiency generally increases the magnitudes and the statistical significance of own price elasticities, substantially so in the case of fertilizer and fertilizer‐intensive crops, and alters the priority attached to nonprice factors. An important result is that only the specification with inefficiency reveals a significant effect of access to extension services on output. Only this specification finds that output increases with household size, which one expects as the farms in the sample are largely subsistence and producing for own consumption. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that farmers' response to incentives is considerably restricted by inefficiency, suggesting that the traditional model would overstate response by excluding the efficiency variable.     

The Influence of Informality in a Local Agri-food Supply Chain in Brazil

During qualitative research on trust, conducted in a mariculture chain in southern Brazil, the theme of informality emerged spontaneously in most interviews. Although it is difficult to measure, some data and estimates point out that informality is still quite present worldwide, but especially in emerging and developing countries, and this situation was confirmed in the studied supply chain. In analysing the narratives, we noticed that this is a chronic issue which bothers the producers that are properly formalised mainly because of unfair competition, and hinders the organisation of the chain. Some factors foster the persistence of informality, such as family labour and temporary jobs, the low educational level of entrepreneurs, lack of adequate supervision and cultural aspects of producers and their families. We could corroborate the perspectives of modernisation (informality is still persistent), neo-liberal (informal entrepreneurs reject the bureaucracy of an over-regulated market) and post-structuralist (informality is a way of life related to identity, social position and/or resistance against the formal structure) theories. Our research has shown us that the situation found is contributing to a reduction in the number of formal producers and impairing the development of that local supply chain, as well as its sustainability.     

Supply response of U.K. milk producers

Short‐run own‐price response elasticities are estimated from two samples of panel data for specialist dairy farms in the Northwest and Southwest of England. Although these farms are subject to milk marketing quotas, the free tradability of quotas enables them individually to adjust the output quite rapidly. Model specifications have been chosen to test the ability of panel data to directly reveal behavioral responses without the imposition of theoretical restrictions. Significantly, the two independent samples generate quite similar results, especially in terms of supply response measures. Stable and promising estimates are obtained with simultaneous models giving higher elasticities than single equation models.     

A framework proposal for sustainability assessment of sugarcane in Brazil

In many countries, the biofuels sector was encouraged to expand its activities supported by public policies incentives, especially to achieve improvements in energy security and to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. The Brazilian government followed these initiatives and undertook some responsibilities against the international scenario related to climate change. One of the theses commitments concerning actions to reduce the GEE emissions by some 37% by 2020. The Sugarcane Agroecology Zoning provides technical subside to policy makers to direct sugarcane expansion to permitted areas and a sustainable production in Brazil and is considered a guideline to sustainable sugarcane production in Brazil. However, although aiming at a sustainable production, the zoning only considered natural aspects of the country, as soils and climate and an approach that consider all the dimensions of the sustainability is still missing. Hence, this paper aims to propose a framework to evaluate biofuel sustainability to support public policies, especially concerning improvements in Brazilian decision-supporting tools.     

保障我国石油安全供应七大战略

保障石油供应安全成为当今世界各国能源战略的核心内容。文章结合我国石油需求流程图提出了保障我国石油安全供应的七大战略 :(1)加强国内石油资源的勘探开发力度 ,尤其是西部地区和海域 ;(2 )开发我国未动用 ,即低效益、高成本的石油储量 ;(3 )加快建立国家战略石油储备体系 ;(4 )尽早开辟国内石油期货市场 ,建立有利于进入国际市场的法规体系和监管体系 ;(5 )采用多种方式利用境外石油资源 ;(6)实行石油进口的多源化和多元化 ;(7)加快国内远洋运油船队的建设 ,促进运输方式的多元化。     

Supply and demand estimates for feed grains in China

In the past two decades, the use of grain to feed livestock in China has increased rapidly. A number of studies have examined demand and supply of grain for animal feed in China. Forecasts have been made. Generally, these projections have turned out to be well wide of the actual supply and demand. Further, forecasts of supply and demand for feed grains for the same time periods have differed greatly. Accurate forecasts of variables affecting supply and demand benefit both producers and consumers. Past forecasts of supply and demand of feed grain for livestock production in China are reviewed and reasons for discrepancies between projections are explored. Ways to improve projections of demand for and supply of grain for livestock feed in China are identified.     

巴西林业发展与反贫困

详细介绍了巴西林业发展、森林资源管理及反贫困的进展和有关政策问题。林业产业在巴西国民经济中占据重要地位,丰富的森林资源在反贫困方面发挥着重要作用。巴西的森林资源管理强调保护与利用并重,注重充分发挥森林的多种效能。巴西林业的经验及教训:在森林资源管理中应重视不同部门政策之间的协调问题;应当鼓励非政府组织参与森林资源管理;应采取适当措施消除市场失灵,政府要有所作为;在森林资源保护工程中,要充分考虑到当地居民的利益;巴西推行把对穷人的直接补贴与创造就业机会结合起来的减贫模式值得借鉴。     

The Evolution of Reforestation in Brazil

This paper analyses the evolution of reforestation in Brazil and evaluates the federal government's previous programmes to stimulate that activity, focusing on the discontinued Programme of Fiscal Incentives for Afforestation and Reforestation (PIFFR). Despite the great increase in reforested area in Brazil since the 1970s, the country will suffer a scarcity of roundwood from reforested areas over the first decade of the 21st Century. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the Brazilian federal government supported programmes to foster reforestation; however, no stimulus programmes were implemented in the 1990s when roundwood demand increased and production stagnated. Today, the government recognizes the need to stimulate reforestation. The PIFFR, the most important of those earlier programmes, is evaluated using a traditional cost–benefit approach. The evaluation shows that a reinstatement of this programme would now be inappropriate. The conclusion suggests a direction for new federal policies that seek to foster the enlargement of reforestation in segments where the price mechanism has not worked well.     

Wheat policy and economy-wide reform in Brazil

In recent years, the wheat sector in Brazil has moved from governmental protection and public intervention to a free market and privatization. In this study, those changes are analyzed through measures of governmental intervention on nominal rates of protection and on welfare of producers and consumers. Elasticities of demand and supply of wheat are estimated, and the effects of changes in policies are analyzed under official and shadow exchange rates. Welfare measures indicate that almost US$ 8 billion were spent from 1970 until 1989 with policies to subsidize producers and consumers. The policy-induced stimulus to consumer demand exceeded the stimulus to domestic production, and self sufficiency in wheat declined. The reduction in wheat subsidies since 1989 was more than an isolated sector-specific policy. It was part of macroeconomic antiinflation policy, and it coincided with other economy-wide changes such as real appreciation and a decline in international commodity prices.     

Ecological ICMS enables forest restoration in Brazil

Application of ecological ICMS (Imposto sobre Circulação de Mercadorias e Serviços), by public managers in conservation, can help and foster environmental improvement in rural properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the destination of ecological compensation for restoration and appropriateness to the environmental legislation of rural properties in the municipality of Araponga, Minas Gerais (MG). Information on Areas of Permanent Preservation (APP) and Legal Reserves (LR) were obtained from the Rural Environmental Registry’s database. Plans on environmental appropriateness were evaluated and they are: dense planting, enrichment planting, plant spacing, fencing, artificial bird perches and transposition of soil seed bank. A total of 197.39 ha in APP is without forest (26.19 % of APP area) in the rural properties of the municipality of Araponga. In relation to LR, 566.92 ha (20.95 % of LR area) face conflict. The total costs, per year, for all forest restoration techniques were lower than the average value of ecological ICMS received by the municipality of Araponga (US$ 186,873.21 year⁻¹). Therefore, the ecological ICMS allocation to foment the practices of environmental appropriateness enables the compliance of forest legislation in small rural properties in Brazil.     

Conservation agriculture practices adopted in southern Brazil

The adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) practices are essential for soil and water conservation. In CA, farmers must adopt no-tillage (NT) with crop rotation to maintain a permanent soil cover. In Brazil, mainly in the South region, for CA to be more efficient, practices such as contour farming and agricultural terraces should also be adopted. Thus, the objective of this study is to determine the extent to which NT has been adopted with crop rotation and others soil and water conservation practices. Data from the Agricultural Census in Paraná State, southern Brazil, were used. For the data analysis, the relationship between the level of adoption of NT and the use of crop rotation, contour farming and agricultural terraces was analyzed. A factor and cluster analysis were performed to distinguish regions in terms of soil and water conservation practices. The results show good overall soil and water conservation practices, although heterogeneity has been observed in the adoption practices between regions. Adoption of NT is high in almost all the studied regions. The conservation practice most widely used with NT is contour farming, whereas the least used is agricultural terraces. Conservation practices for runoff control are being neglected by farmers.     

Modelling landscape complexity for land use management in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil

Prioritizing land units for environmental management and planning is central in any process aiming at the improvement of urban and environmental conditions. In this study, an algebraic method (lattice theory) was applied to data describing the characteristics of ten land units of a landscape of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Consequently, landscape complexity was modeled and land units were prioritized for land management.While most usual mathematical methods for evaluation involve statistical approaches, the lattice-theoretical approach is a completely different, non-numerical algebraic and qualitative method, offering the advantages of: (a) providing three-dimensional representations of a landscape's complexity; (b) discovering essential structures of data (termed “concepts”) from within landscape data, (c) determining the relative significance (or value) of each criterion and of each land unit for the overall landscape complexity, (d) identifying the land units which are ecologically and geomorphologically more significant for a landscape, (e) mapping landscape complexity and, indeed, mapping total landscape complexity (structural, functional and qualitative) at the land unit level and (f) prioritizing land units in a tropical landscape for strict land management and/or conservation.     

Rural credit and agricultural supply in Brazil

The objective of this study is to determine the financing impact of total expenditure on the use of agriculture inputs (fertilizers, labor, and pesticides), and the output of cotton, rice, beans, corn, soybean, and wheat in Brazil. We study the period 1976–2005. The analysis is based on duality applied to the production theory. The output supplies and conditioned input demands are estimated from a translog multi‐output, multi‐input restricted profit function, where the total production credit is used as proxy of the total expenditure. Farmer expectations with respect to crop prices are incorporated to the estimation based on the quasi‐rational expectation model. The output and input responses to the total expenditure are positive and statistically significant except for cotton, wheat, fertilizer, and pesticides. The short‐run output supply response to own prices is inelastic, except for wheat, which presents elastic response to its price. Acreage has a positive impact on the output supply and it is influenced by land productivity. The main conclusion is that farmers face budget restrictions to purchase inputs, and a government credit program might increase the agricultural supply.     

巴西的粮食生产和流通

２００２年８月１２日至９月２日,笔者随国家粮食局“粮食购销市场化条件下如何加强粮食宏观调控与管理”考察团赴巴西进行了考察。现将有关情况及体会概述如下：１巴西农业在其经济发展中占有重要地位巴西国土面积８５０多万km２现有耕地面积约７５００万hm２,全国人口１．６亿其中农业人口约３７００万,人均耕地约０．５hm２。其中粮食种植面积４０００万hm２左右,还有９０００万hm２宜垦土地尚未开发,农业和粮食发展潜力非常大。主要粮食品种是大豆、玉米、小麦、黑豆和稻谷。２００１年,大豆、玉米、稻谷、小麦产量分别为４２００…     

Rio reconstruction and flood prevention in Brazil

Until the Rio Flood Reconstruction and Prevention Project, disaster-related projects funded by the World Bank focused primarily on reconstruction, especially immediate, short-term recovery. The Rio de Janeiro project was notable as a targeted effort to reduce disaster vulnerability by promoting long-term multisectoral development strategies. It taught that reconstruction projects must address specific disaster vulnerabilities as well as cross-sectoral needs in Improving urban environmental management. The project represents a significant step towards developing a strategy for long-term prevention and mitigation of natural disasters and environmental degradation. It is also a good example of an effort to develop support for long-term environmental policies by strengthening indigenous managerial and planning capabilities—something that was not possible in short-term recovery projects.