Ethiopia's Coffee Sector: A Bitter or Better Future?

Coffee, Ethiopia's largest export crop, is the backbone of the Ethiopian economy. The Ethiopian coffee sector is highly dependent on international prices and affected by the structure and workings of the world coffee market. In this context, this paper seeks to identify what can be done in Ethiopia to improve the performance of the sector so as to yield benefits for the government and the estimated 15 million people dependent on coffee in the country. The paper argues that despite a limited room for manoeuvre, Ethiopia has not yet fully exploited its position as the producer of some of the best coffees in the world. A number of competitive advantages may still be seized if quality and consistency are guaranteed. In order to maximize this potential, and on the basis of a critical analysis of government policies and donor interventions in the sector, a number of recommendations are made.     

How do producer organisations enhance farmers’ empowerment in the context of fair trade certification?

ABSTRACT

In the fair trade (FT) coffee sector, collective dynamics are viewed as a prerequisite for empowerment. The question of whether and how collective organisations empower farmers in the context of FT has yet to be fully explored. Using the concepts of collective agency and empowerment, this paper analyses the case of four farmers’ groups involved in two FT certified producer organisations in Peru. The results show that collective dynamics are drivers of change in this context oand help provide a ‘power to’ change coffee-related activities. They also generate a sense of ‘power with’, which improves group visibility and capacity to build new partnerships. Farmers gain the opportunity to develop their livelihood activities and women farmers develop ‘power from within’. TDespite that, collective action still focuses primarily on coffee and members-only projects. Inclusive rural development depends on extending ‘power with’ to other agricultural domains and to networks in the social and economic spheres.     

大兴安岭国有森工林区产业价值链分析

对价值链、林业产业价值链的概念进行了界定,利用产业价值链的分析方法论述大兴安岭国有森工林区产业的发展,重点分析第三产业的现状及存在的问题:森林资源短缺、经营管理理念落后、绿色食品总体规模小,知名品牌少,等等。提出扩展大兴安岭国有森工林区价值链的对策与措施:加强森林资源培育,确保森林的可持续发展;培育龙头企业,实现强强联合;整合生态旅游与绿色食品业,实现两者共赢;加强绿色食品品牌建设,扩大市场份额;合理开发利用林下资源,规范发展多种经营等,这样才能延伸大兴安岭国有林区的产业价值链,加快林区经济的发展。     

贸易受益与汇率

多数教科书的相关理论都暗含着这样一个假设：汇率决定贸易受益的分配，而不是贸易受益的绝对水平。由于汇率不影响一国的相对价格，因此贸易结构和相应的贸易受益也不受影响。然而，汇率确实影响贸易条件和受益的分配，但相反却是中性的。本文将运用一个简单的两国、两种商品模型来说明贸易受益的分配（以国内货币计算）取决于发起贸易的国家。如果没有一个国家发起贸易，那么贸易受益则只意味着汇率。考虑到货币可兑换性，贸易结构将潜在地受到影响，货币的流动可能充当第三种“转移”商品的作用。由于外国货币都有一定的国内价值，在贸易框架内它就成为第三种商品，贸易受益就可能超过简单的两种商品、两个国家的情况。有趣的是，在货币可兑换的情况下，两种商品模型中的隐形汇率和双边贸易是不一致的。最后，本文认为文中建立的简单模型说明了汇率并不能平衡通货（或转移商品）的流动，同时仍然保留着可兑换性。     

Factors Influencing Organic and Fair Trade Coffee Growers Level of Engagement with Cooperatives: The Case of Coffee Farmers in Mexico

We study the factors influencing the percentage of organic and fair trade certified coffee sold through a cooperative by growers of five cooperatives in Mexico. The percentage of coffee sold through the cooperative was used as a proxy of growers’ engagement with a cooperative. Using factor analysis and a fractional probit regression, we evaluated the proposition that the level of engagement can be explained by transaction cost economics, social norms and connections, and farmer and farm business characteristics. We found that farm size, uncertainty regarding cooperative time of payment to the members and cooperative commitment on price to be paid negatively influence the level of engagement. In contrast, asset specificity, relational commitment, and price have a positive impact on engagement. Our results may help cooperatives and policy makers to build strategies aiming to increase this level of engagement. This is relevant because lower grower engagement has been found to be positively correlated with weak performing cooperatives.     

Creating Value in the Supply Chain for Australian Farmed Barramundi: Whole of Chain Perspective

This article investigates 4 key areas of supply chain management to identify opportunities to create value for Australian farmed barramundi. These key areas are product attributes, material flow, information flow, and relationships. This exploratory study forms the first stage of a value chain mapping study. Based on data gathered from 13 in-depth interviews, 7 with farmers and 6 with wholesalers/retailers, a preliminary map of the value chain for Australian farmed barramundi was developed. From a producer perspective, 3 key issues emerged: lack of collaboration, inconsistency of product quality, and lack of knowledge of what consumers value. Although wholesalers/retailers identify product consistency as a key issue, they further identify product dumping and the growth of imports as areas of major concern. These findings laid the foundation for strategy development at both the individual and industry level. The insights from this case highlight the value of chain analyses as a diagnostic tool for strategy development.     

粮食产业价值链提升与绿色储粮

粮食产业的核心竞争力是延伸粮食产业链、提升价值链和打造供应链,三链协同发展对于粮食产业的发展有着重大的意义,而三链之中的核心是提升粮食价值链."微笑曲线"中提升价值链的关键之一就是技术,而绿色储粮是粮食技术方面的一个关键点.文章以"微笑曲线"和"绿色储粮"为理论基础,论述了绿色储粮技术对提升粮食产业价值链的重要性.     

Grassroots innovations in the informal economy: insights from value theory

ABSTRACT

The scholarship on innovation hitherto has prioritized exchange value, scalability and large scale commercialization, overlooking the other significant human centric values discussed in 'value theory'. Consequently, innovations in the informal economy are often undermined due to their inability to generate exchange values. This paper identifies and examines the suitability of the nuanced set of values discussed in value theory for informal sector grassroots innovations. Based on ten years of ethnographic research in different parts of Jammu and Kashmir in India, we find that these innovations generate a diverse set of values, ranging from use value to socially embedded reciprocal exchange value to different forms of relational and non-relational intrinsic values. At a juncture when strengthening alternative innovation approaches occupies a priority, these findings have important bearing on innovation policy scholarship.     

海南芒果产业链现状研究

芒果产品价值高,经济效益好,是典型的高效特色农业。芒果加工不仅可以做到全年供应国内市场和出口创汇,取得良好的直接经济效益,而且还有利于改善和满足城乡广大群众常年对各种水果的生活需求。对海南省芒果产业链运行的现状和存在的问题进行分析与研究,提出完善海南芒果产业链的发展对策。     

人民币实际有效汇率变动对我国木质家具出口贸易影响

汇率是一个国家进行国际经济活动时最重要的综合性价格指标。在经济全球化这一新形势下,出口贸易作为带动经济增长、合理配置资源、引进先进技术和设备及经营理念的有效手段,对促进我国经济迅猛发展具有重要作用。基于迅速发展的我国木质家具出口贸易,汇率变动对其影响越发显著,因此认清这一影响以规避汇率风险则势在必行。     

基于价值链-价值流分析的成本控制探讨

将价值链价值流分析方法引入产品成本控制中,阐述了该方法的原理和优势以及企业应采取的措施,并分析了信息系统在基于该方法的成本控制中的作用。     

中国木材产品贸易及其对林业的影响

以木材产品贸易对林业的影响为核心,对木材产品的进口和出口情况进行详细的统计分析,并运用弹性理论分析林业产值对木材产品进口和出口的敏感度,以此来初步证明木材产品贸易对林业的影响。研究表明,原木、锯材、刨花板、木家具、纸和纸制品的进口敏感度均高于木材总产品的进口敏感度1.382,尤其以刨花板和木家具的敏感度最大,为136.018,说明这些产品的进口额变化对林业产值变化的影响非常显著,进口额增加1%,将使林业产值成倍地增长。     

Property taxation and rural land values: Their effect on private forestland ownership structure in Texas

The objective of this study was to estimate the effect of property tax and rural land market value on the ownership structure of private forestland in Texas. Using county-level panel data in an Instrumental Variable regression framework, we estimated the effect of property tax rate and rural land value on two measures of ownership fragmentation: the total number of private forest landowners and the average size of private forest holdings. The results indicate that after controlling for the total amount of private forest area in a county, both property tax rates and rural land values increased ownership fragmentation. However, the rate of ownership fragmentation was relatively inelastic in both property tax rate and rural land value. While further restructuring local property tax rates might minimize the negative effect on private ownership dynamics, policy instruments that decrease the disparity between productivity value and market value of rural forestland might be needed to check the ongoing ownership fragmentation in Texas and elsewhere in the United States.