Classical Swine Fever Changes the Way Farmers Value Pigs in South Africa

Although there is growing demand for animal products in Africa, production is stagnating. Appropriate management of livestock diversity could help reinvigorate production, contribute to food security and improve farmers’ livelihoods, particularly in subsistence‐oriented systems. We assess differences in farmers’ preferences and economic values for pig traits across different production systems and across areas that have been affected and unaffected by classical swine fever (CSF). Not surprisingly, market‐oriented farmers derived higher values from the productive traits such as heavy slaughter weight and large litter size found in exotic pig genotypes. Subsistence‐oriented farmers, particularly in swine fever affected areas, placed high value on tolerance to disease. We found that CSF changed farmers’ preferences for adaptive traits, and less so for productive traits. Therefore, indigenous breeds become more valuable for subsistence farmers and crossbreeds for market‐oriented farmers if CSF is a risk. Our results can have implications for breeding and conservation strategies and for compensation strategies after culling, and will become increasingly relevant if, as predicted, heat waves and disease outbreaks become more frequent in pig production systems in South Africa with climate change.     

Market intermediaries,storage and policy reforms

Intermediaries play a crucial role in the functioning of agricultural and food markets in developing countries through linking production, imports and storage with consumption. We analyse how competition in the intermediary sector and alternative forms of intermediaries determine the incentives for storage and market outcomes more generally. We apply this framework to the Egyptian wheat sector as an illustrative case study, a country where food security is a priority, where both forms of intermediaries co-exist and undertake storage but where issues of reforms to the role of intermediaries have been raised. Through stochastic simulation, we analyse two changes in government policy: first, the effects of changing the policy instruments with both types of intermediaries undertaking storage; second, relating to market reforms where the private sector replaces the storage function of the parastatal. These issues have wider significance for addressing the interaction between food security and a wide range of policy reforms including de-regulation of parastatals in developing countries.     

Conversion subsidies for organic production: results from Sweden and lessons for the United States

Organic conversion subsidies used in Europe are less likely to be politically acceptable in the United States, where organic agriculture development is market‐driven. Persistent barriers to conversion in the United States include limited availability of and access to production and market information, training in management systems and cost of conversion‐related investments. By determining whether these factors affect the requirement of a subsidy to convert, we can suggest whether U.S. policy makers need to provide subsidies to encourage conversion and identify policy variables consistent with market‐based approaches that could stimulate conversion. A utility difference model is used with Swedish data to analyze factors that determine whether a subsidy is required to motivate organic conversion. The results show that farmers requiring subsidies manage larger less‐diversified farms and are more concerned with organic inspection, quality, and adequacy of technical advice. Access to more market outlets and information sources substitutes for payment level in the farmer's utility function, indicating that services rather than subsidies may be used to encourage organic agriculture. To the extent that conditions are similar in the U.S. organic sector, market‐based programs such as cost‐sharing for conversion and market access improvement should stimulate growth of this industry.     

木竹制品价值链构成与林权改革影响分析——浙江安吉案例

采用价值链分析法,选定开展了林权改革的浙江省安吉县为例,针对其木、竹制品价值链上的培育和加工环节设计调查问卷并分别访谈。调查数据显示,木制品和竹制品价值链上从原料培育及初加工直至产成品各环节成本利润对比悬殊。分析其中的影响因素后发现,采伐政策是造成木、竹加工业培育和初加工环节利润悬殊的主要影响因素之一。     

林业低碳经济探讨

森林由于具有强大的碳汇功能而在发展低碳经济中得到重视。文章在分析发展林业低碳经济必要性的基础上,提出了林业低碳经济的概念,阐述了林业低碳经济的理论基础,从建设森林城市、低碳林区、低碳林业产业以及开发利用林业生物质能源、开展森林碳汇交易等5个方面提出了林业低碳经济的发展策略。     

碳交易政策对中国造纸业碳排放影响——基于合成控制法

基于中国16个造纸大省2003—2016年面板数据,利用合成控制法构造反事实虚拟控制组,分析碳交易政策对试点地区造纸业碳排放量的影响,并采用排序法检验评估结果稳健性。结果表明:由于地区碳市场环境不同,碳交易政策对造纸业减排效应具有区域异质性和不确定性。碳交易试点政策实施后,湖北试点的造纸业碳减排受到持续正向影响,随着时间的推移,该影响逐渐增大;重庆试点造纸业碳排放有短暂下降,但这种变动并非试点政策造成。