Food, Agriculture, and Rural Development
Food, Agriculture, and Rural Development

Author: Kostas G. Stamoulis

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 9789251045664

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The present publication contains four in-depth reviews on current and emerging issues in the economic analysis of food, agriculture and rural development, written by well-known scholars in the field. The selection of the issues for in-depth review was the result of a survey conducted among FAO staff involved in policy assistance activities in the main developing regions. Thus, the choice reflects their and, by extension, the policy-makers' perception as to the main research priorities in the economic analysis of agriculture, rural development, poverty and food security

Food, Agriculture, and Rural Development
Food, Agriculture, and Rural Development

Author: Benjamin Davis

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 9789251049983

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"This publication is part of the CUREMIS series (current and emerging issues for economic analysis and policy research) of FAO regional reviews on economic and policy aspects of food and agriculture. This volume focuses on the Latin America and the Caribbean and contains four reports on: new institutions for agricultural and rural development; the changing role of women in the rural economy; innovative policy instruments and evaluation in rural and agricultural development; and rural space and territorial dimension of development in the MERCOSUR countries (a Common Market agreement between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay)."--FAO.

Migration, local off-farm employment, and agricultural production efficiency
Migration, local off-farm employment, and agricultural production efficiency

Author: Yang, Jin

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2014-04-04

Total Pages: 24

ISBN-13:

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This paper studies the effect of local off-farm employment and migration on rural households’ technical efficiency of crop production using a five-year panel dataset from more than 2,000 households in five Chinese provinces. While there is not much debate about the positive contribution of migration and local off-farm employment to China’s economy, there is an increasing concern about the potential negative effects of moving labor away from agriculture on China’s future food security. This is a critical issue as maintaining self-sufficiency in grain production will be critical for China to feed its huge population in the future. Several papers have studied the impact of migration on production and yield with mixed results. But the impact of migration on technical efficiency is rarely studied. Methodologically, we incorporate the correlated random-effects approach into the standard stochastic production frontier model to control for unobservable that are correlated with migration and off-farm employment decisions and technical efficiency. The most consistent result that emerged from our econometric analysis is that neither migration nor local off-farm employment has a negative effect on the technical efficiency of grain production, which does not support the widespread notion that vast-scale labor migration could negatively affect China’s future food security.

Climate Change and Agriculture
Climate Change and Agriculture

Author: Robert O. Mendelsohn

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2009-01-01

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1849802238

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The specific focus of this seminal work is on the economic impact of climate change on agriculture world wide, and how faced with the resultant environmental alterations, agriculture might adapt under varied and varying conditions. Enhanced with a detailed and comprehensive index, Climate Change and Agriculture is highly recommended for academic library environmental studies and economic studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists. The Midwest Book Review Despite its great importance, there are surprisingly few economic studies of the impact of climate on agriculture and how agriculture can adapt under a variety of conditions. This book examines 22 countries across four continents, including both developed and developing economies. It provides both a good analytical basis for additional work and solid results for policy debate concerning income distributional effects such as abatement, adaptation, and equity. Agriculture and grazing are a central sector in the livelihood of many people, particularly in developing countries. This book uses the Ricardian method to examine the impact of climate change on agriculture. It also quantifies how farmers adapt to climate. The findings suggest that agriculture in developing countries is more sensitive to climate than agriculture in developed countries. Rain-fed cropland is generally more sensitive to warming than irrigated cropland and cropland is more sensitive than livestock. The adaptation to climate change results reveal that farmers make many adjustments including switching crops and livestock species, adopting irrigation, and moving between livestock and crops. The results also reveal that impacts and adaptations vary a great deal across landscapes, suggesting that adaptation policies must be location specific. Finally, the book suggests a research agenda for the future. Economists in academia and the public sector, policy analysts and development agencies will find this broad study illuminating.

Determinants of Off-farm Employment Among Oregon Farm Households
Determinants of Off-farm Employment Among Oregon Farm Households

Author: Krishna K. P. Rauniyar

Publisher:

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13:

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An investigation was conducted to determine the impact of economic and non-economic factors on the off-farm work efforts of Oregon farm husbands and wives. A total of 283 Oregon farm households (with husbands and wives) were randomly selected from lists of persons deferring taxes for farm purposes, obtained from County Assessors' offices in each of eight randomly selected counties. Counties with larger number of farms had a higher probability of being selected. Data came from an Oregon State University Agricultural Experiment Station study conducted during 1988-89. The empirical findings from the maximum likelihood Tobit model showed plausible directional impacts. Off-farm wage rate, the basis of a reduced labor supply model, was the key variable in explaining off-farm work. Wives' off-farm work response to off-farm wage was more elastic when compared to husbands' off-farm work. Additional significant variables to affect either or both husbands' and wives' total off-farm work were total farm debt, husband's age, education, urban/rural location of farm, net farm income, age-square, farm life satisfaction, and total family income before tax. Education was positively related to off-farm work only for wives. Results also indicate that high levels of net farm income as well as farm debt reduce the likelihood and extent of off-farm work. The location of the farm closer in proximity to metropolitan areas, was a significant factor in increased off-farm work hours. Farm life satisfaction was negatively significant for both wives and husbands. The effect of farm life satisfaction was more prominent for wives than for husbands. Total family income was significant and negatively related to wives' off-farm work but not husbands, indicating that women may be more sensitive to a choice for leisure or household work and the motivation for husbands' off-farm work may be higher. Despite a substantial incidence of low profitability and low farm income from farming and some unhappiness and hard work, these farmers generally reported a high level of satisfaction with their farming operations. Any policy implications based on the findings of this study must be cautiously interpreted based on farm types and the work motivation of farmers in Oregon.