Rice in the Time of Sugar

Rice in the Time of Sugar

Author: Louis A. Pérez Jr.

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2019-03-28

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1469651432

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How did Cuba's long-established sugar trade result in the development of an agriculture that benefited consumers abroad at the dire expense of Cubans at home? In this history of Cuba, Louis A. Perez proposes a new Cuban counterpoint: rice, a staple central to the island's cuisine, and sugar, which dominated an export economy 150 years in the making. In the dynamic between the two, dependency on food imports—a signal feature of the Cuban economy—was set in place. Cuban efforts to diversify the economy through expanded rice production were met with keen resistance by U.S. rice producers, who were as reliant on the Cuban market as sugar growers were on the U.S. market. U.S. growers prepared to retaliate by cutting the sugar quota in a struggle to control Cuban rice markets. Perez's chronicle culminates in the 1950s, a period of deepening revolutionary tensions on the island, as U.S. rice producers and their allies in Congress clashed with Cuban producers supported by the government of Fulgencio Batista. U.S. interests prevailed—a success, Perez argues, that contributed to undermining Batista's capacity to govern. Cuba's inability to develop self-sufficiency in rice production persists long after the triumph of the Cuban revolution. Cuba continues to import rice, but, in the face of the U.S. embargo, mainly from Asia. U.S. rice growers wait impatiently to recover the Cuban market.


White Gold: The Commercialisation of Rice Farming in the Lower Mekong Basin

White Gold: The Commercialisation of Rice Farming in the Lower Mekong Basin

Author: Rob Cramb

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-01-03

Total Pages: 462

ISBN-13: 9811509980

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This open access book is about understanding the processes involved in the transformation of smallholder rice farming in the Lower Mekong Basin from a low-yielding subsistence activity to one producing the surpluses needed for national self-sufficiency and a high-value export industry. For centuries, farmers in the Basin have regarded rice as “white gold”, reflecting its centrality to their food security and well-being. In the past four decades, rice has also become a commercial crop of great importance to Mekong farmers, augmenting but not replacing its role in securing their subsistence. This book is based on collaborative research to (a) compare the current situation and trajectories of rice farmers within and between different regions of the Lower Mekong, (b) explore the value chains linking rice farmers with new technologies and input and output markets within and across national borders, and (c) understand the changing role of government policies in facilitating the on-going evolution of commercial rice farming. An introductory section places the research in geographical and historical context. Four major sections deal in turn with studies of rice farming, value chains, and policies in Northeast Thailand, Central Laos, Southeastern Cambodia, and the Mekong Delta. The final section examines the implications for rice policy in the region as a whole.


Gender and Representation in Latin America

Gender and Representation in Latin America

Author: Leslie A. Schwindt-Bayer

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-01-04

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0190851252

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In the past thirty years, women's representation and gender equality has developed unevenly in Latin America. Some countries have experienced large increases in gender equality in political offices, whereas others have not, and even within countries, some political arenas have become more gender equal whereas others continue to exude intense gender inequality. These patterns are inconsistent with explanations of social and cultural improvements in gender equality leading to improved gender equality in political office. Gender and Representation in Latin America argues instead that gender inequality in political representation in Latin America is rooted in institutions and the democratic challenges and political crises facing Latin American countries and that these challenges matter for the number of women and men elected to office, what they do once there, how much power they gain access to, and how their presence and actions influence democracy and society more broadly. The book draws upon the expertise of top scholars of women, gender, and political institutions in Latin America to analyze the institutional and contextual causes and consequences of women's representation in Latin America. It does this in part 1 with chapters that analyze gender and political representation regionwide in each of five different "arenas of representation"-the presidency, cabinets, national legislatures, political parties, and subnational governments. In part 2, it provides chapters that analyze gender and representation in each of seven different countries-Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia. The authors bring novel insights and impressive new data to their analyses, helping to make this one of the most comprehensive books on gender and political representation in Latin America today.


The Rice Crisis

The Rice Crisis

Author: David Dawe

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-07-26

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 1136530398

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The recent escalation of world food prices – particularly for cereals - prompted mass public indignation and demonstrations in many countries, from the price of tortilla flour in Mexico to that of rice in the Philippines and pasta in Italy. The crisis has important implications for future government trade and food security policies, as countries re-evaluate their reliance on potentially more volatile world markets to augment domestic supplies of staple foods. This book examines how government policies caused and responded to soaring world prices in the particular case of rice, which is the world's most important source of calories for the poor. Comparable case studies of policy reactions in different countries, principally across Asia, but also including the USA, provide the understanding necessary to evaluate the impact of trade policy on the food security of poor farmers and consumers. They also provide important insights into the concerns of developing countries that are relevant for future international trade negotiations in key agricultural commodities. As a result, more appropriate policies can be put in place to ensure more stable food supplies in the future. Published with the Food and Agriculture (FAO) Organization of the United Nations


Lao People's Democratic Republic

Lao People's Democratic Republic

Author: Paavo Eliste

Publisher: Fao

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13:

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"The results of this study confirm the continuing structural transformation of the Lao rice sector which started a decade ago. To some extent, the sector transformations being led by inter related factors not strictly related to government rice sector policies, including: (i) continued GDP growth led by mineral and hydropower exports; (ii) increasing job opportunities in the non-tradable, non-agricultural sector, and in neighboring countries, associated with increasing incomes; (iii) increasing shortages of farm labour and an ageing farm population; (iv) increasing urbanization and related changes in food consumption patterns; and (v) stabilization of aggregate national rice consumption as a result of a declining population growth rate and gradual diversification of diets away from rice as a source of calories. Furthermore, emergence of new private sector driven export crops. The current situation, which decouples rice sector-related government policies between farm and post-farm, each governed by different sector line ministries, may no longer be efficient. The growth in the number of commercially-oriented rice farmers as shown by the 2010 agriculture census data means that investments in further productivity improvements need to be well articulated with measures to sustain a sound market environment and this has trade policy implications."--Publisher's description.


Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2019

Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2019

Author: OECD

Publisher: OECD Publishing

Published: 2019-07-01

Total Pages: 476

ISBN-13: 9264834974

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This annual report monitors and evaluates agricultural policies spanning all 6 continents, including the 36 OECD countries, the 6 non-OECD EU Member States, and 12 emerging economies. It is a unique source of up-to date estimates of support to agriculture using a comprehensive system of measuring and classifying support to agriculture – the Producer and Consumer Support Estimates (PSEs and CSEs), the General Services Support Estimate (GSSE) and related indicators – which provide insight into the increasingly complex nature of agricultural policy and serve as a basis for OECD’s agricultural policy monitoring and evaluation.


Case Studies in Food Policy for Developing Countries: Institutions and international trade policies

Case Studies in Food Policy for Developing Countries: Institutions and international trade policies

Author: Per Pinstrup-Andersen

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9780801475566

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"The food problems now facing the world-scarcity and starvation, contamination and illness, overabundance and obesity-are both diverse and complex. What are their causes? How severe are they? Why do they persist? What are the solutions? The authors of the more than sixty international case studies contained in these books approach the food system with a multidisciplinary perspective. In three volumes that serve as valuable teaching tools, they call upon the wisdom of disciplines including economics, nutrition, sociology, anthropology, environmental science, medicine, and geography to create a holistic picture of the state of the world's food systems today. The authors focus in on specific cases from all corners of the globe to cover topics including drought and soil conservation; land allocation and cooperative marketing efforts; and food safety measures and advertising policies. In documenting past successes and failures, these case studies provide a valuable foundation for future research and efforts to create truly successful and sustainable food policy."--Pub. desc.