Articles

• The Investigation of Factors Influencing the Market Prices of Agricultural Land in Hungary

  5-10

  Zsuzsanna Tóth-Naár Tóth-Naár

  Pál Ádám Sőreg

  Tamás Antal Naár

  Sergey A. Vinogradov

  Views:

  150

  The role of land (as the basis and the resource of agricultural production) is the most significant among the resources of production. The ownership of land, its use, the issue of its price and value, they have been key problems of political, social, legal and economic decisions. There were theoretical and practical experts throughout the world, and we intensively have to deal with the issue of land evaluation. In our research using empirical data collection and statistical methods, we examined not only the factors have influenced on land prices, but its effect as well.

  We have proven that the „golden crown”-based land evaluation system (golden crown is a measurement unit of the quality of agricultural land in Hungary) can show the land quality differences even today, but in spite of this, the results of calculations (and also the practice) increasingly justify and urge the necessity of the introduction of a modern land evaluation system.

  namese professionals graduated in Hungary, the reputation and popularity of Hungarian agricultural products and technologies, the achievements of R&D in the field of agriculture – could not be utilized from Hungarian side. Vietnam, however still preserved its socialist political establishment,but in terms of its economic development strategy and economic policy has gradually been standing on the basis of market orientation. Vietnam, with its population of ninety million shows a rapid and successful development and it means good opportunities even for Hungarian entrepreneurs.

  It would be a mistake to leave these potentials unused.

  JEL Classification: Q10, Q24, Q30

  PDF

  171

• Structural Breaks or Continuous Adjustments in Grain Production and Prices 1961-2014? An Explorative Study

  11-22

  Torun Fretheim

  Views:

  163

  This article analyses grain production and prices 1961-2014. We first describe the development in aggregated and relative allocation of land worldwide for wheat, corn and soybeans, and the growth in production volumes and yields. We then proceed by analyzing long-term price relationships. Finding that grain prices are strongly co-integrated, we estimate an Error Correction Model to see whether deviations from the long-run equilibrium are quickly adjusted. Furthermore, we investigate whether changes in land allocations for these principal field crops are best described as a continuous process or as a series of structural breaks, hypothesizing that events like the introduction of GM technologies and the “energizing” of corn after 2005 caused structural breaks in acreage shares and relative prices. Given the major and sometimes dramatic political events and technological changes during this period,one would expect to find significant structural breaks in grain production, yields and prices. However, our main conclusion is that grain markets generally adjust smoothly and continuously. Prices adjust quickly towards long-run equilibrium, and the results from a series of Chow tests indicate that the changes in relative land allocations have progressed as a relatively smooth process with few structural breaks.

  JEL Classification: O13, Q10, N50

  PDF

  155

• Urban Food Crop Farming and Farm Households’ Food Security Status in Oyo State, Nigeria

  23-28

  David Tobi Olaleye

  Abiodun Elijah Obayelu

  Omotoso Oluseye Ogunmola

  Views:

  184

  Food production and supply has been on the decline in Nigeria with a consequent impact on household food security. This study examined the influence of urban farming on household food security in Oyo State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 159 farm households in a cross-sectional survey. Structured questionnaire was used to obtain data on socio-economic characteristics, determine the food security status of urban crop farming households in the study area, and examine the effects of urban crop production on households’ food security status. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics while the statistical tools were Food Security Index (FSI) and Probit Regression Model (PRM). Results revealed that 84.9% of the respondents was male, 81.2% married. The average age, household size, and farm size were 49.6 years, 6 persons, 1.1 hectares respectively. Most (75.5%) of the respondents did not have access to consumption credit and 62.3% did not belong to any farmers association. Based on minimum daily energy requirement per adult equivalent of N230.8, 90.6% of the farm households was food secure.

  The PRM showed that age (β = -0.1, p<0.05), household size (β= -0.4, p<0.01) and economic efficiency (β = -61.6, p<0.05) reduced the probability of household food security while access to consumption credit (β= 1.7, p<0.05) and allocative efficiency (β = 67.9, p<0.05) increased the probability of household food security. The study concluded that urban farming significantly influence household food security.

  JEL Classification: Q11

  PDF

  176

• Fresh Produce Retail Price Comparisons in Trinidad and Tobago

  29-34

  C. W. Ardon Iton

  Govind Seepersad

  Views:

  158

  As the competitive landscape of the food and grocery retailing sector in Trinidad and Tobago is being transformed and consumers are separated from producers, shoppers are more reliant on price/quality cues in making their purchase decisions. The purpose of this study is to identify the retail outlet with the lowest and or highest price for a selected number of fresh produce items, in an effort to direct shoppers to relatively cheap nutritious sources of fresh produce. ANOVA and the Games-Howell test were the analytical procedures used. The ANOVA results indicated that there is statistical difference for all the items at the different retail outlets – farmers’ markets, roadside markets, public markets and supermarkets.

  The Games-Howell results obtained indicated that the supermarket mean prices were the highest for all items. Shoppers who purchased pineapple at the farmer’s market instead of the supermarket in 2016 could have potentially achieved the greatest savings of $6.52/kg.

  JEL Classification: C12, Q13, M31

  PDF

  180

• Ownership Structures within Hungarian Family Businesses – Theories and Practice

  35-40

  Júlia Tobak

  Views:

  246

   

  We can talk about family business if the notions of family, ownership and business are closely connected to each other, namely if the business is in the possession of the family, managed and controlled by the family members. A family owned company is a business where a family has the majority ownership and/or the majority management and at least one family member actively works in the firm, the family owns the business. The study contains the results of research on ownership structure of family owned businesses. The examined family businesses are interested in longterm preservation of values, thus succession of generations plays a key role in their case. They attaches great importance how the ownership structure develops. The methotology to know more about the ownership structure of family businesses 11 expert interviews were made between november 2016 and september 2017 with owners and next generations of family owned agri-food enterprises in Hungary. A case study has been prepared too in this topic with the participation of companies with different activities (production, service, trade). In order to classify the analysed companies six categories of ownership were developed. These are non-owner, emotional owner, partial owner, controlling owner, majority owner and exclusive/ sole owner. Each generation of the analysed FBs were classified to these categories. According to the results the analysed family owned companies even are sharing the property within family. There are only two interviewed companies whose case we can talk about exclusive/sole ownership.

  JEL Classification: G32

  PDF

  235

• Learning Motivations, Styles and Expectations of Students – a Survey at the University of Debrecen

  41-46

  Tímea Gál

  Peter Popovics

  Georgina Árváné Ványi

  Views:

  250

  Based on the experience of the authors, today's university students have different learning habits, expectations of learning and knowledge compared to previous generations. This raises the question of how traditional teaching, teaching methods effectively suited to their development. In this study, the authors examined with quantitative method the expectations of bachelor and master students concerning the business education at university. The survey was conducted among university students assessing whether students with different BSc/BA or MSc/MA majors show the willingness to continue their studies, and the authors were interested in their expectations concerning the business higher education. The authors also tried to find answers in the survey how well-prepared the students feel for the offered opportunities by today's market environment, or may prefer proceeding with their studies. Among the issues authors searched what are the most effective ways of learning for them, based on learning style, what motivates them to continue learning. What kind of education form is preferred by them to continue studying? They also respond the need of having theoretical and practical knowledge and the importance of developing practical life skills. In addition, it has also been surveyed what other expectations the students have in continuing their studies with regard to the institutions. The authors of this paper are working as team coaches at the Team Academy Debrecen. In the last six years, they worked with numerous teams and have experiences in developing students' skills in teams.

  JEL Classification: A22

  PDF

  255

• Assessing Readiness Levels of Production Technologies for Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture

  47-52

  Mariusz Maciejczak

  Janis Faltmann

  Views:

  244

  The modern agricultural production is facing the problem of a growing society connected with the growing asking for food as well as different environmental threats. To solve this issue, agricultural production should be more sustainable and efficient which can be reached by using new technologies. In the paper the most important technologies, which were evaluated by different research methods to find how and when they could be used for a sustainable intensification of agriculture were highlighted by applying technology and market readiness models. By asking professionals from different fields of agriculture in practice as well as academia it was found that technologies that collect or utilize advanced data (sensors, drones) used for knowledge based management are more applicable for use, contrary to nanotechnologies where the costs of development and applications limits the readiness.

  JEL Classification: Q16

  PDF

  236

• The Role of „Handball At School” Program in Ability Development and Replenishment Training

  53-60

  Anetta Müller

  István Juhász

  Eszter Boda

  Melinda Biró

  Zsuzsa Nagy

  Views:

  228

  In Hungary the undisputable merit of TAO subsidy is realized in replenishment training, human resource development and development of sports infrastructure. The other important base of replenishment development is „Handball at School” programme managed by Hungarian Handball Federation. „Handball at School” programme was launched in relation to every-day physical education and we undertook the skills-building role of its impact assessment. A survey programme was organised by us in the autumn and spring semesters of 2015/ 2016 academic year aiming to prove that project has positive effect on aiming accuracy and performance stability results of pupils, as well as their precision of technical implemetation. 183 pupils were examined who had two sponge-handball lessons a week out of their 5 physical education lessons. When choosing the pilot scenes it was considered important to get Budapest, Easternand Western Hungary also involved. To examine aiming accuracy two tests were applied. One is „throwing at a target from throwing straddle without previous swing” performed by the pupils. The children were expected to hit the small box five times with right technical implementation meaning that it was done with lifted elbow. After the first implementation they were given some time to relax and the the shots were repeated five times again. The children were asked another task to perform, a similar one to the first, but it had to be performed from running up, that is they ran back from a line, took the sponge ball, ran back to the line and had to hit the small box again with lifted elbow. At this task several aspects were noted and measured again: the time needed for implementation, target accuracy and also whether the technical implementation of the throw was accurate.

  JEL Classification: I21, Z28

  PDF

  335

• Determinants of Mongolian Economic Growth

  61-66

  Batchimeg Bayaraa

  Views:

  311

  Mongolia is the second largest landlocked country, which has unique economic condition. This paper aims to examine Mongolian economic growth from 2000 until 2016 and identify its determinants. The growth was studied based on the growth rate of National Domestic Product. Initially, 20 macroeconomic variables are chosen and tested for the economic growth determinators such as; unemployment rate, human capital index, import growth, inflation rate, export growth, and interest rate, etc. The results showed that the growth rate of dollar exchange, inflation rate, and the growth rate of export were the main factors (81.4%). Mongolian GDP per capita and poverty rate were compared with other Asian lower-middle-economies, which are classified in the same classification as Mongolia. An increment of average salary was adjusted by the inflation rate, which showed the purchasing power declined in 2015. Statistics of Central Bank of Mongolia, Central Intelligence Agency, World Bank’s statistics, and the statistics from National Statistics Office of Mongolia are used for the research.

  JEL Classification: H0, H30, H6, H70

  PDF

  243

• Smallholder Food Marketing Behaviour: Exploring the Role of Informal Credit and Traders in Stabilization of Food Crop Prices

  67-82

  Proscovia Renzaho Ntakyo

  Marrit van den Berg

  Views:

  132

  Many farmers in Africa sell their produce at low prices immediately after harvest because they need cash. They could solve temporary liquidity constraints by use of credit and store their produce to sell when prices are high. However, due to various reasons such many poor farmers have been excluded from formal financial services. In response, the informal financial market has expanded, but the question why informal credit has not facilitated storage to enable farmers benefit from intertemporal arbitrage opportunities remains largely unanswered. To answer this question, we investigate the role of informal credit markets and traders in stabilizing seasonal food crop prices. Our analysis is based on a household survey data, and in-depth interviews with key players in the informal credit market and grain traders in rural southwestern Uganda. We find that community-based self-help savings and credit associations provide credit for the majority (62%) of farmers. Informal credit still excludes the very poor and is not sufficient to enable farmers benefit from intertemporal arbitrage opportunities. Thus, poor farmers continue to ‘sell low and buy high’. The study also addresses a related fundamental aspect of food marketing: why is there no competition between traders bidding up prices after harvest and eliminating seasonal price fluctuations? We analyse traders’ costs and profit structure in the study area, and shed some light on imperfections in the grain market and the barriers that limit competition between traders. We find that grain trade is not highly competitive. High transaction costs and limited access to credit are the main barriers limiting competition. Supporting community-based self-help savings and credit associations to raise their portfolio can enable more farmers to borrow at the same time. Investing in infrastructure, organising and supporting small scale farmers to bulk their produce might lower transaction costs, promote competition and dampen price fluctuations.

  JEL Classification: D53, O13, O16, Q12, Q13

  PDF

  170

• Free Trade Agreement: Impacts on the Costa Rican Dairy Market

  83-90

  Víctor Rodriguez-Lizano

  Mercedes Montero-Vega

  Javier Paniagua-Molina

  Views:

  194

  According to the Free Trade Agreement with Central America, Dominican Republic and United States signed in 2008, milk import tariff reliefs will stagger down from 59,4% to 0% by 2025. This study determined milk demand and supply curves in the Costa Rican domestic market. Several variables and two different models were conducted to estimate milk demand and supply: Ordinary Least Squares and Two Stages Least Square simultaneous equations. In both cases, demand was estimated by income and milk prices as independent variables; while supply was estimated by input and milk prices. Nonetheless, the best fit was obtained by TSLS model because it accounts for endogeneity among price and quantity. Based on this model, if domestic prices are supposed to decrease due to increasing quantities of imported lower-priced milk, then national demand would increase (9% average) and national production is expected to decrease (26% average). The gap between national milk demand and supply is expected to be filled by milk imported from United States; assuming 0% tariff, no transaction costs and constant share of exports within national production.

  JEL Classification: F1, Q17

  PDF

  177

• Integration Efforts in Agriculture

  91-96

  Judit Beke Lisányi

  Views:

  175

  The economic and political transition brought many challenges for the Hungarian agricultural sector. The break-up of large agricultural holdings had serious negative impacts on food production and on the export of agricultural products. Capital intensive profit-seeking intermediaries dominate the trading of agricultural goods that has injurious effects in terms of downward pressure on production prices and an increase in consumer prices. Cooperatives have a key role in effectively tackling the common challenges that small-scale producers have to face. More vertical integration along the food chain could contribute to providing rural employment and to an increase in living standards in rural areas. This study reviews the development, the specific features and the driving forces of modern cooperatives in Central Europe in general, and in Hungary in particular. The focus is on the integrator role of cooperatives and their future role in our globalised world.

  JEL Classification: Q10, Q13

  PDF

  406

• Subsidies are Potential Sources of Profitable Management – Their Payment Between 2010 and 2016

  97-120

  Bence Jávor

  András Nábrádi

  Sándor Kukovics

  Views:

  205

  Based on the allocations and distributions of subsidies in the sheep sector in the previous years (2004-2009), the authors examined the sum of aids claimed and paid from 2010 to 2016 and their farm-size related changes. The following data were collected from the Agricultural and Rural Development Institute on payments under specific subsidy titles, classified by sheep and goat farm sizes: 0-50; 51-100, 101-200, 201-300 and also 0-100, 101-300, 301-500, 501-1000, 1001-5000 and above 5000. Data procession was carried out by the SPSS for Windows 22 program. The size and population of the examined sheep sector underwent visible changes during the studied years leading to a reduction rather than growth. Their analysis highlights that size distribution of sheep farms has changed significantly in recent years, combined with simultaneous modifications of their sheep stock sizes in production. Their conclusions suggest that effects of years and farm sizes in the sheep and goat sector have considerably modified the aid sums paid under different titles.

  JEL Classification: H5, Q14

  PDF

  49