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Economic modelling and analysis of Hungarian wheat production in the marketing year 2011
63-67Views:355In the framework of the present study I analysed the wheat production sector. In order to evaluate the situation prevailing in the sector I conducted an economic analysis which I based on primary data collection. The year of investigation was the production year of 2011. Long-term implications for different crop sectors can only be based on multi-annual analysis, so in this article I only attempted to analyse the sector with respect to 2011. To evaluate wheat production I compiled its cost structure and assessed it. To evaluate its position in comparison to other crops I also carried out calculations to determine the gross margin (revenue minus variable cost)1 By gross margin I mean the gross margin (C), which is production value (PV) minus direct cost (DC), by definition (C=P-DC). of maize and rape. I observed that the gross margin attainable on one hectare was the lowest in the case of wheat. I applied two types of gross margin, because I consider it important that a given sector should also be profitable without subsidies. In the case of the gross margin including subsidies it is essential to emphasize the role of subsidies, since their ratio varied between 30 and 47% of the total revenue. The importance of subsidies was the most significant in the case of winter wheat.
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Resource use efficiency among rice farmers around fragile ecosystems: evidence from Kilombero Wetland, Tanzania
77-88Views:434Farmers have been encroaching fragile wetlands as a strategy to increase their rice production thus threatening wetlands’ existence and capacity to other critical ecosystem services. This calls for efficient production to strike the balance between food rice production and wetlands’ sustainable existence. The current study sought to provide assess rice farmers’ technical efficiency of resource use by detecting the determinants of rice yield and further identify the determinants of technical efficiency of the resources used by rice farmers in Kilombero wetland. A cross-sectional survey of 145 randomly sampled farmers aided in achieving the study objective. A stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model was used to analyze data. The mean technical efficiency among farmers was at 60.54% level. The positive determinants of rice yield were land and fertilizers while labor influenced it negatively. Age, education, farming experience, group membership, and credit access reduced inefficiency while the distance to the extension agent and off-farm income increased farmers’ inefficiency. The study concludes that there is a possibility of expanding rice production without threatening the wetland’s existence. It recommends that government and other stakeholders to ensure that rice farmers are up-to-date with optimal use of fertilizers in rice production since it will assist in improving rice yield while the rate of expansion of rice lands in the wetlands will lower. Policy implementers ought to establish initiatives that inspire rice farmers to capitalize on farmer groups and join education programs to take full advantage of their potential efficiency and might participate in community development activities.
JEL code: Q15
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The marketing strategies of Serbian honey producers
27-31Views:354Serbian honey producers are exposed to the increased international competition of recent years. To face up to the new changes, producers are progressively using diversification strategies, such as direct sales and production diversification. The direct sales strategy allows the producers to increase the product added value, while diversification aims to offer new products to the consumers. The aim of this paper is to analyse the honey marketing strategy of Serbian honey producers. The first part of the paper analyses the structure of production costs, production performances as well as the determinants of the honey supply. In the second part of the paper, analysis is focused on the determinants of direct sales. Finally, in the third part of the paper, diversification strategies are discussed. The data for this research has been obtained on the basis of a representative sample consisting of 84 Serbian honey producers interviewed in 2011 and 2012. The results show that the Serbian honey producers operate with more or less similar production costs and with production performances that do not differ significantly. They use direct marketing for two reasons: firstly, it affords personal contact with consumers, and secondly, they aim to decrease the transaction costs, thereby keeping a higher share of the product’s final value. Offering new products to consumers is an attempt to create additional product demand.
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Pork production and consumption issues from the perspective of the religion and the World's growing population
121-128Views:883In this article we would like to present the production and consumption issues of pork meat in the world. We intend to examine the production and consumption of pork meat from the point of view of the population. The growing population of the world requires an increasing amount of food, especially animal source of protein, ie meat. We want to examine how the world can supply the growing population with food, including (pork) meat. The growing population generates ever-increasing consumption from year to year, and may not be able to satisfy it, adequately supplying the population with food, especially (pork) meat. Livestock farming, especially extensive animal husbandry, will be less able to produce sufficient quantities of meat for the growing needs.
During the analysis of food (meat) data we would like to present the difference between each continent on both the production and the consumption side. Examining the pork consumption, it should be mentioned the differences in the cultural habits, because the pork meat is the most affected in religious restrictions, regulations. The religious affiliation/identity is basically determined by the food and consumer habits, too. Due to the differences in dietary habits and religious culture, we think that the consumption of pork can be highly variable in the world and from country to country as well.
In general, we would like to answer questions about how the world (pork) meat production is going, is the meat consumed in the countries where it is produced (export – import issues), what are the factors that influence (pork) meat consumption (culture and religion impact on pork consumption, animal health issues), and is there enough (pork) meat for the world's growing population.
JEL code: P46, Q18, Q56
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The situation of agricultural sector in Hungary – trends and territorial aspects
Views:515Based on its geographical features, Hungary is basically an agricultural country. The proportion of the production area within the total area of the country is approximately 80% and the proportion of arable land is 60%. This makes our country one of the first in the European Union. In the EU, only Denmark and the United Kingdom have a higher proportion of agricultural land. Hungary accounts for only 3% of the total agricultural area of the EU-27 Member States, however, it plays a significant role in the production of certain products. (Harangi-Rákos, 2013)
In addition, the climate is favorable for agricultural production, which also strengthens the country's agricultural character. Throughout history, we have rightly been given the honorable name “pantry” (Marosi, 2009), which was true both within the Monarchy and Europe. In the socialist system the agricultural country became a so-called “industrial-agrarian” country due to the violent industrializations.
Beyond industrial development, the service sector plays an important role in the national economy due to its technology-intensive nature. In addition, agricultural production is still significant in Hungary (Lakner et al. 2020). The agricultural sector is significantly involved in the production of the gross domestic product (Fróna-Kőmíves 2019) and in the positive development of the export-import balance. During the 2008 world crisis, it was thanks to this sector, among other factors, that the recession that affected our country did not deepen. The domestic consumption is largely covered by domestically produced commodities (Csatáriné, 2019)
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Bioenergy: Risks to food-, energy- and environmental security
121-130Views:598There are growing opportunities and demands for the use of biomass to provide additional renewables, energy for heat, power and fuel, pharmaceuticals and green chemical feedstocks. However, the worldwide potential of bioenergy is limited, because all land is multifunctional, and land is also needed for food, feed, timber and fiber production, and for nature conservation and climate protection. The recent expansion of the bioenergy industries together with a strong increase in many commodity prices has raised concerns over the land use choices between energy needs and food and feed. New systems of energy production must be developed based on cost of environmental damage due to production and use of fossil energy and certain chemicals and materials. This article presents risks to food and energy security, estimates of bioenergy potential and the challenges of the environmental and social impact associated with expansions in bioenergy production.
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POSITIVE EFFECTS OF CULTIVATION TECHNOLOGIES BASED ON GEOREFERENCED DATA ON THE ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY OF WINTER WHEAT PRODUCTION
Views:345Elements of precision farming, such as auto-steer navigation, section control and variable rate application, can have a positive impact on farming performance, yet the uptake of these technologies has been slow and farmers are not convinced that they can achieve ad- ditional benefits by switching to them. Therefore, the authors considered it important to examine the impact of precision farming on winter wheat yields based on data from Hungarian farms. Yield data from farms with a yield map in the MyJohnDeere database from 2018-2022 and yield and cost data from 48 farms with Variable Rate Application (VRA) from 2018-2022 were evaluated and compared to the national average. MyJohnDeere and VRA farms had significantly higher yields in all years. Despite the cost saving from the introduction of precision farming, such as non-overlapping input application, the total costs of the examined VRA farms were higher, which can be explained by more intensive production beyond precision farming. It can also be argued that the additional inputs of the VRA farms were outweighed by the additional production value, with their specific incomes being higher than the national average in all years. In conclusion, the profitability of winter wheat production - and thus its resilience to a changing economic environment - can be increased at farm scale by adapting preci- sion farming. Technological change by farmers, in particular the widespread adoption of variable rate application, could also increase the sustainability of winter wheat production at the farm scale.
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Investment analysis of a piglet producer farm – a Hungarian case study
141-152Views:600The pig population in Hungary was about 8 million in 1990, while this number dropped to only 2.8 million by 2018. The previously so successful integrated domestic pig farming has almost completely disappeared and most of the smaller farms still operating in the 1990s are no longer functioning. At present, a process of concentration can be observed, which was accompanied by the further specialization of pig farming. The main profile of most pig farms is fattening, but there is a smaller number of farms in Hungary today specialized for piglet production, the successful operation of which requires significantly more expertise and more complex technology.
The main aim of this study is to present the production and economic indicators of a pig farm specialized in piglet production in Hungary as a result of a greenfield investment in the current economic environment, on a case study basis. For this purpose, an economic simulation was prepared based on primary data collection, operating on a deterministic basis, modelling the production and economic processes of the farm. The performed calculation does not derive the economic indicators of the activity from accounting records, but assigns the prices of natural inputs used on the basis of technological data. Primary data and information collection (e.g. technological data, input and output prices, unit cost items, etc.) took place between 2018-2019.
At the purchase prices of pigs in the last two years, which have increased significantly due to the African Swine Fever (ASF), the majority of pig farms in Hungary have an outstanding profit-making capacity. The physical efficiency indicators of the analysed pig farm are almost identical to the average data of such farms in the Netherlands, which has one of the most developed pig industry. The income of the examined pig farm at farm level is about 734 thousand EUR, i.e. 232 EUR per sow. Moreover, this activity is profitable even without subsidies. As a result, the greenfield investment pays off in the 8th year by default (average scenario). The investment has a Net Present Value (NPVr=3%) of EUR 2,609 thousand for 10 years, an Internal Rate of Return of 8.5%, and a Profitability Index (PIr=3%) of 1.3. At the same time, risk factors such as sales prices, output and capacity utilization, and feed costs should be taken into consideration as in extreme cases the return on investment may be unfavourable (pessimistic scenario).
JEL code: D24, M11, Q12
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Externality effects of honey production
63-67Views:559Bee-keeping and honey production has a long history in Hungary. Honey is an important and healthy food of people and it can be consumed without any human processing. The honey production has important role, too. Some researchers say that if honey bee will extinct the humanity in the world would also extinct. It is true since plant pollination by honey bees is very important. It is confirmed by researchers’ studies that plant pollination by honey bees has significant positive external impacts on potential yields in orchards. Although the contribution of honey production to the GDP in Hungary is only a few per cent, other benefits play more important role. One of them is the positive external effect – mentioned above – and the other is the contribution to the biodiversity of the nature. This paper focuses on secondary research methods, gathering and evaluating data regarding the positive external impacts of plant pollination by honey bees as well as finding possible solution for the problem that bee-keepers have a lot of costs in connection with carrying honey bees to orchards, while farmers “only” benefit from the positive externality of plant pollination of their fields. To evaluate its economic effects a numerical HEEM-model was developed and applied for the Hungarian situation.
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TREND ANALYSIS OF UGANDA’S COFFEE SECTOR
Views:712Coffee (Coffea arabica and C. canephora) is an important commercial crop globally, and the second most traded global commodity by developing nations after oil. Uganda is among the top 10 coffee exporters worldwide, and second in Africa. The total export amounted to 301,366 tons of “green” coffee in 2021, forming the second-largest commodity export, and contributing about 12.4% to Uganda’s total formal exports. However, the country’s overall performance over time remains unclear given the fluctuations in production and export prices. This study aimed to evaluate the production and export trends of Uganda’s coffee sector by: (i) defining the overall direction of coffee production and export value, (ii) assessing the market variability, and (iii) evaluating the global cross-cutting issues regarding coffee production and export. Data was extracted from FAOSTAT and Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) databases. Trends were analysed using the Mann-Kendall and Sen’s Slope test, while market variability was analyzed using the fixed base index (FBI) and coefficient of variation. VOSviewer software was used to analyze literature from the Web of Science database to highlight cross-cutting issues. Results indicated a significant positive increase in coffee production and export value (p = 0.0001, Slope = 1736.67 tons and p = 0.001, Slope = 4.44 million USD) respectively. Among the top ten coffee producers, Uganda presented the third worst unstable coffee export value with a 20.1% coefficient of variation. Fairtrade, climate change, and certification were the most outstanding global cross-cutting issues. Market stabilization mechanisms should be developed through value addition by establishing coffee processing and roasting plants, as well as strategic governance and policy support to counter emerging global challenges such as climate change.
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THE INVISIBLE HANDS IN THE PRODUCTION OF GHANA’S PREMIUM COCOA: WOMEN AS KEY CONTRIBUTORS
Views:279So often, what women do especially in relation to productive work is ignored by various researchers. This study tries to bring to the limelight the extent to which women are contributing to the production of Ghana’s premium cocoa which is an envy all over the world. A cross-sectional data from 400 women cocoa farmers in Mampong and Tepa Cocoa Districts in the Ashanti Region of Ghana was taken. Data were collected through the use of structured questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics such as percentages, mean, standard deviations, frequencies, multiple linear regression were used for the data analysis. Findings from the study showed that women cocoa farmers play enormous role in the production of cocoa. They play roles in both the pre-harvest stage, and in the post-harvest stage. The results show that women in partnership with their spouses play more active role in cocoa production than women who are sole owners. Marital status, farming experience and educational level are the key factors influencing women farmers production roles. Again, marital status, pre-planting and harvesting activities influence women farmers’ access to resources, privilege, power, and control. Women farmers in partnership with their spouses face the challenge of support from their husbands while women operating as sole owners face the challenge of high cost of labour. Results prove that women cocoa farmers must be massively supported by key stakeholders in the cocoa value chain in order to make them count.
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Economic aspects of an agricultural innovation – precision crop production
51-57Views:470Innovation in agriculture ensures the wide-spread use of the latest, up-to-date technology. Such new technology is precision farming in crop production, which serves as a validation of the criteria of environmental and economic sustainability. The economic applicability of precision crop production depends on several factors.Among them the following aspects must be emphasized: the size of the farm, the characteristics of the production structure, the current input-output prices and their tendencies, the investment needed for transitioning to precision technology and its capital source, the level of professional knowledge and the managerial attitudes of the farm. I have examined the economic relations between potential savings in chemicals on EU level. It has been found that after switching to precision farming, the active ingredient use for fertilizers can be reduced by 340 thousand tons at the same expected yield level in an optimistic scenario in the EU-27, while the savings in pesticide use can be 30 thousand tons (calculating with the current dose-level). If approximately 30% of the crop producing and mixed farms over 16 ESU adopt this new technology, this will diminish environmental loads by up to 10-35%. The majority of farms characterized by greater output and size can be based on their own equipment but it might as well be presumed that smaller farms can turn to precision farming not based on their own investment. They can buy the technical service from providers, they can establish producer cooperation, for example in the frame of machinery rings. At a certain farm size and farming intensity precision crop production is a real, environmentally friendly farming strategy, with the help of which the farm can reach earnings that cover at least the economic conditions of simple reproduction.
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The influence of direct support under common agricultural policy on farm incomes in Poland
33-37Views:348The main objective of the paper is the analysis of changes on the level of income of agricultural producers, which took place in Poland in the early years of the accession to the EU, as well as a determination of the scale of the impact of financial support under the Common Agricultural Policy on the farm income situation. Poland’s membership in the EU gives rural farms opportunities to improve their economic situation. Financial aid, mainly in the form of a direct payment, has been the main factor determining the economical status of rural farms, whilst the other income making factors, such as improved productivity and increased agricultural production have played a much smaller role. The increase in revenue has enabled farmers not only to increase current expenditures, but also to carry out modernization efforts, which will determine the future economic and structural situation of the Polish agricultural sector and its competitiveness. However, a strong differentiation in terms of the economic situation of rural farms according to their size and specialization in production was also noticed. As a result, there is a still large number of farms in which the revenues received by farmers are insufficient to assure them adequate life standard. Therefore such farms are not able to both develop and invest. Only economically strong rural farms with high production potential have such opportunities, meaning that EU support will never be able to fully minimize the effects of small-scale production or to offset the insufficient efficiency and productivity of production factors.
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SOCIOECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF THE INTENSITY OF MUSHROOM COMMERCIALISATION IN GREATER ACCRA REGION, GHANA
Views:408Fungi, such as mushrooms, have the unique ability to decompose and convert obstinate organic substances into protein, thereby improving nutrition, increasing food security, fostering sustainable agricultural production, and generating income for farmers. Since the 1990s, the Ghanaian government, through the Mushroom Unit of the Food Research Institute of Ghana, has promoted the cultivation and commercialization of (oyster) mushrooms in Ghana as an additional source of income for the urban poor. This study used a cross-sectional survey design, questionnaires, and validated structured interview schedule instruments to collect data from 153 mushroom farmers in the Ga East and Adentan Municipalities of the Greater Accra Region to determine the intensity, degree, characterisation, and factors that influence the intensity of oyster mushroom. The Crop Commercialization Index, frequency, mean, standard deviation, Two Stage Least Square regression and Ordinary Least Square regression were used to analyze the data. The results showed a low intensity (GHC 10202.20) but a high degree (75%)of oyster mushroom commercialization in the study area. The vast majority of oyster mushroom farmers (95%) were highly commercialized, selling more than half of their oyster mushroom output. Except for age, farmers' level of formal education, land ownership, and production volume of oyster mushroom all positively influenced the intensity of oyster mushroom commercialization. The Food Research Institute, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and development organizations should step up efforts to increase oyster mushroom production and attract educated, young, and unemployed people to oyster mushroom ventures.
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Analysis of the producer price of Hungarian raw milk in international comparison
27-32Views:368Although the dairy market crisis eased in 2011, Hungarian dairy farmers still find it difficult to produce milk profitably. As a result of the crisis, many dairy farmers abandoned milk production or reduced the size of their dairy herds in 2009 and 2010. Today, many of farmers are also considering ceasing production, in spite of the fact that the global dairy industry is facing an upturn. A dairy farm can operate profitablyy in three ways: 1) if it can reach a relatively high level of producer price 2) if it can increase milk production per cow 3) if it can achieve a relatively low cost of production. In the present study, I primarily analyse the development of the Hungarian producer price of raw milk in international comparison. Next, I list those factors which directly or indirectly influence the producer price of raw milk. Finally, I examine the relationship among disposable income, milk consumption and milk price. Since the start of 2009, the dairy market has been confronted with a period of extraordinary law prices. After bottoming out, prices had begun to slowly stabilise during the second half of 2009. By the end of that summer, international prices had started to strengthen and the last quarter of 2009 was characterized by a steady rise in prices. The strong recovery in prices experienced after 2009 was triggered by increased demand, mainly from oil exporting countries, but also from China.
The price increase, however, reflected a significant increase in input costs in Hungary; the high level of feed prices and the unfavourable change in the macroeconomic environment must be stressed. The rising excise duty on diesel fuel and the VAT increase had a direct impact on Hungarian dairy farmers. These negative factors have increased the costs of the sector, narrowing the ability of those active in it to operate efficiently. -
Structural Breaks or Continuous Adjustments in Grain Production and Prices 1961-2014? An Explorative Study
11-22Views:323This 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
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Policy challenges for food, energy and environmental security
15-25Views:424Limited land is available globally to grow crops for food and fuel. There are direct and indirect pressures on forests and other lands to be converted from growing food for feedstock to be used for biofuel production. The balance of evidence indicates there will probably be sufficient appropriate land available to meet demands for both food and fuel, but this needs to be confirmed before global supply of biofuel is allowed to increase significantly. There is a future for a sustainable biofuels industry, but feedstock production must avoid encroaching on agricultural land that would otherwise be used for food production. And while advanced technologies offer significant potential for higher greenhouse gas (GHG) savings through biofuels, these will be offset if feedstock production uses existing agricultural land and prevents land-use change. GHG savings can be achieved by using feedstock grown mainly on marginal land or that does not use land, such as wastes and residues. To ensure that biofuels deliver net GHG benefits, governments should amend, but not abandon, their biofuel policies in recognition of the dangers from indirect effects of land-use changes. Large areas of uncertainty remain in the overall impacts and benefits of biofuels. International action is needed in order to improve data, models and controls, and to understand and to manage effects.
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Consumption habits of “Free range chicken” in Hungary
69-73Views:379Poultry is highly ranked in theWorld meat production and consumption (it accounted for 32% in 2007), and, in the past 20 years it was growing with an annual rate of 3–6%, higher than in case of any other meat-types. This tendency is also valid for Hungary: poultry has the largest share (29.8 kg/person/year, 47%) in the domestic meat consumption since 2000, which is among the EU top (KSH, 2007). As the result of the animal health and nutrition scandals, the EU animal welfare and quality requirements and the advancements in health consciousness the Master-Good group launched the production, processing and trade of free-range poultry under the brand “Free-range chicken”. The new products had good consumer responses, because at present 1.5% of the processed chicken in Hungary (25 tons/week) is under this brand. As it regards the future of this product, we can expect the decrease of the current 1.5 times higher production price over broiler chicken, due to the increasing energy, labour and other cost items, thus the increase of the domestic consumption by 25–30% per annum can be foreseen. Besides the growth in domestic demand, increasing foreign consumer demand can also be expected because of the space requirement of the production. Summarising the above mentioned: „Free range chicken” can be one of the most successful products of the Hungarian poultry industry. In order to realise the prognosis mentioned above, it is inevitable to learn the consumer attitudes towards the brand. A primary market research programme supported by the Master Good group has been launched to study the main features of the domestic chicken meat consumption – including the „Free-range chicken” as highlighted brand. The primary aim of the research was the complete assessment and evaluation of the Hungarian chicken consumption habits and the identification of the possible take-off points. The research undertaken resulted basic information concerning the internal structure of the Hungarian poultry consumption (including that of the „Free-range chicken”), the potential consumer groups and their requirements, provided information on the consumers’knowledge of the products and identified the elements of the consumers’ judgements. This will serve as basis for a marketing communication programme to increase the domestic „Free-range chicken” consumption.
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Competiveness of the Hungarian pig sector
103-107Views:293The number of Hungarian pig population was 3.2 million in February 2010, 150 thousand less than in the previous year. This included 226 thousand brood sows, 54 thousand less than in the previous year, and this number is expected to fall further next year. In the past two years the number of brood sows decreased to a larger extent in economic organizations than in private farms (KSH, 2010). Despite the rising costs of feedingstuffs, producer prices for slaughter pigs have decreased, therefore private farms with small herds of brood sows haves old their breeding animals for slaughter houses. However, economic organizations mostly tried to restructure their production and place emphasis on plant production, thus improving their situation. These market changes indicate that the sector continues to scale down, production shrinks, market losses are continuous within the sector and vulnerability threaten the players of the product cycle increasingly.
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Future role of agriculture in multifunctional development of rural areas
29-37Views:278In the paper the changes in agriculture in terms of falling share of agriculture in gross domestic product and decrease in the share of persons employed in agriculture in total employment in Poland and selected countries are discussed.The main driver of these changes is a faster pace of development of non-agricultural activities and continually deteriorating relations between the costs of production factors and prices of agricultural products. The rate of growth in labor costs and prices of the means of production for agriculture is much faster than the rate of increase in prices of agricultural products.This causes the decline in profitability of agricultural production which increases the size of farms. The pace is dependent on the level of economic development of the country. The study also identified trends in the structure of farms, functions and systems of agriculture in the generational perspective. The polarization of the farms will deepen.A strong group of commodity farms and a group of so-called self – subsistence social farms will emerge. Agriculture in Poland will have a dual nature. In addition to the production function and social services agriculture will expand the scope of service functions for the environment and society.
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DECENT WORK AND COFFEE SECTOR: ARE THE COFFEE ESTATES IN KENYA COMPLYING WITH DECENT WORK IN PRODUCTION AND PRIMARY PROCESSING?
Views:321Coffee plays a big role in Kenya, it contributes to 30 percent of agricultural jobs and country’s exports. However, casual workers within coffee estates still get challenging employment conditions including long working hours, unfair wages, limited social capacity, and lack of collective bargaining that results in poor living standards and job insecurity. And also, no research shows compliance with decent work in the Kenyan coffee sector. This study sought to provide new literature about decent work compliance in production and primary processing within Coffee estates in Kiambu county. Snowballing sampling method was used to collect data among 385 casual workers from EAAGADS, Fairview, Maakiou, and Magumu coffee estates. Descriptive statistics and inductive logic were used to generate decent work indices from statistical indicators explaining each decent work pillar. Decent work indices 0.41 and 0.44 show the low compliance of social dialogue and safety at workplace dimensions respectively. Results, also show that effort has been done under productive employment and social protection dimension as shown by indices of 0.65 and 0.51 respectively. Moreover, there is a need for ILO inspection to ensure whether there is a promotion of decent work practices within coffee production to promote the living standards of coffee casual workers and also the stimulation of sustainable development of the County as well as the Country.
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Factors influencing the gross value added in the sheep production chain
141-146Views:627The competitiveness of the sheep sector in East Europe has been decreasing from year to year. The value added in the sector is not generated in the countries as a high proportion of the lambs are exported. For example, in Hungary, 95% of the lambs, unnecessary for replacement, are sold at an average weight of 21 kg and are slaughtered abroad. A stochastic model was constructed to investigate the connections between the cycle phases of the mutton production. Three modules were distinguished, the lamb production, fattening and slaughtering-processing sub-modules. The aim of our study was to identify the gross value added generated in the three sub-modules and to analyse the main factors influencing its volume using the conditions in Hungary as an example. The major hypothesis of our research was that the profitability of the production chain is mainly determined by the breed. The results showed that, considering market prices, the gross value added in the processing module was mostly influenced by the number of lambs sold per ewe per year at the bottom level of the mutton product chain. The next most important factors were the weight gain in the lamb producing and fattening sub-modules and dressing percentage in slaughtering-processing sub-module. Contour plots were constructed which help to describe the relationship among analyzed factors. Using the contour plots, the gross value added for different combinations of these factors might be forecast.
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Future role of agriculture in multifunctional development of rural areas
135-143Views:283In the paper the changes in agriculture in terms of falling share of agriculture in gross domestic product and decrease in the share of persons employed in agriculture in total employment in Poland and selected countries are discussed.The main driver of these changes is a faster pace of development of non-agricultural activities and continually deteriorating relations between the costs of production factors and prices of agricultural products. The rate of growth in labor costs and prices of the means of production for agriculture is much faster than the rate of increase in prices of agricultural products. This causes the decline in profitability of agricultural production which in creases the size of farms. The pace is dependent on the level of economic development of the country. The study also identified trends in the structure of farms, functions and systems of agriculture in the generational perspective.The polarization of the farms will deepen.A strong group of commodity farms and a group of so-called self – subsistence social farms will emerge. Agriculture in Poland will have a dual nature. In addition to the production function and social services agriculture will expand the scope of service functions for the environment and society.
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Renewable energy resources in Hungary – solid biomass utilization in terms of necessity and opportunity
75-78Views:345In the 21st century a country’s success significantly depends on how it can solve the problems (supply safety, growing prices, climate change, etc.) induced by the application structure of the fossil energy sources with the means of energy saving, energy efficiency and the utilization of renewable energy resources. The utilization of renewable energy sources has positive effects on five key areas: environment protection, energy policies, fulfilment of EU expectations, agriculture and rural development and on the whole of the national economy. The bioenergy – beside fulfilling the national economic aims – it is putting up the value of the role of agriculture and rural development. The role of agriculture is multi-functional in the process. The agricultural sector has an important task in the area of bioenergy to ensure the proper quality and quantity of raw materials for the increase of bioenergy utilization. This also means new sales perspectives and opportunities for the producers. Above all this, the agricultural policy aims for the agriculture and the rural development segment to be the unambiguous winner of the new bioenergy sector and for most of the available profit to stay with the agricultural sector, with the rural players. For this reason encouraging the raw material production it wishes to encourage the producer their primary process and their local utilization. One of the fundamental objectives of the measures is that agriculture should go beyond the raw material production and take steps towards processing and utilization. The multifunctional role in the product chain might mean extra income and more added value for the producers and the active players in the process. The other objective is to promote the local utilization, the scatter of the environmentally friendly energy sources in rural areas, to change the energy is “lying on the ground unutilized” principle while local processing and promoting the utilization, to achieve a lower energy dependency and to optimize and disseminate cost efficient solutions. To realize all this means a great task and a huge challenge for the agricultural government as well as the rural societies and micro regions but might lead to a successful rural development. The range of the tools and measures to fulfil the aims might be very broad, from the regulating instruments to the various subsidies, coordination and dissemination tools. Part of the subsidy schemes are direct production-type of subsidies (the so called direct payments, for example the area based subsidies) and the other main forms are the investment-type subsidies which are for technology development, promotion of competitive production and local processing and for establishing a green energy industry. In the period of 2007-2013 the key elements of the development schemes were drafted in the frame of the New Hungary Rural Development Programme (ÚMVP) and the Environmental Energy Operational Program (KEOP). The available raw materials and the conditions are taken into consideration while designing the development schemes because a successful realization of a product chain means the assurance of the inputs and outputs. The starting point of determining the development direction is the principle of an operation which is sustainable and economical on the long run. In addition such developments are considered reasonable which are viable on medium and long term and bring numerous rural development, environmental and societal returns.
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IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON PEOPLES’ LIVELIHOOD AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION IN UGANDA
Views:397Livestock sector in Uganda contributes significantly towards individual household income and food security and even though peoples’ dependance on livestock production for survival in Uganda is a reality, it’s also undeniable that livestock, which provides food and revenue on a worldwide scale, would be vulnerable to the direct or indirect consequences of climate change. Agriculture contributed 24.1% of the Uganda’s GDP in the financial year (FY) 2021–2022 and according to the Uganda bureau of standards (UBOS), agriculture employs over 70% of Uganda's working population. The purpose of this present study was to to evaluate the impact of climate change on peoples’ livelihood and livestock production in Uganda. Bibliometric analysis was the quantitative technique used for reviewing and describing published publications that assisted in evaluating academic works from secondary data obtained on digital databases in the context of this study. The VOS viewer software was used as a tool to perform the co-occurrence analysis, and then to realize the visualization of the impact of climate change on peoples’ livelihood and livestock production in Uganda using articles analysed on platform research with associated references from the Web of Science database. The visualisation highlighted topical areas that reflect the impacts of climate on peoples’ livelihood and livestock such as diseases, drought, coping strategies, greenhouse gases, drought, vulnerability, dry lands, mobility among pastoral communities, low productivity, reduced forage resources, elevated temperature extra all of which negatively affects the economic levels of individuals and the national income from livestock either directly or directly. Conclusively, interventions that are aimed at improving climate smartness in Uganda’s livestock farming communities may have significant food security and income benefits for different livelihoods.
Keywords: climate, livestock animals, livelihood, income
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