Search
Search Results
-
Socioeconomic determinants of frequency of fish purchasing among Trinidad and Tobago shoppers: A binary logit analysis
105-109Views:169As the Caribbean continues to succumb to the pressure of Non-Communicable Diseases innovative strategies are being sought to rectify the problem. Increasing the purchase and consumption of fish/seafood has great potential in this regard; however, very little empirical research appears to have been undertaken on food marketing in general and for fish in particular in the Caribbean. This study analyzed the factors that affect the frequency of fish purchasing in Trinidad and Tobago. The results of the analysis indicated that 63% of the sample are occasional purchasers of fish (purchased fish less frequently than once per week). The binary logit analysis showed that of the eight socioeconomic variables analyzed, only three were statistically significant – age, educational level attained and religion. The results suggested that persons over 35 years, more educated (tertiary level trained) and non-Christians are more probable to be regular purchasers of fish than younger, primary and secondary level educated Christians. It is hoped that marketers trying to develop strategies to gain market share in the highly competitive food market, nutritionists and others attempting to reduce the health care costs of Trinidad and Tobago and other Caribbean countries through the increased consumption of fish/seafood find these results informative.
JEL. Code: M31, Q13, C25
-
Work organization and economic examination of breadwinning of rurality
37-39Views:121Agriculture has been and probably will be a significant branch in the south part of the Great Plain in the future as well. Besides the mass products and in many cases instead of them when forming the agricultural structure, this region has to pay more attention to the branches that were important in the past. Hungarian experts who are famous in foreign countries as well deal with these branches and they provide excellent products. The rules referring to these products are more liberal in the market places of the European Union and their development is not controlled by strict quota systems. In the south part of the Great Hungarian Plain a lot of unique products of excellent quality are produced. Here in this essay we would like to find the answer to the question how the two significant products of the southern part of the Great Hungarian Plain can provide the families with the income that they can live on.We aim at the economical examination of the cucumber grown in Méhkerék and asparagus of Homok. To do this we will apply the so called Standard Gross Margin. The agriculture of the states of the European Union is measured with the help of this method. It can also help us in the future to decide whether the different farms belonging to families are economically viable in Hungary.
-
OPERATING RESULTS OF SILAGE ENTERPRISE OF A FARM - A CASE STUDY
Views:146Improvements in agriculture has been focusing on innovations to improve the efficiency of the activity by making the traditional production structure currently in use more flexible and by making the necessary technological changes for farmers with large areas and the necessary machinery and equipment. Farms with significant arable land are able to offset the effects of changes affecting efficiency and profitability. The decisive sector of agriculture in Hungary is crop production, therefore its performance is largely determined by the annual output of the crop sector and the volatility in prices. From the farm data, we calculated farm-level results that support the need for machinery modernisation efforts, as precision tools and improvements already started in maize production can be applied fruitfully even in the light of the increasing frequency of negative climatic effects. During the development of silage maize cultivation technology, the achievements of precision farming were applied. Differentiated nutrient replenishment and sowing operations were used, in addition to the fact that harvesting was also documented. We set ourselves the goal of analyzing the management data of the study period between 2019-2022 in order to reveal the nature of the changes that occurred in terms of production value, production cost, and income, as well as the components that shape them. The presented values are average values of such conditions which are also suitable for crop-level conclusions. At the same time, they can be used to identify sector-level challenges and trends.
-
Agricultural cooperatives and their membership in cooperative unions in Serbia
25-32Views:160Goal of this paper is to analyse business of agricultural cooperatives in Serbia and their territorial distribution. Paper also comprehends analyses of premises of directors of agricultural cooperatives towards cooperative associations, based on result of survey conducted on chosen sample. Analysis is based on the hypothesis that reform processes present in the Serbian economy, and completely absent from cooperative sector, have weaken the work of cooperative unions and undermined regular relations between cooperatives and their associations. Paper also analyse premises of directors of agricultural cooperatives on relevant questions on membership and work of 12 regional, provincial and Cooperative union of Serbia, based on result of survey conducted in 148 or 7.2% of 2.055 agricultural cooperatives in Serbia. For cooperatives that are not members of any union, paper gives systematization of reasons why cooperative is not member and motives that could inspire cooperative to become a member. For cooperatives that are members of some union, we give analyses of answers if cooperative is satisfied with work and activities of union conducted for cooperative welfare; and suggestions for activities that cooperative unions should practice in the interests and needs of their members.
-
MBA education at Debrecen University Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development
79-86Views:229Debrecen is the capital of the Great Hungarian Plain, the centre of many institutions, organizations and business companies just in the heart of Europe. It has provided an ideal setting for higher education since 1538. With this past of more than 450 years, the University of Debrecen is the oldest higher educational institution in continuous operation in Hungary based in the same city. Higher education in agriculture began in 1868, when the National Higher School of Agriculture was formed in Debrecen. The University of Debrecen has more than 26 000 students, and more than 1700 instructors teach at the University, which has 13 faculties, 2 independent institutions, 20 doctoral schools and offers the widest choice of higher education. This outstanding intellectual centre, with a vast research and development capacity, has a growing importance in the economic and social development, cultural progress of the region. It devotes special attention to serving the needs of a knowledge based society more efficiently, and it strives to become the knowledge centre of the region, which also preserves traditions and values.
-
Agricultural outsourcing: A comparison between the Netherlands and Japan
29-33Views:416Outsourcing may well be a tool for increasing the efficiency of Japanese agriculture. However, outsourcing is not frequently used by Japanese farmers in their day-to-day management. This has resulted in a weakly developed market for agricultural contracting services. In order to take a closer look at the reasons for making use of outsourcing, a comparative study was carried out between the agricultural contracting sector in Japan and that in the Netherlands, where agricultural outsourcing is a regular practice. In the Netherlands, especially small, diversified farms that lack sufficient labour tend to outsource agricultural work; in Japan, the situation is far less clear. Cultural factors possibly play an important role.
-
The new strategic directions of rural development in Hungary
143-150Views:115The notion of sustainability is the basis for our future possibilities. Local sustainability, in the centre of which can be found the livable settlement, is especially important in rural areas.Without developing rural areas, there is no developing society. The growth of the Earth’s population and the world economy has already surpassed the carrying capacity of this planet which may result in an “overshoot and collapse”. This can still be prevented today. The population of towns and cities is rapidly increasing. Urbanization is a very fast process, even in Hungary. In large cities with millions of inhabitants crime and lumpen lifestyle pose huge problems. However, the bases of a successful economy are morals and a puritan lifestyle, which so far have characterized rural villages. 70% of the poor and needy live in rural areas in the developing countries and agriculture provides livelihood for 40% of the world’s population. The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) was established in 2002 by FAO and theWorld Bank to learn more about the role of agricultural science and technology. After the positive decision some comprehensive summaries were made on all the related topics with the participation of 400 scientists. The assessment provided many lessons to learn and at the 2008 closing sessions in Johannesburg, the reports were accepted and it was proved that rural areas have a significant role in providing adequate means of earning a livelihood. The Ministry of Rural Development composed a domestic-level study with the title of the National Rural Strategy. The objectives stated in the study can be seen as the main directions of the Hungarian rural strategy. The land policy aims to support the 50–70 hectare family farms and have the agricultural lands under national authority. The population must be provided with ample and safe food. The priority of local economy, local sale, and local markets is important. The positive exploitation of our natural resources may result in the strengthening of rural areas. The deterioration of rural areas must be stopped. In order to halt these processes swiftly fundamental, patriotic economic and social policy changes, a strong people’s party, a short-run crisis treating and a medium-long-run strategic development and action plan are needed which is based on the respect of work and moral norms, national cooperation, solidarity, and the defense of our mutual interests rather than on speculation (ÁNGYÁN, 2010). The greatest problem of Hungary is low employment.Workplaces may be created in the least expensive and the fastest manner in irrigational agriculture. In order to achieve this, the role of the state must be reconsidered and EU rules on state intervention must be reviewed.
-
Profitability of cassava production in the Ashanti region of Ghana
66-69Views:746Cassava is a crop that is massively produced and consumed in Ghana even though it is produced by subsistence farmers. The aim of this study is to analyse the cost and returns of cassava farmers. Farmers profitability was accessed using the gross margin, net present value and the benefit cost ratio. SWOT analysis was conducted to access challenges faced by cassava farmers. Data was collected by personal interview from fifty (50) cassava growing farmers in the Sekyere East District of the Ashanti Region, Ghana. The Costs and returns analysis show gross margin of USD 22.75 per acre. It was concluded that cassava is cultivated for both consumption and revenue. Even though there is low investment of capital in cassava production, it helps farmers to make use of available resources (personal savings, land and labour) which would have been idle. Further should compare profitability of crops that compete for use of famers land.
JEL. CODE: Q13, Q19
-
Semi-subsistence farming situation and policy – the example of Hungary
143-148Views:108In Hungary small farms have played very important role since collectivization (1959-61). Up to radical changes small households have received strong support from coops in the field of providing inputs on one side and, marketing their products on the other. The latter was disrupted by radical reforms and small farms started struggling with survival under market conditions. Government took measures to provide a development path for those having a chance to become competitive after five years development. Three calls (2004, 205 and 2006) were released. In Hungary SSF from three regions were more interested in getting the grant as North Great Plain, South Transdanubia and South Great Plain. All three regions are agriculture dominated ones. The policy with the call has reached a very moderate number of SSFs and, on the other side small farms, either because not meeting the criteria of the call or not wanted to take the additional costs of being registered and monitored for such a small amount of support decided not to apply. The paper ends with policy lessons.
-
Characteristics of value based organic food chains: two cases from Slovenia
59-63Views:132In the literature the value based food chains express two main characteristics: business relationships among strategic partners interacting in the supply chain are based on a written set of values and food products are differentiated from similar food products (Stevenson, 2009). To verify the first part of the definition the analysis of two organic food chains were carried out. For the analysis of business relationships and food quality communication in the food chain two different methodological approaches were used. For collecting the input data semi-structured interviews of various stakeholders were performed. The results of the analyzed case studies show the characteristics of value based food chains could be broader and more complex if some additional perspectives were considered.
-
„Green” Public Relations (Public relations in the sector of products and services for Polish agriculture)
67-74Views:128The field of Public Relations has undoubtedly been assuming growing importance in Poland. Understood as an element of marketing communication or a function of company management, it has a significant impact on company’s external and internal environment. According to Puls Biznesu3 the value of the Polish PR market amounted to 250m PLN in 2005, which is a 20% increase as compared to 2004. According to the author Urszula S ´wiatl⁄owska, “the turnover of PR agencies is growing and even smaller companies demonstrate their interest in the services”. Considering this, it can be assumed that PR activities will soon be initiated by many smaller Polish companies, often connected with the agricultural sector. The change discussed by the authors of the article reflects the phenomenon of PR’s growing importance among other communication channels in Poland.
-
Portuguese agriculture and its role in multifunctional rural development
39-46Views:151Paper aims to demonstrate the ability or inability of Portuguese agriculture to respond to changing economic conditions as well as societal expectations and demands. The main question is to know how the CAP’s evolutions through a policy with a double emphasis – on market orientation and competitiveness and on sustainability.
-
Analysis of production and competitiveness on small beekeeping farms in selected districts of Serbia
Views:212The study researched the costs and returns on typical small beekeeping farms from five districts in Serbia. On the basis of the field research, data on the number of beehives,type of product, volume of production per beehive and values per measurement unit were collected.In order to demonstrate the competitiveness of various apicultural products, analysis of the available data was performed using analytical calculations. According to the analysis, the labour costs comprise about 49.65% to 64.15% of the variable costs on beekeeping farms in the Raška and Šumadija districts, respectively. Production is most economical on the bee farm in the district of Srem, where every dinar spent in production creates a value of 2.22 dinars, while the farm from the district of Raška is the least economical (1.32 din). Bee farms must reduce labour costs and re-direct their business orientation to other bee products, besides honey, such as pollen, which could be significantly more profitable.
-
Marketing opportunities of local products in the catchment area of Csíkszereda town
38-44Views:309Agriculture plays an outstanding role in Romania, since there are nearly three and a half million small farms operating in the country, accounting for almost 90% of the total number of farms, and scarcely more than 32% of the available farm land is cultivated by 35% of the population. In the settlements found in the catchment area of Csíkszereda, the majority of farms consist of family farms smaller than 5 hectares. The marketing of good quality products made from local raw material by traditional methods contributes to the sustenance of the family farms. Researches show that as a result of the education of the farmers on a local level more and more processed products appear in the markets of Csíkszereda town. Farmers involved in the local market intend to expand their farms on the long run. The respondents consider that “a piece of land can be sold only once”, that is why the sustenance of the farm became the main goal of multi-generational effort. Younger farmers are usually more educated and more open to innovation. The vast majority of farmers under 45 find it important to market their products through rural tourism and they are also more eager to join producer groups. Young farmers need to merge traditional methods and knowledge inherited from previous generations with modern opportunities and methods that facilitate production and marketing. Knowledge gained this way makes it possible for small farms to market their products through short supply chains.
JEL code: Q12,Q13
-
Impact of CAP’s pillars on Romanian rural employment
75-80Views:148This paper aims to clarify the direction of change in rural employment on short- and medium term in Romania, while CAP regulations are being introduced and the global economic crisis emerges. First we put into evidence the decrease of the role of agriculture as buffer for unemployment and the poor contribution of non-agricultural activities to provide employment for rural residents.Then we analyse the main characteristics of the rural labour force. Finally we synthesize the opinions expressed by 33 consultants (working at the Offices for Agricultural Consultancy from different counties in Transylvania) about the estimated short term evolution of rural employment and the impact of CAP on Romanian rural areas.
-
Agri-product evaluation and biodiversity measurement
91-93Views:120This paper is meant to be the first part of a two part unit that will be published next. The objective of this paper is to be an introduction of agri-product evaluation, with in which a short summary of essentials of diversity measurement is given and to share experience on evaluation of environmental friendly agri-product. For biodiversity measurement and extern effects, literature of related publications was processed and experience gained over experimental projects on environmental-friendly technologies was summed up. Methods applied were based on influence-response approach which guided us all through the research work. It can be stated that one diversity measure or one diversity function fails to describe communities of living beings; therefore, at least two methods should be used in parallel. Scale-dependent description of diversity is necessary, which provides us with new information that can not be revealed by traditional methods. To identify external effects, we have to take influences of use of a specific product into account and the responses generated by use of that product. Influences might appear in parallel or can build up one another, similarly to the generated responses of environment. To be as precise as possible, it is suggested that we take into account only clear responses. Influence-response relations are shown here using terms and concepts in broad sense and in general. More sophisticated application of terms and concepts is needed to evaluate properly and in monetary terms.We will make efforts to clarify terms and their use in the future.
-
Impact of Terrorism on Agricultural Business in Borno State, Nigeria
117-124Views:262This study examines the impact of terrorism on agribusiness in Borno state. Terrorist activities in Borno state dates back to 2009 where a group of Islamic extremists popularly known as Boko Haram (meaning western education is a sin) became violent in their activities. The group operates significantly in north-eastern Nigeria where Borno state is located and since 2009. The presence of the group has led to collapse of socio-economic activities in Borno state among other states. Millions of people have been displaced fromtheir homes and forced to live in camps in neighbouring states. As a result, this study examines the impact of insurgency related activities on agribusiness in BornoState. Agricbusiness in Borno state can be measured using four different parameters, amount of area cultivated, annual crop production, rearing of livestock and fish farming. These are the major agricultural business residents of Borno state are engaged in. However due to unavailability of data, rearing of livestock and fish farming are dropped, thus focusing on area cultivated and annual crop production. As a result of these two variables, two models are developed. The first model measures the relationship between amounts of crop produced with insurgency related killings, while the second model measuresthe relationship between total areasof farmland cultivated with fatalities resulting from terrorist activity. This study employs Ordinary Least Squares methodology and finds that both relationshipsreveal negative results thus indicating statistically significant negative impact of terrorism on agribusiness in Borno State.
JEL Classification: Q10, Q18, Q12
-
Police organization in the Republic of Croatia – problems in decision making
99-102Views:131During the last few years of my police work I had a chance to speak and share opinion with my work associates about the police system in Croatia. My colleagues sometimes shared my opinion and sometimes they did not about the quality of police organization. Everyone’s conclusion was that some sort of change in the police organization has to be made; organization of the police must follow and embrace modern standards in organization and conduct. Almost each person had the same opinion about police management and decision making. Their opinion was that management is not efficient; decision making is based on chain of command and not on finding good solutions; members of the management team do not have education or creativity to be qualified managers; form is more important than the quality of work.
-
Regulatory challenges of innovation in food and agriculture market authorization requirements for new foods
137-142Views:160Regulatory authorities face the challenge to strike a fair balance between the interests of consumers to ensure the safety of innovative foods and agricultural products and the interest of innovative businesses.Worldwide prior authorization schemes are applied. This contribution explores characteristics, pros and cons of such schemes. It identifies concerns but also best practices that may contribute to improving food safety without unduly hampering innovation.
-
Opportunities for the inclusion of less-favoured areas in the Northern Great Plain region
59-60Views:162Agricultural economics and its part, rural economics plays a determining role in Hungary. Most rural families perform self-sufficient farm production for a living. In the present conditions of infrastructure and human resources, there are regions where the only rural alternative for employment is agriculture. There are significant differences among the regions considering natural resources and equipment available for farm production, and these differences affect potential income (Vöröset al. 1999). The primary aim of the European Union is to reduce such differences among the regions.The new research program of the University of Debrecen tackles the fundamental questions of regional development through the research and management of social asymmetries by using economic and other relevant tools. This program also provides suggestions for facilitating the development of less-favoured areas.
-
Fresh Produce Retail Price Comparisons in Trinidad and Tobago
29-34Views:153As 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
-
Integrated approach in Ukrainian dairy industry: a case study from Poltava region
Views:247Integration processes in the field of agriculture, and particularly in dairy industry, have real prospects for improving the efficiency of business entities in this industry due to technological features. Particular attention should be paid to vertically integrated business models that allow hedging of various risk groups and minimizing costs due to the optimal combination of the efforts of enterprises belonging to such associations.
The purpose of the article is to study the current state of dairy industry in Poltava Region, Ukraine, and to show one of the conceptual ways to increase its economic efficiency. The paper presents a theoretical hypothesis concerning the necessity of vertically integrated agricultural formation’s creation in order to improve the competitiveness of dairy production in the region and having positive effect on sustainable development of dairy industry.
The practical significance of the study includes the possibility to use findings and recommendations set out in the paper for introduction of mutually beneficial economic relations between agricultural, dairy and trade enterprises in concluding agreements on joint activities based on a successful example from Poltava Region, and contribute to the stabilization, development and increase of the enterprises’ efficiency in Ukrainian dairy industry.
JEL code: F15, Q13
-
Analysis of the process of introducing euro in new member states: Defining lessons for Croatia case study: Slovenia
93-94Views:156On 1 May 2004, EU made a historical enlargement by expanding from 15 to 25 members, and with another enlargement in 2007, EU is now a union of 27 member states. Following the new member states accession to the EU the next challenge for them is joining European Monetary Union and introducing the euro as a national legal currency. This thesis concentrated on the analysis on how the new member states handle the process of joining the Euro-zone with the main objective to examine whether there are any possible lessons that Croatia can apply to its EMU integration path. The thesis is mainly focused on analysing the Slovenian EMU integration process, as this member state has been identified by the Croatian Authorities and Croatian National Bank as the one whose experience Croatia should try to follow. The central questions that are discussed are weather Croatia is economically and politically capable to follow the Slovenian example, and, on the other side, weather the Slovenian example is the best one to follow i.e. should Croatia introduce euro by using the quick EMU entry strategy as Slovenia did. In order to answer those questions thesis focused on analysing and explaining different strategies for euro adoption chosen by the new member states with special emphasis on the strategy of quick EMU entry approach chosen by Slovenia. The thesis also concentrated on analysing the Slovenian political and economical path from Yugoslavia to the EU and especially on its economic performance and key economic indicators prior to introducing euro. Finally, with the aim to compare the economic performance between Slovenia and Croatia and define similarities/differences in their transition and EU accession process, the thesis gave a detailed overview of the Croatian current economical and political situation. After brief analysis of all pros and cons of an early euro adoption, the thesis concluded that following the experiences of small sized countries with opened economies and strong trade orientation towards the countries of the Euro-zone, such Slovenia is, would be a comprehensive and logical strategy for Croatia. Early euro adoption would provide more benefits than costs for Croatian economy and society in general. The thesis also concluded that Croatia should face no major problems when it comes to fulfilling most of the Maastricht criterion on time, in order to be able to adopt the euro in the shortest possible period as Slovenia did. However, the thesis also highlighted that in order to do so Croatia has to put a serious emphasis on improving certain aspects of its current macroeconomic situation, in particular the one concerning the percentage of state sector deficit in the GDP and the size of public debt.
-
Modeling multifunctionality of agriculture at a farm-level: The case of kerkini district, Northern Greece
59-64Views:130Multifuncionality has become a central concern at both conceptual and empirical levels. In this study, a comparative evaluation of the economic performance of conventional and multifunctional farms (mainly organic farms) was conducted for the Lake Kerkini region (North Greece) with the use of mixed integer non-linear programming method. The economic performance of farms was evaluated in terms of farm income, resource allocation, production level and production mix. The results indicate that multifunctional farms have overall better economic performance and young farm managers are keener to adopt multifunctional farming than the older ones. Differences between the model results and the observed facts are attributed to the structural characteristics of the farms, along with the CAP measures and the existence of multiple objectives, beyond maximization of net farm returns.
-
Water footprint in Hungary
83-91Views:192More and more news report on water-related extreme environmental phenomena. Some of these are natural, which are often beyond the human race. But others are definitely due to anthropogenic effects. I think the water footprint index is able to highlight national and international water-use processes and gives us the opportunity of organizing a sustainable, consumer-, environmental- and governancefriendly management. 81% of the fresh water withdrawal is from surface water bodies in the EU. In Europe as a whole, 44% of abstraction is used for energy production, 24% for agriculture, 21% for public water supply and 11% for industry. Public water supply is confined to ground waters. To the water resources related human activity caused qualitative and quantitative amortisation will grow worse in the foreseeable future due to the climate change. Beside seasonal differences the sectoral differences are increasingly becoming critical between different areas, such as Southern and Western Europe. The former, wrong agricultural support system has worsened the situation since it gave financial aid for the used improper techniques of water-intensive crop cultivation. By today, this seems to be solved. Public water abstraction is affected by many factors, of which mostly are based on social situation and habits, but technological leakage receives a big role as well. Interesting, that for example the residents’water consumption in Eastern Europe decreased because price were raised and regular measurements were introduced. But in Southern Europe it increased due to tourism in the past period. Industrial water withdrawal decreased across Europe because of the decline of industry and the development of technologies. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), the Union needs a sustainable, demand-driven leadership which focuses on the preservation and use efficiency. This have already appeared in politics and legal administration as well. Current research calls the attention to the significance and difficulties of this kind of domestic estimation presented trough the water footprint calculation of bread and pork in Hungary. The received data indicate the domestic water consumption trends in a modern approach. There is no doubt for me about the urgent necessity of water footprint calculation because as a result innovative, sustainability supported environmental, social, economical, and political relationships can be created – not just on local, regional or national level, but on interregional, European and even global stage.
Keywords
