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Agri-environmental management and rural development: Hungary after EU accession
35-40Views:283In Hungary, similarly to developed countries, the share of agriculture in the GDP has declined. Even so, preparation of the sector’s long term strategy is crucial, as the role of agriculture exceeds the results represented in the GDP. Environmental and social functions of agriculture are revaluated in developed countries, and consumers at the end of the food chain actually govern the entire process. This is why information plays an increasingly important role, and gives signals (Verbeke, 2005) to the actors in the economy and society. This research area is diverse (including agricultural policy, environmental policy, rural development and sustainable development), and so I applied an interdisciplinary approach and conducted an integrated examination. The results show that in recent decades, the pressure of agriculture on the environment has been lower in Hungary than in the EU-15 and agri-environmental measures have taken hold in all types of land-use systems, even though they are more important in protected areas. Although this development provides a good basis for a long term strategy social capital has lost strength (Csath, 2002), so fostering the creation of internal and external rural networks – one instrument for this could be the Leader programme – is essential for sustainable rural development.
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Disentangling the complexity of India ’s agricultural sector
35-42Views:280Agricultural policies in India directly impact the livelihoods of close to two thirds of India’s population. Through policies, the government manages food security, urban and rural poverty, energy, and infrastructure, among others. Given the current state of India’s governance, the connection between policy making and its results in society becomes a key issue for research. This paper presents a game for use as a research instrument. The game can facilitate research into the policy making process at various levels of the government in India. The design is intended to understand the complexity of the institutional arrangement that defines and implements agricultural policies. The game integrates with other games that simulate other aspects of the agricultural system in India. The paper presents the verification and validation cycles followed, and identifies further steps for field validation.
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Liquid bio-fuels in Hungary: effects and contradictions
89-94Views:321The increase of living standard requires ever more energy, despite energy saving measures. Domestic growth was 100 PJ between 2000 and 2006, and 77% of the total utilization was importe (Hungarian Central Statistical Office, 2008).Sustainability was endangered not only in our energy and commerce policy. Our domestic natural conditions are suitable for plant production; however, the stagnation of the domestic population and decreasing livestock numbers restrict in land marketing. Therefore, significant surpluses from year to year had to be stored and sold abroad, and the fact that the interventional purchase of corn and the expected stringent new EU regulation of the sugar beet sector, make the strategic significance of these branches uncertain. The difficult marketing opportunities make the better utilization of our opportunities in producing liquid bio-fuels possible from marketing aspects, while environmental issues and realizing the EU directions enforce to do so in a longer term. Over the short term, agricultural and competitive aspects will determine its spread, which cause different effects in Europe in comparison with the developing countries. According to Nábrádi-Ficzeréné Nagymihály, 2008, one of the breaking points of Hungarian agriculture lies in the utilization of alternative energy sources. During the past period, many contradictory opinions came forward relating to economies, agricultural effects, food risks as well as the energetic and environmental efficiency of bio-fuels. One thing is certain: these fuels are already used today and their significance has been increasing. Although due to technological development, spread of new products and processes (cellulose-based bioethanol, bioethanol, biogas, hydrogen, biomethane) will obviously have to be expected in the future, at present biodiesel and bioethanol are determent among bio-fuels, thus I deal with these as well as their energetic and agricultural effects in my study.
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The influence of direct support under common agricultural policy on farm incomes in Poland
33-37Views:349The 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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TRENDS IN HONEY CONSUMPTION AND PURCHASING HABITS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
Views:829Honey is a staple food of animal origin, with many beneficial properties, so the study of consumption and purchasing habits is an important issue. The main aim of our research is to present the market situation and conditions of the domestic beekeeping sector from the consumer's point of view. We considered it appropriate to present the beekeeping market because the European Union is the second largest honey producer in the world and Hungary is the largest honey producer in the EU. Thus, global and EU trade changes, market trends and changes in consumer habits are significant factors influencing the domestic situation. The market situation is presented through a review of the relevant domestic and foreign literature, and statistical databases (EU Member States' honey programmes, KSH, OMME, Statista databases and reports) are analysed. The research aims to find out the direction of honey consumption and purchasing patterns and trends in European honey consumption. We chose an online questionnaire survey method to assess consumption and purchasing habits in Hungary and present the results in comparison with similar Hungarian studies. To analyse the situation in Europe, we have collected and analysed relevant research reports, primary and secondary studies from several EU countries. Finally, the data from each country are compared, highlighting similarities and differences.
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Integrated agribusiness in the dairy industry of Ukraine: main characteristics and success factors
59-68Views:317Ukraine belongs to the TOP 20 global producers of milk. Despite its position, the Ukrainian dairy industry is suffering from a permanent deficit of raw milk supplied for processing. on average, in 2007–2011 over half of the produced raw milk did not reach the processors. one of the reasons behind this lasting trend is that the structure of initial production of raw milk is dominated by households (having a share of 80%); the latter produce milk mostly for their own consumption and leftovers are sold at marketplaces where they can get more attractive prices. nevertheless, already today we observe results of largescale investments into the industrial production of milk made in the last few years. This article stresses an important place of the dairy industry in the agriculture of Ukraine, as it provides the population of vital food products, many of which are strategic in the export potential. Authors present essential characteristics of the concepts “agro-industrial integration” and “agroholding”, discloses their role and place in the agrarian sector of the economy, and justifies the necessity of the creation an integrated production in the Ukrainian dairy sub-complex. The study aims at identification and description of latest trends in Ukraine’s dairy market. Moreover, authors present a successful Ukrainian example of Milkiland N.V. as one of the TOP 5 players in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) dairy market.
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Co-innovation: what are the success factors?
29-36Views:287The problem we address in this paper is that in projects focusing on public-private cooperation to stimulate innovation in the Netherlands, initiatives often lack continuation after the study-phase. We extracted possible influencing variables from business and (transaction) cost economic theorizing, stakeholder and capability theory. Moreover, we used measures for classifying projects with respect to financial interdependencies between participants. We supposed that project characteristics influence managerial behavior to continue or stop. We studied 28 projects (20 supply chain projects and 8 biological product development projects). Our aim was to explore the barriers and success factors for these co-innovation projects: innovation as a cooperative effort between public sector/research institute and private organization(s). We derived data from project descriptions and performed semi-structured interviews with project informants. Critical to success appears to be ex ante commitment of all parties. Goal congruence, both at a personal and a company level, and proportionality of sharing in project results are of decisive importance to establish such commitment. Estimations about financial project results should be made in an early stage; they should be used as a basis for negotiations on the (re)distribution of costs and benefits, especially if the value added is disproportionally distributed over the participants. Ideally, project teams of co-innovation projects should bring in complementary capabilities: technical, marketing, financial and organizational. Project governance should therefore be organized in such a way that the knowledge gaps are filled in before kick-off.
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Effect of Quality Assurance Deficit on Market Competitiveness for Export Commodities and Household Income in Nigeria
103-108Views:275The Nigerian’s agricultural sub-sector contributes about 37 percent of her Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs about 65 per cent of the adult labour force. It is thus the major source of food and fibre for the nation. However, there are increasing concerns about the quality and level of safety of many of the agricultural export commodities, particularly in the European markets due to the composition of high level of unauthorized pesticides. This is a major challenge to the level of market competitiveness for these commodities in the international markets. This study therefore examined the effect of quality assurance deficit on market competitiveness and household income levels. Trends in Nigeria’s agricultural export trade between 1980 and 2014 were examined and emphasis was placed on cowpea, dried maize, melon seeds and palm oil. Descriptive and qualitative statistical methods were used to analyze the data. Quantitative statistics included the use of econometric models. Results indicated that there was an increase in the general price level of the commodities at the international market over time. The aggregate market demand for each of them dropped sharply in the last one decade even when the market price per unit increased steadily. This negatively affected the households’ average income level as returns on sales of export commodities declined. Huge quantities of the commodities were then forced to be sold at the local markets at cheaper prices. This development negatively affects the consumptions patterns of the exporters as they now have reduced disposable income. Appropriate agencies of government need to be awake to their responsibilities of assessing and certifying the quality of the Nigerian agricultural commodities before exporting them abroad. This will help to further boost the level of consumer confidence in these export commodities especially at the international markets.
JEL Classification: Q13
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