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• Role of innovations and knowledge – infrastructure and institutions

  7-10

  András Nábrádi

  Views:

  637

  There is a well known saying: Research converts money into knowledge, innovation converts knowledge into money. The knowledge-based economy has four pillars: innovation, education, the economic and institutional regime, and information infrastructure. Transformation towards a knowledge-based economy will necessarily shift the proportion and growth of national income derived from knowledge-based industries, the percentage of the workforce employed in knowledge-based jobs and the ratio of firms using technology to innovate. Progress towards a knowledge-based economy will be driven by four elements: human capital development, knowledge generation and exploitation (R&D), knowledge infrastructure. Increased investment in these four areas will certainly have an impact. National experience, however, suggests that an incremental approach will not work. Nations that have achieved accelerated growth in outputs and capabilities have acted decisively, targeting investments in areas of strategic opportunity. The organizational and infrastructural improvement of research requires supranational cooperation and the promotion of the free movement of knowledge. Therefore, the EU decision on the establishment of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), which ensures that the GDP proportion for research and development (R&D) shall achieve 3% stipulated by member states in the long run, is particularly welcome.

• Ecological aspects of increasing intensity in pepper forcing with prime attention to the type of the growing equipment

  81-87

  Tibor Kicska

  Views:

  350

  Significant amount of profit can be generated in forcing technologies by the efficient use of different elements in growing technologies, however, improving production intensity is on the agenda in the sector. Pepper forcing, as the most significant class of vegetable forcing, practically takes place under all the growing equipment widespread in our country, but there is a considerable difference in context of profitability and efficiency. This paper wonders whether the most intensive technology in pepper forcing is efficient regarding the use of forcing equipment, namely modern greenhouses, or growing under greenhouses with significantly lower investment cost is more efficient. The analysis represents cost-income factors and efficiency assessed on a long-term basis of different technologies via a deterministic model based on producers’ data collections. As a result of the research, economic indicators are calculated based on exact results which will help to conduct a comparative assessment of economic features in technological varieties.

  JEL code: Q12

• A study on consumer habits in the dietary supplements market

  5-12

  Zsófia Nábrádi

  Diána Bánáti

  Zoltán Szakály

  Views:

  1475

  There has been a continuous increase in the proportion of consumers using dietary supplements worldwide. Evidence based on former surveys suggests that in Hungary more than half of the population buy at least one type of dietary supplement (hereinafter DS). By using secondary research, the authors of the present paper examine the demographic factors determining the consumption of DS on a global scale. Consumption of DS increases with age and is more frequent among women. Consumers with higher qualifications and income tend to buy products containing vitamins and minerals to a greater degree. In the vast majority of cases the purchase and consumption of DS is based on consumers’ personal preferences and decisions, rather than on their physicians’ advice. It has been found that a high percentage of DS consumers probably do not even need any extra nutrient intake. In our primary research (N=1000) the specific attitudes to and characteristics of DS consumption among Hungarian adults are analysed on the basis of on a nationally representative survey. First, we identify the most important reasons which encourage consumers to buy DS. Consumer awareness concerning DS with a particular vitamin and mineral content and of other sources is examined, and we also assess the consumption of the product which is the most popular. The current paper attempts to identify the outlets Hungarian consumers typically buy DS from, and also what resources they use to keep themselves informed about these products. Consumers who admittedly reported (regular) consumption of a certain kind of DS product 6 months prior to the survey are further examined in relation to certain additional issues. The results of our survey provide an accurate picture of the DS consumption habits of the Hungarian population.

  JEL CODE: I12, M31

• The impact of the “greening” of the common agricultural policy on the financial situation of Polish farms

  49-55

  Stefania Czekaj

  Edward Majewski

  Adam Was

  Views:

  568

  This paper presents an assessment of the impacts of introducing the greening scenario of the CAP, proposed by the European Commission as an alternative for the reformed CAP after 2013. In the past, the CAP has undergone numerous transformations in response to the changing macroeconomic environment and in reaction to developments in the farming sectors in EU countries. On the 12th of October 2011, the Commission presented a set of legal proposals designed to make the CAP a more effective policy to encourage more competitive and sustainable agriculture and vibrant rural areas. The proposal brings various new elements under consideration, some of them raising strong controversies such as introducing “greening” as a component of direct payments. Changes in the direct payments scheme in line with the EC proposition include forcing adjustments in the cropping pattern and creating ecological focus areas (EFA) on 7% of the farm land ; the consequences of such a proposal on the size and structure of agricultural production, and thus on the economic performance of farms and the whole agricultural sector are uncertain. The authors analyse historical changes to the CAP with a focus on a growing importance of the environmental component of the CAP, discuss different scenarios of shaping the direct payments system and present the results of modelling the impacts of greening the CAP on the Polish farming sector with the use of the LP optimisation model. The study was based on Polish FADN data. Results show that the majority of farmers in Poland comply with the crop diversification constraint of greening. However, establishing the required EFAs and necessary diversification on farms with simplified cropping structures will have a negative impact on the volume of agricultural production as well as on farm incomes.

• WHAT DRIVES FEMALE FARMERS’ PARTICIPATION IN OFF-FARM ACTIVITIES? THE CASE OF RURAL NIGERIA

  Abbas Shehu

  Jadeera Mahmood

  Sulaiman Umar

  Views:

  321

  Women often lack access to productive resources such as land and capital in most developing countries. This forces them to take part in off-farm activities to augment their little farm income. This study investigated factors that affect the involvement of women farmers in different types of off-farm entrepreneurial livelihood activities in rural Bauchi state, Nigeria. A purposive sampling method was used in selecting three local government areas in the western agricultural zone of the state and a random sampling method was used in selecting ten wards. 5% registered women farmers in each selected ward, making 134 respondents. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to women farmers in 2017. The results revealed that food processing, farm product sales, trading and tailoring are the major off-farm livelihood activities engaged in by rural female farmers. Logit regression results revealed, as expected, that different factors affect their involvement in various types of off-farm activities. Food processing and tailoring required relatively high start-up capital and access to electricity as an investment and the use of machines was needed. Thus, access to credit or remittances and to electricity increases the probability of being involved in these activities. The requirements of trading being lower and access to market increases the probability of being involved. Provision of extension services, rural credit facilitation programmes, rural electrification, road and market structure development are instruments that are appropriate to support women farmers' involvement in off-farm activities. 

• Demand and supply of labor market: A case of UAE

  145-153

  Yahya Z. Alshehhi

  Views:

  425

  United Arab Emirates (UAE) witnessed a progress of growth booming since its establishment, which as result puched all economic componets to indicated a active movement in term of employment and capital investment as well. This steady economic growth has been marked by an increase in the income by the country’s citizens, both national as well as the foreign residents This paper to axamine the supply and demand of labor market in UAE. The technique used to source the data is a secondary resource and methodology employed in descriptive and analytical. The study found that, the diversification of the economy, and enhance the role of private sector increased the demand for labor as well as increased the diversification for nationalities in the country. From other side, because of diversification strategy, the foreigners labor have more numbers in total employment structure.

  JEL CODE: O12