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Agribusiness higher education development – training needs analysis
107-120Views:348With the tremendous changes in political and economic systems of the Republic of Croatia after independence, new challenges have been put to the higher education system as well. The system used to be structured to serve a centrally planed economy with predominantly state ownership. Universities were producing graduates to be employed on statefarms,inagri-foodsystems(socalled„kombinats“),the state owned processing industry or cooperatives. The graduates were specialised in particular branches, such as crop production, vegetable production or livestock husbandry. Therefore, they were not educated to understand the whole system of a company or the agri-food system. In one word, they were not prepared to run firms as managers, although they were highly educated. Small and medium size entrepreneurs in agri-food business have been rather an exception than a rule, and prior to the transition there was not to much experience in managing, financing or marketing for such a firms.
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L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele as a Case Study of Traditional Speciality Guaranteed and International Franchising
17-23Views:839This work explores the case study of L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele as a best practice of traditional speciality guaranteed and international franchising. Besides being one of the most ancient and successful pizzerias in Naples, da Michele is renowned all over the world for the quality of its raw products, dough processing, and output. In the last years, da Michele also started pioneering the pizza production and commerce industry with an innovative franchising model and a new company appointed to managing this latter business. This work makes use of in-depth interviews and data collected on the field. For such scope, top managers and employees of both the local and the international companies were interviewed. The study finds that da Michele managed to become a benchmark for territorial food products and, more recently, for high-standard franchising, jumpstarting a successful brand-new company and food business project.
JEL Classification: O13, Q13, Q16, Q1
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Small and medium enterprises as development factor of agribusiness in Republic of Serbia
45-49Views:317Development of strong and competitive sector of small and medium enterprises has very important role in process of total transition in Republic of Serbia. This sector should be one of the guidelines of economical development and future, like in developed countries. Within the Strategy of development of SME and entrepreneurship in Republic of Serbia from 2003 to 2008 government of the Republic of Serbia, not accidentally, placed among many sectors which are expected to contribute and boost economical development, increase the employment rate, and realize increased influx of means deriving from export, the priority is on sector of processing of agricultural products. It can be concluded that significant contribution from agriculture to improvement of total economical situation is expected. Accession to EU should be considered primarily not only as the opportunity but serious task in regard to restructuring of the agriculture. However, impeding circumstance,in regard to export ofagricultural-foodproducts,first ofallto EU countries, isthefact that thismarket is under strict protective measures within the policy of agriculture and measures of agrarian protectionism. In such conditions it is very difficult for producers and processors of food to enter such closed markets. Small and medium enterprises are facing the choice of the business strategy:
– to place the existing product on current market;
– to place the existing product on new markets, including export;
– to sell the new product on existing market;
– to place the new product on new markets, including export.
Therefore, based on analysis of domestic market, volume and structure of import and export of agricultural and food products, as well as analysis of food industry and agricultural production in Serbia, it is necessary to define potential programs for small and medium enterprises with production which could be economically efficient and profitable from the aspect of investment.
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Consumption habits of “Free range chicken” in Hungary
69-73Views:351Poultry 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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Factors influencing the gross value added in the sheep production chain
141-146Views:571The 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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FACTORS INFLUENCING FEMALE YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN AGRICULTURAL LIVELIHOOD GENERATING ACTIVITIES FOR SELF-CARE IN GWAGWALADA AREA COUNCIL, ABUJA, NIGERIA
Views:297This study examines female youth participation in agricultural livelihood generating activities for self-care in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja. The objectives were to: examine the extent of female youth participation in agricultural livelihood generating activities and the income generated, determine the levels of female youth self-care responsibilities and perceived contribution of participation in agricultural livelihood activities on their wellbeing, determine factors influencing female youth participation in agricultural livelihood activities in the study area. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 133 female youths from 13 registered youth associations. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data while descriptive statistics and Logit regression model were used to analyze the data. The results showed that 30.1% of the respondents were engaged in crop production and generated an average income of ₦420,093.02 while only 3.0% were engaged in crop produce processing and generated ₦29,250.74. Also, almost half (47.4) of them spent money to take care of themselves of between 3-4 self-care responsibilities and about 41.5 spent an average of 130,078.95 on food per day. It also showed The logit regression results indicated that factors influencing female youth participation in agricultural livelihood generating activities include age, educational status, household size, income, occupation, and distance. While the study indicates that a significant portion of female youths is engaged in crop and poultry production, their overall participation in agricultural activities is limited. The study provides critical insights into the potential of agriculture as a viable solution to youth unemployment and is an instrument of female vulnerability reduction in Nigeria. The study recommends implementing policies to improve land access for female youths, including land reform initiatives that prioritize youth ownership and leasing options. Additionally, it suggests exploring strategies to reduce production costs through input subsidies, partnerships with agricultural suppliers, and community-based resource-sharing initiatives.
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Education, scientific-research and consulting work in agriculture of Serbia
11-18Views:288Serbia has small number of producers2 which have encircled production system (from primaryproduction to processing), which do business successful, introduce marketing strategy and production standards, registered their products' mark of origin, succeed to export on EU market, use internet or has its own internet domain, etc. For creation of such, competitive and modern agricultural producer, there is necessity for production specialization, any kind of cooperation and better organization. In same time, there is more space for bigger financial support of state, as expert and consultative support „created“ through strong partnership between public and private sector, i.e. tough and constructive cooperation of state and farmers sector, like as institutions of education, science, research and consultative work. In the paper was given review of number and territorial dispersion of educational institutions, current scientific-research work and consultative functions in agriculture in Serbia, than was pointed out main problems in their functioning and previous work and also proposed concrete suggestions for overcoming of existing limitations, as for modernization /reorganization of those institutions, in a way to be more useful for agricultural producers.
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Women and microcredit in rural agrarian households of Uganda: Match or mismatch between lender and borrower?
77-88Views:579The alignment of microfinance programs with the context and expectations of the recipients is critical for ensuring clients’ satisfaction and desired program outcomes. This study sought to investigate the extent to which the objectives and design of the BRAC microfinance program match the expectations, context and characteristics of female borrowers in a rural agrarian setting in Uganda. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to obtain socio-demographic, personality and microenterprise (ME) characteristics of existing borrowers, incoming borrowers and non-borrowers and to obtain information about the microcredit program. We found that BRAC uses a modified Grameen group-lending model to provide small, high-interest rate production loans and follows a rigorous loan processing and recovery procedure. BRAC clients are mainly poor subsistence farmers who derive income from diverse farming and non-farm activities. The major objective to borrow is to meet lump-sum monetary needs usually for school fees and for investment in informal small non-farm businesses. Many borrowers use diverse sources of funds to meet repayment obligations. Defaulting on loans is quite low. The stress caused by weekly loan repayment and resolution of lump-sum cash needs were identified as reasons for women to stop borrowing. The limited loan amounts, the diversions of loans to non-production activities, the stages of the businesses and the weekly recovery program without a grace period may limit the contribution of these loans to ME expansion and increase in income.
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An ICT-based traceability system in compound feed industry
59-64Views:341The term traceability refers to recording of flow of products along the food chain from production to consumption with inclusion of all intermediate applications involved in processing/packaging stages. The aim for establishing traceability in the food chain is to provide the timely identification and recall of batches of product from the market when a risk threatens the health of consumers. Since compound feed products are basic inputs in livestock and poultry production, ICT-based feed traceability systems can be considered as a initial step in food traceability management. These systems are simply information recording systems that are designed to trace and track the flow and characteristics of animal feed along the feed supply chain. This paper describes the architecture and some functional properties of a feed traceability system called as the “feed TRace”, focusing particularly on compound feed and integrated poultry meat industries. The feedTRace aims to improve compound feed supply chain management, to increase feed safety and quality control, and to gain marketing competencies with traceable products in compound feed industry. The system is currently under beta stage, and is tested in two high capacity feed milling plants and an integrated broiler company located inAdana province of Turkey.
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Rural resilience and the role of social capital among farmers in Kirundo province, Northern Burundi
121-125Views:288In Burundi, more than 90% of the active population is engaged in family agriculture, which plays a vital role in food production and constitutes more than 50% of the GDP. Before the civil war of 1993, Kirundo was deemed the “breadbasket of the country”, as the region fed many parts of Burundi through growing particular foods such as legumes and cereals. Family farming was market-oriented. Kirundo alone includes 8 lakes which offer opportunities for field irrigation. Today, this region is the first province in Burundi which shows a high rate of malnutrition, as poverty has increased and a sharp 53.9 % decline in agricultural production has been witnessed between 1996 and 2009. The aim of this article is to analyse the role of social capital through the local association network in improving family agriculture and the resilience to climate change and conflict crisis. In this study, 73 farmers were surveyed in Kirundo province through means of a questionnaire, and the study was completed by collecting secondary data. Analysis of the data reveals that, despite recurrent droughts in that region which caused deaths due to famines and displacement of people to neighbouring countries such as Rwanda and Tanzania, 44% of the farmers who were surveyed were shown to have resilience to climate change. The analysis of data shows that these farmers were members of well organised local associations, and had learned about specific topics such as financial management, processing and storage of agricultural products and livestock. The social capital network positively influences their income and their resilience to climate change and conflict crisis.
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