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• Structured commodity finance

  77-83

  Péter Suták

  Views:

  414

  Over the past years, the financial stock market – providing the capital demand that is the result of stockpiling and the characteristic strong seasonality observed in the agricultural sector – has increasingly grown and become more “used” by market participants. Its size had reached an annual value of 200 billion HUF, of which agricultural products had received the largest proportion through the various market participants (producers, integrators, traders, feed producers, mills). In the meantime, this market had become part of the competition between the commercial banks that are the largest financers of the sector, due to which the financing credit institutions had undertaken increasing risk levels, with respect to both degree of financing and the VAT financing related to stockholding. The practice of commodity financing by banks display a rather varied picture at present. Considering the exceptional degree of fall in prices and the actions of companies totally disregarding business ethics in 2008, it seems necessary to reveal the full scope of risks inherent in commodity financing. The primary aim of such an exercise is to ensure the prudent operation of refinancing activities for commercial banks. The inherent risks in trade financing – as has been proven by the experiences of previous years – are not found primarily in the goods themselves, but rather at the actual storage facility and also emerge in relation to clients, as well as the inadequate and ineffective risk management of price volatility by the financers. Therefore, the establishment of banking risk management and risk prevention techniques, including the development of new financing procedures become indispensable, minimizing all types of risks that had emerged in previous years.

• Challenges to sustainable rural development in Russia: social issues and regional divergences

  45-51

  Olga Lisova

  Vasily Erokhin

  Anna Ivolga

  Views:

  391

  Paper aims at investigation of contemporary approaches to sustainable rural development in Russia. It includes the overview of current experiences in rural development, analysis of major economic and social indicators of rural areas in comparison with urban ones. Analysis included the set of indicators such as number of rural people, number of rural settlements, rates of births and mortalities, natural and migration increases and declines of population, rates of employment and unemployment, average monthly nominal per capita wages, and level of the subsistence minimum. Indicators have been measured separately for rural and urban areas; regions have been grouped in relation to the particular indicator. The research is concluded by discovery of growth points for rural development and a set of recommendations on perspective measures of state and local policies in rural areas, directed on increase of living standards of rural population and retention of labour resources in their traditional rural areas of inhabitation.

  JEL: Q18, P25

• THE INVISIBLE HANDS IN THE PRODUCTION OF GHANA’S PREMIUM COCOA: WOMEN AS KEY CONTRIBUTORS

  Tania Ayine Akolgo

  John-Eudes Andivi Bakang

  Enoch Kwame Tham-Agyekum

  Views:

  278

  So 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.