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Consumers’ Awareness, Perception and Interest in Labelling of Processed Foods in Ghana: A Case of ‘Sobolo’
Views:369Food labels contain much information that helps consumers to make decisions based on the details which are of much importance to them. The study assessed awareness, perception and factors that influence consumers’ interest in labelling of sobolo in the Kumasi Metropolis of Ashanti region, Ghana. Systematic random sampling was used to select 300 respondents from five randomly selected sub-metros and data were collected using a semi structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, tables and percentages were used to summarize the socio-economic characteristics of respondents. Perception index was used to assess the perception statements on the product labelling and the Logistic Regression Model was used to analyze the factors that significantly influence consumers’ interest in labelling of sobolo. Results of the study showed that majority (97.3%) of respondents were not aware of labelled sobolo but 67% was interested, though with low awareness. The estimated perception index (2.8) showed that consumers had positive perception about labelling of sobolo. Among the socio-economic characteristics; age, education, household income and household size and respondents’ perception on health and safety aspects of sobolo were found to significantly influence interest in labelling of sobolo. In conclusion, the study found that, consumers would prefer different information on labels and thus their interests are significantly influenced by different factors. It is recommended that efforts should be made to promote the awareness, education and interest in labelling of food products to enhance production, consumption and sustainability of the food industry.
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Characteristics of physical activity at the university of Debrecen
115-120Views:189The assessment of physical activity is a much-researched field. Physical inactivity has negative consequences. In the development of diseases, a key risk factor is insufficient exercise. Emphasizing the relation between physical activity and health is a constantly discussed matter. UD-FCSNE students will play a key role in educating children for a healthy lifestyle. They will become teachers and specialists. Mapping students’ motives concerning physical activity, we can see the order of motive factors and the factors influencing the different age groups. The majority of students exercise less than 30 minutes per day. Most of them do leisure sporting. To increase physical activity we must provide leisure sporting facilities, based on the population’s needs. Maintaining and increasing fitness are chief motivational factors, unlike expectations and competition. The order of motives is significantly different. These differences occurred in five categories. There is a difference in physical activity between full and part-time students.
JEL code: Z2
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Potential impact of the European Green Agreement on EU and Hungarian crop production
Views:187European arable farming, including Hungarian arable farming, faces a huge dilemma: how to contribute to and maintain the global food supply while reducing greenhouse gas emissions while main taining biodiversity, but reducing inputs that are potentially damaging to society and the environment while ensuring that no more land is taken out of production? Not to mention that the increasingly urgent need to tackle climate change is also placing additional demands on EU agricultural decision-makers. Under the European Green Deal (GD), the 'From Farm to Fork' (F2F) strategy will help achieve climate neutrality by 2050, with a target of a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Achieving this will require significant changes in food production, a shift in crop health strategies and accelerated innovation in the agricultural sector. The study addresses these issues. Our first hypothesis (A1) is that the GD and F2F strategies can be implemented without problems and without losses. Our second assumption (A2) is that the know-how solutions and the technological conditions for precision agriculture that are already available exist, and that all of these already justify the feasibility of A1. In order to prove this, we have reviewed recent and up-to-date literature on DG and F2F. For A1, we found that there are pro and con findings in the literature. However, the summary finding is not positive. The conclusion of the studies, based on data calculations, is that EU agriculture faces huge additional costs if it is to maintain production and reduce environmental pressures. Their calculations suggest that more people will be disadvantaged by the decisions, and that millions of euros could be lost to the public. However, the article also shows that there are many cases where positive results can be achieved even with reduced chemical use. Facts and figures from international and Hungarian technological and know-how solutions and their trials at plant level show that the DG's objectives are already partially achievable. It has been established that the systematic use of precision technologies allows to increase the natural and at the same time the economic efficiency. In our work we have used the results of primary and recent secondary research. We have shown the downsides of GD, but also that with targeted support, the objectives of sustainability and GD can be approached. Changes in 2022, drastic price increases for inputs including fertilizers and pesticides, inflation at a 20-year high, energy prices spiraling out of control, and an almost unprecedented drought affecting crop production and horticulture, point to the need for a radical change in technology, thinking and regulation. And all this to ensure that there is enough affordable food in Hungary, that there are export products within and outside the Community, and that those working in agriculture have a decent living.
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The social value of science shops: A cost-benefit analysis
23-30Views:164We describe and apply a method to determine the net social benefits of science shops. University departments operating as science shops coordinate research projects for individuals or civil society organizations (CSO) lacking the financial means to turn to professional consultancy bureaus. Three cases are analyzed; the science shops atWageningen, Brussels and Eindhoven. After investigation, it appears that under the normal assumptions for the application of CBA, the science shops concerned show positive net social benefits.
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Responsible behaviour or business? Social responsibility (CSR) in sport management
83-90Views:492CSR has become increasingly important in today’s business world and managers must consider not only the economic results of their decisions but also the legal, ethical, moral, and social impact and repercussions of each of their decisions. Some multinational companies’ CSR activities even clearly represent applicability of CSR in sport management. The aim of this study was to do a critical comparative analysis, present the changes, alterations in the traditional company philosophy, objectsystem; then to define the concept of CSR, its importance in sport, finally to analyze some of the top 20 World Food & Beverage Companies’ (Coca-Cola, Danone, Nestle) CSR activities in sport management. Similarly to the whole economics – beside traditional theoretical tendencies, parallel to them and not developing them – a new kind of company theory concerning the long-term balance problems of the natural environment and society is being formed. Although the notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is prominent in some of the current discussions and investigations about the role of business in society, the concept – integrate social and environmental aspects in their business activity – is not new. According to the websites and sustainability reports of the international parent companies and domestic subsidiaries, we can say, that the companies show similarity at several points with regard to social responsibility within the field of sport management. However we must emphasize that we can find in the domestic practice fewer examples. In this case probably the media plays important role, which prefer the news of scandals such as CSR-related initiatives. In the public the companies’ CSR activities are even less known. Finally we can establish, that about the sport sponsorship the parent companies we have more information, their reports and websites are more transparency. In contracts, in the case of subsidiaries we can meet deficiencies.
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Bread consumption habits in the gluten free diet
113-119Views:370Gluten is a protein found in many grain products. Celiac disease is a genetic autoimmune disorder characterized by sensitivity to gluten. When a person with celiac disease consumes gluten, his/her immune system perceives the gluten to be a harmful substance and reacts negatively. The only treatment for individuals with celiac disease is lifelong adherence to a gluten-free diet. It is one of the most frequent and well defined of all lifelong diseases. In Hungary, 1-2 % of the population is said to be affected, but only every 10th has been diagnosed. Bread is a basic and frequently consumed food made principally from wheat. Gluten is the main structure-forming protein in flour, and is responsible for the elastic characteristics of dough, and contributes to the crumb structure and appearance of many baked products. Gluten removal results in major problems for bakers. Currently many gluten-free products available on the market are of low quality, exhibiting poor mouth feel and flavour. People wishing to eat bread in the gluten-free diet basically have two options: buying or baking the bread for themselves. There are several gluten-free bread brands are available on the Hungarian market. The price, ingredients, texture, colour, softness of the available breads are different. There is a rather good choice in gluten-free flour mixtures on the Hungarian market, as well. The composition of these mixtures are also different. The aim of our empirical research was to investigate the gluten-free bread consumption habits of people following gluten-free diet. The research was carried out using Google forms in January 2017. Size of the sample is 196. The online form was shared in four closed gluten free Facebook groups in Hungary since they are really active in sharing information concerning gluten-free lifestyle and diet. Summarizing, in this study we wish to examine how evolve the world pork meat production, trade and consumption, and to demonstrate the main consuming countries, highlighting the role of China, as it is the most populated country in the world with its 1.4 billion inhabitants.
JEL Code: M31
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Generalized coefficients of goods quality and satisfying of consumers demand
83-86Views:88In process of work the problems are set and solved. There are problems of social welfare research in conditions of nonhomogeneity of objects and subjects of management, of revealing and substantiating insuperable difficulties in rising of social welfare by approaches, worked out before. Also there developed a new direction in implementation of the most important aim of any socially-oriented economy.
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NEW METHODS FOR STRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT CAUSED BY OPEN INNOVATION IN RED BIOTECHNOLOGY
Views:103Red (pharmaceutical) biotechnology is currently one of the most innovative industries. A good example of this is the fight to develop a vaccine against the COVID-19 pandemic, or even the incredible dynamism of the development of anti-cancer drugs.Innovations always carry uncertainty within them - the authors of this article see and experience this every day during their managerial work related to R&D in the biotechnology sector. Decisions often have to be made on uncertain grounds, with incomplete information. Mapping all these anomalies and their root causes is also necessary according to what has been experienced in various organizations, but at the same time it is a very interesting and challenging task. One of the possible means of sharing and reducing the risk is the so-called Open innovation, which required innovations in the fields of technical, industrial rights protection, privacy protection, but also cooperation platforms.All this required a new organizational and structural operation from the actors. This means that technological innovation attracts and results in project innovations. We assume that organizational development and structural innovations were also achieved through these transfers. We are trying to validate this hypothesis with the help of interviews with professionals.Our thesis: the challenges arising from the special innovation of red biotech also caused and necessitated the innovation of organizational structures and the development of its organizational and structural functioning, to which open innovation gave outstanding help.
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Comparative yield risk calculations of sour cherry and pear varieties regarding risk aversion
111-116Views:104Fruit production in the world is increasing continuously. Though in the past few years China and some South-American countries have extended their fruit producing areas, Europe remains to be one of the greatest fruit producers in the world. In the middle of Europe Hungary has to face several challenges as competing for market. Since yield risk has an important role in Hungarian fruit production we investigate the yield risk of two of the most important sour cherry varieties (’Újfehértói fürtös’ and ’Oblacsinszka’) grown in Újfehértó (1984-2005), moreover, two of the most important pear varieties (’Bosc Beurre’ and ’Williams’) grown in Bánfa and Zalasárszeg (1984-2009). In the examined periods we analyse yield risk with different comparative methods such as E,V-efficiency, first and second degree as well as generalized stochastic dominance methods. We conclude that the production of sour cherry variety ’Oblacsinszka’ in Újfehértó is more preferable compared to the other sour cherry varieties and pear variety ’Bosc Beurre’ in Bánfa is more advantageous than the other pear varieties and sites.
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Human resource aspect of agricultural economy – challenges of demographic change
163-167Views:156Over the past decades, the agrarian policy has tried to contribute to the catching-up of the rural areas with varying dynamism and aid scheme. However, its result is significantly below expectations. Nowadays, the age composition of the population living in rural areas reveals an unfavourable picture; the rate of the elderly, deprived persons and people being inactive from the aspect of employment is high and it is also combined with the low educational levels. The young generations and intellectuals leave the rural areas and, consequently, the rate of the active population continues to grow narrow as well as the proportion of young and skilled employees decreases. As a consequence of changes in the past decades, the rate of agricultural employment has not led to an intensive change but a failing change in extensive direction which lays off jobs. Nowadays, this process also determines the Hungarian rural society. In the sector, the need for employment diminishes as a result of the development in technology and due to the expansion of services sector. The purpose of our study is to present and analyse the human resources of our country’s agriculture by skill level and age group and compare it with the needs of companies, by doing this we try to compare supply and demand. In details, based on secondary data source, we investigate the agricultural labour force and try to confront it with the advertisements of job search portals (three of our job search portals based on our predefined criteria), by which we achieve a current picture of the agricultural human resource circumstances.
JEL Code: J43
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Evaluating linkage between operators’ satisfaction and potential of local resources for rural tourism: Evidence from Matsuura in Japan
33-41Views:136As rural tourism evolves into diversification, the connection between the individual and local resource management is becoming an important issue for the sustainable evolution of rural tourism. To explore this point, we investigated conceptually and empirically whether rural tourism operators’individual satisfaction enhances utilization of local resources and, if so, what mechanism works for it by focusing on rural tourism accompanied by an educational program, i.e. a farm-stay with farm and rural experience services implemented as a part of school trips in Matsuura, Japan. From statistical tests and an econometric estimation based on a questionnaire survey of rural tourism operators we found that operators’individual satisfaction gained from interchange with visitors and direct feedback can positively enhance locally exerted effects that stimulate operators to recognize opportunities within their community and raise the potential for local resource use. Thus, we should strengthen this connection to eventually create a new viable activity.
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The development of integrated accounting in small and medium-sized companies in the agri- and foodsector f the Russian federation
131-135Views:131This paper focuses on the regulation of financial accounting in SMEs in the agri- and food sector in Russia. The paper presents the factors which influence the accounting system and the quality of the information it provides. The information and reports that are prepared according to international standards are not comparable with reports prepared by Russian standards. They do not facilitate external users in gathering relevant information on the current financial position. The present usage of different systems for procuring information to satisfy the needs of multiple stakeholder groups takes time, distorts information, and often does not provide a true and fair view on business performance. One way to overcome this is the use of an integrated accounting system which allows, within the limits of Russian legislation, to provide a broad information base for external reporting. International standards could be used like IAS41 or those applied in the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). The derived data could be used for attraction of investments, presentation of information to all interested users, comparison of results of activities in similar companies, and as a benchmark for the activities of companies in various regions and/or segments. They could be used to compare Russian companies with similar ones in the European Union. This paper describes the benefits and pitfalls which companies potentially experience from implementing an integrated accounting information system for company management and financial reporting purposes in the Russian Federation.
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New venture creation – the influence of entrepreneurship education on students’ behavior (a literature – review based study)
147-153Views:291Entrepreneurship brings economic growth and development through the process of venture creation. These new business enterprises have a very important and positive impact on employment generation, poverty alleviation, and socio-economic development. Entrepreneurship education influences the attitude and behavior of students to form intentions of self-employability. We have analyzed the literature to clearly understand the relationship between entrepreneurship education and intentionality and the underlying mechanisms through which entrepreneurship education impacts intentions to start new ventures. By utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), we propose that entrepreneurship education increases students’ perceived entrepreneurial self-efficacy and perceived desirability for starting new ventures. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy and desirability in turn impact and increase students’ entrepreneurial intentions for creating new ventures. Entrepreneurship Education Programs (EEPs) focusing “Education for entrepreneurship” have more influence on intentionality through self-efficacy and desirability. Comparatively, EEPs concentrating on “Education about entrepreneurship” will have less impacts on the intentionality. The study has important theoretical and practical implications for researchers, academicians, policy makers and potential entrepreneurs – the students.
JEL. Code: A2, L6
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The competitiveness of rural areas in the Republic of Tatarstan
89-96Views:117This paper analyses the main factors influencing the regional competitiveness of rural areas in the Tatarstan Republic. Firstly, 19 variables related to the socio-economic situation in the Tatarstan Republic were analysed, these having been taken from the Statistics Committee of the Tatarstan Republic. Principal component analysis (PCA) was then used to determine the weights of 10 indicators that have an effect on the level of regional competitiveness. Factor weights are used as weights in the summation of the standardised scores of variables that have an impact on competitiveness. The major factors influencing the level of regional competitiveness are the level of economically active population, investment in housing and the level of education. The following results were obtained: one of the 44 regions is very highly competitive and two are highly competitive; two of 44 regions have a medium level of competitiveness and 39 regions have a low level of competitiveness.
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Information content of a sports undertaking’s statements serving different purposes – particularly with reference to the player rights
119-133Views:168In the 21st century, sport is not just a fun, social cohesive force but also a business; it has become an independent industry by now and several countries possess developed sport markets. According to estimates, sport accounts for 4% of the EU’s GDP. The actuality of our research is given by the fact that the economic aspect of sports develops continuously which is also due to that more and more amounts already stream into sports in our days. In Hungary, sport is mainly state aided and has mostly financing problems while the sport businesses existing in the more developed Western Europe are principally sponsored by the private sector. The government considers sport as a strategic branch (HERCZEG et al, 2015) and manages as such because they see the international breakthrough potencies in sport as well. Sport companies must also adapt the business-based thinking, which requires the strategic planning and operation (BECSKY, 2011). The research covers the subject of economic approach of the players’ rights. The task of accounting is to give a true and fair image about the property, income and financial situation of an undertaking. Information provided by accounting is essential for both the management decisionmaking and the market operators. In Hungary, the sports undertakings, as each managing entity, have to prepare their statements according to the Act C of 2000 on Accounting (AoA.) (NAGY – BÁCSNÉ BÁBA, 2014). The purpose of this research is to examine how a domestic sports undertaking demonstrates the value of available players in the books and how the incomes and expenditures incurred with the players are accounted for, based on the regulations of the Hungarian, international associations and the Union of European Football Associations (hereinafter: UEFA). In order that the leaders of the businesses can make quick and appropriate economic decisions, it is essential in this intensively changing world that an enterprise should have a well-functioning accounting system based on up-to-date information. International Financial Reporting Standards (hereinafter: IFRS) are intended to provide the comparability across borders. Firstly, we deal with the accounting reporting system, both the Hungarian, international financial reporting standards and, relating to UEFA, the investigation of the intangible assets to a great extent during analysing the balance sheets. Then, we examine the income statements from the viewpoint player transfers. To what extent the rules of a statement laid down by UEFA differ from the ones of a statement prepared according to AoA? What is the difference in domestic and international relations? In this study, we search after the answers for questions mentioned before.
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New sources of employment to promote the wealth-generating capacity of rural communities
15-21Views:126New Sources of Employment to Promote the Wealth-Generating Capacity of Rural Communities (acronym: RuralJobs) is a collaborative research project partly funded under the European Commission Research and Development 7th Framework Program. The Rural Jobs consortium consists of partners drawn from eight European Union (EU) countries (Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Spain and UK). The project began on February 2008 and finished in October 2010. RuralJobs quantified labour market, demographic and economic trends, and the impact of employment creation measures and policies in seven, representative “reference areas” across the EU, and used the information to demonstrate how rural development measures can be better targeted and how rural development policies should evolve.We identified labour market, demographic and economic trends in rural areas across EU-27 and the potential for new sources of employment outside traditional primary and secondary sector activities, and examined the interaction between different types of rural area (peri-urban, remote, high environmental/amenity value etc.). We identified employment growth areas where rural development programmes can be targeted to increase their contribution to employment creation. Our strategic objectives were the following: review of employment policies and programmes, scenarios for new sources of employment according to rural typologies, recommendations for better targeting of strategies, dissemination and mainstreaming. The main outcome expected is that the results will allow a better targeting of rural development measures and future evolution of rural development policies in line with the Lisbon Strategy.
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Graduate students’ opinions about entrepreneurship as an employment opportunity
23-29Views:151One of the most unwanted and unavoidable consequences of the economic recession is the high rate of unemployment. Graduate students in Croatia are faced with lack of employment possibilities, and for some of them the self-employment looks like a good solution. In this paper, we investigate attitudes and intentions of graduate students at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture regarding to selfemployment. Most of the surveyed students are in the age between 21 and 25 years, and they have already got some kind of knowledge about entrepreneurship during the formal education. In addition, majority of them have the experience of part-time jobs. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model was used to find out to which extent students’ attitudes and experience influence their expressed self-employment intentions. The results revealed that Zagreb students’ scores are close but somewhat lower than the same scores found in the comparable study from Australia. This goes for the investigated variables: (1) previous entrepreneurial experience (PEE), perceived desirability of selfemployment (PDSE), perceived entrepreneurial self-efficacy (PESE) and self-employment intentions (SEI). It was found that the score on the PEE is significantly related to scores on the PDSE (p=0.000), and PESE (p=0.000), which means that the experience positively influence respondents’ attitudes on self-employment and self-efficacy. There is also a statistically significant difference in the on the SEI with respect to the PDSE (ANOVA F=9.804, p=0.000): respondents that consider self-employment more desirable expressed higher intention to perform it. The PDSE was found as the most influencing model variable in regards to the self-employment intention. The results points out the importance of previous experience, role models and positive attitudes towards self-employment in the process of the entrepreneurship development in young, educated population.
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The situation of agricultural sector in Hungary – trends and territorial aspects
Views:252Based on its geographical features, Hungary is basically an agricultural country. The proportion of the production area within the total area of the country is approximately 80% and the proportion of arable land is 60%. This makes our country one of the first in the European Union. In the EU, only Denmark and the United Kingdom have a higher proportion of agricultural land. Hungary accounts for only 3% of the total agricultural area of the EU-27 Member States, however, it plays a significant role in the production of certain products. (Harangi-Rákos, 2013)
In addition, the climate is favorable for agricultural production, which also strengthens the country's agricultural character. Throughout history, we have rightly been given the honorable name “pantry” (Marosi, 2009), which was true both within the Monarchy and Europe. In the socialist system the agricultural country became a so-called “industrial-agrarian” country due to the violent industrializations.
Beyond industrial development, the service sector plays an important role in the national economy due to its technology-intensive nature. In addition, agricultural production is still significant in Hungary (Lakner et al. 2020). The agricultural sector is significantly involved in the production of the gross domestic product (Fróna-Kőmíves 2019) and in the positive development of the export-import balance. During the 2008 world crisis, it was thanks to this sector, among other factors, that the recession that affected our country did not deepen. The domestic consumption is largely covered by domestically produced commodities (Csatáriné, 2019)
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Estimation of Armington elasticities: case of vegetables in Mongolia
Views:159Mongolian people often consume meat more than vegetable in diet due to traditional nomadic culture. Nowadays, the Mongolian people’s diet has been changing who consume more vegetables with associated urbanization (half of the population live in urban areas, mostly in the capital city). Even though vegetable consumption has been increased recently, the vegetable market is still a high reliance on imports and threatening national food security. Since 2016, the Mongolian government has especially paid attention to increasing vegetable's domestic production and substitution to import vegetables (Ministry of food and Agriculture, 2017). Therefore, this paper provided to substitution elasticity (the Armington elasticity) between import vegetables and domestic vegetables in Mongolia. Additionally, we estimated the home bias value of vegetables. The so-called Armington elasticities are widely used for computable general equilibrium (CGE) analysis, which determines a degree of substitution between import goods and domestically produced goods. Several of the authors studied Armington elasticities at the product level. We choose six vegetables (such as potato, garlic and onion, tomato, carrot and turnips, cabbage, and cucumber) related to lack of information. The empirical result shows that the Armington elasticities in the long-run higher than the short-run with exception of potato which means that products are similar in the long-run. However, our estimated Armington elasticities are quite lower than the previous studies result which means that Mongolian people indicated more prefer home growing vegetables than import vegetables. Moreover, we found that the home bias value is high in the short-run even long -run, this appears to be a higher relative weight on home vegetables.
JEL code: F13, Q17, Q18
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Analysis of the chain of the banana industry of Ecuador and the European market
57-65Views:964Bananas are among the four main crops in the world, including wheat, rice, and corn. It is the most exported fresh fruit in the world in terms of volume and value. The European Union (EU) is the largest banana importer globally with an estimated volume share of 33%. Ecuador is the top exporter since it is responsible for one-quarter of the world banana exportation. It represents 22% of total world exports, 27% of total agricultural exports in the country and 8% of the value of all exports (including oil). The present work analyzed the chain of the banana industry of Ecuador and its position in the EU market. A non-experimental empirical method with a quantitative and qualitative approach was used supported by scholarly literature and secondary research data collection. Results obtained show that the main countries destination shipped 87.8 % of total bananas exported from Ecuador in the period of 2007 – 2017. The largest importer of Ecuadorian banana is the European Union (28.9%). In Ecuador, approximately 78% of the banana producers are small companies, by adding the medium ones 95.6% is reached. Thus, the production of bananas in the country is mainly based on the family economy. In 2019, the official banana box price for producers in Ecuador is USD 6.30. In the EU market, it can reach over USD 18.00. It suggested an unfair payment to small and medium producers.
JEL CODE: Q13, M16, M21
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The impact of the “greening” of the common agricultural policy on the financial situation of Polish farms
49-55Views:287This 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.
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Is it worth being socially responsible?
73-80Views:167Several definitions for corporate social responsibility (CSR) exist and these vary greatly as to the activities it should cover and their motivators. Among the benefits of CSR are positive marketing/brand building, brand insurance and employee loyalty. Numerous arguments against CSR prevail, e.g. social responsibility is not a problem that belongs in the sphere of activities a corporation should be addressing or even that CSR distracts businesses from addressing the primary need to concentrate on sales. Thus, the strong economic question: is CSR worth it? In 2014, we carried out a representative survey in Hungary, in which the effects of responsible business practices on consumer purchase behaviour were studied. With our research results, we could show that there is a considerable gap between the apparent interest of consumers in CSR and the limited role of CSR in purchase behaviour.
JEL classification:M104
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Nexus of non-farm enterprises and rural households’ livelihood: evidence from Nigeria
Views:97Agricultural sector in Nigeria is faced with diverse challenges that threaten the survival of rural households who constitute a significant proportion of the country’s population, thereby forcing them to diversify into alternative occupations outside farming. This study assessed the contributions of non-farm enterprises to livelihood of rural households in Osun State, Nigeria. The quantitative data were elicited from120 rural households’ heads across the state. The data collected analysis appropriate statistics. Results revealed that majority of rural households were involved in multiple non-farm enterprises and provide full-time employment for majority. Many were favourably disposed to contribution of non-farm enterprises to their households’ livelihood. Majority indicated that non-farm enterprises contributed moderately to their households’ livelihood. Income from non-farm enterprises, association membership and age were significantly correlated with the contribution of non-farm enterprises to rural households’ livelihood. It was concluded that non-farm enterprises play significant roles in sustaining the livelihood of rural households in the study area
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Resource use efficiency among rice farmers around fragile ecosystems: evidence from Kilombero Wetland, Tanzania
77-88Views:203Farmers have been encroaching fragile wetlands as a strategy to increase their rice production thus threatening wetlands’ existence and capacity to other critical ecosystem services. This calls for efficient production to strike the balance between food rice production and wetlands’ sustainable existence. The current study sought to provide assess rice farmers’ technical efficiency of resource use by detecting the determinants of rice yield and further identify the determinants of technical efficiency of the resources used by rice farmers in Kilombero wetland. A cross-sectional survey of 145 randomly sampled farmers aided in achieving the study objective. A stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model was used to analyze data. The mean technical efficiency among farmers was at 60.54% level. The positive determinants of rice yield were land and fertilizers while labor influenced it negatively. Age, education, farming experience, group membership, and credit access reduced inefficiency while the distance to the extension agent and off-farm income increased farmers’ inefficiency. The study concludes that there is a possibility of expanding rice production without threatening the wetland’s existence. It recommends that government and other stakeholders to ensure that rice farmers are up-to-date with optimal use of fertilizers in rice production since it will assist in improving rice yield while the rate of expansion of rice lands in the wetlands will lower. Policy implementers ought to establish initiatives that inspire rice farmers to capitalize on farmer groups and join education programs to take full advantage of their potential efficiency and might participate in community development activities.
JEL code: Q15
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The planned development’s effect on the performance in ice hockey
31-35Views:136The sports are growing everywhere in the world, so there is no other way to maintain or to increase the level of quality just the strategic planned development (GÉCZI, 2012), because thousands of specialist are working hardly on the better results worldwide. The aim of this study was to monitor the ice hockey players’ physical development in Hungary since 2007, focusing the results after opening the federations’ Methodical Center (MC). One can see a remarkable development during the last years in the domestic ice hockey, which is perceptible following the sport performance and results. The first step of the planned development was the reform of the curriculum in the coaches courses (from 2004 continuously) at every level, the second step was the opening our MC in 2010, where the Hungarian players and experts (coaches and officials) can develop their skills and their knowledge about the ice hockey. We examined the effect of the above mentioned procedures, comparing the national try-out test running events (10 m, 60 m, 6×9 m, 400 m, 1500 m) by the best twenty U18 players (N=80). According to the opening of the Methodical Center, we used the data from 2012, 2009, 2008 and 2007.
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