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Competetiveness of the Montenegrin fruit and vegetables sector and recommendtations for impovement
69-75Views:96A number of facts, primarily including high fragmentation at all levels, weak vertical integration, limited dimensions in comparison to competitors poor technological level and unbalanced quality/price ratio make the sector weak, low competitive and exposed to international competition, reducing its capacity to capture any existing market potential. Almost all opportunities are frozen by prevailing weaknesses and threat impacts are exacerbated by a largely prevailing number of weaknesses. High production unit cost appears to be a major constraint to local supply market competitiveness. This situation appears to be mainly caused by general low levels of productivity – provoked by not adequate and up-to-date cultivation practices, reduced levels of input use, utilisation of old and, therefore, less performing varieties, and also farm management shortcomings. High losses from reduced availability of post-harvest facilities and equipment add up to the problem. The improvement of the sector is not easy. In other words, there is a lot to do for the Montenegrin sector operators to increase sales: tackle imports and increase market shares in the domestic market and abroad. Based on our research, we suggest that the Montenegrin fruit and vegetable sector should primarily aim at substituting imports, increasing domestic consumption and developing exports to the region (CEFTA countries) primarily via promising market opportunities. Based on our analyses of the state of affairs of the sector, the competitiveness and the market potentials, the recommendations for improvement competitiveness are outlined.
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Consumer attitudes and preferences about the pork meat in Hungary (based on cluster analysis)
151-158Views:291In my study I wish to investigate the fact that how the pork consumption of Hungary changed during the last years. This study focuses on consumer’s attitudes about (pork) meat, what do they think about the healthness of the different meat type, what are the strengths and weaknesses of pork meat, what are the main features of good quality pork meat, what are the major pork purchase influencing factors and what are the favourite food of the respondents from pork meat etc. Then I analyze the tendency of these values (cross tabs, bar/pie charts, means, Chi-square), where can be found significant differences, and make a cluster analysis to identify the pork consumers in Hungary.
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Complex problem analysis of the Hungarian dairy farms
93-100Views:252Hungarian dairy farms went through significant changes in past two decades. The most significant changes were caused by our accession to the European Union in 2004. In Hungary milk production remarkably declined after EU accession due to the decreasing level of support and decreasing milk prices. Size of our dairy herd has been practically reducing since the political transformation (1989); meanwhile the relative yields per cow have been continuously increasing. Relatively low prices, high production costs and tightening quality requirements ousted several producers – mainly small farms - from the market in past years. Feeding cost represents the highest rate in cost structure of production, but animal health expenditures and various losses are also significant. Applied technology of the Hungarian dairies lags behind theWestern-European competitors’; in addition they have handicaps in efficiency and product innovation. Moreover Hungarian milk and milk product consumption is about half of the Union average. In 2007 at the University of Debrecen the opportunities and the problems of this sector were discussed in the framework of a research and development project entitled “Project-generating based on sector-specific innovation”.At this workshop farmers, experts and advisers shared their ideas which were all gathered. The main objective of our paper is to provide useful information for the decision makers and the most important members of the sector. Using the practically successful ideas plus the ideas based on previous experience a new strategic concept was created. To reach the objective of this paper we collected, synthesized and analysed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the dairy farms and performed a SWOT analysis. On the basis of this SWOT analysis we set up a well organised problem hierarchy which would help to identify the main weaknesses of the sector. This analysis gives a great framework for the researches and it also gives a useful tool for the decision makers to improve the competitiveness of the Hungarian dairy sector.
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Portuguese agriculture and its role in multifunctional rural development
145-152Views:168AsinEurope,agricultureinPortugalissupposedtofulfill a multiplicity of roles. It should contribute to supply Portuguese population with quality and safe food, to be viable in a global, competitive, dynamic and aggressive market, to preserve precious cultural landscapes across country through sustainable land management, to assist rural areastobeattractiveandfeasibleandtosupportemployment and social cohesion. Nevertheless, adjustments are expected to adapt to new environmental conditions, mainly climate change, to minimize weaknesses, to hold new opportunities and face new challenges. Otherwise, increases on human desertification, rural areas abandonment and consequent negative effects on territory are predictable.
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Driving factors behind Uganda’s rural pastoral communities’ social-economic status; a comparison between Karamoja Region and Ankole Region
Views:402This study aimed to analyze the social-economic status of Karamoja, Uganda’s largest pastoral region that has consistently stood out as the least developed region in Uganda. The region is naturally endowed with a variety of minerals such as marble, limestone, gold, etc. This has attracted (both local and international) artisanal and small-scale miners into the region whose contribution to the region’s development seem negligible. The Majority of the residents derive their livelihoods from livestock as a primary source. Three major rural development aspects i.e., social, ecological, and economic dimensions were assessed and compared to the Ankole region, one of Uganda’s rural pastoral regions that have over time registered progress in livestock production and regional development. Based on this comparison, similarities and differences can be identified and used to build the foundation for the development of a SWOT analysis that will focus on the Strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that exist in this rural pastoral region of Karamoja. This study creates a cornerstone for developing sustainable rural development strategies based on a focused analysis of sociological factors that are fundamental in unmasking the ground reality in the region.
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Traditional retail outlets or supermarkets: A probit analysis of shoppers in Trinidad and Tobago
69-76Views:207The purpose of this study is to identify consumers’ retail outlet choice for Roots and Tubers in Trinidad and Tobago between traditional and modern retail outlets, and also to find out what influences consumers’ shopping preferences for one or the other retail format. A Probit model, where both demographics and store attributes were used to predict outlet choice was the methodology utilized in the study. The results obtained suggest that the traditional outlets are the preferred place to purchase Roots and Tubers with 71% of the sample selecting these outlets. Of the fifteen independent variables analyzed in the Probit model, four demographic variables – age, employment status, ethnicity and income – and two latent factors of the store attributes labeled “value” and “location” were statistically significant. Of note, older buyers are 12% more likely to choose the traditional outlet while there is a 16% higher probability that persons in the higher income brackets will choose supermarkets as their retail outlet. These results provide an insight into the choice of outlet of shoppers and the strengths and weaknesses of the two retail formats.
JEL code: Q13, M31, C25
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Problem analysis of the Hungarian tobacco sector
161-166Views:192The Hungarian tobacco sector went through significant changes in the last decades. The reason of the changes were our accession to the EU, then the changes in subsidiary system, the effect of the world and within the EU’s strict tobacco policy. The number of tobacco farms declined and the future became uncertain for the farmers. Size of the farms increased and there were a concentration in the sector, so the smaller scale farmers’ activity ceased. It causes several problems in rural areas, because one of the main strengths of the sector was its significant role in rural development, as the tobacco in small scales was able to produce an acceptable income in such areas where due to the poor soil quality economically successfully growing for other plants are not suitable. The main goal of this paper is to present the Hungarian tobacco sector and its main strengths, weaknesses, possibilities and threats compared to the European Union’s situation.
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Increasing palinka recognition with tourism and gastronomy
37-44Views:199The history of Hungarian palinka distillation dates back thousands of years. Palinka is a special product; its quality features are being increasingly recognized and appreciated by consumers. Our national drink went through considerable transformations in the past years, as it left the village environment behind and has become a Hungaricum, popular with young people. The authorization of home distilling in September 2010 was a key factor in its gaining ground in the country. In connection with this topic, the international practice of beverage tourism has been reviewed. After that, the Hungarian practice was examined, including the selection of palinka festivals, thematic palinka tours and palinka product ranges in 19 counties and in Budapest based on a total of 100 restaurants. Using SWOT analysis I revealed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of palinka gastronomy and pálinka industry. Overall, it was found that the popularity of pálinka is increasing, but the thematic pálinka tours have not yet widened, and there is a need for more procedures supported by community marketing.
JEL Code: Z30, E83
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Mitigation activities to reduce emission of agricultural greenhouse gases in Hungary
115-119Views:153Pressure on natural resources and the global environment have been identified as the most important challenges to maintain prosperity and improve environmental care. Agriculture is responsible for only a small proportion of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, but the sector is more closely associated with emissions of other greenhouse gases such as methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). The global warming potential of agricultural activities defined as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in CO2 equivalents is relatively low in Hungary, when calculated per land area. However this difference decline, when a GHG emission is calculated per product unit, as yields are lower then in West European countries. Environmental load caused by agriculture is also low in Hungary, where increasing part of EU resources are used for the long-term preservation of natural resources and for the raising of awareness of sustainable farming. The strength of the environmental situation of Hungary, consist of several elements, such as the rich bio-diversity, the significant size of territories falling under natural protection, the extent and importance of forests and the low environmental load from crop production. Among the weaknesses the nitrate load of the animal husbandry farms, the increasing water and wind erosion, the soil compaction and degradation have to be taken into consideration. Climate change has high risk potential and the mitigation activities of the New Hungary Rural Development Programme (HRDP) are investigated in this paper with the aim to increase mitigation activities in rural area and reduce the causes of climate change.
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