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The purpose of this article is to deepen our understanding of what we know about business model innovation in the agri-food sector, both from a theoretical as well as a practical perspective. The methodological approach used in the paper is built on interviews, focus groups and observations of agricultural entrepreneurs and agricultural advisors in the agriculture sector and a review of over 500 peer-reviewed research papers for the period 1990-2014. The findings of the study indicate that entrepreneurs within the agri-food sector ought to shift focus from only a producer perspective to also include an entrepreneurial perspective, e.g. to focus on business model innovation. Based on this knowledge the authors present implications for research and practice. The research field is young and broad, but developing, and in need of stronger theoretical foundations. This article is based on a combination of a systematic literature review of a new emerging field as well as empirical in-depth interviews, focus groups and observations.

Around the world, it is increasingly being recognized that for sustainability goals to be reached, efforts need to go beyond complying with standards and mitigating adverse impacts, to identifying environmental sustainability as an objective of the development process. This approach requires the integration of environmental, sustainability, and climate change considerations into policy and sector reform. Because sector reform brings about significant policy change involving adjustments in laws, policies, regulations, and institutions, it is a sensitive political process often driven by strong economic interests. Policy makers are subject to a number of political pressures that originate in vested interests. The recommendations of environmental assessment are often of little relevance unless there are constituencies that support them and have sufficient political power to make their voices heard in the policy process. While strong constituencies are important during the design of sector reform, they are even more important during implementation. It follows that effective environmental assessment in policy and sector reform requires strong constituencies backing up recommendations, a system to hold policy makers accountable for their decisions, and institutions that can balance competing and, sometimes, conflicting interests.

A linear programming technique is used to calculate the land allocation that maximizes the returns to the agricultural producers in the provinces Santisteban, Sara, Warnes, Ibanez, and Ichilo, in the department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, under different sets of prices. All the input requirements per unit of land and average expected yields are estimated from survey data collected from farmers in Bolivia. Constraints on availability of land and labor are also estimated. Seven crops are included in the model: soybeans, wheat, cotton, yuca, sugar cane, rice, and corn. The model is first examined under the set of prices that existed prior to the 67 percent devaluation of the Bolivian currency of October 1972. Supply schedules are calculated for each one of the crops. Later, the price changes caused by the devaluation are introduced into the model, and their impact upon the "optimum" land allocation in the area is ascertained. A supply curve is derived for cotton under "after devaluation" prices. The effect of an export tax, on land utilized for cotton production is analyzed. It is estimated that a 40 percent tax on cotton production, other things being equal, would render cotton production unprofitabl e . A 23 percent tax would maximize the Government tax revenues. The net social cost of implementing such a tax is estimated at $b 101.6 millions per year. A self-sufficiency national policy is examined for wheat production. If the Government desires self-sufficiency in wheat production while maintaining the real price to the consumers at the pre-devaluation level, (that is, $b 46.75 per cwt before devaluation, and $b 70.12 per cwt after) the producers would have to be paid $b 150.0 per cwt, the difference between the pegged consumer price and the price paid to producers being covered by a Government subsidy. The total cost to the Government for the subsidy is estimated at $b 642.7 millions per year, and the net social loss is $b 141.2 millions per year.

This study analyzed the trends and pattern of institutional credit supply to agriculture during pre- and post-financial reforms along with their determinants. It then compared the effects of reform policies on access to institutional credits in Nigerian agricultural sector before and after the reforms (1978 - 1985; and 1986 -2009). Relying mainly on time series data from CBN and NBS, it used ordinary least squares method (linear, semi-log and double log) to model the determinants of banking sector lending to the agricultural sector during the review period. The models were subjected to several econometric tests before accepting one. Chow test was used to verify the presence of structural change in the selected equation before and after the reforms. Results indicated an exponentially increasing trend of agricultural credit supply in the economy after the reform began. Econometric analysis shows that stock market capitalization, interest rate and immediate past volume of credit guaranteed by ACGSF significantly influenced the quantity of institutional credit supplied to the agricultural sector over the period in review. There was a significant difference between the credit supply function during the pre-reform and post reform periods. It was recommended that government must consider interest rate regulation as a veritable tool for making credit accessible to farmers at affordable levels; increase fund allocation to ACGSF; boost monitoring capacity of CBN on banks generally and strengthen the microfinance banks to be more responsive to agricultural credit needs.

The Agricultural Sector in Lebanon: Analysis and Perspectives Towfiq labirAl-Markaz al-Lubnani lil Dirasat, Beirut, 1997

Social protection is increasingly becoming a powerful tool for enhancing productivity and employment and is, therefore, important for Africa's agricultural transformation. Thus, this study aims at examining how Africa's agricultural sector can be transformed through social protection policies and programmes for employment. It applies the Feasible Generalised Least Squares (FGLS) econometric method on a panel of 38 African countries with the data sourced from the Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) and World Development Indicators (WDI) for the period 2005-2017. The results from the study show that social protection has a positive impact on employment outcomes through various channels such as building human resource, equity in the use of public resources, social inclusion, among others. The study concludes by recommending that the governments of African countries should implement effective social protection programmes and policies in the agricultural sector in form of insurance, in-kind and cash support, among others to make farming attractive, thereby increasing employment and productivity.

This research is aimed to find out the ability of agricultural sector in supporting government's development and the role of agricultural sector in the development of Bantul region. This research uses descriptive method. In deciding the research site, the research uses purposive method. The data used in this research is the annual time series data within 2005-2007. Carrying capacity ratio analysis is used to analyze the data regarding the ability of a certain region is supporting food availibility, which scaling the amount of the owned land in a certain region and the population within, whereas everything deal with agricultural sector in developing Bantul region is analyzed by calculating the Regional Domestic Gross Product percentage of agricultural sector, which scaling the agricultural sector Regional Domestic Gross Product and all sector Regional Domestic Gross Product. The result of this research showed that average value of Bantul Region's Carrying Capacity Ratio during 2005-2007 is 1,46. The result for the agricultural sector's rule in supporting the development of Bantul Region showed that agricultural sector is playing a major rule, with its highest percentage during 2005-2007 for 24,49% or >11,11%, which means that agricultural is the main sector in contributing the Regional Domestic Gross Product of Bantul Region.

In European Union countries most farms are operated by smallholders in extensive agriculture and approximately 30% of agricultural farms are operated by woman. Despite the growing importance of the role of women in the agricultural sector, a more complete picture of the gender gap and the differences between female and male-operated farms is still lacking. The principal aim of this paper is to fill this gap by highlighting the differences between female and male-operated farms. The data used comes from the World Bank Open Data repository and Eurostat. The methodology consists of descriptive statistical analysis, principal component analysis, and multivariate regression models. The analysis is used to investigate how a set of indicators affects the gender gap in the agricultural sector. The research questions test how the socio-economic determinants and traditional agricultural land use influence the historical gender division of labour and the evolution and persistence of farm differences. The results from almost all 27 EU countries suggest that women, the same as men, can be considered "productive resources" and play an important role in the agriculture sector in areas such as crop and livestock production. However, their activities are less remunerative.

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to provide a sector-based analysis of the drivers for social entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector.


Design/methodology/approach
– The paper uses qualitative data from two studies in the Danish region of Northern Jutland. The data include responses from 38 farmers who offered or had considered offering social services. The analytical framework is taken from a review of the limited literature on Green Care and Social Farming and social entrepreneurship theory.


Findings
– Strong and consistent tools for the categorisation of farmers' social entrepreneurship have been developed. However, these tools have merely been used descriptively rather than to create proactive agriculture policies to facilitate social entrepreneurship. In Region Northern Jutland social entrepreneurship in farming is driven by a combination of tradition, close relationships and coincidence. It is ad hoc, with each initiative starting from scratch because no knowledge or experience has been gathered or distributed.


Research limitations/implications
– The agricultural sector-based approach to social entrepreneurship will not be discussed against other approaches to social entrepreneurship. This would be a suggestion for another more conceptual kind of article in the future.


Originality/value
– A study of social entrepreneurship among farmers has not yet been coupled with a sector-based analytical framework. This paper contributes to the literature of social entrepreneurship by supplementing with an agricultural sector-based approach.

The study empirically examines the effect of deposit money banks credit on agricultural sector performance in Nigeria from 1986 to 2016. The data for the empirical analysis was sourced from secondary data sources various issues of the CBN statistical bulletin. The study used agricultural sector output (ASP) to proxy agricultural sector performance as the dependent variable whereas Deposit Money Banks' Credit to Agricultural Sector (BCA) was the major explanatory variable while Interest Rate (INR) and Government Expenditure on Agriculture (GEA) are the check regressors as to enhance the explanatory power of the model. The study employed descriptive statistic, Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), unit root test, co-integration and ECM methods of analysis as the analytical tools. The results revealed that there is no co-integrating (or long run) relationship between deposit money banks' credit to agricultural sector and the performance of agricultural sector in Nigeria during the period of study; Deposit money banks' credit to agricultural sector (BCA) had a positive and a significant impact on Agricultural Sector performance (ASP); Interest Rate (INR) had a negative insignificant relationship with Agricultural Sector performance (ASP). Also, the study revealed that government expenditure on agricultural sector (GEA) had a positive insignificant relationship on Agricultural Sector performance (ASP). Consequent upon the above, it is recommended that efforts should be made by the government and private individuals to encourage or increase investment in the agricultural sector. The lending rate on loans to the agricultural sector should be reviewed and fixed at a rate that would encourage farmers to acquire loans from deposit money banks.

The purpose of the article is to justify and to highlight basic theoretical and methodological approaches to the development of an institutional model of the agricultural sector financial support in Ukraine, taking into account the current stage of its development. Research methods. In the course of research, a dialectical method of cognition was used, as well as systematic approach to the study of interrelated financial, economic, social and socio-economic phenomena and processes; a monographic method (analysis of scientific achievements of Ukrainian and foreign researches on problematic issues of institutional theory and institutional modeling); empirical method (concerning the assessment of the current state of institutional support to the agrarian sector). Within the special research methods abstract-logical (for theoretical generalizations and formulation of conclusions) was used. Research results. Basic approaches to the establishment of the institutional model of the agrarian sector financial support have been justified. The latest developments in institutional economic theory, with the using an integrated approach to selecting the best organizational and economic mechanisms for financing of economic entities of the sector at the current stage of its development, were taking into account. Scientific novelty. Theoretical and methodological provisions for the establishment of a comprehensive institutional model for the financial support of the agrarian sector in Ukraine have been further developed and the general principles for its development have been formalized. Practical significance. The use of the results obtained will make it possible to develop a balanced institutional model of financial support for the agrarian sector of Ukraine, taking into account current trends in its development. Refs.: 28.