Suchergebnisse

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

This paper attempts to study the Nigerian agriculture industry as a panacea to growth as well as an anchor to the diversification agenda of the present government. To do this, the time series data of the four agriculture subsectors of crop production, livestock, forestry and fishery were analysed as stimulus to the Real GDP from 1981-2016 in order to explicate the individual contributions of the subsectors to the RGDP in order to guide the policy thrust on diversification. Using the Johansen approach to cointegration, all the variables were found to be cointegrated. With the exception of the forestry subsector, all the three subsectors were seen to have impacted on the real GDP at varying degrees during the time under review. The crop production subsector has the highest impact, however, taking size-by-size analysis, the livestock subsector could be of much importance due to its ability to retain its value chain and high investment returns particularly in poultry. Therefore, it is recommended that, the government should intensify efforts to retain the value chain in the crop production subsector, in order to harness its potentials optimally through the encouragement of the establishment of agriculture cottage industries. Secondly, the livestock subsector is found to be the most rapidly growing and commercialized subsector. Therefore, it should be the prime subsector to hinge the diversification agenda naturally. Lastly, the tourism industry which is a source through which the impact of the subsector is channeled to the GDP should be developed, in order to improve the impact of such channel to GDP with the sole objective to resuscitate the forestry subsector.

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 takes a look at government aid to agriculture in Thailand and attempts to analyze its effectiveness. Only two crops have been aided directly by the government, rice and rubber, though others have undoubtedly benefitted by improvements in the country's infrastructure. The regressions performed on some simple production functions indicate that rice yields have been improved through government programs. The program for rubber largely a subsidy for new plantings, ha as yet not had much impact on yields. This maybe due to the fact that the pay-off period is at least seven years. There is also some evidence that maize yields have improved through the opening of new lands by highway and rail. The rest of agriculture in Thailand still largely relies on nature and the Gods to determine output. It may well be true for a change.

After WWII, the agricultural sector emerged as an area of exception in western democracies and is often characterised by sector-specific policies, compartmentalised institutions, well-organised interests' groups and ideas explaining why this sector cannot be governed by free-market forces. Nevertheless, over the last three decades, the sector has been reformed to incorporate neoliberal and environmental demands to a certain extent. Hence, the current agricultural regime consists of two competing discourses - policy exceptionalism versus post-exceptionalism. Study analyses this ideational struggle in the context of Lithuania. The study conducts interpretative discourse analysis of a site of discursive contestation, namely parliamentary debates over policy changes, which sparked farmers' unrest in Autumn, 2019. It is argued that policy exceptionalism is a dominant discourse governing Lithuanian agricultural sector and that it serves as a discursive barrier to the incorporation of environmental concerns into the agricultural policy-making process.