Suchergebnisse

Despite remaining the most important type of animal production, pig production in Poland and Hungary declined after their accession to the European Union (EU) in 2004. This paper investigated the evolution of the technical efficiency of the pork industry in both countries. We applied stochastic frontier analysis, which takes into account heterogeneity in the production environment and production functions in both countries—true random effects, and a metafrontier model. We employed farm-level data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network sample during the period 2004–2015. Results illustrate the differences in production function in both countries and technological decline throughout the period of analysis. Furthermore, farms in Hungary were more technologically developed as well as less efficient in relation to the country frontier ; however, the higher technological level resulted in generally greater efficiency in relation to the metafrontier. Our results suggest that different policy measures would be effective in the countries under analysis.

Irrigation remains a critical input into farming and, therefore, it remains a proxy for food security and poverty alleviation in developing countries. Despite their role in economic growth and the received investment, irrigation schemes are still underperforming. Among many irrigation schemes, transferring more management responsibilities to farmers proved to be a viable path toward improving performance. However, the large diversity of implementation strategies makes evaluation difficult, while its well-demonstrated benefits have paramount importance to convince reluctant smallholders to take additional roles. In order to address this gap, we analyze the effects of participation on farming outcomes (yield, revenue, net profit) by estimating the treatment effect. We present the case study of a Mubuku small-scale irrigation scheme, Uganda. We provide a framework to construct the Farmers Participation Index while distinguishing farmers into participating and not participating groups. The effects of participation are investigated through econometric methods including nonparametric and semiparametric estimation methods such as a difference in means, a regression adjustment, propensity score matching, and entropy balancing. The analysis reveals a positive and significant treatment effect of participation on farming outcomes. The obtained results endorse the efforts of governmental programs to foster responsibility transfer and the farmers&rsquo ; role in irrigation management. A strong causal relationship between management and profitability provides incentives for farmers to engage in participation.

Aim of study: To investigate the structure and evolution of farm household income and examine the contribution of different sources of farm household income, particularly the impact of Common Agricultural Policy reform on farm household income inequality in Slovenia.Area of study: Slovenia, one of the European Union member states.Material and methods: A panel data set was compiled using Slovenian Farm Accountancy Data Network data at farm level for the period 2007-2013. Total farm household income was disaggregated into two different components: 1) income components, which can contain market income and off-farm income, and 2) subsidy components, which can contain subsidies from Pillars 1 and 2. Pillar 2 support included subsidies related to agri-environmental measures, less favoured areas and other rural development measures. The income distribution and decomposition were examined using the Gini decomposition method to determine the contribution of each income source and the policy shift from market to government support on farm household income and overall inequality.Main results: A shift in Common Agricultural Policy and related measures determined the structure and evolution of farm household incomes. Off-farm income had a lesser and rather stable impact on farm household income inequality, while the major change involved an increase in the importance of subsidies from Pillar 2 which is consistent with a policy of targeting farms in less favoured areas. Subsidies from Pillar 1 reduced, while market income increased farm household income inequality.Research highlights: Subsidies in farm incomes increased. They could reduce farm household income inequality.

The paper investigates the key insights of European Union (EU) member states agri-food export and import structures and main competitors in the internal and global agri-food markets in terms of geographical distributions and product coverage. The focus is on four agri-food product groups in global trade: fruit and vegetable products, grain products, meat products, and dairy products. The identification of the major competitors in internal EU markets and major EU competitors in global agri-food trade by calculating revealed comparative advantage indices show considerable differences by products and product groups, but in general the major competitors of the EU member states in the analysed global agri-food markets were particularly overseas countries such as the United States of America, Canada, Argentina, New Zealand, and Australia.

Article ; Saabunud / Received 31.07.2019 ; Aktsepteeritud / Accepted 24.10.2019 ; Avaldatud veebis / Published online 24.10.2019 ; Vastutav autor / Corresponding author: Štefan Bojnec e-mail: stefan.bojnec@fm-kp.si, stefan.bojnec@siol.net ; To identify the European Union (EU) member states strong exports sectors and food chains, the revealed comparative advantage indices from trade data were calculated using the total global trade as the benchmark of comparison. The empirical results show that the level and patterns in the development of the revealed comparative advantage indices for agri-food products for each of the EU countries in the global markets were mixed. The most successful EU member states in agri-food export competitiveness in global markets were the Netherlands, France, and Spain. Differences between the EU member states were also identified for the main agri-food product groups. Latvia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, and Luxembourg were the five EU countries that competed most successfully in global grain markets. In terms of fruit and vegetable produce exports Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Lithuania, and Bulgaria were the most competitive EU countries in world markets. With respect to global dairy markets Denmark, Luxembourg, Latvia, Ireland, and the Nether-lands achieved the largest export advantages, although strong export competitiveness was evident for almost all of the EU member states in the global dairy markets. Cyprus, Bulgaria, Ireland, Hungary, and Denmark revealed significant export advantages in global meat markets. New EU-member states, particularly Bulgaria and Latvia, achieved high export advantages in the global markets for the select product groups.

In the paper we investigate relative productivity levels and decompose productivity change for European agriculture between 2004 and 2013. More specifically (1) we contribute to the debate whether agricultural Total Factor Productivity (TFP) has declined or not in the European Union (EU); (2) we compare the relative TFP level across EU member states and investigate the difference between 'old' member states (OMS, i.e. the EU-15) and 'new' member states (NMS) and (3) we test whether TFP is converging or not among member states. The empirical analysis applies the aggregate quantity framework developed in O'Donnell (2008), using country level panel data from the Economic Accounts for Agriculture for 23 EU member states. The results imply that TFP has slightly decreased in the EU over the analysed period; however there are significant differences in this respect between the OMS and NMS and across member states. Finally, our estimations support the productivity convergence hypothesis across the member states.

The aim of the paper is to investigate the effects of agricultural subsidies on income variability of Lithuanian dairy farms. In addition, the observed heterogeneity in income risks across farms and time is explained in terms of farm characteristics. It was employed balanced farm-level panel data of the Lithuanian farm accountancy network (FADN) was used to construct coefficients of variation of five-year gross farm revenues over the period 2010 to 2014. Various econometric models are applied to measure the effect of off-farm income, total subsidies, farm size, and financial immobility on the variability of gross farm incomes. Estimations suggest that agricultural subsidies, liquidity have positive impact on income risk. The age of farmers negatively influences the income risk. There is non-linear relationship between farm size and income risk.

The aim of the paper is to investigate the effects of agricultural subsidies on income variability of Lithuanian dairy farms. In addition, the observed heterogeneity in income risks across farms and time is explained in terms of farm characteristics. It was employed balanced farm-level panel data of the Lithuanian farm accountancy network (FADN) was used to construct coefficients of variation of five-year gross farm revenues over the period 2010 to 2014. Various econometric models are applied to measure the effect of off-farm income, total subsidies, farm size, and financial immobility on the variability of gross farm incomes. Estimations suggest that agricultural subsidies, liquidity have positive impact on income risk. The age of farmers negatively influences the income risk. There is non-linear relationship between farm size and income risk.