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NEP: New Economics Papers
Agricultural Economics
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Edited by: Angelo Zago
http://ideas.repec.org/e/pza49.html
Universita degli Studi di Verona
Date: 2006-10-21
Papers: 7
This document is in the public domain, feel free to circulate it.
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In this issue we have:
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1. Economic Liberalization and Rural Land and Labour Markets in
India: A Study
Gandhi Vasant P.
2. Political Economy of Electricity Subsidy: Evidence from Punjab
Jain, Varinder
3. Wheat Marketing and its Efficiency in India
Gandhi Vasant P.; Koshy Abraham
4. The Adoption and Economics of Bt Cotton in India: Preliminary
Results from a Study
Gandhi Vasant P.; Namboodiri N.V.
5. Comparing Environmental Impact of Alternative CAP Scenarios
Estimated Through an Artificial Neural Network
Andrea BONFIGLIO
6. Determining the Regional Economic Values of Ethanol
Production in Iowa Considering Different Levels of Local
Investment
Swenson, David A.; Eathington, Liesl
7. Does Health Information Matter for Modifying Consumption? A
Field Experiment Measuring the Impact of Risk Information on
Fish Consumption
Jutta Roosen; Stephan Marette; Sandrine Blanchemanche;
Philippe Verger
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1. Economic Liberalization and Rural Land and Labour Markets in
India: A Study
Gandhi Vasant P.
The paper examines the rural land and labour markets in the
context of economic liberalization in India. Land and labour are
the two fundamental resources available to the rural people for
income generation. The access to land and to employment for
labour become basic determinants of well-being for the rural
households. Reforms are often seen as hostile to rural areas and
the poor, although they should be beneficial not only for overall
growth, but also rural growth and poverty alleviation. The study
based on primary household data examines the land and labour
markets in the reform period and the underlying linkages of these
to different characteristics of the household. The study finds
that over the reform period in India the land markets are leading
to less landlessness rather than more, and growth in marginal and
medium farm sizes rather than large. Lease markets are leading to
operated land in more hands. Land purchase behaviour is related
to less land, more education, greater crop diversification, and
higher crop and livestock revenues. Leasing-in is also related to
many of the same variables and is showing great diversity in
lease agreements involving outputs, inputs and rent. Labour-
employment is showing diversity of occupations but the primary
dependence on agriculture is still about 80 percent. There has
been some change in the occupational structure. Non-farm
employment is associated with higher overall employment. Own-farm
employment is strongly related to crop diversification and
livestock activity; other farm employment to number of male and
female family members and irrigation; and non-farm employment to
education. Broadly, liberalization does not show adverse
consequences but rather some positive impact on rural land and
labour markets.
Date: 2006-09-29
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2006-09-02&r=agr
2. Political Economy of Electricity Subsidy: Evidence from Punjab
Jain, Varinder
The electricity subsidy distribution pattern needs to be
scrutinised to assess whether the policy benefits small producers,
a normative argument often made while granting any input subsidy.
In Punjab, this policy is found to ignore equity considerations
while granting non-discriminatory electricity subsidies to the
agricultural sector. This study highlights the existence of
disparities in the flow of electricity subsidy between the
advanced and backward regions. While the medium and large farmers
reap the major benefits of the subsidy, the poor small farmers,
especially in the backward areas, remain excluded due to their
non-possession of electricity connections. In a nutshell, this
paper questions the justification for introducing such a policy
and puts forward the case for user charges based on open access
to electricity.
Keywords: Political economy; Electricity Subsidy; Agriculture
JEL: P26 H23
Date: 2006-09-23
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:240&r=agr
3. Wheat Marketing and its Efficiency in India
Gandhi Vasant P.
Koshy Abraham
The study examines the marketing of wheat in India, focusing on
the private marketing system, the marketing efficiency and
quality. Wheat is now a major food staple in India, crucial to
India?s food economy and security. With production reaching 70
to 75 million tons and a large demand, India?s wheat economy is
the second largest in the world. The efficiency of marketing is
crucial to farmer incomes, consumer welfare, as well as
government budgets and the economy. Substantial changes are
taking place in the marketing of wheat. The study finds that the
farmers now almost invariably sell in the nearby primary markets
rather than to village traders. The farmer choice of varieties is
now becoming market oriented with quality and market acceptance
becoming as important as yield. The typically market intermediary
provides hardly any special, value adding or developmental
services in return for the commissions and margins. The farmers
see considerable scope for improvement in the marketing system.
The consumer demand for wheat varies considerably across the
country. But wheat has made inroads into food consumption in the
east and the south. The retailers are increasingly conscious of
consumer demand and quality, and keep a varietiy of wheat and
wheat products. Direct buying of wheat grain, storing, and own
recourse to processing are common in the north and the west,
whereas direct purchase of wheat products such as flour is the
norm in the east and the south. The trend is towards direct
purchase of processed wheat products, and within this from loose
to packaged branded wheat products. The estimated average total
marketing cost of wheat is found to be of the order of Rs. 266
per quintal, and in this transport has the largest share of 40
percent, commission and taxes make up 25 percent, and wastage
another 15 percent. When compared to the consumer-farmer price
spread, the marketing costs account for 74 percent of the spread,
leaving 26 percent for margins ? this is fairly efficient but
there is significant scope for improvement. On an average, the
farmers receive 66 percent of what the consumer pays. The
government channel marketing cost is reported to be Rs. 309 per
quintal, but this does not cover the whole chain and is not
strictly comparable. Examination of the question of market
integration for wheat is difficult due to data and quality
difference problems. Co-integration analysis using monthly price
data for eight markets for the period April 1997 to June 2004
indicates that nationally the markets are integrated but the LOP (
Law of One Price) does not hold, and the presence of six common
stochastic trends implies the absence of full pair-wise co-
integration.
Date: 2006-09-29
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2006-09-03&r=agr
4. The Adoption and Economics of Bt Cotton in India: Preliminary
Results from a Study
Gandhi Vasant P.
Namboodiri N.V.
The paper presents preliminary results from a study of the
economics and adoption of Bt cotton in India. Biotech crops,
which made their appearance in the world about a decade ago, have
gained substantial popularity and acceptance in many parts of the
world including US, China, Australia, Mexico, Argentina and South
Africa. However, their introduction in India has been relatively
late and controversial and they still have considerable ground to
cover in the country. Cotton is a major commercial crop in India
but has substantial problems particularly from extensive pest
damage and poor yields. Bt cotton offers a promising solution to
these serious problems. Data from the survey, which covered the
important cotton states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh
and Tamil Nadu, and 694 farmers, indicates that Bt cotton offers
good resistance to bollworms as well as several other pests. The
incidence of these pests is reported to be considerably lower in
Bt cotton as compared to Non-Bt cotton. The yields of Bt cotton
are found to be higher and the yield increase/ difference
statistically significant in all the states under both irrigated
and rain-fed conditions. As a result, given the good market
acceptance of the product, the value of output per hectare is
higher in all the states and conditions. The question of higher
cost of cultivation exists, and is confirmed, mainly because of
high seed cost and not commensurate reduction in pesticide cost.
However, the profit is found to be higher in all the states to
the estimated extent of about 80-90 percent on an average when
the effects of associated inputs are included. The returns are
highest in Maharashtra followed by Gujarat and then Andhra
Pradesh. Subjective assessment indicates that farmers see
advantage in Bt cotton in pest incidence, pesticide cost, cotton
quality, yield and profit. Almost all farmers indicate that they
plan to plant Bt cotton in the future. To increase the benefits
from the technology, the farmers strongly urge reduction in the
seed cost, greater field extension and demonstration work on the
correct practices, and more Bt cotton varieties to suit the
diverse agro-ecological settings.
Date: 2006-09-29
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2006-09-04&r=agr
5. Comparing Environmental Impact of Alternative CAP Scenarios
Estimated Through an Artificial Neural Network
Andrea BONFIGLIO ([n.a.])
The paper aims to assess environmental impact produced by
alternative Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) scenarios in the
Italian Marche region for the period 2000-2002. Scenarios concern
alternative hypotheses about direct payments for arable crops
related to Agenda 2000. For this aim, a Multilayer Feedforward
Neural Network model (MFNN) was applied. Different from
traditional models, MFNN is able to analyze complex patterns
quickly and with a high degree of accuracy. Moreover, MFNN makes
assumptions about neither the underlying population nor the
existence of optimising behaviour and uses the data to develop an
internal representation of the complexity characterising the
system analysed. The results indicate that direct payments
produced positive environmental effects compared to the
hypothesis of absence of direct payments. Moreover, they show
that it would have been even better, from an environmental point
of view, if Agenda 2000 had been more radical in comparison to
the 1992 Mac Sharry reform, by introducing decoupled direct
payments.
Keywords: common agricultural policy, direct payments,
environmental impact, neural networks
JEL: C45 Q18 Q21
Date: 2006-10
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:269&r=agr
6. Determining the Regional Economic Values of Ethanol
Production in Iowa Considering Different Levels of Local
Investment
Swenson, David A.
Eathington, Liesl
This study develops a baseline economic impact model for a 50MGY
ethanol plant considering all new production inputs and estimated
net new output in the new economy. The baseline scenario
presupposes no local ownership in the plant. The research next
allocates payments to investors back into the study economy to
simulate different levels of "local" investment and,
concomitantly, local receipt of profits. For each 25 percent
increase in local ownership, the model added 29 more jobs to the
local economy.
JEL: A1 B4
Date: 2006-10-09
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:12687&r=agr
7. Does Health Information Matter for Modifying Consumption? A
Field Experiment Measuring the Impact of Risk Information on
Fish Consumption
Jutta Roosen
Stephan Marette (Center for Agricultural and Rural
Development (CARD)) (Food and Agricultural Policy Research
Institute (FAPRI))
Sandrine Blanchemanche
Philippe Verger
A field experiment was conducted in France to evaluate the
impact of health information on fish consumption. A warning given
to the treatment group revealed the risks of methylmercury
contamination in fish and also gave consumption recommendations.
Using difference-in-differences estimation, we show that this
warning led to a significant but relatively weak decrease in fish
consumption. However, consumption of the most contaminated fish
did not decrease despite advice to avoid consumption of these
types of fish. Accompanying questionnaires show that consumers
imperfectly memorize the fish species quoted in the warning. The
results point to the relatively poor efficacy of a complex health
message, despite its use by health agencies around the world.
Keywords: econometrics, field experiment, fish consumption,
health information, nutrition. JEL Classification: C9,
D8, I1.
Date: 2006-10
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:06-wp434&r=agr
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