Volume 120 - Issue 3

In this study, we estimate the impact of land fragmentation and crop rotation on farm productivity in rural Albania. We employ a stochastic production frontier estimation approach to survey data collected among farm households in Albania in 2013. Our estimates suggest that land fragmentation improves farm efficiency, probably because it permits a better use of household labour during the production seasons. Our estimates also suggest that crop rotation increases farm efficiency. However, the impact of land fragmentation on on farm efficiency is far more pronounced.

Quality and safety are important attributes for consumers in developed and transitional countries such as Kosovo. This study aims to examine Kosovar consumers’ characteristics, attitude and preferences towards meat as well as to provide meat consumer profiling using a descriptive analysis together with the Food-Related Lifestyle approach. We drew a sample of 300 Kosovar consumers by means of intercept sampling in Prishtina, Prizren and Gjilan. Results suggest that Kosovar consumers perceive country of origin (COO), especially domestic origin, as an indicator of quality and safety for meat. Two consumer profiles were identified through segmentation analysis: conservative and innovative food consumers. The innovative food consumer is the most interesting target segment for Kosovar meat. There is potentially a market for meat products bearing food safety and origin labels. Therefore, private operators could consider the use of safety certification labels to signal to consumers that their products are safer than common products. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of our findings for businesses and policy makers regarding domestic meat promotion strategies.

In order to understand the global importance of foods with Geographical Indications (GIs), it is essential to get an overview of the market size for such products. In spite of the relative importance of GI policy in EU trade agreements, there are only very limited data available on the actual market size for GI labelled products. Against this background this paper collects all the available data that provides estimates of the market size for GI foods, analysing the available datasets and reports of the European Commission and conducting a systematic literature review on the academic papers related to this topic. Based on the results we can underline the high level of concentration of GI products in terms of origin and product category. The most important GI market is the domestic market of the European Union even though the share of GI production is only a minor part of total agri-food output. On the other hand, GI products with both significant market size (domestic and export) and remarka¬ble market share also exist, but these are a small set of all registered GI products and are concentrated in only a few countries.

This study analyses the relationship among carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, agricultural labour productivity, agricultural land productivity and agricultural raw material exports using a time series for the period 1960-2015. In this article, some theroretical hypotheses are formulated, aiming to explain the bidirectional causality between agricultural productivity and climate change. These hypotheses are tested by using Vector Autoregression (VAR), Granger causality and Vector Error Correction Models (VECM). Results confirm revelant theoretical hypotheses between agricultural productivity and climate change and show that the variables used are stationary. Agricultural labour and land productivity as well as agricultural raw material exports are positively related to CO2 emissions, meaning that these variables stimulate environmental pollution. Empirical results presented in the paper might be of interest to the academic community and also to policymakers.

The raging debate on organic versus conventional agriculture, and with regard to the aspect of productivity in particular, is far from conclusive. In this analysis, we explore the productivity comparison further through the evaluation of a common production technology used in 74 countries around the world, over the period 2005 to 2014. We found conventional agriculture to be more productive than organic agriculture. Whilst productivity of conventional agriculture is exponentially rising, that of organic is declining, although it has a quadratic growth path. For every hectare of conventional agricultural land given up, only 0.54 hectares of organic land area is substituted. Based on an elasticity of substitution of 0.36, the isoquant is relatively vertical; therefore, much more conventional lands need to be substituted with an organic land area. Research into new and improved fertilising and pest control methods is essential as positive developments there would have a significant impact on organic land productivity.

This study aims to analyze and quantify the short- and long-run impact of agricultural exports–both traditional and non-traditional products–on economic growth of Peru using an annual time series data from 2000 to 2016 obtained from the Central Bank of Peru and the World Bank. Traditional agricultural exports value, non-traditional agricultural exports value, labor force and fixed capital formation value for each year of the stipulated period were used as determinant factors of the economic growth. A Vector Autoregression (VAR) Model, Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test, Johansen Co-integration test and Granger Causality test were employed for data analysis. The findings revealed that in the short run, traditional agricultural exports have had a positive but non-significant effect on economic growth while non-traditional agricultural exports have had a positive and significant effect on Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Meanwhile, both fixed capital formation and the labor force have had a significant effect on the GDP, albeit in different directions. The ADF test showed that, with the exception of traditional agricultural exports and fixed capital formation, all determinants became stationary at a level I (0). Moreover, the Co-integration result showed that there is a long-run relationship between the studied variables and a unidirectional causality in the...

The most destructive foot-and-mouse disease (FMD) outbreak in Korea occurred in November 2010. Various studies have quantified the economic impact of culling affected animals, mostly swine, from the event by applying different assumptions to the Input-Output (IO) model. The present study takes into account a type of implicit cost, considering the types of effects in the previous literature, as well as costs that have been unaccounted for in prior studies. A seasonal autoregressive model (SARIMA) is estimated employing the number of swine slaughtered leading up to the 2010 FMD outbreak, and forecasts from the model are compared to the actual drop and rebound. The unaccounted implicit cost is estimated to be more than 2 trillion Korean Won (≈ 1.8 billion US dollars), which is a cost Korea must give up or cannot recover. This study serves to strengthen the justification of applying preventive efforts to reduce the likelihood and economic impact of an animal disease outbreak and may be applied in other countries.