2019 - Volume 121

Kosovo and Albania, in a manner similar to other Western Balkan countries, face serious challenges in relation to national food safety and control in terms of legislation, infrastructure, institutional capacity and private investments. Consequently, food safety is a major concern for consumers in this region. The objective of this study was to gain a better understanding of consumer perspectives on food safety and quality. Two surveys, one with consumers in Prishtina and one in Tirana, targeted more than 600 consumers. Despite the prevalent problems with food safety, Kosovars perceive domestic dairy products as significantly better than Albanians do when compared with imported food products. Conversely, Albanian consumers use food safety- and quality-related information about cheese and milk more frequently. The most frequently used safety and quality cues for both samples are expiry date, domestic and local origin and brand reputation. Food safety certificates are used by Albanians more often than by Kosovars, and international food standards such as ISO, HACCP or Global GAP are mostly unknown to both consumer groups.

mountainous areas and the valorisation opportunities arising from the certification of origin. The study explores consumer preferences toward the main attributes of goat-kid meat such as origin, weight and quality-certification. A Conjoint Choice Experiment was utilised to design the survey and a Latent Class Analysis Model employed to analyse the results of a survey carried out with 250 residents living in urban areas of Tirana. Origin was found to be the most important factor for all three identified consumer classes. This result can be used to producers’ advantage if labelling and other marketing tools are available to inform consumers of the products’ origin. Implementation and enforcement of origin identification should be a priority for the government and other stakeholders.

This study assesses the effectiveness of the Subsidy per Head Scheme (SPHS) in increasing milk productivity, land use, herd size and income in dairy farms across the seven regions of Kosovo. SPHS represents one of the largest coupled subsidy programs in the agricultural sector of Kosovo in terms of farmer participation and budget allocation. We use a Propensity Score Matching approach to assess the impact of this program by comparing a group of participants with a group of non-participants during the 2013–2014 farming seasons. We test the robustness of the impact results using four different matching algorithms. Results reveal SPHS was not effective in increasing land use, gross income and farm size (number of cows), although SPHS had a limited impact on improving milk productivity. In addition, the study highlights the need to reformulate coupled subsidies and develop new, complementary strategies that address farmers’ needs more efficiently.

Usable agricultural land in Iceland is predominantly represented by permanent grasslands and pasture used for livestock grazing, while the cultivation of arable crops such as cereals and potatoes has a very modest incidence on the total agricultural surface area. The main purpose of this research, therefore, was to assess the technical efficiency of dairy and sheep farming across Iceland’s regions using annual census data for the years 2008 and 2017. The assessment of the technical efficiency of farms – one that is able to analyse multi-input/output production functions – has been estimated through the use of the non-parametric approach of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The research findings have highlighted the need for farmers to reduce certain inputs such as labour costs and general productive overheads, as well as to address their efforts to extensive forms of livestock farming, notably sheep rearing, which is able to take advantage of the abundant and rich grasslands. In general, sheep farms have been found to be technically more efficient than dairy, while farms located in the capital region have been shown to have lower levels of technical efficiency overall.

Against the backdrop of liberalised trade in agricultural commodities in the twenty-first century, world food prices have risen at a faster pace since 2007. Food price volatility is inextricably connected with the problems of food security due to its implications for the availability of food, household incomes and purchasing power, malnutrition, per capita consumption expenditure and the changing patterns of  consumption on the part of poor people. In India’s case, a declining trend in the availability of food grains in the post-reform period can be explained by the encouragement given to the export of food grains due to India’s comparative advantage vis-à-vis the international market in relation to the pricing of food grains. However, the mere availability of food in the country is obviously not sufficient to ensure access to food for all households. In this context, our main objective in this paper is to evaluate the implications of food price volatility on access to food across decile classes in India. Empirical results reveal that consumption expenditure differs in both spatial (rural and urban) and temporal (pre- and post-2008) dimensions; specifically, the relative loss of consumption expenditure is significant in urban regions in comparison to rural regions in post-2008. In...

The current situation on European agricultural labour markets and the expected demographic development emphasise the need to address the issues of work and working time organisation in order to attract a young generation to agriculture. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the use of modern individual methods of working time organisation within agricultural companies. Data was collected through a quantitative survey consisting of 259 active agricultural companies in the Czech Republic. Results suggest that three factors were responsible for working time organisation in agricultural companies: support of flexible employment forms, employee productivity and the use of specialists. The right working time organisation of all age groups supports the cooperation of all employees and ensures knowledge continuity.

The global food system, from fertiliser production to food packaging, is responsible for approximately one-third of all humancaused greenhouse gas emissions. The ecological footprint captures the ecological assets that a population needs to produce, the natural resources it consumes, and to absorb its waste. The carbon footprint as the main component represents more than 50% of the total ecological footprint. Carbon footprint is said to be a widely accepted indicator of GHG intensity, originating from different economic activities. Due to its important role in raising awareness of global warming, scientists and policymakers also use it as a management tool for estimating environmental pollution. In contrast, the application of carbon footprint on the agricultural sector is still limited in the literature. The paper aims to explore what agriculture-specific factors influence the carbon footprint at a global level based on 1961-2013 data. The study employs feasible generalized least squares estimator along with panel unit root tests. Results show that carbon footprint is stimulated by economic development and agricultural production (arable land, agricultural machinery, fertilizer use), and in addition, agricultural exporting has a positive impact on the carbon footprint. By contrast, the growth of carbon footprint is negatively related to the higher share...

Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs) are central to the alternative food movement discourse. SFSCs are based upon the interrelations among actors who are directly involved in the production, processing, distribution, and consumption of food products. They depend upon actors mobilising resources of various kinds: skills; knowledge; labour; capital; buildings etc. External factors such as policies and regulations can also encourage the creation of these shorter chains. The development of SFSCs can still be hindered by a range of other factors. Nevertheless, bottlenecks can be overcome via the sharing of information on successful SFSCs through the dissemination of Good Practices between various actors and territories. The Short Supply Chain Knowledge and Innovation (SKIN) project uses the term ‘good’ rather than ‘best’ practice to draw attention to the subjective lens through which a practice is ultimately evaluated by an end-user. This paper first outlines the many issues that confront SFSC actors which represent bottlenecks to the adoption of ‘Good Practices’. It then documents the Good Practices collected as part of the SKIN project as tangible examples of how SFSCs overcome such challenges. Lessons learnt from project highlights are subsequently assessed in an effort to mitigate and offer solutions to the challenges associated...

A “farmers’ market” identifies a common area where farmers meet periodically to sell food products which do not need to be processed before consumption. Farmers’ markets have recently experienced steady growth mainly due to increasing demand for traditional foods and rising consumers’ interest towards locally produced food products. It is also the case that they provide transparency along the supply chain and decrease information asymmetries. This study attempts to define the farmers and consumers of farmers’ markets in terms of both their socio-demographic and their attitudinal characteristics. Data gathering was performed carrying out face-to-face interviews with sixty farmers and consumers. The study findings show that the majority of consumers purchasing at farmers’ markets are women, with an average age of 49 and with a high level of education. They attach great value to the availability of fresh and organic products with a good value for money. Farmers, by contrast, are mainly male, with an average age of 45 years, a high school degree and several years of experience in farming. They value more the creation of a direct and durable relationship with consumers in order to convey information about the quality and authenticity of their products. The study offers useful...

This paper investigates the current research on how consumers select the foods they buy and how they define ‘quality’. Consumer decisions are complex and whilst a few consumers prioritise local above all other factors when selecting food, for most local is simply one of multiple factors which influence the food choices they make. Short Food Chains are not necessarily local but are based on supply chains with fewer steps in the chain from producer to consumer. Short Food Chains ensure that more of the value of the food is returned to producers and allows consumers to have a more direct connection to where and how their food was produced. Short Food Chains tend to exhibit features which consumers increasingly value, whether these be traceability and provenance, organic, familiarity, tradition or a connection to a specific place and culture. These strengths of Short Food Chains suggest that there is real potential to see major growth in this sector in the coming decade. As Kotler observed, you have to sell to the pocket, the heart and the soul and, in the food sector, embracing Short Food Chains can help producers to do this.