No 1/2013, March | Agris on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics

On the Comparison of Akaike Information Criterion and Consistent Akaike Information Criterion in Selection of an Asymmetric Price Relationship: Bootstrap Simulation Results

H. D. Acquah No 1/2013, March

ABSTRACT

Akaike’s Information Criteria provide a basis for choosing between competing approaches to testing for price asymmetry. However, very little research has been undertaken to understand its performance in the price transmission modelling context. In addressing this issue, this paper introduces and applies parametric bootstrap techniques to evaluate the ability of Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) and Consistent Akaike Information Criteria (CAIC) in distinguishing between competing asymmetric price transmission models under various error and sample size conditions. Bootstrap simulation results suggest that the performance of the model selection methods depends on sample size and stochastic variance. The Bootstrap simulations further indicate that CAIC is consistent and performs better than the AIC in large bootstrap samples. The ability of the model selection methods to identify the true asymmetric price relationship decreases with increase in stochastic variance. The research findings demonstrate the usefulness of Bootstrap algorithms in price transmission model comparison and selection.

KEYWORDS

Asymmetry, Akaike’s Information Criteria (AIC), Consistent Akaike Information Criteria (AIC), model selection, Bootstrapping.

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Economics and Technical Efficiency of Dry Season Tomato Production in Selected Areas in Kwara State, Nigeria

A. H. Adenuga A. Muhammad-Lawal O. A. Rotimi No 1/2013, March

ABSTRACT

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) is one of the major fruit vegetables in Nigeria. In view of its seasonal availability and the need to make it available all-year round, effort must be made to increase efficiency of its production especially during the dry season. A study was therefore carried out to examine the economics of dry season tomato production in Kwara state, Nigeria. It estimated the costs and returns and assessed the technical efficiency of dry season tomato production. A two-stage random sampling technique was used to select 105 respondents for the study. A well-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. Major tools of analysis used for the study were the gross margin analysis and the stochastic frontiers model. Results of the study showed that a gross margin of N 18,956.75/ha (US$ 120.74/ha) was realized from dry season tomato production. Furthermore, the result of the stochastic frontier model shows that age, education status of the farmers and access to credit had significant effect on the efficiency of dry season tomato production. This study therefore highlights the need for government to invest in public education and to make credit available to farmers as a way of reducing the burden of high cost of production.

KEYWORDS

Tomato production, technical efficiency, stochastic frontier production model, gross margin analysis, Kwara state.

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Economic Impact of Support Service Program on Micro and Small Enterprises: The Case of Dire Dawa Administration, Ethiopia

T. Eshetu M. Ketema B. Kassa No 1/2013, March

ABSTRACT

Special attention has been given to untie the constraints of Micro and Small Enterprises in Ethiopia for they are important vehicles to address the challenges of unemployment, economic growth and equity in the country. The government is implementing different support service programs, in the forms of financial and business development, in different parts of the country. This study is aimed at evaluating economic impact of MSEs support service programs on enterprise sales, employment and capital asset formation in Dire Dawa Administration, Ethiopia. Propensity Score Matching is employed to estimate the impact of support service program. The result revealed that the program resulted in average increment of monthly sales by 28%, employee level by 42%, and capital asset formation by 60%. It is, therefore, indispensable to strengthen and expand the support service program to non participant enterprises by giving special attention to the major problems that participant enterprises are currently facing.

KEYWORDS

Micro and Small Scale Enterprises, propensity score matching, economic impact, support service programs, Ethiopia.

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Agritourism Farms - Evaluation of Their Websites Quality and Web 2.0

Z. Havlíček V. Lohr M. Šmejkalová J. Grosz P. Benda No 1/2013, March

ABSTRACT

Based on surveys carried out in 2009 and 2012 it can be suggested that the web presentations of agritourism farms are virtually unchanged. The quality of the web pages for the same farms is statistically higher only for the criterion of “Content – structure” of websites. It can be assumed that in 2012 farmers devoted more attention to the structure of information that is presented on their own websites. Farms that have their own domain name show statistically significantly higher quality websites.Generally, it can be said that the website presentations of agritourism farms do not use the new approaches to the internet technologies as much as they could. For this reason, an approach has been proposed for upgrading the www presentations of lesser quality by means of the WCMS WordPress. It is recommended to use the Web 2.0 technologies, e.g. integrate through the mashup technologies the associated information sources into the websites (links to social networks and weather forecasts or the RSS sources in a given region).This paper was elaborated within the framework of the solution VZ MSM 6046070906 „Economics sources of Czech agriculture and their efficient use in the context of multifunctional agri-food systems“.

KEYWORDS

Agritourism, website quality, SEO, Web 2.0, WordPress.

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Economic Effects of Investment Support of Adding Value to Food Products

J. Mezera J. Špička No 1/2013, March

ABSTRACT

The reason for this contribution is need for analysis and evaluation of the support of adding value to food products in framework of the Rural Development Programme (sub-measure I.1.3.1) in the context of the preparation of new documents for the new programming period 2014 - 2020. Application of research results is the first step to modification of rules for the RDP granting aid for the programming period 2014 - 2020 in order to be efficient and targeted at food industry in the new conditions. From a methodological point of view the solution is based on counterfactual analysis and identifies the main effects for the food industry using economic indicators. Results show that the supported businesses consolidated their economic position to a certain extent. The investment support has positive impact on financial stability because participants had smaller decrease of profitability than nonparticipants in the period 2007 - 2010. The investment support increases labour productivity. But due to the higher depreciation, as the consequence of investments in fixed assets, the overall effects on economic results are slightly reduced.The author gratefully acknowledge the support of the Ministry of Agriculture – the support came from the institutional support of the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Information (internal research project no. 1262 – “Economic performance of the Czech food processing sector with focus on small and medium enterprises in the context of the measures Rural Development Programme”).

KEYWORDS

Food industry, adding value, structural support, economic indicators, efficiency.

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Technical Efficiency of Cassava - Based Cropping in Oyo State of Nigeria

L. T. Ogunniyi J. O. Ajetomobi Y. L. Fabiyi No 1/2013, March

ABSTRACT

This study examined the technical efficiency of cassava-based cropping in Oyo State of Nigeria. The population for the study consisted of all cassava-based farmers in Oyo State. Well structured questionnaire was used in collecting information from 253 cassava-based farmers in the study area. Multistage random sampling technique was employed. The study was analyzed, using descriptive statistics, stochastic frontier production and multiple regression analysis. The result of the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function revealed that cassava cutting material was statistically significant and positive in all the zones. This implies that cuttings are positive factors that influence output in the study area. The coefficient of farm size was also found to be significant and positive in all the zones except in zone 4 where it was insignificant and negative. This implies that farm size was a significant and positive determinant of cassava output in these zones The estimated gamma parameter (γ) of 0.814 indicates that 81.4% of the total variation in cassava output was due to technical inefficiencies in the study area. The return to scale (RTS) was 0.54 in the study area. This indicates a positive decreasing return to scale and that cassava production was in stage II of the production region where resources and production were believed to be efficient. The mean technical efficiency for the study area was 0.542. The analyses of technical efficiency revealed that cassava-based farmers were not operating on the production frontier. Productivity improvements can be achieved by implementing policies, such as, improved farmers’ access to extension services and technical assistance, to ensure farmers used the existing technology more efficiently. This would make farmers operate more closely to the existing frontier.

KEYWORDS

Technical efficiency, cassava, stochastic frontier.

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Development of Visegrad Countries’ Agricultural Trade in Relation to Agricultural Production Development

M. Svatoš L. Smutka B. A. M. Elshibani S. A. A. Mousbah No 1/2013, March

ABSTRACT

The paper is devoted to the analysis of Visegrad coutries’ agricultural production and trade relationship. The objective is to analyze changes in agricultural production in relation to individual countries’ agricultural foreign trade performance and to identify the most important changes in area of Visegrad members’ agrarian production and trade performance and competitiveness. During the period 1993 – 2010, Visegrad countries’ agricultural production and trade were significantly affected. The volume of agricultural production was reduced especially in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The reduction of agricultural and foodstuff production volume in the Czech Republic and Slovakia resulted in the significant growth of imports. Hungarian trade was also negatively affected by its agricultural sector and foodstuff industry stagnation. Only Poland was able during the analyzed time period significantly improve its production and trade performance. Agricultural trade of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary does not have comparative advantages in relation to the EU and third countries market. Only Poland does have comparative advantages in the field of agricultural trade, both in relation to the EU market, as well as in relation to the global market.This paper was supported by the institutional research intentions MSM 6046070906.

KEYWORDS

Visegrad groups, agriculture, production, trade, development, trend, competitiveness.

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Farm Management Analysis in Paddy Granary Areas in Enhancing On-Farm Income

R.Terano M. Zainalabidin R. Golnaz No 1/2013, March

ABSTRACT

Income inequality between rural and urban areas is a persistent issue that has been frequently studied and discussed with the hope of introducing or improving schemes that would lead to closing the gap between these two areas. Traditionally, paddy farmers have been mired in poverty and their livelihood has largely relied on on-farm income. In rice granary areas, on-farm income has played an important role in providing rural livelihood among paddy farmer households. Since on-farm income has played an important role in the rural livelihood, it is important to comprehend the influential factors determining on-farm income of the paddy farmers and find solutions to improve their income level and enhance future agricultural developments on the main granaries. We attempt to find out confronting problems in relation to on-farm income in the paddy sector by concentrating on paddy granary areas in Kedah, Selangor and Terengganu. This paper tries to grasp the characteristics of farm management and reveal influential determinants of gross return per hectare in value term in the three paddy granary areas while computing the benefit-cost ratio. The sample farmers were interviewed to gather information on the individual farm management practices in each area and farm management analysis was employed to analyze the obtained information. The Cobb-Douglas production function was used to indicate the significant factors influencing the farmers’ income. The result shows that there are different characteristics of gross return from paddy in each studied granary area. The usage of pesticide, fertilizer and seedling method directly influence the gross return per hectare from paddy farming.

KEYWORDS

Rice granary, farm management, Cobb-Douglas, gross return, on farm income.

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Spam as a Problem for Small Agriculture Business

A.Vasilenko V. Očenášek No 1/2013, March

ABSTRACT

The article deals with the problematic aspect of electronic communication between businesses and customesr. In this kind of communication the main tool which is used is email – electronic mail. The main problem connected with electronic email is the possibility of misuse by a third person. Because of this it’s very important to understand ways to prevent email abuse. Spam is not only about time losses, but also about risks of malware infection or phishing messages.This topic is very important for small businesses and single agriculture subjects in rural areas. The influence of information technologies rises every year, despite the digital divide between rural areas and large cities/ industrial areas.

KEYWORDS

Email, spam, blacklist, message filtering, email analysis.

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Varietal Preferences and Adoption Pattern of Economically Viable Medicinal and Aromatic Crops by the Indian Farmers

H. K. Yadav S. Singh V. Kumar A. Krishna No 1/2013, March

ABSTRACT

Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) is the knowledge gateway of medicinal and aromatic plants related services and technologies. It organizes kisan mela (Farmers Fair) every year and display new varieties/technologies and innovative cultivation practices on commercially viable MAPs for its end users. Analyzed data reveals that 75.85% farmer preferring aromatic crops and only 24.15% farmers in favor of medicinal crops. In the year 2010-2012, aromatic crops are quite popular among the farmers and increment pattern of aromatic crops were 40% & 71.90 in Mint; 48% & 78.37% in Rose, Menthol mint still dominates the choice, while in case of medicinal plants, the adoption pattern increments were 75% & 38.09% in Stevia; 35.71% & 21.05% in Withania; 37.5% & 77.27% in Tulsi respectively. It leads to improved socio-economic condition of farmers in the area using cultivable land but also in rural sector under stress and unsustainable land.

KEYWORDS

Cropping pattern, agro-technology, socio-economic growth, MAPs cultivation.

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