No 3/2023, September | Agris on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics

Personnel Potential in Agribusiness Enterprises in the Context of an Innovation Economy

Saltanat Baidybekova Elmira Kydyrbayeva Balhiya Shomshekova Askar Sharipov Meruyert Kasseinova DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150301
No 3/2023, September
pp. 3 - 13

ABSTRACT

The sustainability of social and economic development of countries and individual regions depends on various factors, one of which is the personnel potential shaping the labour market. In recent years, the number of people employed in agriculture has declined and has led to a shortage of agricultural personnel in the labour market. The aim of the research is to study the condition of human resources in agricultural enterprises under the conditions of pandemic and economic crisis and to identify ways of solving personnel problems. The object of the study is the personnel potential in agricultural enterprises in the example of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union for the period from 2016 to 2020. The methods of comparative analysis, absolute and relative values, and abstract thinking served as a methodological basis for the study. The information base of the study was statistical data from the Eurasian Economic Union, and the works of scientists. The article analyses the dynamics of the urban and rural population in the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, the number of the employed population by types of economic activity, including the agricultural sector. The main task of improvement of agricultural and industrial enterprises is to provide the industry with highly qualified personnel, solve which it is necessary to pay a lot of attention to agricultural education. Currently, many school graduates do not want to work in the agricultural sector due to the fact that it is considered unclaimed, non-prestigious, and low-paid. Therefore, various measures are needed within the states to attract graduates to the agricultural sector and to retain young professionals in rural areas. The article identifies and proposes the main ways of improving the training of in-demand personnel for agricultural and industrial enterprises based on conducted research.

KEYWORDS

Agricultural sector, employment, digital technology, pandemic, economic crisis.

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The Impact of the Price Factor on Farmers' Incomes in Turbulent Conditions

Stefaniia Belinska Peter Bielik Yanina Belinska DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150302
No 3/2023, September
pp. 15 - 24

ABSTRACT

Farmers face various types of risks that affect their behavioural strategies and well-being. In 2022, the main problem was the rapid and uncontrolled acceleration of inflation in the markets of raw materials, energy and food products. Farmers have faced price volatility in food, raw materials and energy. The purpose of the article was to analyse the impact of the price factor on farmers' incomes, including the total impact of prices on manufactured products and energy carriers. The regression-based analysis showed the negative nature of such an impact, which requires increased state support for farm income during the crisis period. As a result of the study, we proposed to reorient government support from simple subsidies to incentives for farmers to produce bioenergy from waste. This measure will increase farmers' energy independence, reduce income dependence on rising energy prices, and increase the efficiency of public spending.

KEYWORDS

Bioenergy, energy independence, energy prices, farm income, governmental support, inflation, price shocks, price volatility, the price of agricultural products.

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Detection of Creative Accounting in Agricultural Enterprises

Dana Bína Michaela Zelenková Tomáš Rain DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150303
No 3/2023, September
pp. 25 - 34

ABSTRACT

The paper deals with the detection of creative accounting of enterprises in the agricultural sector to verify whether creative accounting is used to an increased extent by those farming enterprises that have been granted a bank loan; and then whether there is an effort to manipulate financial statements mainly in micro-small or medium and large enterprises. Four mathematical-financial models were applied to 150 accounting units with primarily agricultural activity to verify the hypotheses. Beneish M-score, Jones model, Altman Z-score and IN05 model were used. An increased risk of using creative accounting methods was identified in 28% of the investigated companies on average during the monitored period. Still, the assumption that the size of the accounting unit has a significant effect on the use of creative accounting methods was not proven. However, a higher motivation to manipulate financial statements can be expected in smaller accounting units due to their less stable financial position confirmed Altman Z-score and IN05 models. At the same time, a higher probability of using and a tendency to use creative accounting techniques were found among units that were granted a bank loan, which stems from the need to secure and maintain sufficient financing for business activities.

KEYWORDS

Agriculture, creative accounting, detection models, reporting.

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UX and Machine Learning – Preprocessing of Audiovisual Data Using Computer Vision to Recognize UI Elements

Martin Čejka Jan Masner Jan Jarolímek Petr Benda Michal Prokop Pavel Šimek Petr Šimek DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150304
No 3/2023, September
pp. 35 - 44

ABSTRACT

This study explores the convergence of user experience (UX) and machine learning, particularly employing computer vision techniques to preprocess audiovisual data to detect user interface (UI) elements. With an emphasis on usability testing, the study introduces a novel approach for recognizing changes in UI screens within video recordings. The methodology involves a sequence of steps, including form prototype creation, laboratory experiments, data analysis, and computer vision tasks. The future aim is to automate the evaluation of user behavior during UX testing. This innovative approach is relevant to the agricultural domain, where specialized applications for precision agriculture, subsidy requests, and production reporting demand streamlined usability. The research introduces a frame extraction algorithm that identifies screen changes by analyzing pixel differences between consecutive frames. Additionally, the study employs YOLOv7, an efficient object detection model, to identify UI elements within the video frames. Results showcase successful screen change detection with minimal false negatives and acceptable false positives, showcasing the potential for enhanced automation in UX testing. The study’s implications lie in simplifying analysis processes, enhancing insights for design decisions, and fostering user-centric advancements in diverse sectors, including precision agriculture.

KEYWORDS

Usability, UX, audiovisual data, computer vision, frame extraction, object detection, YOLOv7, precision agriculture.

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An Empirical Evaluation of Information Sharing's Impact on Profitability; Evidence from the Solar Sector

Adrián Csordás István Füzesi DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150305
No 3/2023, September
pp. 45 - 56

ABSTRACT

The role of online marketing is significant. Businesses strive to maximize their profit, and there are low-budget but efficient digital solutions for this aim. Social media sites are not just a connection point but also a great surface to collect information regarding products and/or companies. Even though these free opportunities are often used, websites are the „classical” standalone digital surfaces used for marketing purposes. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) provides various techniques to improve the companies' websites' SERP (Search Engine Result Page). In addition, it could provide even statistically proven financial benefits. The current study analyzes the SEO’s influence on the financial performance of SMEs in the solar sector. The nationwide study based on the Kruskal-Wallis test revealed the importance of connecting social media sites to the company's website. The proper Social SEO results in significantly higher after-tax profit. Regarding the first contentful paints (first feedback to the browser about the website loading), the Pearson correlation coefficients showed up moderately strong, positive, significant relationships with many financial indicators.

KEYWORDS

SEO, financial impact, SME, renewable energy.

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Climate Change Perception and Innovative Mitigation Practices Adopted by Hungarian Farms

Manal Hamam Maria Raimondo Daniela Spina Gábor Király Giuseppe Di Vita Mario D’Amico József Tóth DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150306
No 3/2023, September
pp. 57 - 72

ABSTRACT

Climate change is becoming a growing concern for the agricultural sector. Variable weather events, such as droughts and floods, are expected to have a significant negative impact on agricultural losses, earnings and consumption. The agriculture industry in Europe is not immune to these difficulties. This study focuses on Hungary, a country with a strong agricultural focus that, as a result, is particularly susceptible to climate change. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to synthesis data about the perspectives of Hungarian farmers on the dangers of climate change. Then, latent variables were employed as explanatory variables in the Logit model to investigate the link between the perceptions of climate change risks by Hungarian farmers and their inclination to adopt innovative ways to mitigate its repercussions. Changes in temperature and precipitation, economic damage, water damage, and insect damage are seen as the most serious repercussions of climate change by Hungarian farmers. These beliefs raise the possibility of adopting new strategies to offset harmful consequences, including (i) the adoption of new varieties, (ii) ice and frost protection, and (iii) the use of agro-meteorological data. The results show that the chance of adopting new varieties is substantially influenced by farmers’ assessments of harm caused by pests, pathogens, and illnesses (2.91***). In contrast, water damage concerns seem to have a significant impact on the adoption of novel approaches to reduce cold and frost damage (2.18***). This study’s findings support the efforts of stakeholders and policymakers to encourage the dissemination of technology to protect crops from climate change in Hungary and imply that governments should provide financial incentives to farmers to boost innovation uptake.

KEYWORDS

Climate change, agriculture, farmers, practices, innovation, perception.

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Estimating Household Price and Income Elasticities for Animal-Sourced Food: The Case of Bengkulu Province, Indonesia

Nikmatul Khoiriyah David Forgenie Atiek Iriany DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150307
No 3/2023, September
pp. 73 - 85

ABSTRACT

Bengkulu is one of the provinces in Indonesia where household protein consumption is still below the national protein recommended allowance. This paper examines the effect of price, income and socio-demographic factors on household demand using the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) model and data from the Indonesian National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas) in March 2021, which includes 5,079 households. The QUADS parameters were estimated using the Iterated Nonlinear Seemingly Unrelated Regression technique with theoretical restrictions imposed. The estimated parameters from the model were utilized to derive price and income elasticities for animal-derived foods. Empirically, it was found that fish is the most elastic animal-sourced food with a demand elasticity of 4.44%, followed by beef (2.78%), milk (1.94%), poultry (1.54%), and eggs (0.82%). Fish substitutes for beef, chicken, and eggs when prices increase but is complementary to milk. Four animal-sourced food groups, namely fish, beef, milk, and poultry, are luxury items, with income elasticities of 2.57%, 2.39%, 2.22%, and 1.36%, respectively. In contrast, eggs were found to be a normal good with an income elasticity of 0.53%. Fish and beef are very elastic; thus, the government can use pricing strategies and implement policy to increase poultry and eggs production so that daily protein requirements of 57 grams per capita per day are reached in Bengkulu province.

KEYWORDS

Animal sourced food, Bengkulu Province, elasticity, QUAIDS.

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Correlation between the Greatest Agricultural Products Exporters to the EU: is Ukraine included?

Oksana Kiforenko DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150308
No 3/2023, September
pp. 87 - 103

ABSTRACT

Due to the challenges we are experiencing nowadays, the importance of food security is gaining in its attention, making the subjects supplying agricultural production and ready-made food products more important and influential either economically or politically. The data under research are the agricultural products exports of Brazil, Canada, China, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States to the European Union. The agricultural products are the goods from SITC (0+1) groups. The timeframe under analysis is eleven years – from 2012 to 2022 included. The purpose of the research is to assess whether the Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU are correlated with the said exports of Brazil, Canada, China, the UK and the USA, and, if they are, how strong the correlation is. The comparative analysis of the dynamics, simple statistics, differences with the previous periods for the agricultural products exports of the analysed subjects to the EU was conducted. The trend lines for the analysed data during the given timeframe and two following years, were built using the appropriate function. The Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients and their corresponding p-values were calculated and analysed.

KEYWORDS

Agricultural products exports, food security, EU, Ukraine, correlation.

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Iot-Sensor-Equipped Food Waste Bio-Composter to Households and to Advance Egovernment in Municipality Authorities' Waste Management Practices

Tuula Löytty Sami Rantamäki Hannamaija Fontell Kalle Karlsson DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150309
No 3/2023, September
pp. 105 - 118

ABSTRACT

Background: Finnish policymakers issued a new community waste law in 2022, that aims to increase household food waste recycling. The municipalities have launched the implementation of the waste law and are responsible for supervising the development of this new project. Problem: The implementation and supervision of the waste law increases authorities' workload and also public costs. Public servants manage the households’ compost register and carry out compost audits on-site. Challenge: The challenge is to put in place the new waste management law at the lowest public cost. Purpose: The research addresses the validation of a pioneering IT solution that supports and advances households' bio composting and aims to ease waste management authorities’ workload by fostering eGovernment. Methods: The intervention consists in delivering the IoT-sensor-equipped bio-composter and associated applications. The research adopts a mission-oriented approach, and establishes a place-based, multi-actor, participatory, and open innovation testbed at Living Lab. It leverages the Lean Startup process and SWOT analysis. The research method complies with the principles of Responsible Research and Innovation. Conclusions: The IoT-sensor-equipped bio-composter is a feasible solution. Municipality waste management authorities do not regard/consider the IoT-sensor-equipped solution as beneficial from their perspective. The eGovernment strategy is not a driver in this case since bio-composter mapping and monitoring could be a future tool for real estate maintenance companies.

KEYWORDS

Legislation, municipality, food waste, recycling, bio-composter, Living Lab, Internet of Things, eGovernment, city region, food systems.

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EU Sanctions Against the Russian Federation and Their Implications for the Foreign Trade of the Czech Republic

Michal Malý Eva Daniela Cvik Radka MacGregor Pelikánová DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150310
No 3/2023, September
pp. 119 - 130

ABSTRACT

Modern European integration entails the common foreign and security policy. In February 2022, the Russian aggression against Ukraine moved the deplorable situation from 2014 to another level calling for an EU reaction via legal instruments. Based on them, ten sanctions packages have emerged with significant consequences. The aim of this paper is to analyze it, in particular the connection of these ten sanctions packages and foreign trade between the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation. This aim is achieved by addressing three sets of goals: (i) the legal analysis of EU trade policy instruments, (ii) an advanced statistical and critical analysis of the trade between Czech Republic and Russian Federation and (iii) a creation of a timeline of the application and its ramifications. This reveals interesting propositions about the impact of these sanctions packages on the Czech foreign trade and about the effectiveness of the EU´s trade policy.

KEYWORDS

EU, Russian Federation, foreign trade, invasion, restrictive measures, sanctions.

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