No 4/2023, December | Agris on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics

The Effects of Biofuels on Food Security in Selected Countries

Ebrahim Babakhani Reza Rostamian Mostafa Goudarzi DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150401
No 4/2023, December
pp. 3 - 18

ABSTRACT

Biofuels are produced as replacements for fossil fuels. Nevertheless, these fuels may jeopardize food security. No research has examined the relationship between the production of biofuels and food security in terms of their various dimensions. This study examined the effects of biofuels on food security in several developed and developing countries comprising oil-producing and developed countries. Dimensions of food security were including food availability, food accessibility, food utilization, and food stability. To this end, standard and neo-Malthusian theories combined with the food availability decline (FAD) theory were employed. In addition, the panel generalized method of moments (GMM) was used to estimate the relationships between variables. The results showed that food stability, population growth, and income inequality were measured by the Gini index, and unemployment was significantly higher in developing countries than in developed countries. Conversely, food security, food availability, food accessibility, food utilization, land area, total biofuel production, agricultural credit allocation, and food product prices were higher in developed countries than in developing countries. The increase in biofuel production reduced food security by 0.031%, 0.047%, and 0.064% in all countries, developing and developed countries, respectively. In developing countries, biofuels had a significant impact on food accessibility and food availability. However, biofuels had significant and positive effects on food stability and utilization. In developed countries, biofuels had negative effects on food accessibility, stability, and availability and positive effects on food utilization (0.016%). In conclusion, policies are needed to mitigate the negative effects of biofuels on food security.

KEYWORDS

Biofuels, developing countries, developed countries, food availability, food security.

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The Impact of Livelihood Diversification As a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy on the Food Security Status of Pastoral Households in Southeastern and Southern Ethiopia

Baro Beyene Mesfin Tilahun Mebratu Alemu DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150402
No 4/2023, December
pp. 19 - 40

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to investigate the determinants of food security and quantify the impact of livelihood diversification as an adaptation strategy on the level of food security of pastoral households in Arero district in Borena zone and Rayitu district in Bale zone in Ethiopia. A multistage sampling technique was used, selecting 396 households from Arero and Rayitu districts. The study used a multidimensional food security index to measure the food security status of pastoralist households. The descriptive result showed that 60.6 percent, 20.2 percent, and 19.2 percent of the pastoralist households had medium, high and low food security, respectively. The result of ordered logistic regression showed that the age of household head, herd size (TLU) and frequency of extension contacts significantly increased the food security status of pastoralist households. However, male household head, age of household head, household size (adult equivalent) and distance to market significantly decrease the food security status of pastoral households in Arero district. On the other hand, the result of the multinomial endogenous switching regression model showed that the uptake of non-farm activities as well as crop production and non-farm activities together have a positive and significant impact on the level of food security of the pastoralist households. Therefore, the results of the study suggest that working on participatory strategies to promote livelihood diversification among pastoralist communities is very important to improve the food security of pastoralist households.

KEYWORDS

Food security, determinants of food security, livelihood diversification, impact, Ethiopia.

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Analyzing Meat and Seafood Import Demand in Trinidad and Tobago Using the Linear Approximate Almost Ideal Demand System Model

David Forgenie Sharon D. Hutchinson Nikmatul Khoiriyah Meera Mahase-Forgenie DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150403
No 4/2023, December
pp. 41 - 52

ABSTRACT

A linear approximated almost ideal demand system model is specified to estimate imported meat and seafood demand in Trinidad and Tobago for the period 1976 to 2019 using annual data. Model parameters were estimated using seemingly unrelated regression with theoretical restrictions imposed. The results found that own-price of imported poultry and seafood negatively affected import expenditure share while own-price positively affected import expenditure share for imported beef, pork, and mutton. In addition, income negatively affected the import expenditure share of imported beef but positively affected the import expenditure share of imported pork, poultry, seafood, and mutton over the study period. Expenditure elasticity for imported meats and seafood reveals that they are all normal goods. Imported beef, pork, poultry, seafood, and mutton had expenditure elasticities of 0.57, 1.13, 1.94, 1.12, and 1.05, respectively. Imported pork, poultry, seafood, and mutton were found to be luxuries with income-elastic import demand. Own-price elasticities reveal that imported poultry was the most import elastic with an own-price elasticity of 1.40, followed by imported seafood (1.22), beef (0.65), mutton (0.54), and pork (0.48). Cross-price elasticities revealed that various complementary and substitution relationships existed among imported meats and seafood over the study period. Hicksian cross-price elasticities showed that mostly substitution relationships existed between various pairs of imported meats and seafood. The study also highlighted some policy recommendations that can be derived from the results.

KEYWORDS

Meat and seafood imports, LA-AIDS, elasticities, food policy, Trinidad and Tobago.

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Mapping the ICT in Agricultural Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

Adriana Novotná DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150404
No 4/2023, December
pp. 53 - 65

ABSTRACT

In recent years, the information and communication technologies (ICT) with the agricultural sector has garnered significant attention due to its potential to transform and optimize agricultural practices. This study provides a comprehensive picture of the previous and current state of ICT in agricultural research, thereby shedding light on the existing knowledge landscape and key research themes. The study presents a mapping research approach that explores the conceptual structure of ICT in agriculture research using co-occurrence analysis drawing upon the Web of Science database with the results of 8,654 documents that have been published from 1989 to 2023. From a total of 2,930 keywords and the five most frequent keywords have been identified as: "performance", "growth", "expression", "impact", and "identification". The findings from this study contribute to the broader understanding of the ICT-agriculture research landscape and provide valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in this evolving field.

KEYWORDS

Agricultural research, ICT, co-occurrence analysis, scientific map, VOSviewer.

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Efficiency of Use Fixed Assets in the Context of Profitability – Empirical Evidence of Food Industry Enterprises in Visegrad Group

Martina Novotná Tomáš Volek DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150405
No 4/2023, December
pp. 67 - 77

ABSTRACT

Efficient use of production resources in enterprises is necessary for increasing their competitiveness and the potential for their future development. In today's global world, companies are forced to invest in new technologies that are both more energy-efficient and more environmentally friendly, including in the food industry. The paper focusses on the efficiency of production factors in relation to their economic success. The aim is to find possible variants of the development of the links between capital labour ratio and labour productivity in relation to the development of profitability of returns. Empirical analysis coved 2,526 enterprises in food industry in four examined European countries (Visegrad group -V4) - Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovak Republic. The contribution of the paper is the generalization of the links between the indicators of the efficiency of production factors in the form of recommended inequalities that can be used by enterprises for economically successful development.

KEYWORDS

Food industry, profitability, labour productivity, capital labour ratio.

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ICTs Use, Agroforestry Technologies’ Adoption and Crop Farmers’ Welfare: An Empirical Evidence from Southwest, Nigeria

Lawrence Olusola Oparinde DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150406
No 4/2023, December
pp. 79 - 95

ABSTRACT

There is a glaring shortage of studies on the impact of ICTs use on the adoption of agroforestry technologies and combined effects of ICTs use and agroforestry technologies’ adoption on farmers’ welfare. To fill the information gap, this study examined the impact of ICTs use on agroforestry technologies’ adoption and their heterogenous impacts on crop farmers’ welfare in Southwest, Nigeria. Endogenous-treatment poisson regression (ETPR) model and unconditional quantile regression (UQR) model were used to analyse the data collected from 488 respondents. The results indicated that the use of ICTs improved the adoption of agroforestry technologies which facilitate friendly environment. Also, ICTs use and agroforestry technologies’ adoption statistically and heterogeneously influenced farm revenue and household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS). Precisely, ICTs use had the highest influence on farm revenue at the lowest quantile, while agroforestry technologies’ adoption had the highest effect on household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS) at the lowest quantile. Therefore, policies that promote crop farmers’ access to ICTs should be the priority of policy makers who are interested in the welfare of crop farmers and increased farmers’ level of agroforestry technologies’ adoption.

KEYWORDS

ICTs, agroforestry, HFIAS, revenue, RIF, UQR, ETPR, IRR.

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The Climate Effect on Colombian Coffee Prices and Quantities Based on Risk Analysis and the Hedging Strategy in Discrete Setting Approach

Javier Pantoja-Robayo David Rodriguez-Guevara DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150407
No 4/2023, December
pp. 97 - 107

ABSTRACT

This paper provides a risk-hedging strategy for coffee markets including climate impact in the context of Colombian Coffee producers, companies, regulators, and policymakers. From the intermediaries' perspective, we present a hedging price and quantity risks using financial instruments based on price and weather variables (El Niño and La Niña phenomena). The coffee price and quantities produced are mitigated by the inclusion of climatic variables in two ways: first, through analysing the changes observed in the forward curve against spot price measuring the deterministic effect, known in this market as the forward risk premium. Second, including the weather index in the hedge structure on price and quantity in the coffee market improves the agent's result; this latter aims to improve the hedging claim's performance due to the link between demanded volume and weather-linked index. An experiment shows the strategy profit over the best-performing claim price derived only and without hedging.

KEYWORDS

Weather index, Coffee market, hedging strategy, forward risk premium.

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Adapting Agriculture: Policy Implications of the Rise of Resistant Seeds in Farmers' Climate Change Strategy

Dáša Ščurková Marianna Marčanová DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150408
No 4/2023, December
pp. 109 - 125

ABSTRACT

This paper explores farmers' perceptions of climate change and their preferred adaptive and mitigatory strategies within Slovakia's Nitra region, aiming to devise recommendations for climate change-oriented agricultural policies. Our methodology incorporates an analysis of perspectives gathered from a regional survey using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and SuperDecisions software, complemented by a risk-attitude assessment using the modified Multiple Price Lists (MPL) method. A subsequent heterogeneity analysis correlates these preferences with respondents' socio-economic status and risk attitudes. Our findings underscore the use of improved, resilient seeds as a favored adaptation measure and reveal a correlation between farmers' socio-economic attributes and their climate change strategy preferences. Based on this, we propose inclusive, micro-level agricultural policies that prioritize the unique climatic needs of the Nitra region and strongly consider the priority viewpoints of farmers within this region, aiming to promote sustainable agriculture under changing climatic conditions.

KEYWORDS

Preferences, climate change, adaptation, mitigation, support policy, AHP, GMO.

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Agriculture Data Platform – Institutional Data Repository – Selected Aspects

Michal Stočes Jiří Vaněk Jan Jarolímek Vojtěch Novák Jan Masner Pavel Šimek Eva Kánská Martin Havránek Karel Kubata Vladimir Voral DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150409
No 4/2023, December
pp. 127 - 133

ABSTRACT

This paper presents selected aspects of a data platform to store agricultural data. It analyses the key user and system requirements for the data platform. The presented aspects were identified through a literature review, interviews and discussions with selected data experts and researchers and future users of the platform. The following issues of the data platform are discussed in the paper: architecture, data types, data source types, metadata, disciplinary interfaces, data sharing, data reusability, Open Science, FAIR data principles, and further data processing options. Part of the knowledge from this article was used in the design and implementation of the Institutional Data Repository called Data Management Platform (DaMP.) CZU (Czech University of Life Sciences Prague) (OPENAI, 2023).

KEYWORDS

Data models, data modelling, metadata, data sharing, open science, FAIR data principles, data platform, agriculture data, life sciences, institutional data repositories, data process, DOI, FAIR data.

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Digital Transformation of Agricultural Extension in Indonesia: A Comprehensive Analysis

Suswadi Norbertus Citra Irawan DOI: 10.7160/aol.2023.150410
No 4/2023, December
pp. 135 - 146

ABSTRACT

Digital transformation in the field of agricultural extension is quite essential for agriculture in the future. The problem is that not all extension workers understand the use of cyber extension. The research objective is to explore the relationship between individual motivation (IM), social capital (SC), digital extension adoption (CEA), knowledge sharing (KS), and agricultural extension performance (EP) in Indonesia. The research method used was explanatory, with purposive location selection and a population focused on agricultural extension workers. Sampling was carried out using quota techniques. Data analysis in this study used Structural Equation Modeling with Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS). More specifically, IM and SC act as construct variables, while CEA and KS not only act as construct variables but also as mediators. Agricultural Extension (EP) performance is measured as a latent variable. The research results reveal that all construct variables, namely IM, SC, CEA, and KS, positively and significantly influence the EP. These findings demonstrate the importance of these factors in supporting digital transformation in agricultural extension in Indonesia and can provide valuable guidance for decision-makers and practitioners in efforts to increase the effectiveness of agricultural extension using digital technology.

KEYWORDS

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

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