scholarly journals Management of New Risks in Economic and Food Security

2021 ◽  
Vol 941 (1) ◽  
pp. 012020
Author(s):  
V S Osipov ◽  
A G Zeldner

Abstract The article examines the consequences of the coronavirus in the form of a system of risks. The main goal of the study is assessment the risks of economic food security at post-COVID period. System, institutional and comparative analysis were used as methods of research. There are five types of risks in the research. We assessed monopolization in breeding, seed production and chemicalization, lockdown and value chain disruptions, increasing income inequality, food inflation, and climate changes. The introduction to the theory of nondestructive development and non-aggressive coexistence is described in the article. The authors propose a concept of non-destructive development, in which a special place is given to respect for nature, reducing aggressiveness between countries, reducing the monopolization of breeding and seed production, and reducing income inequality around the world. The monopolization of breeding and seed production is of particular concern, as it can lead to a decrease in food availability and a decrease in food security and independence. The gaps in the value chains due to the lockdown have already led to a decrease in the availability of food in individual countries. A further food crisis must not be allowed as it is fraught with social upheaval. The authors insist on the need to reduce aggression in the world, since a post-like revival of the economy is impossible in an unfavorable political situation in the world.

Entropy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 1068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgios Angelidis ◽  
Evangelos Ioannidis ◽  
Georgios Makris ◽  
Ioannis Antoniou ◽  
Nikos Varsakelis

We investigated competitive conditions in global value chains (GVCs) for a period of fifteen years (2000–2014), focusing on sector structure, countries’ dominance and diversification. For this purpose, we used data from the World Input–Output Database (WIOD) and examined GVCs as weighted directed networks, where countries are the nodes and value added flows are the edges. We compared the in-and out-weighted degree centralization of the sectoral GVC networks in order to detect the most centralized, on the import or export side, respectively (oligopsonies and oligopolies). Moreover, we examined the in- and out-weighted degree centrality and the in- and out-weight entropy in order to determine whether dominant countries are also diversified. The empirical results reveal that diversification (entropy) and dominance (degree) are not correlated. Dominant countries (rich) become more dominant (richer). Diversification is not conditioned by competitiveness.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 4999
Author(s):  
Veronica Mwangi ◽  
Samuel Owuor ◽  
Boniface Kiteme ◽  
Markus Giger ◽  
Johanna Jacobi ◽  
...  

Smallholder farmers and pastoralists produce the largest proportion of food consumed in sub-Saharan Africa. However, they remain among the food insecure populations. This paper explores the food (in)security among smallholder farmers and pastoralists using a sample of 175 households in three agro-food value chains of wheat, dairy, and beef in the north-west Mt. Kenya region. The study seeks to answer if a farmer’s participation in a particular agro-food value chain determines his/her food security situation. We use the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) and two Poisson regression models, parsimonious and full, to assess the household food security status and determinants of food security among the smallholder farmers and pastoralists. The results show that 61% of the households were either mildly, moderately, or severely food insecure. Households in the beef value chain experienced relatively higher incidences of food insecurity compared to households in the wheat and dairy value chains. The HFIAS scores revealed a wide gap between households with minimum and maximum score. Household size, income and income-related variables (ability to save and borrow to meet family needs), transport assets, membership in farmers’ associations, and household energy were significant in determining household food security, while access to credit and to extension services was not. Strategies that focus on boosting smallholder farmers’ incomes, building strong and resilient farmers associations to improve inclusive and equitable value chains have the potential to get smallholder farmers out of recurrent food insecurity.


2021 ◽  

Abstract In the following paper, I examine the considerable impact of the recent world-economic shift that has determined the circumstances of Hungarian suppliers' value-chain integration. I argue that as a result of the specialized positions they occupied in the value-chain after the collapse of the Comecon market, Hungarian enterprises in export-oriented industries faced a dilemma—a trade-off between obtaining the most advanced technologies (and thus access to world-market niches) and retaining ownership in the hands of domestic capital. When company managers opted to protect ownership with the help of the state, they exposed themselves to greater risk of downgrading their position in the value chain. If they managed to get access to advanced technologies (and the requisite funding), they were more likely to lose control over their company's assets, either as a result of a hostile takeover or becoming part of the larger partner's merger-and-acquisition plans. This paper is a discussion of some of the particular characteristics of this dilemma, as well as a comparison with the experience of Hungarian service providers who implemented a different strategy. This paper is also a critical assessment of some of the chief characteristics of the world-economic evolution that has been underway since 2009, such as German automotive value chains' expansion in the CEE region and the growing role of Chinese capital in regional infrastructural projects.


2019 ◽  
Vol 122 (3) ◽  
pp. 852-869
Author(s):  
Yeong Sheng Tey ◽  
Abdulla Ibragimov ◽  
Mark Brindal ◽  
Shaufique F. Sidique ◽  
Rustam Abduraupov ◽  
...  

PurposePaddy farmers form the backbone of food security. However, poverty plagues them despite having linked them to the rice value chain. To overcome this, the concept of involving smallholders in post-farm value chain stages is promoted. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of upgrading smallholder involvement in rice value chains through the adoption of a sustainability standard.Design/methodology/approachThe authors built a system dynamic model to capture both conventional and certified sub-value chains. The latter deviates from the conventional one and capitalizes on compliance to a sustainability standard.FindingsWhen compared to conventional farm gate sales methods, the simulations revealed obvious profitability of direct marketing with respect to certified sustainable rice. Although coupled with productivity growth, the simulations indicated the shift to standard adoption would likely to be both limited and slow.Originality/valueThe findings suggest that the profitability of a certified rice value chain will remain fettered. In order to enhance both farmer livelihood and food security, given the limited prospect of moving smallholders up that chain, the authors conclude that national policy should be rationalized and concentrated on the possibility of diversifying the end-use of rice through research, development and subsequent commercialization.


2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 615-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven McGuire

The commercial aircraft industry is no stranger to trade friction, which has brought bitter international disputes over industrial policy to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Yet despite the fact that several countries, notably China, Japan and Russia have stated their intentions to develop aircraft that can compete with other countries, these efforts have not led to a trade dispute. What explains this pattern? Drawing on sources such as the Global Trade Alert database, this paper argues that that the complexity of the aircraft industry generates considerable barriers to entry. Moreover, emerging aerospace states have not repeated earlier efforts of direct subsidy, but rather, they have sought to position themselves in the global aerospace value chain, with selective government interventions designed to help national champions accumulate the necessary technical experience though collaboration with incumbent firms. However, the very diversity of government supports may make protectionist measures more difficult to identify.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0308518X2110067
Author(s):  
Jennifer Bair ◽  
Mathew Mahutga ◽  
Marion Werner ◽  
Liam Campling

In this article, we analyze the strategies, surprises, and sidesteps in the World Bank’s 2020 World Development Report, Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains. Strategically, the Report promotes an expansion of neoliberal globalization couched in the language of global value chains. Curiously detached from the broader academic literature on global value chains in international trade, it promotes a sequentialist vision of global value chain upgrading that evokes the stagism of classic modernization theory. The authors sidestep important issues, such as China's pivotal role in the landscape of global trade, and are largely silent on others, including climate change. Significantly and somewhat surprisingly, given the general endorsement of global value chain integration, the Report acknowledges negative distributional trends associated with the rise of global value chains, including the excessive benefits reaped by “superstar firms” and the now well-documented decline in labor's income share. These observations are not reflected in the document's policy section, however, where the World Development Report largely recapitulates familiar prescriptions, with the threat of nationalist populism and rising protectionism providing a new bottle for this old wine. Drawing on a range of literature including United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's 2018 Trade and Development Report, we highlight not only the limits of the Bank's adherence to an increasingly embattled orthodoxy, but also the necessary starting points for a more useful discussion of the merits, limits, and future of global value chains.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 175-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Navarro ◽  
Vegard Skirbekk

Economic inequality is a paramount issue for the future of global affairs and interreligious relations. This study contributes to the field by providing the first ever estimates of global inequality by religion. We combine estimations and projections of religious compositions and distribution of income by age and sex across the world between 1970 and 2050. Understanding economic inequality from a religious dimension can contribute to decreasing tension, creating targeted pol-icies and reducing the risks of social upheaval and conflict. We find that in societies with higher proportions of religiously unaffiliated populations, income distribution is more equal than in religious ones. We also describe the inequality of distribution of income within religious groups and find that Christian and Jewish societies tend to be the most unequal, while inequality has risen substantially across all societies, concomitant with strong economic growth. Societies formed of Muslim, Hindu and unaffiliated populations are among the more equal ones. Muslim societies have experienced the highest rise in income inequality of all religions since 1990.


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meine Pieter van Dijk ◽  
Gigi Limpens ◽  
Julius Gatune Kariuki ◽  
Diederik de Boer

PurposeThis article explores the potential of an emerging group of farmers in Kenya, namely the growing segment of urban-based medium-size farmers, often called “telephone farmers”. To what extent do they benefit from an emerging ecosystem to support them in operating their farms, and what does that mean for the Hidden middle of agricultural value chains, the actors between the farmers and consumers? Unlocking the potential production of telephone farmers will require more services from collectors, traders, transport firms, the storage facilities, wholesalers and processing units and retailers. Ultimately, optimized telephone farm production benefits the business of Hidden middle value chain actors, increases incomes and jobs and improves food security.Design/methodology/approachBased on a survey and in-depth interviews a profile of the telephone farmers is given and their role as innovators is analyzed. The Latia Resource Centre (LRC) provides assistance to medium-size farmers, like the telephone farmers, helping them to prepare business plans and use modern technology and contributing to an emerging ecosystem providing support to all farmers.FindingsThe article analyzes the medium-size telephone farmers. It documents the contributions of this new agricultural actor to developing value chains and a dynamic ecosystem. The paper profiles the telephone farmers first and then identifies what they need and the support they receive. The emerging innovative ecosystem impacts agricultural productivity and production and hence the development of value chains. Small farmers gain access to opportunities offered by telephone farmers, working for them as outgrower or farm worker.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors used a small sample of 51 farmers and covered only a two-year period.Social implicationsSmall farmers are being helped through the emerging eco-system and farm labor acquire skills, which they can also you on another or their own farm.Originality/valueBased on the analysis an even more effective ecosystem is suggested and policy recommendations are formulated before the conclusion is drawn that these medium-size farmers contribute to innovation diffusion, inclusive value chain development and food security and are becoming part of this expanding, innovative ecosystem. Following the debate on food security the results suggest to pay more attention to the development of telephone farmers given their role in developing agricultural value chains and innovative ecosystems.


Author(s):  
Carl Hausmann

Commodity traders deal in grain and their derivatives. But the water consumed to produce these grains is also an intrinsic part of the transaction. Virtual water is a useful concept for traders, academics, and agriculture policy experts so that we all think more deeply about the consequences of what is produced and in which water basin.1 Environmental services, including most notably water, are being stressed in many parts of the world, yet are still plentiful in others. Optimizing the use of the planet’s environmental services to produce the food necessary for global food security requires a smart and global value chain that needs a broad understanding of water from all actors in this value chain.


2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
AL- FLUJy & et al.

The fish sector is considered an important component of the economies of  many countries in the world  including  Arab countries. It is also considered an important component of  food security. This work is considered as the first attempt to study value chain for fish in Iraq. The objective of this study is to identify the main problems and constrains facing different  links in the  value chain of  fish, and to analyse revenue, production costs, and to calculate some  quantitative indicators  like value added. The results showed that average value added of the  different links is amount to: 22.2dinars/kg , 2012.7 dinar/kg, 109.3 dinar/kg, 872.3 dinars/kg from each links hatcheries, producers, wholesalers and retailers. The results also showed that  the share of different links from value chain for average total value additionrs as follows: 0.73% for  hatcheries link, 66.7% for producer link , 3.6% for wholesalers link, and 28.9%  for retailers link. While cages producers added 65.5% from average value added it is amount to  2912. 7 dinar/ kg; on the level techniques cages floating. The study also identifis the main  challenges and problems facing each link in chain value and forward the suitable solution  and recommendation for government authorities and private sector in order to increase the  efficiency of  fish  in  Iraq.


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