Are Farms Located in Less-Favoured Areas Financially Sustainable? Empirical Evidence from Polish Farm Households

The topic of farms that deal with environmental constraints is an ongoing agricultural policy issue, including within the Common Agricultural Policy. We propose empirical evidence based on a sample of Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) farm households, evaluate the influence of chosen factors on financially sustainable farm development and verify less-favoured area (LFA) farms’ growth compared with non-LFA households. To specify farm households, we use the Sustainable Growth Challenge (SGC) model and DuPont decomposition based on financial measures and indicators that were adopted from corporate finance. It is concluded that the differences in SGC and revenue growth values between LFA and non-LFA farms mainly results from the system of subsidising LFA farms that receive compensation for farming in areas with adverse environmental conditions. Generally, the impact of agricultural policies on LFA and non-LFA farms is significant and may weaken the effect on LFA. With the exception of education, other sociodemographic factors do not highly influence farm efficiency. Along with improvements in the quality of human capital (e.g., higher education level), awareness of subsidies, and debt and innovative solutions increases. The interest in precision agriculture and agriculture 4.0 is also growing, which directly translates into better technological and financial efficiency of farms.

Download Full-text

Greek farm households: income inequality, poverty and distributional impact of farm income

Social Cohesion and Development ◽

10.12681/scad.8898 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Pavlos Karanikolas ◽

Stavros Zografakis

Keyword(s):

Income Inequality ◽

Agricultural Policy ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Farm Households ◽

Farm Income ◽

Micro Data ◽

Research Findings ◽

Distributional Impact ◽

The Impact

This paper examines the incidence of income inequality and poverty, and the impact of farm income on inequality. A detailed typology of farm households (FHs) is developed, based on Household Budget Survey micro-data. Research findings reveal enormous variations among households with respect to income inequality and poverty. While Marginal- and Pluriactive- FHs do not seem to have an income problem, this is not the case for Farm Households. Poverty is a widespread phenomenon among Retired FHs. Farm income and non-farm income generate a combined stabilization effect, mitigating the overall inequality within households. Policy implications of these findings are discussed in the context of welfare aspects of agricultural policy.

Download Full-text

A Wrong Sound in the Quest for a Symphony? The WTO and the Impact of EU’s Common Agricultural Policy on Africa: Insight from Senegal

The African Review ◽

10.1163/1821889x-12340045 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Henry Ufomba

Keyword(s):

Empirical Evidence ◽

Agricultural Policy ◽

Common Agricultural Policy ◽

Agricultural Sector ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Economic Policies ◽

Trade Relations ◽

The Impact ◽

The Eu ◽

Local Farmers

Abstract This paper is situated within the growing debate on how the domestic economic policies of developed countries condition that of the developing countries through the mechanism of international trade relations under the auspices of the WTO. Using the framework of the dependency theory I shall examine the economic impact of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on Africa with critical attention on the agricultural sector of the former, drawing empirical evidence from the present situation in Senegal. This answered the overarching question: How does the EU CAP affect the economies of Africa in general and Senegal in particular? The empirical evidence from Senegal’s experience presented in this paper revealed that CAP negatively affects the economic growth of Africa through the suffocation of its agricultural sector as a result of its distortion of the domestic price and the inability of local farmers to produce at a price that can compete equally with the heavily subsidized imported alternatives from the EU.

Download Full-text

Gender differences in agricultural productivity: evidence from maize farm households in southern Ethiopia

GeoJournal ◽

10.1007/s10708-019-10098-y ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Girma Gezimu Gebre ◽

Hiroshi Isoda ◽

Dil Bahadur Rahut ◽

Yuichiro Amekawa ◽

Hisako Nomura

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Agricultural Policy ◽

Farm Households ◽

Southern Ethiopia ◽

Gender Differentials ◽

Maize Productivity ◽

Effect Model ◽

Female Headed Households ◽

The Impact ◽

Switching Treatment

Abstract This study examines the impact of gender differences on maize productivity in Dawuro Zone, southern Ethiopia. Our study addressed the limitations of the previous studies in two ways. First, the study separately assessed gender differences in productivity between de facto female-headed households and de jure female-headed households and revealed that female-headed households are not homogenous. Second, the study separately examined the impacts of the covariates on male-headed households and female-headed households using an exogenous switching treatment effect model. We find the existence of gender differences in maize productivity between male-headed households and female-headed households. The maize productivity of male-headed households was overall 44.3% higher than that of female-headed households. However, if female-headed households received the same return on their resources as male-headed households, their productivity would increase by 42.3%. This suggests agricultural policy should target female-headed households to help reduce the productivity gap between male-headed households and female-headed households. Finally, the distributions of the gender differentials between male-headed households and female-headed households are more pronounced at mid-levels of productivity.

Download Full-text

Revisiting nutrition–labor productivity link: new empirical evidence from farm households in Ethiopia

Agriculture & Food Security ◽

10.1186/s40066-021-00312-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Andu Nesrey Berha ◽

Yohannes Kefale Mogess ◽

Mengistu Alamneh Wassie

Keyword(s):

Nutritional Status ◽

Empirical Evidence ◽

Labor Productivity ◽

Diet Quality ◽

Low Income ◽

Farm Households ◽

Nutrition Status ◽

Farm Labor ◽

The Impact ◽

Low Consumption

Abstract Background Among others, the productive use of surplus labor is a viable mechanism to transform the agricultural sector and thus the whole economy in low-income countries. It is critically important to understand the factors that condition labor productivity to design and deploy effective agricultural and labor market policies. A few studies confirm that, at low-income levels, improving nutrition can contribute to the labor productivity of households. These studies rely heavily on self-reported farm data, which are prone to systematic and random measurement errors. The empirical evidence on this topic remains inadequate and inconclusive for this reason. Here, we substantiate whether better nutritional status enhances the labor productivity of farm households using objective measures of plot-level data from a recent household survey in Ethiopia. We also employ alternative measures of nutrition status indicators known as, Food Consumption Score (FCS) and Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), inter alia, to capture additional aspects of nutrition such as diet quality and diversity, which are overlooked by calorie intake data. To deal with possible endogeneity, we employ a panel fixed effect estimation technique with a rich set of household socioeconomic and plot characteristics. Results We observe that the impact of current nutritional status, as measured by HDDS, on labor productivity varies considerably depending on the initial level of diet quality and diversity with a stronger and positive effect for low-consumption households. In an alternative specification, we also observe a positive farm labor productivity effect of current nutritional status as measured by FCS with a homogenous effect across households. However, the effect of the outcome of past nutritional status as evaluated by the Activity of Daily Living Index (ADLI) seems negligible. Conclusion Our findings indicate that improving nutrition can contribute to farm labor productivity at least for households with low current diet quality and diversity. Also, based on the findings, we conclude that there is a possibility of a low consumption–low productivity trap in Ethiopia.

Download Full-text

The impact of EU common agricultural policy decoupling on farm households: Income vs. investment effects

Intereconomics ◽

10.1007/s10272-010-0335-6 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 45 (3) ◽

pp. 188-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Davide Viaggi ◽

Meri Raggi ◽

Vittorio Gallerani ◽

Sergio Gomez y Paloma

Keyword(s):

Agricultural Policy ◽

Common Agricultural Policy ◽

Farm Households ◽

On Farm ◽

The Impact

Download Full-text

The Heterogeneous Public Debt–Growth Relationship: The Role of the Expenditure Multiplier

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13094602 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 4602

Author(s):

Mindaugas Butkus ◽

Diana Cibulskiene ◽

Lina Garsviene ◽

Janina Seputiene

Keyword(s):

Empirical Evidence ◽

Public Debt ◽

Panel Data Analysis ◽

Threshold Level ◽

Sustainable Growth ◽

Marginal Effect ◽

Empirical Examination ◽

Negative Effect ◽

High Expenditure ◽

The Impact

Currently countries are facing a new crisis caused by the COVID-19, which leads to the rise of government expenditures and additional borrowing. This situation highlights the importance of examine factors which determine the level of public debt that still sustains economic growth. A growing body of research supports the idea of a non-linear debt–growth relationship and estimates the threshold level above which debt becomes unsustainable and has a negative effect on output. The empirical evidence points out that there is no single sustainable debt threshold level that holds for all countries. This research complements scarce empirical evidence on the heterogeneous debt–growth relationship and provides some insights on the publicly available statistical indicators that might signal a relatively low/high expenditure multiplier and, at the same time, potentially unsustainable/sustainable growth stimulus through the use of borrowed funds. We test the hypothesis that the expenditure multiplier is shaping the impact of public debt on growth. Our empirical examination is based on panel data analysis in the groups of countries with expected relatively high and low expenditure multiplier. Research results show that a statistically significant negative marginal effect of debt on growth starts to manifest at a lower debt-to-GDP ratio when the expenditure multiplier is lower and vice-versa. The study shed some light on the sources of heterogeneity in a debt–growth relationship. We can conclude that countries with a high expenditure multiplier level can borrow more and sustain growth. In contrast, in countries with a lower expenditure multiplier, a relatively low debt level becomes unsustainable for growth.

Download Full-text

Agricultural Policy Reform and Its Impact on Farm Households Income Inequality

Journal of Income Distribution ◽

10.25071/1874-6322.16182 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Ashok K Mishra ◽

Hisham El-Osta ◽

Saleem Shaik

Keyword(s):

Income Inequality ◽

Agricultural Policy ◽

Policy Reform ◽

The United States ◽

Farm Households ◽

Lump Sum ◽

Agricultural Policy Reform ◽

The Impact ◽

Farm Program ◽

Distribution Of Income

In the United States the 1996 agricultural policy reform ushered in market-oriented farm policies and also gave farmers a seven-year lump-sum payment that was not tied to production. Some scholars argue that farm program payments have changed the distribution of income among farm households. Our study uses a national farmlevel survey for 1996-2001 to investigate a) the distribution of income among farm households, b) the sources that contribute to income inequality, and c) the role of farm program payments in equalizing income. Results show a high but declining income inequality between 1996 and 2001. Among the income components that contributed the most to income inequality was an income component labeled Income from farming and all other sources. Findings further show that marginal increases in both off-farm labor income and farm program payments reduce income inequality. The impact of various income components on overall reduction in income inequality therefore depends on a household’s participation in off-farm work and government farm programs.

Download Full-text

An Application of a Positive Mathematical Programming Model to Analyse the Impact of Agricultural Policy Measures in the Spanish Agricultural Sector

Computational Methods for Agricultural Research ◽

10.4018/978-1-61692-871-1.ch010 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 175-198

Author(s):

Lucinio Asensio ◽

Rosario Gómez de Barreda ◽

Miguel Ruiz ◽

José-Luis Miguel de Diego ◽

Elvira Miqueleiz

Keyword(s):

Mathematical Programming ◽

Agricultural Policy ◽

Agricultural Sector ◽

Programming Model ◽

Programming Models ◽

Limited Information ◽

Agricultural Policies ◽

Mathematical Programming Models ◽

Positive Mathematical Programming ◽

The Impact

In agricultural economics, one of the greatest weaknesses in mathematical programming models for the evaluation of agricultural processes is the calibration of the model in a base year. The reason for this is that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to introduce all the variables affecting farmers’ decisions in the models and thus obtain reliable results. This chapter presents a method for calibrating mathematical programming models using limited information. From the mathematical programming properties, by using the dual form of the original model, this methodology allows the model results to reproduce the situation existing in a baseline situation of the unit (farm, region) modelled. This method, called Positive Mathematical Programming, is currently being used in a great number of analyses of new agricultural policies. In this chapter it is applied to analyse the impact of recent measures of the European Common Agricultural Policy in Spain.

Download Full-text

How Have the CAP Reforms Contributed to Structural Development in Agriculture?

Wieś i Rolnictwo ◽

10.53098/wir032017/02 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 35-51

Author(s):

Kyösti Arovuori

Keyword(s):

Data Analysis ◽

Agricultural Policy ◽

Panel Data Analysis ◽

Structural Development ◽

Agricultural Policies ◽

Policy Reforms ◽

Target Variable ◽

The Common ◽

The Impact ◽

Policy Target

This study aims to analyse the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy and its reforms on the development of agricultural structures. In the analysis we measure the development of rural structures using the number of farms as policy target variable. Our analysis aims to reveal the impact of agricultural policy and policy reforms on the development of the defined target variable, given the general economic and structural development. The analysis is conducted as an econometric panel data analysis. Our results show that agricultural policies have, in general, reduced the pace of structural development and kept more farms in the sector compared to a situation without policies. However, the implementation of CAP reforms in 1992, 2000 and 2007 has led to more rapid structural development. Overall, agricultural policies have smoothened the transition of resources from agriculture to other sectors.

Download Full-text