Economic Analysis of Ginseng Based Forest Farming: a Sustainable Income Diversification Opportunity for Forest Landowners

While American ginseng is a complicated opportunity for forest farmers to understand, within these production systems there are many opportunities and constraints linked to production of ginseng. There are different market demands and prices paid for the various grades of dried roots depending on the system used to cultivate the plant. This study reviewed the unique benefits of producing ginseng, opportunities for forest farmers, the potential profits, as well as financial risks. The study focused on two common ginseng production systems in the southeastern region of the U.S. The specific objective of the paper is to assess economic returns of producing ginseng under different production systems. The Monte Carlo simulation was performed to analyze the profitability and risks associated with producing ginseng and performed sensitive analysis to determine the effect of uncertainty variables such as production costs, yield, and price of product on economic feasibility.

Tourism Special Economic Zone

Tanjung Kelayang is a tourism special economic zones (SEZ) established in Belitung regency, Indonesia, as an alternative and sustainable income to the community after the decline of tin mining. The TSEZ is focusing on rural and heritage tourism although mining activities are actively and continuously conducted. SEZs have been successful in some countries; however, India, China, and African countries have experienced less success in several aspects. The TSEZ offers some benefits but is vulnerable to external shock, since it was not developed based on a comprehensive design, and is associated with horizontal conflicts. This study reviewed Tanjung Kelayang's TSEZ policy based on SEZ implementation in various countries as a comparative study by adjusting the context of the phenomena occurring in Tanjung Kelayang. This research produced a review related to the TSEZ’s design, facilities, rules and regulations, also efforts to overcome horizontal conflicts.

Role of tax incentives for increase in personal pensions saving

Personal pensions increase their role in the retirement savings in the European Union. The design of the personal pensions is of great importance for the success of the saving. In the European Union there is no common legislation on the taxation of pensions. In recent years, the personal responsibility of savers for making decisions to save for retirement has increased. The limited ability of public pension systems to guarantee an adequate and sustainable income after working age necessitates the search for opportunities to fill this "pension gap". That is why the market for long-term savings products is central to achieving adequate income replacement and maintaining the standard of living of the elderly. This is one of the reasons for the greater role of the tax treatment of the savings products. The paper is analyzing the role of tax incentives for the increase of the saving in personal pension products. The study is searching answer which are the most important steps for efficient tax policy of retirement savings products. The new product on the European Union market, the pan-European personal pension product, sheds extra light on the topic of the importance and the efficiency of the tax treatment of saving in personal pension products. The research finds out that favourable tax treatment for saving in personal pension products is a must but it has to be major part of the overall social welfare and tax policy of the member states.

Development of a stochastic bioeconomic model for the red octopus fishery on the Yucatan Peninsula: Implications for management

Although much effort has been dedicated to the management of the red octopus fishery on the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), managers have yet to incorporate economic aspects to ensure sustainable and profitable exploitation of this fishery resource. We developed a bioeconomic model that incorporated the uncertainty for the r and K parameters. We fit 3 models (Schaefer, Fox, and Pella–Tomlinson) to abundance index survey data and used the Akaike information criterion for model selection. The best fit corresponded to the Schaefer model. We built deterministic and stochastic versions of the Gordon–Schaefer model. Economic data (costs and prices) were determined from inter[1]views with fishermen. To estimate the posterior distributions of parameters and indicators, we used Bayesian methods with Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations. The deterministic results suggested that the maximum sustainable income was Mex$851.70 million, with a fishing effort of 3,650 fishing boats, while the maximum sustainable profit was $390.8 million, with a fishing effort of 2,472 fishing boats. The equilibrium point corresponded to an effort of 4,945 fishing boats. Regarding the stochastic model, the MCMC simulation results suggest that the maximum sustainable income distribution was not normal; its average was $856.1 million (SE 1.8) and the most likely value was $849.50 million. The most likely fishing effort at equilibrium was 4,970 fishing boats. Our results suggest the fishery could be operating close to the economic equilibrium point; if this is the case, fishing effort must decrease in order for annual profit to increase. Our approach will help make periodical re-evaluations of the fishery and establish management strategies to ensure the profitable and sustainable exploitation of the red octopus on the Yucatan Peninsula.

Brazilian Amazonian palm-stem types and uses: a review

ABSTRACT Palms may be an important source of renewable raw material to replace wood, however, the uses of the stems of native species of the Brazil are known only at the local or regional level. We carried out a literature review on the traditional knowledge of the uses of the stems of palm species native to the Amazon biome in Brazil, and related the types of uses with morphological characteristics of the stems. The review resulted in information on 45 species with solitary or cespitose stems, and six stem-size types: tall (15 species), medium-short (3), medium (5), small (17), acaulescent (1) and climbing (4). We found 80 indications of stem use in seven categories and 14 subcategories. A similarity analysis showed that, in general, tall, medium-short, medium, small (≥ 10 cm in diameter) and climbing stem types, solitary or cespitous, are used for construction, furniture, handicrafts, utensils, tools and musical instruments. Only small stems (< 10 cm diameter) are used to manufacture weapons for hunting and fishing, and climbing stems are used in the manufacture of ropes. Stems of Socratea exorrhiza, Euterpe oleracea and Desmoncus polyacanthos are the most frequently used to meet subsistence needs in traditional communities in the Brazilian Amazon. Our findings indicate that there is a potential for use of several native palm stems as sources for alternative materials in the manufacture industry and as sustainable income sources for Amazonian communities.

Sustainable Income Algorithm

Finpass is a finance technology start-up. In this report, we present exploratory data analysis of historical bank transactions, and developed an algorithm to predict future sustainable income.

Agrivoltaics: A Climate-Smart Agriculture Approach for Indian Farmers

India is a leader when it comes to agriculture. A significant part of the country’s population depends on agriculture for livelihood. However, many of them face challenges due to using unreliable farming techniques. Sometimes the challenges increase to the extent that they commit suicide. Besides, India is highly populated, and its population is steadily increasing, requiring its government to grow its GDP and increase its energy supply proportionately. This paper reviews integrating solar farming with agriculture, known as Agrivoltaics, as a Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) option for Indian farmers. This study is further supported by the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis of agrivoltaics. Using the SWOT analysis, this article presents how agrivoltaics can make agriculture sustainable and reliable. This paper identifies rural electrification, water conservation, yield improvement, sustainable income generation, and reduction in the usage of pesticides as the strengths of agrivoltaics. Similarly, the paper presents weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to agrivoltaics in India. The research concludes with the findings that agrivoltaics have the potential of meeting multiple objectives such as meeting global commitments, offering employment, providing economic stability, increasing clean energy production capacity, conserving natural resources, and succeeding in several others. The paper also includes a discussion about the findings, suggestions, and implications of adopting agrivoltaics on a large scale in India.

Strategic Assessment of the Efficiency of Diversification of the Industry Investment Portfolio

One of the effective special tools used to achieve the least risk and sustainable income of investment in enterprises is the investment portfolio. At the same time, one of the simplest and most effective strategies to minimize investor risk is its diversification.The article presents the results of the performed strategic financial analysis of the effectiveness of diversification of the formed sectoral investment portfolio using the example of large enterprises of the metallurgical industry. The choice of industry was determined by the fact that metallurgy is one of the fastest growing industries in the world economy.The article analyzes the strategic development trends of the metallurgical industry and considers the three largest companies in this industry (“MMK”, “Severstal”, “NLMK”). Their activity was analyzed in dynamics based on financial reporting data presented on company websites.Comparative analysis was carried out on such indicators of financial analysis as current liquidity ratios, equity and financial leverage concentration ratios, as well as interest-to-payment ratios, turnover of reserves and funds in turnover, profitability of the companies under consideration.In the resulting formation of the investment portfolio, correlation coefficients between the returns of the shares of these companies were calculated. It was established that the financial situation, as well as the low correlation coefficient between the assets of the reviewed companies, allow us to form from their shares an industry investment portfolio that minimizes the risks of a potential investor.