Agriculture

Agriculture played a crucial role for the Phoenicians. Systematic study of the rural Phoenician world goes back only a few decades, thanks to archaeological surveys and excavations of non-urban structures and settlements. Despite our increasing knowledge of the subject, it is still difficult to define a single model. Still we can speak of some constant features. The chapter gives a view of coastal settlements producing an easily exported agricultural surplus, as well as husbandry, especially cattle, ovicaprids, and pigs. This was followed by a period of systematic occupation of the land, not necessarily welcomed by the native groups. Nevertheless, this occupation established organized and systematic exploitation and expansion of the “Mediterranean triad” (wheat, olive, wine). The success of this agricultural activity had a crucial role in the development of Phoenician-Punic cities.

An Analysis Study of Paddy Cultivation in Sivagangai District – A Case Study

Agricultural development is a precondition for the overall economic development of a country. India occupies sixth rank in the world in terms of agricultural development. India stands in the second rank in the production of rice next to china. The share of Indian agriculture is 2.4 percent in the world. Rapid growth in agriculture is essential not only to achieve self-reliance but also for the food security of the household. The agricultural sector through its product contribution, factor contribution, and market contribution might act as the leading sector for economic development. Economist Arthur Lewis thinks that agricultural surplus is used by the secondary and tertiary sectors for their expansion for maintaining food security and at the same time mobilizing a large agricultural surplus for the urban areas is much needed for agricultural development. This paper is mostly focussed on the Log- Linear Regression model of Cob Douglas type and it is adopted to estimate the vital factor which determines the yield. A Yield is for two farm size that is small and large farmers in the regression model, yield is considered as a dependent variable and input factor of the following analyses.

Especialización olivarera, cambios institucionales y desigualdad agraria en la Alta Campiña de Córdoba (siglos XVIII-XX)

This article examines from several angles the evolution of inequality since the end of the Ancien Regime in a rural Andalusian village. Our research is mainly based on fiscal sources, aided by data from private accounting registries, land registry documents, texts from agrarian engineers, etc. The transformation of rural spaces and of local agricultural production is discussed first. Second, the evolution of property distribution, agricultural surplus and income are addressed. Last of all, this study explains the inequality effects derived from both socio-institutional transformations begun during the crisis of the Ancien Regime and specialization in wine or olive oil production –combined with intensification in other types of production processes– that took place in Aguilar and the surrounding area much earlier than in the rest of Cordoba Province.

Entrepreneurship in Small-Scale Farms

This chapter aims to relate a case of rural entrepreneurship developed in Portuguese small-scale farms promoted through the European Project PROVE. The Project PROVE appears in 2007 inside European Program EQUAL; several local partners and development agencies work together with small farms to solve a problem. Parts of these farms do not have enough scale to sell large quantities in markets or to arrange agreement with national and international distributors. However, they have agricultural surplus and difficulties in selling their entire surplus in the local markets. Parts of the first farms are also in urban regions and suffer urban pressures, are familiar explorations, and the number of women is relevant. This entrepreneurial solution was spread to different regions in Portugal and also in other European countries and endures beyond the end of the European project.

The Effect of the TseTse Fly on African Development

The TseTse fly is unique to Africa and transmits a parasite harmful to humans and lethal to livestock. This paper tests the hypothesis that the TseTse reduced the ability of Africans to generate an agricultural surplus historically. Ethnic groups inhabiting TseTse-suitable areas were less likely to use domesticated animals and the plow, less likely to be politically centralized, and had a lower population density. These correlations are not found in the tropics outside of Africa, where the fly does not exist. The evidence suggests current economic performance is affected by the TseTse through the channel of pre colonial political centralization. (JEL I12, N57, O13, O17, Q12, Q16, Q18)

Entrepreneurship in Small-Scale Farms

This chapter aims to relate a case of rural entrepreneurship developed in Portuguese small-scale farms promoted through the European Project PROVE. The Project PROVE appears in 2007 inside European Program EQUAL; several local partners and development agencies work together with small farms to solve a problem. Parts of these farms do not have enough scale to sell large quantities in markets or to arrange agreement with national and international distributors. However, they have agricultural surplus and difficulties in selling their entire surplus in the local markets. Parts of the first farms are also in urban regions and suffer urban pressures, are familiar explorations, and the number of women is relevant. This entrepreneurial solution was spread to different regions in Portugal and also in other European countries and endures beyond the end of the European project.