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The system of cereal grain production in Ethiopia has been stratified into private, cooperative and state farms since the 1975 land reform. The private farms are being gradually replaced by the cooperative farms while the state farms are receiving increased technical and budgetary assistance by the Ethiopian government. lt is, however, not clear if these policies are consistent with the technical characteristics of these three modes of production. This study, therefore, evaluated technical efficiency, impacts of known and latent input factors, and returns to scale parameters for each farm type. Sample data were collected from Ethiopia on five cereal crops, namely, barley, com, sorghum, teff and wheat and several input factors, including labor, land, oxen, traditional farm implements, tractors, machinery services, modern yield·increasing inputs, livestock, education and rainfall over 77 awrajjas for the 1980-1986 production period. A covariance regression model was applied with these data to determine an appropriate functional form between the Cobb-Douglas and translog production functions. The Translog functional form was selected for the analysis on the basis of statistical tests. Results of the analysis suggest that the producer cooperatives collectively appear to have a potential to generate increased gross income per hectare at a declining rate with respect to an equiproportionate increase in all inputs, except land, upon an increasing average cost of production per unit of cereal output. The private and state farms appear to be operating with a close to fixed proportions type of production technology with a constant average cost of production per unit of cereal output per hectare. Moreover, the range of substitutability between input factors tends towards a complementary relationship as the institutional transformations and management techniques of the cereal producing farms shift from the traditional to a more advanced and centrally managed state mode of production. Partial income elasticity parameters suggest that (a) the private sector’s gross income per hectare is most responsive to traditional hand tools, fertilizer, labor, human capital at primary level of education, and rain in August and September; (b) the cooperative sector’s gross income per hectare is most responsive to the use of tractors and September rain; whereas (c) gross income per hectare of the state farms is most responsive to the use of traditional labor, machinery services and rain in June and August. Thus, Ethiopia’s agricultural income production per hectare is likely to be revitalized by: (a) qualitative changes in the traditional inputs, water management, and introduction of modem technical inputs such as fertilizer and farmer education in the private sector; (b) increased traditional labor employment, improved management of water, machinery and modem yield-increasing inputs on the state farms; and (c) a better usage of tractors and collaborative input factors, improved water management, and a substantial increase in capital investment to achieve full employment of the seemingly redundant labor and oxen input factors on the cooperative farms. It seems unlikely that the producer cooperatives will achieve the goal of maximum cereal output per hectare with the most prevalent composition of the redundant traditional input factors which contribute insignificantly at the margin without a major change in the current production techniques and structural policies of the sector. / Ph. D.

This research analyzes the Sergipe citrus industry and its institutional relations, highlighting the intervention of the state government via Revitalization Program Citrus (2003). Among the objectives we sought to make a historical overview of global and national citrus production in line with activity in the state of Sergipe, to identify the determinants of national crisis and citrus proposal to revitalize the role of institutionalism in favor of the action of the agents involved production chain in orange. The study data allowed to make a career in production, harvested area, yield and market strategies that involves the production of national and state orange. Research shows that before the recovery strategies of the government of Sergipe little changed reality of the institutional environment in order to generate employment and economic development for the citrus region of the state. Pests, increases in production costs, reduced government incentives for new patterns of industrial production of juice (which consume less amount of concentrate juice) increased consumption of juices and other drinks and fragility of articulation with institutions involved in the process (unions, associations cooperatives, industries, government agencies) make the resumption of a major product of the state´s economy has no prospects of return. / Esta pesquisa analisa a citricultura sergipana e suas relações institucionais, destacando-se a intervenção do governo do estado via Programa de Revitalização da Citricultura (2003). Entre os objetivos buscou-se fazer uma retrospectiva histórica da citricultura mundial e nacional, em sintonia com a atividade no estado de Sergipe; identificar os condicionantes da crise da citricultura nacional e a proposta de revitalização, o papel do institucionalismo no favorecimento da ação dos agentes envolvidos na cadeia produtiva da laranja. Os dados do estudo permitiram fazer uma trajetória da produção, área colhida, produtividade e estratégias de mercado que envolve a produção de laranja nacional e estadual. As pesquisas revelam que diante das estratégias de recuperação do governo de Sergipe pouco se alterou a realidade do ambiente institucional, de forma a gerar emprego e desenvolvimento econômico para a região citrícola do estado. Pragas, aumentos dos custos de produção, redução de incentivos governamentais novos padrões de produção industrial do suco (que consomem menos teor de suco concentrado) aumento do consumo de outros sucos e bebidas e fragilidade de articulação com as instituições envolvidas no processo (sindicatos, associações, cooperativas, indústrias, órgãos do governo) fazem com que a retomada de um dos principais produtos da economia do estado não tenha perspectivas de retorno.

This research analyzes the Sergipe citrus industry and its institutional relations, highlighting the intervention of the state government via Revitalization Program Citrus (2003). Among the objectives we sought to make a historical overview of global and national citrus production in line with activity in the state of Sergipe, to identify the determinants of national crisis and citrus proposal to revitalize the role of institutionalism in favor of the action of the agents involved production chain in orange. The study data allowed to make a career in production, harvested area, yield and market strategies that involves the production of national and state orange. Research shows that before the recovery strategies of the government of Sergipe little changed reality of the institutional environment in order to generate employment and economic development for the citrus region of the state. Pests, increases in production costs, reduced government incentives for new patterns of industrial production of juice (which consume less amount of concentrate juice) increased consumption of juices and other drinks and fragility of articulation with institutions involved in the process (unions, associations cooperatives, industries, government agencies) make the resumption of a major product of the state´s economy has no prospects of return. / Esta pesquisa analisa a citricultura sergipana e suas relações institucionais, destacando-se a intervenção do governo do estado via Programa de Revitalização da Citricultura (2003). Entre os objetivos buscou-se fazer uma retrospectiva histórica da citricultura mundial e nacional, em sintonia com a atividade no estado de Sergipe; identificar os condicionantes da crise da citricultura nacional e a proposta de revitalização, o papel do institucionalismo no favorecimento da ação dos agentes envolvidos na cadeia produtiva da laranja. Os dados do estudo permitiram fazer uma trajetória da produção, área colhida, produtividade e estratégias de mercado que envolve a produção de laranja nacional e estadual. As pesquisas revelam que diante das estratégias de recuperação do governo de Sergipe pouco se alterou a realidade do ambiente institucional, de forma a gerar emprego e desenvolvimento econômico para a região citrícola do estado. Pragas, aumentos dos custos de produção, redução de incentivos governamentais novos padrões de produção industrial do suco (que consomem menos teor de suco concentrado) aumento do consumo de outros sucos e bebidas e fragilidade de articulação com as instituições envolvidas no processo (sindicatos, associações, cooperativas, indústrias, órgãos do governo) fazem com que a retomada de um dos principais produtos da economia do estado não tenha perspectivas de retorno.

Thesis (MScAgric)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The optimal farm size and organizational form of agriculture is a widely discussed topic with little consensus as to which organizational form would be optimal under certain circumstances. There is often confusion as to what constitutes a corporate farm as well as a family farm, with the size of the farm often used as a distinguishing factor. This should however not be the case as there are many extremely large farms that are owner-operated within South Africa. The distinguishing factor should rather revolve around the management structures of these farms. It is these management structures that would seem to limit the metamorphosis of owner-operated farms into large corporate structures. This thesis uses an analysis of both technical and allocative efficiency in determining the organizational form chosen within agriculture. It is shown in the thesis that farm size determines or improves the technical efficiency and this is brought about by the farms ability to stay abreast with the technological times by having “economies of size” to their advantage. The evolution of farm size would therefore seem to be driven by this need to obtain “economies of size” so as to be able to earn comparable wages to off-farm activities. The attainment of this technical efficiency however does not seem to be linked to the organizational structure of the farm; it is rather dependant of the size of the farm. While the size of the farm is an important factor in achieving technical efficiency it is not as important in determining allocative efficiency, with various studies arguing that larger farms are less allocatively efficient than smaller farms. This reduced allocative efficiency seems to stem from various transaction costs and principle agent issues within the corporate setting that are not prevalent in the owner-operated farms. This is because in the owner-operated settings the family are the residual claimants to profit, which suggests that they do not have the incentive to shirk. The opposite is true for the corporate setting where the model is fraught with moral hazard and other issues of the principle-agent nature, which would seem to raise the transaction costs of this organizational form, and this has negative implications for the allocative efficiency with which these farms operate at. This thesis therefore uses data obtained from such a corporate farm, where the owners of the farms are kept on as farm managers and the company makes all the production decisions. This thesis argues that it is these agency issues and transaction costs that hamper this organizational form while it is shown that the technical efficiency for these farms are high suggesting that economies of size are important in determining the technical efficiency of these farms. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die optimale plaasgrootte en organisasievorm in die landbou is ’n onderwerp wat al baie aandag in die literatuur ontvang het, maar waar daar min ooreenstemming is oor watter organisasievorm optimaal sal wees onder spesifieke omstandighede. Met die grootte van die plaas wat dikwels as 'n onderskeidende faktor gebruik word, is daar dikwels verwarring oor wat ‘n korporatiewe plaas sowel as ʼn familie plaas uitmaak. Dit hoort egter nie die geval te wees nie, want daar is baie groot plase wat as alleen-eienaar bedryf word in Suid-Afrika (m.a.w. familie-plase met gehuurde arbeid). Die onderskeidende faktor moet eerder die bestuur strukture van hierdie plase wees. Dit is hierdie bestuur strukture wat die metamorfose vanaf eienaar-bedryfde plase na (groot) korporatiewe strukture beperk. In hierdie tesis word 'n ontleding van beide tegniese en allokatiewe doeltreffendheid gebruik in die ontleding van die optimale organisasievorm in die landbou. Die tesis bewys dat die plaas se grootte die tegniese doeltreffendheid bepaal of verhoog, vanweë die groter plase se beter vermoë om op hoogte te bly met tegnologiese ontwikkeling deur die "ekonomieë van grootte" tot hul voordeel te gebruik. Plaasgroottes pas aan by die geleentheidskoste van die eienaar-bestuurder en tegniese doeltreffendheid is nie afhanklik van die organisasiestruktuur van die plaas nie, maar is eerder afhanklik van die grootte van die plaas. Terwyl die grootte van die plaas 'n belangrike faktor in die bereiking van tegniese doeltreffendheid is, is dit nie so belangrik in die bepaling van allokatiewe doeltreffendheid nie. Verskeie studies wys daarop dat groter plase minder allokatief doeltreffend is as kleiner plase, hoofsaaklik as gevolg van verskeie transaksiekoste voordele van klein plase. Maar daar is ook prinsipaal-agent kwessies in die korporatiewe omgewing wat nie algemeen by eienaarbedryfde plase voorkom nie. Dit is omdat in die geval van die eienaar-bedryfde instellings die familie aanspraak het op die residuele wins, en dus ʼn aansporing het om opdragte uit te voer. By korporatiewe plase is daar egter prinsipaal-agent probleme wat gepaard gaan met morele risiko (‘moral hazard’). Dus het familieplase ʼn koste voordeel oor korporatiewe plase. Hierdie tesis gebruik dan data wat verkry is uit 'n korporatiewe boerdery onderneming, waar die eienaars van die plase die plaasbestuurders is en die maatskappy al die produksie besluite maak. Die tesis wys dat dit hierdie agentskap kwessies en transaksie koste is wat die organisasievorme belemmer terwyl dit blyk dat die tegniese doeltreffendheid vir dié plase hoog is wat daarop dui dat die ekonomie van grootte belangrik is in die bepaling van die tegniese doeltreffendheid van hierdie plase.

<div> <p>This dissertation examines long-run food security in Niger in an era of climate change and comprises three interlinked essays. The first essay investigates the socio-economic projections for Niger in the current climate change literature in a growth accounting framework and provides a critical assessment to evaluate global projections in the context of a low-income developing country. The second essay quantifies the combined and individual impacts of income, population growth, agricultural productivity, and climate change on food security outcomes by mid-century in rural and urban Niger. Finally, the third essay assesses three policy scenarios considering accelerated investments in agricultural research and dissemination (R&D), reductions in fertility rates, and regional market integration.</p> </div> <br>

À la suite des réformes successives de la Politique Agricole Commune (PAC), les soutiens publics par des prix ont diminué au profit de soutiens directs aux revenus agricoles. Cela a exposé les agriculteurs français à une grande volatilité des prix, reconnectés avec les prix mondiaux.Cette thèse mesure l'évolution de la productivité de l'agriculture française dans un modèle dynamique stochastique en intégrant la récente augmentation de la volatilité des prix. Nous étudions le lien dynamique entre le risque de prix, les décisions des agriculteurs et la productivité dans le cadre de l'estimation structurelle. La revue de la littérature présentée dans le chapitre 2 décrit la productivité comme un résidu et souligne les problèmes de mesure des données du capital et le problème de l’endogénéité dans l’estimation primale.Le chapitre 3 compare les méthodes numériques permettant de résoudre et d'estimer les modèles d'équilibre général dynamique stochastique (DSGE) ou de type DSGE, dans lesquels le capital et la productivité sont des variables d'état. Le chapitre 4 estime la productivité dans un modèle dynamique stochastique en utilisant l'approche d'entropie maximale généralisée (GME). Nous trouvons que la croissance de la productivité de l’agriculture française a diminué après la réforme de la PAC, à cause de l'augmentation de la volatilité des prix. En effet, le risque de prix impacte la productivité négativement à travers les choix de production, de consommation, d’investissement et d’emprunt des agriculteurs. Le chapitre 5 simule les impacts de marché des instruments de la P / The EU has adopted many reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the past decades. Price support has decreased, and decoupled payments have been introduced. As a result, European agricultural prices have become more volatile, in line with world prices.This dissertation measures the evolution of the productivity of French agriculture in a dynamic stochastic farm decision model in the new economic context with increased price volatility. On this basis, it studies the dynamic link between price risk, farmer decisions, and productivity in the structural estimation framework. The literature review in Chapter 2 describes productivity as a residual and emphasizes the measurement issues from the unobserved capital data series and the endogeneity problem in primal estimation.Chapter 3 compares the numerical methods to solve and estimate nonlinear dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) or DSGE-like models, in which capital and productivity are latent state variables. Chapter 4 estimates productivity in a dynamic stochastic decision model based on the generalized maximum entropy (GME) approach. We show that the productivity growth in French agriculture has slowed down and become more volatile following the rise in price volatility. Overall, price risk has an impact on productivity in the way that when exposed to high risks, farmers change their production, consumption, investment and financial borrowing decisions, which in turn affects the realized productivity negatively. Chapter 5 simulates the market impacts of the CAP instruments in a dynamic GTAP-AGR CGE mode

Os fertilizantes minerais apresentam-se como um dos insumos contribuidores para o aumento da produtividade no Brasil desde os anos de 1980, diante da limitada expansão da área agrícola, e são considerados como poupadores de terra. No entanto, por serem provindos de recursos naturais escassos, extraidos viávelmente (econômico e físico) de limitados locais do mundo, e dependerem altamente de energia para a síntese, fazem com que a produção agrícola seja sensível aos impactos de oferta e demanda pelos fertiliznates. A exemplo do ocorrido em 2008/2009, em que a elevação dos preços dos fertilizantes reduziu sua quantidade de consumo e houve alteração no mercado das commodities agrícolas. Diante disso, objetivou analisar a dinâmica econômica entre os fertilizantes minerais com o mercado agrícola da região Centro-Oeste (CO), onde apresenta o maior consumo de fertilizante minerais e concentra a maior produção agrícola do país. Para análise, considerou-se as variáveis como a quantidade consumida de fertilizantes e o poder de compra ponderado à produtividade (poder de compra p.p.) no CO, e o preço do fertilizante específico. Empregou-se a metodologia de séries temporais, mais especificamente o modelo Autorregressivo Vetorial Estrutural (SVAR), para cada macronutriente primário, ou seja, os fertilizantes nitrogenados, fosfatados e potássicos. Tal modelo permitiu estimar as respostas das variáveis endógenas aos impactos positivos tanto das demais variáveis como de si próprio. Os resultados mostram que a quantidade consumida como sendo a variável mais endógena, com a maior participação do poder de compra p.p. do que seus preços, além da própria variação para os três modelos. Diferentemente dos preços que se apresentaram mais exógenos, cuja contribuição própria foi mais de 90%, também para os três modelos. Por conseguinte, nas análises dos impactos determinou-se a maior sensibilidade de variação entre o impacto no poder de compra p.p. sobre a quantidade consumida do fertilizante para os três modelos. Ao serem comparados, obtiveram a ordem decrescente das elasticidades igual a 0,65; 0,58; e 0,48, respectivamente aos fertilizantes N > P205 > K2O, sequência esta conferida pela atuação agronômica dos nutrientes no solo da região e nas culturas. Já a menor sensibilidade de variação ocorreu entre o poder de compra p.p. sobre o choque nos preços dos fertilizantes, resultado esse esperado, devido os fertilizantes serem um dos insumos necessários para o aumento de produtividade. Assim, reconhece-se a relação positiva entre os três tipos de fertilizantes minerais e a produção no Centro-Oeste pelas demandas dos fertilizantes se apresentarem inelásticas à variação dos preços dos fertilizantes. / Mineral fertilizers are one of the contributor inputs to increase productivity in Brazil since the 1980s, given the limited expansion of the agricultural area, and are considered land-savers. However, because they are derived from scarce natural resources, viably extracted (economically and structurally) from limited locations of the world, and highly dependent on energy for synthesis, they make agricultural production sensitive to the impacts of supply and demand. As in 2008/2009, when the increase in fertilizer prices reduced its quantity of consumption, there were changes in the agricultural commodities market. The present dissertation aims to analyze the economic dynamics between mineral fertilizers and the agricultural market of the Central-West region, where the highest mineral fertilizer consumption is presented and the largest agricultural production in the country is concentrated. For the analysis, we considered some variables, such as the quantity of fertilizers consumed, and the purchasing power weighted by productivity, as well as the price of the specific fertilizer. The time series methodology, more specifically the Autoregressive Structural Vector Model (SVAR), was used for each primary macronutrient, that is, the nitrogen, phosphate and potassium fertilizers. This model allowed us to estimate the responses of the endogenous variables to the positive impacts of the other variables as well as of themselves. The results found the quantity consumed as being the most endogenous variable, with the greater participation of weighted purchasing power than its prices, besides its own variation for the three models. Differently from the prices that presented more exogenous, whose own contribution was more than 90% also for the three models. Therefore, in the analysis of the impacts, it was determined the greater sensitivity of variation between the amount of fertilizer consumed on the shock in purchasing power for three models. When compared, they obtained the decreasing order of elasticities equal to 0.65; 0.58; and 0,48, respectively, to N> P205 > K2O fertilizers, a sequence that is conferred by the agronomic performance of the nutrients in the soil of the region and in the crops. On the other hand, the lower sensitivity of variation occurred between purchasing power over the shock of fertilizer prices, a result expected, because fertilizers are one of the inputs needed to increase productivity. Thus, the positive relation between the three types of mineral fertilizers and the production in the Central-West by the demands of the fertilizers are inelastic to the variation of the fertilizer prices.

Orientador: Wagner Luiz Lourenzani / Coorientador: Marcellus Marques Caldas / Coorientador: Eduardo Guilherme Satolo / Banca: Mário Otávio Batalha / Banca: Mario Mollo Neto / Resumo: Este trabalho parte da seguinte questão de pesquisa: quais fatores estruturais estão causando a redução do ritmo de produtividade da cana-de-açúcar nas regiões de novas expansões agrícolas canavieiras, especificamente nos estados de Mato Grosso do Sul e de Goiás? Parte-se da hipótese de que há fatores estruturais que limitam a evolução do desempenho agrícola da cana-de-açúcar nessa região. Nesse contexto, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar a relação entre a tendência de queda na produtividade e os fatores estruturais ligados às tecnologias agrícolas empregadas, de modo a compreender os motivos que levam a essa redução. Inicialmente foi elaborada uma Pesquisa Bibliográfica Sistemática (RBS), de forma a traçar um cenário da produção científica na área da produtividade da cana-de-açúcar. Em etapa seguinte, foi realizada uma análise da evolução da expansão da produção da cana-de-açúcar na região estudada, por meio da utilização de análise descritiva dos dados secundários e análise da variação da produção pelos efeitos área e produtividade utilizando o método Shift-Share. Por fim, foi realizada uma análise estatística de regressão logística múltipla para verificar a existência de correlação entre a produtividade do cultivo de cana-de-açúcar e variáveis de características produtiva e tecnológica. Foram utilizados os dados obtidos por meio de uma survey aplicada a 148 produtores rurais, de 30 municípios localizados nos estados locus desta análise. Os resultados obtidos revelar... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This dissertation has the following research question: what structural factors are causing a reduction in the sugarcane productivity rate in regions of recent sugarcane agricultural expansion, specifically in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Goiás? The hypothesis of this research is that there are structural factors limiting the development of the agricultural performance of sugarcane in these regions. In this context, this research aimed at analyzing the relationship between the downward trend in productivity and structural factors, in order to understand the reasons that have lead to this reduction. Initially, a systematic bibliographical research was developed in order to draw a scenario of scientific studies on sugarcane productivity. Then, an analysis of the technological evolution of sugarcane production was held in the mentioned regions, by using the Shift-Share Method. Finally, a multivariate statistical analysis was applied in order to verify the existence of correlation between sugarcane productivity and productive and technological characteristics. The used data was obtained through a Survey applied to 148 farmers from 30 municipalities. The results revealed that the factors that limit the advancement of sugarcane agricultural productivity in the surveyed areas are structural, as level of mechanization and use of varieties adapted to the studied regions. Such results support some analysis and proposals for improving productivity performance. It is considered th... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

<p>This study examines the relationship between land fragmentation and agricultural productivity in Vietnam, as well as the outcomes of land consolidation programs on productivity. Data from the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey 2004 and data on the land consolidation process was used for the regression analysis. The results show weak correlations between fragmentation and productivity. Land fragmentation seems to be positively correlated to productivity due to more use of fertilizers and labour input. The communes that have consolidated their land are more productive, but this seems to be explained by initial differences in productivity. Our results suggest that there are no immidiate gains in land consolidation.</p>