Agricultural and Food Economics最新文献

Food insecurity remains a serious challenge for many households in Africa and the situation is even more prevalent among young people. However, there is a dearth of empirical evidence on youth food security status in Africa. We assessed the level and determinants of food security among young farmers in Africa. We adopted a multi-stage sampling technique to select 400, 429, and 606 young farmers in Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda, respectively. Individual food consumption was assessed following a 7 days recall method. The Food Consumption Score, which combines dietary diversity and consumption frequency was used to assess food security status while the determinants of food security were identified using a logistic regression model. Results suggest low dietary diversity across the three countries. Also, the majority of the respondents had an unacceptable food consumption score, suggesting that despite being food producers, young farmers are still food insecure. The odds of being food secure was positively determined by access to extension services, participation in the ENABLE TAAT business incubation programme, and access to market information but, negatively by access to credit, number of employees, Covid-19 pandemic, and location. Additionally, the food security status of young female farmers was positively influenced by age, suggesting that younger youths are less food secure compared to older ones. These results suggest that more efforts should be directed towards improving the food security of young African farmers and that policy- and programme-level interventions should support access to extension services, market information, and land. Additionally, more investments should be directed towards developing need-based agribusiness incubation programmes with an effort to scale existing programmes beyond the regular one-time period.

Formal written land leasing contracts offer an alternative to land purchase for those farmers wishing to expand their land area and provide greater security relative to informal short-term rental agreements and are particularly important for beginning farmers with resources insufficient to purchase land. Formal land leasing contracts vary in terms of their duration, but there is limited understanding about the determinants of contract duration in developed countries. In this research, we use econometric techniques and transaction level data to explore the determinants of duration for agricultural land lease contracts for two regions in Ireland. Under the transaction cost economics approach, the research explores the role of legal status, price and non-price conditions in influencing the contract duration. Results indicate that the legal status of the tenant is a significant factor in influencing the duration. Provisions such as break clauses appear positively related to duration and confirm the theoretical expectation that long-term contracts create a demand for processes that enable adaptation over the course of long-term exchange.

Policy and practitioners' initiatives to stimulate sustainable consumption have so far failed to have notable impact on individuals' behaviors. The current commentary is a plea to social and sustainability scientists, particularly to economists dealing with sustainable agri-food systems, to dig deeper into the notion of narratives to trigger societal dynamics that stir consumers toward more sufficient lifestyles. As dominant cultural narratives have a critical role in shaping shared meanings and acceptable behaviors, in the future they could guide dramatic changes in individuals' conduct, triggering drastic modifications of current consumption patterns. Based on the power that concepts as the Circular Economy and the Anthropocene have had in the recent past, a future step to develop an ecological worldview across society, and nourish individual identities deeply committed with the preservation of natural ecosystems, is working on narratives based on the notion of human-nature interdependence.

This study focuses on analysing the economic impact (in value-added terms) generated by Spanish wine exports during the period 2018-2020, characterized by significant geopolitical changes and market shocks produced by Brexit, the entry into force of the Federal Law on Viticulture and Winemaking in the Russian Federation, the imposition of tariffs by the USA and the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, the multiregional input-output model was used to identify the overall effects (direct and indirect) in different countries deriving from the changes in final demand. The paper shows that both the world wine trade and Spanish wine exports have been negatively affected by the recent changes in the analysed period. It is estimated that the accumulated losses since 2018 as a result of the decrease in the value-added generated by Spanish wine exports exceed 300 million euros. In addition, the results suggest that the negative effects of COVID-19 are greater than the effects caused by the rest of the geopolitical changes.

Precision agriculture is expected to support and strengthen the sustainability of food production. In spite of the demonstrated benefits of the application of Information Technology to improve agricultural practices, such as yield increase and input reduction, in Italy its adoption still lags behind. In order to understand limits of and perspectives on the adoption of such technologies, we conducted an explorative study. A survey with a choice experiment was carried out in Italy among 471 farmers and people interested in agricultural machinery and technologies. The results highlight how specific factors, such as excessive costs and lack of incentive policies, may limit the spread of precision agriculture. Conversely, the provision of adequate technical support would likely favor its adoption. Furthermore, latent class modeling was used to identify three segments of potential buyers: sustainability seekers; precision agriculture best features supporters; low emissions fans. Potential policy and market implications of this explorative study are discussed in the conclusion.

Globally, crickets are gaining recognition as a valuable alternative protein source for human consumption due to their lower resource requirement and ecological footprint compared to traditional livestock. In this paper, we examine strategies that may expedite the sustainable domestication of crickets as a food source. Using survey data from 306 households in western Kenya, we find that supplying cricket production starter kits, granting access to credit facilities, encouraging participation in farmer groups, and fostering partnerships can enhance the adoption of cricket farming. Moreover, we provide new evidence that institutional training significantly increases cricket yields while embracing cricket consumption (i.e. entomophagy) increases market supply. These findings underscore the importance of technical training, provision of production starter kits, and raising awareness about entomophagy to achieve sustainable mass production and adoption of cricket farming.