Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics最新文献

In this study, we investigate the impacts of crop diversification on food and nutrition security as well as poverty levels among rural households, using farm-level data from Senegal. We use the marginal treatment effect (MTE) approach that not only accounts for selectivity bias from both observed and unobserved attributes but also accounts for heterogeneity in the treatment effects among farming households. The empirical results reveal that farmers with a higher propensity to adopt crop diversification gain more in terms of their food security status and poverty reduction status even under climatic shocks, compared to their lower propensity counterparts. Furthermore, the results from our policy relevant treatment effects (PRTEs) analysis reveal that policies and interventions aimed at engineering connections among farmers to improve information flow are important in the adoption of crop diversification. In particular, social interaction-oriented policies such as workshops and seminars can increase the adoption of the crop diversification strategy, which would eventually lead to improved household food and nutrition security and reduced poverty levels. The findings also suggest that leveraging crop diversification as a climate risk coping strategy can contribute to poverty alleviation and improved food security of rural farm households.

Farmers' markets (FMs) are a key marketing channel for farmers, and various new service values, such as providing vegetable and fruit boxes, emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, identifying which service values take precedence for consumers is essential. This study used the best–worst scaling method to explore FM service values. A total of 881 valid FM consumer samples were collected. Mixed multinomial logit analysis and a latent class multinomial logit model were employed to identify segments of FM consumers on the basis of their prioritisation of FM service values. The results revealed that the three most highly prioritised service values in FMs are product freshness, food safety certification and reasonable pricing. The FM consumer respondents were categorised into three major groups: price conscious, food safety conscious and community supporter groups. Community supporters accounted for approximately 54% of the respondents. This study confirmed that leafy, squashes as well as root and tuber vegetables were the three preferred agricultural product categories among the FM consumers who prioritised the ‘providing vegetable and fruit boxes’ service value.

The penetration of E-commerce into rural areas has created unprecedented opportunities for rural revitalisation and increased farmers' incomes. While the impact of E-commerce development on income growth has been widely discussed, its spatial spillover effects and subsequent mechanisms remain insufficiently explored. This study utilises panel data of 278 prefecture-level cities in China and employs a spatial difference-in-difference model incorporating the spatial Durbin model to explore the contribution of E-commerce development to farmers' incomes, focussing on the direct mechanisms and spatial spillover effects associated with the characteristics of E-commerce. Results indicate that E-commerce development promotes local farmers' income growth and exerts a positive spillover effect on neighbouring cities. The significant positive direct contribution effect is achieved through mediating effects of technological innovation and capital investment, while the mediating effect of industrial structure upgrading is found to be significantly negative, indicating farmers remain incapable of obtaining digital dividends from emerging economic opportunities. E-commerce development is also found to better increase farmers' incomes in less developed regions and regions with lower digitalisation levels, indicating a stronger impetus in the early stages of development.

This paper investigates the effectiveness of Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) on emissions reduction in developing countries. Whilst global responses are needed for global problems, global environmental policies are likely to have heterogeneous impacts. Understanding this heterogeneity allows for more nuanced policy evaluation and design. We use a quantile difference-in-differences approach to uncover where a significant early global mechanism for implementing climate policy, the CDM, does and does not have an impact. Evaluating a panel of 104 developing countries over the period 1996–2016, we find that the CDM had a strong impact only at lower quantiles of the distribution of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In particular, countries in the 10th and 25th quantiles show a 9% reduction in emissions, whereas countries in the 90th quantile exhibit a 21% increase over the post-policy period. Emissions intensity and emissions per capita also experience mixed results with strong reductions in the bottom half of the distribution but increases at the very top. Decomposition across GHG emissions types indicates mixed results across the distribution for each; with carbon dioxide results acting similarly to aggregate emissions but fluorinated gases reducing across the distribution. Heterogeneity of the policy effect is observed across regions, the CDM is associated with: reduced emissions in the Latin America and Caribbean region; weaker reductions in Asia–Pacific; and mixed results in Africa. Identification of heterogeneity across subgroups of countries can assist with effective policy design and implementation of future global environmental policies.

Recent evidence shows that the inverse relationship between plot size and productivity is driven by an edge effect or by the over-reporting of production by farmers on smaller plots. In this paper, we re-examine the relationship between plot size and productivity in the context of Bangladesh. We also examine whether the effect of plot size is different across rice and non-rice crops. We use panel data at the household level and estimate a fixed effects model. Results show that the effect of plot size on productivity is positive but not statistically significant. Further results show that there is no statistically significant effect of plot size on productivity for both rice and non-rice crops. Our findings suggest that land redistribution, even if it leads to smaller plots, will not decrease farm production.