International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development
Volume:4 Issue: 1, Mar 2014

This paper aims to analyze tariff protection policies in the agricultural sector of developing countries. The agricultural tariff structure in developing countries is characterized by: i) high average tariffs, ii) the existence of tariff escalation, iii) dispersion of nominal tariffs across tariff lines, and iv) a wide gap between average nominal tariffs and import-weighted average tariffs. Consequently, some features can be extracted that are consistent with the observed patterns of tariff protection in developing countries: i)escalation of nominal tariff rates with the degree of processing, ii) higher average tariffs in the agricultural sector compared to agriculture in developed countries, and iii) higher non-agricultural than agricultural tariff protection. Here the Theory of Political Tariff Protection for Agricultural Sector in developing countries is described. This theory allows us to identify two sets of products. Agricultural products for which tariffs are higher than their political fitted values, therefore, tariff cuts should occur in a long period of time and for which tariffs are higher than their political fitted values therefore tariff reductions would not be politically costly.

Risk-averse farmers are prudent to use different inputs because every input has a distinct effect on output fluctuations and production risk as well. This paper examines the effect of input using growth on producer welfare of date farmers in Sistan and Baluchestan province which is the second greatest producer and exporter of date in Iran. It is well known that input using growth impresses both productivity and risk premium. These two factors contribute to producer welfare so that increasing the productivity will boost the welfare and an addition to risk premium shall detract the welfare of risk-averse farmers. Results showed that technical change has reduced both productivity and production risk in 2011/2012 and the welfare increased as 912727.21. But, in 2010/2011, productivity and risk premium had a positive growth and finally the producer's welfare experienced a reduction as 1041478.41.

The study investigates consumers’ preference for cowpea reflected in the Nigerian markets through price discounts and premiums that consumers pay for different cowpea characteristics. The price data used for this study were obtained through a market survey. A common data collection protocol was employed. Every month, between October 2009 to December 2010, five cowpea samples per seller were bought from randomly selected sellers in six markets and the prices noted. In the laboratory, thenon-price data, such as, 100 grain weight, number of bruchid holes per 100 grains, eye colour and texture of the testa were obtained. A hedonic pricing regression model was used to analyze data collected. Hedonic pricing methods provide a statistical estimate of premiums and discounts. Results indicate that eye colour is the most important determinant of cowpea market prices. Cowpeas with brown colour commands a clearpremium in all but one market. The consumers discount prices for insect damage in most markets. In general, this study signals the need for cowpea breeders to identify cost effective ways of breeding for brown coloured cowpea (Ife-brown specie) which was noted to attract price premium.

Water resources sustainability is one of the major issues in the agricultural sustainability. In this study sustainability of water resources has been investigated by use of linear andnon-linear models in six models based on optimal utilization of water resources in the north parts farms of Iran because of incorrect use of agricultural water resources, from 2011 to 2012. Also “gross margin per a unit of water consumption” and “employmentper a unit of water consumption” are used as indicators for assessing the sustainability of cropping patterns. The results show that cropping pattern of fractional goal programming(FGP) model has been near to current situation and has shown realistic conditions according to expertise and advantage of this area in cultivation of certain crops. So the FGP model has desirability in each of indicators than other five models.

The objective of this work is to analyze the effects of decrease in water subsidies (increase in the price of the water) on various economic sectors in order to promote the conservation of this resource based on the actual price of water. But over the past decades, various subsidizing methods hold the cost of water down. On the other hand, the indiscriminate use of these resources led the government to impose enormous costs. Determining the economic impact of subsidy reform can be an essential factor in the determination of water price reform scenarios. The methodology that will be used to explore the implications on the economy will be a computable general equilibrium model (CGE), previously designed for an analysis of the direct taxes of the Andalusian economy (Cardenete and Sancho, 2003), but now enhanced and extended to include emissionsof pollutants and the introduction of environmental taxes (André, Cardenete and Velázquez, 2005). This model has been further modified to introduce the variations in the water price that this study investigates the effect of water subsidy reform onthe economy based on six scenarios using computable general equilibrium model. Results show that by decreasing subsidies, GDP will reduce in all economic sectors. Government can prevent the decrease in production by redistributing incomes.

Relationship between public and private sector is becoming an increasingly important issue in management of agricultural extension services. The need for a strong linkage could be identified as the gap between desirable and current situation. In this research, the differences among current and desirable situation in six diverse dimensions was calculated. The current and desirable situation was evaluated from the overview of twogroups of experts in public (n=36) and private (n=59) sector in Sari township. The research instrument was a questionnaire which was filled during interviews. Reliability and validity of questionnaire was verified using Chronbach’s alpha test and views of panel of experts respectively. Results showed that there is a need to reinforce the link between public and private extension, especially in case of organizational structure system.This study showed that, the linkage between decision making and planning system of extension system is inappropriate and should be improved.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are increasingly influencing human beings and are changing our attitudes towards these technologies. The purpose of this article is to understand the factors influencing the use of ICTs in agricultural extension through a descriptive research method. The populations were 320 individuals of agricultural Extension Workers (EWs) of Isfahan province that 200 people selectedas a research sample. The reliability of self-completion questionnaire according to pilot test and calculating Cronbach's alpha for four part of the instrument was 82.6 - 87.8. Theresults revealed that the EWs have a positive attitude toward using ICT. They mostly viewed it as a useful tool for extension, which can potentially save money and time and extension. On the ranking of principal areas of applying ICTs by EWs “typing letters/report”, “prepare and protect file on process basic agricultural and rural information”, had most usage. The main result of the study revealed that the EWs approximately use ICT quite a bit. Also, the EWs with high school diploma degree used ICT less than the EWs with MSc degree and the EWs with 5 years and less experience had higher ICT application than the EWs with 15-16 year experience.

Considering the current upward drift in farm use all over the world, the Russian agro-food market has immense possibilities to create such economic conditions under which the farming sector could develop dynamically. The increase in the grain production is of crucial importance for all agricultural branches. In this respect, the grain sector is Russia’s strategically significant economic segment. This paper presents both potential possibilitiesand risk insurance in the Russian grain market.The purpose of the article is to provide an economic appraisal and a holistic analysis of this industrial sector along with elaboration ofguidelines, aimed at adjustment in this area and commercial process optimization with the view to speeding up the grain production in the Russian Federation. The practical implications of the paper lie in the fact that if the currently important problems are solved, there is a possibility of ensuring food security, stabilization and sustainable development in the agribusiness.

In recent years, agriculture has become the prime polluter of natural resources. It is therefore essential to make assessments based on reliable indicators to ensure that an agricultural system remains not only productive, but also ecologically sound. A large area of arable land in Guilan province is devoted to rice cultivation so the transition to environmentally sound agricultural practice in paddy fields of the province is an important strategy. The main purpose of this study was to present a new and comprehensive framework for assessing environmentally sound agricultural practice applicable to the paddy fields in Guilan Province. A review of the relevant literature identified environmentally sound indicators that had been used by researchers in recent years. Then some parameters were introduced for examination and prioritization. The proposed structural model includes seven factors and 21 indicators. The target population included university faculty members and researchers who were familiar with the concepts of agricultural sustainability and that were familiar with the Guilan paddy fields. A structural on-line questionnaire was the main instrument used to gather information. Based onexperts’ points of view, the coefficient of significance for each of the selected indicators was measured using the Yager fuzzy screening method. The results obtained from structured questionnaires showed that 20 of the 21 indicators were appropriate for assessing environmentally sustainable agriculture.