A presente pesquisa de mestrado teve o objetivo de analisar o modelo socialista de agricultura coletiva proposto pelo Movimento dos Sem-Terras (MST) por meio das cooperativas de produção agropecuárias (CPAs) e suas contradições. A idéia era compreender em que medida a coletivização do trabalho agrícola fortalece a luta pela resistência na terra. Com essa finalidade a pesquisa foi proposta aos cooperados da Copava (Cooperativa de Produção Agropecuária Vó Aparecida), fundada em 20 de novembro de 1993, na agrovila III do assentamento Pirituba, situada no município de Itaberá, sudoeste do Estado de São Paulo. Nas CPAs a terra, o trabalho e a renda são administrados coletivamente pelos próprios cooperados. Apesar de a CPA ser um empreendimento de tipo empresarial, é radicalmente diferente de uma empresa capitalista, pois não há extração de mais-valia. A divisão da renda é feita conforme o número de horas trabalhadas de cada um após serem pagas ou amortizadas as dívidas com a produção e gastos em investimentos para ampliação da estrutura da cooperativa. A Copava foi fundada por 27 famílias, totalizando 46 sócios, e ocupando uma área de 189 alqueires de terra. A corrente teórico-metodológica marxista-leninista é a que fundamenta esse modelo de CPA...

O atrelamento do Brasil aos países desenvolvidos fez com que suas atividades econômicas fossem mais influenciadas por demandas externas do que pelas necessidades internas. Tal fato contribuiu para participações regionais desiguais. Nesse contexto a Amazônia é integrada à economia nacional de modo que o capital se aproveita das assimetrias das trocas não leais e desiguais para se expandir no território. Esse fenômeno se fez alterando as relações sociais e os meios de produção, estabelecendo mecanismos de geração de lucros facilitados na utilização dos recursos naturais. A exploração dos recursos passam ser mais intensa, degradando o meio ambiente e agravando os problemas sociais. A imposição do capital nas relações estabelecidas apesar de transformar a produção agropecuária familiar, não a eliminou, e essa apresenta distintas formas de produção e diferentes relações sociais. Partindo dessa premissa, buscou-se estudar a integração da Amazônia à economia nacional como resultado da expansão do desenvolvimento capitalista brasileiro, compreendendo como ocorre a interferência do capital no espaço agrário amazônico, principalmente na unidade de diversidade que constitui a produção agropecuária familiar no Sudoeste Paraense. O estudo foi realizado em três municípios que apresentavam diferentes formas de ocupação: Pacajá...

The studies of performance and production efficiency have ignored additional products of most transformation processes classified as undesirable outputs. Without the inclusion of the undesirable outputs, the efficiency measurement is a purely technical measure, and it does not account for the interaction of the system with the environment and the impact of policy decisions on the system. Moreover, there are technological dependencies between the desirable and the undesirable outputs which have to be included in the analytical tools used to measure efficiency. The relationships between the desirable and the undesirable outputs motivate the exploration of new areas of the measurement of efficiency to incorporate policy decisions and address new issues. This research develops a formulation that uses goal programming in conjunction with Data Envelopment analysis – known as GoDEA approach – to deal with the conflict between the desirable and the undesirable outputs. This approach is used to assess the environment impact of the Agenda 2000 and the 2003 Common Agricultural Policy reform on agricultural production in fifteen European countries. Model results show that the 2003 CAP reform strengthens environmental policies and has a better performance than the Agenda 2000 for some European countries. The North and Central European countries have been dealing better with environmental issues than the Mediterranean countries.

Mestrado em Economia; The agricultural sector plays a vital role in the development of Mozambique’s economy, so it is important to understand the relation between the macroeconomic environment and this sector. This master thesis examines the relationship between macroeconomic variables and agricultural production in Mozambique, adopting the classical regression model and using bootstrap, with the endogenous variable being total production, regressed in several covariates. The time horizon is from 1980 to 2012. A robust test is undertaken, estimated by a Bayesian model. The empirical results revealed that macroeconomic variables have a significant impact on agricultural production. The variables that had the most impact on agricultural production were area harvested, labor force, interest rate, GDP and exchange rate. Policy implications are derived.; O setor agrícola desempenha um papel muito importante no desenvolvimento da economia moçambicana, sendo assim é importante perceber a relação entre o ambiente macroeconómico e o setor em causa. Esta tese de mestrado examina a relação entre variáveis macroeconómicas e a produção agrícola em Moçambique, adotando um modelo de regressão clássica e usando bootstrap, tendo como variável endógena a produção total...

Although good and timely information on agricultural production is critical for policy-decisions, the quality of underlying data is often low and improving data quality could have a high payoff. This paper uses data from a production diary, administered concurrently with a standard household survey in Uganda to analyze the nature and incidence of responses, the magnitude of differences in reported outcomes, and factors that systematically affect these. Despite limited central supervision, diaries elicited a strong response, complemented standard surveys in a number of respects, and were less affected by problems of respondent fatigue than expected. The diary-based estimates of output value consistently exceeded that from the recall-based production survey, in line with reported disposition. Implications for policy and practical administration of surveys are drawn out.

This study examines the relationship between transport infrastructure and agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa using new data obtained from geographic information systems (GIS). First, the authors analyze the impact of road connectivity on crop production and choice of technology. Second, they explore the impact of investments that reduce road travel times. Finally, they show how this type of analysis can be used to compare cost-benefit ratios for alternative road investments in terms of agricultural output per dollar invested. The authors find that agricultural production is highly correlated with proximity (as measured by travel time) to urban markets. Likewise, adoption of high-productive/high-input technology is negatively correlated with travel time to urban centers. There is therefore substantial scope for increasing agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in more remote areas. Total crop production relative to potential production is 45 percent for areas within four hours travel time from a city of 100...

The paper presents empirical analysis of a panel of countries to estimate an agricultural production function using a measure of capital in agriculture absent from most studies. The authors employ a heterogeneous technology framework where implemented technology is chosen jointly with inputs to interpret information obtained in the empirical analysis of panel data. The paper discusses the scope for replacing country and time effects by observed variables and the limitations of instrumental variables. The empirical results differ from those reported in the literature for cross-country studies, largely in augmenting the role of capital, in combination with productivity gains, as a driver of agricultural growth. The results indicate that total factor productivity increased at an average rate of 3.2 percent, accounting for 59 percent of overall growth. Most of the remaining gains stem from large inflows of fixed capital into agriculture. The results also suggest possible constraints to fertilizer use.

The author looks at the feasibility and potential of instituting small-scale irrigation dams to reduce Ethiopia s dependence on rainfed agriculture and the associated food insecurity. He develops a theoretical framework to assess the welfare implications of irrigation development programs and provides empirical evidence from microdam construction and reforestation projects in northern Ethiopia. The author pays particular attention to health-related costs of establishing small-scale irrigation dams in areas prone to waterborne diseases. While the theoretical analyses imply that the net welfare impacts of irrigation dams cannot be known a priori due to potential health costs, the empirical evidence shows that current agricultural yield and farm profit have increased in villages with closer proximity to the dams than in those more distant. The increased disease incidence due to standing pools of water has, however, led to significant declines in the returns from investment in irrigation water. Households with poor health are less likely to adopt productivity-enhancing as well as resource-conserving technologies, which are crucial for achieving the ultimate goal of sustainable agricultural development. The ensuing sickness has also led to reduction in labor allocation to off-farm activities. The findings underline the importance of weighing beforehand the magnitude of potential economic benefits against health costs of water development programs. The overall evidence...

The recent surge in food and fuel prices has prompted countries with high dependence on food imports to try and lock in future food supplies through direct investment in agricultural production in other countries. The price surges also led to a wave of proposals to invest in biofuels investments in agricultural land. While such investment can provide large benefits, it also carries considerable risks both to investors and citizens in the locality of the investment. To ensure that investments provide broad benefits and effectively contribute to larger development outcomes, enforceable property rights and contractual agreements in many developing countries need to be strengthened. This note considers how development partners can help countries create the pre-conditions for investment and proposes a governance framework to establish minimum standards for it.

Due to climate change and increasing food prices, emphasis needs to be placed on addressing water management as a key determinant for agricultural production and productivity. However, governments and donors have tended to pay relatively little attention to this area, and investments remain low. This report, which is based on economic and sector work carried out in the Water Anchor of the World Bank, highlights the importance of improving water management in rainfed agriculture, with a focus on those production systems where water is a main constraint. It provides a synthesis of the state-of-the-art thinking and experience. Considering the various issues that are currently preventing further upscaling of these measures, and better evaluation of the feasibility of applying particular measures or combination of measures, the report proposes options and recommendations for interventions to help overcome these issues. In doing so, the report aims to stimulate discussion and encourage new thinking among World Bank staff and counterparts in client countries who work on enhancing agricultural productivity and livelihoods in rainfed agriculture through improved water management and related interventions.

Nonseparable household models outline the links between agricultural production and household consumption, yet empirical extensions to investigate the effect of production on dietary diversity and diet composition are limited. Although a significant literature has investigated the calorie-income elasticity abstracting from production, this paper provides an empirical application of the nonseparable household model linking the effect of exogenous variation in planting season production decisions via climate variability on household dietary diversity. Using exogenous variation in degree days, rainfall, and agricultural capital stocks as instruments, the effect of production on household dietary diversity at harvest is estimated. The empirical specifications estimate production effects on dietary diversity using both agricultural revenue and crop production diversity. Significant effects of agricultural revenue and crop production diversity on dietary diversity are estimated. The dietary diversity-production elasticities imply that a 10 percent increase in agricultural revenue or crop diversity results in a 1.8 percent or 2.4 percent increase in dietary diversity...

Africa is estimated to have great potential for agricultural production, but there are a number of constraints inhibiting the development of that potential. Spatial data are increasingly important in the realization of potential as well as the associated constraints. With crop production data generated at 5-minute spatial resolution, the paper applies the spatial tobit regression model to estimate the possible impacts of improvements in transport accessibility in East Africa. It is found that rural accessibility and access to markets are important to increase agricultural production. In particular for export crops, such as coffee, tea, tobacco, and cotton, access to ports is crucial. The elasticities are estimated at 0.3–4.6. In addition, the estimation results show that spatial autocorrelation matters to the estimation results. While a random shock in a particular locality would likely affect its neighboring places, the spatial autoregressive term can be positive or negative, depending on how fragmented the current production areas are.

The United Nations estimates that global food demand will double by 2050, with much of that growth in developing countries. The world will have 2.3 billion more people, and given the deep transformation of growth trajectories in low-income countries, they will be increasingly affluent, with demands for more, different, and better food. While countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are quite heterogeneous in their production potential, overall they are well equipped to contribute to meeting this challenge. LAC has always maintained a strong comparative advantage in agricultural production, as indicated not only by its position as a net food exporter but also by its high comparative advantage. LAC is also well endowed in renewable water resources, with about a third of the 42,000 cubic kilometers worldwide. Per capita, LAC has the highest endowment of renewable water among developing regions, though some sub regions in LAC face higher than average scarcity. This report's in-depth look at Argentina and Brazil identifies looming logistics and policy issues that threaten to derail these locomotives of agricultural growth and some policy choices that have contributed to their success and that might be worth emulating. While LAC countries have substantially reduced the anti-export and anti-agricultural biases in their trade regimes...

The issue of regional differences in development has moved to the center of the development debate in Sri Lanka, partly after the release of regional poverty data. For the past many years, there have been significant and increasing differences between the Western province and the rest of the country in terms of per capita income levels, growth rates of per capita income, poverty rates, and the structure of provincial economies. The structure of the report is as follows: chapter two looks at the poverty/growth/agriculture nexus in the poorest regions of Sri Lanka. It presents data on poverty and growth in the poorest provinces, especially Uva and Sabaragamuwa, and provides an analysis of factors associated with the rural poor. Chapter three provides an overview and brief discussion of the Government's agricultural policies and programs. Chapter four identifies constraints that restrict farmers' incomes in the four poorest provinces. It presents results from extensive stakeholder consultations carried out in these provinces. These results are complemented with findings from the 2005 rural investment climate assessment to identify some of the general constraints in the agriculture sector in Sri Lanka. Chapter five presents the findings of an agricultural resource audit of small-scale farmers in the poorest regions that analyzed production...

The work described in this report is a first step to addressing the longer-term issues related to the competitiveness of South Sudan's farmers in a regional context. It focuses on the options for increasing the amount and value of agricultural production in the crop sector, the potential contribution of rural roads to increasing crop production and how to sequence and prioritize rural road investments in a way that maximizes their contribution to realization of the country's full agricultural potential, especially in light of the competing needs for resources, the very high construction and maintenance costs of rural roads, and the low capacity of the local construction industry. The report also explores possible ways of increasing the cost competitiveness of agriculture in South Sudan vis-a-vis its neighbors (Uganda and Sudan). The core sections of the report include: i) an assessment of the potential for expanding cropland to increase agricultural production; ii) assessment of the contribution and role of improved rural roads and enhanced access to markets in creating incentives for future expansion of cultivated land in areas with high agricultural potential; iii) an estimation of budget requirements for road investments in areas with high agricultural potential; and iv) an analysis of the implications of better road infrastructure for agricultural competitiveness...

Changes in climate and their impact on agricultural systems and rural economies are already evident throughout Europe and Central Asia (ECA). Adaptation measures now in use in Moldova, largely piecemeal efforts, will be insufficient to prevent impacts on agricultural production over the coming decades. There is growing interest at country and development partner levels to have a better understanding of the exposure, sensitivities, and impacts of climate change at farm level, and to develop and prioritize adaptation measures to mitigate the adverse consequences. The approach of this volume is predicated on strong country ownership and participation, and is defined by its emphasis on 'win-win' or 'no regrets' solutions to the multiple challenges posed by climate change for the farmers of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The solutions are measures that increase resilience to future climate change, boost current productivity despite the greater climate variability already occurring, and limit greenhouse gas emissions-also known as 'climate-smart agriculture.' Specifically, this report provides a menu of climate change adaptation options for the agriculture and water resources sectors, along with specific recommendations that are tailored to three distinct Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZs) within Moldova. This menu reflects the results of three inter-related activities...

Agricultural production is inextricably tied to climate, making agriculture one of the most climate-sensitive of all economic sectors. In countries such as Uzbekistan, the risks of climate change for the agricultural sector are a particularly immediate and important problem because the majority of the rural population depends either directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. Recent trends in water availability and the presence of drought in Uzbekistan have underscored these risks, as has the presence of agricultural pests that may not have previously been found in Uzbekistan. The need to adapt to climate change in all sectors is on the agenda of national governments and development partners. The capacity to adapt to climatic changes, both in mitigating risks and in taking advantage of the opportunities that climate change can create, is in part dependent on financial resources. As a result, development partners will continue to have an important role in enhancing the adaptive capacity of the Uzbekistan agriculture sector. In response to these challenges, the World Bank and the government of Uzbekistan embarked on a joint study to identify and prioritize options for climate change adaptation of the agricultural sector. This report provides a menu of practical climate change adaptation options for the agriculture and water resources sectors...

Agricultural production is inextricably tied to climate, making agriculture one of the most climate-sensitive of all economic sectors. In countries such as the Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia, the risks of climate change for the agricultural sector are a particularly immediate and important problem because the majority of the rural population depends either directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. Climate impacts can therefore undermine progress that has been made in poverty reduction and adversely impact food security and economic growth in vulnerable rural areas. In order to be effective, a plan for adapting the sector to climate change must strengthen both human capital and physical capital in their capacity. The need to adapt to climate change in all sectors is now on the agenda of national governments and development partners. As a result, development partners will continue to have an important role in enhancing the adaptive capacity of the Macedonian agricultural sector. Another key factor for FYR Macedonia's development of an adaptation plan for agriculture is furthering FYR Macedonia's work toward European Union (EU) accession, for which FYR Macedonia has been a candidate since 2005. The Macedonian government has already begun to focus on required EU reforms...

A history of agricultural production is proposed for Neolithic Çatalhöyük East, central Turkey, using archaeobotanical, environmental, population and settlement studies. In the aceramic early phase of site occupation, intensive strategies developed as

Nonseparable household models outline the interlinkage between agricultural production and household consumption, yet empirical extensions to investigate the effect of production on dietary diversity and diet composition are limited. While a significant literature has investigated the calorie-income elasticity abstracting from production, this paper provides an empirical application of the nonseparable household model linking the effect of exogenous variation in planting season production decisions via climate variability on household dietary diversity. Using degree days, rainfall and agricultural capital stocks as instruments, the effect of production on household dietary diversity at harvest is estimated. The empirical specifications estimate production effects on dietary diversity using both agricultural revenue and crop production diversity. Significant effects of both agricultural revenue and crop production diversity on dietary diversity are estimated. The dietary diversity-production elasticities imply that a 10 per cent increase in agricultural revenue or crop diversity result in a 1.8 per cent or 2.4 per cent increase in dietary diversity respectively. These results illustrate that agricultural income growth or increased crop diversity may not be sufficient to ensure improved dietary diversity. Increases in agricultural revenue do change diet composition. Estimates of the effect of agricultural income on share of calories by food groups indicate relatively large changes in diet composition. On average...