Food economics

Since beef accounts for 71% of meat consumption in Nigeria, efficient functioning of the beef market network is very important in Nigeria’s development. This study tested for the degree of integration in the beef market using secondary data from twelve states of Nigeria. The analytical techniques used included descriptive statistics, Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF), Johansen Co-integration and Granger Causality models. Empirical results showed that retail price growth rates were highest in 2002. Growth was highest in Benue Market in 2002 (99.7%), Sokoto Market in 2009 (95.4%) and Imo Market in 2002 (54.9%). Growth rates were generally stable in 2001 except in Kwara Market. The lowest growth rates were recorded in Benue Market (-35.1%) and Imo Market (-14.5%) in 2003. Average growth rates were highest in Borno Market (17.4%), Sokoto Market (16.0%) and Bauchi Market (15.6%) while it was least in Lagos Market (11.3%). Generally, growth rate was higher in the producing areas (15.3%) than in the consuming areas (13.6%). The markets with the highest monthly retail prices were Imo, Rivers, Lagos and Enugu and were all located in southern Nigeria, a sink region for cattle. The ADF test showed all price series were non-stationary at their levels but stationary after first-differencing. Pair-wise market integration model indicated that prices were co-integrated in 72.7% of beef market locations indicating a high degree of marketing efficiency in the beef market. Prices were tied together in the long run in seven out of every 10 market locations in spite of short run divergences. The result of pair-wise Granger causality showed that 80 market pairs had evidence of price causation. Sixty two (62) market links of the 80 exhibited bi-directional Granger causality while 18 market pairs showed uni-directional Granger causality. The results of Granger causality test did not reveal that there are no clear price leaders in the beef market network. Despite the fairly high level of beef market linkage, there is need for all stakeholders to continue to effectively perform their roles so that there can be perfect linkage that will allow economic benefits derivable from this scenario of strong pricing contacts to be fully realized and sustained.

Agricultural Economics arose as academic field of study in the late 19th century, combined the theory of the firm with marketing and organization theory, and developed throughout the 20th century largely as an empirical branch of General Economics in United States and Europe. In Ethiopia, for first time undergraduate program in Agricultural Economics was offered at Haramaya University (former Alemaya Agricultural University), then by Jimma University in October 2006. Agricultural Economists in Ethiopia and all over the world contribute important subject in economic development and policy, they take the responsibility for extension services and formulation of state and national policies toward the agricultural development. Economists initiate empirical research and the joint application of theory and mathematics as well as Statistics. However, before the 1950s few General Economists did empirical research; these make Agricultural Economists the first econometricians. The work of Agricultural Economists shows that the professionals has developed large contribution from the stand point of individual economic efficiency in production and marketing, but little attention has been given to the questions relating to state and national agricultural policy. The review results in this paper predicting currently about 60% of Agricultural Economists employed in different nonagricultural sectors and 45% of economics department indicated to hire Agricultural Economists to fill positions in their faculty.

Academic interest in food has increased over the last decade with heated debates over organic agriculture , local food, and the globalization of the food economy. While much of this research gravitates towards producers and consumers, there is also growing interest in the economic activities that are performed in-between these two ends. In this paper, we will argue that there is a need to develop stronger discussions engaged with the economic middle broadly and a theoretical framework with which to think through middle industries. We offer the word conducers to categorize economic actors engaged in these middle industries and develop a theory of conduction that can be used to critically approach their activities and organization. Building an approach around practice, performance and the politics of narration, we further conceptualize the role of conducers and conduction, and describe how they contribute to our understanding of rigidity and change in the food industry.

Este documento tiene como objetivo analizar el Pacto Hambre Cero de Guatemala a la luz de las experiencias latinoamericanas, para asi proponer opciones para mejorar el disenho y la ejecucion del Pacto. Se incluye un análisis institucional, legal y financiero de cuatro programas de lucha contra el hambre en Brasil, Colombia-Antioquia, Nicaragua y Perú, que llevan bastantes anhos de operacion y que han mostrado una reducción significativa de los indicadores de desnutrición crónica y pobreza. Además, el texto presenta un análisis de las fuentes de gasto público en Guatemala y propuestas para mejorar la cantidad y calidad de ese gasto.

In spite of the huge rents from oil, the economy still couples with many problems including high and the rising unemployment rate, declining manufacturing production, the high and rising level of poverty, low per capita income and poor infrastructural development. In the light of the study, the objective of the paper was to examine the contribution of the oil revenue to Nigerian output growth for the period of 1981 to 2014. Using Beghebo and Altima model with little modification, the study employed the fully modified ordinary least squared method
(FMOLS) to examine the relationship. Data covering the period 1981-2014 were sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Statistical Bulletin. The study, therefore, discovered that oil revenue does not have a short-run impact on the economic activities of Nigeria. However, the long run impact of this policy gave a sterling story, as it was revealed that the persistence rise in oil revenue will ultimately lead to future economic growth of the country. It is however recommended that the government should effectively and efficiently utilize the oil fund into strategic developmental projects so as reduce the rate of poverty and facilitate output growth.

The study was conducted to address the issue of consumers’ willingness to pay for inclusion of cassava flour in bread in Lagos State. The data were collected randomly from a sample of 300 respondents in the state through the use of a well structured questionnaire. The contingent valuation method was adopted to estimate both the mean willingness to pay of consumers and the factors that affect their willingness to pay and these were analyzed using the bivariate probit model. The most significant model was the 10percent cassava flour inclusion as it has the highest number of significant variables (eight) followed by 20percent cassava flour inclusion with seven
significant variables and 30 and 40percent cassava flour inclusion with six significant variables each. The factors that influenced consumers’ willingness to pay for CCW bread were the respondent’s age, gender, respondents’ awareness, married respondents, respondents with head position,and bread share which is the proportion of respondents income spent on bread to total income. The mean willingness to pay for bread with an inclusion of cassava flour at 10, 20, 30, and 40percent cassava flour inclusion were ₦172.70, ₦165.00, ₦154.07, and ₦142.78
respectively for initial bid while the mean willingness-to-pay at 10, 20, 30, and 40percent cassava flour inclusion were ₦180.20, ₦150.41, ₦143.35, and ₦127.36 respectively for subsequent bid.

The consumption of fruits and vegetables is essential in ensuring food and nutritional security due to its richness in micronutrients and vitamins. However, its consumption has always been below the recommended level in Nigeria. Thus, the need to examine the factors responsible for their low demand is germane. Data were obtained from secondary sources. Harmonized National Living Standard Survey data, collected by the National Bureau of Statistics were used. A total of 4004 respondents across rural and urban sectors were sampled. Descriptive statistics, budget share, and Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) models were the analytical techniques adopted. The results showed that the expenditure on fruits and vegetables tends to be higher among urban households than those in rural areas. The increased price of fruits reduced the demand for vegetables. Males and older respondents consume less fruit and vegetable food group. Price stability and intensification of the awareness campaign of fruits and vegetable consumption among male, rural residents and the aged are policy options that could improve the consumption of fruits and vegetables in Nigeria.

En poco más de una década, la denominada industria frigorífica sufrió un cambio significativo en su estructura. Por diversas causas se llegó a una virtual desintegración de la actividad, dando paso a la conformación de nuevas “alianzas” de negocios entre prestadores de servicios y matarifes y abastecedores y/o entre actores que operan/integran diversas etapas -supermercados con matarifes, frigoríficos con feed lots, y otros. Sumado a ello y más recientemente, ingresan empresas internacionales que se ubican entre las más dinámicas y relevantes del comercio y la producción mundial.
Por diversas razones, esta actividad ha comenzado a organizarse bajo la forma de red, en la que, por otra parte, se vislumbran nuevos liderazgos empresarios, estructuras de abastecimiento de materia prima y segmentación de la demanda final.

This study aims to conduct the consumer’s willingness to pay (WTP) for traceable pork products by using the auction experiments methods, estimate the factors affecting to the WTP and identify the demand for specific information in traceability systems from information of consumers in Vietnam. The results indicated that, the WTP for traceable pork products of consumers is higher than 24%, comparing to the non-traceable pork products. The frequency of pork consumption, gender, age, education, health self-report and consumer’s attitude from risk of unsafe pork products were the influencing factors to the consumer’s WTP for traceable pork. The necessary information of traceability, suggested by consumers, included: information of additives included in the purchased pork, place of origin, expiration date and quality certificate.

Cite this paper (APA):

Khuu, T. P. D., Saito, Y., Tojo, N., Nguyen, P. D., Nguyen, T. N. H., Matsuishi, T. F. (2019). Are consumers willing to pay more for traceability? Evidence from an auction experiment of Vietnamese pork. International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics, 7(2), 127-140.

The origins of Romanian food import to Poland can be traced in 1919-1920, when such purchases (during the war with Bolsheviks) were initiated by Poland. In the interwar period, though having a common border, as well as different food offer Romania meet only 1% of Polish food import, taking only 15th place among the largest trade partners of Poland. Plans for a significant increase of the Romanian import taken in 1946-1949 were unsuccessful due to the failure of the Romanian obligations of trade and high food prices. In communist times the majority of Romanian products going to Polish tables were fruits and vegetables, white wines and canned meat. The range of products did not serve the preservation of the consumers memory of certain brands, associated with Romania. More important than the direct import of food products played the scientific and technical cooperation in the food sector and catering industry. After the fall of communism the importance of food imports from East-Central Europe (including Romania) to Poland has slowed down dramatically. In Romanian case it can be justified by low quality food products and (in comparison with products from Western Europe) and lower attractiveness of packaging.

Se hace un recuento de los alimentos que se desperdicia en diversos paises de America Latina y Europa, y se propone soluciones para reducir ese desperdicio. Recientes estudios de FAO indican que a nivel mundial este desperdicio llegaa un tercio del volumen total de alimentos producidos. Con ellos se podria alimentar a toda la poblacion hambrienta del planeta.

Food crisis in Nigeria has been on the rise with the worsening effect on food security situation in the country. Studies have focused on state sectoral or zonal investigation of households' food demand in Nigeria. However, investigation of households' food demand has received little attention at the National level, necessitating this study. Cross sectional data obtained from the Nigerian Living Standard Survey (NLSS) of 2004 by National Bureau of Statistics was employed. A total of 18,861 households units with relevant variables of interest were used. Prices of different food groups were obtained from Prices of Selected food Items (2004) by NBS. Data used were households' socioeconomic characteristics; prices, quantity purchased and expenditure on different food groups (staple (STP), animal protein (AP), fats and oils (FT), fruits (FR) and vegetables (VG)). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) models at p=0.05. The mean age and house size were 47.4±5.35 and 4.85±2.90. Staple was the mostly consumed food group with highest expenditure of N10, 599.6, while fruits is least consumed with lowest expenditure of N374.Older respondents and households with higher income consume less of fats in Nigeria. Expenditure elasticities (Ey) of all the food groups, with the exception of fats and fruits are less than unity. Income smoothening and stability of food prices is an option in ensuring adequate food demand. Problem Statement The global food crisis ("silent Tsunami" or the "perfect storm") affects 2 billion people in the world, of which currently 850 million people face extreme hunger and 25,000 people die each day from starvation. Of the 37 most affected countries, 21 are in Africa. More than 95% of chronically undernourished people live in developing countries (ECOSOC 2008). According to FAO (2008), food consumption in kcal/person/day in Nigeria increased from

Innovation in production use of insects allows us to speak about entomo-industry, which could cause in the future a drop in the relative cost of food. On the basis of biotechnology by using the fly Hermetia illucens the article draws theoretical and applied economic conclusions. Larvae of this fly by eating organic wastes during a few days can grow in hundred times and become a feed for animals, a basis for medicine or even a nutritious supplement, while their waste can become a fertilizer (zoo-humus). From means of labour they turn into the subject of labour with self-reproduction and solution to ecological problem, which can create the added value. In traditional livestock breeding fast transformation does not take place and animal acts mainly as the subject or means of labour. Commercialization of the technology can be achieved through development of module equipment for each of 9 processes and this can make it possible to purchase it stage by stage, depending on the need and resources. Due to this fact competitive advantage for technological entrepreneurship can be provided that can take one of the following three types: in the narrow sense (developing and selling equipment), in the broad sense (manufacturing the product with own equipment) and mixed one (manufacturing and selling of the equipment and finished product, joint work of the developer and user of the equipment). The author designed a synthetic graphic business-model of entomo-technological entrepreneurship. Logical schemes of waste treatment were put forward: centralized and decentralized. It was found out that for agricultural waste the decentralized scheme is more appropriate, as it implies treatment at the place of shaping and economizing on transportation. In Russia the process of commercialization of biotechnologies with the use of Hermetia illucens started in 2015, which is proven by patent activity. However, the market develops rather slowly.

Despite great strides in reducing hunger over the last two decades, malnutrition remains a major challenge in Indonesia. High rates of child stunting coexist with high and increasing rates of overweight and obesity despite rapid economic growth and reductions in poverty over the last two decades. Part of this economic growth has been driven by a change in agricultural production systems from traditional farming techniques with farmers growing multiple crops to more intensified, specialized and commercialized farms. The objective of this study is to analyze how changes in the structure of agricultural production have affected diets in rural Indonesian households over time. We use three waves of a panel data set from the Indonesian Family Life Survey with a balanced sample of 2785 rural households covering the period between 2000 and 2015 to see how households' food choices have been changing over time in response to the changes in production systems. We find positive relationships between production diversity and household dietary diversity as well as between market access and household dietary diversity. However, we see that there has been an overall decline in dietary diversity over time in the same households as their production diversity has declined. This decline in dietary diversity was mostly driven by the decreased consumption of nutritious food groups (fruits, vegetables, legumes, and fish). Although the magnitude of the association between dietary diversity and production diversity was relatively small, the association between household production and consumption of some of these important food groups was quite substantial. The overall impact of increased specialization in Indonesia during the period 2000-2015 on dietary quality appears to have been negative.

The milk sector has received much attention in Europe due to the abolition of milk quotas in 2015 and its potential effect on the geographical distribution of milk production across countries. As a way of assessing the competitive advantage of Nordic EU countries, we investigated the productivity level and productivity growth of milk farms across eight countries of the Baltic Sea region from 1995 to 2010. We found considerable discrepancy in the productivity performance of dairy farms across countries. TFP growth rates indicate that, at farm level, the competitive positions of the older EU members are stable, and that there is no catching up from the newer EU entrants. We offer explanations for this evolution based on the different patterns of structural change followed by the studied countries.

The prices of food in Nigeria have become considerably higher and more volatile since 2012. The aim of this research was to ascertain factors affecting farmers’ involvement in the growth enhancement support programme (GESS) in the country. We ascertained the effect of the GESS on the handiness of market information and agricultural inputs that impact on price volatility at farm gate level. In number, 600 rural farmers were sampled across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Results obtained from the use of a bivariate probit model show that farmers relied on the GESS for resolving food price volatility by making available the food market information and agricultural inputs that cut down the incidence and degree of panic-compelled price increment in Nigeria. The findings suggested the need to enhance the GESS in line with the agricultural transformation agenda (ATA) by reducing the hindrances mostly connected to the use of mobile phones, and how far the registration and collection centers are.

ABSTRACT The dairy sector represents the cornerstone of Finnish agriculture but faces new challenges linked to the decoupling of farm subsidies and abolition of milk production quotas. Because of its increasing exposure to market forces, the sector must anticipate future changes in demand and deliver precisely what Finnish consumers want. This paper contributes to that goal by analyzing retroactively the drivers of demand for dairy products over the period 1975–2010 using National Accounts Data. After presenting the evolution of consumption for dairy products, we estimate a complete system of demand for food and dairy products and use it to decompose demand growth into a substitution effect, income effect, and trend effect. The analysis points to the severity of the challenges that the sector is facing. Stagnant consumption is at least partially the result of continuous but adverse taste changes, and as Finnish consumers grow more prosperous, they allocate an increasingly smaller share of their food budget to the dairy group. The low own-price elasticity of demand for dairy products also limits the benefits to the sector of growth in milk production. Hence, business-as-usual will result in the dwindling importance of the dairy sector in the Finnish food chain. Innovation and product differentiation, perhaps emphasizing the attributes of livestock production processes, are clearly required to counter this evolution.

Pounded yam is a popular food in Nigeria. This study reports end-user preferences for pounded yam and implications for trait evaluation by breeding programme. The study was carried out in two pounded yam-consuming regions in Nigeria: southeast and southwest. Multistage sampling technique was used to collect information from users along food chain. This involved market, individual, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Responses of participants were used to develop product profile of pounded yam from raw material (yam) to final product. Key user-preferred quality traits for pounded yam in both regions were colour and textural quality followed by taste and aroma which are lesser attributes. There were regional differences in ranking of these quality attributes but no gender difference. This information will be useful in determining food quality indicators that can be used to select breeding lines for preferred quality traits in pounded yam.

The death toll of Covid-19 each day is shocking everyone, sometimes it crossed 7000 a day. However, hunger is the biggest cause of death even today. Ten million people die every year (more than 25,000 per day) due to hunger and hunger related diseases. Over 2.5 million Indians die of hunger every year that counts over 7,000 every day. A child dies from hunger every ten seconds. As per UNICEF report (2018) approximately 3.1 million children die from undernutrition each year. That is nearly half of all deaths in children under the age of five. Thus, the hunger is still the world’s biggest health problem. So, it has been essential to restructure the world economy that favors restoring the local food regime which regenerates human immune, protects environment, respects cultural diversity and rewards human pluralism.

A.M. Hansen, B.J. Walker, F.B.J. Heinrich. Tijdschrift voor Mediterrane Archeologie 56 (2017): pp. 58-69. In this paper we present the results of the archaeobotanical analysis of impressions of plant remains encountered in the profile and on the surface of clay fragments of ṭāwabīn. The fragments originate from Mamluk contexts at the site of Tall Hisban located in southern Bilad as-Sham (modern Jordan and Palestine). This study models the formation process of the botanical component of the ṭābūn as a context and explores the underlying processes explaining the presence of the different kinds of impressions. After providing a description of the ṭābūn and consulting historical and ethnographic descriptions, we present our model and interpret the results of the archaeobotanical analysis through it. Furthermore, the archaeobotanical data obtained from the analysis of ṭābūn fragments helps contribute to the knowledge of the Tall Hisban food economy. The importance of barley at the site during this period is not only reflected through ṭābūn fragments, but more importantly are proxies for economic activities in the village.

In response to the rapid market growth of plant-based dairy alternatives, a bill has been introduced by Senator Baldwin of Wisconsin to promote the enforcement of a stricter use of the already existing legal definition of milk in the United States. No study has assessed the potential changes in the market if this bill becomes a law. The goal of this study is to estimate the demand for dairy and non-dairy milk products and investigate, via counterfactual simulations, the effects of different potential labeling changes. In particular, we focus on how a potential ban on using the term "milk" on non-dairy milk product labels might affect the equilibrium, as well as producers' and consumers' welfare. We use point-of-sale data of dairy and non-dairy milk products combined with a novel dataset-"Purchase to Plate Crosswalk" and estimate the demand via the newly-developed Cross-Nested Generalized Nested Entropy model. We find that in this market there is product segmentation along at least two dimensions-one, based on the type of milk: dairy vs nondairy; the other-based on manufacturer (brand). Our preliminary results suggest that products within the same type are more protected from competition with products of different types, than are products produced by the same manufacturer protected from products produced by other manufacturers. We also find that while nondairy products not labeled as milk benefit from higher prices compared to both dairy and nondairy products labeled as milk, their demand is also much more elastic than the demand for the latter two types of milk. After controlling for differences in product characteristics, simulation results suggest that there is a price premium associated with the term "milk" on nondairy beverages.

Fufu is a popular traditional fermented wet paste food product from cassava. We examined consumer preferences and quality attributes of fufu in Abia and Imo States of SouthEast Nigeria, with special attention to gender differences, for the purpose of providing guidance to breeders. Data were analysed by the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. Participants for the interview were randomly selected from a list of farmers in the study area. Individual (II) interviews were conducted among eighty participants comprising twenty-six men (32.5%) and fifty-four women (67.5%). Preferences along the food chain from raw roots to final product were also obtained. Major traits influencing gender-specific consumer preferences are related to appearance, texture and smell. Smoothness, not sticky, easy to swallow and drawabil-ity of fufu appear to be major traits that drive acceptance by both men and women. Big roots and smooth skin are prioritised for raw material. Some quality characteris...

Food demand can be found dynamic, altering by the change in price and income. How great the influence of those changes to food consumption is the important information as the basic consideration for government in creating policy related to food consumption. The objective of the research, which has survey design, was to analyze staple food consumption and demand pattern in household in Indonesia. The research was conducted in Bogor, from March to June 2008 by using secondary data Susenas year 2005 with 64.709 households as the samples. The staple food analyzed were rice, corn, cassava, sweet potato, wheat flour and its derived product (instant noodle, noodle). Data was processed by SAS program version 6.12 and Double-Log Regression econometrical model. Then, it was analyzed descriptively. Result shows that rice has the biggest expenditure proportion among staple food. Almost all staple food is obtained by purchasing, except in corn, cassava, and sweet potatoes. Energy contribution from rice reaches half of total energy consumption. The consumption of rice, corn, cassava, sweet potatoes, wheat flour and its derived product, instant noodle, and wheat noodle per capita per year are 100.52 kg, 3.36 kg, 11.67 kg, 4.10 kg, 5.09 kg, 3.39 kg, and 0.22 kg. Staple food which has consumption participation level almost 100% is rice. The own price elasticity of staple foods are not elastic, except in corn, wheat flour and its derived product. The income elasticity of all staple foods is not elastic in all category of region and income stratification. The demand elasticity of staple food give some implications on consumption and food consumption improvement, they are: 1) raising price of staple food can decrease consumption, thus, price stability is very important, 2) almost all staple foods has not elastic income elasticity, so that food consumption improvement needs great stimulus of increasing income, 3) poor household is greatly influenced by the increasing of price, thus, food consumption improvement for them must be conducted by doing many relevant efforts, 4) target of decreasing rice consumption is still cannot be reached, so that staple food diversification must be continuously developed, 5) in order to develop local food consumption, like corn, cassava, and sweet potato, the development of agro industry based on local food and Communication Information Education (CIE) about food consumption diversification are essential to be conducted.

Abstract
This study was aimed to reveal the knowledge levels, attitude and mentality regarding
food safety of dairy farmers located in the Province of Izmir. 103 surveys
were carried out; five counties and 20 villages in these five counties were involved
in the surveys. In measuring the knowledge levels and in determining the current
practices of farmers, a Five-Point Likert Scale was applied by setting «one» as
«very low» and «five» as «very high». According to the obtained results, the
knowledge level of farmers in the studied facilities was assessed to be quite poor.
In consideration of the poor knowledge of farmers, the prior short-term objective
should be the education of farmers on food safety issues. The extension activities
should be started up for the sake of a continuous education and knowledge traffic.
The current farming practices should be inspected by the raw milk buyers; furthermore,
as prescribed by law, all stakeholders working in the sector must be systematically
inspected by the Ministry of Agriculture. The survey was carried out
on commercial facilities supplying raw material to the dairy industry that were
chosen on the basis of their suitability to the purpose of the study. The paper adds
to the body of knowledge on dairy farmers and their attitudes to food safety and
suggests the implementation of various practices which could improve results.

Agricultural Economics arose as academic field of study in the late 19th century, combined the theory of the firm with marketing and organization theory, and developed throughout the 20th century largely as an empirical branch of General Economics in United States and Europe. In Ethiopia, for first time undergraduate program in Agricultural Economics was offered at Haramaya University (former Alemaya Agricultural University), then by Jimma University in October 2006. Agricultural Economists in Ethiopia and all over the world contribute important subject in economic development and policy, they take the responsibility for extension services and formulation of state and national policies toward the agricultural development. Economists initiate empirical research and the joint application of theory and mathematics as well as Statistics. However, before the 1950s few General Economists did empirical research; these make Agricultural Economists the first econometricians. The work of Agri...

The aim of this article is to evaluate Italian consumers’ acceptance and willingness to purchase GM foods based on the type of benefit (input vs output trait) and product (plant based vs animal based). Two surveys were administered in two consecutive years (2004 and 2005) and the data used to test for possible changes in consumer acceptance. The results of a multinomial logit analysis suggest that on average consumer acceptance for plant-based GM food was higher in 2005. This study confirmed the key role of information strategies to consumers, with the most relevant results being the role distorted information play in raising the consumer’s level of fear and perceived risk. Respondents also place a higher level of confidence on scientists who are generally seen as independent of the industry. Consumers that usually consume and buy enhanced food products have a higher probability to buy a GM product providing an increased vitamin content.

The benefits of cross-compliance can be maximized only by taking into account the trade-off between economic costs due to cross-compliance prescriptions and environmental benefits produced. Both can, however, be strongly differentiated between different areas/farms. In addition, the effects of cross-compliance are conditioned by the ability to design appropriate incentives to compliance for farmers. The objective of this article is to develop a framework for the analysis of cross-compliance under asymmetric information when the differentiation of the compliance cost function is explicitly taken into account. This is accomplished by the development from the public regulator of a mathematical model of optimal cross-compliance design under asymmetric information about compliance. The methodology is applied to a case study represented by the municipality of Argenta in Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy). Empirical insights show the potential loss of net social benefits from cross-compliance w...

Page 1. 1 The impact of the Single Farm Payments on the expenditure on fertilizers and crop protection inputs: a comparative study of the Italian agriculture. Michele Vollaro1 The Health Check (HC) of the European Common Agricultural Policy in 2003 sped up the ...

The importance of food in any economy cannot be overstated. In Nigeria, available literatures reveal that while the population is growing at a geometric rate, food production is growing at Arithmetic rate. There is therefore need for adequate & systematic preparation and planning towards bridging the food demand-supply gap. To do this, there is need to quantify and project future food demand. This paper attempt a forecast of food demand for the next fourteen years in Nigeria. The result reveals an upward trend from 243,168,942 metric tons in 2016 to 335,100,918 metric tons in total food demand. When disaggregated to fish, livestock and crop, the trend-1,821,092, 427,920 and 21,927,280 metric tons respectively showed crop (21,927,280 metric tons) would have highest demand when compared to other food components. Policies and programmes that will mitigate the effect of climate change on agriculture and encourage increased food production to match the growing pupation are recommended. Introduction The Importance of food as a basic necessity of life cannot be overstated. On it hinges the requirement for healthy and productive life at the household level. At the National level, food has economic, strategic, and political significance. In many countries, the food sub-sector of agriculture is a major productive subsector contributing significantly to gross domestic product, export earning, employment and industrial growth. In some countries, cereals (especially rice and wheat) are even regarded as wage foods (olayemi, 1998). The national strategic importance of food is evident in its consideration as a key variable in matters relating to national security and in planning against national disasters and other emergencies. As a political weapon, food is useful for maintaining political stability and for ensuring peace and contentment among the populace. In Nigeria, the intense and still increasing demand pressure on food arising from rapid rates of population growth, increasing real per capital income, the growing importance of food and Nutrition status as an indicator of National Socioeconomic development and the use of food in relief operations in places affected by disaster of all kinds have made food production and supply situations more precarious due to increasing food supply shortfalls and degree of seasonal and annual fluctuations in both production and supply. It is in view of the foregoing that economists and other have often focused considerable attention on the study of food problems at Sub-National, National and International levels. However, the study of food problems would appear to have acquired added impetus in recent years, if one goes by the volume and range of studies now available in the literature. Mabogunje (1990) reported the result of the rural agricultural sample survey conducted in Nigeria in the early 1980s by the Federal office Statistics (FOS), revealed a declined in the quantity of cassava produced from 2.85 million metric tons in 1960/61 to about 1.2 million metric tons in 1983/84. Similarly, over the same period, the production of yams fell from 15.9 million metric tons to about 5.0 million metric tons, guinea corn production fell from 3.4 million metric tons to 94,000 tons; rice production fell from 154,000 metric tons to 94,000 metric tons. Some crops however, showed some increases in quantity produced during the same period. They include millet whose production quantity rose from 2.5 to 3.8 million metric tons in the period. Beans also rose from 366,000 to 723,000 metric tons. This decline in food situation which was not existent prior to the emergence of oil in Nigerian deteriorated more rapidly post oil discovery, a period when the food demand of the nation was on the increase. According to an International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Study (1988), the projected food demand for Nigeria in the year 2000 based on a population growth of 2.5 percent per annum, and per capita income growth rate of 3.0 percent per annum and a 12-state structure, was about 22.3 million metric tons. Also, a food demand of 25. 4 million metric tons was projected for the 2000, based on a 3.3 percent per annum growth in population and a 3.0 percent per capital income growth rate. According to this projection there will be a food deficit of 3.2 million tones. This indicates a