Evaluation et suivi des actions de développement rural

Evaluation and monitoring of the Community structural funds programmes play a major role as a permanent instrument to improve the intervention process. The Commission try hard to implement adapted methodologies in the frame of partnership and to define basic tools as well as physical and socio-economic indicators. Some initial analysis brought useful informations on the implementation phase of the rural development programmes. A monitoring system is set up for a better knowledge of the achievements and to propose solutions and improvements to the programmes ; some of them can be introduced immediately others in the near future

Caracteristicas quimicas y actividad antioxidante de pasta de clones de cacao (theobroma cacao l.)

Throughout history, cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) has been characterized by being a food with high nutritional value; recent studies have proven that chocolate is a high source of antioxidants that benefit health by preventing cardiovascular diseases. This study evaluated the importance of antioxidants from 15 cacao pastes elaborated with cacao clone seeds, based on pH, acidity, soluble solids, and antioxidant content, from Tecpatán, Chiapas, México. Significant differences were found between pastes, for the case of soluble solids (range of 1.74% to 6.5%), pH of 4.88 to 6.19, acidity from 0.34% to 0.62% of acetic acid, and in the antioxidant activity, values were found of 62.25 to 237.68 mM g1 in fresh weight of ascorbic acid. The antioxidant activity was determined by using the ABTS method (2,2’-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) and the pastes that presented highest content were obtained from clones 246 and 269. These results allowed identifying and differentiating the clones studied, making them into a differentiator of quality

Des objectifs pour l'agriculture européenne : le point de vue allemand

There is a long tradition of high price supports in German agricultural policy. The strong protection given to the farm sector is broadly accepted by most segments of society. Recently, farm incomes have significantly fallen in the FRG. Yet national expenditures for agriculture have decreased since the government wanted to reduce the federal budget deficit. Emphasis was more on income distribution within agriculture and on environmental aspects. The German government wishes that CAP reform does not bring about too strong a fall in farm incomes. At the same time, Germany has become very sensitive to its contributions to the EEC budget. This explains why the German government is very favourable to milk quotas. It also is the reason for opposing a reduction in the German positive MCAs. It may be, however, that the adoption of new green ECU linked to the Deutschmark, would only be an illusion

Marchés physiques et organisation du marché des fruits et légumes frais dans les pays de la C.E.E. Le rôle des marchés aux enchères dégressives

Dutch type auctions are becoming a major tool in fruit and vegetable market organization in Europe. Invented in the Netherlands at the end of the 19th century they expanded in that country, then in Belgium and more recently in France. They handle a growing share of the crops with ample variations between regions and types of products. While diversity in marketing channels remains justified in France to take care of local and regional differences, auctions appear, following the Benelux example, as a major tool for market operation improvement and orderly production

Le rôle respectif du public et du privé dans la fourniture d'informations aux agriculteurs

Public and private information sources for farmers - The main sources of information for the farmer are : 1 . the suppliers of in put, the buyers of out put ; 2. the unions (economic education of the farmers) ; 3. the teachers who have considerably improved the knowledge of the farmers. In the short run there should not be any major change. The number of farmers will decrease but the quality of the knowledge of the farmers will grow rapidly. The farmers unions will have more and more to take into account the non agricultural environment. The constant technico-economic development of the farmers will be done by the input sectors, the agribusiness and more precisely by the cooperative mouvement

Conocimiento y aprovechamiento local del venado cola blanca (odocoileus virginianus mexicanus) en iliatenco, guerrero

Objective: Analyze the traditional knowledge of the peasants of Iliatenco, Guerrero, on the biology and management of white - tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and to estimate the population density of this species. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was applied to 60 ejidatarios from eight communities of the Iliatenco ejido and a descriptive statistical analysis of the data was carried out. The density of the deer population was estimated with the method of faecal pellet counts, sampling 19 transects of 1400 m.Results: The peasants of Iliatenco, Guerrero, predominantly indigenous Me’phaa, know the biology of the species and they practice the local hunting of wildlife, without any regulation of it. The interviewees perceive that the deer population is low, which coincided with the field study that estimated a density of 0.028 deer/ha, which is considered low.Study limitations/Implications: Most respondents speak only the local Me’phha language. This limited full communication, despite the participation of a local translator in the interviews.Findings/Conclusions: In the community of Iliatenco, Guerrero, there is enormous wealth of traditional ecological knowledge, which corresponds to the interaction of its population with the use of its territory and its natural resources

Le RICA : source d'informations sur la micro-économie agricole

The formation of agricultural income in Switzerland. Comparison with the EC and the US. Comparisons are made among the agricultures of Switzerland, the EC and the US, on the prices of outputs and inputs, the productivity and the level of the agricultural income. The issues of this international comparison are some reflections about the formation of the agricultural income

Réforme de la PAC : des aides plus favorables à l'élevage qu'aux grandes cultures ; vers une réduction des disparités géographiques de revenu

The simulations of the consequences of the CAP reform have been carried out on 400 cattle breeders of the FADN (RICA : Réseau d'Information Comptable Agricole) of the {RENV Pays de la Loire}, representative sample of the 44 000 cattle farmers of this leading french region for beef production. They show a little increase of the incomes of most cattle breeders from 1991 to 1996 (+ 11% on an average). This weak enlargement results from a very large augmentation of direct payments but it is not enough to make up for the important decrease occurred between 1989 and 1991 (- 27% on an average). Favourable to three out of farms, the CAP reform penalises the most specialised beef farms with high level of animal intensification and leads most of intensive beef farmers to increase their forage areas in order to reduce their animal intensification level

Le « boom » du soja au Brésil : les formes de développement agricole et alimentaire adoptées peuvent-elles servir du paradigme pour le Tiers-Monde ?

The tremendous expansion of the Brazilian soybean complex is not only caused by the transfer of the American soybean model (consumption and production model) by multinational firms. Neither is it a simple case of a «green revolution» success. The Brazilian complex results from a research effort, a response of the wheat and coffee producers and an «agri-business» mobilization helped and protected by the State. This complex produces an original model which although partially «dependant» is however definitively national. Cultivated on 8 millions of hectares, soybean is a capital-intensive crop, locally processed by a competitive crushing industry. Brazil is becoming a strong competiter of the United States on the international market of soybean meal and oil. The limit of the soybean model is its selective character — only 20 % of the producers receive credits and assistance— which creates a new desequilibrium between regions and products. The substitution between soybean and others crops leads to a certain food shortages. The constitution of the soybean complex is linked to the rise of Brazil on the international scene. Its arrival has created a new situation on the international soybean market where the oligopolistic structure has been destabilized