Increasing world food prices: blessing or curse?

This study evaluates the potential impact of the recent world food prices on the Ugandan economy and possible policy options to respond to it. Uganda is largely a net exporter of some cereals whose prices increasing considerably especially maize. Using a recursive dynamic CGE model, we attempt to answer questions on who are the beneficiaries and losers after the surge in food prices. The rural producers of maize tend to benefit considerably with their poverty levels reducing. On the other hand, the urban purchasers of cereals are affected owing to the higher prices of food. this therefore suggests that the Ugandan government should take advantage of the increasing food prices by stimulating and undertaking policies that would enhance productivity especially for crops where on the urban population, the government could design targeted programs for the urban poor.Urban poor, Food prices, CGE model, Food security, Matovu, Twimukye, Economic Policy Research centre, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics,

China's employment challenges and strategies after the WTO accession

Although China has made impressive progress in economicdevelopment and improving social well-being, it is facing many daunting challenges while transforming toward a knowledge and service-based economy and further opening up to international competition after its WTO accession in the context of knowledge revolution. One of the biggest challenges is how to create 100-300 million new jobs in the coming decade to absorb the millions of laid-offs, rural emigrants and newly added labor force. China has been successful in building high-tech parks and ICT industries, but they are limited in terms of employment generation, while most of the traditional labor-intensive industries are losing competitiveness due to low productivity. In order to combat the unprecedented employment challenge, China must implement a systemic and sustained strategy, which may consist of the following policy thrusts: encouraging the private sector; promoting small and medium enterprises; expanding the service sector; reforming the state-owned enterprises; strengthening the social security system; improving labor market flexibility; and establishing mass retraining programs.Public Health Promotion,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Health Monitoring&Evaluation

The Economics of Natural Disasters - Implications and Challenges for Food Security

A large and growing share of the world's poor lives under conditions in which high hazard risk coincides with high vulnerability. In the last decade, natural disasters claimed 79,000 lives each year and affected more than 200 million people, with damages amounting to almost US $ 70 billion annually. Experts predict that disasters will become even more frequent and their impact more severe, expecting a five-fold global cost increase over the next fifty years, mainly due to climate change and a further concentration of the world's population in vulnerable habitats. The paper argues that in order to mitigate disaster impact on poor population groups, development policy and disaster management need to become mutually supportive. Focusing on challenges disasters pose to food security, it proposes that in disaster-prone locations measures to improve disaster resilience should be an integral part of food security policies and strategies. It expands the twin-track approach to hunger reduction to a "triple track approach", giving due attention to cross-cutting disaster risk management measures. Practical areas requiring more attention include risk information and analysis; land use planning; upgrading physical infrastructures; diversification and risk transfer mechanisms. Investments in reducing disaster risk will be most needed where both hazard risk and vulnerability are high. As agriculture is particularly vulnerable to disaster risk, measures to reduce this vulnerability, i. e. protecting agricultural lands, water and other assets, should get greater weight in development strategies and food security policies. Investing in disaster resilience involves trade-offs. Identifying the costs, benefits and trade -offs involved will be a prominent task of agricultural economists.Food Security and Poverty, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Assessing Potential Impact of a Farmer Field School Training on Perennial Crop in Cameroon

This study is an attempt of the combination of multiple data sources referring to the same time period and to the same farmer population, it aims at assessing the potential impact of a cocoa Farmer Field School Training on Integrated Pest Management in Cameroon. Using a combination of a latitudinal and a longitudinal comparison, the results indicate that FFS-trained farmers have significantly more knowledge about crop husbandry practices than those in the non-participant comparison group. A 32% production increase and 45% income increase relative to the non-participants was estimated in the latitudinal analysis. The longitudinal comparison is showing significant adoption rates of 94, 93, 90, 66 and 35 % respectively for shade management, phytosanitary harvest, pruning, improved spraying practices and grafting of improved materials. There was a 47 % reduction in the frequency of spraying fungicides and a 17 % reduction in the number of sprayers applied per treatment following the implementation of the training. Labour inputs increased significantly for pruning, phytosanitary harvest, and shade management but decreased for spraying. A partial budget analysis reveals that the IPM practices lowered overall costs of production by 11 % relative to previous practices. The two different analytical tools (longitudinal and latitudinal) are convergent in their results, showing more evidence about the higher potential impact of the farmer field school training on the restructuring process of the cocoa sector in Cameroonintegrated pest management, farmer field school, adoption rate, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Land Economics/Use, Marketing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Recent Developments in the Rwandan Agriculture: The Challenges of Attaining Food Security and Abolishing Absolute Poverty

The paper intends to take stock of the situation in the agricultural sector of Rwanda. The main purpose is to identify the gaps in the efforts so far; and subsequently to consider new policy interventions that are needed to achieve the goal of eliminating the ‘Fear of Want’. The sector’s performance is crucial in achieving the MDGs in the country. Noteworthy is that the largest part of Rwandan population agriculture is a livelihood and for the policy makers the sector is continuing to be a development problem. This paper analyzes the links between agriculture, food security and poverty reduction in Rwanda based on available secondary data. It is done in light of two important happenings in the country development scenario after the completion of the reconstruction phase (after war and genocide) of 1994-98. The first is related to the overall development strategy that is followed by the country. Rwanda has set a clear strategy of development in the form of VISION 2020 and also a programme for poverty reduction in the form of PRSP. The second important development was with respect to sector specific initiatives. Four important initiatives merit mentioning- ‘The Strategy and Action Plan for Food security’, ‘The National Agricultural Policy’, the ‘Strategic Plan for Agricultural Transformation’ and the ‘Long-Term Framework for The Implementation of The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) in Rwanda’. All these plans were framed for an exhaustive transformation of the agriculture sector so as to bring about the necessary change that is needed to face the challenges of abolishing absolute poverty and hunger. The following hypothesis was framed to guide the analysis: a more productive and profitable agricultural sector is the necessary component in meeting the challenges of attaining food security and abolishing absolute poverty in Rwanda. This hypothesis reflects Rwanda’s national perspective and linked to the country’s development plans (PRSP and VISION 2020) and policies. Analysis enabled to oversee the hypothesis in order to arrive at plausible conclusions related to Rwanda’s agricultural sector performance during last six years (1999-2005). Some crucial areas like cropping pattern, incentives, agricultural prices, public distribution system, implementation of land reform measures etc needs the right attention. If the agricultural sceptics have their way, most Rwandans will face a bleak future of worsening poverty and hunger.Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,