Survey report: intersections of mining and agriculture, Boddington Radius

There is considerable evidence that the recent strength of Australia’s export oriented mining sector has contributed to economic growth both nationally and in the main mining states and regions although at uneven rates of growth. However investigation and analysis of the internal distribution of costs and benefits from mining within host regions transitioning from agricultural economies has been limited.This document reports results from a survey conducted by the lead author in the Peel Region during March-June 2012 as a part of the Regions in Transition (RiT) project under the umbrella of the CSIRO Minerals Down Under Flagship. The survey examines changing patterns of workforce participation, changing patterns of rural land use, income and expenditure flows and cross-sectoral influences between mining and agriculture. The targeted survey sample comprises adults over 18 years of age either living or working within a radius of approximately 50 km from Boddington town in the most sparsely populated shire of the region, where two separate mineral extraction and processing operations have been undergoing significant expansion. The data reveals that during the RiT project period (2009-2012) these developments triggered a considerable change in the existing socio-economic fabric sustaining proximate towns, communities and individuals. The particularities of the case mean that this report is most relevant to those with a close interest in the future wellbeing of the Boddington 50 km Radius during and beyond the life of current mining operations.The survey also makes a contribution to the wider literature concerning the socio-economic implications of mining. It investigates and confirms the possibility raised by Hajkowicz et al (2011) that the quantifiable benefits of mineral wealth they identify across 71 LGAs may “mask highly localised inequalities and disadvantage”. By providing a nuanced account of the uneven impacts of mining experienced in one region, the survey serves to illuminate the temporally specific economic trends in mining LGAs that Measham and Reeson (2011) identify from ABS statistical data. The findings presented here are undergoing further analysis as a component of an interdisciplinary study at Curtin Graduate School of Business utilizing economic multiplier analysis and qualitative social data to track and map economic impacts of mine operations income expenditure at regional and state level

Sensors and biosensors for pathogen and pest detection in agricultural systems : recent trends and oportunities

Pathogen and pest-linked diseases across agriculture and ecosystems are a major issue towards enhancing current thresholds in terms of farming yields and food security. Recent developments in nanotechnology allowed the designing of new generation sensors and biosensors in order to detect and mitigate these biological hazards. However, there are still important challenges concerning its respective applications in agricultural systems, typically related to point-of-care testing, cost reduction and real-time analysis. Thus, an important question arises: what are the current state-of-the-art trends and relationships among sensors and biosensors for pathogen and pest detection in agricultural systems? Targeted to meet this gap, a comparative study is performed by a literature review of the past decade and further data mining analysis. With the majority of the results coming from recent studies, leading trends towards new technologies were reviewed and identified, along with its respective agricultural application and target pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, as well as pests like insects and parasites. Results have indicated lateral flow assay, lab-on-a-chip technologies and infrared thermography (both fixed and aerial) as the most promising categories related to sensors and biosensors driven to the detection of several different pathogenic varieties. The main existing interrelations between the results are especially associated to cereals, fruits and nuts, meat and dairy along with vegetables and legumes, mostly caused by bacterial and fungal infections. Additional results also presented and discussed, providing a fertile groundwork for decision-making and further developments in modern smart farming and IoT-based agriculture

Technological Developments and their Effects on World Trade: Any Implications for Governments?

This paper summarizes new developments in world trade, technological changes worldwide and their implications for recent theoretical studies in economics. After defining the economic globalization and schematizing its relations with international trade, economic growth and technological change, dramatic increases in world trade in goods, services and financial assets in last decades are statistically documented in Chapter 2. Theoretical studies of economists on international trade and economic growth are certainly affected by the fact that the actual technological developments have strong implications for world trade and output growth. In Chapter 3, this new perspectives in economics are discussed. Last chapter presents some concluding remarks with special reference to the role of governments in the process of technological development within an increasingly globalizing world economy.Technological development, international trade, new trade and growth theories, technology policy, education policy, health policy

AN OVERVIEW OF MAJOR SOURCES OF DATA AND ANALYSES RELATING TO PHYSICAL FUNDAMENTALS IN INTERNATIONAL COMMODITY MARKETS

The debate on whether price movements in commodity markets are determined by changes in physical supply and demand fundamentals or by the speculative effects of financial investors seems to find some element of agreement on one particular point: the need for increased transparency and improved information on futures markets and physical commodity markets. This discussion paper provides an assessment of the current situation with regard to availability of information on physical commodity markets, pointing to some of the existing information gaps and areas for improvement. The paper presents a comprehensive account of the different information sources for physical commodity markets (including their websites), and could therefore be considered a practical information tool in itself, of use to different stakeholders interested in knowing about developments in these markets.

Republic of Ghana Country Strategy Paper 2012-2016

This report aims to propose a Bank Group's strategy for supporting Ghana's development efforts over the period 2012 -- 2016. Several factors make a new Bank country strategy for Ghana particularly timely at this moment. These include the enormous challenges the country still faces in its development trajectory in spite of its impressive growth in the last decade, the recent adoption by the Government of the "Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda" (GSGDA), the promising developments the country is experiencing in its economic prospects, including becoming an oil producer, attracting interest from BRICS, and the recent completion by the Bank and other development partners of a number of key knowledge products. All these combined provides an opportunity for the Bank and Ghana to lay the foundations for a renewed partnership

Updating the Input Output based Macmod functions

The present paper reports on a statistical effort undertaken for the Macmod project. It reports on the revision and updating of the Tanzanian Input-Output table for 1992. These IO activities are undertaken in order to furnish the Macmod model with production and consumption functions that are up-to-date, commodity specific with respect to inputs, and explicit in respect of the input origin.Input Output tables Statistical analysis Tanzania