Livestock Market Integration and Price Discovery: Case of Mali

Replaced with revised version of paper 02/22/11.cointegration, structural breaks, market integration, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, International Development, Livestock Production/Industries,

Emerging Near-Real Time Forage Monitoring Technology with Application to Large Herbivore Management in Mongolia

Large herbivore livestock and wildlife in Mongolia depend almost entirely for substance on forage standing crop produced each year on natural pastureland. Consequently, both livestock and wildlife are continuously subject to environmental risk, especially drought and severe winter storms, while livestock are also subject to financial risk. As consumption-based livestock production changes to commercialized livestock production, steps taken by the livestock herder to avert both environmental and financial risk to livestock can increase environmental risk to large wild herbivores. A realistic and workable pastureland and risk management system will be critical for conservation of large herbivore habitat. New technologies are becoming available to facilitate understanding of risk and resource allocation. Texas A&M University has developed a suite of innovative technologies that facilitate resolving risk and resource allocation issues. A pre-parameterized rangeland model (i.e., PHYGROW) provides daily estimates of forage available to a mixed population of herbivores. Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy (NIRS) allows prediction of diet quality of free-ranging large herbivores via fecal scans which, when coupled with advanced nutritional management software (i.e., NUTBAL), can predict performance of animals. Oregon State University has developed a computerized multi-criteria decision-making tool (i.e., KRESS) that can take landscape parameters and determine the suitability of each cell or unit of the landscape for use by large herbivores. Emerging near real-time technologies can help clarify habitat needs, identify habitat improvements, and enable better management of large herbivore wildlife and livestock

Emerging Near-Real Time Forage Monitoring Technology with Application to Large Herbivore Management in Mongolia

Large herbivore livestock and wildlife in Mongolia depend almost entirely for substance on forage standing crop produced each year on natural pastureland. Consequently, both livestock and wildlife are continuously subject to environmental risk, especially drought and severe winter storms, while livestock are also subject to financial risk. As consumption-based livestock production changes to commercialized livestock production, steps taken by the livestock herder to avert both environmental and financial risk to livestock can increase environmental risk to large wild herbivores. A realistic and workable pastureland and risk management system will be critical for conservation of large herbivore habitat. New technologies are becoming available to facilitate understanding of risk and resource allocation. Texas A&M University has developed a suite of innovative technologies that facilitate resolving risk and resource allocation issues. A pre-parameterized rangeland model (i.e., PHYGROW) provides daily estimates of forage available to a mixed population of herbivores. Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy (NIRS) allows prediction of diet quality of free-ranging large herbivores via fecal scans which, when coupled with advanced nutritional management software (i.e., NUTBAL), can predict performance of animals. Oregon State University has developed a computerized multi-criteria decision-making tool (i.e., KRESS) that can take landscape parameters and determine the suitability of each cell or unit of the landscape for use by large herbivores. Emerging near real-time technologies can help clarify habitat needs, identify habitat improvements, and enable better management of large herbivore wildlife and livestock

Long-term declines in dietary nutritional quality for North American cattle

With over 1 billion cattle in the world as well as over 2 billion sheep, goats and buffalo, these animals contribute approximately 15% of the global human protein supply while producing a significant proportion of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and global nutrient fluxes. Despite increasing reliance on grazers for protein production globally, the future of grazers in a changing world is uncertain. Factors such as increased prevalence of drought, rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations, and sustained nutrient export all have the potential to reduce cattle performance by reducing the nutritional quality of forage. However, there are no analyses to quantify changes in diet quality, subsequent impact on cattle performance and cost of supplementation necessary to mitigate any predicted protein deficiency. To quantify the trajectory of nutritional stress in cattle, we examined more than 36 000 measurements of dietary quality taken over 22 yr for US cattle. Here, we show that standardizing for spatial and temporal variation in drought and its effects on forage quality, cattle have been becoming increasingly stressed for protein over the past two decades, likely reducing cattle weight gain. In economic terms, the replacement costs of reduced protein provision to US cattle are estimated to be the equivalent of $1.9 B annually. Given these trends, nitrogen enrichment of grasslands might be necessary if further reduction in protein content of forages is to be prevented

Rangeland Degradation, Poverty, and Conflict: How Can Rangeland Scientists Contribute to Effective Responses and Solutions?

In many developing countries where rangelands are a dominant land type and critically important in livelihoods of a significant portion of the population, severe rangeland degradation and/or conflicts over rangeland use can create significant social, economic, and environmental problems. In this paper, we review rangeland degradation in the developing world, its impacts and causes, discuss problems in applying rangeland science to improve rangeland conditions, discuss the role of rangeland scientists, and discuss our approach for enhancing rangeland science in international development. We suggest range scientists can provide valuable input and direction on issues of rangeland degradation (including state changes and impacts on ecosystem goods and services), provide guidance in methods and realistic opportunities for rangeland improvement to local users, government, and development organizations, and work to provide pastoralists with adaptive management in variable ecosystems. Conflict and poverty can create situations where a long-term goal of sustainable rangeland use is overwhelmed by short-term needs of safety and food security; however, providing science and training on sustainable management can make a difference where conflicts are not too severe and can help promote societal stability. Negative perceptions about aid are widespread, but the needs for improved conditions associated with multiple values of rangelands, and the needs of people utilizing these areas, are great. Conducting planning and projects with transparency and accountability will help promote more inclusive participation and successful projects. To be effective, a project needs to consider the needs of the people utilizing the project area but also provide to these communities information on values of the rangelands to other stakeholders (ecosystem services). Sustainable projects will require accountability and enhance self-reliance to allow community empowerment and adaptability to changes./En una muchos países en vías de desarrollo donde los pastizales son el tipo de área que domina y que tienen una crucial importancia en los medios de subsistencia de la población, la severa degradación de los pastizales y/o conflictos sobre el uso de los pastizales pueden crear problemas sociales, económicos y medioambientales significativos. En este artículo nosotros revisamos la degradación de los pastizales en el mundo en vías de desarrollo, sus impactos y causas, discusión de problemas en ciencia de pastizales aplicada para mejorar las condiciones, discutir el rol de los científicos en el área de pastizales y nuestro acercamiento para mejorar la ciencia de los pastizales en el desarrollo internacional. Nosotros sugerimos que los científicos en el área de los pastizales pueden hacer una valiosa aportación y dirección con respectos a los problemas de la degradación de los pastizales (incluyendo cambio en su estado y el impacto en los bienes y servicios proporcionados por estos ecosistemas), aportar una guía en métodos y oportunidades realistas para el mejoramiento para usuarios locales, gobierno y el desarrollo de organizaciones, y trabajo para proporcionar científicos con manejo adaptativo en un ecosistema variable.The Rangeland Ecology & Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform August 202

Livestock Market Integration and Price Discovery: Case of Mali

A weekly dataset on cattle prices in Mali is studied from November 2008 to September 2010 in six markets. The results show weakly co-integrated cattle markets. Price leadership appears to be in Konna. Market integration grows over time due possibly to the introduction of cell phones to disseminate market information

Cattle Markets Integration and Price Discovery in Three Developing Countries of Mali, Kenya, and Tanzania

One of the growing agricultural subsectors in developing countries is livestock. Livestock and livestock products account for a third of the agricultural gross output. However, the lack of viable livestock market information systems to increase efficiency of markets and support the decision making of traders, pastoralists, and policy makers are still an obstacle for a full development of this subsector. It is along these lines that the USAID, through the Global Livestock-Collaborative Research Support Program, supported the introduction of livestock market information systems in Kenya and Tanzania in 2003, and later in Mali in 2007. The overall objective of the dissertation is to test for cattle markets integration in three African developing countries of Mali, Kenya, and Tanzania. One way of assessing the efficiency of market and the impacts of liberalization policies is to test for market integration and price transmission. We also analyzed price leadership among the markets in each of the three case studies. Autoregressive models (vector autoregressive models and error correction model) were used to determine the level of cattle market integration. The results show a low level of cattle markets integration in Mali. The cattle markets in Mali are more-or-less independent with regard to price transmission among markets. Kenya cattle markets showed a good level of integration among the markets. Chepareria market in the Rift Valley region (west) seemed to lead other markets in price signal transmission. Tanzanian cattle markets exhibited a higher level of integration with Pugu market, in Dar es Salaam, leading other cattle markets in price signal transmission. In conclusion, the cattle markets in Tanzania and Kenya appeared to have a relatively higher level of market integration compared to the cattle markets in Mali. There is a reasonable belief that the time the livestock market information system has been in place, in each country, played a role in the market integration process. More time and better communications seem to have allowed the market actors to learn arbitrage skills and strengthen their trade relationships that ultimately led to the market integration

Modeling Herbaceous Biomass for Grazing and Fire Risk Management

Both grazing and fine fuels management are dependent on the temporal and spatial distribution of herbaceous biomass production. Rangeland and wildland fire managers can both benefit from knowing when and where there is excessive herbaceous biomass buildup. In this study, we compared modeled herbaceous biomass outputs from the Phytomass Growth Simulator (Phygrow) to observe and predict herbaceous production on desert, juniper, and pine sites on the Coconino National Forest in Arizona. Models were validated with: (a) 2 years of quarterly data, and (b) fire season-only data. The Phygrow model showed strong agreement between observed and predicted values year-round on the desert (r2 = 0.73) and pine sites (r2 = 0.69), and a lower, but positive agreement in the juniper sites (r2 = 0.54). Fire season predictions were strong for all ecosystem types (desert r2 = 0.89; juniper r2 = 0.62; pine r2 = 0.94), suggesting that the Phygrow model is well suited to provide valuable decision support information with which to address both rangeland and fire management objectives

Impact of Market Information System (E-Soko) on Beans Markets Integration: Case of Rwanda

The goal of this study was to analyze the impact of a newly introduced market information system “E-Soko”, on beans markets integration by comparing the period before and after the system was implemented in Rwanda. Beans, both bush and climbing, are the most important traded crop in rural areas of Rwanda, and third most important in urban areas in terms of value. Bi-weekly prices on beans were analyzed for the two time periods: one before the introduction of the market information system “E-Soko” (1999 to 2003) and another one after “E-Soko” was introduced (2007-2012) on eight markets across Rwanda for each period. Vector autregression methods were used to analyze the data and assess the level of market integration in both periods. Stationarity tests show that the price series in the period after the introduction of E-Soko (2007-2012) are all (except one) stationary, which raises the question of the market efficiency. Prices in the period before E-Soko (1999-2003) indicate a good level of integration with Musanze market leading the group. No clear conclusions were drawn from this study regarding the impact of the E-Soko market information system. More studies on beans marketing channels, mechanism of price formation (market power?) and price data collection and reporting processes are needed to elucidate some of the unclear behavior of beans prices