Agricultural Sector and Economic Growth in Tunisia: Evidence from Co-integration and Error Correction Mechanism

For the past two decades, Tunisia has been undertaken important structural reforms, which call in most cases for market and trade liberalization (agricultural structural adjustment program, GATT reforms, free trade area with the European Union). The private-led type of growth strategy with less government intervention has culminated these last years into a more rapid economic growth and openness. Within this context, this paper examines the agricultural sector role into the economic growth and its interactions with the other sectors using time-series co-integration techniques. We use annual data from 1961 to 2005 to estimate a VAR model that includes GDP indices of five sectors in Tunisian economy. Empirical results from this study indicate that in the long-run all economic sectors tend to move together (co-integrate). But, in the short-run, the agricultural sector seems to have a limited role as a driving force for the growth of the other sectors of the economy. In addition, growth of the agricultural output may not be conducive directly to non-agricultural economic sector in the short-run.co-integration, economic growth, agricultural sector, Tunisia, International Development, C22, O13, Q18,

Productivity and Economic Growth in Tunisian Agriculture: An Empirical Evidence

This paper analyse the patterns of productivity and economic growth in the Tunisian agriculture during the 19612000. Results indicated that agriculture output growth where high in both the 19611970 and the 19711980 periods but decreased during the 19912000 period. Average output growth exceeded 6% during the 19811990 period, the average output growth during 19912000 had fallen to 4%. Over the whole period, capital was the most important contributor to output growth and labour is considered as the least significant contributor to economic growth. Total factor productivity contribution to output growth decreased from 4.64% in 19611970 to 2.86% in 19711980. In contrast, this contribution increased in 1981-1990 to close the 4.38%. In the last period, namely 1991-2000, TFP decreased. On average, productivity growth increased by less that 3.6% per year. One major source of the low productivity might be the low level of intermediate input use.Production function, Translog, Agriculture, TFP, Tunisia, International Development, Productivity Analysis, C8, O13, O14,

Agricultural sector and economic growth in Tunisia: Evidence from co-integration and error correction mechanism

For the past two decades, Tunisia has been undertaken important structural reforms, which call in most cases for market and trade liberalization (agricultural structural adjustment program, GATT reforms, free trade area with the European Union). The private-led type of growth strategy with less government intervention has culminated these last years into a more rapid economic growth and openness. Within this context, this paper examines the agricultural sector role into the economic growth and its interactions with the other sectors using time-series co-integration techniques. We use annual data from 1961 to 2005 to estimate a VAR model that includes GDP indices of five sectors in Tunisian economy. Empirical results from this study indicate that in the long-run all economic sectors tend to move together (co-integrate). But, in the short-run, the agricultural sector seems to have a limited role as a driving force for the growth of the other sectors of the economy. In addition, growth of the agricultural output may not be conducive directly to non-agricultural economic sector in the short-run.cointegration, economic growth, agricultural sector, Tunisia

Measuring factor substitution and technological change in the Tunisian agricultural sector, 1971 - 2000

The production structure of Tunisian agriculture over the last three decades is investigated using a translog variable cost function. Standard results of neoclassical duality theory are used to obtain measures of elasticities of substitution between inputs, price elasticities of factor demands and the rate of growth and bias of technological progress. Empirical results obtained from the joint estimation of parameters of the cost and share equations indicate an increasing trend in the degree of substitutability between labour and intermediate inputs. The own-price elasticities of labour and intermediate inputs are inelastic. While the labour price elasticity of demand has increased over time, the intermediate input price elasticity of demand has declined. Finally, technological progress occurred at an impressive and sustained annual growth rate of 3.8 percent.Factor substitution, technological change, Tunisian agriculture, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Measuring Irrigation Water Efficiency with a Stochastic Production Frontier: An Application for Citrus Producing Farms in Tunisia

The objective of this paper is to propose an alternative measure of irrigation water efficiency based on the concept of input- specific technical efficiency, which contracts with measures previously used in the literature. The proposed methodology is applied to a randomly selected sample of 144 citrus growing farms located in Nabeul (Tunisia). A stochastic production frontier approach, based on Battese and Coelli’s (1995) inefficiency effect model, is used to obtain farm-specific estimates of technical and irrigation water efficiency. In addition, a second-stage regression approach is used to identify the factors influencing irrigation water efficiency differentials across citrus growing farms. Results indicate that technical efficiency ranges from a minimum of 12.9% to a maximum of 90.7% with an average estimate of 67.7%. This suggests that citrus producers may increase their production by as much as 32.3% through more efficient use of production inputs. Further, mean irrigation water efficiency is found to be 53%, which is much lower than technical efficiency and also exhibits greater variability ranging from 1.6% to 98.87%. The estimated mean irrigation water efficiency implies that the observed quantity of marketable citrus could have been maintained by using the observed values of other inputs while using 47.0% less of irrigation water. Moreover, the estimated mean irrigation water technical cost efficiency is found to be 70.81% indicating a potential decrease of 29.19% in total cost by adjusting irrigation water to its efficient level. In addition, the vast majority of farms have achieved irrigation water technical cost efficiency greater than 90% (71% of farms). Finally, the analysis of the sources of efficiency differentials among farmers showed that farmer’s age, farm’s size, education level, agricultural training, the share of productive trees and the water disposable perception tend to affect positively the degree of both technical and irrigation water efficiency.Citrus, Efficiency, Tunisia, Water, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Measurement and Sources of Technical Inefficiency in the Tunisian Citrus Growing Sector

This paper investigates farm level technical inefficiency of production and its determinants in a sample of 150 citrus producing farms in Tunisia using a stochastic frontier production function approach applied to cross section data. Results indicate that technical efficiency of production in the sample of citrus producing farms investigated ranges from a minimum of 26.84% to a maximum of 97.98% with an average technical efficiency estimate of 86.23%. This suggests that citrus producers may increase their production by as much as 13.77% through more efficient use of production inputs. Further, the estimated coefficients in the technical inefficiency model indicate the positive effect on technical efficiency of the share of productive trees, the agricultural training, irrigation operations and the experience of farmer.Technical Efficiency, stochastic frontier production function, citrus farms, Tunisia, Productivity Analysis,

The Formation the Arab Reason its Construction from the Perspective of Mohamed Abed Al Jaberi’s

تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى تسليط الضوء على تصور المفكر محمد عابد الجابري الخاص لبنية العقل العربي وتشكيله،ولخصائصه الرئيسية التي تعكس نمط التفكير السائد من حيث طبيعة النظم والبنى المعرفية التي شاركت في تشكله وتكوينه داخلال ساحة العربية والإسلامية.وقد خلصت الدراسة إلى نتيجة مفادها؛ اعتبار  الجابري عصر التدوين  كبداية تاريخية مهدت لتشكل العقل العربي وتكوينه، سعيا منه لتحديد طبيعة النظم المعرفيةالتي شاركت في هذا البناء والمتمثلة حصرا في؛ (النظام البياني) الذي مثلته الإيديولوجية السنية، و (النظام البرهاني ) الذي أرسى قواعده الفلاسفة المسلمين بدءً من "الكندي" و"الفارابي"، وأيضا (النظام العرفاني) الذي مثلته الإيديولوجية الشيعية.      This study aims to shed light on Al Jaberi's special conception of the Arab reason, its structure and major characteristics, which reflect the prevalent way of thinking concerning the nature of the systems and epistemological structures which contributed to its construction into the Arabic and Islamic domains.The findings of this research confirm that Al Jaberi’s age of registration marked ahistorical initiation that paved the way for its creation and construction. in order to understand the nature of the three epistemological systems that contributed to its construction which are:(rhetoricalsystem), which is represented by the Sunni ideology; the (evincivesystem), whose rules were established by Muslim philosophers, starting from Al-Kindi and Al-Farabi, in addition to the (Al-Irfani system), which was represented by the Shiite ideolog

The hepatocyte glucose-6-phosphatase subcomponent T3: its relationship to GLUT2

AbstractGlucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) is a multiple protein complex in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) that includes a mechanism (known as T3) for glucose exit from the ER to the cytosol. The molecular identity of T3 is not known. T3 has been shown to be functional in the absence of GLUT2, indicating that it is not GLUT2. Here we found a 55-kDa protein in high-density microsomal fraction (HDM) of rat hepatocytes that is recognized by polyclonal GLUT2 antibody raised against the GLUT2 C-terminal 14-amino-acid-sequence peptide. HDM contained calnexin but no integrin-β1 or Na/K ATPase in Western blotting. Significant GLUT2 immunoreactivity was colocalized with colligin, an ER marker, in confocal microscopy. Furthermore, the 55-kDa protein in HDM was labeled with a covalently reactive, impermeable glucose transporter substrate, 1,3-bis-(3-deoxy-d-glucopyranose-3-yloxy)-2-propyl 4-benzoyl-benzoate (B3GL) when hepatocyte homogenates, but not intact cells, were labeled. In addition glucose efflux from HDM vesicles was sensitive to B3GL treatment in a dose-dependent manner. Based on these findings, we suggest that T3 may be a novel facilitative glucose transporter that is highly homologous to GLUT2 in the C-terminal sequence, thus cross-reacting with the GLUT2 antibody. The finding will be useful in molecular identification and cloning of T3

Agricultural sector and economic growth in Tunisia: Evidence from co-integration and error correction mechanism

For the past two decades, Tunisia has been undertaken important structural reforms, which call in most cases for market and trade liberalization (agricultural structural adjustment program, GATT reforms, free trade area with the European Union). The private-led type of growth strategy with less government intervention has culminated these last years into a more rapid economic growth and openness. Within this context, this paper examines the agricultural sector role into the economic growth and its interactions with the other sectors using time-series co-integration techniques. We use annual data from 1961 to 2005 to estimate a VAR model that includes GDP indices of five sectors in Tunisian economy. Empirical results from this study indicate that in the long-run all economic sectors tend to move together (co-integrate). But, in the short-run, the agricultural sector seems to have a limited role as a driving force for the growth of the other sectors of the economy. In addition, growth of the agricultural output may not be conducive directly to non-agricultural economic sector in the short-run

Enhanced accumulation of root hydrogen peroxide is associated with reduced antioxidant enzymes under isoosmotic NaCl and Na2SO4 salinities

The inhibitory effect of salt stress on lettuce is one of the main reasons for the reduction of plant growth and crop productivity. In the present study, the response of two lettuce varieties Verte and Romaine to isoosmotic NaCl and Na2SO4 treatments were examined. Both varieties were grown in pots containing nutrient Hoagland solution with or without 100 mM NaCl or 77 mM Na2SO4. Relative growth rate (RGR), hydraulic parameters, root ion content, proline and several antioxidant activities in roots were measured after 12 days of treatment. After prolonged exposure to salt stress, relative growth rate and water content of lettuce significantly decreased. Roots accumulated high level of Na+ under both salts, whereas the accumulation of K+ and Ca2+ decreased. High level of Na+ inside the cells inhibited the K+ uptake and resulted in increased K+/Na+ ratio. In addition, salt stress also caused an increase in the accumulation of proline. This result suggests that proline may play a crucial role in protecting lettuce under salt stress especially in response to Na2SO4 treatment. Membrane damage estimated by electrolyte leakage (EL) increased especially in response to Na2SO4 treatment in both varieties, but Verte had significantly lower EL relative to Romaine under 100 mM NaCl. A reduction in the activities of CAT in both varieties under 100 mM, and GPX activity in Verte under Na2SO4 treatment coincided with an increase in H2O2 level, indicative of cellular damage and a general depression of the antioxidant enzymatic system in lettuce roots.Keywords: Lettuce, NaCl, Na2SO4, RGR, mineral nutrition, antioxidant activities, prolin