Comparative and Competitive Advantage of the Shrimp Industry in Mekong River Delta, Vietnam

Given the growing prominence of Vietnam's fishery products in the world market, this study examines data on shrimp aquaculture in the country, as practiced through intensive and semi-intensive methods, in two provinces in the Mekong River Delta region. The study estimates the comparative and competitive advantage of the shrimp industry using various approaches, namely: 1) the RCA or revealed comparative advantage; 2) the Policy Analysis Method (PAM) method to calculate the resource cost ratio (RCR) and RCR* indices; and 3) the Net Social Profitability (NSP) and Net Private Profitability (NPP). To identify the effects of changes in key factors affecting competitive and comparative advantage, a sensitivity analysis is conducted. The results show that Vietnam's shrimp products maintain a strong competitive position in the world market, as evidenced by an RCA greater than 1. The RCR and RCR* estimates bordering on zero also indicate the strong comparative and competitive advantage of the shrimp industry. These findings are bolstered as well by the resulting NSP and NPP estimates. Furthermore, in terms of farming methods, the lower RCR and RCR* estimates for the intensive farms confirm their higher comparative and competitive advantage, compared to the semi-intensive model. Finally, the sensitivity analysis shows that the comparative and competitive advantage of shrimp is strongly sensitive to the price of feed, exchange rate, shrimp yield, and export price. The wage rate also exhibits a slight effect on the industry's standing in the world market. Improving the productivity and quality of shrimp is shown to be vital to the MRD shrimp industry because this would translate into a higher export price and higher yield of shrimp, which will further enhance the industry's comparative and competitive advantage.

Implementation and financing of solid waste management in the Philippines

This report looks at the implementation and financing of solid waste management in the Philippines. It assesses how much it costs forty-one local government units (LGUs) around the country to provide solid waste management services. It also looks at how much revenue these LGUs, and other private waste contractors and operatives, get from supplying these services. The research was carried out in response to a growing solid waste management crisis in the Philippines and legislation that requires LGUs to change their practices. Its main aim was to get information to help LGUs properly finance and implement the government’s latest waste management policies and law. The report finds that there is generally a substantial “fiscal gap” between the amount of money needed for waste management and the amount of revenue obtained by LGUs from providing waste management services. However, when the total economic benefits of providing these services were considered (these included the revenues obtained by LGUs, earnings made by other parties and savings from avoided landfill costs), it was found that some LGUs enjoyed positive net benefits. If LGUs could exploit as many potential revenue streams as possible, they could narrow their SWM fiscal gap or even go ‘into the black’. The study highlights a number of possible strategies that could be used to improve the financing of solid waste management. These included finding alternatives to expensive private contractors and looking into recycling as a revenue-generating activity

Technical Efficiency of Resource-Conserving Technologies in Rice -Wheat Systems: The Case of Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh in India

This study has evaluated the technical efficiency of farmers engaged in rice-wheat cropping systems in North-eastern India, who are using Resource-Conserving Technologies (RCTs) such as Zero Tillage (ZT) and Direct Seeded Rice (DSR). These technology promotions are being carried out under the intervention of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project, primarily funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The resource-conserving technologies are being promoted as part of conservation agriculture supported by the project. The data used in this study have been derived from the socioeconomic surveys conducted in Eastern Uttar-Pradesh and Bihar in North-eastern India during the kharif season of 2009 and rabi season of 2010. A stochastic frontier analysis was carried out to investigate and compare the determinants of technical efficiency among the farmers receiving intervention and those who are not. The study has revealed that farmers receiving CSISA intervention have realized higher levels of technical efficiency. Additionally, farmers who are receiving subsidies and farmers who are planting more diversified crops have higher levels of technical efficiency.Conservation agriculture, Direct seeded rice, India, Resource-conserving technology, Technical efficiency, Stochastic frontier, Zero tillage, Agricultural and Food Policy, O30, Q18, O22,

Sustainable livelihood and seaweed farming in Calatagan, Batangas, Philippines

The study aimed to assess the contribution of seaweed farming based on sustainable livelihood framework using an indicator system formulated at the FAO Experts Workshop on Methods and Indicators held at Nha Trang University in Vietnam last November 2008

Implementation and Financing of Solid Waste Management in The Philippines

This study looks at the implementation and financing of solid waste management in the Philippines. It assesses how much it costs forty-one local government units (LGUs) around the country to provide solid waste management services. It also looks at how much revenue these LGUs, and other private waste contractors and operatives, get from supplying these services. The study was carried out in response to a growing solid waste management crisis in the Philippines and legislation that requires LGUs to change their practices. Its main aim was to get information to help LGUs properly finance and implement the government's latest waste management policies and law. The study finds that there is generally a substantial "fiscal gap" between the amount of money needed for waste management and the amount of revenue obtained by LGUs from providing waste management services. However, when the total economic benefits of providing these services were considered (these included the revenues obtained by LGUs, earnings made by other parties and savings from avoided landfill costs), it was found that some LGUs enjoyed positive net benefits. If LGUs could exploit as many potential revenue streams as possible, they could narrow their SWM fiscal gap or even go 'into the black'. The study highlights a number of possible strategies that could be used to improve the financing of solid waste management. These included finding alternatives to expensive private contractors and looking into recycling as a revenue-generating activity.Solid waste management, Philippines

Searching for a Solution to Solid Waste in the Philippines

Waste disposal is a massive problem across Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, the central government legislated the R.A. 9003, also known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, that authorizes local government units (LGUs) to take charge of the management of solid waste management programs in their respective area of responsibility - particularly requiring them to rely more on reuse and recycling. However, the practical aspects of implementing these changes and the costs local governments will have to bear have not been given much attention. This study has looked k into the current state of the country's waste management program. It found a large shortfall between the amount of money needed for waste management and the amount of revenue that is obtained from providing waste management services. As a result, many local government authorities are unable to finance adequate solid waste management programs.Solid waste management, Philippines

Decomposition and Characterization of the Sources of Productivity Growth in Philippine Aquaculture

The growth of the aquaculture sector had evolved to be an important source of expansion in Philippine fisheries, and the total agricultural sector as a whole. To date, it is one of the few food sectors in the country where net exports are positive. This paper attempted to identify the major sources of productivity growth in the four largest farmed species in the country, i.e., milkfish, tilapia, tiger shrimp and seaweeds. The study employed the Tornqvist TFP (total factor productivity) decomposition analysis to measure the growth in nominal revenue and cost of production of the respective species, in terms of output growth, inflation in both output and input prices and intensification in input use. Results of the study showed that the annual growth in total factor productivity (TFP) ranged from 28 to 82 percent with the higher TFP growth rates being contributed by the seaweeds and milkfish sector, while lower shares were registered in tilapia and tiger prawn aquaculture. Moreover, the paper investigated the factors that helped foster output growth such as R&D, credit and infrastructure developments to determine their respective roles in the growth of the aquaculture sector in the country

Transaction Costs of a Community-Based Coastal Resource Management Program in San Miguel Bay, Philippines

Community-based coastal resource management (CBCRM) is a scheme that gives a community a certain degree of management responsibility, such as the ability to supervise access and use of the coastal resource. The Fisheries Sector Program (FSP) is one of the government-initiated CBCRM programs intended to augment the income of small-scale fishermen and preserve the coastal resource. However, despite the numerous studies carried out relating to CBCRM programs, none dealt with the transaction costs (TC) associated with their implementation. This study generally aims to estimate and analyze the TC associated with the implementation of a multi-level and multi-stakeholder program such as a CBCRM program. TC are indirect costs incurred in reaching and enforcing agreements. Tools for analysis used in this study included the estimation of direct project costs (DPC) and TC at each phase of the San Miguel Bay Coastal Resource Management Program (SMB-CRMP) and their distribution among the different stakeholders; determination of transaction costs share (TSC) and analysis of factors affecting TC. Similarly, effect of TC on performance of people's organizations (POs) was analyzed.coastal, Philippines

Valuation of Gender Role Participation in Coastal Resource Management in Masinloc, Zambales, Philippines

Recognizing the importance of incorporating gender dimension into any development and conservation programs, gender analysis has become an important input in decision making that gives particular attention to sustainability of the programs. Using the case of Masinloc, Zambales, this study identifies the roles of men and women in the coastal resource management (CRM) and estimates the value of time spent by men and women in CRM activities. Gender-segregated data were gathered from 50 households where husband and wife from each household were separately and simultaneously interviewed using the same set of questionnaire, thus making a total of 100 respondents. Results of the analysis show that incorporating gender dimension into CRM research study affects the outcomes. Logit analysis shows that gender, awareness of the CRM activities and membership in organization significantly affect the decision to participate in CRM activities. On the other hand, the Tobit regression analysis shows that gender, household income, awareness about the CRM and membership in an organization affect the time devoted to and value of time spent in CRM activities. From the results, recommendations on how to incorporate gender dimension in CRM activities are forwarde