East African governments' responses to high cereal prices

This study analyses the responses of governments in four East African countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia) with respect to price formation and price transmission in the cereal sector. All four countries were confronted with high cereal prices in 2008. Government policies applied largely pursued consumer price reduction, but such short-term price policies did not encourage farmers to respond with increasing production, the more so because farmers were facing very high fertiliser prices. The report concludes by discussing policy options to help improve market functioning which supports agricultural productivity growt

Negative affect increases reanalysis of conflicts between discourse context and world knowledge

Introduction: Mood is a constant in our daily life and can permeate all levels of cognition. We examined whether and how mood influences the processing of discourse content that is relatively neutral and not loaded with emotion. During discourse processing, readers have to constantly strike a balance between what they know in long term memory and what the current discourse is about. Our general hypothesis is that mood states would affect this balance. We hypothesized that readers in a positive mood would rely more on default world knowledge, whereas readers in a negative mood would be more inclined to analyze the details in the current discourse.Methods: Participants were put in a positive and a negative mood via film clips, one week apart. In each session, after mood manipulation, they were presented with sentences in discourse materials. We created sentences such as “With the lights on you can see...” that end with critical words (CWs) “more” or “less”, where general knowledge supports “more”, not “less”. We then embedded each of these sentences in a wider discourse that does/does not support the CWs (a story about driving in the night vs. stargazing). EEG was recorded throughout.Results: The results showed that first, mood manipulation was successful in that there was a significant mood difference between sessions. Second, mood did not modulate the N400 effects. Participants in both moods detected outright semantic violations and allowed world knowledge to be overridden by discourse context. Third, mood modulated the LPC (Late Positive Component) effects, distributed in the frontal region. In negative moods, the LPC was sensitive to one-level violation. That is, CWs that were supported by only world knowledge, only discourse, and neither, elicited larger frontal LPCs, in comparison to the condition where CWs were supported by both world knowledge and discourse.Discussion: These results suggest that mood does not influence all processes involved in discourse processing. Specifically, mood does not influence lexical-semantic retrieval (N400), but it does influence elaborative processes for sensemaking (P600) during discourse processing. These results advance our understanding of the impact and time course of mood on discourse

Agrarische handel van België met ontwikkelingslanden; Toets op duurzaamheid

Deze studie voor het Vlaamse ministerie van Landbouw en Visserij belicht de economische, sociale en ecologische gevolgen van agrarische handel van België met ontwikkelingslanden. Het onderzoek spitst zich toe op een vijftal producten (banaan, cacao, koffie, soja en thee) en vier ontwikkelingslanden (Brazilië, Costa Rica, Ivoorkust en Tanzania). Het oordeel over de mate van duurzaamheid wordt gebaseerd op de vier landenstudies, uitgevoerd door lokale onderzoekers, waarbij een beperkt aantal indicatoren is meegenomen. Naar voren komt dat met name de twee Latijns Amerikaanse landen negatieve ecologische gevolgen van handel (in soja en banaan) ondervinden, en dat in de Afrikaanse landen de negatieve sociaal-economische aspecten de meeste aandacht vragen. This study for the Flemish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries sheds light on the economic, social and ecological effects of Belgium's agricultural trade with developing countries. The study focuses on five products (bananas, cocoa, coffee, soya and tea) and four developing countries (Brazil, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire and Tanzania). The assessment of the level of sustainability is based on the four country studies, conducted by local researchers, and taking into account a limited number of indicators. It emerges that the two Latin American countries experience negative ecological effects of trade (in soya and bananas), and that in the African countries the negative social-economic aspects require most attention

De EU op de agrarische wereldmakrt; een evalutatie van de Uruguay-ronde

Dit rapport analyseert de gevolgen van het landbouwhandelsakkoord van de Uruguayronde voor de internationale handelspositie van de Europese Unie. Het aandeel van de EU in de totale agrarische wereldhandel is gelijk gebleven in de periode 1993-2003. Wel heeft de Unie aandeel verloren op de markten voor granen, suiker, zuivel- en vleesproducten. Bij dit verlies hebben WTO-verplichtingen ten aanzien van de afbouw van exportrestituties een rol gespeeld. Voor een aantal producten hebben ontwikkelingen in de vraag evenwel een grotere invloed op de internationale marktpositie van de Unie gehad dan de veranderingen in het handelsbeleid die voortvloeiden uit de afspraken in het kader van de Uruguay-ronde. This report evaluates the effects of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture on EU's international agricultural trade position. EU's share in trade of total agricultural products has not changed over the period 1993-2003. Yet, the EU lost market shares in trade on cereals, sugar, and dairy and meat products. WTO commitments to reduce export support have contributed to these decreasing market shares. However, for some products demand developments have had greater impact on EU's market position than changes in trade policies due to the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture

Hervorming suikermarktordening; Gevolgen voor de suikerproducenten, de suikerverwerkers en de (sucro)chemische industrie

Dit rapport beoogt inzicht te geven in de gevolgen van de voorstellen uit juli 2004 van de Europese Commissie inzake de hervorming van de suikermarktordening. Met behulp van literatuuronderzoek en interviews met experts op het gebied van suiker(vervangers) tracht het rapport te verhelderen wat de effecten zijn van de Commissievoorstellen voor bietentelers, suikerproducenten, de sucrochemische industrie, verwerkers van suiker en consumenten. Ook de relaties met de markten voor suikervervangers en zetmeel komen aan de orde. The aim of this report is to illuminate the consequences of the European Commission's proposals of July 2004 for the reform of the sugar market regulation. With the help of a literature study and interviews with experts in the field of sugar and sugar substitutes, the report attempts to elucidate what will be the effects of the Commission's proposals on beet growers, sugar producers, the sucrose chemical industry, sugar processors and consumers. Relations with the markets for sugar substitutes and starch are also considered

Global implications of the European Food System : A food systems approach

The EU is a major player in the world market for agricultural products, both dependent on commodity imports from many countries, and exporting high-value agricultural products. There is a need to better understand the impact - on people, planet and profit - of the EU trade on food systems outside the EU, with a focus on Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC). This will help the EU to steer its actions and policies in other directions where this is deemed necessary to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Hervorming EU suikerbeleid: gevolgen voor ontwikkelingslanden

Door de in de hervorming van het EU-suikerbeleid voorgestelde prijsverlaging van 33% zullen de exportinkomsten van een aantal ontwikkelingslanden aanzienlijk lager uitvallen. Daling van de Europese productie en van de gesubsidieerde export biedt deze landen echter ook mogelijkheden om hun aandeel op derde markten te vergroten