Skim Subsidi Dalam Usaha Membasmi Kemiskinan Petani Padi di Kawasan Pengairan Muda: Analisis Kualitatif

Kawasan Muda merupakan salah satu kawasan jelapang padi utama di Malaysia. Kawasan ini merupakan penyumbang terbesar kepada pengeluaran beras negara. Pelbagai usaha dan pendekatan melalui perbelanjaan kerajaan (subsidi) telah dilaksanakan bagi memastikan kawasan ini terus menyumbang hasil pengeluaran beras kepada negara. Kertas kerja ini bersifat kualitatif dan bertujuan untuk melihat keberkesanan skim subsidi padi yang telah diberikan oleh kerajaan terhadap perubahan hasil pengeluaran padi dan pendapatan petani di kawasan Pengairan Muda. Antara skim subsidi yang dikaji termasuklah harga minimum terjamin, skim subsidi harga padi, skim subsidi baja padi, insentif pengeluaran padi, insentif peningkatan hasil dan insentif pengeluaran benih padi sah. Penelitian daripada kajian lepas mendapati bahawa skim subsidi padi diperlukan bagi meningkatkan pengeluaran padi dan pendapatan petani di kawasan Pengairan Muda secara khususnya dan di jelapang padi yang lain secara amnya. Bagi menjayakan matlamat ini, perbelanjaan kerajaan perlu diteruskan menerusi skim subsidi padi bagi meningkatkan pengeluaran padi sekaligus dapat meningkatkan pendapatan petani padi melalui program pembangunan dan penyelidikan yang holistik

Food away from home of middle-income earners: empirical evidence from the three major cities in Malaysia

Malaysia have achieved high income growth and experienced rapid urbanization and changes in socioeconomic and demographic structure. Family income as well as demographic factors influence demand for food away from home. At the same time food service facilities also showed the rapid growth. It is expected that there will be significant changes in food away from home consumption in Malaysia. The objective of this paper is to analyse middle income household expenditure patterns on food away from home in the three major cities of Malaysia (George Town, Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru) that have a high cost of living. Therefore, a survey has been carried out in the three cities and the total number of observations used for the estimation was 473 observations. A censored Tobit model was applied to quantify the responsiveness of household expenditure on food away from home. The results indicate that on average, the household income and number of children below 12 years old in the household are the significant factors that affect the household expenditure on food away from home. There is a significant difference between the Chinese and Malays in their spending pattern on food away from home. Meanwhile, family size, gender and age of household head were statistically insignificant. It is recommended that the government should strengthen the enforcement of price control regulations in order to avoid high inflation in food price, as well as monitoring the quality of food served by the sellers in order to encourage people to consume healthy food

Relationship between Bioethanol Production and Agricultural Commodity Prices: for the case of Thailand

This paper examines the relationship between bio-ethanol production and agricultural commodity prices in Thailand. The main feedstocks for producing bioethanol in Thailand are sugarcane, cane molasses and cassava. Monthly data has been used from January 2006 to March 2014 to conduct this research. The existence of long-run relationships among the four variables i.e. bioethanol production, sugarcane farm gate price, cane molasses export price and cassava farm gate price detected through the Auto Regressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) framework. Then, the Granger Causality Test (Wald Test) used to investigate the short-run causal relationship among those variables. From the result found that when bioethanol production act as independent variable, long-run equilibrium exist between bioethanol production and sugarcane farm gate price, cane molasses export price and cassava farm gate price, respectively. Besides that, Granger causality exists among the variables as well. Sugarcane farm gate price and bioethanol production as well as cassava farm gate price and bioethanol production are found to be having unidirectional Granger causality effect. Meanwhile, bidirectional Granger causality effect is found between cane molasses export price and bioethanol production. The results of this study would contribute towards significant policy making in Thailand

Factors influencing the basic needs budget among the middle income earners in selected major cities in Malaysia

This paper investigated the main factors influencing the basic needs budget in three major cities with a high cost of living in Malaysia. The analysis of variance tests result indicated that the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, the state of Penang and Johor are places with high cost of living. The result also revealed that the middle income group are those who earn an income between RM2,992.50 to RM8,999 a month and the salaries of teachers were used as a proxy for the middle income groups. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis indicated that there is a difference between the basic needs budget for single-adults and one-working parent families and furthermore, the basic needs budget in the cities of Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baharu and George Town is slightly different in each town. By and large, there is a difference in the basic needs budget between single-adults in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru, and between two-working parent families among the three major cities. It is however interesting to note that there is no difference in the basic needs budgets among one-working parent families in these cities. The results also revealed that the total household income, family size, age of head of household, sex ratio, number of rooms, electrical appliances usage cost, broadband subscribers and number of privately owned cars all significantly influenced the basic needs budget regardless of which cities the respondents live

Role of Accounting Zakat as a Support Function in Supply Chain Management: A Resurrection of the Islamic Economy

Within the increasingly competitive markets and the rapid changes in business all over the world today, it has become imperative for organizations to reconsider supply chain management (SCM) strategies due to the fact that the same SCM strategy may not appropriate for all organizations. The success of a strategy in a given business does not necessarily mean that it will be successful in others. Therefore, it is always important to explore new and non-traditional strategies for SCM. In the face of this argument, the present study argues for the effective role of Zakat as a support function in SCM. The focus is to illustrate how Zakat can perform an important job in SCM practices from an Islamic economic perspective. Experiences from governmental and non-governmental Zakat organizations in Indonesia are investigated with the purpose of indicating how Zakat, as an Islamic economic principle, can be usefully used in SCM practices. This study finally concludes that Zakat can play an effective role as a successful strategy in SCM. The findings of the study reflect the need to reconsider the concept and functions of different Islamic concepts including Zakat in order to keep up with the changes and challenges of modern societies. The implications of the study can be useful in SCM practices for both Islamic and conventional economies. They can also be considered in countries where Muslims are a minority

Towards Achieving of Long-Term Agriculture Sustainability: a Systematic Review of Asian Farmers’ Modern Technology Farming Behavioural Intention and Adoption’s Key Indicators

Purpose: The objectives of this study to identify the indicator of factors make Asian farmer community influence towards modern technology farming practices and adaptation.   Theoretical Framework: 11 of final recent literature had reported according to the eligibility and screening procedure which focus on   Design/methodology/approach: using thematic analysis guided by ROSES 2018 to conduct systematic literature review. ROSES protocol as a guidance through five key methodological review processes that begins with identification screening using two eligibility databases namely Scopus and Web of Science. After formulating the research questions, quality appraisal and data extraction are done and the final process is analysis.   Findings: From thematic analysis, this 11 of final review articles had identify six main themes 1) demographic indicator; 2) perception and belief indicators, 3) perceived awareness 4) technology acceptance indicators; 5) internal factor indicators; and 6) external factor indicators.  From the six main themes, the review found another 33 sub-themes.   Research, practical & social implications: There is a significant contribution into the body of existing knowledge and for practical implications.  The findings explained the significant importance factors of technology behavioural intention and adaptation indicators to Asian community such as: 1) Listed factors may influence and transform the traditional agriculture into modern agriculture practices among Asian farmer community; 2) A government strategies and policy for strengthening future agriculture sector and 3) to recommend future direction for researcher in this area of study.   Originality/value: The result had identified a growing number of literature on the factors can motivate and encourage Asian Farmer to adopt modern technology into their farming which can contribute the most importance to the government and policy maker.  Despite, ASEAN countries are still lagging behind advance countries particularly in agriculture sector.  Indeed, there were insufficient studies that systematically review the existing literature review on behavioural intention and adaptation of modern technology in Asia region.  Hence, it’s a need to review the existing of literature on factors influencing Asian Farmer in technology behavioural intention and adaptation

Kesan perbelanjaan kerajaan ke atas penggunaan isi rumah: data panel negara-negara Islam

Kajian kesan perbelanjaan kerajaan ke atas penggunaan isi rumah telah banyak dijalankan tetapi kebanyakan kajian lepas menggunakan data siri masa sesebuah negara untuk melihat pengmh tersebut. Kajian ini menggunakan data panel dan kaedah penganggaran panel, iaitu Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) yang rnengarnbil kira masalah keserentakan dan heterogeiniti sampel. Sampel kajian terdiri daripada 14 buah negara Islam yang rnenjalankan belanjawan defisit yang berterusan dan mernpunyai hutang kerajaan yang tinggi, iaitu melebihi 40 peratus daripada Keluaran Dalam Negara Kasar (KDNK) sesebuah negara. Keputusan kajian menunjukkan bahawa perbelanjaan kerajaan merupakan penggenap kepada penggunaan isi rumah

Examining the linkages between street crime and selected state economic variables in Malaysia: a panel data analysis

In this paper, the authors use dynamic panel data in order to assess the linkages between the cost of living, income inequality, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, population and unemployment rate with respect to the street crime rate in Malaysia. More specifically, the investigation considers whether the following could be capable of generating any difference in the crime rate observed across many types of street crime. The F-test, Breusch-Pagan Lagrange Multiplier test and Hausman tests affirm the most preferred model to explain criminal behaviour is by using Fixed Effects Model almost for all types of street crime. The findings of the estimated coefficients reveal that the cost of living is negatively related to all street crime types and not significant as well as unemployment rate. There is a motivation towards street crime not to earn a living or jobless, but other motivating push factors that relate to the personalities of the offenders such as drug addiction. Moreover, income inequality is only significant in terms of total street crime and unarmed robbery gang estimation models as well as GDP per capita and population in snatch and theft estimation models. Interestingly, we extend the by changing the definition of crime into percentage and the results show that the cost of living is significant with the correct sign and has a positive relationship with all types of street crime rates except for snatch and theft estimation models. The GDP per capita is also a main influencer on all types of street crime rates and has a negative relationship. Finally, the unemployment rate is only significant in the unarmed robbery estimation models and has a positive relationships as well as income inequality variable in total street crime and unarmed robbery gang estimation models. This street crime has been shown to be sensitive to the change in unemployment rate and income inequality and also have positive linkages

Middle income household spending patterns on housing in Malaysian state capital cities: where does all the money go?

This paper examines the factors influencing the expenditure pattern of middle-income households on housing in selected state capital cities in Malaysia by focusing on mortgage and rental expenses. Three state capital cities were chosen (George Town in Pulau Pinang, Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru in Johor) and a survey was carried out with 473 observations that were used for estimations by using a censored Tobit model. The results indicate that household income is statistically significant and does indeed affect mortgages but not the rental expenses in the selected state capital cities. Moreover, there is strong evidence of a relationship between family size and the number of rooms with the mortgage and rental expenditure. The analysis also indicates that there is a different pattern of expenditure on mortgage and rental between the different ethnic groups in Malaysia. The Chinese and Indian races tend to spend more on mortgages and less on rental compared to the Malays. Further, the gender and age of household heads are found to be insignificant in terms of influencing mortgages but do affect rental expenditure. In addition, middle-income households in Johor Bahru pay more on mortgages and in Kuala Lumpur such households pay more for housing rental. It is concluded that changes in spending patterns are starkly different across state capital cities in Malaysia and mortgage repayments represent a large proportion of household expenditure

Does Foreign Direct Investment Successfully Lead to Sustainable Development in Singapore?

The role of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows is tested on three main pillars of sustainable development (SD), which consists of economic growth, income distribution and environmental quality for Singapore. The analysis is performed by using Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation technique. The sample data is based on annual data, covering the period from 1970 to 2013. The estimated long-run elasticity indicated that FDI inflows not only lead to higher economic growth and better environmental quality but also widen the income disparity in this country, which may disrupt its SD mission. The other two introduced variables that could also play a part as potential drivers for sustainable development (SD) are trade openness (TO) and financial development (FD). Based on the outcomes, TO has also led to higher economic growth and lower environmental degradation. However, this variable does not have significant impact on income distribution for Singapore. As for FD, it is found to have a significant and positive impact on economic growth and also successfully reduce the income inequality problem. On the contrary, this variable does not have any significant relationship with environmental quality, as indicated by carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Mixed evidence of a relationship is detected for other macroeconomic variables in the three estimates models. As the income inequality issue has become more serious, it is important for Singaporean policymakers to focus on attracting more foreign investors to invest in various sectors, in the hope that these companies can offer better wages to the local workers and thus improve income distribution in the country. More attention is needed to explore the potential role of TO and FD as drivers for SD in this country