Showing papers by "International Food Policy Research Institute published in 1989"
TL;DR: The authors provided new evidence on income and price elasticities of demand and supply of agricultural exports from developing countries, on the basis of a consistent and fully specified supply and demand model, and statistical estimation procedures not frequently used in the estimation of agricultural export functions.
Abstract: This paper provides new evidence on income and price elasticities of demand and supply of agricultural exports from developing countries, on the basis of (a) a consistent and fully specified supply and demand model, and (b) statistical estimation procedures not frequently used in the estimation of agricultural export functions. Estimates of price and income elasticities of demand for aggregate agricultural exports for all developing countries taken together — as distinct from individual exporting countries — are found to be low; moreover, export price as distinguished from non-price factors plays a relatively insignificant role in increasing export supply. Hence, an attempt by all developing countries to expand traditional agricultural exports with low price elasticity of demand may not yield rising earnings for all; but in fact may result in falling export revenues. Insofar as individual exports of all developing countries (not individual countries) are concerned, income and price elasticities of demand for such tropical commodities as tea, coffee, cocoa and bananas are also found to be low, except for new, non-traditional exports like pineapples. This indicates the importance of diversification of agricultural exports as a vehicle for their future growth.
48 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine three recent approaches: theory of rent-seeking, analytical Marxism, and coalition theory to understand how States interact with farming people, and examine three books, one representing each approach, are used to review State-farmer relationships in Asia.
23 citations
19 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that in the case of sub-Saharan Africa neither of the above factors should cause a failure of structural adjustment policies, however, the outcome of adjustment policies could be improved if commodity and country-specific factors were taken into consideration.
18 citations
01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: This paper argued that the traditional development theory has little place for agriculture in growth, because of a perceived weakness of backward and forward linkages (in Hirschman's, 1958, strong condemnation of agriculture on this count, for example); and because of an emphasis on capital formation as the primary engine of growth, with agriculture as a consumer goods industry with low savings rates.
Abstract: Contemporary development theory has had little place for agriculture in growth. This is because of a perceived weakness of backward and forward linkages (in Hirschman’s, 1958, strong condemnation of agriculture on this count, for example); or, because of an emphasis on capital formation as the primary engine of growth, with agriculture as a consumer goods industry with low savings rates (e.g., see Mahalanobis, 1953 — he was the father of the Indian Second Five Year Plan); or, because of an emphasis on import substitution, with agriculture seen as an export industry, as a producer of nontradable output, or with both inelastic demand and supply (e.g., see Prebisch, 1971).
6 citations
01 Dec 1989
TL;DR: In this article, the authors have claimed that production risk is not responsible for sub-optimal applications of fertilizer, and that since these studies estimated fertilizer response in irrigated areas or in simulated rainfed areas in experiment stations they may have underestimated the degree of risk faced by the majority of farmers.
Abstract: Year to year variability in nitrogen response is widely believed to be responsible for low levels of fertilizer application by risk averse farmers. Certain authors have claimed that production risk is not responsible for sub-optimal applications of fertilizer. Since these studies estimated fertilizer response in irrigated areas or in simulated rainfed areas in experiment stations they may have underestimated the degree of risk faced by the majority of farmers.
4 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, a food demand system based on demand for energy, variety, and tastes of foods is proposed, which can explain why poorest groups often are most price-responsive, but also can account for highest price-responsiveness by middle income groups.
Abstract: A food demand system is proposed based on demand for energy, variety, and tastes of foods. By specifying utility as an explicit function of these characteristics, the entire matrix of demand elasticities can be derived for n foods and one non-food from prior specification of just four elasticities, while avoiding any assumption of separability between foods. This framework can explain why poorest groups often are most price-responsive, but also can account for highest price-responsiveness by middle income groups. The system is applied to published food consumption data for urban and rural populations in Pakistan. Elasticities are compared with those obtained in a published Pakistan study applying an almost ideal demand system (AIDS).
3 citations
01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the factors which determine the degree of modernisation and commercialisation in agriculture, and of the quantitative significance of such factors to farmers' decisions to adopt new technology, and provide guidelines for a variety of agricultural policies in developing countries.
Abstract: An analysis of the factors which determine the degree of modernisation and commercialisation in agriculture, and of the quantitative significance of such factors to farmers’ decisions to adopt new technology, is crucial to a better understanding of the effects of new technology on income distribution and to provide guidelines for a variety of agricultural policies in developing countries. For example, subsidised credit has been used to encourage the adoption of new technology, but often it has been mostly available to large commercial farmers. Even when small farmers and tenants have used subsidised credits, the effectiveness of the policy in encouraging the adoption of modern inputs may have been limited by other factors such as farmers’ lack of information, and by infrastructure limitations to commercialisation of agriculture.
1 citations
01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: The authors made a distinction between negative agricultural price policy, in which the terms of trade of agriculture are deliberately depressed, and positive price policy which attempts to improve or at least maintain the conditions of the agricultural sector.
Abstract: Writing twenty years ago, Raj Krishna (1967) made a distinction between negative agricultural price policy, in which ‘the terms of trade of agriculture are deliberately depressed’, and positive price policy ‘which attempts to improve or at least maintain the terms of trade of agriculture’. He also observed that ‘a negative agricultural price policy … has been a common feature of policy in the early phases of development in capitalist as well as socialist countries’, but that there were emerging signs of ‘a reluctant turn to a positive agricultural price policy’ as developing country planners saw agricultural output failing to grow at a rate necessary to achieve the desired growth of the national economy.