World cereal prices have been increasing substantially since 2003. Until 2008, the Asian countries examined in this paper (Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam) had generally been able to contain domestic price increases by using trade policies and taking advantage of the depreciation of the US dollar. On average, domestic price increases in real terms were only about one third of the world price increases in real US dollar terms. In the face of large world price increases in early 2008, the transmission to domestic markets was still incomplete, but prices increased substantially in some countries. In other countries, however, prices increased very little, if at all. Trade policies explain some of the different outcomes across countries, but speculative activity by farmers, traders, and consumers also appears to have played a role. While there has been incomplete transmission between world and domestic markets, transmission within national borders has been stronger in the sense that, for any given country, percentage increases in farm and consumer prices have been similar. The overall price increases during the past several years have probably been large enough to create a supply response, even in the face of higher fertilizer prices.
The study analyzes the extent, pattern, and degree of the spatial integration of rice markets in Vietnam, as well as the dynamic relationship of the rice export prices of Vietnam and Thailand. The extent of market integration is determined by identifying locations that are linked by trade and whose prices share the same long-run relationship. The method of estimating the permanent component is applied to examine the importance of markets in shaping the long-run rice price. The pattern and degree of integration are assessed by testing for the existence of the law of one price (LOP) and ascertaining the speed of adjustment toward long-run equilibrium, using various tests in the cointegrated system. Results show that only nine of 34 rice markets are integrated into a common rice market. However, prices are transmitted well among the integrated rice markets. The supply of rice appears to be the most important factor shaping the long-run behavior of its price levels in Vietnam. No single market is found to be the price leader. The prices of rice exported by Vietnam and Thailand are cointegrated and conform to LOP. The removal of the export quota plays an insignificant role in determining the relationship of rice prices in the two countries. The study suggests improving the extent of domestic rice market integration by focusing on the development of roads, communication and other marketrelated infrastructure, and instituting food policy reforms in the supply regions, while directly targeting the poor and mountainous areas. To improve the export price and become more active in the world rice market, Vietnam should (1) adopt modern postharvest technologies and develop better rice varieties, (2) develop an integrated rice marketing chain from farmers to exporters, (3) enhance the capacity to undertake rice market analysis and forecast, (4) encourage rice-exporting enterprises to follow certain rules to avoid cut-throat competition, and (5) establish a system of rice standards and create a trade mark for Vietnamese rice.
This study investigates the relationship between social capital and local food movements in rural Japan, with the latter factor markedly leaning towards the goal, "Local Production for Local Consumption" (LPLC). Promoted by the central and local governments in Japan since the 1990s, LPLC was envisioned to increase food self-sufficiency, revitalize rural communities, address consumers' food safety concerns, and provide food education. A structured interview survey is conducted on 56 agricultural communities in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The social capital indicators used represent both the structural and cognitive types of social capital. The scores measuring the level of social capital are compared against the presence or absence of LPLC activity in the household. The data collected yield several important findings. First, structural social capital at the community level contributes to both profit-oriented activities and socially oriented voluntary community activities. Second, structural social capital at the household level affects LPLC activities in various ways. The higher the farmers' level of participation in local social groups, the more actively they sell their products at farmers' markets. In contrast, the personal networks of those farmers who run agritourism tend to be limited within the same communities. Third, cognitive social capital at the household level indicates no particular relevance with LPLC activities.
This study explores the interdependencies of aquaculture markets in the Philippines by establishing the price cointegration between the wholesale and retail prices of three major species commonly farmed in the country, i.e., milkfish, tilapia, and shrimp. The co-movements of wholesale prices between and among key markets for each species are also investigated. Moreover, exogeneity in prices is established using the Granger-causation model to determine the existence of price leaders among these markets. These information are crucial because they may provide a better understanding of the efficiency in price formation across production and consumption centers. Thus, aquaculture producers and traders may use these information as basis for more efficient farm management and marketing decisions. Appropriate policies for the development of markets for the three aquaculture species are also identified in this study. Such policies are expected to contribute towards more efficient pricing and distribution of benefits among market players and stakeholders. These benefits are expected to manifest through the system of grading standards for fish traded in local markets, and the choice of cost-effective technologies in grow-out and post-production practices.
Recent trends suggest that India might very well be at the "tipping point" of the transition in its agriculture-dependent population. A large proportion of the youth in the countryside are trying to severe their links from farming. The paper attempts to identify the drivers of this process of withdrawal and assess the odds of an average farmer's move out of agriculture. Results of the study indicate that occupational mobility tends to be higher among younger farmers and they are found to be more sensitive to income differentials between farm and non-farm occupations, farm prices, and interest rates. Further, this study finds that the availability of irrigation does not have any significant impact on the withdrawal behavior. The small and marginal farmers express a great desire to quit farming, possibly because of the low viability of smallholder agriculture. But as the land size increases, the tendency towards withdrawal gains among the large holder category as well, thus suggesting a U-shape relationship between farm size and the willingness towards withdrawal. Interestingly, all these factors seem to become more dominant and their coefficients improve for villages farther removed from towns. Thus, the importance of the proximity to urban areas for occupational choice seems to be indicated.
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