Environmental externalities in relation to agricultural sector in Thailand with trade-linked analysis

Thailand plays an important role in the international trade of food and agricultural products, which is in alignment with its national strategy of serving as the “kitchen of the world.” When looking at its agricultural promotion and export policies, the country only counts the value gains from exports while neglecting environmental externalities related to plantation practices. The purpose of this study was to perform a trade-off analysis between consumptive water, land, and fertilizer use together with the economic values of major crops for export and consumption in the country. The results show that to gain income from agricultural exports, the country has exploited various natural resources. The area used to harvest rice, sugarcane, cassava, and rubber adds up to approximately 15.3 million ha: 7.2 million ha of which is for domestic consumption and 8.1 ha for export. To produce Thailand’s agricultural exports, total water use is estimated to be 49.8–67.5 billion m³ per year (61–65 %), while the amount used to produce crops for domestic consumption is 26.5–43.7 billion m³ per year (35–39 %). Meanwhile, 1,056–1,826 thousand tons (54 %) of fertilizer was used on crops for domestic consumption, and 1,222–1,370 thousand tons (46 %) of fertilizer was used on export crops. The best crop choice for export in terms of its export value, land use, fertilizer use, and water consumption is rubber. The worst crop choices for export are rice and cassava. More sustainable agricultural practices are needed to effect improvements such as increased yields and reduced fertilizer and water use.     

Pesticide handling practices by vegetable farmer in Kenya

Pesticide handling practices have a strong bearing on the exposure of toxic effects to target and nontarget organism. A clear understanding of determinants of pesticide handling practices is a precondition in the design and implementation of policy intervention. To accomplish this, a household survey of 425 respondents was conducted in 2008. Majority of the farmers (85 %) had inappropriately handled pesticides, mainly through, unsafe storage (23 %), unsafe disposal of leftover in either sprays solutions, or rinsate and empty pesticide containers (40 %), failure to wear the required minimum protective gear (68 %), or overdosed pesticides (27 %). However, majority of those farmers were aware of the risks of pesticide use, with over 81 % expressing the view that pesticides have harmful effects on human health, livestock, beneficial arthropods, and on water. Econometric models showed that pesticide handling practices were significantly influenced by variation in record keeping, main source advice on pesticide use, toxicity of pesticide, and geographical location. Pesticide risk perception and negative impacts experiences had no association with handling practices. The study recommends policymakers to design effective, participatory, and location targeted outreach programmes, which deal specifically on promotion of record keeping and reduction in use of harmful pesticides.     

Energy and land use in worldwide agriculture: an application of life cycle energy and cluster analysis

Agriculture is expected to provide food in a sustainable manner while also partially contributing to the energy problem as well as to bio-material supply. Moreover, fossil fuels scarcity calls for an increase of energy efficiency in agricultural processes. This study evaluates patterns, trends, driving factors and trade-offs of energy use in selected agricultural systems and aims at grouping them into clusters with similar energy and social performances. Results show that in 2010 the highest power densities and energy intensities of production are found by crop sector of cluster 5 (China: 59.19 GJ/ha, 15.29 MJ/kg dm) and cluster 3 (Japan: 50.11 GJ/ha, 12.32 MJ/kg dm) as well as by livestock sector of cluster 3 (Japan: 328.47 GJ/ha, 103.08 MJ/kg dm), while the lowest values in clusters 2 and 4, including selected developing countries and USA. Cluster 3 (Japan) also shows the lowest energy intensity of economic value of crops (2.75 MJ/$), while cluster 5 (China) the highest one (23.96 MJ/$). Cluster analysis also sheds light on trends, identifying two groups: cluster 1*, gathering most European countries, USA and Japan, characterized by a decreasing trend of all energy indicators; and cluster 2*, including developing countries, the Netherlands and Spain, characterized by an increasing trend of indicators. Results highlight the importance of an integrated framework for evaluating energy use as well as of a multi-criteria approach to understand the trade-offs and interplay of performance indicators.     

Health and environmental costs of pesticide use in vegetable farming in Nepal

There is a growing concern of pesticide risks to human health, natural environment and ecosystems. Many previous economic valuations have accounted health aspects or environmental components, but rarely combined; thus, overall risk assessment is partially distorted. The study, conducted close to the capital of Nepal, addressed the health effects of pesticides on small-scale farmers and evaluated the monetary risks of pesticide use on human health and environmental resources. We also aim to establish the relationships among valuation methods. The paper adopts cost of illness, defensive expenditure and contingent valuation willingness to pay approach. The study concluded that the methods used for valuing pesticide risks to human and environmental health are theoretically consistent. The exposed individuals are likely to bear significant economic costs of exposures depending on geographical location, pesticide use magnitudes and frequency. Individuals are willing to pay between 53 and 79% more than the existing pesticide price to protect their health and environment. The integrated pest management training is less likely to reduce health costs of pesticide exposure, although it leads to higher investment in safety measures.     

Regional carbon footprints of households: a German case study

Households are either directly or indirectly responsible for the highest share of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, programs helping to improve human consumption habits have been identified as a comparatively cost-effective way to reduce household emissions significantly. Recently, various studies have determined strong regional differences in household carbon footprints, yet a case study for Germany has not been conducted. Local information and policies directed at household consumption in Germany thus devoid of any foundation. In this paper, we analyze the impact of different criteria such as location, income and size on household carbon footprints in Germany and demonstrate how the impact of GHG mitigation opportunities varies for different population segments. We use a multi-region input output hybrid LCA approach to developing a regionalized household carbon footprint calculator for Germany that considers 16 sub-national regions, 15 different household sizes, and eight different income and age categories. The model reveals substantial regional differences in magnitude and composition of household carbon footprints, essentially influenced by two criteria: income and size. The highest income household is found to emit 4.25 times as much CO₂e than the lowest. We identify indirect emissions from consumption as the largest share of household carbon footprints, although this is subject to fluctuation based on household type. Due primarily to local differences in vehicle availability, income and nutrition, an average household in Baden-Wuerttemberg is found to have 25 % higher carbon footprint than its Mecklenburg-West Pomeranian counterpart. Based on the results of this study, we discuss policy options for household carbon mitigation in Germany.     

参与农业技术培训能否促进农户实施绿色生产行为?——基于家庭禀赋视角的ESR模型分析

农业技术培训对农户实施绿色生产行为的影响是推进农村生态环境治理关注的重要问题.基于农户家庭禀赋影响其参与农业技术培训,进而导致其绿色生产行为实施差异的分析思路,利用内生转换回归(ESR)模型和来自湖北省的1063份农户微观调查数据,在构建反事实场景和考虑样本选择偏差的基础上,考察了参与和未参与农业技术培训两种情形下农户实施绿色生产行为的差异.结果表明:(1)参与农业技术培训农户的绿色生产行为实施程度显著高于未参与农业技术培训的农户,且平均处理效应表明,参与农业技术培训可使预期的农户绿色生产行为实施程度提高40.13％;(2)参与农业技术培训对不同类型绿色生产行为的处理效应由大到小依次为化肥减施、节水灌溉、农药减施、农膜回收和秸秆综合利用;(3)无论是否参与农业技术培训,家庭禀赋对农户实施绿色生产行为均有显著影响,但不同类型的家庭禀赋对参与和未参与农业技术培训农户的影响存在差异.此外,家庭禀赋也是影响农户参与农业技术培训的重要因素.政府应积极拓宽农业技术推广渠道,加快转变技术推广方式,兼顾"农业生产"和"生态环境保护"两者,进一步开展环境友好型农业技术培训.     

Invasive alien species as drivers in socio-ecological systems: local adaptations towards use of Lantana in Southern India

Lantana camara. L (hereafter Lantana) was first introduced by the British into India in 1807 as an ornamental plant. Since then the species has spread across the length and breadth of the country. Attempts to control Lantana in India have not been successful. In this study, we analysed the use of Lantana by local communities in southern India and identified the possible causes and consequences of its use through the use of a household survey of the socio-economic profile of the user and nonuser households and an analysis of the ecological history of the communities. Communities have been using Lantana for over 25–30 years and apparently such use was not prompted by external agencies. The characteristics of user and nonuser households were similar, except that Lantana users were more literate and had a greater number of occupations per household than nonusers. Per capita income was similar between user and nonuser groups. For nonuser groups, their main income sources were from trading (44 %), wage labour (32 %) and forest resources (23 %). In contrast, the Lantana user groups substituted their loss of income from forest resources (7 %) by income from Lantana (46 %). The ecological history revealed that Lantana was adopted as a resource at a time when it was increasing in the landscape and traditional bamboo resources were in decline because of overuse by commercial enterprises and mast flowering. This change in ecological resource availability prompted a major shift in livelihoods for some in the area.     

Economic potential for conversion to organic farming: a net present value analysis in the East Mau Catchment,Nakuru, Kenya

This paper discusses the economic potential in terms of income changes that may result from conversion to low-external-input agriculture (LEIA) organic farming in a Kenya’s catchment area. A spreadsheet model applying the gross margin and net present value analysis was developed to estimate economic returns to labour and land of alternative smallholder cropping systems in the East Mau Catchment. The income and costs over a 10-year horizon associated with current cropping practices of a typical farm household cultivating 1.12 hectares of maize–bean intercrop, Irish potato, carrots, tomatoes, cabbages and kales mix were characterized based on field work conducted in 2008–2010. An “average” smallholder LEIA organic farm was simulated based on the conventional one, and its income discounted. A comparison was then made of the two farm types. Results indicate annual net present value returns to cropped land average Ksh 21,878/ha ($ 267/ha) and Kshs 22,561/ha (€ 275/ha) in 2010 values for conventional and prototype LEIA organic farming systems, respectively. Net returns are particularly sensitive to crop yields and price and cost of fertilizers and seeds. Further efforts should be made to provide an economic analysis of other LEIA organic farming practices such as composting, double digging and agroforestry in terms of additional labour costs resultant. The model can be extended to build more scenarios on the role of price premiums. Additionally, further research should be done to exploit the socio-demographic factors affecting the adoption of low-external-input systems.     

A happiness Kuznets curve? Using model-based cluster analysis to group countries based on happiness,development, income,and carbon emissions

This exploratory study uses model-based cluster analysis to group sixty-one countries based on statistical similarities in terms of happiness, development, income, and carbon emissions. Model-based cluster analysis is appropriate for an initial identification of a pattern that is worthy of further investigation. A key finding is that there may be a Kuznets curve for happiness. The Kuznets curve graphs the proposition that, as an economy develops, economic inequality first increases and then decreases. Similarly, the authors find that clusters of countries at the extremes of the lowest and highest average levels of development and income have the highest self-reported levels of happiness. Clusters of countries in the middle of the development and income spectrum have the comparatively lowest average levels of happiness. Further, carbon emissions are not perfectly associated with happiness. For example, between two clusters with the highest average levels of development, income, and happiness there is a 43 % difference in carbon emissions. A highly developed cluster has roughly the same mean carbon emissions as a cluster with 83 % less income, and the least developed cluster has 93 % of the happiness as the most developed cluster yet 86 % less carbon emissions. Despite limitations of both data and methodology, the overall pattern—that there may be a happiness Kuznets curve and that development, income, and carbon emissions are not associated lockstep with happiness—contributes to the literature on decoupling development from growth in emissions.     

基于农户兼业视角的农业废弃物资源循环利用意愿及其影响因素比较

基于农户兼业视角，利用湖北省农村地区的微观调查数据，运用Logistic回归模型比较了不同兼业类型农户农业废弃物资源循环利用意愿及其影响因素。研究结果显示：（1）大部分农户具有农业废弃物资源循环利用意愿，其中纯农户和一兼农户的利用意愿相当，且高出二兼农户；（2）农户对农业废弃物资源价值的感知是影响不同兼业类型农户利用意愿的共同因素，农户感知农业废弃物资源的价值越高，其利用意愿也越强；（3）影响不同兼业类型农户利用意愿的因素有明显差异，性别对农户尤其是二兼农户的利用意愿有显著的正向作用；年龄对纯农户和二兼农户利用意愿的影响均为负，尤其是对纯农户影响更大；土地经营规模对农户尤其是一兼农户的利用意愿有显著的正向影响；对获取经济收益的感知正向作用于一兼农户和二兼农户的利用意愿，尤其是对一兼农户有更大程度影响；对纯农户而言，对自身经济条件的感知也显著影响其利用意愿     

耕地流转补偿的影响因素实证分析

在对江西省42个县74个行政村的《耕地流转现状及农户耕地流转意识》专题调研基础上，采用向后逐步回归的分析方法，从区位条件、资源禀赋和经济发展水平3方面，对当前农村耕地流转补偿的影响因素进行了实证分析。其中，反映区位条件水平的指标包括离县城距离、离交通主干道距离、地貌；反映资源禀赋的指标包括常年在家务农的劳动力比例、耕地破碎度、人均承包耕地面积；反映经济发展水平的指标包括人均年收入、人均耕地收入、耕地收入占年收入的比重。研究表明：耕地离县城距离越近，其流转补偿额会越高；随着地貌的复杂化，〖JP2〗耕地流转补偿相对就较少；人均承包耕地面积越多，耕地流转时补偿费用就越低；家庭耕地收入比重越大，补偿费用也越高.     

Combining remote sensing and household level data for regional scale analysis of land cover change in the Brazilian Amazon

Land cover change in the Brazilian Amazon depends on the spatial variability of political, socioeconomic and biophysical factors, as well as on the land use history and its actors. A regional scale analysis was made in Rondônia State to identify possible differences in land cover change connected to spatial policies of land occupation, size and year of establishment of properties, accessibility measures and soil fertility. The analysis was made based on remote sensing data and household level data gathered with a questionnaire. Both types of analyses indicate that the highest level of total deforestation is found inside agrarian projects, especially in those established more than 20 years ago. Even though deforestation rates are similar inside and outside official settlements, inside agrarian projects forest depletion can exceed 50% at the property level within 10–14 years after establishment. The data indicate that both small-scale and medium to large-scale farmers contribute to deforestation processes in Rondônia State encouraged by spatial policies of land occupation, which provide better accessibility to forest fringes where soil fertility and forest resources are important determinants of location choice.     

鲁西北地区农户家庭农地规模经营行为分析

本文根据1986-2001年鲁西北地区农村固定观察点陵县和阳谷县2个村共80户（1993年以前为120户、115户或141户）跟踪观察资料，对鲁西北地区农户经济活动行为及不同规律农户分布、农户家庭纯收入水平、农地生产率等加以分析，研究结果和结论可为区域农业和农村经济可持续发展有关政策的制定提供科学依据。     

Resource use efficiency and economic losses: implications for sustainable rice production in Vietnam

The study aimed to estimate resource use efficiency and economic losses by using stochastic frontier analysis. The data set were collected in An Giang Province of Vietnam through personal interviews with 199 rice farmers. The results revealed that returns to scale are decreasing. Rice farmers had high levels of output-oriented and input-oriented technical efficiency with the means of 91.92 and 85.39 %, respectively. The mean environmental efficiency was 82.03 %. The mean efficiency of normal inputs was 61.20 %. Among the bad inputs, pesticide and energy were the least efficient ones with the mean values of 51.39 and 45.53 %, respectively, indicating serious overuses of these inputs. As regards normal inputs, capital had the lowest efficiency score at 21.08 %, followed by seed quantity at 26.4 %. Further, the total economic losses were estimated at 8261 thousand VND (380 USD) per hectare, which is equal to the sales of about 1600 kg of rice per hectare or the efforts to increase by 20 % of output level. This study suggests that rice farmers need to contract inputs, particularly environmentally detrimental inputs to improve profits. To improve the productive efficiency, the use of ecological engineering, collective pump and cultivation of three rice crops per year are possible options.     

虚拟耕地资源与农业经济增长：作用机理及贡献份额研

虚拟耕地资源被广泛认为是缓解国内耕地资源压力和促进农业经济增长的重要举措之一。在论证虚拟耕地资源贸易对农业经济增长作用机理分析的基础上，计算1996~2018年中国主要农产品虚拟耕地资源贸易量，并对虚拟耕地资源对农业经济增长中的贡献份额进行实证分析，为调整对外贸易战略及优化耕地资源策略提供参考。结果表明：虚拟耕地资源可以在更大范围内实现耕地资源的优化配置；主要农产品贸易的巨大逆差决定了中国是虚拟耕地资源净进口大国，其中，油料是虚拟耕地资源净进口量最大的品种；虚拟耕地资源对农业经济增长的贡献率为0.26%，观点得到了佐证。同时，还提出了要试点实施虚拟耕地资源，全力以赴做好贸易政策调整战略；充分利用国内外“两种资源、两个市场”，倒逼主要农产品进行结构调整；努力构建虚拟耕地资源管理新模式，推动农业“走出去”与市场多元化结合等政策建议。     

Thailand’s economic growth and structural development projections in the context of environmental control

Projections for 20 years of economic growth and change in the structure of the Thai economy were made for 180 sectors using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to compare the following four scenarios: (1) standard growth with infinite supply of factors, (2) finite land supply, (3) fixed use of agricultural chemicals, and (4) combined finite land supply with fixed use of agricultural chemicals. The computable projections suggest that the economic cost of hypothetical environmental control in agriculture is small and further weakened by urbanization. The computed structural development points to efficiency improvements specific to sectors to return the economy to balanced growth.     

江西省上饶县农户水土保持投资行为机理与实证模型

以农户调查数据为基础,通过对农户水土保持行为机理分析,结合研究区域实际,确定区域经济发展水平、农户兼业经济行为、农业经营规模、劳动力状况等4大类因素为影响农户进行水土保持投入的主要因素,并进一步细化成9项具体指标。通过SPSS软件对各项指标与水土保持投入行为进行相关性分析,建立多元线性回归模型,发现农户兼业经济行为、农业经营规模是影响农户进行水土保持投入的主要限制因子。由于兼业和规模经营对农业收入的依赖程度较低,且防范农业风险的能力较强,农户往往不愿意进行水土保持投资。家庭收入主要来源于农业,以及农业人口比重较高的农户,往往会在水土保持上投入较多的时间和资金。针对农业劳动力不足、农业经营规模小等现状提出如何激励农户水土保持投资行为,以进一步促进水土流失治理的相关建议。     

Forest income and dependency in lowland Bolivia

Forests contribute to livelihoods of rural people throughout the tropics. This paper adds to the emerging body of quantitative knowledge on absolute and relative economic importance, through both cash and subsistence income, of moist forests to households. Qualitative contextual information was collected in six villages in lowland Bolivia, followed by a structured survey of randomly selected households (n = 118) that included four quarterly income surveys. We employed a novel data collection approach that allows detailed estimation of total household accounts, including sources of forest income. We estimated the average forest income share of total annual household income (forest dependency) at 20%, ranging from 18 to 24%. Adding environmental income increased the average to 26%, being fairly constant across income quartiles at 24–28%. Absolute levels of forest income increased with total household income, while forest dependency was the highest in the best-off income quartile—the primary harvesters of forest products are better-off households. The pattern of high forest dependency among better-off households has also been reported from other countries, indicating that this pattern may be more common than advocated by conventional wisdom. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions, we found significant determinants of absolute forest income to be household size, sex of household head and area of cultivated land; the significant determinants for forest dependency were level of education, whether household head was born in village and whether household was food self-sufficient. Better-off households were able to realise cash income from forests, while poorer households—in particular if headed by women—were more reliant on subsistence forest income. We argue that the differential patterns of forest income across income quartiles should be considered in future development interventions and that findings indicate a potential for forests to contribute to moving households out of poverty.     

The idea of weak sustainability is illegitimate

Since the introduction of the sustainability challenge, scientists disagree over the interpretation of the term “sustainability.” Weak and strong sustainability are the two main interpretations of sustainability, which are opposing each other. Some researchers stated that the interpretation of the term depends on the context; others disagree pointing out that it always implies the meaning of continuation. The term “sustainability” can be used as attribute, which adds a certain characteristic to the noun. If something can be attributed as being sustainable, it can also be unsustainable. The sustainability challenge consists of shifting from the current unsustainable towards a sustainable system. This paper outlines that the weak sustainability term is illegitimate, as it leads to a contradiction with the acknowledged assumption that the current state is unsustainable. This contradiction is revealed through an analysis of the occurrence of decoupling in agriculture: Agricultural land use could be decoupled from agricultural production, but only with the trade-off of massive increases in fertilizer, pesticide, energy and water usage. This paper outlines an inherent inconsistency within the ongoing discussion about the interpretation of sustainability. Through identifying the invalidity of the weak sustainability interpretation the focus can be shifted form the discourse to the sustainability challenge itself.     

Improvement in irrigation water use efficiency: a strategy for climate change adaptation and sustainable development of Vietnamese tea production

Irrigation is indispensable to overcome insufficient rainfall and to achieve a stabilized yield for tea production. As the severe scarcity of water resources because of climate change, water conservation through efficient irrigation has turned into a vital strategy for tea sector in solving this rising challenge. This paper analyzes irrigation water use efficiency of small-scale tea farms in Vietnam and identifies its determinants applying stochastic frontier analysis. Results showed that under decreasing returns to scale, the mean irrigation water use efficiency was 42.19 %, indicating the existence of substantial water waste. If farmers become more efficient in using water, saving 57.81 % of irrigation water is possible unaccompanied by reducing the observed output. The factors affecting tea farms’ irrigation water use efficiency were investigated by Tobit model. Gender, water shortage awareness, soil and water conservation practice, off-farm income share, extension services access and well water utilization showed significant influence on the efficiency of irrigation water. The study’ results provide insights to policymakers in implementing better water resource management amid climate change.