Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Marian REIFF Author-Name: Zlatica IVANICOVA Author-Workplace-Name: University of Economics in Bratislava, Faculty of Economic Informatics, Department of Operations Research and Econometrics, Bratislava, Slovak Republic Author-Name: Kvetoslava SURMANOVA Author-Workplace-Name: University of Economics in Bratislava, Faculty of Economic Informatics, Department of Operations Research and Econometrics, Bratislava, Slovak Republic Title: Cluster analysis of selected world development indicators in the fields of agriculture and the food industry in European Union countries Abstract: The paper analyses the disparity in the performance of the agriculture and food industry sectors in EU countries during the period from 2002 to 2013, and identifies significant differences between countries as well as the dynamics of change. The individual countries are clustered according to the long-term average of the World Bank collection of development indicators such as agricultural raw materials exports, agricultural raw materials imports, crop production index, food production index, livestock production index, cereal yield, agriculture value added and agriculture value added per worker. The analysis reveals convergence in the given period and identifies significant differences in the indicator of agriculture value added per worker at the end of the analysed period. Keywords: agriculture value added per worker, multivariate analysis, Ward's method Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 197-205 Volume: 64 Issue: 5 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/198/2016-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/198/2016-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201805-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:5:id:198-2016-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: JI Seon-u Author-Workplace-Name: Division of Food Marketing, Korea Rural Economic Institute, Naju, Korea Author-Name: Song Soo LIM Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Food and Resource Economics, Korea University, Seoul, Korea Title: An empirical analysis of the determinants of agricultural official development assistance Abstract: The aim of this study was to analyse the determining factors of official development assistance (ODA) provided to the agricultural and food sectors. Lack of empirical research on this type of ODA makes this study stand out from the sea of qualitative approaches. By analysing the agricultural sectors and the views of aid recipient countries, this paper provides evidence-based explanations for the aid flows between donor and recipient countries. Using disbursement ODA data covering 141 countries over 2002-2012, we devise and estimate a gravity model. Heckman's two-step approach is adopted to address a potential bias arising from the selection of aid recipient countries. The estimated results confirm that agricultural aid is mainly governed by the needs of the recipient countries with regard to factors such as undernourishment and food inadequacy rates, depth of food deficits and political circumstances. As expected, the results indicate that food aid is influenced mostly by humanitarian factors. Keywords: agricultural aid, food aid, food security, gravity models Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 206-215 Volume: 64 Issue: 5 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/275/2016-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/275/2016-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201805-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:5:id:275-2016-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Piotr BORAWSKI Author-Workplace-Name: University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland Author-Name: Aneta BELDYCKA-BORAWSKA Author-Workplace-Name: University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland Author-Name: James W. DUNN Author-Workplace-Name: Pennsylvania State University, Old Main, Pennsylvania, USA Title: Price volatility of Polish agricultural commodities in the view of the Common Agricultural Policy Abstract: In the paper, the price volatility was examined. The authors used 650 weekly observations from 2003 to 2015. Such a long period of analysis helped to reveal periods with high volatility. The objective of the paper was to recognize price volatility of agricultural commodities in Poland. The authors chose beef, pork and wheat markets to show the differentiation of price volatility. It revealed periods of large and small volatility. The global market situation impacted Polish agricultural markets with the opening markets and a greater access to the new markets. The periods having the strongest impact on Polish agricultural markets were the integration with the EU, the global crisis in 2008, and problems in the EU zone. The prices of analysed agricultural commodities differed in various EU countries. The prices of wheat increased most in France, Hungary and Lithuania. The prices of store cattle increased most in the years 2004-2015 in Estonia, Sweden and Luxemburg. The prices of pigs increased most in Malta, Sweden and Cyprus. Keywords: commodity markets, price volatility, CAP Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 216-226 Volume: 64 Issue: 5 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/138/2016-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/138/2016-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201805-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:5:id:138-2016-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Surakiat PARICHATNON Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Tropical Agriculture and International Cooperation, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan Author-Name: Kamonthip MAICHUM Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Tropical Agriculture and International Cooperation, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan Author-Name: Ke-Chung PENG Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agribusiness Management, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan Title: Measuring technical efficiency of Thai rubber production using the three-stage data envelopment analysis Abstract: The study investigated the technical efficiency of rubber production in Thailand. Secondary data were collected from the Thai rubber plantations in four regions from 2005 to 2014 by using a three-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. The DEA was used to evaluate the technical efficiency levels and to remove undesirable environmental impacts. Furthermore, the Malmquist productivity index was used to measure the changes in the rubber production efficiency and estimate the rubber productivity trend. The findings indicate that the efficiency scores obtained using adjusted inputs in stage 3 of the DEA approach were higher than the efficiency scores in stage 1 of the DEA approach. Moreover, the results also showed that the Northern region has the worst scores of technical efficiency and declination of productivity among the four regions. However, the technical performance of the Thai rubber production has shown a good performance, an upward productivity trend, and has demonstrated the advantages of the method used. Findings from the study could provide crucial information to farmers, the Thai government, and agricultural planners for formulating effective strategies or plans to improve their technology and efficiency levels. Keywords: Malmquist productivity index, technical efficiency, Thai rubber production, three-stage DEA Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 227-240 Volume: 64 Issue: 5 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/19/2016-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/19/2016-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201805-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:5:id:19-2016-AGRICECON