Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Lenka FOJTÍKOVÁ Title: China's trade competitiveness in the area of agricultural products after the implementation of the World Trade Organization commitments Abstract: The paper provides evidence on the implementation of China's trade commitments into its institutional and legal environment, which influenced its agricultural trade. The contribution to the trade balance index and the revealed comparative advantage index are used for the identification of changes in China's export competitiveness in agricultural products between 2001 and 2015. The World Trade Organization (WTO) trade liberalisation, followed by changes in the structure of economy, contributed to China building a trade deficit in the area of the agricultural products and losing competitiveness in some products. China gradually liberalised its agricultural trade in compliance with the WTO commitments. However, relatively high protection or state regulation of the domestic market has remained in products that China exports with a revealed comparative disadvantage. The existence of the state trading can also have a negative impact on the results of China's revealed comparative advantage in its exports of agricultural products. Keywords: contribution to trade balance, revealed comparative advantage, state trading, trade competitiveness, World Trade Organization Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 379-388 Volume: 64 Issue: 9 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/163/2017-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/163/2017-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201809-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:9:id:163-2017-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Donato MOREA Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy Author-Name: Marino BALZARINI Author-Workplace-Name: SGI - Studio Galli Ingegneria S.r.l., Rome, Italy Title: Financial sustainability of a public-private partnership for an agricultural development project in Sub-Saharan Africa Abstract: Land, water, sun, infrastructure, capital and know-how are needed for any agricultural development. Sub-Saharan Africa has immense natural resources, though often not immediately available altogether in the same place, but is generally short of the other inputs. That is why a public-private partnership can be an effective approach to deal the projects with modern agricultural development: public partner provides land, most of the infrastructure and finance; private partners provide the intensive farming practice, processing know-how and part of the equity. Financial analysis of lower and higher capital demanding scenarios and testing of the impact of changes in the critical drivers of costs and revenues shown that a combination of staple crops and cash crops can be found to balance national food security policy targets and financial appeal for private partners in a mutually satisfactory venture capital. The effect of environmental and infrastructural constraints was also considered, showing how likely-to-happen threats on the side of the implementation of the project may turn into challenging opportunity to climb the agribusiness value chain upward. Keywords: agribusiness value chain, investment analysis, modern agricultural development projects, project financing Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 389-398 Volume: 64 Issue: 9 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/161/2017-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/161/2017-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201809-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:9:id:161-2017-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Lubos SMUTKA Author-Name: Mansoor MAITAH Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Miroslav SVATOS Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Title: Changes in the Czech agrarian foreign trade competitiveness - different groups of partners' specifics Abstract: The territorial and commodity structure of the Czech agrarian foreign trade underwent significant changes over the last fifteen years. These changes affected not only the structure, but also the value, volume, unit prices and competitiveness. The presented paper provides the basic overview of the individual significant changes. The main goal of the paper is to specify changes in the area of the Czech agrarian foreign trade competitiveness. This competitiveness is analysed not only in relation to global markets, but it is also analysed in relation to different groups of countries. Differences in competiveness are analysed in relation to the European Union (EU 28), the Commonwealth of Independent Countries, other European countries, the OECD members, and developing countries. In addition, competitiveness is also analysed in two specific dimensions. The agricultural market represents a very specific entity. However, the global merchandise trade is becoming more and more liberalized internationally and the regional agricultural markets are still being affected by a significant protectionism. The individual countries and certain clusters of countries are applying an intensive agricultural market protection. The result of these policies is a distortion of the agricultural trade. This distortion is also affecting the individual countries mutual competitiveness. While one country could be competitive in relation to one partner, in relation to other partner, the competitiveness could be limited. The paper clarifies and analyses the differences that exist in the competitiveness of the Czech agrarian trade in relation to the above mentioned groups of countries. The analysis is conducted utilizing the symmetric revealed comparative advantage index and the Lafay index, the Trade Balance index and the product mapping. The Czech agrarian trade territorial structure has become more concentrated, the commodity structure became more diversified. Czech trade is quite competitive especially in relation to the European countries, the competitiveness in relation to other territories is limited. The significant weakness of the Czech agrarian trade is its low ability to generate added value. Keywords: agricultural and foodstuff products, agri-food trade, competitiveness, changes, Czech Republic, partners, regional and inter-regional trade, structure, value Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 399-411 Volume: 64 Issue: 9 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/399/2016-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/399/2016-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201809-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:9:id:399-2016-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Eva KUCEROVA Title: Social inclusion in the context of Czech rural development policy Abstract: The paper addresses social inclusion. It aims to investigate how social inclusion was conceptualized in the main Czech policy documents related to the EU. The text argues that one of the tools of social inclusion - social economy represented by social entrepreneurship and social farming - is a sort of innovative practice. The findings suggest that the understanding of social inclusion evolves within policy documents towards highlighting social economy through matching its theoretical concept with political measures. However, social economy is still not considered by the documents as an innovative approach. If analysing projects funded under Czech Rural Development Programs, social inclusion in rural areas is not the main theme, especially in regions exposed to the risk of social exclusion. In addition, the main actors (NGOs or social entrepreneurs) who are said to support social economy or social farming are not active in submitting projects in rural areas under the Rural Development Program 2007-2013. These actors have not yet used their potential towards developing social economy. Keywords: rural development, social economy, social enterprise, social farming, social inclusion Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 412-422 Volume: 64 Issue: 9 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/160/2016-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/160/2016-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201809-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:9:id:160-2016-AGRICECON