eep 260

EEP 260 Fall , 2013
Study Guide Exam 2:
Go back to your quizzes!
STUDY ALL THE QUESTIONS ON YOUR STUDY QUESTION SHEETS!!!
For Multiple choice and short answer questions: I suggest you go back through your lecture notes and answer these questions. Write down the answers and think about them. Be comfortable with them coming up either as a multiple choice or fill in the blank/short answer type question.
1. What is empowerment?
2. Give two reasons why is it important?
3. What are the indicators of discrimination and unequal access?
4. What is the structural transformation and what happens during each stage?
5. What are the major factors that drive the reallocation of labor and output across sectors?
Changing demand structure and changing relative labor productivities
6. Why/How is the supply response in agriculture is limited in general? i.e. Why is supply response in agriculture different than for other goods?
–Seasonality: can’t respond out of season Different climates => different constraints from seasonality
–Perishability: can’t always store to cope with seasonality
–Environment and specialization: Environment determines which prices farmers can respond to. His supply won’t respond much to price.
–Risk and uncertainty:
Can’t control all inputs in production function (weather)
Must make production decisions before output prices known
More uncertainty means less response to price and demand changes
–Public investment in technology and infrastructure

7. What are the major characteristics of traditional agricultural practices? (7 of them)
8. What are the major characteristics of modern agricultural practices in developed countries? ( 7 of them)
9. What is the green revolution?
10. What were the major focus of the first green revolution in terms of crops and countries?
11. Who benefited? Countries, regions, types of farmers?
12. What are the major critiques of the green revolution? You should be able to discuss both the positive and negative aspects of it
13. What were the complementary factors that made the green revolution successful?
14. What has been the role of research in agriculture worldwide?
15. What role does international agricultural research play in improving agricultural production in developing countries and what are some examples and outcomes of their work that have benefitted developing countries
16. What is the yield gap and what (if any) are the problems with this definition
17. What are the key factors that limit changes in agricultural production in Developing Countries discussed in class
18. What were the main points highlighted in the two videos watched in class on the challenges faced by smallholders in developing countries?

19. What is a production function? What is the definition and what does it look like (graph)?
20. How does a profit maximizing farmer decide on the quantity of inputs to use? i.e. what factors does a farmer consider?
21. What does the profit maximizing point of input use and associated production levels look like graphically?
22. How does a technology change affect production? How can we see this graphically? You need to know about what a technology change/improvement means in terms of how the production function and supply curves behave.

23. What are producer surplus and consumer surplus? You also should be able identify producers surplus and consumers surplus in a graph and discuss how they relate to changes in prices.
Consumer Surplus – area above the price line and below the demand curve
Producer Surplus – area below the price line and above the supply curve

Identify Countries in Asia on a Blank Map (5%)
I will select 5 of the following countries for you to identify on a blank map: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Thailand, Turkey, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, China, Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam

Essay study questions:
1. What is the structural transformation and what has it meant for agriculture? Discuss what happened with regards to income from agriculture and employment. Also describe the structural transformation in developed countries and the main causes/drivers. ( Do not just list the drivers but think about how they relate/cause the changes that occur during the structural transformation)

Structural transformation refers to the reallocation of economic activity across the broad sectors agriculture, manufacturing and services. Agriculture here refers to crop cultivation, livestock production, forestry, fishing, and hunting.
Share of national income in Agriculture declines as income increases. Share of employment in Agriculture falls as income rises. As incomes rise, share of GDP from agriculture declines but eventually stabilizes.
The main drivers are changing demand structure and changing relative labor productivities. As income increase, people spend less of their income in agriculture. And as technology advances, labor productivity in agriculture increases drastically; thus supply curve shifts up and people paying much less to get the same amount of goods.

2. How can a method like microdosing address any or some of the 5 key challenges faced by smallholder farmers (which limit changes in agricultural production) in developing countries? Discuss the method, its claimed benefits and how this could affect agricultural production. Note anything interesting with the particular way it was used in the video watched in class.

Key challenge addressed by the video is poverty and inability to afford inputs like fertilizer.
Microdosing affects output, yields and input cost. Microdosing brings larger output, higher yields and lower input cost which is higher than nothing but much less than traditional fertilizer use (1/10 amount needed for wheat in US and 1/20 of amount for maize).
Key benefits of microdosing are higher yields, higher incomes and lower input costs.
Also, it increases the efficiency of fertilizer use; less fertilizer possibly has less negative effect on environment.

3. (a) Compare the traditional farming systems to the modern farming systems discussed in class. Know the different characteristics of both and the challenges/downsides to them.

Traditional farming system
Modern farming system
Types of farming
“Mixed cropping” which means plant several crops together in a field

Largely specialized and mono cropped
Livestock systems
Extensive pastoral/nomadic systems
Move cattle in search of grass

Modern livestock rearing systems that are intensive
Farming practices are primarily based on “local knowledge” passed from one generation to the next and experience.
The farming practices in developed countries largely based on research

Farms are small (< 5 acres), farming is labor intensive
Large farms in more modern systems 170.4 hectares in the USA and about 60 in the UK and 20 hectares in Europe more generally
Family mainly produces & processes food for own use (subsistence), but sell crops in good years when there’s a surplus
Farms in modern systems are more market oriented
Farming based on rudimentary farm implements and limited mechanization
Farms in modern systems which are very mechanized
Throughout history, farmers have increased food production by planting more land
Modern systems where food production has increased through the use of more inputs (intensive farming)
Using traditional technology to increase yields Examples: organic manure (low inorganic fertilizer use) and traditional irrigation systems
Using modern irrigation systems and large amounts of inorganic fertilizers

Farmers have traditional often insufficient storage capabilities
Modern systems which have well developed storage facilities

(b) Using the example of the Aigamo method of rice farming (we watched a video and discussed this. The video is available in your lecture notes), discuss how this video demonstrates how less developed countries can improve their production?

4. Discuss the role the green revolution played in expanding agricultural production? This should include what the green revolution is? What were the main factors that led to the need of the green revolution? What were the major positive and negative factors associated with the green revolution

The Rockefeller and Ford foundations established an international agricultural research system to help transfer and adapt scientific advances to the conditions of developing countries.
By the second half of the 20th century, most industrial countries had achieved sustained food surpluses and eliminated the threat of starvation in their countries. These advances were slower in reaching developing countries. Many of developing countries, which were under colonial rule, saw little investment in the food production systems.
Asian success was due to several “complementary” factors: fertilizer, irrigation and government policies (e.g., Asian farmers had good access to credit for buying inputs—seed, fertilizer, pesticides--extension, markets)
But impact of the GR technology has been limited in Africa, due to: diversity of crops grown—not just rice & wheat, many different farming systems—need specific technologies for each farming system, rain fed growing conditions (farming is risky), and poor government policies (weak research & extension systems, farmers have limited access to credit & markets) .

5. What is empowerment? Using the example of the case study on the Mahila Samakhya Program in rural India, discuss how empowerment can improve the well-being of an individual, family and community?

6. The Consultative Group for International agricultural research has played and continues to play an important role in addressing the challenges to food production faced by farmers in developing countries, discuss.

Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)--established in 1971) - is a global partnership that unites organizations engaged in research for a food secure future”

CGIAR research, initially concentrated on breeding better staple food crops,
Now CGIAR research has expanded to include research dedicated to reducing rural poverty, increasing food security, improving human health and nutrition, and ensuring more sustainable management of natural resources.
Now supports 15 CGIAR-funded centers located throughout the world
These centers work in close collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, and the private sector. Expanded to cover natural resource management, food production.
Each Center has a mandate to focus on specific crops/livestock species and/or environments