Trade of crop products contribute to the alleviation of global nitrate leaching risks

The article is devoted to studying the structural and dynamic changes in international trade in agricultural products in Ukraine. The authors reveal the theoretical essence of international trade in agricultural products, considering export and import conditions in light of modern challenges. The assessment of the foreign trade regime is provided and the trends and impact of implementing the Agreement on Association between Ukraine and the EU on the development of Ukraine's foreign trade are established. It was found that, on one hand, the export orientation of raw materials to the EU crop production market has increased, while on the other hand, there remains a high import dependence on prepared food products, with a more diversified import structure. The peculiarities of key directions of Ukraine's agro-industrial market under martial law and its place in the global food security system are described. The article also examines the structure of Ukraine's trading partners, which have been revised since the beginning of the war. The peculiarities of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU in international trade in agricultural products are analysed. Ways of diversifying exports and increasing the profitability of foreign trade in agricultural products from Ukraine in the EU market are suggested.

List of Maps. Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. How much Water is used for Producing our Goods and Services?. 3. Virtual-Water Flows between Nations as a Result of Trade in Agricultural and Industrial Products. 4. Water Saving through International Trade in Agricultural Products. 5. The Water Footprints of Nations. 6. The Water Footprints of Morocco and the Netherlands. 7. Virtual- versus Real-Water Transfers within China. 8. The Water Footprint of Coffee and Tea Consumption. 9. The Water Footprint of Cotton Consumption. 10. Water as a Geopolitical Resource. 11. Efficient, Sustainable, and Equitable Water Use in a Globalized world. Appendix I. Analytical Framework for the Assessment of Virtual-Water content, Virtual-Water Flows, Water Savings, Water Footprints, and Water Dependencies. Appendix II. Virtual-Water Flows per Country Related to International Trade in Crop, Livestock, and Industrial Products. Appendix III. National Water Savings and Losses due to Trade in Agricultural Products. Appendix IV. Water Footprints of Nations. Appendix V. Water Footprint versus Water Scarcity, Self-Sufficiency, and Water Import Dependency per Country. Glossary. References. Index

Introduction. The intensification of globalization processes that characterize the beginning of the new millennium has led to the emergence of supranational structures of regional and global scope. The deepening of Ukraine's integration into the international trading space causes new opportunities and threats. The relatively large size of the territory of Ukraine as a European state and its administrative structure causes a number of differences in the socio-economic development of its regions. Identifying regional differences in foreign trade in agri-food products and their causes is an urgent task of the study, given the leading role of the agro-industrial sector in Ukraine's foreign trade. The aim of the study is to identify regional differences of foreign trade in agri-food products and identify their causes. Results of work. The analysis results of foreign trade in agro-food products on the average for 2016-2018 by regions are given. It is determined that the four leading export regions are Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kyiv and Vinnytsia, as they account for about 47,9 %. The regions were evaluated according to the following indicators: the volume of regional exports, the volume of production of cereals and legumes, the production of sunflower seeds. According to the results of the analysis, each region was assigned a corresponding rank, on the basis of the values of which the correlation coefficients of the regions ranks were calculated. It is determined that there is a close link between the region's place in the national agri-food export ratings and the production of cereals and legumes; and there is a median link between the region's place in the national agri-food export and sunflower seed ratings. Imports of agro-food products by regions are considered, where Kiev region is the absolute leader, which together with Odessa, Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk regions have 64.5 % of all corresponding imports. The analysis of agro-food products import by groups of goods is presented. The regions ranking by import volumes of agri-food products and disposable income per person has been done. The obtained coefficient of correlation of ranks testifies to the average degree of relation close to high. Conclusions. It is proved that the differences in the volumes of crop production mainly cereals, legumes and sunflower are the basis for regional differentiation of agricultural food exports, which testifies to the raw nature of exports, stagnation of livestock and unsatisfactory development of the domestic food industry. Differentiation of imports of agro-industrial products is caused by the difference in income of the population by regions. Keywords: agro-food products, export, import, balance, production, raw materials, processing, disposable income.

Comprehensive assessment of the virtual water trade of Germany with the world is performed and the national water footprint through the trade of crop and livestock products from 1991 to 2016 is assessed. Virtual water flows based on 328 products with more than 200 countries indicate Germany as a net virtual water importer. Average virtual water import was 100.5 Bm3/y, virtual water export was 60.2 Bm3/y and net virtual water import was 40.3 Bm3/y. Trade patterns of virtual water transfer differ for the various commodity types. Trade between Germany and the world implies a global water loss of 5.9 Bm3/y. This study portrays that trade between countries is not only related to the economics but interlinked with the agricultural water use and management practices of the respective nations. Sustainable management of the resources will require a collective consideration of the agricultural, water and economic sectors while developing strategies.

This article examines how international trade and policy shape the economic consequences of climate-induced changes in crop productivity, considering both adaptation and mitigation. International trade serves as a global risk-sharing mechanism with the potential of ameliorating the adverse impacts of climate-induced crop shortages by allowing regions with agricultural surpluses to provide for those facing shortages. However, the effectiveness of trade in adaptation depends on whether changes in productivity occur in the short- or the long-run, the structure of tariffs and subsidies, and whether a country is a net importer or exporter of affected products. The most recent evidence on long-term adaptation suggests that the changes in domestic crop portfolios and a diversified set of suppliers are the most effective ways for food-dependent countries to adapt to projected changes in climate toward the mid-century. In the short term, trade helps to buffer against seasonal price shocks, offering relief from sudden price spikes in food staples. Concerns about importing price volatility have little support in the historical record. Still, they may be justified as shifts in climate may result in more frequent extreme events affecting large producing regions of the world. Emerging international trade policies aimed at climate change mitigation, such as carbon border adjustments and laws banning trade in products associated with deforestation, are gaining traction. The adaptability of the international trade regime to these policies remains uncertain. Critical areas for further research include moving from impact assessment to analyzing how the current structure of farm programs worldwide interacts with adaptation and mitigation strategies, expanding the range of crops, and including livestock products in the analysis.

The last twenty years or so have seen a new conjuncture in international trade in tropical agricultural products. That conjuncture combines both changes in the organization of the (Northern) manufacturer and consumer segments of the global commodity chains for those products, and in marketing arrangements in their (Southern) countries of origin, associated with structural adjustment and liberalization. This introductory essay provides the context for the case studies that follow, first by introducing some of the key concepts and analytical issues in the global commodity chain (GCC) approach and other recent relevant literature such as the French ‘convention’ theory. It then sketches an historical framework for examining international trade in tropical agricultural products, with brief illustrations of the specific trajectories of Africa and some African countries within that framework. Finally, it shows how a number of issues are explored in the case studies presented, including how current changes might affect the future prospects of smallholder (‘peasant’) production of tropical export crops.

Abstract. Many nations save domestic water resources by importing water-intensive products and exporting commodities that are less water intensive. National water saving through the import of a product can imply saving water at a global level if the flow is from sites with high to sites with low water productivity. The paper analyses the consequences of international virtual water flows on the global and national water budgets. The assessment shows that the total amount of water that would have been required in the importing countries if all imported agricultural products would have been produced domestically is 1605 Gm3/yr. These products are however being produced with only 1253 Gm3/yr in the exporting countries, saving global water resources by 352 Gm3/yr. This saving is 28 per cent of the international virtual water flows related to the trade of agricultural products and 6 per cent of the global water use in agriculture. National policy makers are however not interested in global water savings but in the status of national water resources. Egypt imports wheat and in doing so saves 3.6 Gm3/yr of its national water resources. Water use for producing export commodities can be beneficial, as for instance in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Brazil, where the use of green water resources (mainly through rain-fed agriculture) for the production of stimulant crops for export has a positive economic impact on the national economy. However, export of 28 Gm3/yr of national water from Thailand related to rice export is at the cost of additional pressure on its blue water resources. Importing a product which has a relatively high ratio of green to blue virtual water content saves global blue water resources that generally have a higher opportunity cost than green water.

Trends and Determinants of Virtual Water Trade in Crops and Crop Products in India

This article is devoted to the assessment of Tunisian agricultural production and food trade balance water-equivalent. A linear regression model relating annual rainfall to crop yields is developed to estimate the agricultural production water-equivalent. Its implementation is based on national data for crop and animal production, leading to food demand water-equivalent quantification. Results highlight the relationship between agricultural and water policies and provide a picture of food security in the country in relation to local agricultural production, and to virtual water fluxes related to foodstuffs trade balance.

Abstract. National water use accounts are generally limited to statistics on water withdrawals in the different sectors of economy. They are restricted to "blue water accounts" related to production, thus excluding (a) "green" and "grey water accounts", (b) accounts of internal and international virtual water flows and (c) water accounts related to consumption. This paper shows how national water-use accounts can be extended through an example for Indonesia. The study quantifies interprovincial virtual water flows related to trade in crop products and assesses the green, blue and grey water footprint related to the consumption of crop products per Indonesian province. The study shows that the average water footprint in Indonesia insofar related to consumption of crop products is 1131 m3/cap/yr, but provincial water footprints vary between 859 and 1895 m3/cap/yr. Java, the most water-scarce island, has a net virtual water import and the most significant external water footprint. This large external water footprint is relieving the water scarcity on this island. Trade will remain necessary to supply food to the most densely populated areas where water scarcity is highest (Java).

Introduction: Challenges to Africa's Agricultural Transformation

The study was carried out to investigate the women’s perception of the effects of Community and Social Development Project (CSDP) on their livelihood activities in Ondo State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to randomly select 120 respondents from three benefitting Local Government Areas in the state. Primary data were collected with the aid of interview schedule and analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, mean as well as Chi square. The mean age of the respondents was 42 years. Most (70.8%) of the respondents were married with mean household size of 6 persons, were ordinary members of social groups (73.3%) and were farmers (46.7%) with and a mean monthly income of ₦18,000.00. Most (60.2%) of the respondents had agricultural value chain activities as their livelihood activities. The study revealed that the respondents had positive perception of CSDP projects such as construction of; potable water supply project (4.01), road/bridge (4.04), health and maternity centre (4.01), community hall/viewing centre (4.06), skill acquisition centre (4.21), market (4.10). There was a significant association between CSDP micro-projects and selected livelihood activities such as crop production (χ2Cal =13.2), livestock production (χ2 Cal =39.8), farm produce processing (χ2Cal =4.3), gathering of wood (χ2Cal =5.4), petty trade (χ2Cal =21.0) and gathering of non-timber products (χ2Cal =4.6). Women’s perception of effects of CSDP projects on their livelihood activities was favourable. Therefore, the study recommends that development strategies and plan should be well structured by the government to improve the livelihood activities of women especially agriculture for improved income and livelihoods.

Crop growth on acid sandy soils of the Sudano‐Sahelian zone is primarily limited by the low amounts of organic matter and available mineral nutrients in the topsoil. The shortening of fallow periods with population growth, the exploitation of fire wood, spatial nutrient transfers by wind and water and net nutrient exports with crop yields in the order of 15 kg nitrogen (N) 2 kg phosphorus (P) and 15 kg potassium (K) ha−1 yr−1 for traditional fields planted to pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) in the southern Sahel have exhausted these resources. Large productivity declines in the prevailing agro‐pastoral systems are the consequence. Data are presented to show bow nutrient exports at the level of individual fields, through grain yields and biomass removal as forage, firewood, construction material, and also through run‐off, wind and water erosion, leaching and volatilisation, are either losses for the ecosystem or sources of nutrients transferred within the ecosystem. Livestock is a vector of nutrients from rangelands to manured fields through forage intake and excretion and helps to shortcut nutrient cycles, but it is also a net consumer of organic matter and minerals. Through the effects of trampling on the soil and of grazing on the vegetation composition and production, livestock also indirectly affects the cycling and transfer of nutrients. Net nutrient inputs by heavy rains causing overland flow, dust deposition and through biological nitrogen fixation, are also unequally distributed and thus aggravate the fertility gradient from large nutrient ‘source’ areas such as rangelands to small ‘sink’ areas such as fallows, low lands, temporary lakes and river benches. At a finer resolution, shrubs and trees with their alternating periods of nutrient storage and recycling in leaves and wood, micro‐depressions, termite mounts and ant nests become localised points of nutrient concentration and high crop productivity. To balance losses of nutrients in these integrated systems and to obtain sustainable increases in production, external inputs of nutrients are necessary. These may be introduced by two different pathways, either via mineral fertilisers applied to croplands or via externally produced supplements fed to livestock. These pathways are complementary and each one has direct effects on the other. Fertiliser application to croplands affect livestock through the increase in available forage and crop residue feed, whereas feed supplementation affects crop production through higher amounts and better quality of manure. The adoption of either strategy by farmers requires a high nutrient use efficiency at low cost. Data from regional field trials revealed increases in total dry matter (TDM) of cereals with broadcast annual P application at 13 kg ha−1 ranging across three years from 19 to 88% for rockphosphate and from 34 to 102% for single superphosphate (SSP). Still, a low‐external input approach seemed more advantageous to farmers. The placement of NPK fertiliser at 4 kg P ha−1 with the seed at or shortly after planting caused average TDM increases of 70% for millet, sorghum, maize, cowpea and groundnut and showed an up to three‐fold higher phosphorus use efficiency than broadcast P. On the other hand, late dry season supplementation of grazing steers with millet bran not only decreased animal weight losses but also increased N and P concentrations in the faeces. The larger nutrient concentrations in the manure increased millet grain yield by 28% and stover yield by 21% on a field manured at a rate of 3 t DM ha−1. However, even with such approaches the current trends of declining soil productivity can only be reversed, if local policy makers are willing to support agricultural change through better terms of trade for agricultural products.

in 1975, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition. IFPRI's strategic research aims to foster a climate-resilient and sustainable food supply; promote healthy diets and nutrition for all; build inclusive and efficient markets, trade systems, and food industries; transform agricultural and rural economies; and strengthen institutions and governance. Gender is integrated in all the Institute's work. Partnerships, communications, capacity strengthening, and data and knowledge management are essential components to translate IFPRI's research from action to impact. The Institute's regional and country programs play a critical role in responding to demand for food policy research and in delivering holistic support for country-led development. IFPRI collaborates with partners around the world.

In the United States, like in other countries, the agrifood supply chain faces challenges from a growing population and less predictable weather conditions. Extreme weather events such as droughts decrease agricultural yield and harvested areas, impact the domestic trade of agricultural products and, in turn, food manufacturing. We investigate this relationship at the state level by estimating the food manufacturing production function in a two-stage instrumental variable estimation process. We first assess how drought affects trade in animals and fish, cereal grains, and all other crop products. Next, we estimate a nested production function for processed food. Our findings indicate that the impact of a drought is far from being confined to the area where it happens. At the national level, we find that a 1% increase in drought in the states producing agricultural commodities reduces their exports to other states by 0.5% to 0.7% which, in turn, reduces food manufacturing production by an average of 0.04%. The capacity to shift the origin of import flows, adjust their volume, and substitute agricultural inputs supports the resilience of the food manufacturing sector. We further estimate the 48 × 48 pairwise dependence across states and by commodity group. While cereal grain production is more spatially concentrated than other crops, the agrifood supply chain can enhance its resilience by sourcing from geographically diverse counties within key supplier states and improving multistate coordination. These findings provide important insights for policymakers and industry stakeholders willing to reduce the food system vulnerability to extreme weather events.