Economic Growth In Rural Areas Research Articles

Development of Beef Cattle Innovation through “Field Laboratory” Approach

Economic growth in rural areas can be achieved by increasing the productivity of agricultural businesses. Beef cattle breeding farm is managed by small holder farmers with limited ownership integrated with other agricultural activities. This paper aims to provide information on developing beef cattle innovation at farm level through field laboratory (FL) approach or demonstration plot and direct participation with farmers. The development of cattle farming innovation at farm level is limited, hence it is needed to improve the competitiveness of agricultural businesses. Field laboratory is a model for accelerating technology transfer to farmers. The introduction of innovation in beef cattle through LL can be adopted by farmers resulted in increasing the productivity of beef cattle and added value of livestock businesses. For sustainability of technological application it is required supporting facilities and infrastructure such as institutional that provide production and marketing facilities.

An Analysis of Restraints on Effective Demand for Loans in Rural China

China’s overall economic growth is, to a great extent, hindered by the lack of economic growth in rural areas. Based on data from the Thousand-Village Survey (2015) of 31 provinces conducted by Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, we conduct this empirical study to analyze the current state of rural financial services and the factors influencing effective demand for loans in rural China. Looking at the demand side, in 2014, only 13.91% farmers had loans, and only 15.53% of them made financial institutions their first choice when they needed loans. Clearly, there is still much to do with regard to inclusive finance. From the perspective of the supply side, only 43.86% of dispersed loans can be categorized as productive loans, further reflecting that the financial services industry does not provide strong support for rural economic growth. Further study shows that the main factors influencing effective demand for productive loans are the population age structure and the rate at which migrant workers return home. Therefore, the "Second-Child" policy and policies that encourage migrant workers to go back home to start businesses are of vital importance in order to raise effective financial demand in rural China.

Economic impact of organic agriculture hotspots in the United States

AbstractIn this paper, we assess whether or not organic agriculture has a positive impact on local economies. We first identify organic agriculture hotspots (clusters of counties with positively correlated high numbers of organic operations) using spatial statistics. Then, we estimate a treatment effects model that classifies a county's membership in an organic hotspot as an endogenous treatment variable. By modeling what a hotspot county's economic indicators would have been had the county not been part of a hotspot, this model captures the effect of being in a hotspot on a county's economic indicators. We perform the same analysis for general agricultural farm hotspots to confirm that the benefits associated with organic production hotspots are, in fact, due to the organic component. Our results show that organic hotspot membership leads to a lower county-level poverty rate and a higher median household income. A similar result is not found when investigating the impact of general agriculture hotspots. On the other hand, our result is robust to alternative hotspot definitions based on type of organic operations to alternative methods of estimating average treatment effects on the treated. These results provide strong motivation for considering hotspots of organic handling operations, which refers to middlemen such as processors, wholesalers and brokers, and hotspots of organic production to be local economic development tools, and may be of interest to policymakers whose objective is to promote rural development. Our results may incentivize policymakers to specifically focus on organic development, rather than the more general development of agriculture, as a means to promote economic growth in rural areas, and may further point them in the direction of not only encouraging the presence of organic operations, but of fostering the development of clusters or hotspots of these operations.

Development of Center for Village Economic Growth: The Case Study of Lombok Barat Regency, Nusa Tenggara Barat Province, Indonesia

This study aims to determine the leading sector or basis sector to be prioritized in developing the center of economic growth in rural areas of Lombok Barat Regency, Nusa Tenggara Barat Province. The method used is Location Quotient (LQ). The analysis result shows that the leading sector in Lombok Barat Regency, where the LQ value is greater than 1 for the period of 2010-2013 were electricity, gas and clean water, construction and services sector, while the others including to non-base sector. During 2010 to 2013 the basis sector in Lombok Barat Regency has changed slightly each year. This is indicated by the decline in productivity in the manufacturing sector in 2012 to 2013, so the sector is no longer become a basis sector in Lombok Barat Regency. However, for the long term, the center of rural economic growth is not only based on one basis sector alone because of the dynamics of development that causes the change. Recently, the Lombok Barat Government prioritizes the tourism sector, so that it can be a leading sector even not becoming a basis in establishing a center of rural economic growth. Refer to the results of the study, we propose the Government of Lombok Regency to prioritize electricity, gas and clean water in developing center of economic growth.

Multi-objective optimization and scenario-based robustness analysis of the MoneyMaker Hip Pump

Water-lifting technologies for irrigation have significant potential to increase agricultural yields and stimulate economic growth in rural areas of the developing world. Human-powered water pumps have been used with great success in this rapidly developing market. KickStart's MoneyMaker Hip Pump is a human-powered water pump with additional design features that make it lightweight and portable for use in remote fields in several countries throughout Africa. This work first applied numerical optimization techniques to the design of the MoneyMaker Hip Pump and offers further improvements to its design. Deterministic multi-objective optimization methods were employed to maximize the flow rate of the pump, maximize the pumping height of water, and minimize cost. Following optimization, the robustness of the optimized pump design was analyzed under several modified scenarios, including fouling of the hoses and a decrease in operator power due to fatigue or aging. The set of cost-optimized pump designs was then compared to a second set of optimal designs that was found using material volume as a simplified proxy for the cost objective function. Findings indicate that several technical improvements can be made to the current MoneyMaker Hip Pump design to reduce cost by up to 37% without affecting water flow rate, or increase water flow rate by up to 88% without increasing cost. The numerical model was validated through physical experimentation of the MoneyMaker Hip Pump, and design alterations to reduce cost were experimentally shown to maintain pump performance.

Agripreneurship- A Way for Women Empowerment in Assam, India

Among various ways of empowering women, agriculture based entrepreneurship viz., agripreneurship is considered to be one of the best options. Assam’s economy is largely rural agrarian, which is characterized by high rate of work participation of women. In this paper, certain potential areas for development of agripreneurship by women in Assam are discussed. The paper describes mushroom production, vermin-compost production and floriculture businesses as some of the agripreneurship ventures through which women can economically empower themselves. Inherent traditional knowledge and self-motivated women must come forward for venturing into the agripreneurship. A SWOC analysis ofwomen agripreneurship in Assam is also given in the paper. A shift from agriculture to agribusiness is an essential pathway to revitalize Indian agriculture and to make it more attractive and profitable venture. Agripreneurship has the potential to contribute to a range of social and economic developments such as employment generation, income generation, poverty reduction and improvements in nutrition, health and overall food security in the national economy. Thus sustainable agripreneurship ventures are seen to have a potential to promote job-led economic growth in rural areas by harnessing technologies for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable development which can provide a decent livelihood. Against the existing scenario and considering that two-thirds of the Indian population is employed (directly or indirectly) in agriculture sector, agripreneurship in Indian agribusiness stands out as an imperative for generating employment in the country

The mapping of rural Serbia according to the index of natural amenities

Amenities are recognized as a new source of comparative advantage of rural areas, which is strategically used for the popularization of the reverse migration flow from urban to rural areas, as well as for enforcing a new development approach defined as the ?rural industrialization?. Climate conditions, topography, forest land and water resources have been identified as the main drivers of the migration flow from urban to rural areas. Additionally, they are highly related to economic growth in rural areas with high natural amenities. The current paper has two aims. The first is to highlight the importance of the concept of rural amenities for economic development, with special emphasis on the natural amenities. The second aim is to describe the concept of natural amenities on the example of rural areas in Serbia by introducing a set of measures of natural amenities, as well as a summary natural amenity index which allows the classification of the rural areas in Serbia with respect to their natural amenities. Natural amenities have a significant influence on the total amenity value of rural areas in Serbia. There are significant differences in climate conditions and landscape amenities among rural areas. The mapping of rural Serbia according to the developed index of natural amenities is only the first necessary step in creating an efficient rural policy for the purpose of ensuring sustainable rural development in the future. Rural areas with high natural amenities in Serbia include Raska, Zlatibor, Moravica, Pcinja, Bor and Toplica.

MARKETING AS A TOOL FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RURAL AREAS DEVELOPMENT

Seeking for the quality of life, attraction of investors, maintenance of existent residents, attraction of new residents or visitors, a great responsibility falls on public organizations in the certain territory, which have interest in the boosting of the territorial attraction and solve the issues of social and economic growth and this is specifically significant in rural areas. The problem of the scientific article – how to increase/boost local social and economic attractiveness in a rural area, following the toolsments, applied in marketing. The purpose of this article – to create a theoretical model for the social and economic rural areas development. The article provides conceptual understanding substantiate by critical theoretical review. The main result of this article is formatted the model of social and economic growth of rural areas.

On a unified theory of development: New institutional economics & the charismatic leader

Rural communities face a number of compelling and specific challenges in relation to economic and social development. Issues such as declining or isolated populations, inadequate technological and commercial infrastructure, and restricted social networks are only some of the difficult challenges which must be overcome by successful development programmes; these challenges often require that unique and innovative development efforts take place. Government and third-party development organisations encourage rural development through community outreach and extension, education and training, social and economic research, and various grants and subsidised community loans. While many development efforts are structured in similar ways, there are varying degrees of success, with some outright failures. The success of a development programme differs even within similar geographies, which adds further complication to the development process. To try to enhance understanding of why this might be, we propose a focus on the role of “institutions”. Institutions are central to many rural development efforts as they offer a place of reference for community members, development researchers, and practitioners to develop a sense of norms and understanding from which to work. Over the past three decades, New Institutional Economics (NIE) has gained prominence in rural development literature through its attempt to understand how institutions allow for an efficient catalyst of economic growth in rural areas. While much advancement in rural development have been made vis-à-vis NIE theory, there is little research on which processes lead to the creation of successful indigenous institutions in rural areas. This paper argues that the creation of local institutions does not happen spontaneously, as understood by NIE theorists; rather, institutions manifest through the natural behaviour of what Max Weber called the charismatic leader. Moreover, it is maintained that the extemporaneous nature of the formation of institutions can be explained by the spontaneous virtues of the charismatic leader. Removing this specific uncertainty from NIE theory and placing it within the domain of local leadership in a rural community context reconciles key social and economic theory – which, ultimately, allows for the exploration and advancement of a unified theory of development.

Importance of regional development programs for the economic growth of rural areas

Article determine the essence of the definition of "region", defined types of regions. In general, we can distinguish four types of regions, formed to implement the tasks under different direction: a) homogeneous regions (formed on the basis of common characteristics – mountain region, economically developed / underdeveloped region and so on.). b) functional regions (formed by determining the basic type of economic activity – touristic region, agricultural region, etc.). c) administrative regions (formed by pre-defined criteria for performing administrative functions in a particular area – district, local council, etc.). d) personal perception regions (based on personal values – Homeland and so on.). The focus of this publication focuses on the study of rural regions. As a result of studies is found that the population of Ukraine decreased by about 7 million Inhabitants. In 1993 there was 52.2 million of people, and in 2016 dropped to 42.7 million (temporary occupied territories excluded). Determined that the most influential factors are the degradation of rural region’s economic and demographic crisis (can be both a cause and consequence of each other). In this regard, the worsening of demographic situation is the biggest problem, because without human resources economic growth can’t be achieved. For more profound understanding of the problem we used the spiral of negative developed of communities/regions proposed by Austrian scientists G. Weber and T. Fisher. It indicates the relationship between adverse events and their sequence. This choice is not accidental, because the spiral indicates that this is a progressive movement that eventually accelerated and the difficulty of stopping the negative processes increases not arithmetically but geometrically. Therefore, developing regional programs of rural development moderators (selected and trained specialists who work in the region) cooperate with the heads of communities and local residents. Thus, they try to form a regional identity, create the region’s brand, develop a regional strategy, promote regional products both within the region and outside, try to make the region attractive for tourist. It is determined that monopolized agricultural production is a significant constraint for the development of rural areas in Ukraine. It is difficult to rely on the development of the community in which most of agricultural lands are used by huge agricultural holdings, which displace locals from the region. Moreover, the government policy in the agricultural sector contributes fully to them and that is disastrous for the state in the long term. For comparison, the average area of agricultural enterprise in Austria is approximately 43 hectares and added value in the region is much higher than in Ukraine. For more effective rural development it is proposed to develop a long-term national development strategy for depressive territories, because preservation of the existing state monopolization strategy will provoke even greater demographic crisis. It is as well necessary to eliminate the corruption risks that are present in all programs financed by public funds. In this regard, it is important that those who make decisions about the allocation of funds were not linked with the beneficiary regions and specific applicants. Keywords: regional development, rural areas, deprived areas, regional development programs, national development strategies

Measuring the Economic Impact of Rural Tourism Membership on Local Economy: A Korean Case Study

The implementation of rural tourism membership can aid in boosting economic growth in rural areas. This study examines households’ preferences for rural tourism experience in association with sales of local agricultural products. Using a choice experiment method developed by experimental designs, this paper examines households’ preferences to trade off purchasing costs of local agricultural products against various benefits provided by the rural tourism membership. The methods utilized in this paper represent an effective approach to evaluate the value of local tourism resources and the influence of these resources on the local economy. In empirical estimation we applied econometric approaches that allow for different preferences by incorporating income and residence effects into the models. Findings reveal that respondents place a premium on tourism attributes such as invitation seats and outdoor adventure tickets when choosing a tourism membership. We also find that the economic impacts associated with inducing higher-level tourism membership are substantial. This paper illustrates the potential for the development of a strategy associated with rural tourism management to enhance the local economy.

TURISMO GASTRONÓMICO Y VINO: ANÁLISIS DE LA OFERTA GASTRONÓMICA Y HOSPEDAJE EN MONTILLA Y MORILES

El turismo es uno de las acciones más enriquecedoras, motivadoras y positivas que realiza el ser humano, y aún más si se enlaza con la gastronomía y el vino. El turismo gastronómico ofrece productos autóctonos, cocina del lugar, hospitalidad, costumbres, festivales, etc., Así pues, el turismo gastronómico se ha convertido en un turismo emergente pero ya consolidado, que satisface en un mayor grado las necesidades que se le plantean hoy en día al consumidor turístico. Esta nueva modalidad de turismo aparece como alternativa al que tradicionalmente se realizaba. Es una de las más demandadas por la sociedad, dando lugar a una gran oportunidad de crecimiento económico en las zonas rurales que gozan de producción vinícola y rica gastronomía. Las Denominaciones de Origen, las bodegas, las materias primas autóctonas forman parte del territorio de una región y conforman un atractivo para el turista. El desarrollo de rutas de vino, actividades implícitas como catas, gastronomía, estancias y experiencias turísticas relacionadas con estas visitas proporciona una fuente de ingresos adicional para el destino, a la vez que suponen una mayor difusión de los municipios y de los territorios. El objetivo de este trabajo se basa en el análisis de la oferta tanto de restauración como de hospedaje existente a lo largo de los municipios de Montilla y Moriles. Del análisis realizado se desprende que el desarrollo del turismo basado en la visita a Montilla y Moriles, vía denominaciones de origen, ruta del vino dependerá en buena medida de la interrelación de los servicios de restauración y hospedaje, las administraciones públicas y entes locales y la comercialización en general de la visita establecida, siendo estos factores tras el análisis realizado, reflejo del alto grado potencial y crecimiento turístico que tiene la región.

Strategic positioning of rural tourism on Stara Planina

Stara Planina has excellent potential for rural tourism development which might be encountered in a small number of mountains in our country. Stara Planina possesses rich biological, geological and cultural heritage. Achieving visible economic effects requires set of activities, support and continuous monitoring of all government levels. By providing tourist services to domestic and foreign tourists, signifcant proft is made. Positive result realization of tourism economy depends on its ability to satisfy visitors needs in the chosen tourism destination. Hence, the aim of this paper is to introduce the strategic positioning of rural tourism as important activity in the feld of tourism. In order to develop tourism in the best possible way, it is necessary to grasp the importance of strong economic growth of rural areas, so this paper thoroughly studies the respondents’ opinion on the basis of ANOVA method and it tries to highlight the strategic directions of rural tourism development on Stara Planina.

A Principal Component Analysis in Switchgrass Chemical Composition

In recent years, bioenergy has become a promising renewable energy source that can potentially reduce the greenhouse emissions and generate economic growth in rural areas. Gaining understanding and controlling biomass chemical composition contributes to an efficient biofuel generation. This paper presents a principal component analysis (PCA) that shows the influence and relevance of selected controllable factors over the chemical composition of switchgrass and, therefore, in the generation of biofuels. The study introduces the following factors: (1) storage days; (2) particle size; (3) wrap type; and (4) weight of the bale. Results show that all the aforementioned factors have an influence in the chemical composition. The number of days that bales have been stored was the most significant factor regarding changes in chemical components due to its effect over principal components 1 and 2 (PC1 and PC2, approximately 80% of the total variance). The storage days are followed by the particle size, the weight of the bale and the type of wrap utilized to enclose the bale. An increment in the number of days (from 75–150 days to 225 days) in storage decreases the percentage of carbohydrates by −1.03% while content of ash increases by 6.56%.

The bittersweet fruits of industrialization in rural China: The cost of environment and the benefit from off-farm employment

While it is widely accepted that industrialization has brought both environmental pollution and economic growth in rural areas of China, very little is known about whether the negative effects of industrial pollution on rural residents have been proportionally offset by positive effects due to improvements in off-farm income. This paper improves our understanding of these tradeoffs by conducting an empirical analysis based on a set of nationwide panel data collected in 2008 and 2012 and covering five provinces, 101 villages, and 2020 households. Evidence is found to suggest that it is not always the case that rural households that are affected by pollution reap the off-farm employment benefits associated with industrialization. Specifically, although industrial pollution incidence is found to be positively related with the level of local off-farm employment, this relationship is statistically insignificant when migrant labor is included. It can be explained as areas that less economically benefited from industrialization tent to have more labors migrated out and the average annual wage income of one migrant labor is much higher than that of local off-farm labor.

Modelling regional policy scenarios in the agri-food sector: a case study of a Spanish region

ABSTRACTThe agri-food industry has several features of great importance for sustainable economic growth in rural areas. The objective of this work is to evaluate the effects associated with different scenarios of growth, and changes in the regional agri-food industry. These scenarios simulate changes in exports and imports, changes in technology and changes in the level of industrial integration. We develop a computable general equilibrium model calibrated for the region. Our results indicate that policies trying to improve the competitiveness and dynamism of strategic sectors as the agro-industrial complex in this regional economy exert positive effects on its growth and income, having notable impacts on local job markets but also in other sectors and activities linked through the whole production chain.

Agricultural credit and economic growth in rural areas

Purpose – In this paper, the authors set out to establish if there is a link between finance and economic growth in rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relation between credit by major lenders in rural areas – commercial banks and Farm Credit System (FCS) institutions – and economic growth for the period 1991-2010. Design/methodology/approach – The motivation for this work comes from empirical studies showing a link between economic development and financial system development as well as from work which highlights the positive role of long-term finance provided by banks. The authors use two alternative panel data sets and fixed effects models to estimate the causal effect of credit supply (with lagged explanatory variables) on agricultural GDP growth per rural resident. Findings – The authors find a positive association between agricultural lending and agricultural GDP growth per rural resident with additional billion in loans (about a third of the actual average) associated with 7-10 percent higher state growth rate with this association stronger during the 1990s. Regional data confirm these results. The results point to a positive link between credit and economic growth in rural areas during that period, attributable to the lending by FCS institutions and by commercial banks. Research limitations/implications – Data availability limits the scope of this paper. The authors use state level balance sheet data available for the 1991-2003 period and annual data for 2003-2010 period. An additional regional data set is constructed for 1991-2010 with more aggregated data for the ten USDA agricultural production regions. The small number of panels limits the ability to use more sophisticated econometric models and the choice of dependent variables that captures economic growth. Practical implications – By provides evidence that agricultural finance and in particular lending contribute significantly to the growth of US agriculture, this paper contributes to the policy debate on weather support for agricultural finance initiatives is justified. Originality/value – The authors are not aware of another study that has linked agricultural lending by commercial banks and FCS institutions to growth in rural areas in the USA.

Sustainable Financial Services for a Developing Rural Economy: Establishing Needs and Prospects for Growth through Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)

Financial exclusion of poor in rural areas of a developing country such as India is a major bottleneck in generating economic growth. The study suggests that building micro-finance institutional network would mitigate the effects of financial exclusions to a great extent and help generate economic growth in rural areas and in particular the marginal and poor villagers who are entrepreneurial but lack the wherewithal.

Broadband׳s contribution to economic growth in rural areas: Moving towards a causal relationship

This paper uses recent data on both broadband availability and adoption to empirically gauge the contribution of broadband to the economic growth of rural areas of the United States over the past decade. Availability data from the National Broadband Map aggregated to county level is used in conjunction with county-level adoption data from Federal Communication Commission. Economic variables of interest include median household income, number of firms with paid employees, total employed, percentage in poverty, and the percentage of employees classified as either creative class or non-farm proprietors. A propensity score matching technique (between a “treated” group associated with various broadband thresholds and a control group) is used to make preliminary causal statements regarding broadband and economic health. Growth rates between 2001 and 2010 for different economic measures are tested for statistical differences between the treated and non-treated groups, restricting the analysis to non-metropolitan counties. Results suggest that high levels of broadband adoption in rural areas positively (and potentially causally) impacted income growth between 2001 and 2010, and negatively influenced unemployment growth. Similarly, low levels of broadband adoption in rural areas lead to declines in the number of firms and total employment numbers in the county. Broadband availability measures (as opposed to adoption) demonstrate only limited impacts, suggesting that future broadband policies should be more demand-oriented.

China's Pro-Poor Growth: Measurement and Implications

ABSTRACT. Pro-poor growth has been the preeminent strategic framework of the international development community because it describes relationships between growth, inequality, and poverty. Assessing whether economic growth and income distributional changes are “pro-poor” has important policy implications and has become increasingly widespread in academic and policy societies. The article aims to measure the pro-poor growth in rural China from 1989 to 2009 through analyzing the household survey data collected by the China Health and Nutrition Survey. Among the main findings, from 1989 to 2006, China's economic growth in rural areas was relatively weakly pro-poor and poverty reduction mainly relied on the “trickle-down effect” of economic growth. However, since 2006, both the “trickle-down effect” of growth and changes in income distribution have reduced poverty. During this period, Chinese economic growth was pro-poor. Research on pro-poor growth based on more comprehensive data is urgently needed to advise policymakers to make relevant policies.