Primary Agricultural Products Research Articles

How to increase production performance of Slovak agricultural companies: The key task of supporting innovative work behavior and information sharing

The goal of this paper is to test the hypothesis of positive correlation between the innovative work behavior (IWB) support on the part of agricultural managers and the production performance of agricultural companies, mediated through information sharing in the companies. The research was performed on a sample of 175 companies of primary agricultural production in Slovakia. All data was analysed using the SPSS version 22.0 software package. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to assess the internal consistency of scales reliability. The Baron and Kenny mediator model was also used. The hypothesis was confirmed by the research. Complete mediation was identified where up to 91.6% of the overall effect is mediated through the sharing of the information variable. The practical implications of the research point out that the transparency of communication and support of innovations introduce positive effects in relation to the performance of agricultural companies. The IWB support is a predictor of production performance of agricultural companies. However, it does not have a clear effect; the effects of other factors are important. The IWB support positively affects the production performance of companies through the sharing of information between the managers and the employees, which becomes an important tool of innovative management. Agricultural cooperatives and joint stock companies can profit less significantly from the IWB support through the sharing of information than limited liability companies. The effect of IWB support on the production performance of cooperatives in natural expression shows statistically less significant impact.

Risks in the agriculture industry

The agriculture industry is characterized by a high degree of risk. This has always been the case, but in recent years, there has been a trend toward increasing the danger. Every agricultural organization's strategic management must include the capacity to identify hazards early and effectively manage them. The method and results of a questionnaire study targeted at the presence of risk factors and risk management measures in primary agricultural production businesses in Slovakia are presented in this article. The poll focuses on the risk's unique characteristics. According to the survey's findings, Slovakian farmers consider price risk, output or income risk to be the most significant risk factors, and diversity to be the most essential risk management technique. The most significant positive connections were discovered between the size of the land and the significance of price risk perception, as well as between the number of years in office and the importance of price risk perception. The legal form of company was shown to have a strong positive connection with output or income risk. The risk perception of self-employed farmers was assessed as the most significant factor.

Effect of the Belt and Road Initiative on Agricultural Value Chain Linkages: Evidence from Eora 26 Input-Output Data

The Belt and Road Initiative（BRI）aims to create a new paradigm of China’s opening-up. Using the input-output data from Eora 26 database from 1995 to 2015, this paper measures the agricultural value chain linkages（AVCL）by fun-tuning the cross-border times indicator, examines the policy effect of the BRI on AVCL, and analyzes the potential mechanism and heterogeneity of the policy effect. We find that the implementation of the BRI has significantly promoted the AVCL between China and economies along the Belt and Road from the perspectives of both value-added outflow and inflow, which is confirmed by a series of effectiveness checks. The heterogeneous effect analysis suggests that economies along the overland Silk Road and in areas adjacent to China get stronger AVCL promotion, and the policy effect is significant for economies with low political and investment risks, but not in those with high political and investment risks. We also explore the potential interference effect of free trade agreements（FTA）using triple difference models, which indicates that the AVCL promotion effect of the BRI is robustly significant, but FTA partner countries get stronger AVCL promotion. Also, we find that the policy effect of the BRI on AVCL is mainly achieved by reducing agricultural trade costs and extending agricultural production lengths. The above results have important policy implications: First, under the existing cooperation mechanism, it is necessary to formulate advanced agricultural cooperation agreements, and the quasi-public goods role of BRI should be fully utilized in the field of international food security and high-quality agricultural development. Second, China can take advantage of its own agricultural production capacity, identify the heterogeneity of the target market, distinguish the comparative advantages of different markets in the cooperation of primary agricultural products, agricultural semi-finished products, and agricultural capital products, take into account the political environment and business operations of different markets, and formulate differentiated agricultural cooperation policies. Third, countries along the Belt and Road should promote cooperation in the fields of cross-border e-commerce, agricultural product inspection, and construction of agricultural industrial parks, so as to reduce the cost of cross-border agricultural trade and extend the cross-border agricultural value chains.

COMPETITIVENESS OF EXPORT AGRO PRODUCTS AND ECONOMIC POLICY FOR INCREASINGTHE COMPETITIVENESS

Agriculture plays a major role in ensuring the country›s food security, improving the balance of payments and strengthening state independence. Increasing the production of agricultural products increases the national income of the country, creates additional jobs and more. Competitive export production should play a major role in boosting agricultural production, as it has to be competitive in the international markets.The article analyzes the competitiveness of Georgian export agro products and the export-import of agro products. It should be noted that imports of primary agricultural products over the years have significantly outstripped exports, mainly due to the low volume of production of these products and the weak competitiveness of the sector relative to foreign producers. Competitiveness should be enhanced not by imposing barriers on imports, but by enhancing the competitiveness of locally produced products. That is why has been studied the main directions of economic policy for increasing the competitiveness by the example of Israel. Israel uses the theory and principles of knowledge-based economics to increase the innovation potential of the economy and enhance its competitiveness in general. In this study export agro products are identified by the following parameters: tendencies in export, stock reserves at the end of the year, resources, local production, average yield and self-provision coefficients. Thus, we assessed the competitiveness of corn/wine, nuts, potatoes, vegetables, wheat. Competitiveness level is calculated for selected Georgian agro products based on the received FAO data. The level of competitiveness of agro-food products was compared with each other on two markets: The European Union market (EU market) and the Commonwealth of Independent States market (CIS market). The product›s competitiveness level is calculated using the following indexes: Relative Export Advantage Index (RXA), Relative Import Penetration Index (RMP) and Relative Trade Advantage Index (RTA).The paper concludes that a high level of competitiveness in the international trade from Georgian agro products has nuts and wine. In addition, it is interesting that on CIS markets Georgian agro-food products have higher competitiveness than on the EU market. Also, on CIS markets competitive are potatoes and vegetables. Data analysis has shown that Georgian wine has far higher competitiveness on the CIS market than on the EU market. In recent years, the volume of Georgian wine exports to Russia has increased, which has been reflected in competitiveness indices. Consequently, the competitiveness of Georgian wine is increasing in the CIS market, while maintaining relative stability in the EU market. Also, Georgian nuts has far higher competitiveness on the EU market than on the CIS market. Conclusions are made according to the identified problems and the recommendations are offered on the directions of economic policies for increasing the competitiveness of agro-food products. It is important to identify agro-food products on the threshold of competitiveness in international trade in order to concentrate further resources and efforts on them, which will increase export volumes in the future. It is advisable to create a stable regulatory environment and increase the awareness of the Georgian agro-food product in international level.

From biomedical to politico-economic crisis: the food system in times of Covid-19

ABSTRACT The Covid-19 disease is quickly developing into a deep, global and enduring politico-economic crisis that involves a rapid disarticulation of the production, processing, distribution and consumption of food. The badly balanced world market and the high degree of financialization of both primary agricultural production and food chains are decisive factors in this. The crisis highlights that the real economy is far too dependent on the financial economy. Financial capital operates as a paralyzing force. In this situation food sovereignty, peasant agriculture, territorial markets and agroecology emerge as indispensable ingredients for a recovery.

Power, supply chain integration and quality performance of agricultural products: evidence from contract farming in China

Improving the quality of agricultural products is crucial for facilitating sustainable agricultural development. One widely embraced approach is contract farming, which generates guarantees—necessary for sustaining the continuous operations of vulnerable farmers—while enabling manufacturers to manage the aggregate supply chain risks and prices. Although management researchers have investigated power and quality performance issues between organisations, few have examined their impact on contract farming. This paper extends the literature by examining the relationships between power, supply chain integration and the quality performance of agricultural products, from the perspectives of farm households and agribusiness companies in contract farming. This study proposes and empirically examines a model, applying survey data from 78 agricultural companies and 321 peasant householders in China. The results show that different types of power have different effects on contract farming. In particular, non-economic power significantly and positively affects supply chain integration. Its impact on process coordination is greater than its impact on information sharing. The effect of economic power on supply chain integration is different from the binary perspective. These findings have positive theoretical and practical significance for agribusiness and will help farmers to improve the quality of primary agricultural products and achieve sustainable agricultural development.

The impacts of dietary change in Finland: food system approach

This study examined what kind of policy instruments and actions are needed for sustainable dietary change and how a large-scale dietary change would impact the climate, thus analysing the economic impacts of transitioning from animal-based diets to alternative plant-based diets. The transition would require the support of horizontal measures that can be implemented throughout the food system. Shifting the emphasis toward the drivers of food demand and consumption will increase the role of new policy instruments and the actors involved in the food system. Collaborative research between environmental and nutritional sciences with economics and policy analysis is necessary to link nutritional health and environmental objectives with economic and social impacts. Less resource-demanding diets would reduce the impact from the food system and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Drastic changes in diets and food consumption in Finland would have an impact on primary agricultural production, but the output from the food processing industry would only be slightly affected. However, a successful transition would involve considerable investments in the agricultural and food industry.

Economic aspects of vermicompost production in southern Serbia

Given the accelerated technical and technological development in the field of agricultural production of the 21st century, which aims to increase production quantitatively, the quality of primary agricultural products is in many cases unfairly neglected. This has directly aroused consumer awareness of the inevitable transition to purchasing products from alternative production methods (self-produced "healthy food", organic food production). For these reasons, the consumer alternative is to switch to environmentally friendly and health-safe products obtained from agricultural production and to use them in the future. A very promising product of this kind in the Republic of Serbia is vermicompost. Vermicompost is widely used in primary agricultural production: fruits and vegetables, mushroom production, horticulture, nurseries, green areas, parks, green sports fields, and in all segments of organic plant production. The benefits that farmers have from using vermicompost are a prerequisite for this product to be marketed in Serbia. This paper describes the benefits for both vermicompost manufacturers and consumers and the wider community.

ЗОВНІШНЬОЕКОНОМІЧНА БЕЗПЕКА АГРАРНОГО СЕКТОРУ В КОНТЕКСТІ ЗОВНІШНЬОТОРГОВЕЛЬНОЇ ДИФЕРЕНЦІАЦІЇ

The article highlights the need to develop effective mechanisms for guaranteeing the foreign economic security of agricultural enterprises due to the increase in their foreign trade activity. The share of agricultural exports in the structure of national exports is key, which confirms the feasibility of relevant research. In this case, the question of the quality of export activity becomes relevant not only due to the increase in value volumes but also given its content. Therefore, the problem of the high share of primary agricultural products in the export of agricultural products is problematic, which precedes the problem of forming the characteristics of the domestic agricultural sector as a resource with a low level of added value. The article examines the relationship between the state of foreign economic security of the agricultural sector with the commodity and geographical differentiation of foreign trade. The problem of insufficient commodity differentiation is problematic because to a greater extent domestic agricultural exports are represented by goods of plant origin. Moreover, the basis of exports of crop products are cereals and oilseeds. This state of affairs forms a position of high dependence on trends in foreign markets and fluctuations in demand for these types of crops, which precedes the existence of problems of foreign economic security of the agricultural sector in general and enterprises in particular. Instead, the situation of geographical differentiation has positive characteristics due to the balancing of priorities in trade relations. Despite the European integration path of Ukraine's development, the degree of dependence on fluctuations in demand in EU markets is within the norm. Positive is the destruction of the established approach to the priority of cooperation with the Russian Federation and the acquisition of new markets for agricultural products. The effectiveness of this kind of change in geographical differentiation is confirmed by the positive balance of export-import activity. However, it is worth noting the negative trends in terms of imports. For example, with minimal exports to the United States, we have huge volumes of imports. A mechanism of a certain kind of "structural isolation" should be formed, which would determine the limits of expediency of interstate cooperation in the sense of trade in agricultural products, based on efficiency indicators.

Ekonomske performanse agroindustrije u AP Vojvodini

The paper aims to review and analyze the important economic performance of the agro-industry in AP Vojvodina, to identify the challenges it faces and to propose guidelines for further development. The results indicate that the state of the primary agricultural sector of AP Vojvodina is unsatisfactory. Low level of specialization of households and low average possession are key factors behind the sector's lag. The economic size of agricultural holdings is relatively small with an average of around € 8,953.3, and about three times smaller than in the EU-28. The food industry has a significant share of GDP and has a surplus in foreign trade. The downside is that imports are increasing disproportionately to exports of agri-food products. The food industry recorded a decline in the observed period (2018/2017), both at the Republic and provincial levels, by 2.3% and 4.8%, respectively. Increasing investments, ensuring more stable market conditions and higher subsidies to primary agricultural production with the transfer of new technologies and introducing quality standards would contribute to the stabilization and better economic performance of the primary, implicit and food sectors.

Market transformations in agriculture and expanding export opportunities

The article examines the process of diversification the agriculture, as well as the possibilities of developing production and increasing the export potential of horticulture, viticulture and vegetable growing in the Namangan region of Uzbekistan. Difficulties remain in the delivery of products to distant consumers. Storage capacities, despite their accelerated expansion, are not yet sufficient for long-term storage of products in large volumes, which forces the manufacturer to sell their products at low prices and strengthens the seasonal nature of production and the imbalance between supply and demand on the market (5). Unfortunately, the measures taken to develop the industry so far practically do not provide for the abolition of the traditionally established monopsony in the market for the sale of primary agricultural products, and this significantly reduces their effect. The decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On measures to further ensure the food security of the country” clearly outlined further actions necessary to fully meet the demand of the population for high-quality food products available to the population (2). The measures taken in recent years have made it possible to achieve these results. In 2017, in the framework of the implementation of the Strategy measures of priority directions for the development of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the country created 13 thousand hectares of intensive orchards and 7.3 hectares of vineyards, reconstructed 15.4 thousand hectares of orchards and 9 thousand hectares of vineyards, performed 147 projects in the field of processing fruits, vegetables and meat worth a total of $ 147 million.

The transformation of agricultural counseling to the management of innovation in order to strengthen food security in the Kabupaten Dairi

Many efforts by the government to achieve self-sufficient national bread including primary agricultural products, price subsidy fertilizer subsidy other, and factors of production inputs construction of irrigation infrastructure and transportation.Research and development counseling continued to push ( sumardjo, national food security 1999 ).According to leagans in puspadi ( 2003 ) extension role facilitate people in, learning activities that is not only in the education and ensure the adoption of new innovations, but also change the community perspective and encouraged them to improve life. Thus extension in the role of food security program in the area is very important, because as a communicator, extension the facilitator and motivator very closely related to efforts to repair, knowledge skill and. manners of societySyahyuti ( 2016 ) noted other than institutional challenges there are some things that requires agricultural extension services changed, among other things a challenge from the side of the condition of agroekologi is that counseling should be able to respond to the needs of the technology that relies heavily on different, agroekologi zone that no longer the same as in the green revolution. This report is written with a qualitative approach .Design research is a case study , by a unit analysis balai agricultural counseling .This study will design model transformation balai agricultural counseling who able to perform in the management of innovation in order to strengthen food security national .Programs established agricultural counseling the kecamatan level , bpp as the agricultural information facility , institutional development at the bpp farmers , bpp function as a place for training overall in kabupaten dairi in the category of good

Cancer Mortality among Agricultural Workers in the Midwest Region of Brazil

TPS 791: Occupational health 1, Exhibition Hall, Ground floor, August 26, 2019, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Background/Aim: Brazil ranks among the top 5 agricultural exporting countries of the world and also has been leading pesticides use in the last years. The Midwest region is of particular interest because it has experienced vast agricultural land expansion and economy development due to primary agricultural products, such as soybean exportation. This study focused on association between pesticide use in Midwestern Brazil and cancer outcomes. Research has focused on agricultural workers due to their occupational exposure to pesticides. Methods: An ecological study approach investigated mortality rates in solid tumors that included esophageal, stomach and prostate cancer and the hematologic cancers non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and leukemia amongst agricultural workers aged 15 or older and older. The study analyzed exposure and mortality data extracted from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and the Mortality Information System (SIM/DATASUS), for the years 1996 to 2016. Results: Mortality odds ratios (MOR) showed that agricultural workers in the Midwest region had significantly higher odds of dying from esophageal cancer (MOR: 1.97; 95% CI: 1.80-2.17), stomach cancer (MOR: 1.42; 95%CI: 1.32-1.54) and prostate cancer (MOR: 1.47; 95% CI: 1.38-1.57) compared to non-agricultural workers. Esophageal cancer odds ratio was the highest among agricultural workers in the state of Goiás compared to non-agricultural workers (MOR: 2.37; 95% CI 2.05-2.73). Calculated MORs for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was only significantly higher for male agricultural workers in Goias (MOR: 1.32; 95% CI: 1.32) and leukemia did not show statistically significant results. Conclusions: Association between pesticides exposure data and risk of cancer was observed on agricultural workers in Midwestern Brazil, although addressing causal cancer development requires further research on the multiple risk factors to establish further evidence of the detrimental health effects this can cause on agricultural workers exposed to high levels of pesticides.

Prospects and challenges of agro-industry in Bangladesh: An agripreneur view

Agriculture sector plays an important role in overall economic development of Bangladesh. A plurality of Bangladeshis earns their living from agriculture. Agriculture is the largest employment sector in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a fertile agrarian country where agriculture and its related branches have been acting as the main livelihood of major portion of citizen since independence. Agro-industry is playing increasingly important role in achieving sustainable development goal as well as faster economic growth in many developing countries like Bangladesh. To meet the domestic food demand and to create self-employment, young generation has diverted their profession to this potential sector by being an agripreneur. Considering the prospect and challenges of agro-industry, it is evident that agro-industry friendly attitude of the government as well as essential policies are necessary for the development and growth of this sector. Vibrant agro-industrial activities can expand the markets for primary agricultural products, add value by vertically integrating primary production and food processing system and minimize post harvest losses. With few exceptions, the agro-industrial sector of Bangladesh remains elementary, underdeveloped and largely without significant institutional, technical and financial support. However, the present study focuses on identifying the problems and prospects of agripreneurship in Bangladesh and the researchers also endeavored to provide some suggestions for the sustainable agripreneurship development. Key words: Entrepreneur, agripreneur, agri-business, agro-Industry, Bangladesh.

Chemical characterization and antioxidant properties of products and by-products from Olea europaea L.

The products and by‐products of Olea europaea L.: olive fruits (primary agricultural product), oils (primary agro‐industrial product), pomaces (agro‐industrial processing by‐product), and leaves (agricultural practices by‐product), are promising sources of bioactive compounds. In the present study, qualitative and quantitative analyses of selected bioactive components in olive fruits, oils, and pomaces were performed. Total polyphenol content and antioxidant activity were analyzed in all samples (humid pomaces 2015: TPP, 26.0 ± 1.5–43.7 ± 3.0 g(GAEq)/kg DW; TEAC/ABTS, 189.5 ± 3.7–388.1 ± 12.0 mmol(Trx)kg DW). Radical (DPPH) quenching potential was analyzed via photometric and EPR methods, obtaining Vis/EPR signal ratio by 1.05 ± 0.45 and 1.66 ± 0.39 for fruits and pomaces, respectively. Through HPLC‐UV and HPLC‐MS/MS techniques, oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol, as well as selected hydroxycinnamic acids and flavonoids, were identified and quantified in olive fruits and pomaces. The main components were rutin, luteolin, and chlorogenic acid. Cytotoxic assay on fibroblast cells revealed toxic effects for selected extracts at highest tested concentrations (5%).

From Farm to Fork: Assessing the Sustainability of Traditional Culinary Preparations to Promote Healthy and Sustainable Diets in Chile’s Metropolitan Region (P03-005-19)

ObjectivesThe high prevalences of ultra-processed foods and obesity in Chile, with increasing climate change, signal an urgent need for novel analyses to characterize sustainable diets. Therefore, the study objective was to describe the sustainability of 24 highly consumed and liked traditional Chilean culinary preparations (dishes) as perceived by those in the Metropolitan Region (RM). MethodsPre-existing methods on documenting traditional food systems were adapted, and combined with the FAO’s 5 criteria for sustainable diets (culture, nutrition, environment, physical, and economic access). In 2018, 40 individual semi-structured interviews were done by an ethnographer/anthropologist, 8 per age (25–45 y, 45–64 y, > 65 y) or ethnic (first nations or not) group. Each interview involved tasks about 24 traditional dishes (card sort exercises per sustainable diet criteria; and brief surveys to assess diet and taste preferences), was recorded, and transcribed. Based on the positive associations between a dish and the 5 sustainable diet criteria, an average sustainability score (0–100%) was calculated by dish. ATLAS.ti v. 8.3.1 was used to conduct the study analyses. ResultsThe traditional dishes identified as the most sustainable were: fruits (91%); salads (90%); scrambled eggs with tomato/onion (82%); vegetable soup (78%), and legumes (78%). With fish soup (52%), shredded beef (48%) and empanadas (39%) as the least sustainable. Of the 5 sustainable diet criteria, the environment dimension was the most difficult for participants to think about in relation to diet, and thus, verbally expound upon. Two-thirds of participants thought that no dish produced any environmental impact. Others erroneously confused environmental impact with health problems or with household contamination from cooking fried foods. The livestock and fishing industries were often cited as having negative environmental impacts. ConclusionsChileans in the RM can identify traditional dishes, largely based on primary agricultural products that are both healthy and sustainable. The finding that many lacked an understanding of how diet may be linked to the concept of sustainability; and more specifically, to environmental impacts signals an important need for more education and awareness regarding how sustainability relates to diet. Funding SourcesCONICYT-FONDECYT Initiation Project.

Quality control of a four-echelon agri-food supply chain with multiple strategies

Current research into the supply chain coordination problem of product quality focuses mainly on the two-echelon supply chain, and most coordination models neglect the demand relationship between quantity and quality. Even in a direct sale pattern, an agri-food supply chain involves at least four actors, and the contract between different actors may be different. Here, we present a four-echelon agri-food supply chain that consists of one agricultural producer, one processing enterprise, one distributor, and many consumers. We also analyze the quality decision of each actor based on Stackelberg game theory and develop a combined multiple strategy (profit sharing, quality commitment, and risk sharing) for coordinating quality control in the agri-food supply chain. The results show that these strategies affect quality control at the level of the processing enterprise; however, only the profit-sharing strategy and a quality commitment to consumers affect the product quality from agricultural producers. Product quality is not associated with the profit-sharing contract between the processing enterprise and the distributor. Thus, the quality commitment to consumers is the only way for a processing enterprise to control the food market price. Furthermore, enforcing and enhancing this quality commitment to consumers by the processing enterprise will improve the quality of primary agricultural products and food.

Linking physical water consumption with virtual water consumption: Methodology, application and implications

Physical water consumption (PW) in economic sectors are linked with virtual water consumption (VW) embodied in the supply chain of commodities. It is important to quantitatively assess PW and VW in economic sectors and understand interconnections between them for supporting water resources management. Here, we applied an IO framework to analyse how the PW is linked to the VW from both production and consumption perspectives. A water scarce region consisting of Ganzhou, Linze, and Gaotai counties (GLG) in the Heihe river basin in China is used as a case study. The agricultural sector is broken down into seven sub-sectors represented by individual major crops. From production perspective, the results show that the agricultural sector accounted for 98.1% of total PW, which can be divided into 79.0% of final demand driven water consumption and 21% of intermediate demand driven water consumption. From consumption perspective, the VW of all the sub-sectors in the agricultural sector was largely attributed to the direct VW. The sector “Food and tobacco processing” (the downstream of the agricultural sector) has the largest indirect VW among all the sectors. Most PW in GLG was used to produce the low value added primary agricultural products to fulfil the final demand (VW) outside GLG. The results suggest that the water resources management in arid regions should guide the restructuring of economy from increasing agricultural production to increasing the economic value of the embodied virtual water, and reducing the export of the virtual water from the low economic value products.

Foreign direct investment and local supplier upgrading – the case of grocery retail in Turkey

ABSTRACTForeign direct investments (FDIs) are noted as an important cross-border channel for knowledge. Thus, expanding companies can contribute to local supplying companies’ capability development, an important precondition for upgrading processes. Several transnational grocery retailers have expanded globally and introduced modern supply chain management practices to markets of emerging and developing countries. However, agri-food industries are under-researched regarding FDI-induced knowledge transfer and supplier upgrading. Based on qualitative interviews with both retailers and suppliers in the emerging market of Turkey, this article discusses the upgrading processes of fresh food suppliers driven by the FDI of grocery retailers. This article shows how the foreign retailers’ fresh fruit and vegetable supply structures have evolved towards the preferences of suppliers that vertically integrate value chain functions. Within this dynamic, transnational retailers proactively shape their suppliers and promote (functional) upgrading. The findings imply that (1) local regulatory environments should foster local sourcing and (2) the way for suppliers to work towards a solid value chain positioning is to fully integrate supply chain functions including agricultural primary production. This article argues that integrating low value-adding functions can be a type of functional upgrading that has not yet been acknowledged.

Relationship between MODIS EVI and LAI across time and space

The Leaf Area Index (LAI) is used as input in hydrological and bio-chemical models for the estimation of water-cycle characteristics, agricultural primary production and other processes. Vegetation Indices (VIs) are used to monitor vegetation state and health. Considering that easily computed VIs can be used for the estimation of LAI, this study applied a regression analysis between MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and LAI data in five sites around the world. A linear model was found to provide a good description of the LAI–EVI relationship across all examined vegetation types and times. Medium accuracy models were improved when variability of time and vegetation type were considered, indicating that these parameters highly affect the LAI–EVI relationship. Sensitivity of EVI to LAI was higher in periods of high biomass production. Regression analysis between LAI–EVI showed a stronger relationship for the study sites characterized by dry and warm tropical climatic conditions.