Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural exports

The COVID-19 outbreak has shocked the world's economies in the year of 2020. As this pandemic spreads around the globe, many experts feared that the global food supplies might start running short, especially if supply chains were disrupted. COVID-19 also added to the uncertainty of the business operation. Therefore, it is critical to understand how COVID-19 pandemic affected global food supply and market. In this study, we investigate the impact of COVID-19 on agricultural export companies in China using a unique firm-level survey data. We found that although on average agricultural businesses experienced declines in the exports, exports of some agricultural products especially grain and oil held strong and even increased, implying the essential demand for staple food during the pandemic. Not surprisingly, exports of medicinal herb also increased significantly during the pandemic. However, exports of goods such as edible fungus and horticultural products sharply decreased. Our results also showed that in general, impact of COVID-19 on smaller firms was more severe than that on larger firms. The results of this study can provide useful guidance and implications for agricultural businesses and policy makers on their COVID-19 mitigation efforts to navigate this global pandemic.     

Food access and pro-poor value chains: a community case study in the central highlands of Peru

Pro-poor value chains intend to integrate smallholding farmers into high value markets to contribute to poverty alleviation and food security. Although income benefits of pro-poor value chains have been found, scant evidence exists regarding the potential for these markets to enhance food security. This study focuses on components of food access—dietary diversity, physical and financial access, and social acceptability—among households that participate in pro-poor value chains and non-participating households in the central highlands of Peru where development interventions have created high value market niches for the native potato varieties that smallholding farmers have conserved for thousands of years. Using a mixed methods approach, this study assessed dietary diversity among households that participate and do not participate in pro-poor value chains, as well as their perceptions of their food access. Findings indicated that households that participate in value chains have higher dietary diversity than non-participating households but that these differences are likely due to pre-existing differences in socioeconomic status rather than any causal effect provided by value chains. The study also concluded that while participation in pro-poor value chains sometimes enhance the purchasing power of participating households, they may also weaken financial access, important for both purchasing food and travel to make those purchases. Community perspectives also indicated concerns with the acceptability of diets, which cannot likely be comprehensively addressed by pro-poor value chains. Collectively, the findings from this study cast doubt on the assumption that a linear flow exists between pro-poor value chains and enhanced food access.     

Farmers’ strategies as building block for rethinking sustainable intensification

Agricultural intensification, now commonly referred to as sustainable intensification, is presented in development discourse as a key means to simultaneously improve food security and reduce rural poverty without harming the environment. Taking a village in Laos as a case study, we show how government agencies and farmers could perceive the idea of agricultural intensification differently. The study illustrates how farmers with the opportunities for groundwater use typically choose to grow vegetables and high valued cash crops rather than intensify rice production. This contrasts with government and donor supported efforts to promote rice intensification as a means to increase food security and reduce rural poverty. The article’s main message is that farmers’ differing strategies are related to a variety of household characteristics and that farmers’ strategies should be central to the current discussion on sustainable intensification.     

Paths out of poverty

正Introduction Ending poverty in all its forms everywhere is the first Sustainable Development Goal(SDG) of the United Nations(2021a). Progress towards this goal has varied but also been fruitful. Between 1990 and 2015, over a billion people were lifted out of extreme poverty(World Bank 2018). From 36% of the population under extreme poverty in 1990 to 10% in 2015(United Nations 2021b).     

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情对我国粮食产业的影响分析

新型冠状病毒肺炎（以下简称“新冠肺炎”）疫情对我国粮食生产和人民生活造成了不同程度的影响。为推动粮食生产有序开展，保障粮食安全，分析了新冠肺炎疫情对我国粮食产业发展的影响。分析发现，疫情之下农业用工难、农资供应紧张、传统的技术下乡服务停滞、跨区耕作受阻，加之今年病虫害呈重发态势，国际形势也更加复杂多变，稳定粮食生产的压力和挑战加大。建议将粮食安全当成“头等大事”来抓，支持春耕生产和双季稻面积恢复，保障重要物资运输通道畅通，开展多形式农业科技服务，健全国内、国外两个市场预警机制，构建新型粮食生产支持体系，进一步保障我国粮食安全生产。     

新时期我国农村扶贫模式新思考

在新时期扶贫工作已进入解决和巩固温饱并重的阶段,在建设社会主义新农村的大背景下,扶贫工作迎来了新的机遇和挑战.如何使扶贫工作与建设社会主义新农村相结合、相衔接,如何改进目前的扶贫方式使扶贫工作与建设社会主义新农村相辅相成,更大限度的发挥扶贫资金的效用,早日消除贫困现象,使贫困地区的农村成为社会主义新农村,是目前值得研究的新课题.     

Panic buying? Food hoarding during the pandemic period with city lockdown

Food hoarding is prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic. To investigate the mechanism of urban consumers' food hoarding behaviors, we categorize hoarding motives into rational and irrational ones. Using random online survey samples from three cities in China, we employ the multivariate probit model to investigate the rational and irrational motives on food hoarding behavior. Our results confirmed the existence of both rational and irrational food hoarding, and also found factors attributing to the different buying behaviors. The amount of food at hand and the expectation on the infection possibility of COVID-19 are two major factors affecting rational hoarding. Bad mood and herd psychology are factors contributing to panic buying. This study provides an empirical evidence to support intervention policies aiming at mitigating panic buying behavior.     

后疫情时代粮食安全现状、问题和对策

为探究后疫情时代我国粮食市场受国际联动效应的影响,切实保障疫情常态化下我国的粮食安全,从粮食供应角度,对疫情爆发以来的粮食安全现状进行了回顾,并对新时期粮食安全存在的问题展开分析,通过借鉴主要国家粮食安全的战略举措,提出保障我国粮食安全的政策措施和策略建议。结果表明:1)总体上,我国粮食安全发展是有保障的,但要高度重视全球粮食市场波动的潜在风险和挑战。2)针对全球疫情大流行的发展态势和我国粮食安全的现存问题,建议从监测预警、稳产保供、提质增效、加强国际政策协调、畅通全球供应渠道五方面综合施策。     

就业援助是农村扶贫战略调整的应有取向

本文分析了我国农村扶贫战略先后经历的从救济式扶贫、区域开发式扶贫,向整村推进扶贫、最低生活保障制度扶贫的转变的局限性,认为当前农村扶贫战略应朝就业援助方向调整,并提出从"上游"、"中游"、"下游"三个维度实施就业援助政策措施。     

Are social embeddedness associated with food risk perception under media coverage?

Traceability system has received wide attention in solving food safety issues, via which food information could be tracked back to producer/farmers. Consumers need to obtain this information from producers or social networks, trust in the information,and consequently assess perceived risks, especially when food scandals are exposed to the media. In this study, we introduce the social embeddedness theory to understand how consumers' social activities affect their risk perceptions on traceable food. Specifically, we investigate how risk perceptions are predicted by the interpersonal relationships, organizational level and social-level relationships. Results show that the interpersonal relationships were associated with lower levels of risk perceptions, while organizational and social relationships impacted consumer's risk perceptions at middle and higher levels,respectively. Results also show that the "ripple effect" extended to effect of risk events with negative information, however,did not exist for the group exposed to positive information. Potential food safety implications have been proposed to identify for effective risk mitigation under media coverages.     

Community food security: Practice in need of theory?

Practitioners and advocates of community food security (CFS) envision food systems that are decentralized, environmentally-sound over a long time-frame, supportive of collective rather than only individual needs, effective in assuring equitable food access, and created by democratic decision-making. These themes are loosely connected in literature about CFS, with no logical linkages among them. Clear articulation in a theoretical framework is needed for CFS to be effective as a guide for policy and action. CFS theory should delimit the level of analysis (i.e., what are the boundaries of community); show how CFS relates to individual, household, and national food security and explain emergent properties, which are important at the community level of analysis; point to the best indicators of CFS or its lack; clarify the determinants of CFS; and clarify the stages of movement toward CFS. This theoretical base would allow researchers to develop valid and reliable measures, and allow practitioners to weigh alternative options to create strategic plans. A theoretical base also would help establish common ground with potential partners by making the connections to anti-hunger work, sustainable agriculture, and community development clear.     

食品产业高质量发展研究——来自江西的实践

食品工业是国民经济的重要支柱产业,食品产业高质量发展不仅事关全民福祉,也有利于培育经济增长新动能和助力经济社会高质量发展。本文以江西省为例,采用质性研究方法,分析当前食品产业的现实基础和存在问题,探索食品产业高质量发展的实施路径和支持政策。研究表明,近年来食品产业的发展规模得到显著提升,食品安全法律法规体系和监管制度在逐渐完善,市场监管力度和技术创新实力在不断加强,绿色产业链条在不断健全。但仍存在食品产业链条不强、食品出口竞争力不强、食品安全监管有待提升等问题。为促进食品产业高质量发展,提出了优化食品产业结构布局、加强食品产业科技创新、提升食品产业品牌价值、推动食品产业的绿色可持续、加强食品产业人才培养与引进的实施路径。同时,需要给予更多政策去引导食品企业明确品牌定位,鼓励开拓国内外市场;完善市场投融资机制,助力食品企业提质发展;完善食品监管体系建设,建立食品安全全过程追溯机制;制定和推行绿色生产标准体系,提高产品市场竞争力和消费者认可度。     

Rights-based food systems and the goals of food systems reform

Food security, health, decent livelihoods, gender equity, safe working conditions, cultural identity and participation in cultural life are basic human rights that can be achieved at least in part through the food system. But current trends in the US prevent full realization of these economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR) for residents, farmers, and wageworkers in the food system. Supply chains that strive to meet the goals of social justice, economic equity, and environmental quality better than the dominant globalized food value networks are gaining popularity in the US. However, achieving important human rights has become conflated with other goals of food system reform over the past decade, such as being “community-based,” local, and sustainable. This conflation confuses means, ends, and complementary goals; and it may lead activists trying to help communities to regain control of their food system choices into less productive strategies. This paper introduces a new concept, rights-based food systems (RBFS), and explores its connection with localization and sustainability. The core criteria of RBFS are democratic participation in food system choices affecting more than one sector; fair, transparent access by producers to all necessary resources for food production and marketing; multiple independent buyers; absence of human exploitation; absence of resource exploitation; and no impingement on the ability of people in other locales to meet this set of criteria. Localization and a community base can help achieve RBFS by facilitating food democracy and reducing environmental exploitation, primarily by lowering environmental costs due to long-distance transportation. Sustainability per se is an empty goal for food system reform, unless what will be sustained and for whom are specified. The RBFS concept helps to clarify what is worth sustaining and who is most susceptible to neglect in attempts to reform food systems. Localization can be a means toward sustainability if local food systems are also RBFS.

贫困农户生产投入决策与贫困状态的转变

贫困农户面临脱贫机遇和陷入极端贫困风险时的生产经营投入决策,对改变贫困状态起到关键的作用。基于贫困地区农户的多期追踪调查数据,采用二分变量Logit模型,分析贫困农户的生产投入决策对贫困状态转变的影响,探讨贫困农户在资金有限的情况下摆脱贫困的方式,为贫困人口退出贫困的动力寻找理论源泉。结果表明,按照官方贫困线,样本农户的贫困发生率由2006年的20.7%下降到2009年的7.3%,每年的脱贫率为63.2%-71.7%。在农户的生产经营投入中,尽管对小商品经营活动的投入较少,但却得到较高的回报。那些有一定经济基础的贫困农户,当生产经营投入转向高风险、高回报的小商品经营活动,或提升生产经营投入的多元化水平时,脱贫的概率会显著提高。小商品经营活动中的投入增加1倍,其脱贫的概率大约会提高6%;生产经营投入由专业化转向完全的多元化,其脱贫的概率大约提高50%,但这些生产投入决策对那些处于极端贫困的农户却没有效果。研究表明,有一定经济基础的贫困农户可以通过改变生产经营投入决策退出贫困状态。因此,建议政府应该通过新技术的推广和信用支持,鼓励和引导有一定基础的贫困农户进入高收益的生产经营领域,增加农民的收入渠道。同时,通过完善社会保障体系来保障极端贫困人口的生活。     

How is a food bank managed? Different profiles in Spain

Within the current economic situation, poverty indexes in developed countries are becoming more and more alarming. This makes the role of food banks very relevant, and in addition contributes towards reducing the problem of food waste. Motivated by the social importance of these non-profit organizations, this paper analyzes the impact of food banks on the supply chains to which they belong. Differences in the functioning of these supply chains are highlighted attending to the relations induced by the food banks. First, the international research background for this topic is summarized; then, the results of an empirical study in Spain are presented. Data were collected through surveys and analyzed using cluster methodology. Two different types of food bank were identified. These are described, characterized, and compared in terms of efficacy and efficiency.     

The trouble with authenticity: separating ideology from practice at the farmers’ market

Farmers’ markets have enjoyed a resurgence in the past two decades in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. This increase in popularity is attributed to a host of environmental, social, and economic factors, often related to the alleged benefits of local food, alternative farming, and producer–consumer interactions. Steeped in tradition, there are also widely held assumptions related to the type of food and food vendors that belong at a farmers’ market in addition to the type of experience that should take place. There remains a need to explore and analyze these fundamental aspects of the farmers’ market and to consider how they influence their formation and function. This paper argues that discourses of authenticity are central to the identity of the farmers’ market, and that they are constructed differently “from above” by those seeking to regulate farmers’ markets in particular jurisdictions and “from below” by managers, producers, and consumers at individual markets. A literature-based discussion is complemented and grounded by consideration of institutional statements regarding authenticity and of key results from a survey of managers, food vendors, and customers at 15 farmers’ markets in Ontario, Canada. It is demonstrated that while the general discourse about authenticity at the farmers’ market is built around strict, almost ideological assumptions about the presence of “local food” and those who produce it, community-level responses reflect considerable diversity in the interpretation and composition of the farmers’ market. It is suggested that a binary view of authenticity, where some farmers’ markets are cast as “real” and others presumably not, is highly problematic as it tends to ignore a large and important middle ground with multiple identities.     

食物安全测量指标比较与影响因素分析

为探究农户饮食多样性得分和食物消费得分2种食物安全测量指标的差异以及影响食物安全的因素,采用陕西省镇安县、洛南县,云南省武定县、会泽县和贵州省盘县、正安县2015年1 368户农户实地调研数据,并运用Logit模型进行影响因素实证分析。研究结果表明:1)农户饮食多样性得分和食物消费得分的相关性较高,但从定义、测量方法到结果都有差异,饮食多样性得分的食物消费追溯期短,获取的食物消费情况更准确,而食物消费得分设定不同的食物种类权重更能识别真正食物不安全人群;2)家里有婴幼儿、劳动力平均受教育年限、家庭人均年收入、家里养殖牲畜对农户食物安全具有显著的正向影响。基于以上分析,食物安全评估和测量指标应该根据不同的需要进行选取,且在减贫的同时应关注贫困地区农户的食物获取能力以减轻农户食物不安全的状况。     

Accessing food resources: Rural and urban patterns of giving and getting food

Reciprocity and redistribution economies are often used by low-income households to increase access to food, adequate diets, and food security. A United States study of two high poverty rural counties and two low-income urban neighborhoods reveal poor urban households are more likely to access food through the redistribution economy than poor rural households. Reciprocal nonmarket food exchanges occur more frequently in low-income rural households studied compared to low-income urban ones. The rural low-income purposeful sample was significantly more likely to give food to family, friends, and neighbors and obtain food such as fish, meat, and garden produce from friends and family compared to the urban low-income group. Further, 58% of the low-income rural group had access to garden produce while only 23% of the low-income urban group reported access. In a rural random sample of the whole population in the two high poverty counties access to garden produce increased chances of attaining recommended vegetable and fruit servings controlling for income, education, and age. Access to a garden also significantly increased the variety of fruits and vegetables in diets.