Browsing by Author "Woods, M."

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    Dynamics of Agricultural Production and Land Use in Post-Soviet Ukraine
    (CABI, 2015) Nizalov, Denys; Thornsbury, Suzanne; Loveridge, Scott; Woods, M.; Zadorozhna, Olha
    Multiple economic and institutional factors drive change in the mix of agricultural commodities produced over time in any country. We examine grain, fruit and vegetable markets in Ukraine since 2004, with a focus on the evolution of property rights and their impact on planting decisions. Institutional uncertainty about property rights impacts both the use of land in agriculture and crop mix, and leads to underinvestment in crops with a longer investment cycle and higher value added. As an alternative to land sales, a well-developed rental market has emerged. The rental market requires minimal upfront investment in land acquisition but limits incentives for long-term investments. Farm-level data from the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 21,000 farms between 2004 and 2012 (State Statistics of Ukraine, 2013) show that despite higher revenue per hectare, the share of fruit crops has remained virtually unchanged since 2004. In contrast, the share of oilseeds produced has doubled over the same period.
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    Security of Property Rights and Transition in Land Use
    (Elsevier, 2015-10-23) Nizalov, Denys; Thornsbury, S.; Loveridge, S.; Woods, M.; Zadorozhna, O.
    Price and yield uncertainty are traditional considerations in agricultural markets and their impact on development. Agricultural producers in transition economies face an additional risk factor – changes in the institutional protection of property rights. This paper illustrates how institutional uncertainty may affect investment, land use, and crop mix patterns. In particular, in the Ukrainian example, the rights of tenants are viewed as uncertain in anticipation of establishment of an open market for sale of agricultural land. Establishment of the land market in Ukraine has been postponed several times over the last 15 years and a significant number of lease contracts are not formalized. A large panel of farm-level data was used to show that a higher share of rented land is associated with a lower share of land used for investment intensive perennial crops controlling for prices and other factors. The difference in response to uncertainty is found to be significant among three crop types: perennials, grains and oil crops. The implication is that the lower level of protection of use rights and uncertainty regarding the future regulation of land sales market lead to under-investments in more capital intensive crops. As a result, tenants deviate from the optimal crop mix, reducing the productivity of tenant farms. Farms under 200 ha are affected most negatively as they are less likely to be able to access the level of legal and political protection enjoyed by large farms.