Throughout the past three decades, since World War II, development has been viewed as an important goal of national life for the poor and rich nations alike. The emerging nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America have come to see development as a continuation of the struggle that has won them...

Although most of the rice area in Indonesia is still prepared manually, since the early 1980s the government has promoted tractors for land preparation through subsidized loans. This has increased capital investment in agriculture; and for the farmers, the cost of owning and operatingtractor has...

In recent years, governmental and nongovernmental organizations in many low-income countries have introduced credit programs targeted to the poor. Many of these programs specifically target the poor on the premise that they are more likely to be credit constrained and have restricted access to...

During the transition of the Vietnamese economy, adaptation of the financialsystem was one of the most challenging reforms. A major task of this reformwas to expand the financial system?s outreach to the newly emerging privatesector and household economies, especially in rural areas. Therefore,...

The prevalence of non-monetary transactions (NMT) in the Ukrainian economyis a phenomenon attributable to its transition to a market system. Major types ofNMT are barter transactions, offsets and payment in kind. Non-monetary transactionsare widespread in agriculture.The aim of this research is...

In most developing countries, historically, the main strategy for improving the food sector has focused on increasing farm-level production. But in recent years, with the emphasis on value chain analysis, there has been much more focus on subsector studies, demand-driven approaches, and...

The collection, primary processing, and subsequent sale of shea-based products make an important contribution to rural women’s cash income in many of Mali’s shea producing areas. Internationally, shea has recently become popular in high-valued cosmetics thanks to its therapeutic...

This study uses Hershey Foods Corporation as a case to demonstrate how to formulate global product strategy to penetrate growing international markets. In recent years, confectionery markets have been growing around the world. Hershey Foods Corporation, the North American confectionery leader,...

A contract has recently been completed between the Economics Research Service of the U.S.D.A. and Michigan State University, under which the Department of Agricultural Economics at MSU. will analyze prospective changes in agricultural trade of E.F.T.A. countries. This study will be complementary...

Cooperative group actions are undergoing a resurgence in popularity in close concert with an increasing awareness of the problems of rural poverty and a belief that group actions can serve as a partial solution to those problems. There are several elements necessary for the economic success of a...