Agricultural Economics, 2009 (vol. 55), issue 10
Microfinance in less developed countries: history, progress, present - charity or business?
K. Srnec, E. Svobodová
Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2009, 55(10):467-474 | DOI: 10.17221/45/2009-AGRICECON 
This paper describes the development of micro-financial activities in less developed countries in the world. The history of this development is divided into four periods with their short characteristics. Currently, the main questions in each period are highlighted and discussed by experts in microfinance. In the past, these problems were published in many scientific periodicals. It concerns mainly opinions, as for example, if the influence of microfinance on poverty reduction is overestimated, or on the other hand, the analysis related to the position of informal and formal micro-financial institutions, their development and acceleration of transformation,...
Global implications of national price policies on the wheat market - quantitative assessment of world market effects
J. Ziolkowska, K. Jechlitschka, D. Kirschke
Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2009, 55(10):475-480 | DOI: 10.17221/2612-AGRICECON
Price policy instruments are common political measures to influence the supply and export of agricultural products. Different price policies have thus different influence on national agricultural markets. These policies can also influence the world market and third countries provided that the exporting country places a high share of its production on the world market. Using a Cobb-Douglas market model we quantitatively assess global implications of national price policies in the EU-27, Russia, and the US (as leading wheat exporting countries) on the world market price for wheat and on welfare, foreign exchange, and producer surplus in third countries....
Modeling of slaughter cattle fattening profitability
P. Kopeček, I. Foltýn, M. Bjelka
Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2009, 55(10):481-491 | DOI: 10.17221/26/2009-AGRICECON
The paper analy the economics of cattle fattening. With the help of the model AGRO-®V, there were simulated the perspectives of this livestock production branch using 2 agricultural policy scenarios in the Czech Republic for the years 2007 and 2008. With the help of the model AGRO-®V, there were computed 5 model variants: economics without supports, economics with coupled supports (scenario 1) and economics with decoupled supports (scenario 2). All the model results (both without supports and with supports) with the actual intensity of the cattle fattening show negative profitability of this branch. For reachig positive results of this branch,it was...
Combination of linear and weighted goal programming with penalty function in optimisation of a daily dairy cow ration
J. ®gajnar, L. Juvančič, S. Kavčič
Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2009, 55(10):492-500 | DOI: 10.17221/2601-AGRICECON
The aim of the paper is to present a developed spreadsheet tool for the formulation of a daily dairy cow ration. It is constructed on the basis of two linked sub-models developed on the MS Excel platform. It merges the common linear programming model and the weighted-goal programming model with a penalty function. The first sub-model is included in the tool to make an estimate of the least-cost magnitude that might be expected. The obtained result is entered into the second sub-model as the goal that should be met as closely as possible. The tool was tested at two different values of preferential weights for dairy cows with a 25 kg daily milk yield....
Effects of the length of the milk collection route on the choice of the locality of milk processing
I. Boąková
Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2009, 55(10):501-507 | DOI: 10.17221/16/2009-AGRICECON
The goal of the research was to identify how important was the distance between the milk producer and the milk processor in their decision of which dairy plant would do the processing. The study should indicate if the advantage of a lower price offered by the distant milk producer would be eliminated or preserved by the transport costs. In the study, the cost of various lengths of milk collection routes in Central Europe has been examined. The difference in cost, whether a short or long journey was travelled, was compared to the range of raw milk prices within the chosen territories in Central Europe. The results proved that the milk collection costs...
Framework for utilizing angling as a tourism development tool in rural areas
J. Navrátil, S. Martinát, E. Kallabová
Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2009, 55(10):508-518 | DOI: 10.17221/2622-AGRICECON
Angling is considered as one of the rural tourism activities and is usually included into group of eco- and/or sustainable tourism activities. That is why it could be used as tourism development tool in rural areas but with local community respect. The aim is to reveal the push and pull motivation factors of rural anglers and their perception of conflicts. A self -organized questionnaire survey of members of the Czech Fishing Union in the Třeboň region was used to obtain required data. Descriptive statistic and factor analysis were used for result analysis. Rural anglers built up a diversified community because seven different push motivation factors...