RISULTATI RICERCA

This study investigates the asymmetric price transmission (APT) of global cocoa beans and cocoa pasta prices to farm prices. The cocoa pasta variable is a proxy for Indonesian processed cocoa industry products. We use monthly time series data from January 2007 to December 2020. The NARDL model was used to estimate the APT response behavior. The dummy variable (export cocoa bean tax) explains fluctuations in farm prices before and after the policy implementation. The results showed asymmetric cointegration between the global cocoa market and cocoa pasta prices moving towards farm cocoa prices in Indonesia. APT occurs in the short and long term with different significant levels for each variable. The increase (decrease) in the global market and cocoa pasta prices were transmitted asymmetrically in the short and long terms, except for the variable (PA-pos), which is not significant in the long term. We observe strong evidence of negative asymmetric price transmission. Negative price shocks (decreases) in global markets and cocoa pasta are more rapidly transmitted to farmer prices than positive price shocks. Adjustment prices occur in magnitude, speed, and sign. The high coefficient of negative asymmetric price transmission indicates the uncompetitive of Indonesia’s supply-demand cocoa chain. At the same time, the cocoa bean export tax harms farm prices. The export tax policy has reduced farm prices by approximately 2.3%.

This study investigates the short-term economic impact of a zero-concentrate supplementation in organic dairy production systems with Holstein cows. Based on experimental data and using prices recorded in 2018 in Switzerland, the study calculates the difference in profits between two annual herbage-based feed rations: one supplemented with 750 kg and the other containing 0 kg concentrates per cow and lactation. The cut in concentrates led to a considerable increase in the average culling rate (14.4 percentage points). If it is assumed that the culling rate cannot be lowered by means of breeding or management adjustments, a zero-concentrate supplementation leads to a 375 CHF drop in profit per cow and year, which is equivalent to a 14% decrease in the remuneration of labor input. If the culling rate could be decreased to the status quo, then not feeding concentrates leads to a smaller, non-significant decrease in profits of 141 CHF per cow and year. Overall, it is concluded that there is a short-term trade-off between profitability and a reduction in concentrates. A zero-concentrate supplementation would be economically feasible only if the culling rate can be kept under control, for instance, by using adapted cow breeds. However, high-quality roughage is a prerequisite and may be more difficult to produce in alpine regions with less favorable production conditions.

This study analyses the productive efficiency of dairy farms in Kazakhstan and suggests export implications by the expansion of trade networks and the participation of global value chains. As the world’s largest landlocked country and ninth largest area in the world, Kazakhstan has often been considered to have vast potential to produce and export dairy products. The greater openness of markets and improved geostrategic circumstances with the latest rail link between China and Europe are expected to strengthen Kazakhstan’s trade opportunities with the rest of the world. Despite these positive prospects, few empirical studies have examined the export potential of the country’s dairy products. To bridge this gap, this study surveys 23 dairy farms across nine oblasts in Kazakhstan and performs a data envelopment analysis with milk production as the output variable and feed, labour, and capital as the input variables. The estimation results indicate that Kazakh dairy farms could reduce input use by up to 70% under the most efficient system. A dichotomy of productive efficiency among large and capital-intensive versus small-scale family farms suggests that the country should promote inclusiveness through sharing knowledge and best practices within the industry.

Smallholder farmers in the Western Highlands of Guatemala grow potatoes for subsistence and as a cash crop but their current productivity is 29% lower than the world average. The objective of this study is to provide policy recommendations for improving potato productivity through enhancing technical efficiency in smallholder potato farming in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. In doing so, this study examines the determinants of potato productivity and identifies the sources of technical inefficiency in smallholder potato farming. In addition, the study evaluates the economic welfare impact of potato farm operations and provides policy recommendations for increasing smallholder potato productivity through enhancing technical efficiency. Stochastic production frontier analysis showed that on average farmers are at 57% efficiency. Hence, there is a considerable room for improving efficiency in potato farming. The sources of inefficiency of the farmers were determined to be caused by higher elevation, smaller farm size, and location of the farms. Welfare gains from reaching potential efficiency is US$ 8.79 million in terms of producer surplus per year in Guatemala. Hence, this study provides valuable information for policy makers and farmers for improving technical efficiency and producer surplus. Likewise, providing better conservation practices by extension will ameliorate the low productivity associated with higher elevation and locations that are lower in technical efficiency.

Despite fruits and vegetables’ importance and nutrient composition, their consumption is still below the world’s recommended threshold in Nigeria, even among pregnant women. Therefore, this study examined pregnant women’s critical socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with fruit and vegetable consumption. Multistage sampling techniques and a semi-structured questionnaire were employed to collect data from 100 pregnant women from the study area. The descriptive statistics show that the majority (91%) of the respondents belong to the age bracket of 20 to 36 years. Also, most (56%) of the respondents were in their third trimester, while 30% and 14% were in the second and first-trimester, respectively. The study employed descriptive and inferential statistics to analyse the data. The results indicate that Education, Trading, first-trimester, income, and nutrition advice positively influenced expenditure on fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, age, second-trimester, third-trimester, attending ante-natal, and distance from home to market have an inverse relationship with expenditure on fruits and vegetables. Likewise, education, nutrition advice, trading, first-trimester positively influence the frequency of fruits and vegetable consumption. The study recommended that policymakers, government, and NGOs should be focused on the significant socioeconomic factors to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption among pregnant women.

Artisanal food industry from agricultural and livestock crops have major potential on improving local community welfare and even contributing to sustainability if they are processed, produced and marketed properly. Agricultural and dairy products can be processed into a more diverse range of products that can attract wider consumers, particularly burgeoning urban middle-class. However, studies on such industry, particularly those in low and lower-middle income countries, are disproportionally sparse in the literature. In this study, we examine economic viability of product diversification of swamp buffalo milk-based artisanal confectionery product named gulo puan, which is exclusively produced in Pampangan sub-district, Ogan Komering Ilir regency, South Sumatra, Indonesia. To improve its marketability, the diversification of gulo puan into chocolate bar-like products was proposed. Financial feasibility analyses with the investment criteria, namely NPV, Net B/C, IRR, payback period, and sensitivity analysis were conducted and show that the proposed implementation is viable, robust, and realistic. However, declining number of swamp buffaloes in recent years due to farming mechanization, as well as lack of infrastructure for supply chain, remain as challenges in the future that need to be addressed by stakeholders and policymakers.

In our note, we tried to realise a comprehensive document dedicated to Social Network Analysis, in which we focused on its origin, application and adoption in analysing the diffusion of innovation, with particular attention paid to the agriculture sector, because we believe that farmers can easily exchange knowledge with each other and boost the diffusion of innovation in terms of agricultural techniques. Most of the scientific researches reported in our note in which SNA was applied are carried out in developing countries, we reckon that in these countries information is not usually recorded in a database, and farmers can easily get innovation through their system of acquaintances. We noted that SNA is a flexible and useful tool because it can be applied jointly with several approaches and theories. Through SNA, we can get relevant information about the network to understand how innovation gets shared and to assess the role and importance of different actors involved in the network.

Trademarks are useful territorial marketing policies contributing to the economic growth of a certain region. However, the complexity of these strategies from a marketing and legal perspective requires a deeper understanding of the functioning of trademarks. We investigate these dynamics for the trademark “Prodotti di Qualità” (PQ), a territorial marketing initiative of Apulia Region (Italy) aiming at enhancing agri-food products with regulated high-quality standards, raising awareness among consumers and promoting marketing and sales of such products. We adopt a multidisciplinary approach to conduct a prospective analysis of marketing issues and a perspective analysis on legal issues. We conclude that, in face of some benefits for users in terms of reduced asymmetric information between consumers and producers, a stronger communication and promotion campaign would increase consumers’ awareness and producers’ confidence, also contributing to avoid the overlap of the PQ trademarks with other legal forms of labelling, such as geographical indications and certification trademarks. Policy interventions in this direction would be beneficial for the future development of the Apulian territorial marketing.

L’articolo riporta i risultati di un’indagine condotta grazie agli strumenti della narrative inquiry nei mesi di aprile-maggio 2021 con un gruppo di 30 insegnanti frequentanti i Percorsi di formazione per la specializzazione per le attività di sostegno didattico agli alunni con disabilità della scuola secondaria di primo e di secondo grado, V ciclo, A.A. 2019/2020 riservato agli idonei dei cicli precedenti presso l’Università degli Studi di Messina. A partire dal percorso di tirocinio indiretto svolto on line con il tutor coordinatore individuato dall’Università degli Studi di Messina, si è voluto indagare l’utilità della scrittura riflessiva quale dispositivo innovativo di sviluppo professionale.

Numerosi percorsi di formazione a livello internazionale e nazionale annoverano l’utilizzo del video, che si pone come strumento privilegiato per rilevare i processi che avvengono in classe: negli ultimi quindici anni si è assistito a un intensificarsi di tali esperienze in ambiti e aree geografiche differenti. Alla luce della cornice teorica della visione professionale, l’articolo propone una rassegna ragionata di cinque esperienze internazionali e nazionali di formazione dei docenti che, nella diversità di impostazione e postura epistemologica, concorrono a delineare un percorso di formazione iniziale, permanente e continua che si avvalga dello strumento video in modalità on line. La ricognizione, che non ha pretese di esaustività, vuole avviare un’analisi su un possibile modello formativo che ponga attenzione al referente della formazione e ai criteri osservativi adottati. Lo studio si colloca all'interno del progetto di eccellenza 2019-2020 Insegnamento di qualità e pratiche didattiche. Studio di fattibilità per lo sviluppo di un dispositivo per lo studio di pratiche di formazione dei docenti del Dipartimento di Filosofia e Scienze dell'Educazione dell'Università di Torino.

L’articolo presenta le prime evidenze sull’adattamento e la validazione italiana dello Student Measure of Culturally Responsive Teaching volto a misurare le percezioni delle studentesse e degli studenti universitari sulle pratiche didattiche attente alla dimensione culturale in aula. Tale strumento è stato somministrato ad un campione di 336 studentesse e studenti iscritti all’Università di Siena. I dati raccolti hanno permesso di condurre l’analisi fattoriale esplorativa dello strumento, confermando la struttura trifattoriale. La consistenza interna dello Student Measure of Culturally Responsive Teaching e dei fattori emergenti è stata misurata attraverso l’alpha di Cronbach i cui risultati suggeriscono che la versione italiana di tale strumento presenta una buona consistenza interna ed un buon livello di affidabilità anche rispetto alle sue componenti.

Per promuovere negli studenti la scrittura come attività consapevole e sistematica per lo studio può risultare efficace il Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) Model, che si concentra sulla padronanza combinata di strategie di comprensione e di composizione. In rapporto essenziale con la lettura, la co-costruzione di testi stimola gli studenti a esercitare molteplici capacità: analizzare e sintetizzare, immaginare e anticipare, scegliere e selezionare, integrare e elaborare, organizzare i contenuti riguardo a situazioni comunicative e destinatari diversi. Nel presente contributo l’esercizio delle abilità di leggere e comporre testi è stato indagato su un gruppo di studenti universitari che si preparano a diventare maestri. Il programma CIRC è stato applicato in un insegnamento a distanza. Il duplice obiettivo del progetto è stato di facilitare in 285 soggetti lo studio individuale attraverso la scrittura condivisa e di accrescere in loro la consapevolezza d’uso della tecnica nelle classi di scuola primaria. Pur rimanendo su un piano esperienziale, che fornisce dati non generalizzabili, l’attuazione del progetto ha consentito di precisare l’adeguatezza delle procedure utilizzate.

Questo contributo descrive una esperienza didattica laboratoriale condotta in modalità on line e la relativa ricerca osservativa a proposito di questa potenziale buona pratica formativa. È supportato da riferimenti scientifici teorici e da considerazioni argomentative basate anche su una ultraventennale esperienza di conduzione di laboratori mediali. La ricerca si è avvalsa della redazione di un diario di bordo informale su cui sono state annotate le particolarità didattiche, le risultanze, alcune dichiarazioni degli stessi studenti e le problematiche emerse durante lo sviluppo temporale dell’azione formativa. Nel secondo anno di attivazione dell’esperienza formativa online si è aggiunto un modulo di valutazione costituito da alcune domande aperte rivolte agli student* partecipanti. Inoltre, grazie alla varia documentazione acquisita nei precedenti quattro anni di attivazione del Laboratorio in modalità blended, sia di tipo numerico-quantitativo per la determinazione di alcuni aspetti sistemici di cornice dell’intervento formativo, che di tipo qualitativo per alcune possibilità di confronto procedurale, è stato possibile operare una certa comparazione di evidenze.