Competitiveness with sustainable agriculture: win, lose or draw?

Through the Polluter-Pays-Principle (PPP), it is generally assumed that the additional cost of internalization is passed on to consumers. However, stiff competition in the world market could make it difficult for exporters to pass on to international consumers, thus profit margin on export commoditi...

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Main Authors: Abdul Rahim, Khalid, Wong, Swee Kiong, Liwan, Audrey
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia 2009
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/39448/1/39448.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/39448/
http://econ.upm.edu.my/ijem/vol3_no1.htm
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spelling my.upm.eprints.394482015-08-03T04:36:35Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/39448/ Competitiveness with sustainable agriculture: win, lose or draw? Abdul Rahim, Khalid Wong, Swee Kiong Liwan, Audrey Through the Polluter-Pays-Principle (PPP), it is generally assumed that the additional cost of internalization is passed on to consumers. However, stiff competition in the world market could make it difficult for exporters to pass on to international consumers, thus profit margin on export commodities is eroded and exports may be curtailed. This situation prevails in many developing countries which export a large proportion of their commodity production. When pollution control costs are substantial, voluntary implementation of environmental policy in the commodity export sector of a country may be problematic. Studies have shown mixed results that generalizations on the competitive effects of eco-friendly agriculture are unwise. Results of our study reveal that stricter environmental regulation to increase the cost of chemical inputs to encourage farmers to produce eco-friendly pepper products would enhance the export market competitiveness of both black pepper and white pepper production in Malaysia. On the other hand, to produce cocoa in a manner consistent with eco-friendly objectives requires huge sum of investment by the government. Each producer has different cost structure such that internalization of production externalities may result in higher cost of production for some countries but reduced cost for others. Cocoa growers in Brazil estimated an increased cost of 13.33% over variable costs at average productivity to compensate for adequate soil management, disease prevention and maintenance of production infrastructure. In Malaysia, one-third of the cost of production is accounted for the labour in combating the cocoa pod borers in estates in Sabah thus increasing the overall cost of production by 14%. However, evidence shows a reduction in the cost of production by 77% in Indonesia due to low wages in agriculture. Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia 2009-06 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/39448/1/39448.pdf Abdul Rahim, Khalid and Wong, Swee Kiong and Liwan, Audrey (2009) Competitiveness with sustainable agriculture: win, lose or draw? International Journal of Economics and Management, 3 (1). pp. 87-99. ISSN 1823-836X http://econ.upm.edu.my/ijem/vol3_no1.htm
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
language English
description Through the Polluter-Pays-Principle (PPP), it is generally assumed that the additional cost of internalization is passed on to consumers. However, stiff competition in the world market could make it difficult for exporters to pass on to international consumers, thus profit margin on export commodities is eroded and exports may be curtailed. This situation prevails in many developing countries which export a large proportion of their commodity production. When pollution control costs are substantial, voluntary implementation of environmental policy in the commodity export sector of a country may be problematic. Studies have shown mixed results that generalizations on the competitive effects of eco-friendly agriculture are unwise. Results of our study reveal that stricter environmental regulation to increase the cost of chemical inputs to encourage farmers to produce eco-friendly pepper products would enhance the export market competitiveness of both black pepper and white pepper production in Malaysia. On the other hand, to produce cocoa in a manner consistent with eco-friendly objectives requires huge sum of investment by the government. Each producer has different cost structure such that internalization of production externalities may result in higher cost of production for some countries but reduced cost for others. Cocoa growers in Brazil estimated an increased cost of 13.33% over variable costs at average productivity to compensate for adequate soil management, disease prevention and maintenance of production infrastructure. In Malaysia, one-third of the cost of production is accounted for the labour in combating the cocoa pod borers in estates in Sabah thus increasing the overall cost of production by 14%. However, evidence shows a reduction in the cost of production by 77% in Indonesia due to low wages in agriculture.
format Article
author Abdul Rahim, Khalid
Wong, Swee Kiong
Liwan, Audrey
spellingShingle Abdul Rahim, Khalid
Wong, Swee Kiong
Liwan, Audrey
Competitiveness with sustainable agriculture: win, lose or draw?
author_facet Abdul Rahim, Khalid
Wong, Swee Kiong
Liwan, Audrey
author_sort Abdul Rahim, Khalid
title Competitiveness with sustainable agriculture: win, lose or draw?
title_short Competitiveness with sustainable agriculture: win, lose or draw?
title_full Competitiveness with sustainable agriculture: win, lose or draw?
title_fullStr Competitiveness with sustainable agriculture: win, lose or draw?
title_full_unstemmed Competitiveness with sustainable agriculture: win, lose or draw?
title_sort competitiveness with sustainable agriculture: win, lose or draw?
publisher Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia
publishDate 2009
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/39448/1/39448.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/39448/
http://econ.upm.edu.my/ijem/vol3_no1.htm
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score 13.211869