After the Boom: Agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Nin Pratt ◽  
Héctor Valdés Conroy
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Technical Change ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Global Markets ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Resource Reallocation ◽  
Agricultural Growth ◽  
Steady Growth ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Macroeconomic Environment

The convergence of a favorable macroeconomic environment and high prices of primary commodities between 2000 and 2011 contributed to the best performance of agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) since the 1980s, with steady growth of total factor productivity (TFP) and output per worker and a reduction in the use of input per worker. The end of the upward phase of the commodity cycle in 2011 together with less favorable external markets and a deterioration of the policy environment in several countries, motivates us to revisit the situation of agriculture in LAC in recent years to analyze how these changes have affected its performance. This study applies a framework that uses index numbers together with data envelopment analysis (DEA) to estimate levels of productivity and efficiency, incorporating technical change together with technical (TE) and environmental efficiency (EE) into the decomposition of TFP. The EE index adjusts the TFP measure for pollution, treating GHG emissions as a by-product of the desired crop or livestock outputs. TFP and efficiency of crop and livestock sub-sectors was calculated for 24 LAC countries from 2000 to 2016. Our results show that the period of fast agricultural growth in LAC, driven by technical change and resource reallocation, transformed agriculture in the region leaving it in a better position to cope with the more unfavorable regional macroeconomic environment and the less dynamic global markets observed after 2011.

Footprint of Export-Related GHG Emissions from Latin America and the Caribbean

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Li
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Trade Flows ◽  
Total Export ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Trade Partners ◽  
Composition Of Trade

To quantify the growth in GHG emissions related to international trade, we build an extensive database for export-related production and transportation GHG emissions covering 189 countries and 10 sectors from 1990 to 2014. We employ this database to quantify the contribution of production and international transportation to total export-related GHG emissions from Latin America and the Caribbean and decompose growth in these to contributions of the increase in the regions trade flows, shifts in the composition of trade partners, changes in the traded product basket, and technological progress.

The tension between global GHG emissions of animal source foods, sustainability, and food security in Latin America and the Caribbean.

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (057) ◽  
Author(s):  
Constanza Gutiérrez-Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Livestock Sector ◽  
The Caribbean

Abstract The livestock sector faces an important challenge in the medium and long term since it must satisfy an increasing demand for animal products as a result of the increase in population and the world economy but safeguarding natural resources and at the same time minimizing the environmental contamination, especially the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions attributed to livestock husbandry. For Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), this becomes more relevant given the importance of the sector for the food security of rural communities, particularly for small-scale producers. In this manuscript, we address the main challenges of LAC in this context, from a global perspective that includes the demographic, economic, cultural, and environmental effects. The biggest global challenge for the LAC livestock sector for the coming decades is how to satisfy the growing human demand for animal protein in a sustainable way maintaining the food security of their communities. The efforts to achieve these goals require focusing on improving the efficiency of both animal husbandry and production systems. Therefore, it is necessary to implement technologies of sustainable intensification and it is urgent that those who make political decisions become aware of these issues.

ANALYSIS OF THE TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF MAJOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN PORTS USING BOOTSTRAP

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. [12 p.]-[12 p.]
Author(s):  
ANTONIO GIL ROPERO ◽  
MARIA DEL MAR CERBÁN JIMÉNEZ ◽  
IGNACIO TURIAS DOMINGUEZ
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Data Envelopment Analysis ◽  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Bootstrap Method ◽  
Operational Efficiency ◽  
Container Terminals ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Container Ports ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Low Efficiency

ABSTRACT: The aim of this paper is to analyze the Technical Efficiency of a sample of 13 container ports of Latin America and the Caribbean, which generated movements of more than one million TEUs in the period 2012-2018, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). In the first stage, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been used to obtain the Technical Efficiency, with an output-oriented option: Variable Return Scale (BCC). In a second stage, the bootstrap method has been applied in order to determine efficiency rankings of Latin America and the Caribbean container ports. The main contribution of this article is the application of DEA and Bootstrap models in the study of operational efficiency of the main container terminals in Latin America and the Caribbean. The techniques presented manage to determine, with a high degree of precision, the role played by the main container traffic variables in the operational efficiency of their terminals. They represent a valuable tool for the analysis of the dimensioning of the infrastructures of the ports studied. The models developed in this work have been evaluated through a database obtained from the public entities that manage these ports in Latin America and the Caribbean, but they can be applied in other ports of different countries and/or commercial areas that share the same typology of traffic and characteristics. The corrected efficiency results obtained by the Bootstrap BCC Output-oriented methodology denote some homogeneity in two large groups of ports. The ports with corrected efficiency values above 85%, and low differences between the values obtained in the two methodologies, should develop an analysis of their infrastructures in the short and medium-term. A second group consisting of Cartagena, Freeport, Lazaro Cardenas, San Antonio and Buenos Aires ports, obtain low efficiency values of less than 65% and therefore, should develop a traffic strategy analysis to attract new traffic in order to be efficient. Keywords: Efficiency, Bootstrap, Data Envelopment Analysis, Terminal Containers

scholarly journals Assessment of the operational and environmental efficiency of agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean 

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 74-88
Author(s):  
Moreno-Moreno Juan-Javier ◽  
Morente Francisco Velasco ◽  
Diaz Maria Teresa Sanz
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Efficiency Score ◽  
Environmental Efficiency ◽  
Operational Performance ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Agricultural Emissions ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Land Consumption

Governments in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) require information that can be used to strengthen environmental agricultural strategies. However, in LAC there is not enough comparative analysis regarding operational performance and environmental performance, which are particularly important for sustainable agriculture. The objective of this study is the measurement of operational, environmental and unified (operational and environmental) efficiency through data envelopment analysis (DEA) for an environmental assessment in the agricultural sectors of eighteen LAC countries. The DEA in this study evaluates each country based on six variables: capital stock, labour, land, consumption of fertilizers, value of the gross agricultural production and agricultural emissions (CO<sub>2</sub>eq). This empirical study finds that six LAC countries attained full efficiency in terms of the three efficiency measurements. Three countries exhibit the highest level of unified efficiency, but show some level of inefficiency in the other two measurements (operational and environmental efficiency). In contrast, nine countries failed to achieve the maximum unified efficiency score. 

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document