Browsing by Subject "Russia"

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    Betriebswirtschaftliche Analyse des Einsatzes moderner Agrartechnik in der Körnerfrüchteproduktion in Russland.
    (2007) Vorontsova, Tatiana; Zeddies, Jürgen
    The dissertation in hand refers to the optimisation of conventional cultivation methods by the use of resource-saving technologies in cereal production at six agricultural survey enterprises in the Region of Samara/Russia. The aim of the optimisation is to estimate the economic efficiency of the changeover from conventional to resource-saving cultivation methods as well as to evaluate the use of agricultural machinery adapted to the specific technology, and, starting from this basis, to develop practice-oriented and efficiency-increasing solutions. Agriculture is still one of the most important branches of the economy in the Region of Samara on the middle Volga. The climatic conditions are not optimal for a successful grain production, while this branch plays an important role in the region. Despite of the positive development, in grain production in the Region of Samara the production potential has not yet been completely used. During the last years a considerable reduction in the agricultural machinery stock could be noticed, mainly because of obsolescence and wastage of the agricultural machinery as well as the small number of new purchases. The equipment at the disposal of the agricultural enterprises for plant cultivation, during the years 1990 to 2002 ? if compared to the requirements in agricultural technics ? amounted to approximately 46 percent of the tractors needed and approximately 56 percent of the combine harvesters needed. This entailed that the optimal time periods were not matched which, as a consequence, led to the reduction in the yields and an extension of the area not harvested. In order to create favorable conditions for an efficient grain production and for the development of the grain market in the Region of Samara, in 1998 the programme for the "Improvement of the grain production by the application of resource and accordingly watersaving cultivation methods 1998-2002" was starting to be implemented. The changeover from conventional cultivation methods to the use of resource-saving methods including modern and efficient agricultural technics represents a big challenge especially for medium-sized and small farms with a restricted financial potential. Through excluding ploughing from the soil cultivation work process as a most cost-intensive operation, as a result of the optimisation, machine costs can be reduced considerably under the system of preserving soil tillage. On average, these machine costs amount to 18.3 ?/ha with no-till cultivation, and are thus approximately 6 percent lower than with the conventional cultivation methods that were practised in the survey enterprises before. The average machine costs for direct drilling methods amount to approximately 15 ?/ha and can consequently be further reduced by about 18 percent if compared to no-till cultivation methods, and by approximately 22 percent if compared to conventional production methods. However, in the case of applying modern agricultural technics for resource-saving cultivation methods, the resulting fixed costs considerably surmount those of conventional cultivation methods. The modern agricultural machinery shows, however, a substantially higher performance potential. In the long-term, it can be assumed that the modern agricultural machines in this context are the more efficient solution. Moreover, the economic efficiency analysis of the cultivation methods? rearrangement rendered considerable advantages as to the development of labour demand and costs at the questioned agricultural enterprises. The application of resource-saving cultivation methods contributes to a noticeable decrease in labour demand. Under application of optimised cultivation methods, the labour cost is approximately 1.3 ?/ha or 60 percent lower than the total labour costs in the case of conventional cultivation methods. Although the implementation of resource-saving cultivation methods basically does not require an intensified application of fertilisers and pesticides, their aplication volume is being raised and adapted to the necessary level within the frame of the optimisation process. Under favourable weather conditions thus an increase of the yield per hectare as well as of the quality, and in the medium-term, a positive influence on the cereal production can be expected. As result of the conducted optimisation of cultivation methods and of the implementation of the recommended measures at the survey agricultural enterprises in the Region of Samara, a change in the obtained gross margin can be detained. The average gross margin decreases under no-till cultivation by approximately 24 percent and amounts to 58 ?/ha. The calculated gross margin for the direct drilling methods amounts to 61 ?/ha and is still below the amount effected under conventional cultivation methods. The calculated equilibrium points at the fact that the implementation of the optimised cultivation methods requires an increase of the hectare yield in the survey farms by 2.5 dt/ha on average. In order to reach a positive economic effect or at least the same economic efficiency as with use of conventional cultivation methods, the hectare yield should be increased to approximately 23 dt/ha or, by 12 percent. In spite of the findings resulting from the optimisation calculations that the gross margins are reduced with direct drilling as well as with no-till cultivation methods, the results in Samara Region, however, indicate a continuous increase of the economic efficiency under the condition of a long-term application of resource-saving cultivation methods in cereal production. The rearrangement of the conventional cultivation methods towards the optimised resource-saving technologies is under these conditions for the survey agricultural enterprises advantageous in a long-term view.
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    Carbon taxation in Russia : prospects for a double dividend and improved energy efficiency
    (2013) Orlov, Anton; Grethe, Harald
    Russia is not only one of the world?s major sources of carbon based energy ? coal, oil and gas ? but is also one the most intensive users of energy. Furthermore, Russia accounts for a disproportionately large share of global carbon dioxide emissions ? some 5% to 6% of global carbon dioxide emissions (EIA, 2011a). It has been estimated (World Bank, 2008) that Russia could reduce its use of primary energy use by 45% with consequent economic and environmental benefits. High energy and carbon intensity of the Russia economy is, inter alia, explained by low energy prices due to high export taxes as well as administrative regulation of domestic prices of gas and electricity and low environmental taxes. Carbon taxes are one such Pigouvian tax and they would address concerns on several fronts simultaneously. In the short to medium term they would, inter alia, lead to lower GHG emissions and encourage the diffusion of more energy efficient technologies. In the longer term, the increased cost of energy inputs is expected to induce technological progress. In this analysis, the macroeconomic and sectoral effects of carbon taxes on the Russia economy are examined. This analysis addresses the following objectives: i) to test the double dividend hypothesis under perfect and imperfect competition in output markets, to analyse ii) the incidence of carbon taxes, iii) impacts on sectoral competitiveness, iv) effects on income equity, and v) interactions of carbon taxes with other taxes. A computable single-country multi-sector comparative static CGE model is employed.
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    Funktion der föderalen und regionalen Getreidefonds und deren Bedeutung unter marktwirtschaftlichen Verhältnissen
    (2003) Andrianov, Vladislav; Zeddies, Jürgen
    In the work is discussed the formation of a Russian grain sector on the ground of analysis of its structure development during the last two centuries, empirical research for activity of state grain funds on federal and regional levels and grain producers in Bryansk oblast. The dynamic planning is used as well to learn more about the development of producers in the region. The goal of the work is to identify an economic effect coming from various instruments, which are used by the state regulating grain production on the both levels and to make recommendations to the influence and organization of the grain policy in Russia. The work is mainly based on statistics from grain producers and Goskomstat in Bryansk oblast. Furthermore common statistics and a professional literature dedicated to the problems of development of Russian grain markets and to state intervention in the market have been evaluated. Based on empirical statistics from grain producers and normative information from Russian research institutes a simultaneous dynamic model has been worked out to make business planning. After this case scenarios showing the development of producers in the region have been developed and the middle-term planning for a period of three years carried out. With the aid of this planning the development chances of agricultural enterprises under present and alternative basic conditions of regional grain policy are analyzed and existing restraints of business are reviewed. In the middle of the 19th century Russia had a significant impact on the world grain market. At that time the country controlled a high market share for wheat, rye, barley and oat. The development of a railroad during this period caused the regional price differences to be settled and the grain production to be expanded into new regions. The grain crops in Russia grew near the crops in the USA and Europe gradually. Running grain bourses bettered the market transparency and boosted the formation of functioning markets in the country. The October revolution slowed down the integration of Russian grain market into world market. During the former Soviet Union Russian grain producers have been separated from the development trends on the world market. The grain export has been controlled by the state. Only the state could export the grain and income from export trade flowed into the federal budget. Collectivization of the soviet agriculture and outbreak of the Second World War contributed to a growing backwardness of the Russian grain sector. That was reflected in a lower level of grain production in Russia. Grain enterprises had any incentives to produce the competitive products which could be sold on the world market. In January 1992 the government monopoly on trade with most agricultural products has been abolished. This caused an increase in the price level of the food on domestic markets. The government constrained the price increase by some basic products like bread and milk but the price control for them has been moved to the area of responsibility of regional authorities. As a result of that there is a wide palette of state instruments at present, which are used for regulation of local grain markets.
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    Go east : on the impact of the Transiberian Railway on economic development in Eastern Russia
    (2019) Seiffert, Sebastian
    This paper addresses the question whether or not large-scale infrastructure investments have a causal effect of local economic development. By using a novel instrumental variable approach based on historical trade and travel routes across the Russian East, I am able to identify a causal and negative effect of remoteness to the Transsiberian Railway on local economic activity as measured by nocturnal lights emission.
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    Nachhaltigkeit der russischen Landwirtschaft - die Region Tambov und das Betriebsbewertungssystem RISE
    (2017) Komzolova, Marina; Doluschitz, Reiner
    Agriculture is currently being faced by great challenges. It must meet to the ever increasing demand for food and at the same time meet to the growing demand on product quality, use resources efficiently while simultaneously ensuring that environmental impact is reduced in the long run. For this reason, the concept of sustainable development and sustainable agriculture is becoming prominently important in the international discussions. The Sustainability aspect is becoming increasingly important in communicating with the society and in politics. Also, demand for sustainability is becoming stronger for agricultural enterprises. However, there is no universal agreement on what sustainable agriculture means. In Russia, a common understanding of sustainability and the sustainability concept in agriculture is also missing. The aim of this thesis is therefore to present a model for sustainable agriculture in general and for Russia in particular. The actual status of sustainable agricultural enterprises in Russia is not known. To comprehensively solve this issue, 20 agricultural enterprises in the Tambov region in Russia were surveyed and analyzed. For this purpose, RISE-program, an indicator-based method for holistic assessment of sustainability of agricultural production at the operational level, was applied. The improved version “RISE 2.0” evaluates the ecological, economic and social sustainability of agri-cultural production using ten indicators, each calculated from four to seven parameters. The results of the present work shows that all surveyed enterprises in the Tambov region have deficits in the ecological, social and economic areas. The overall RISE assessment showed that sustainability is limited by various aspects of soil protection, nutrient flow, plant protection and biodiversity, working conditions, quality of life as well as economic viability. The current subsistence strategy can be improved with regard to these areas. Using the RISE-assessment, it was found out that the ecological aspect of sustainability was particularly deficit in the surveyed enterprises, and especially in regard to land use. It was established that agricultural production had a very negative impact on the soil condition. This is why it is important to point out to the political decision-makers and farmers the economic consequences of soil degradation and support this with figures and concrete examples. Costs associated with soil quality degradation as a consequence of water erosion were also calculated in this thesis. Results of the present study indicate that the possible costs of soil quality degradation due to water erosion ranges from 8.5 to 8.8 million Euros per year in the Tambov region, 152 million Euros per year in the Volgograd region and 2.49 billion Euros per year in Russia. However, these figures are based on assumptions due to lack of quantitative and qualitative data. Yet, even rough estimates shows that increasing soil quality degradation leads to utility and social welfare losses in Russia and therefore the urgency to invest in sustainable land use. Several soil conservation measures have been developed and supported by agricultural research. The available methods of soil conservation are often not used. A cost-benefit analysis for soil conservation measures was carried out in this study. The study demonstrated that there are numerous possibilities to provide soil conservation through farming strategies without accruing high costs. These include soil-conserving tillage, use of organic fertilizers, intercropping plants for fertilization and use of grain legumes in crop rotation. The framework requirements (institutional, financial, political and knowledge management and the flow of information) for compacting land degradation in Russia were pointed out. Additionally, recommendations for agricultural practices, advice, administration and policy could be derived in order to improve on sustainability, and in particular, sustainable land use in the Russian agriculture. As was already indicated above, these measures have higher single operational benefits than associated costs. This should encourage managers to reduce prejudice against environmental specifications and to get them more involved in soil conservation. In the case of the farmers, they have to develop a “soil awareness” for the most important factors of production. Advisory organizations are recommended to improve on communications regarding soil conservation measures and to optimize on research findings implementation. Politicians and the administration must shape the Russian’s soil conservation political framework in order to spread the application of soil conservation measures. This can be achieved through direct support for the application of sustainable technologies. This encourages and leads to increased motivation in the use of environmentally-friendly techniques and practices.
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    Wirtschaftliche Analyse der Tierhaltungsbetriebe um die Metropole Moskau unter besonderer Berücksichtiung von Aufwands- und Ertragsrisiken
    (2017) Droganova, Yulia; Fuchs, Clemens
    The slow modernisation of the agricultural sector in the Russian Federation after the USSR era, the adoption and the ratification of the Basel Accords, the accession of Russia to the World Trade Organisation in 2012, and finally the crisis in the Ukraine, followed by the import ban on numerous agricultural, fishery products from the EU, USA, Canada, Australia, Norway in August 2014 are the most significant problems which found their reflection in this dissertation. This lead to an increased interest to analyse livestock farms in the Moscow region in consideration of risks in order to predict their profitable development. The goal of the current research was to identify the impending bankruptcy of the Russian livestock farms as early as possible in order to engage in efficient counter planning. The majority of the livestock farms in the Moscow region are dairy farms, which was why this type of livestock farming became the main topic of research for this thesis. The classification of dairy farms into solvent and insolvent farms is based on the application of the multivariate discriminant analysis, a bankruptcy predicting method that is widely used by many banks in Europe and the USA. The risk factor is taken into account in the empirical model of the dairy farm by setting up the stochastic Monte Carlo simulation with the most important random variables (prices, yields and interest rate) in order to quantitatively measure their influence on the economic profitability of a typical dairy farm. Following the results of the discriminant analysis, questions concerning the validation of this model were be raised. What measures were required for the dairy farms, classified as insolvent to deter bankruptcy? This question was examined using a cash flow model, summaries of relevant data and requirements for an empirical model of the dairy farms were collected through interviews of subject experts. On the basis of reference scenario/status quo scenario, three main scenarios were created: Scenario 1 Re-structuring, scenario 2 Improvement of Management and Marketing Activities, and scenario 3 Risk analysis, whereby the measures from scenarios 1 and 2 were stochastically simulated in the scenario 3 Risk analysis in order to be able to estimate the economic risks. From the data set of 31 farms, five typical model farms were selected: two correctly classified solvent, two correctly classified insolvent, and one, which showed up as a type 1 error in the discriminant analysis. A reference scenario describes the data period based on the average values of operational performance from 2008-2010, and the individualized data from the Russian statistics of 2011-2013 and forms a data basis for the scenarios 1 to 3. Scenario 1a Restructuring under Russian Insolvency Law is counterpoised to scenario 1b Restructuring under German Insolvency Law. Scenario 2a Improvement of Management and Marketing Activities without Investment and scenario 2b Improvement of Management and Marketing Activities with Investment contains measures to improve management and marketing. Labour costs were doubled, maintenance, repair costs as well as some other costs were adjusted; while the milk yields, the weight of the dairy cows, the silage yields and the yields of pastures, meadows have been estimated with a logistic function. Over a planning period of twelve years, the dairy farms classified as solvent maximised the increase of their equity capital in scenario 2b, which represents the best result compared to all other scenarios considered. Firstly, it has shown that an adequate insolvency law should support the restructuring process, secondly that training and education, consulting, motivation of employees through higher wages can lead to a better-combined performance in comparison to restructuring. In scenario 3 Risk Analysis, ten relevant random variables and their volatility were simulated and analysed within the frame conditions of the initial Scenarios 1 and 2. In addition, the target values selected were: equity after tax, equity change per hectare of agricultural area, internal equity interest and profit after tax. The presented results explain how on one hand, an adequate insolvency law can support the restructuring process and lead to reinstate solvency of the dairy farms. On the other hand, these results confirm, that the improvements in management can also lead to significant positive achievements in operational performance as opposed to restructuring. The farm, which belongs to type 1 error in the discriminant analysis, has ranked as a solvent dairy farm over the planning period of twelve years in all the scenarios considered. In this case, it can be concluded that the simulation model in the researched composition with the multivariate discriminant analysis has indirectly served to be applicable for validation purposes of the determined discriminant function.