Fernando Gaiger Silveira

A importância do agronegócio familiar no Brasil

This paper presents the results for the familiar activity level of the agricultural agribusiness in the Brazilian economy for the period from 1995 to 2003. Using input-output models it was possible to estimate the importance of the Gross Domestic Product of the familiar agribusiness in the national economy. The results show that around 1/3 of the Brazilian agribusiness come from the agricultural production done by the familiar agriculture, it was also noticed that the recent development of the familiar agriculture and of its links has been very positive, suppressing, the growth rates found in the non-familiar segment.

Demand elasticities for food products in Brazil: a two-stage budgeting system

The object of this article is to estimate demand elasticities for a basket of staple food important for providing the caloric needs of Brazilian households. These elasticities are useful in the measurement of the impact of structural reforms on poverty. A two-stage demand system was constructed, based on data from Household Expenditure Surveys (POF) produced by IBGE (The Brazilian Bureau of Statistics) in 1987/88 and 1995/96. We have used panel data to estimate the model, and have calculated income, own-price, and cross-price elasticities for eight groups of goods and services and, in the second stage, for 11 sub groups of staple food products. We estimated those elasticities for the whole sample of consumers and for two income groups.

Elasticidade-renda dos produtos alimentares nas regiões metropolitanas brasileiras: uma aplicação da POF 1995/1996

The aim of this paper is to estimate the income elasticity for thirty-six food commodities. The database used was the Household Budgeting Survey (POF, 1995/96) from IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), which has extremely detailed information about consumption in eleven bigger Brazilian urban regions. The variables used in estimation process come from the survey micro-data. This procedure allowed that the logarithms of the prices of food and the monthly per capita familiar income were directly calculated from the individualized observations, instead of aggregate data. The methodology estimation was the QUAIDS model. The results allow deepening the knowledge on the differences of the consumption standards among the diverse income strata, as well as between distinct regions as Southeastern and South and the Brazilian Northeast. It was demonstrated that there is an insufficiency in the domiciliary food consumption in Brazil and that such fact is concentrated in the low-income families, in which the expenditure with foods represents the biggest share of the budget.

Commodity Price Changes and Their Impacts on Poverty in Developing Countries: The Brazilian Case

The objective of the paper is to provide an estimative of the impacts that changes in international prices of agricultural commodities will have on income distribution and poverty in Brazil. To do so, a Social Accounting Matrix is constructed and applied, using a Leontief-Miyazawa model framework. The SAM is defined for 40 products, and households are allocated into 10 groups, being 6 agricultural and 4 urban. Demand elasticities (price and income) for the products defined in the SAM are considered, as well as limitations on the supply of agricultural inputs. The results indicate that a 50% reduction in tariffs across the board, by all countries and for all products, will produce minor impacts in Brazil: national GDP would increase by up to 1.6%, and the impacts on poverty and income inequality, although positive, would be very small.

How important is agriculture and familiar agriculture agribusiness for Brazil and its states: an interregional input-output approach

The aim of this paper is estimate how important is agriculture and familiar agriculture agribusiness for Brazil and its states. To do so, the GDP for the agribusiness of these complexes is estimated for Brazil and for its 27 states. The estimation is based on an interregional input-output system constructed for the Brazilian economy. The agribusiness takes into consideration the relations between the agriculture production and the other sectors in the economy (inputs for production, industry, transportation, distribution, and commercialization). The importance of the agribusiness can be evidence for it’s share of about 30% in the total Brazilian GDP, but regional differences will make this average oscillates between 4% and 79% in the Brazilian states. Another distinction will be made between small familiar production and large scale production that will vary according to the product and the state. Some relation between land distribution and the type of agriculture will also be made.

International prices changes of agricultural commodities and their impacts on income distribution and poverty in Brazil

The objective of the paper is to provide an estimative of the impacts that changes in international prices of agricultural commodities will have on income distribution and poverty in Brazil. To do so, a Social Accounting Matrix is constructed and applied, using a Leontief- Miyazawa type model framework. The SAM is defined for 40 products, being 17 raw agricultural products, 15 agricultural processed products, 3 industrial agricultural inputs, 2 other industrial products, trade, transport, and services. Households are allocated to 10 groups, being 6 agricultural (4 types of family farmers, commercial farmers, and agricultural labor), and 4 urban (income quartiles). Demand elasticities (price and income) for the products defined in the SAM are considered, as well as limitations on the supply of agricultural inputs. The knowledge of the possible impacts of changes in international commodity prices on income distribution and poverty is very important for policy design within developing countries. Given the estimated impacts on different groups of producers, different sorts of cushioning policies can be designed.