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A discrete choice experiment in Kinshasa (DRC) investigated urban consumers' preferences between imports and local options for five staple foods – cassava, rice, maize, sugar and cooking oil – under a random utility model. We also examined how distance, packaging and price influenced consumer choice. To assess whether preferences could be manipulated, we introduced two treatment groups – local, import – and a control group. We did not find support for a preference for imports. Instead, there is a statistically significant preference for local products, with the exception of sugar. Respondents are willing to pay 28% more for local food, a premium quantified at 1540 CF (.93 USD) per kg for maize and 1091CF (.66 USD) per litre for oil. Packaging is an attribute of influence as the willingness to pay (WTP) in full remains positive when products interact with packaging and with price. There is demand for local products for which consumers are willing to pay a premium. Yet, DRC imports 1.5 billion dollars of food yearly with only 10% of its arable land exploited. The increased urban consumption of imports does not signify a bias against local products, but rather points to structural issues undermining local supply. DRC needs to develop local value chains linking rural farmers to urban markets through the transformation of local foods to meet urban needs and to convert the WTP into a producer surplus benefiting rural livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anbar Journal of Agricultural Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The study aimed to determine the influence of agricultural imports and exports on the domestic agricultural sector in Iraq. It employed the ARDL model to examine the effect of foreign trade on agricultural production using annual time series data from 1990 to 2020. The data was initially subjected to ADF tests to determine the order of integration, with test results indicating that an ARDL model in the first difference is appropriate for further econometric analysis. The findings indicate the existence of a long-term relationship equilibrium between agricultural and domestic products and the studied variables. There was a negative relationship between agricultural imports and output in each of the periods. Over both short and long terms, a 1% increase in imports reduces agricultural output by 0.1539 and 0.478%, respectively. This finding is compatible with economic theory, as imports are regarded as one of the sources of leakage that tend to reduce domestic output. Agricultural exports positively and significantly impacted agricultural domestic products, but this were limited due to the small export volume. Exchange rates had different effects over the short and long runs, turning negative and positive, respectively. This study suggests the importance of adopting monetary policies that are more stable and compatible with the reality of agricultural production in protecting and supporting both producers and exporters.

AbstractTechnical measures, particularly Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (SPS) and Technical barriers to trade (TBT) can affect to firms’ market entry and the volume of trade. Yet, technical measures is ambiguous and complicated, especially for developing countries. Therefore, the study analyses the extensive and intensive effects of SPS and TBT measures imposed by Vietnam on agricultural imports across products and partners. The empirical analysis employs gravity model with Heckman two-stage estimation at the disaggregated level from 2007 to 2019. The findings show that SPS and TBT have positive effects at the extensive margin while having heterogeneous effects at the intensive margin. Across different products, technical measures imposed on agricultural processed products are significant positive to firms’ participation but are insignificant to the scale of trade. Imposing SPS measures on animal products facilitates market entry, while decreasing the intensive margin. In plant products, SPS measures play the market barriers to protect the advantage of exporting products, but firms can expand the import volume after adapting to TBT regulations. The estimation also shows that SPS and TBT increase the probability of imports from developed countries while having insignificant effects on developing countries.

Copyright of Journal of Agricultural Economics & Social Sciences is the property of Egyptian National Agricultural Library (ENAL) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Technical measures, particularly Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (SPS) and Technical barriers to trade (TBT) can affect to firms' market entry and the volume of trade. Yet, technical measures is ambiguous and complicated, especially for developing countries. Therefore, the study analyses the extensive and intensive effects of SPS and TBT measures imposed by Vietnam on agricultural imports across products and partners. The empirical analysis employs gravity model with Heckman two-stage estimation at the disaggregated level from 2007 to 2019. The findings show that SPS and TBT have positive effects at the extensive margin while having heterogeneous effects at the intensive margin. Across different products, technical measures imposed on agricultural processed products are significant positive to firms' participation but are insignificant to the scale of trade. Imposing SPS measures on animal products facilitates market entry, while decreasing the intensive margin. In plant products, SPS measures play the market barriers to protect the advantage of exporting products, but firms can expand the import volume after adapting to TBT regulations. The estimation also shows that SPS and TBT increase the probability of imports from developed countries while having insignificant effects on developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Agricultural Economics & Social Sciences is the property of Egyptian National Agricultural Library (ENAL) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The research aims to determine the impact of agricultural imports and some other variables in economic growth, in which the values of agricultural imports X1, the foreign exchange rate X2, the inflation rate X3, and the population X4 were adopted as independent variables in order to measure their impact on the dependent variable of economic growth in Iraq Y. The standard model was estimated through testing the stability of the data series and for all variables and it was found that the variables have settled at the first level of the data and the first difference to them. Therefore the ARDL model was chosen to indicate the balanced relationship between imports and economic growth in the short and long term, and it was shown through the results of the research that there is a common long-term complementary relationship between economic growth and import components included in the standard model. The results confirmed that Iraq is one of the countries that have gone through difficult economic conditions and a state of political instability, turmoil, wars and economic blockade. Which caused a slowdown in its economic growth rates. The results of the unit root test showed that most of them are stable after taking the first difference, and the study found a joint integration and a long-term equilibrium relationship between the components of imports and economic growth. The results of the study showed that the impact of agricultural imports is significant and positive in economic growth. But their value indicates that the local market is not satisfied with the total agricultural products and this was consistent with economic theory and consistent with the objectives of the research. We recommend employing import revenues in a way that serves economic growth and reduce excessive imports of consumer and luxury goods. In order to be more positive in influencing economic growth, and facilitating import restrictions of raw materials and machinery to serve agricultural production capacities with attention to the agricultural sector and work to develop its production quantitatively and qualitatively and commensurate with the needs of the Iraqi economy. And research for other sources that contribute to increasing national income and thus raising the rate of economic growth.

The North African region is a market with a great potential for foreign supplies, the capacity of which makes it possible to increase Russian agricultural exports more than twice. The article analyzes the place of the agricultural sector of the North African countries in the economy of the countries of this region, its foreign trade potential; identifies the most promising areas of Russian trade relations in this area. Promising positions for this direction are cereals, soybean oil and soybeans, sunflower oil, frozen fish, confectionery products. In addition, the taste preferences of residents of African countries allow for the supply of a number of types of meat products, such as dark poultry meat and meat offal, which can become a good alternative for Russian producers to export to Asian countries. The conclusion is made about the profitability and prospects of cooperation in the agro-food sector for Russia with the countries of North Africa.

The research aims to predict the expected values ​​of the most important variables determining the food security coefficient of the wheat crop in Iraq for the period (2021-2030), where the food security coefficient of the wheat crop was calculated. The results showed that the wheat food security coefficient was about (0.97), which indicates that the value of the security coefficient Food is less than the correct one, but it is greater than (0.50), which is enough for more than six months, which requires maintaining the level of food security of wheat and seeking to increase that rate by the concerned state agencies, either by expanding the cultivation of the wheat crop or increasing imports, which It leads to an accumulation in the strategic stock sufficient for local consumption to enhance the food security of wheat and the ability to face the emergency conditions that the country may go through, and then predict the expected values ​​of the most important variables specific to the food security factor of the wheat crop in Iraq until 2030, and the exponential smoothing method will be used in predicting the expected values ​​of the most important variables specific to the food security coefficient in Iraq, through the results of predicting the expected values ​​of the most important variables specific to the food security coefficient of the wheat crop during the current period. A study, where the method of double exponential smoothing (DES) was adopted, and it appeared that the prediction of the cultivated area is declining during the future years, and one of the reasons for this decline is the deterioration of soil fertility due to salinization and erosion as well as environmental conditions, while the rest of the variables are expected to be on the rise in the coming years.

Copyright of Journal of Administration & Economics is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Economic Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This research was aimed to measure and evaluation the imported inflation in agricultural sector in Iraq. Moreover, studying and analyzing the most important factors affecting it during 1990-2019. This research reached to- via results of unit root test- that all variables were non-stationary at the level, but all of them were stationary at the 𝟏𝐬𝐭 difference. The research conclude- through significance of parameters of agricultural trade openness in the model. That the imported inflation can be rising in agricultural sector after the trade liberalization and interring to WTO and increasing of dumping policy in agricultural products, whereas found when measuring the imported inflation the high dependency of agricultural sector in Iraq on the imported equipment's and agricultural and foods products, and influence of rising of global prices in it especially after 2003.The research recommended to controlling the rates of imported inflation by using studied import policies and not allowed of randomized of importing agricultural products, the research recommends also to reduce the impact of dumping policy in agricultural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The competitiveness and complementarity of trade reflect the advantages and disadvantages of exports and future trade trends. After China joined the WTO, the import and export volume of agricultural products has increased significantly, but the import volume and import growth rate have greatly exceeded the export volume and export growth rate. China is the world’s largest importer of agricultural products, and Brazil has become the world’s largest exporter of agricultural products. As a country with the largest increase in agricultural exports, China and Brazil have close agricultural trade exchanges. China has become Brazil’s largest importer of agricultural products for four consecutive years. In addition, both China and Brazil are BRIC countries; therefore, the establishment of a cooperation mechanism is more conducive to the development of agricultural trade. This study uses quantitative research methods to investigate the agricultural trade between China and Brazil by calculating the revealed comparative advantage index, trade complementarity index, and trade intensity index. The study found that due to the different endowments of agricultural resources and the significant differences in agricultural structure, China and Brazil’s agricultural trade competitiveness is weak and they are highly complementary. The main agricultural products exported by China are labor-intensive processed products (pulp and waste paper, textile fibers, vegetables and fruits), and the main agricultural products exported by Brazil are land-intensive products (oilseeds and oily fruits, vegetable oils, raw hides and furs). Complementary advantages in agricultural trade were analyzed. In the future, the two countries have huge potential for cooperation and development.

Copyright of Anbar Journal of Agricultural Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The study aimed to predict Iraqi agricultural and food imports for the period (2021-2027) using the Box-Jenkins methodology. The autocorrelation and partial functions were used for the purpose of ensuring the stability of time series and testing the residual correlation, histogram and probabilistic distribution of residuals of the estimated model for the purpose of ensuring the suitability of the chosen model The study found an increase in both Iraqi agricultural and food imports during the studied period, and in light of the results reached, the study recommends maintaining the growth of this sector at 1.5%, 1.2% for agricultural and food imports, respectively..

The maize crop is an important strategic crop, as it is used as a basic component in animal feed. The problem of the study is the inability of production to meet the needs of it, as the average production for the period 2005-2015 was estimated at 7.13 MT tons, while the average consumption was estimated at about 12.37 MT tons. Therefore, this deficit, estimated at about 5.24 MT tons of imports, was covered, which causes a negative impact on the trade balance. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze agricultural policies for this crop based on secondary data published on the study period and its use of descriptive and quantitative statistics methods and partial balance analysis were the most important results. The production of the maize crop is decreasing at a statistically insignificant rate, the availability for consumption is increasing at a statistically insignificant rate, the average per capita share is decreasing at a statistically significant rate, and imports of maize are increasing at a statistically significant rate of 0.129 million pounds, and the value of exports is decreasing at a statistically insignificant rate of -0.14. The results of the partial equilibrium showed a decrease in production, albeit not significant, with an increase in consumption, which is also insignificant, offset by a non-significant increase in imports. As a result of the decrease in the domestic price, and thus led to the misallocation of consumer spending. The producer surplus and consumer surplus indices show that the producer surplus index values tended towards an increase at the level of study years as a result of importing corn in quantities that exceeded the local production and as a result of the higher production costs than the revenues and the decrease in the agricultural price below the border price. Corn and consumer price support, except for years, took positive values. The indicators of state returns indicate that through the indicators of change in government revenues and change in foreign exchange, the consumer welfare level of corn is higher than the level of product welfare in Egypt during the study period. It was found that the change in the balance of payments index took negative values over the years of the study, with the exception of two years, which means that there is an increase in dependence on imports of the corn crop. The most important recommendations: Pricing agricultural crops according to the production costs of the crop to raise the farms' return and applying contractual cultivation of agricultural crops to protect farmers from the monopoly of merchants and lower prices Increase the cultivated areas of the crop in the new lands, and provide improved seeds to increase productivity faddans Provide incentives for farmers to increase areas and increase production to reduce import from abroad And the provision of hard currency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the increase in the number of azole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus, there is an urgent need of data to predict future trends and prevent further spreading. The intercountry transfer of resistant A. fumigatus on plant bulbs have been reported. We investigated existence and characteristics of resistant isolates attached to agricultural products imported to Japan. We purchased 292 samples in Japan. All samples were screened for the existence of azole-resistant A. fumigatus. For positive isolates, minimum inhibitory concentrations of the drugs were determined. We also analyzed Cyp51A, Hmg1, and Erg6 mutations of these isolates and conducted microsatellite genotyping. Fourteen azole-resistant isolates were detected, of which 13 were cultured from flower bulbs imported from the Netherlands. Among them 5 were from 11 bulbs of Hippeastrum (45.5%), 5 were from 24 bulbs of Gladiolus (20.8%), 2 were from 4 bulbs of Ixia (50.0%), and 1 was from 22 bulbs of Tulipa (4.5%). Only 1 resistant isolate was cultured from the 10 bulbs of Narcissus (10.0%) originating in Japan. Various novel mutations including Y121F/T289A in Cyp51A with no tandem repeat in promoter region were discovered from imported strains. Our study provides important data showing that agricultural imports provide a possible route for their intercontinental spread and raises the concern that strains harboring highly diverse Cyp51A mutations might increase in clinical settings in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work was to check the presence of the dumping from neighboring countries of Iraq, Turkey and Jordan. The margin of dumping was calculated by taking the difference between the normal value and the export price. If it exceeds 2%, then there is dumping. Product dumping in Iraq has increased since 2003, and it is increasing from year to year for many types of agricultural and food commodities. Main reasons are the high rate of imports and the absence of trade policies represented by customs tariffs which in turn control the trade exchange. The research concluded that there is an intentional dumping in the trade of some agricultural commodities with Iraq from neighboring countries. Trade exchange with these countries has negative effects on the domestic product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study investigates the water scarcity footprint (WSF) trend of German agricultural imports over recent years, following the principles of the ISO 14046 standard on water footprinting. For this purpose, the import statistics of agricultural goods for the years 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 was compiled and linked with the irrigation water consumption during their production as well as with the AWARE water scarcity factors of the country of production. Agricultural imports increased by 62% from 22 to 35 million tons during the analysed period. At the same time, the blue water consumption for agricultural production (i.e., irrigation water) decreased by 13% and the WSF declined by 20%, from 119 to 91 km3 world-equivalents (world-eq.). The decrease in WSF is caused by drop in the cotton imports, while the WSF associated with the imports of other crops increased by 45%. Product-wise, cotton, nuts, and rice contribute to more than half of the total WSF in all analysed years. Despite their high WSF, these products account for only 3% of the imports by mass confirming the relevance of impact based water footprint assessments. Country-wise, main contributors change along the analysed years. In the year 2000, one-quarter of the WSF occurs in Uzbekistan due to cotton imports. Afterwards, the highest WSF arises in Iran and Spain, while the imports from the US dominate the WSF in 2015. The changing trend follows the pattern of production of the hotspots identified on the product level, e.g. nuts, soybeans, and cotton. This study provides information on the water scarcity impacts that the German consumption creates in other countries and may be useful for decision-making processes aiming at optimising water scarcity footprints. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Water Scarcity Footprint (WSF) of German agricultural imports was calculated. • WSF decreased from 119 to 91 km3 world-eq. between 2000 and 2015. • The imports increased from 22 to 35 million tons between 2000 and 2015. • Imports of cotton , nuts , and rice contribute to almost half of the total WSF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

United Arab Emirate is the trading partner of Pakistan with 10.9 percent share of total trade in 2012. Export share of Pakistan to United Arab Emirates was 8.5 percent and Import share of Pakistan from United Arab Emirates is about 12 percent in 2012. Major agricultural export products of Pakistan to UAE are rice, meat (beef & mutton), and cotton yarn. Major agricultural products, which are imported include dried vegetables, sugar and milk and cream. Objective of the study was to elaborate the trade of major agricultural products between Pakistan and United Arab Emirates, and their competitiveness. Competitiveness in agricultural trade was estimated by nominal protection coefficient (NPC). The results exhibited that Pakistan was losing its competitiveness in basmati export. NPC of beef remained less as compared to Mutton that means beef is more competitive as compared to mutton. It is concluded that Pakistan should focus more on beef for its exports growth as compared to mutton. Pakistan has competitiveness in the cotton yarn but it is not a strong as comparative to its products. Pakistan has strong competitiveness in milk and cream but still is not able to export milk and cream. There is need to make more growth in dairy sector and government should give more attention toward this sector. Value of NPC of sugar more than unity is showing that Pakistan has no competitiveness in sugar. Pakistan is an exporter of fresh vegetables but at the same time Pakistan is also importer of the dried vegetables. There is lack of value addition in vegetables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the Water Footprint (WF) resulting from the agricultural imports of the European Union (EU-28). Import trade statistics were compiled and linked with crop- and country-specific water consumption data and water scarcity factors. Within the study, the virtual water imports of 104 agricultural commodities for the baseline year 2015 were assessed and product and country hotspots were evaluated. It was shown that (a) Europe imported 100 million tons of agricultural goods and 11 km3 of associated virtual irrigation water; (b) the highest impacts of water consumption do not necessarily result from high import amounts, but from water-intensive goods produced in water scarce countries; (c) the largest external EU-28 water footprint occurred due to the product categories cotton, nuts and rice; and (d) the highest share of the EU external water footprint took place in the United States (US), Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and India.

The article focuses on the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA) which overhauls the ability of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate food suppliers in an effort to ensure the safety of the food supply and prevent food contamination that may cause foodborne illnesses. It also examines the agricultural imports under the FSMA.

Agricultural activities immensely contribute to greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). This study investigates the heterogeneous effect of agricultural production (AGRIP) on three major GHGs emissions, i.e., carbon dioxide (CO 2), nitrous oxide (N 2 O), and methane (CH 4) under the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework using a balanced panel data of 90 countries from the period 1991 to 2019. Second-generation panel unit root and cointegration tests are conducted to account for cross-sectional dependence. The findings suggest that there is a long run equilibrium among target variables. Evidence from panel quantile regression suggests that AGRIP significantly reduced CO 2 emissions, and the effect is stronger in lower quantiles (least carbon emitters). On the other hand, AGRIP increases N 2 O and CH 4 emissions in all quantiles. However, AGRIP is homogeneously distributed across N 2 O quantiles while the effect is stronger in higher quantiles (high methane emitters) in the case of CH 4 model. Concerning agricultural trade, exports impede CO 2 emissions but increase N 2 O and methane emissions. Agricultural imports are positively associated with all GHGs emissions. The effect of agricultural trade is largely heterogeneous and varies across different quantile levels of GHGs emissions. The EKC is fully valid for CO 2 and N 2 O but not for the methane emissions model. Based on the results, it is suggested that high GHGs emitter should shift their agricultural activities from traditional to sustainable approaches along with green trade policies to achieve climate neutrality targets. • The method of moments quantile regression is utilized. • Agricultural production (AGRIP) decreases CO 2 emissions via carbon sequestration. • N 2 O and CH 4 are the main sources of AGRIP. • EKC is valid for CO 2 and N 2 O models but not for CH 4. • Agricultural trade increase GHGs asymmetrically and heterogeneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The translog cost function of the U.S. agricultural sector unveils dynamic relationships between foreign and domestic inputs. On average, capital and labour are weak substitutes, but they are strong substitutes to food and agricultural imports. Therefore, enhancing trade policies on food and agricultural products should be supplemented by strategic policies aiming at protecting domestic factors' income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how China is sending conflicting signals with respect to its engagement in agricultural markets with signs that Chinese officials are moving toward greater participation in agricultural trade while determined to exert tight control over imports. Topics discussed include how China's commitment to free trade in agricultural markets is hindered by perceived threats to food security and domestic stability and China's pursuit of free trade agreements.

European environmental groups have been calling to switch from imported agricultural produce to locally grown produce, citing positive social and economic impacts as well as environmental ones; and especially the benefit of reducing the environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions caused by long-distance food transportation. In Israel, in contrast, there have been calls to increase agricultural imports in order to reduce the pressure on Israel's scarce water resources. To examine these contradicting claims, we compared the impacts of imported and locally grown agricultural produce for Israel's main imported crops, including the impacts of production, transportation, and water treatment. The analysis included the social impact of the agricultural scenery, the economic impact of the growers' profits and the environmental impacts on human health, including climate change. We concluded that for all the crops examined, except for potatoes, sustainable development is best served by local production rather than imports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's trade with the world doubled after joining the WTO. This study attempts to identify and measure quantitatively the effects of changing economic environment and trade policies on China's global agricultural imports as well as imports from the EU. The approach is to model behavioral relationships in the agricultural trade between China and the EU by using annual trade data from 1986 to 2005. The results indicate that Chinese agricultural imports are relatively inelastic to absolute price changes, but relative price changes significantly affect the market shares of EU exports due to price competition. Trade liberalization in the form of tariff reductions is trivial in changing the quantity of China's agricultural imports from the EU. Rapid income growth has fuelled most of China's increased appetite for imported agricultural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey has a particular interest in the WTO agricultural negotiations in view of its significant agricultural sector. This paper undertakes a quantitative analysis of trade liberalisation and its impact on Turkish agriculture. We use UNCTAD's Agricultural Trade Policy Simulation Model (ATPSM). A likely scenario suggests that Turkey may face higher import bills as world prices for cereals are expected to rise. They are likely to offset the expected gains from its exports of pulses, vegetables and fruits. Livestock producers, who would face lower import prices, would be the losers while cereal producers would be the winners - at least on the short-run. Livestock and cereal production continue to be the least productive activities, mainly because the state intervention of the past has discouraged investment and adoption of innovations. Government involvement in production, processing and marketing of agricultural goods may have hindered rather than helped the sector to become more competitive [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the Water Footprint (WF) resulting from the agricultural imports of the European Union (EU-28). Import trade statistics were compiled and linked with crop- and country-specific water consumption data and water scarcity factors. Within the study, the virtual water imports of 104 agricultural commodities for the baseline year 2015 were assessed and product and country hotspots were evaluated. It was shown that (a) Europe imported 100 million tons of agricultural goods and 11 km3 of associated virtual irrigation water; (b) the highest impacts of water consumption do not necessarily result from high import amounts, but from water-intensive goods produced in water scarce countries; (c) the largest external EU-28 water footprint occurred due to the product categories cotton, nuts and rice; and (d) the highest share of the EU external water footprint took place in the United States (US), Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]