Economics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Economics - Assignment Example When firms spend less money on expansion, they are infusing fewer funds into the economy which leads to slow economic growth. Stock market crash causes job losses and this highly impacts the economy. During recession firms tend to cut operation costs by firing workers. With less money to spend consumers will not afford durable and luxury items. Hence, unemployment in the long run negatively impact the consumer durable and real estate sectors of economy since it lead to fall in prices in commercial and real estate sectors. Additionally, when investor’s money is lost as result of stock market crash, they tend to spend less. This in essence leads to low consumer spending which negatively affects the economy. Immediately following the attack on the US on 11 Sept 2001, the stock markets plunged and many observers expected a recession in the US (and possibly elsewhere). Using the AD-AS model, explain their prediction. There are reasons that led many observers to predict a recession in the US when the stock markets plunged. Stocks are pieces of ownership in a firm and thus the stock markets are indicator of shareholders’ confidence in the future earnings of these firms. Corporate earnings depend on the stability of country’s economic standing and therefore stock markets reflect how a country is economically stable. Their crash reflects a loss of confidence in the economy and if not restored it leads to recession. This due to the fact that the stock markets crash lead to a fall in aggregate demand (AD) (demand side shock) as a result of less wealth for consumers. In addition, it implies less financing for new projects, since trading of stocks is one way that firms raise funds required to expand. They also predicted a recession in US economy because declining stock markets can kick-start a rise in oil prices which would increase the cost of manufacturing and this in

Globalisation and Its Effects on Organisations Essay

Globalisation and Its Effects on Organisations - Essay Example The researcher states that globalisation has created the best opportunities for all companies worldwide by increasing the level of employment and profitability of companies drastically over few years. Companies are able to utilise labour, capital and resources to the best of their ability. They also effectively changed their ways of operation than that in the past. Organisations not only introduced office automation but at the same time, incorporated various improvements in techniques of management. They started to stress more on the division of work and labour. As a result, greater emphasis was put on centralization, decentralisation, control, coordination, culture and communication. With the essence of globalisation, there was development in the structure of organizations. Centralisation became the choice for most companies as this helped them to coordinate and control easily, reduce all sorts of duplication, perform consistently, incorporate necessary changes in the system effortl essly and accordingly fulfil goals and targets. There were various other opportunities that globalisation has brought along in the form of labour available at the cheapest possible price. The developed countries extensively took advantage of cheap labour available in the developing countries for manufacturing their products at lowest possible prices and then sell them at high margins.   Countries like U.S.A. also began with the revolution of outsourcing. Outsourcing enabled them to reduce the level of unemployment in various countries as well as receive the services at least possible cost.

Using the plays of Aristophanes Essay Example for Free

Using the plays of Aristophanes Essay Using the plays of Aristophanes (Lysistrata), Sophocles (Oedipus) and Euripides (Medea), we are able to discuss some major themes and concerns present in Greek Drama, such as women, fate, and other underlying themes. One of the most prominent, and perhaps the most controversial themes present in Greek Drama is the position of women in Greek Society. These three writers have different opinions of women, and this is reflected in their plays. Euripides, in Medea, presents a view of women as sex-crazed creatures. This is emphasised by Jason (569-72), when he says: you women/ Have reached a state where, if alls well with your sex-life,/ Youve everything you wish for; but when that goes wrong,/ At once all that is best and noblest turns to gall. Women in Lysistrata add to this view when they exclaim: Ill walk through fire, or anything but to give up sex, never! (166). Furthermore, women are portrayed as inherently dishonest. This is expressed when Medea tells the Chorus: We were born women useless for honest purposes, / But in all kinds of evil, skilled practitioners (407). Women are also presented as emotional rather than rational in their responses to situations. For all the Chorus protests about Medea killing her children, when they actually heard her murdering them, lamented: the miserable mother , cursed, miserable woman (1278), but are so effectively overcome with their emotions that they do not stop her, as perhaps men would have. This attitude towards women is complemented in Oedipus, when Jocasta, instead of waiting to learn the truth, murders herself at her assumption. Another major concern in Greek Drama is the idea about gods and fate. In Medea, there is little intervention of the gods, let alone fate. Medea makes the decision and is responsible for the tragic end which befalls the characters. In contrast, Sophocles Oedipus, present us with a completely different outlook. In the play, almost every aspect is seen to be controlled, in order for the prophecy to be completed. For example, in the play, Oedipus is rescued by a messenger that same messenger who happens to deliver the news that Oedipuss father is dead. Of countless people, it was the same person. Furthermore, Oedipus kills his father, protected by five men, on a lonely road. Is it not ironic, or least unlucky, the Oedipus happened to travel on the same road, and meet, out of all the people, his father who he does not even realise is his father and kills him? Oedipus then arrives at Thebes, his birth place, and solves a riddle which no person has yet been able to solve; he becomes king and marries his mother. Coincidence surely not. Certainly, these examples prove that fate was an all important factor in Greek drama that once a decision has been fated, it can never be changed. Greek Drama, particularly tragedy, also carries a prominent underlying theme Passion over Reason. In Euripides play, Medea is driven by an overwhelming passion to have her revenge that she does not stop to think what she is actually doing. This idea is exaggerated in Oedipus when he blindly pursues his identity, in defiance of warnings from numerous sources including Teiresias, Jocasta and the shepherd. Eventually, this passion over reason leads to his downfall. The theme is also carried through in Lysistrata, although not to such a prominent extent. In the play, the men are at war because they have refused methods of reasoning, and let their passions take control. However, in the play this idea can also be taken in a different sense. The men can be seen to succumb to their sexual passions, and refuse the reasons of going to war. In conclusion, we can see that the plays of these legendary writers reflect some major themes and concerns of Greek Drama. Concerns such as the position of women, the outlook on the gods and underlying themes are all major issues present in the plays.

Gherkin and Pomegranate Cultivation

Gherkin and Pomegranate Cultivation Abstract Horticulture is an important component of agriculture accounting for a very significant share in the Indian economy. Rising consumer income and changing lifestyles are creating bigger markets for high-value horticultural products in India as well as throughout the world. Among these, the most important high-value export products are fruits and vegetables. This study was conducted to analyze the comparative advantage and competitiveness of pomegranate and gherkin which are the important foreign exchange earner among fruit and vegetable crops exported from India. The primary data was collected from Tumkur and Bijapur district of Karnataka, India and secondary data was collected from concerned government institutions, APEDA and also from exporters of fruits and vegetables. The Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) was selected as the analytical tool to analyse the export competitiveness, comparative advantage, and the degree of government interventions in the production and export of gherkin and pomegranate. The policy distortions were measured through indicators of PAM. Garret ranking technique was used to analyse the constraints in the production and export of the selected crops. EPC of Gherkin (0.5) and pomegranate (0.45) values which found to be less than one indicates that producers are not protected through policy interventions. Whereas DRC (0.27 0.28) and PCR (0.43 0.59) values of Gherkin and Pomegranate respectively shows positive, social as well as private profit which indicates that, India has a competitive and comparative advantage in their production. The result for Garret ranking in case of gherkin shows that skilled labour and lack of superior quality are the major constraints in production and export of gherkin respectively. In case of pomegranate non availability of skilled labour, high incidence of pest and diseases, lack of transportation facilities, high residual effect of pesticide are the major constrain in production and export. The overall result shows that the cultivation as well as export of gherkin and pomegranate is economically profitable and efficient. Key Words: Gherkin, Pomegranate, PAM, EPC and DRC List of Acronyms Variable Definition APEDA Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority CIF Cost Insurance and Freight Crores 10 million DRC Domestic Resource Cost EPC Effective Protection Coefficient EU European Union FAOSTAT Food and Agriculture Organization Statistics FOB Free On Border FYM Farm Yard Manure ha Hectares HEIA Horticulture Export Improvement Association kg Kilogram MHA Million Hectare MT Million Tons NHB National Horticulture Board NPCI Nominal Protection Coefficient on Inputs NPCO Nominal Protection Coefficient on Outputs NPV Net Present Value PAM Policy Analysis Matrix PCR Private Cost Ratio INR Indian Rupees UAE United Arab Emirates UK United Kingdom UNCOMTRADE United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics UNFAO United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization USA United States of America 1. Introduction 1.1 Background Indian agriculture is vested with the herculean responsibility of feeding over more than one billion people. Out of total, 72% of Indias population live in rural areas, further three-fourth of the rural populations depend on agriculture and allied activities for their livelihoods. The present growth in agriculture in India is hassle with problems most importantly, agricultural growth slowed down to 2.1% between 1998-99 and 2004-05. It is largely due to a decline in the food grain sector that grew at merely 0.6%. Given the high dependence of the poor on agriculture, the stagnation in this sector is currently threatening to stall poverty reduction in India (Reddy, 2007). Given the present scenario, the immediate question to be addressed is how agricultural growth can be accelerated. The question can be answered through by diversifying the consumption pattern towards high value agricultural commodities in general and high value horticultural products in particular such as fruits and vegetables. In recent years there has been a great deal of interest among policymakers and trade analysts in the role of horticultural products as a principle means of agricultural diversification and foreign exchange earnings in developing countries. Horticultural products have high income elasticity of demand as income goes up the demand raises rapidly. It grows especially in middle and high income developing countries. As people are more cautious on health and nutrition, there is a paradigm shift from high fat, high cholesterol foods such as meat and live stock products to low fat and low cholesterol foods such as fruits and vegetables. As a result, the world has change d its attention towards high value agricultural products. Hence, it is crucial to be competitive in the world market to reap the potential gains of increased and growing world demand for horticultural products such as fruits and vegetables. Thus, the purpose of the present study attempts to evaluate the consequences of international trade and competitiveness of Indian horticulture with special reference to pomegranate and gherkin crops. In the recent past, these two crops got high export potential and earned good foreign exchange. 1.2 Studies on export of fruits and vegetables There are many studies related to export of horticultural crops especially fruits and vegetables from India. Chiniwar (2009) explained the numerous opportunities and challenges of the horticulture sector and observed that there is a tremendous potential for Indian pomegranates in the global market. He examined the growth of pomegranate exports from India. The study revealed that the growth of pomegranate exports from India is moderate in comparision to the potential for its exports. Tamanna et al. (1999) examined the export potential of selected fruits from India by using Nominal Protection Coefficient (NPC). The results indicate that the exports of Indian fruits are highly competitive in the world market. Nalini et al. (2008) observed that India has made tremendous progress in the export of cucumber and gherkin products during the past 15 years (1990-2005). The export has increased by about 129 times with an impressive annual compound growth rate of 37.46 percent, as against only 4. 38 percent in the world market. An increasing and high value of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) and a positive and increasing value for Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA) have indicated high potential for their export. One percent increase in volume of international trade in cucumber and gherkin may increase the demand from India by 5.96 percent. This indicates that India is highly competitive in the export of cucumber and gherkin. It has ample scope to further increase its export. Gulati et al. (1994) analyzed the export competitiveness of selected agricultural commodities and identified the constraints in the export of fresh fruits, vegetables, processed fruits and vegetables. The above studies are related to export performance, growth, and constraints of fruits and vegetables. Most of these studies focused on aspects pertaining to export of fruits and vegetables. There are no studies on export policy especially related to efficiency and comparative advantage in world market. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to analyze the export competitiveness of pomegranate and gherkin by using Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM). The study has a high scope because competitiveness has become a key issue in the international market for export development of fruits and vegetables. 1.3 Research objectives In the present study, the export competitiveness of high value horticultural crops of India is analyzed. To be very precise, the study analyzes the competitiveness of gherkin and pomegranate in the world market. It also compares the advantages and constraints in the export of these crops with the following objectives and proposed hypothesis, which will be tested based on the results and conclusion. Specific objectives To assess the export competitiveness of Gherkin and Pomegranate To examine the production and export constraints of Gherkin and Pomegranate Hypothesis Export of gherkin and pomegranate are competitive in international markets 1.4 Structure of the thesis The study contains the results of the analysis of export competitiveness of horticultural crops in India. In the present study, opportunities are analyzed, constraints in production and export of gherkins and pomegranates from India. We further analyze the competitiveness and comparative advantage of these two crops in international market. The detailed information of this analysis is discussed in the following sections of the study. The first section of the thesis gives us an introduction and background on the nature of the problem, facts on the dynamics and underlying causes diversifying the consumption pattern of high value horticultural commodities. Further, a brief overview of existing studies on Indian agricultural and horticultural growth, export performance, and constraints will be discussed. The research question is broken down into specific objectives and a possible hypothesis has been put forth. The second section of the thesis will give a general overview of fruit and vegetable scenario in the world as well as in India. The section also explains the importance of selected fruit and vegetable by considering production, export and foreign exchange earnings which will help us to understand the export competitiveness of these crops from India. The third section deals with methodological framework which deals with the concepts and competitiveness of high value horticultural crops from India focusing on the application of PAM model for the study. In the same chapter, the current literature and outline of the major definitions for competitiveness and comparative advantage are studied. The above proposed model will be used as a tool to address the research objectives followed by data description. Fourth section highlights the findings of the research from the proposed model using collected information on pomegranate and gherkin cultivation, and their export. Finally, the proposed hypothesis is tested and the results inferred. The final section summarizes the whole research findings and provides meaningful policy implications. 2. Scenario of fruits and vegetables in India and the world 2.1 World scenario of fruits and vegetables 2.1.1 High value agricultural production Rising consumer income and changing lifestyles are creating bigger markets for high value agricultural products throughout the world. Among these, the most important high value export sector is horticulture, especially fruits and vegetables. The growing markets for these products present an opportunity for the farmers of developing countries to diversify their production out of staple grains and raise their income. Annual growth rates on the order of 8 to 10 percent in high value agricultural products is promising development (Fig.1), as the production, processing and marketing of these products create a lot of needed employment in rural areas. The rapid growth in high value exports has been part of fundamental and broad reaching trend towards globalization of the agro food system. Dietary changes, trade reform and technical changes in the food industry have contributed to the growth of high value agriculture and trade (World Bank, 2008). 2.1.2 World production of fruit and vegetables The production of fruit and vegetables all over the world grew by 30 percent between 1980 to 1990 and by 56 percent between 1990 to 2003. Much of this growth occurred in China where production grew up by 134 percent in 1980 and climbed to 200 percent by 1990 (UNFAO 2003). At present the world production of fruits and vegetables reached to 512 MT and 946.7MT respectively (Table 1 5). Vegetables: China is currently the worlds largest producer of vegetables, with the production 448.9 MT with an area of 23.9 MHA (47%) (Table 1), whereas India is in the 2nd position with the production of 125.8 MT with an area of 7.8 MHA (13%) followed by USA (4%), Turkey (3%) etc (Indian Horticulture Database, 2008) (Fig.2). Among the vegetable crops gherkin is considered for the study as it is one of the most important vegetable all over the world. Table 2 shows the international production of cucumber and gherkin from different parts of the world during 2007-08. China, Turkey, Iran, Russia and USA are the world largest producers of cucumber and gherkin (Table 3), whereas India position in the production is 34th but it reached 1st (Table 3) and 55th (Table 4) position in export of provisionally preserved and fresh cucumber gherkin respectively. Table 1 Major vegetables producing countries in the world (2007-08) Country Area(000 ha) Production(000 MT) Productivity(MT/ha) China 23936 448983 19 India 7803 125887 16 USA 1333 38075 29 Turkey 996 24454 25 Russia 970 16516 17 Egypt 598 16041 27 Iran 641 15993 25 Italy 528 13587 26 Spain 379 12676 33 Japan 433 11938 28 Others 16957 222625 13 Total 54573 946774 Source: Indian Horticulture Database (2008) Table 2 International production of cucumber and gherkin (2007-08) Country Production (MT) Share (%) China 28062000 62.9 Turkey 1875919 4.21 Iran, Islamic republic 1720000 3.86 Russian federation 1410000 3.16 USA 920000 2.06 Ukraine 775000 1.74 Japan 634000 1.42 Egypt 615000 1.38 Indonesia 600000 1.34 Spain 510000 1.14 Mexico 500000 1.12 Poland 492000 1.10 Iraq 480000 1.08 Netherland 445000 1.00 India 120000 0.27 Others 5452024 12.22 World 44610943 100 Source: Author, FAO (2008) Table 3 Major exporting countries of fresh cucumber and gherkin (2007) Country Value (USD) Share (%) Spain 557088 30.13 Mexico 437369 23.65 Netherland 419824 22.70 Canada 81707 4.42 Germany 44437 2.40 Turkey 40300 2.18 Greece 38920 2.10 Iran 27768 1.50 Belgium 25361 1.37 USA 16313 0.88 India 235 0.01 Others 159815 8.64 World 1849137 Source: Data from Agricultural and Processed food products Export development Authority (APEDA), India. Table 4 Major exporting countries of preserved cucumber and gherkin Country Value (USD) Share (%) India 33476 49.39 China 16754 24.72 Turkey 4193 6.19 Netherlands 3397 5.01 Belgium 2670 3.94 Vietnam 40300 2.11 Sri Lanka 1003 1.48 Germany 925 1.37 Spain 596 0.88 USA 992 0.87 World 65040 Source: U.N COMTRADE (2007) Fruits: World fruit production has steadily risen for the past four years (see Appendix 3 ). Table 5 shows the largest fresh fruit producers from different countries during 2007-08. China is the worlds largest fruit producer, producing 19 percent of the world fruits. India ranks second in the list of world producer accounting 12 percent of the worlds production followed by Brazil, where 7 percent of the worlds fruit was grown. (Figure 3) As production is increasing in China at alarming rate compare to other top producing countries. Production growth almost averaged 6 percent per year in China, while production growth in India averaged 2.73 percent per year. The EU experienced the lower annual growth rate of 0.89 percent. Whereas, the production in USA and Brazil has been relatively constant over the period, with average annual growth rates of 0.61 percent for the former and 0.34 percent for the later. Other countries Mexico, South Africa and Chile have experienced slightly higher av erage annual production growth rates of 2.12, 2.56 and 1.3 percent respectively over the same period (FAOSTAT 2008). Among all fruits pomegranate is considered for the present study. Figure 4 shows India is the world largest producer of pomegranate with 900 MT (36%) followed by Iran (31%), Iraq (3%), USA (4%) etc. Over the years Indias export rate for pomegranate has grown steadily to worth of INR0.61 million (US$13741) in 2007-08 with the share of 1.2 percent (Table 6). Table 5 Major fruit producing countries in the world (2007-08) Country Area(000 ha) Production(000 MT) Productivity(MT/ha) China 9587 94418 10 India 5775 63503 11 Brazil 1777 36818 21 USA 1168 24962 21 Italy 1246 17891 14 Spain 1835 15293 8 Mexico 1100 15041 14 Turkey 1049 12390 12 Iran 1256 12102 10 Indonesia 846 11615 14 Others 22841 208036 9 Total 48481 512070 Source: FAO Indian Horticulture Database (2008) Table 6 Pomegranate export from different parts of the world (2007) Country Value (USD) Share (%) Thailand 172781 15.06 Spain 138911 12.11 Vietnam 84532 7.37 Mexico 67739 5.91 Netherlands 63858 5.57 Madagascar 53822 4.69 Israel 45219 3.94 Uzbekistan 44128 3.85 Colombia 40459 3.53 Azerbaijan 37977 3.31 France 36975 3.22 Germany 17750 1.55 India 13741 1.20 Others 309565 27.45 World 1127457 100 Source: Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India 2.2 Scenario of fruits and vegetables in India. Horticulture is an important component of agriculture accounting for a very significant share in the Indian economy. It is identified as one of the potential sector for harnessing Indias competitive advantage in international trade. Further it prepares India to achieve an overall trade target of 1% or more in the share of world trade. Meanwhile, making the country self-sufficient in the last few decades, horticulture has played a very significant role in earning foreign exchange through export. Horticultural crops cover approximately 8.5 percent of total cropped area (20 MHA) (Table 7) with annual production of 207 MT, and productivity of 10.3 MT per hectare during the year 2007-08 (FAO Indian Horticulture Database 2008). Among the horticultural crops fruits and vegetables play an important role, whereas exports of fruits and vegetables have increased over the years (Table 8). During 2004-05 export of fruits and vegetables was INR 13637.13 million as against INR 24116.57 million during 2006-07 (APEDA, 2008) Table 7 Area, production and productivity of horticultural crops in India Year Area (MHA) Production (MT) Productivity (MT/ha) ) 2001-02 16.6 145.8 8.8 2002-03 16.3 144.4 8.9 2003-04 19.2 153.3 21 2004-05 21.1 170.8 8.1 2005-06 18.7 182.8 9.8 2006-07 19.4 191.8 9.9 2007-08 20.1 207.0 10.3 Source: FAO Indian Horticulture Database (2008) Table 8 Export of horticultural produce in India Products 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Quantity Value Quantity Value Quantity Value Floriculture seeds 34496 2871 42659 3922 50048 7713 Fresh Fruits vegetables 1296530 13637 1465040 16587 1983873 24117 Processed fruits vegetables 325293 9614 501826 13595 549949 17316 Total 1656319 261227 2009525 341051 258387 491459 Source: APEDA, India Note: Qty: MT, value : Million INR Vegetables: In vegetable production, India is next to China with a production of 125.8 million tonnes from 7.8 million hectares with a share of 13 percent in relation to world production (Table 9). The per capital consumption of vegetables is 120 grams per day (APEDA 2009). In case of Fresh vegetable Indias export has been increased from INR 433.14 Crore in 2006-07 to Rs 489.49 Crore in 2007-08. Major Export Destinations of these vegetables are UAE, UK, Nepal, and Saudi Arabia. (APEDA, 2009) Table 9 Area, production and productivity of vegetable crops in India Year Area (MHA) Production (MT) Productivity (MT/ha) ) 2001-02 6156 88622 14.4 2002-03 6092 84815 13.9 2003-04 6082 88334 14.5 2004-05 6744 101246 15.0 2005-06 7213 111399 15.4 2006-07 7584 115011 15.2 2007-08 7803 125887 16.1 Source: FAO Indian Horticulture Database (2008) Among all vegetables gherkin is considered for the present study due to following reasons. Indias export of gherkin has been steadily increased since 1997-98. It accounts for 24,490 tonnes of gherkins having an export potential of INR 50.27 crore as against 35,242 tonnes worth of INR 69.86 crore in 1999-2000 (Venkatesh, 2003). In recent year gherkin export has been increased to 61.5 million tonnes with a trade value of INR1465.5 million during 2007-08 (UNFAO Export Data, 2009). 2.2.1 Production and export importance of gherkin in India Gherkin crop is being selected for the present study. It is regarded as HEIA crop especially a hybrid crop. Gherkin cultivation and processing started in India in the early 90s and presently cultivated over 19,500 acres in the three southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Although gherkin can grow virtually in any part of the country, the ideal conditions required for growth prevail in these three states where the growing season extends throughout the year. It requires adequate water and temperature between 15-36 degree centigrade and the right type of soil. The crop takes 85 days to reach the required maturity level. Productivity is approximately four to five tonnes per acre and the best months are from February to March followed by June to August. India is a major exporter of provisionally preserved gherkin. Table 10 11 shows the cucumber and gherkin export from India. In India, Karnataka stands first in export, where cultivation is steadily growing since 2001 -02 accounting for a worth of INR 1200 million. During 2006-07 gherkins accounts to INR 3133 million which has been exported (Table 12). Table 10 Cucumber and gherkin exports from India (2007-08) Country Value( Million INR) Quantity (Tonnes) Share (%) ) UAE 1.96 142.75 17.55 Bangladesh 1.92 290.00 17.17 Netherland 1.78 93.10 15.92 Russia 1.66 83.50 14.91 Estonia 0.80 43.94 7.17 Nepal 0.75 74.42 6.75 Oman 0.75 70.00 6.74 Spain 0.55 31.82 4.95 France 0.47 20.21 4.27 Others 0.51 26.42 4.56 Total 11.20 876.18 100 Source: Gherkin and Pomegranate Cultivation Gherkin and Pomegranate Cultivation Abstract Horticulture is an important component of agriculture accounting for a very significant share in the Indian economy. Rising consumer income and changing lifestyles are creating bigger markets for high-value horticultural products in India as well as throughout the world. Among these, the most important high-value export products are fruits and vegetables. This study was conducted to analyze the comparative advantage and competitiveness of pomegranate and gherkin which are the important foreign exchange earner among fruit and vegetable crops exported from India. The primary data was collected from Tumkur and Bijapur district of Karnataka, India and secondary data was collected from concerned government institutions, APEDA and also from exporters of fruits and vegetables. The Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) was selected as the analytical tool to analyse the export competitiveness, comparative advantage, and the degree of government interventions in the production and export of gherkin and pomegranate. The policy distortions were measured through indicators of PAM. Garret ranking technique was used to analyse the constraints in the production and export of the selected crops. EPC of Gherkin (0.5) and pomegranate (0.45) values which found to be less than one indicates that producers are not protected through policy interventions. Whereas DRC (0.27 0.28) and PCR (0.43 0.59) values of Gherkin and Pomegranate respectively shows positive, social as well as private profit which indicates that, India has a competitive and comparative advantage in their production. The result for Garret ranking in case of gherkin shows that skilled labour and lack of superior quality are the major constraints in production and export of gherkin respectively. In case of pomegranate non availability of skilled labour, high incidence of pest and diseases, lack of transportation facilities, high residual effect of pesticide are the major constrain in production and export. The overall result shows that the cultivation as well as export of gherkin and pomegranate is economically profitable and efficient. Key Words: Gherkin, Pomegranate, PAM, EPC and DRC List of Acronyms Variable Definition APEDA Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority CIF Cost Insurance and Freight Crores 10 million DRC Domestic Resource Cost EPC Effective Protection Coefficient EU European Union FAOSTAT Food and Agriculture Organization Statistics FOB Free On Border FYM Farm Yard Manure ha Hectares HEIA Horticulture Export Improvement Association kg Kilogram MHA Million Hectare MT Million Tons NHB National Horticulture Board NPCI Nominal Protection Coefficient on Inputs NPCO Nominal Protection Coefficient on Outputs NPV Net Present Value PAM Policy Analysis Matrix PCR Private Cost Ratio INR Indian Rupees UAE United Arab Emirates UK United Kingdom UNCOMTRADE United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics UNFAO United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization USA United States of America 1. Introduction 1.1 Background Indian agriculture is vested with the herculean responsibility of feeding over more than one billion people. Out of total, 72% of Indias population live in rural areas, further three-fourth of the rural populations depend on agriculture and allied activities for their livelihoods. The present growth in agriculture in India is hassle with problems most importantly, agricultural growth slowed down to 2.1% between 1998-99 and 2004-05. It is largely due to a decline in the food grain sector that grew at merely 0.6%. Given the high dependence of the poor on agriculture, the stagnation in this sector is currently threatening to stall poverty reduction in India (Reddy, 2007). Given the present scenario, the immediate question to be addressed is how agricultural growth can be accelerated. The question can be answered through by diversifying the consumption pattern towards high value agricultural commodities in general and high value horticultural products in particular such as fruits and vegetables. In recent years there has been a great deal of interest among policymakers and trade analysts in the role of horticultural products as a principle means of agricultural diversification and foreign exchange earnings in developing countries. Horticultural products have high income elasticity of demand as income goes up the demand raises rapidly. It grows especially in middle and high income developing countries. As people are more cautious on health and nutrition, there is a paradigm shift from high fat, high cholesterol foods such as meat and live stock products to low fat and low cholesterol foods such as fruits and vegetables. As a result, the world has change d its attention towards high value agricultural products. Hence, it is crucial to be competitive in the world market to reap the potential gains of increased and growing world demand for horticultural products such as fruits and vegetables. Thus, the purpose of the present study attempts to evaluate the consequences of international trade and competitiveness of Indian horticulture with special reference to pomegranate and gherkin crops. In the recent past, these two crops got high export potential and earned good foreign exchange. 1.2 Studies on export of fruits and vegetables There are many studies related to export of horticultural crops especially fruits and vegetables from India. Chiniwar (2009) explained the numerous opportunities and challenges of the horticulture sector and observed that there is a tremendous potential for Indian pomegranates in the global market. He examined the growth of pomegranate exports from India. The study revealed that the growth of pomegranate exports from India is moderate in comparision to the potential for its exports. Tamanna et al. (1999) examined the export potential of selected fruits from India by using Nominal Protection Coefficient (NPC). The results indicate that the exports of Indian fruits are highly competitive in the world market. Nalini et al. (2008) observed that India has made tremendous progress in the export of cucumber and gherkin products during the past 15 years (1990-2005). The export has increased by about 129 times with an impressive annual compound growth rate of 37.46 percent, as against only 4. 38 percent in the world market. An increasing and high value of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) and a positive and increasing value for Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA) have indicated high potential for their export. One percent increase in volume of international trade in cucumber and gherkin may increase the demand from India by 5.96 percent. This indicates that India is highly competitive in the export of cucumber and gherkin. It has ample scope to further increase its export. Gulati et al. (1994) analyzed the export competitiveness of selected agricultural commodities and identified the constraints in the export of fresh fruits, vegetables, processed fruits and vegetables. The above studies are related to export performance, growth, and constraints of fruits and vegetables. Most of these studies focused on aspects pertaining to export of fruits and vegetables. There are no studies on export policy especially related to efficiency and comparative advantage in world market. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to analyze the export competitiveness of pomegranate and gherkin by using Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM). The study has a high scope because competitiveness has become a key issue in the international market for export development of fruits and vegetables. 1.3 Research objectives In the present study, the export competitiveness of high value horticultural crops of India is analyzed. To be very precise, the study analyzes the competitiveness of gherkin and pomegranate in the world market. It also compares the advantages and constraints in the export of these crops with the following objectives and proposed hypothesis, which will be tested based on the results and conclusion. Specific objectives To assess the export competitiveness of Gherkin and Pomegranate To examine the production and export constraints of Gherkin and Pomegranate Hypothesis Export of gherkin and pomegranate are competitive in international markets 1.4 Structure of the thesis The study contains the results of the analysis of export competitiveness of horticultural crops in India. In the present study, opportunities are analyzed, constraints in production and export of gherkins and pomegranates from India. We further analyze the competitiveness and comparative advantage of these two crops in international market. The detailed information of this analysis is discussed in the following sections of the study. The first section of the thesis gives us an introduction and background on the nature of the problem, facts on the dynamics and underlying causes diversifying the consumption pattern of high value horticultural commodities. Further, a brief overview of existing studies on Indian agricultural and horticultural growth, export performance, and constraints will be discussed. The research question is broken down into specific objectives and a possible hypothesis has been put forth. The second section of the thesis will give a general overview of fruit and vegetable scenario in the world as well as in India. The section also explains the importance of selected fruit and vegetable by considering production, export and foreign exchange earnings which will help us to understand the export competitiveness of these crops from India. The third section deals with methodological framework which deals with the concepts and competitiveness of high value horticultural crops from India focusing on the application of PAM model for the study. In the same chapter, the current literature and outline of the major definitions for competitiveness and comparative advantage are studied. The above proposed model will be used as a tool to address the research objectives followed by data description. Fourth section highlights the findings of the research from the proposed model using collected information on pomegranate and gherkin cultivation, and their export. Finally, the proposed hypothesis is tested and the results inferred. The final section summarizes the whole research findings and provides meaningful policy implications. 2. Scenario of fruits and vegetables in India and the world 2.1 World scenario of fruits and vegetables 2.1.1 High value agricultural production Rising consumer income and changing lifestyles are creating bigger markets for high value agricultural products throughout the world. Among these, the most important high value export sector is horticulture, especially fruits and vegetables. The growing markets for these products present an opportunity for the farmers of developing countries to diversify their production out of staple grains and raise their income. Annual growth rates on the order of 8 to 10 percent in high value agricultural products is promising development (Fig.1), as the production, processing and marketing of these products create a lot of needed employment in rural areas. The rapid growth in high value exports has been part of fundamental and broad reaching trend towards globalization of the agro food system. Dietary changes, trade reform and technical changes in the food industry have contributed to the growth of high value agriculture and trade (World Bank, 2008). 2.1.2 World production of fruit and vegetables The production of fruit and vegetables all over the world grew by 30 percent between 1980 to 1990 and by 56 percent between 1990 to 2003. Much of this growth occurred in China where production grew up by 134 percent in 1980 and climbed to 200 percent by 1990 (UNFAO 2003). At present the world production of fruits and vegetables reached to 512 MT and 946.7MT respectively (Table 1 5). Vegetables: China is currently the worlds largest producer of vegetables, with the production 448.9 MT with an area of 23.9 MHA (47%) (Table 1), whereas India is in the 2nd position with the production of 125.8 MT with an area of 7.8 MHA (13%) followed by USA (4%), Turkey (3%) etc (Indian Horticulture Database, 2008) (Fig.2). Among the vegetable crops gherkin is considered for the study as it is one of the most important vegetable all over the world. Table 2 shows the international production of cucumber and gherkin from different parts of the world during 2007-08. China, Turkey, Iran, Russia and USA are the world largest producers of cucumber and gherkin (Table 3), whereas India position in the production is 34th but it reached 1st (Table 3) and 55th (Table 4) position in export of provisionally preserved and fresh cucumber gherkin respectively. Table 1 Major vegetables producing countries in the world (2007-08) Country Area(000 ha) Production(000 MT) Productivity(MT/ha) China 23936 448983 19 India 7803 125887 16 USA 1333 38075 29 Turkey 996 24454 25 Russia 970 16516 17 Egypt 598 16041 27 Iran 641 15993 25 Italy 528 13587 26 Spain 379 12676 33 Japan 433 11938 28 Others 16957 222625 13 Total 54573 946774 Source: Indian Horticulture Database (2008) Table 2 International production of cucumber and gherkin (2007-08) Country Production (MT) Share (%) China 28062000 62.9 Turkey 1875919 4.21 Iran, Islamic republic 1720000 3.86 Russian federation 1410000 3.16 USA 920000 2.06 Ukraine 775000 1.74 Japan 634000 1.42 Egypt 615000 1.38 Indonesia 600000 1.34 Spain 510000 1.14 Mexico 500000 1.12 Poland 492000 1.10 Iraq 480000 1.08 Netherland 445000 1.00 India 120000 0.27 Others 5452024 12.22 World 44610943 100 Source: Author, FAO (2008) Table 3 Major exporting countries of fresh cucumber and gherkin (2007) Country Value (USD) Share (%) Spain 557088 30.13 Mexico 437369 23.65 Netherland 419824 22.70 Canada 81707 4.42 Germany 44437 2.40 Turkey 40300 2.18 Greece 38920 2.10 Iran 27768 1.50 Belgium 25361 1.37 USA 16313 0.88 India 235 0.01 Others 159815 8.64 World 1849137 Source: Data from Agricultural and Processed food products Export development Authority (APEDA), India. Table 4 Major exporting countries of preserved cucumber and gherkin Country Value (USD) Share (%) India 33476 49.39 China 16754 24.72 Turkey 4193 6.19 Netherlands 3397 5.01 Belgium 2670 3.94 Vietnam 40300 2.11 Sri Lanka 1003 1.48 Germany 925 1.37 Spain 596 0.88 USA 992 0.87 World 65040 Source: U.N COMTRADE (2007) Fruits: World fruit production has steadily risen for the past four years (see Appendix 3 ). Table 5 shows the largest fresh fruit producers from different countries during 2007-08. China is the worlds largest fruit producer, producing 19 percent of the world fruits. India ranks second in the list of world producer accounting 12 percent of the worlds production followed by Brazil, where 7 percent of the worlds fruit was grown. (Figure 3) As production is increasing in China at alarming rate compare to other top producing countries. Production growth almost averaged 6 percent per year in China, while production growth in India averaged 2.73 percent per year. The EU experienced the lower annual growth rate of 0.89 percent. Whereas, the production in USA and Brazil has been relatively constant over the period, with average annual growth rates of 0.61 percent for the former and 0.34 percent for the later. Other countries Mexico, South Africa and Chile have experienced slightly higher av erage annual production growth rates of 2.12, 2.56 and 1.3 percent respectively over the same period (FAOSTAT 2008). Among all fruits pomegranate is considered for the present study. Figure 4 shows India is the world largest producer of pomegranate with 900 MT (36%) followed by Iran (31%), Iraq (3%), USA (4%) etc. Over the years Indias export rate for pomegranate has grown steadily to worth of INR0.61 million (US$13741) in 2007-08 with the share of 1.2 percent (Table 6). Table 5 Major fruit producing countries in the world (2007-08) Country Area(000 ha) Production(000 MT) Productivity(MT/ha) China 9587 94418 10 India 5775 63503 11 Brazil 1777 36818 21 USA 1168 24962 21 Italy 1246 17891 14 Spain 1835 15293 8 Mexico 1100 15041 14 Turkey 1049 12390 12 Iran 1256 12102 10 Indonesia 846 11615 14 Others 22841 208036 9 Total 48481 512070 Source: FAO Indian Horticulture Database (2008) Table 6 Pomegranate export from different parts of the world (2007) Country Value (USD) Share (%) Thailand 172781 15.06 Spain 138911 12.11 Vietnam 84532 7.37 Mexico 67739 5.91 Netherlands 63858 5.57 Madagascar 53822 4.69 Israel 45219 3.94 Uzbekistan 44128 3.85 Colombia 40459 3.53 Azerbaijan 37977 3.31 France 36975 3.22 Germany 17750 1.55 India 13741 1.20 Others 309565 27.45 World 1127457 100 Source: Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India 2.2 Scenario of fruits and vegetables in India. Horticulture is an important component of agriculture accounting for a very significant share in the Indian economy. It is identified as one of the potential sector for harnessing Indias competitive advantage in international trade. Further it prepares India to achieve an overall trade target of 1% or more in the share of world trade. Meanwhile, making the country self-sufficient in the last few decades, horticulture has played a very significant role in earning foreign exchange through export. Horticultural crops cover approximately 8.5 percent of total cropped area (20 MHA) (Table 7) with annual production of 207 MT, and productivity of 10.3 MT per hectare during the year 2007-08 (FAO Indian Horticulture Database 2008). Among the horticultural crops fruits and vegetables play an important role, whereas exports of fruits and vegetables have increased over the years (Table 8). During 2004-05 export of fruits and vegetables was INR 13637.13 million as against INR 24116.57 million during 2006-07 (APEDA, 2008) Table 7 Area, production and productivity of horticultural crops in India Year Area (MHA) Production (MT) Productivity (MT/ha) ) 2001-02 16.6 145.8 8.8 2002-03 16.3 144.4 8.9 2003-04 19.2 153.3 21 2004-05 21.1 170.8 8.1 2005-06 18.7 182.8 9.8 2006-07 19.4 191.8 9.9 2007-08 20.1 207.0 10.3 Source: FAO Indian Horticulture Database (2008) Table 8 Export of horticultural produce in India Products 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Quantity Value Quantity Value Quantity Value Floriculture seeds 34496 2871 42659 3922 50048 7713 Fresh Fruits vegetables 1296530 13637 1465040 16587 1983873 24117 Processed fruits vegetables 325293 9614 501826 13595 549949 17316 Total 1656319 261227 2009525 341051 258387 491459 Source: APEDA, India Note: Qty: MT, value : Million INR Vegetables: In vegetable production, India is next to China with a production of 125.8 million tonnes from 7.8 million hectares with a share of 13 percent in relation to world production (Table 9). The per capital consumption of vegetables is 120 grams per day (APEDA 2009). In case of Fresh vegetable Indias export has been increased from INR 433.14 Crore in 2006-07 to Rs 489.49 Crore in 2007-08. Major Export Destinations of these vegetables are UAE, UK, Nepal, and Saudi Arabia. (APEDA, 2009) Table 9 Area, production and productivity of vegetable crops in India Year Area (MHA) Production (MT) Productivity (MT/ha) ) 2001-02 6156 88622 14.4 2002-03 6092 84815 13.9 2003-04 6082 88334 14.5 2004-05 6744 101246 15.0 2005-06 7213 111399 15.4 2006-07 7584 115011 15.2 2007-08 7803 125887 16.1 Source: FAO Indian Horticulture Database (2008) Among all vegetables gherkin is considered for the present study due to following reasons. Indias export of gherkin has been steadily increased since 1997-98. It accounts for 24,490 tonnes of gherkins having an export potential of INR 50.27 crore as against 35,242 tonnes worth of INR 69.86 crore in 1999-2000 (Venkatesh, 2003). In recent year gherkin export has been increased to 61.5 million tonnes with a trade value of INR1465.5 million during 2007-08 (UNFAO Export Data, 2009). 2.2.1 Production and export importance of gherkin in India Gherkin crop is being selected for the present study. It is regarded as HEIA crop especially a hybrid crop. Gherkin cultivation and processing started in India in the early 90s and presently cultivated over 19,500 acres in the three southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Although gherkin can grow virtually in any part of the country, the ideal conditions required for growth prevail in these three states where the growing season extends throughout the year. It requires adequate water and temperature between 15-36 degree centigrade and the right type of soil. The crop takes 85 days to reach the required maturity level. Productivity is approximately four to five tonnes per acre and the best months are from February to March followed by June to August. India is a major exporter of provisionally preserved gherkin. Table 10 11 shows the cucumber and gherkin export from India. In India, Karnataka stands first in export, where cultivation is steadily growing since 2001 -02 accounting for a worth of INR 1200 million. During 2006-07 gherkins accounts to INR 3133 million which has been exported (Table 12). Table 10 Cucumber and gherkin exports from India (2007-08) Country Value( Million INR) Quantity (Tonnes) Share (%) ) UAE 1.96 142.75 17.55 Bangladesh 1.92 290.00 17.17 Netherland 1.78 93.10 15.92 Russia 1.66 83.50 14.91 Estonia 0.80 43.94 7.17 Nepal 0.75 74.42 6.75 Oman 0.75 70.00 6.74 Spain 0.55 31.82 4.95 France 0.47 20.21 4.27 Others 0.51 26.42 4.56 Total 11.20 876.18 100 Source:

Why the Makah Indians Hunt Whales Essay -- essays research papers fc

Why the Makah Indians hunt whales: â€Å"Whales provide us with the food for our bodies, bones for our tools and implements and spirits for our souls.† â€Å"We haven’t hunted the whale for 70 years but have hunted them in our hearts and in our minds.† â€Å"Whales are a central focus of our culture today as they have been from the beginning of time.† This has been a tradition of the Makah Indians for more than 2000 years. They had to stop in 1926 due to the scarcity of gray whales. But their abundance now makes it possible to resume their ancient practice of the hunt. They have had an intensification of interest in there own history and culture since the archeological dig at their village of Ozette in 1970, which uncovered thousands of artifacts bearing witness to their whaling tradition. Whaling and whales have remained central to Makah culture. They are in their songs, dances, designs, and basketry. Their social structure is based on traditional whaling families. The conduct of a whale hunt requires rituals and ceremonies, which are deeply spiritual. And they believe hunting imposes a purpose and a discipline, which they believe, will benefit their entire community, especially the young, whom the Makahs believe to be suffering from lack of self-discipline and pride. Why the Makahs have they right to hunt gray whales: Before entering into negotiations with the Makah for cessions of their extensive lands on the Olympic peninsula in 1855, the United States government was fully aware that the Makahs lived primarily on whale, seal and fish. When the United States Territorial Governor, Isaac Stevens, arrived at Neah bay in December of 1855 to enter into negotiations with the Makah leaders, he was met with strong declarations from them that in exchange for ceding Makah lands to the United States they would be allowed to hunt whale. They demanded guarantees of their rights on the ocean and specifically, of the right to take whale. The treaty minutes show Governor Stevens saying to the Makahs: â€Å"The Great Father knows what whalers you are--- how you go far to sea to take whale. Far from wanting to stop you, he will help you – sending implements and barrels to try the oil.† He went on to promise U.S. assistance in promoting Makah whaling commerce. He then presented a treaty containing the specific guarantee of the United States securing the right of the Makahs to contin... ...hey should rise to a â€Å"higher† level of culture by not whaling. Whether or not you like what they are doing or not you should respect their culture and their traditions. The Makahs are just trying to keep their culture alive. Bibliography: â€Å"Makah Indians may become pirate whaling nation.† www.eye.net/news/enviro/1995/env0803.htm â€Å"Whales die, a culture lives.† www.seattle-times.com/extra/browse/html/altwhal_101396.html â€Å"An open letter to the public from the President of the Makah Whaling Commission.† www.Conbio.rice.edu/nae/docs/makaheditorial.html â€Å"Makah whaling: questions and answers.† www.makah.com/whales.htm â€Å"Edsanders.com – Politics – The new bigots.† www.edwanders.com/pol.bigots.htm â€Å"Treaty of Neah Bay, 1855.† www.nwifc.wa.gov/tribes/treaties/neahbay.htm â€Å"U.S. Indians plea to kill whale.† www.whale.wheelock.edu/archives/whalenet96/0247.html â€Å"Makah management plan for the Makah treaty Gray whale hunting for the years 1998 - 2002.† www.nwifc.wa.gov/whaling/whaleplan.html â€Å"How this happened – the Treaty.† www.seashepherd.org/wh/us/mktreaty.html â€Å"Indian tribe gets OK to resume whaling.† www.japan.cnn.com/earth/9710/23/whales.indian.tribe/index.html

Angiosperms and Gymnosperms

PRACTICAL 6 Seed Plants (Gymnosperms and Angiosperms) OBJECTIVES: 1. To describe the features of seed plant life cycle and the concept of the dominant generation. 2. To describe the life histories and related reproductive structures of gymnosperms and angiosperms. 3. To summarize the features that distinguish gymnosperms and angiosperms. 4. To discuss the advantages of seed plants to dominate land and their evolutionary adaptations on land. EXPERIMENT 1: Gymnosperms INTRODUCTION:Gymnosperms (720 species in 65 genera) are ancient seed plants that include ginkgos (Division Ginkgophyta), cycads (Division Cycadophyta), conifers (Division Coniferophyta), and gnetophytes (Division Gnetophyta). The term gymnosperm derives from the Greek wood roots gymnos, meaning â€Å"naked†, and sperma, meaning â€Å"seed†. They are naked-seeded plants meaning that the ovule, which becomes a seed, is exposed on the sporophyte at pollination. Mature seed are not enclosed in a fruit as are tho se of flowering plants. Gymnosperms are best known for their characteristic cones, called strobili.These strobili display sporangia and their subsequently developing ovules and pollens. Gymnosperms do not require water for sperm to swim to reach the egg as do seedless plants. Instead, immense amount of windblown pollen are produced. Most gymnosperm cones, including the familiar pine cone, are complex whorls of leaflike, woody scales around a central axis. The smallest cones include those of the junipers (Juniperus) which have flesh scales fused into a structure resembling a berry. The larger cones may weigh 45 kg and are produced by cycads.In most gymnosperm species, the female megastrobilus is larger and distinctive from the male microstrobilus. MATERIALS: 1. Living or preserved specimens of * Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) * Cycad (Cycad sp. ) * Pine (Pinus sp. ) 2. Prepared slide of gymnosperms 3. Compound microscope 4. Dissecting microscope 5. Slide and coverslip 6. Forceps 7. Distilled water PROCEDURE: A ginkgo: 1. A prepared slide of male strobilus of Ginkgo biloba is examined. The microsporophyll, microsporangium, and strobilus axis are identified. 2. A prepared slide of female strobilus of Ginkgo biloba is examined.The megasporophyll, megasporangium, and strobilus axis are identified. A cycad: 1. A female cycad is examined. The leaves, megasporophylls, megasporangia and developing seed are identified. 2. The pollen cone bears on male cycad. Pollinated cone is examined and microsporophyll, microsporangia, and pollen grains are identified. A pine: 1. A male cone and female cone of Pinus sp. are obtained. 2. A prepared slide of longitudinal section of female cone is examined. The megasporophyll, megasporangia, and ovule are looked. 3. A prepared slide of longitudinal section of male cone is examined.The microsporophyll, microsporangia, and pollen grains are looked. 4. Fertilization occurs after the pollen tube penetrates the megasporangium and allows sperm to ent er the archegonium and fuses with the egg. The zygote will form after fertilization. A prepared slide of the developing embryo of Pinus sp. is examined. 5. Mature seed cone is obtained. The seed with wing attached to the ovuliferous scale is found. 6. The anatomy of pine leaf one needle is examined. The following: epidermis, stoma, photosynthetic mesophyll, endodermis, phloem, xylem, and resin duct are identified.RESULTS Cross section of Ginkgo Biloba Cross section of Cycad Cross section of female pine Cross section of male pine EXPERIMENT 2: Angiosperms INTRODUCTION: Angiosperms are the most abundant, diverse, and widespread of all land plants. They are successful because they are structurally diverse, have efficient vascular systems, share a variety of mutualisms (especially with insects and fungi), and have short generation times. Flowering plants are important to human because our world economy is overwhelmingly based on them.Indeed, we eat and use vegetative structures (roots, stems and leaves) as well as reproductive structure (flowers, seeds, and fruits). You will find that many of the vegetative structures are quite similar to those of more ancient plants shown. The roots, stems, and leaves of flowering plants function just as those of ferns and cone bearing plants. Flowers and fruits, however are unique adaptations of angiosperms. Biologists believe that the extraordinary adaptiveness of these structures has led to the proliferation of the incredible diversity found among flowering plants. MATERIALS: 1.Living specimens of angiosperms (dicots & monocots) with roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. (Imperata cylindrical, zea mays, Carica papaya, Phaseolus sp. ) 2. Prepared slide of angiosperms (dicots & monocots) 3. Compound microscope 4. Dissecting microscope 5. Slide and coverslip 6. Forceps 7. Distilled water PROCEDURE: Roots: 1. A root of dicots and monocots are obtained for morphology and anatomy study. 2. The root systems of representati ve dicot and monocot are looked. 3. Cross section of dicot root shows the central stele is surrounded by a thick cortex and epidermis.The following: epidermis, cortex, parenchyma cells, starch grains, pericycle, endodermis, phloem, and xylem are identified. 4. Cross section of monocot roor shows this root has a vascular cylinder of xylem and phloem that surrounds a central pith. The following: epidermis, cortex, endodermis, Casparian strip, pith, phloem, and xylem are identified. 5. A prepared slide of the roots for some other species is obtained and their structure is identified. Stems: 1. The longitudinal section of shoot tip of representative dicot and monocot is studied.The following: leaf, leaf primordium, apical meristem, ground meristem, axillary bud, vascular bundle, and pith are identified. 2. A dicot and monocot is obtained and a cross section of the stems is made and the arrangement of vascular bundles is examined. The anatomy between this dicot and monocot is compared. 3 . For both type of plants, epidermis, cortex, phloem, xylem, cambium, pith, and vascular bundle are identified. Leaves: 1. Fresh specimen provided in lab is looked. Flowering plants show a variety of morphology to identify, such as, leaf arrangements and leaf venation. 2.Using fresh prepared slide or prepared slide of some flowering plants, the structure of the leaves is studied. The leaves have common features: cuticle, air space, lower epidermis, upper epidermis, palisade mesophyll, spongy mesophyll, and vascular bundle are noticed. Flowers: 1. The longitudinal section of some flowers is looked. The parts of a flower: stigma, pistil, style, ovary, sepal, receptacle, peduncle, petal, filament, stamen, and anther are named. 2. A prepared slide of a cross section of mature anther (lily anther) is examined. Sections of the four microsporangia are found.Pollen grains within a microsporangium is looked. 3. A prepared slide of a cross section of an ovary (lily ovary). The several ovules are found. Megaspore mother cell within megasporangium is looked. The megasporangium develops is studied. The placenta, integuments, microphyle, egg cell, central cell, and polar nuclei are identified. 4. The demonstration slide of double fertilization is observed and the zygote, primary endosperm nucleus, and central cell of the female gametophyte are identified. Fruits and seeds 1. A sample of dry, dehiscent fruits (peanuts) is obtained.The fruit wall, cotyledon, plumule of embryo, embryo, radical, cotyledon, and seed coat are identified. 2. A sample of simple flesy fruits (tomato, a berry) is obtained. Pericarp, mesocarp, endocarp, locule, seed and placenta are identified. 3. A prepared slide of corn grain (Zea mays), a caryopsis fruit is examined. The pericarp of a corn grains is tightly united and inseparable from the seed. The pricarp, endosperm, cotyledon, coleoptiles, plumule bud, embryo, radical, and coleorhizae are identified. RESULTS Cross section of root Cross section of stemCross section of leaves Cross section of flower Cross section of seed DISCUSSION For the lower vascular plants the important evolutionary development was in the water and food conducting tissues of the sporophyte. As we move on through the plant kingdom the next important development was the seed. The free living gametophyte is a vulnerable phase of the life cycle. Reproduction by seeds is a less chancy procedure and has other advantages for plant survival and dispersal. Seeds can be remarkably tolerant of environmental extremes heat, cold and drought.Unlike free-living gametophytes seeds can postpone their development until conditions are right. And, of course, we find them very convenient for plant propagation. Already in the coal-measure forests there were plants that reproduced by seeds. Some were the so-called â€Å"seed ferns†. Others were the ancestors of the plants we now know collectively as â€Å"gymnosperms†. In these plants the seeds are not enclosed i n an ovary, as in the flowering plants; they grow on the surface of a modified leaf in a strobilus or cone. â€Å"Gymnosperm† means naked seed. Alternation of generations is still involved in the reproduction of these plants.They are all heterosporous: the microspores are shed as pollen, whereas the megaspore germinates in the strobilus to produce the female gametophyte. The archegonia in this gametophyte get fertilized by sperm from the male gametophyte and the zygote grows to produce an embryo which is enclosed in a seed coat of tissue from the parent plant. Gymnosperms were the dominant land plants in the age of dinosaurs, the Cretaceous and  Jurassic periods. The surviving gymnosperms in the Coniferophyta, Cycadophyta and Ginkgophyta are similar in their woody habit and pattern of seed development but are not closely related.The characteristic feature of angiosperms is the flower. Flowers show remarkable variation in form and elaboration, and provide the most trustworth y external characteristics for establishing relationships among angiosperm species. The function of the flower is to ensure fertilization of the ovule and development of  fruit  containing  seeds. The floral apparatus may arise terminally on a shoot or from the axil of a leaf (where the  petiole  attaches to the stem). Occasionally, as in  violets, a flower arises singly in the axil of an ordinary foliage-leaf.More typically, the flower-bearing portion of the plant is sharply distinguished from the foliage-bearing or vegetative portion, and forms a more or less elaborate branch-system called an  inflorescence. There are two kinds of reproductive cells produced by flowers. Microspores, which will divide to become  pollen grains, are the â€Å"male† cells and are borne in the  stamens  (or microsporophylls). The â€Å"female† cells called megaspores, which will divide to become the egg cell (megagametogenesis), are contained in the  ovule  and enc losed in thecarpel  (or megasporophyll).The flower may consist only of these parts, as in  willow, where each flower comprises only a few stamens or two carpels. Usually, other structures are present and serve to protect the sporophylls and to form an envelope attractive to pollinators. The individual members of these surrounding structures are known as  sepals  and  petals  (or  tepalsin flowers such as  Magnolia  where sepals and petals are not distinguishable from each other). The outer series (calyx of sepals) is usually green and leaf-like, and functions to protect the rest of the flower, especially the bud.The inner series (corolla of petals) is, in general, white or brightly colored, and is more delicate in structure. It functions to attract  insect  or  bird  pollinators. Attraction is effected by color,  scent, and  nectar, which may be secreted in some part of the flower. The characteristics that attract pollinators account for the popularity of flowers and flowering plants among humans. While the majority of flowers are perfect or  hermaphrodite  (having both pollen and ovule producing parts in the same flower structure), flowering plants have developed numerous morphological and  physiological  mechanisms to reduce or prevent self-fertilization.Heteromorphic flowers have short carpels and long stamens, or vice versa, so animal  pollinators  cannot easily transfer pollen to the pistil (receptive part of the carpel). Homomorphic flowers may employ a biochemical (physiological) mechanism calledself-incompatibility  to discriminate between self- and non-self pollen grains. In other species, the male and female parts are morphologically separated, developing on different flowers. POST-LAB QUESTIONS: 1. How to distinguish between a male and female cone of pine?The male cone will form at the bottom of the tree and it is much smaller than the female and the male produces the pollen grains and the female produces the ovule and forms at the top of the tree. 2. Explain the characteristics of gymnosperm seeds to aid in dispersal. Many gymnosperms have winged seeds that aid in dispersal. Generally, gymnosperms have heavy seeds so the wings only assist in moving the seed a short distance from the parent plant. 3. List some uses for conifers. Economically, conifers are very important as they are a major source of timber.The majority of the world’s sawn timbers come from conifers. Exploitation of this resource from wild growing forests is still going on in many parts of the world, but there is an obvious trend especially in the developed world to phase this out and use more sustainable planted or seeded resources. There are many species with highly different wood properties, some of these are extremely valuable and used for fine cabinet making or expensive applications in construction. Wood from conifers is also an important source of pulp for paper and cellulose fibres such as rayon.Conifer s also very important in horticulture, especially in regions with a temperate climate. Several species have yielded hundreds of different cultivars and new ones are constantly appearing on the market. In some countries conifers have a role to play in traditional medicine and in religious ceremonies and, of course, our Christmas trees can be seen as a form of this kind of use. A few conifers even have edible seeds; well known are those of certain pines. 4. Lists the common characteristics of seeds plants. i. They have vascular tissue ii.They use seeds to reproduce iii. They all have body plans that include leaves, stems, and roots. 5. Contrast between dicots and monocots, the two classes of flowering plants. Monocots| Dicots| Herbaceous| May be woody or herbaceous| Embryo with single cotyledon| Embryo with 2 cotyledons| Flower parts in multiple of three| Flower parts with multiple of 4 or 5| Parallel-veined leaves| Net-veined leaves| Bundles of vascular tissue are scattred throughout the stem| Vascular bundle in the stem forms rings| Roots are adventitious| Root develop from radicle| . Discuss the features of plant flowering fruits and seeds. Seeds  develop from ovules in the ovary, and at maturity consist of an  embryo  and a reserve food supply surrounded by a protective covering, the  seed coat. The diversity of flowering plants assures diversity among their seeds, but, unlike fruits, which have numerous variations, structural plans for seeds are few. The reserve food can be stored either in or out of the embryo and the  cotyledons, the seed leaves can remain either below ground or be elevated above the surface when germination occurs.Fruits are ripened ovaries containing seeds with sometimes additional flower or inflorescence tissues associated with them. Only angiosperms produce flowers and fruits. From a botanical viewpoint, many of the foods we eat as vegetables are fruits, for examples, tomatoes, green beans, squash, eggplant, and peppers. Fru its apparently arose as a means not only of protecting the seeds, but as a way to ensure their dispersal. REFERENCES 1. http://faculty. unlv. edu/landau/gymnosperms. htm 2. http://www. kew. org/plants/conifers/uses. html 3. http://edhelper. com/ReadingComprehension_37_251. html

Corruption Essay

Corruption Today’s world problems are revolved around corruption. One of Brazil’s biggest problems is the corruption. According to annual data â€Å"Assuntos de Governanca,† (Govern Discussion), published in 1996 by Banco Mundial, there is an upward trend in the index that measures the efficiency in combating corruption in Brazil. This data which assesses 212 countries and territories has shown that the corruption in Brazil has grown discontinuous since 2003. It reached its worst level in 2006. When it reached 47. on a scale of 0 of 100 (being 100 an evaluation more positive). Even when Brazil is compared to other countries from South America such as Chile, Costa Rica, and Uruguay, Brazil is still leading country in corruption. Another study made at the University of Fiesco, has shown that corruption in Brazil has cost around one to sixty-nine billions of Reals (Brazil’s currency). In order to solve those problems, we would need three main facts to try to solve this situation, or at least try to settle down since it’s a huge problem. So the first main point is â€Å"severe impunity to our politics corruptors†. The most important problem that difficult the combat of corruption is the â€Å"culture of impunity,† which is still very visible in Brazil. Brazilian’s justice works to whoever has the most money to pay the best lawyers. This means that it does not matter what damage you have done to Brazil’s society, you will not be persecuted. In some cases, most of violators will not stay in jail for their full amount of time sentenced. Moreover, the fact that our politics has privilege at the forum and are judge differently from ordinary citizens, also contributes to impunity. To combat corruption, we need a different govern; we need a new reform administrative. Our law has to be made to protect our society equally, everybody as well as being judged exactly the same way. Proven corruption needs to be punished by death or life imprisonment, besides of course the immediate return of public coffers values. Only in five years, Brazil has already tallied a misuse of public funds of almost 100 billion dollar, which would be allowing investments of national reflection. This problem has to be solved immediately. A second important point to mention is how our society acts about our government. Since we already know that our government works for themselves, our society needs to start doing something too. There are several projects that have been mentioned at the government to be accepted, but our society has an important role at this time. In order for these projects to be accepted, our population needs to work together by making protects everywhere around the country. So this way our government will feel the pressure of the population, and will know that the whole population has a â€Å"voice†. That they will still contribute to improve our country. Brazil’s population has to believe that they can do something to help, but do more than just believe they have to do it! Brazil’s population is tired of people working for themselves, and are also tired to see that the majority of our laws do not work for everybody equally. Another aspect to look at is education. While our government is too busy stealing money from our population, our kids feel this impact at the schools. The largest chunk of the money that should be used in our kid’s education is going to the government’s pocket. Of course who is going to suffer this situation? Our next generation of youth. With no education there is no knowledge. Whenever these kids achieve enough age to vote they will be lost and without knowing their rights. Not knowing their rights there is no way they will be able to criticize, or even claim for something in the future. Where would this world be without education? Talk about real corruption right there. But in order to solve the money issue in Brazil we need to get our priorities straight on what the money goes to, and not in our government’s pockets. The education of the youth in Brazil should be the most important thing to the government, because one day they will be the leaders of this country. They need to be taught their rights and laws. To know how to be treated equal as well as be punished equally too. If the government realizes this, Brazil would not be such a corrupt place.