African countries have faced competition and several challenges to attract foreign direct investment given the role that FDIs play in the development process. Several efforts made have been futile because of numerous factors that play against the business environment for foreign investments. Our paper analyses the influence of tax incentives on foreign direct investment in African economies based on data from 2000–2018. We utilized panel data on forty (40) African countries and an econometric model of four proxies of tax incentives, after controlling other variables, with robust Random Effect as our discussion estimator. Our results revealed that FDI responds to lower corporate income tax (CTR). Furthermore, foreign direct investment predominates in African economies with longer tax holidays and withholding tax. However, tax concession is insignificant to the inflows of FDIs in Africa. Summarizing, our results recommend that without proper restructuring of the tax incentives to deal with policy lapses by the governments of Africa, achieving the four main goals, i.e., poverty eradication, sustainable growth and development, African integration in the competitive global economy, and women empowerment, will be hindered.

Seminal plasma (SP) is the natural environment for spermatozoa and contains a number of components, especially proteins important for successful sperm maturation and fertilization. Nevertheless, in standard frozen stallion insemination doses production, SP is completely removed and is replaced by a semen extender. In the present study, we analyzed the effects of the selected seminal plasma protein groups that might play an important role in reducing the detrimental effects on spermatozoa during the cryopreservation process. SP proteins were separated according to their ability to bind to heparin into heparin-binding (Hep+) and heparin-non-binding (Hep−) fractions. The addition of three concentrations—125, 250, and 500 µg/mL—of each protein fraction was tested. After thawing, the following parameters were assessed: sperm motility (by CASA), plasma membrane integrity (PI staining), and acrosomal membrane integrity (PNA staining) using flow cytometry, and capacitation status (anti-phosphotyrosine antibody) using imaging-based flow cytometry. Our results showed that SP protein fractions had a significant effect on the kinematic parameters of spermatozoa and on a proportion of their subpopulations. The 125 µg/mL of Hep+ protein fraction resulted in increased linearity (LIN) and straightness (STR), moreover, with the highest values of sperm velocities (VAP, VSL), also this group contained the highest proportion of the fast sperm subpopulation. In contrast, the highest percentage of slow subpopulation was in the groups with 500 µg/mL of Hep+ fraction and 250 µg/mL of Hep− fraction. Interestingly, acrosomal membrane integrity was also highest in the groups with Hep+ fraction in concentrations of 125 µg/mL. Our results showed that the addition of protein fractions did not significantly affect the plasma membrane integrity and capacitation status of stallion spermatozoa. Moreover, our results confirmed that the effect of SP proteins on the sperm functionality is concentration-dependent, as has been reported for other species. Our study significantly contributes to the lack of studies dealing with possible use of specific stallion SP fractions in the complex puzzle of the improvement of cryopreservation protocols. It is clear that improvement in this field still needs more outputs from future studies, which should be focused on the effect of individual SP proteins on other sperm functional parameters with further implication on the success of artificial insemination in in vivo conditions.

While the market price of land in Czechia has increased in recent years, the officially set land price, published by the State Land Office and the Research Institute for Soil and Water Conservation, has decreased in several regions (Olomouc, Zlín, South Moravia, Moravian-Silesian, and Central Bohemia Region). Four out of five of these regions are said to have the most fertile soil. The main reason for the official land price decrease has been the re-evaluation of land parcels which are based on field sample testing. Based on these sample tests some parcels have been re-evaluated as less fertile. This paper aims to identify the main determinants, which led to the decrease of the official land price and soil fertility in these regions of Czechia. It has been determined that crop structure significantly differs from the “valuation type structure” which indicates optimal share of individual crops to achieve the optimal yield without soil degradation. It has also been determined that there were statistically significant differences in all selected regions for all observed crops (excluding rapeseed in Moravian-Silesian Region) and Czechia between the shares of individual crops and shares according to the “valuation type structure”. It may be concluded that farmers follow short-term interests (profit) instead of long-term goals (soil fertility) in the selected regions. Moreover, results for Czechia suggest that this trend is becoming more common in every region of Czechia. Thus, the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index was utilized. The Herfindahl–Hirschman Index shows decreasing crop diversity in all selected region, as in Czechia as well. Based on the data analysis, it is possible to identify several crops, which are prevailing (wheat, barley, rapeseed, and fodder crops). Three of these crops (wheat, barley, and rapeseed) in combination with intensive farming and poor crop rotation have been found to be problematic and a potential threat which may cause degradation in soil fertility. Based upon this the following measures have been recommended: First, to focus on proven agricultural practices, including crop rotation and fodder crops. Second, the fodder crops production should be supported, and the structure of the “single area payment subsidies” should reflect the negative impact of the three main prevailing crops (wheat, maize, and barley) on soil fertility and the decrease of livestock production in Czechia.

Major international institutions like the World Bank, African Union, and International Monetary Fund have made the development of robust governance systems a “sacred utterance” since the 1990s. Our study aimed to refute this common thinking by examining how governance structures have affected the expansion of the financial market in 47 African countries from 2008 to 2019. Using the availability of venture capital as a proxy for financial market development, our article departed from existing literature which used stock exchange characteristics as benchmarks for growth in the financial market. The governance variables comprise the six global governance indices: control of corruption, government effectiveness, political stability, regulatory quality, the rule of law, and voice and accountability. The model’s control variables include GDP per capita, inflation, and trade openness. Our finding suggests that a great quality governance climate is significant in explaining the growth of the financial market in Africa using the generalized method of moments (GMM) methodological approach with corrected standard errors. Considering these findings, our research makes the case that solid institutional frameworks might encourage the degree of financial systems growth in Africa. Therefore, the financial development rate in the African region will be significantly influenced by improving the quality of governance through strengthening legal and institutional frameworks to facilitate financial inclusion.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the addition of two types of seminal plasma (SP) after thawing on the functional characteristics of frozen–thawed (F–T) spermatozoa of poor freezing stallions during prolonged incubation periods. Seminal plasma from stallions with 35–40% (standard seminal plasma, (S-SP)) and 60–70% (above standard seminal plasma, (A-SP)) progressively motile spermatozoa after thawing was used. The motility, kinematic parameters (Computer Assisted Sperm Analysis), distribution of spermatozoa into subpopulations, integrity (carboxyfluorescein diacetate/propidium iodide staining), and functionality (hypo-osmotic swelling (HOS) test) of the spermatozoa plasma membrane were evaluated after thawing (T0) and after 30 min (T30) of incubation at 37 °C. There was no effect of SP addition on spermatozoa motility, but there was a significant positive effect on the kinematic parameters at T0 and T30. The addition of SP significantly increased the percentage of spermatozoa in the fast subpopulation at T0 as well as at T30. Plasma membrane integrity was not affected by the treatment, but functionality significantly decreased by 5% compared to the control group when samples were incubated for 30 min with A-SP. In conclusion, generally, the post-thaw addition of seminal plasma positively affected the post-thaw quality of semen from poor freezing stallions.

The paper aims at vertical price transmission of the agri-food market in the Czech Republic. It is focused on the analysis of price transmission in pork meat by investigating the short-run and long-run relationships within the product and the speed of establishing the equilibrium relationship. For this purpose, there is employed specially VECM (Vector Error Correction Model), impulse-response analysis, and decomposition of variance of VECM, which show the system’s reaction. The applied approach considers five alternatives in the Johansen approach. The results suggest that there is an existence of the equilibrium relationship in vertical markets and this relationship is simultaneous and demand-driven. The impulse-response analyses show the response of the processing price to one standard deviation shock to the agriculture price from approximately 15–20 periods reaching long-run equilibrium. The response of the agriculture price to one standard deviation shock to the processing price reaching long-run equilibrium is also from approximately 15–20 periods.