In in the last 60 or so years, the global rabbit industry has been growing steadily. This paper studies the global rabbit meat trade by focusing on trade growth and regional pattern. First, rabbit meat productionand regional structure are introduced, as the basis of trade. Then, the global rabbit meat trade is studied in detail, including trade growth, regional structural changes, comparative advantages and competitiveness of major countries. Finally, a gravity model is built to test major factors affecting the rabbit meat trade andexplore the driving forces behind the trade. The data come from different channels, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Bank, the World Trade Organization and related government statistics. The results show that: (1) Over the past 60 yr, the global rabbit industry has achieved great progress. In the first half of the period, rabbit meat was mainly produced in Europe; then, rabbit meat production in Asia increased steadily and rapidly in the second half period, while European production decreased continuously. (2) The rabbit meat trade had been increasing for about 20 yr from 1961 to 1979, after which it fluctuated for another 20 yr. However, since 2001 it has been stable around an average level of 37 thousand tonnes, with only minor fluctuation. The trade pattern is currently from Asia (mainly China) and South America (mainly Argentina) to European countries. In 2018, the top 5 export destinations were Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and France (3). Hungary and Argentina have been two strong competitorsin the last two decades, while Spain and Belgium are two new and promising countries in the rabbit meat trade. Now China no longer has comparative advantages in the rabbit meat trade (4). The gravity model results show that rabbit meat trade is mainly driven by demand. Countries with a high Gross Domestic Product tend to increase their imports more, but decrease their exports. Countries with higher populations export more rabbit meat but import less. Common language and contiguity of two countries have significant impacts on rabbit meat trade. Based on the above results, some suggestions and policy implications are provided. Rabbit farmers or processing companies should pay more attention to domestic consumers or neighbouring countries to survey potential markets; traders should explore more markets in order to reduce the degree of trade concentration and lower risks. Governments should popularise the nutritional knowledge of rabbit meat to encourage people (especially young people) to consume more healthy rabbit meat instead of pork, with a view to reducing obesity or other heart diseases, etc.
We review existing studies on rice harvest loss from the aspects of estimation methods, magnitudes, causes, effects, and interventions. The harvest losses examined occurred from the field reaping to storage processes, including threshing, winnowing, and field transportation. We find that existing studies on rice harvest losses have focused on quantitative losses in Asia and Africa. Lack of knowledge, inadequate harvesting techniques, poor infrastructure, and inefficient harvest management practices are considered critical contributors to the losses. The magnitudes and causes of rice harvest losses are now better understood than interventions, which have simply been presented but lack an assessment of the effects and a cost–benefit analysis. Interestingly, reduction in harvest losses may threaten some farmers’ profits, such as rural women who make their living from post-production manual operations. Considering the current status of the literature, future researchers should examine how to balance social and individual welfare since farmers are key stakeholders in intervention implementation. A good understanding of the existing researches can help clarify future efforts for loss reduction, thereby reducing the burden of increasing agricultural production and promoting sustainable development of resources and the environment.