Land Use Intensification and Disintensification in the Upper Cañete Valley, Peru
01 Jun 1999-Human Ecology (Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers)-Vol. 27, Iss: 2, pp 319-339
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that the direction of land use change depends on the production zone in which it takes place, and that land in distant rainfed agropastoral zone is disintensified through land abandonment and an increase of the fallow period, land in nearby irrigated agropasteoral zone are intensified through more frequent cropping, and the use of high-yielding potato varieties, fertilizers, and pesticides.
Abstract: Farmers in the Upper Canete valley have both disintensified and intensified land use. The direction of land use change depends on the production zone in which it takes place. Although land in the distant rainfed agropastoral zone is disintensified through land abandonment and an increase of the fallow period, land in the nearby irrigated agropastoral zone is intensified through more frequent cropping, and the use of high-yielding potato varieties, fertilizers, and pesticides. Simultaneous intensification and disintensification contradicts Boserup's theory of agricultural intensification, which predicts unilinear change for all land use systems within a village territory. Population has decreased in the Upper Cante valley, but this factor alone cannot explain the dynamics of land use. Land use change is also driven by differences and complementarity between production zones, their distance from the villages, and social, economic, and technological change.
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01 Apr 2007-Cab Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources
TL;DR: An overview of land abandonment, its driving forces and its consequences for landscape, biodiversity and humans is presented and it is suggested that farmland must be viewed in a context of multi-functionality to take advantage of ecosystem goods and services.
Abstract: Agricultural activities and their complex effects on nature conservation, and the services that ecosystems deliver to humans are controversial. We present an overview of land abandonment, its driving forces and its consequences for landscape, biodiversity and humans. A descriptive metaanalysis of independently published studies highlighted the fact that the abandonment of agricultural land is a phenomenon mostly driven by socio-economic factors such as immigration into areas where new economic opportunities are offered to rural people. Ecological drivers such as elevation and land mismanagement leading to soil erosion are of secondary importance. We identified the major problems related to abandonment of agricultural land and quantified their relative importance. In order of decreasing importance, they were biodiversity loss, increase of fire frequency and intensity, soil erosion and desertification, loss of cultural and/or aesthetic values, reduction of landscape diversity and reduction of water provision. The impacts of these problems were not equally relevant in all regions of the world. The abandonment of agricultural land may also benefit humans. The benefits include passive revegetation and active reforestation, water regulation, soil recovery, nutrient cycling and increased biodiversity and wilderness. In a world that is becoming less natural and more intensively exploited by humans, we suggest that (1) farmland must be viewed in a context of multi-functionality to take advantage of ecosystem goods and services, (2) at the global scale, the abandonment of agricultural land is mostly positive for humans and (3) there is a need for the implementation of policies based on the payments for environmental services that encourage human societies to reconcile agricultural use, nature conservation and ecological restoration.
621 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reviewed the theoretical and empirical literature that has developed during the past decade analyzing agroforestry adoption from a variety of perspectives and identified needed future research.
Abstract: The period since the early 1990s has witnessed an explosion of research on the adoption of agroforestry innovations in the tropics. Much of this work was motivated by a perceived gap between advances in agroforestry science and the success of agroforestry-based development programs and projects. Achieving the full promise of agroforestry requires a fundamental understanding of how and why farmers make long-term land-use decisions and applying this knowledge to the design, development, and ‘marketing’ of agroforestry innovations. This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature that has developed during the past decade analyzing agroforestry adoption from a variety of perspectives and identifies needed future research. Much progress has been made, especially in using binary choice regression models to assess influences of farm and household characteristics on adoption and in developing ex-ante participatory, on-farm research methods for analyzing the potential adoptability of agroforestry innovations. Additional research-needs that have been identified include developing a better understanding of the role of risk and uncertainty, insights into how and why farmers adapt and modify adopted systems, factors influencing the intensity of adoption, village-level and spatial analyses of adoption, the impacts of disease such as AIDS and malaria on adoption, and the temporal path of adoption.
383 citations
TL;DR: Grau et al. as mentioned in this paper presented Grau and Ricardo's work at the Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet -Tucuman, Argentina.
Abstract: Fil: Grau, Hector Ricardo. Universidad Nacional de Tucuman. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Tucuman; Argentina
362 citations
Cites background from "Land Use Intensification and Disint..."
...The fate of Latin American ecosystems will depend on how economic and social forces influence where and how the growing Latin American population lives in the coming decades and how the region responds to the global changes in population, trade, consumption, and technology....
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...…2008, Grau et al. 2008b), expansion of Andean forests into grasslands (Grau 1985, Kitzberger and Veblen 1999), and landuse disintensification in deserts and semi-arid ecosystems (Moran et al. 1996, Preston et al. 1997, Wiegers et al. 1999, Morales et al. 2005, Jepson 2005, Grau et al. 2008a)....
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01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: The potential switch from production in traditional extensive grazing areas to intensive modern agriculture provides opportunities to significantly increase food production while sparing land for nature conservation in Latin America as mentioned in this paper, which is a combination of emerging threats and opportunities requires changes in the way the conservation of Latin American ecosystems is approached.
Abstract: Current socioeconomic drivers of land-use change associated with globalization are producing two contrasting land-use trends in Latin America. Increasing global food demand (particularly in Southeast Asia) accelerates deforestation in areas suitable for modern agriculture (e.g., soybean), severely threatening ecosystems, such as Amazonian rain forests, dry forests, and subtropical grasslands. Additionally, in the coming decades, demand for biofuels may become an emerging threat. In contrast, high yields in modern agricultural systems and rural-urban migration coupled with remittances promote the abandonment of marginal agricultural lands, thus favoring ecosystem recovery on mountains, deserts, and areas of poor soils, while improving human well-being. The potential switch from production in traditional extensive grazing areas to intensive modern agriculture provides opportunities to significantly increase food production while sparing land for nature conservation. This combination of emerging threats and opportunities requires changes in the way the conservation of Latin American ecosystems is approached. Land-use efficiency should be analyzed beyond the local-based paradigm that drives most conservation programs, and focus on large geographic scales involving long-distance fluxes of products, information, and people in order to maximize both agricultural production and the conservation of environmental services.
350 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a meta-analysis attempts to bridge local and regional scales of LUCC by demonstrating the ways in which previously published case studies can be compared and used for a broader regional synthesis in the tropics.
Abstract: z Bridging understanding of local environmental change with regional and global patterns of land-use and land-cover change (LUCC) remains a key goal and challenge for our understanding of global environmental change. This meta-analysis attempts to bridge local and regional scales of LUCC by demonstrating the ways in which previously published case studies can be compared and used for a broader regional synthesis in the tropics. In addition to providing results from a meta-analysis, this paper suggests ways to make future case studies more widely comparable.
206 citations
References
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TL;DR: This essay is to review earlier attempts to relate the intensification of agriculture to population growth, to outline Boserup's theory, and to examine the criticisms which have been made of the theory.
Abstract: As discussions of the positive effect of population growth upon agricutural change have been less common than focus on the negative effects Ester Boserups book "The Conditions of Agricultural Growth" and her subsequent work in which it is argued that population growth is the prime cause of agricultural change is of great importance. The objective of this essay is to review earlier attempts to relate the intensification of agriculture to population growth to outline Boserups theory and to examine the criticisms which have been made of the theory. Boserup maintains that population growth is the cause rather than the result of agricultural change and that the principal change is the intensification of land use. The theory of agricultural development posed by Boserup is more subtle and complex than that of any of her predecessors. She sees population pressure as a major cause of change in land use agricultural technology land tenure systems and settlement form. Boserup argues that population growth is independent of food supply and that population increase is a cause of changes in agriculture. The principal means of increasing agricultural output is intensification. Boserups work has had a varied response from readers; other economists have been less than enthusiastic. It might seem as if the critics of Boserups theory have left it in tatters. Her central argument that intensification reduces labor productivity remains unproven. There are few who would agree that an increase in the frequency of cropping is the only possible response to population pressure; the extensive margin can be extended higher yielding crops adopted and methods that increase yields introduced independently of increases in the frequency of cropping. Emigration or the control of numbers may relieve population pressure. Intensification can also take place without population pressure under the stimulus of urban growth or the development of trade. It is difficult to accept that population pressure is the only cause or agrarian change or that the increased frequency of cropping is the only response to population pressure yet the thesis is a fruitful interpretation of agrarian change. Assuming population growth as a change mechanism can lead to important new conclusions regarding the nature of agrarian change in western European history.
85 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the causes of the decline of agriculture on Rusinga island in Kenya and highlighted the importance of understanding not only the local ecology but also the broader political and economic environment in order to explain farmers' decisions and the process of agricultural change.
Abstract: Despite a steady increase in population since the 1930s, farmers on Rusinga Island in Kenya have abandoned many traditional intensive agricultural practices, including the construction of hillside terraces. At the same time, low crop yields have led to a chronic shortage of food on the island. This paper, based on an analysis of archival materials and a detailed agronomic study of the farming system, analyzes the causes of this process of disintensification. Labor scarcity resulting from migrant wage employment and the growing importance of the fishing industry has been a major factor in the decline of agriculture on the island. The loss of soil conservation practices and serious weed infestations have contributed to the collapse of farm productivity. This study highlights the importance of understanding not only the local ecology but also the broader political and economic environment in order to explain farmers' decisions and the process of agricultural change.
63 citations
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TL;DR: Sectoral fallowing systems from 51 communities in highland Peru and Bolivia have been examined, focusing on altitudinal and latitudinal variation in these systems as mentioned in this paper, for implications related to maintenance of soil quality and reduction of pathogen impacts.
Abstract: Sectoral fallowing systems from 51 communities in highland Peru and Bolivia have been examined, focusing on altitudinal and latitudinal variation in these systems. In these instances of communal management of cropping patterns and fallowing, a significant proportion of lands is left fallow. This practice has been studied for implications related to maintenance of soil quality and reduction of pathogen impacts. Recent changes in several systems are noted. Comparison with other Andean patterns of culture and social organization reveal similarities with the present study area.
58 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the relative labor efficiencies of shifting and permanent-field agriculture in the Kerayan, as well as of local environmental and historical variables, explains why this "anomalous" situation exists.
Abstract: The “Boserup hypothesis” contends that land-intensive systems of agriculture will be adopted only when high population density precludes the use of land-extensive methods. In the Kerayan District of East Kalimantan (Indonesia) the Lun Dayeh practice permanent-field rice cultivation despite very low human densities. An examination of the relative labor efficiencies of shifting and permanent-field agriculture in the Kerayan, as well as of local environmental and historical variables, explains why this “anomalous” situation exists. It is argued that since relative success in production of rice by shifting- and permanent-field irrigated methods depends on many natural and social conditions other than levels of population density, the “environment-free” Boserup hypothesis cannot adequately explain or predict the occurrence of particular forms of rice agriculture.
56 citations
TL;DR: The role of population growth in agricultural development is discussed in this paper, where the authors propose a general theoretical frame of reference capable of bringing together the key variables in a simple, theoretically sound, and empirically operational system.
Abstract: "Agriculture, and especially the agriculture of the LDC's is the stage on which the world drama of population is being played. The problem is that the plot has not yet been fully understood nor the dramatis personae fully identified. This is the most urgent task of the study of population and development."' The lack of conceptual clarity about the way in which agricultural development, technological change, and the demographic transition interact with one another is not caused by a paucity of theoretical and empirical work in the several fields separately. The literature on agricultural development is enormous,2 as are the literatures on general economic development3 and population change in relation to economic change.4 But these separate approaches often seem to represent totally different perspectives on the same process. In essence, the variables of one approach are parameters to another. Although understandable, this situation is neither desirable nor necessary. In fact, there already exists a general theoretical frame of reference capable of bringing together the key variables in a simple, theoretically sound, and empirically operational system. This framework, proposed sometime ago by Ester Boserup, has suffered a curious neglect. The present essay attempts a more formal statement of this model, suggests some further modifications, and then looks at possible policy inferences. The role of population growth is central in our considerations.
54 citations