Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries

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Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries

07 Sep 2000-

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a framework for livelihoods analysis in rural Tanzania based on a case-study in Rural Tanzania, focusing on the gender and rural living conditions.

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Abstract: PART I. CONCEPTS, DEFINITIONS, AND FRAMEWORK 1. Livelihoods, Diversification, and Agrarian Change 2. A Framework for Livelihoods Analysis PART II. DIMENSIONS OF DIVERSE RURAL LIVELIHOODS 3. Determinants of Livelihood Diversification 4. Poverty and Income Distribution 5. Agriculture and Farm Productivity 6. Environment and Sustainability 7. Gender and Rural Livelihoods 8. Macro Policies and Reform Agendas PART III. INVESTIGATING LIVELIHOODS FOR POLICY PURPOSES 9. Methods and Livelihoods 10. A Case-Study in Rural Tanzania PART IV. LOOKING AHEAD 11. Livelihoods, Diversification, and Policies

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Journal Article•DOI•

Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications

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Christopher B. Barrett¹, Thomas Reardon², Patrick Webb³•Institutions (3)

Cornell University¹, Michigan State University², Tufts University³

01 Aug 2001-Food Policy

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce a special issue on the topic of income diversification and livelihoods in rural Africa: Cause and Consequence of change, where the authors concentrate on core conceptual issues that bedevil the literature on rural income diversity and the policy implications of the empirical evidence presented in this special issue.

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1,726 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Livelihoods perspectives and rural development

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Ian Scoones¹•Institutions (1)

University of Sussex¹

07 May 2009-The Journal of Peasant Studies

TL;DR: Livelihoods perspectives have been central to rural development thinking and practice in the past decade But where do such perspectives come from, what are their conceptual roots, and what influences have shaped the way they have emerged? as mentioned in this paper offers an historical review of key moments in debates about rural livelihoods, identifying the tensions, ambiguities and challenges of such approaches.

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Abstract: Livelihoods perspectives have been central to rural development thinking and practice in the past decade But where do such perspectives come from, what are their conceptual roots, and what influences have shaped the way they have emerged? This paper offers an historical review of key moments in debates about rural livelihoods, identifying the tensions, ambiguities and challenges of such approaches A number of core challenges are identified, centred on the need to inject a more thorough-going political analysis into the centre of livelihoods perspectives This will enhance the capacity of livelihoods perspectives to address key lacunae in recent discussions, including questions of knowledge, politics, scale and dynamics

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1,561 citations

Cites background from "Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in ..."

...…of livelihoods, migration and non-farm rural income was put at the centre of the rural development agenda (Tacoli 1998, De Haan 1999, Ellis 2000) and complex emergencies, conflict and disaster responses were now seen through a livelihoods lens (Cannon et al. 2003, Longley and…...
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...A rich description of livelihood complexity in the present was one thing, but what were future livelihoods going to look like – in 10, 20 or 50 years? Perhaps locallevel adaptation ameliorates poverty at the margins, but does it address more fundamental transformations in livelihood pathways into the future? These issues of course have been raised by many working firmly in the livelihoods tradition, including research on livelihood diversification (Ellis 2000) and ‘de-agrarianisation’ (Bryceson 1996) in Africa....
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...These issues of course have been raised by many working firmly in the livelihoods tradition, including research on livelihood diversification (Ellis 2000) and ‘de-agrarianisation’ (Bryceson 1996) in Africa....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Migration and Development: A Theoretical Perspective

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Hein de Haas¹•Institutions (1)

University of Oxford¹

05 Mar 2010-International Migration Review

Abstract: The debate on migration and development has swung back and forth like a pendulum, from developmentalist optimism in the 1950s and 1960s, to neo-Marxist pessimism over the 1970s and 1980s, towards more optimistic views in the 1990s and 2000s. This paper argues how such discursive shifts in the migration and development debate should be primarily seen as part of more general paradigm shifts in social and development theory. However, the classical opposition between pessimistic and optimistic views is challenged by empirical evidence pointing to the heterogeneity of migration impacts. By integrating and amending insights from the new economics of labor migration, livelihood perspectives in development studies and transnational perspectives in migration studies – which share several though as yet unobserved conceptual parallels – this paper elaborates the contours of a conceptual framework that simultaneously integrates agency and structure perspectives and is therefore able to account for the heterogeneous nature of migration-development interactions. The resulting perspective reveals the naivety of recent views celebrating migration as self-help development “from below”. These views are largely ideologically driven and shift the attention away from structural constraints and the vital role of states in shaping favorable conditions for positive development impacts of migration to occur.

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1,428 citations

Cites background from "Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in ..."

...This is often combined with other strategies, such as agricultural intensification and local non-farm activities (McDowell and De Haan, 1997; Bebbington, 1999; Ellis, 2000)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Agricultural sustainability: concepts, principles and evidence

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Jules Pretty¹•Institutions (1)

University of Essex¹

12 Feb 2008-Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B

TL;DR: Agricultural sustainability suggests a focus on both genotype improvements through the full range of modern biological approaches and improved understanding of the benefits of ecological and agronomic management, manipulation and redesign.

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Abstract: Concerns about sustainability in agricultural systems centre on the need to develop technologies and practices that do not have adverse effects on environmental goods and services, are accessible to and effective for farmers, and lead to improvements in food productivity. Despite great progress in agricultural productivity in the past half-century, with crop and livestock productivity strongly driven by increased use of fertilizers, irrigation water, agricultural machinery, pesticides and land, it would be over-optimistic to assume that these relationships will remain linear in the future. New approaches are needed that will integrate biological and ecological processes into food production, minimize the use of those non-renewable inputs that cause harm to the environment or to the health of farmers and consumers, make productive use of the knowledge and skills of farmers, so substituting human capital for costly external inputs, and make productive use of people's collective capacities to work together to solve common agricultural and natural resource problems, such as for pest, watershed, irrigation, forest and credit management. These principles help to build important capital assets for agricultural systems: natural; social; human; physical; and financial capital. Improving natural capital is a central aim, and dividends can come from making the best use of the genotypes of crops and animals and the ecological conditions under which they are grown or raised. Agricultural sustainability suggests a focus on both genotype improvements through the full range of modern biological approaches and improved understanding of the benefits of ecological and agronomic management, manipulation and redesign. The ecological management of agroecosystems that addresses energy flows, nutrient cycling, population-regulating mechanisms and system resilience can lead to the redesign of agriculture at a landscape scale. Sustainable agriculture outcomes can be positive for food productivity, reduced pesticide use and carbon balances. Significant challenges, however, remain to develop national and international policies to support the wider emergence of more sustainable forms of agricultural production across both industrialized and developing countries.

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1,365 citations

Cites background from "Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in ..."

...Agricultural systems that offer labour-absorption opportunities, through resource improvements or value-added activities, can boost local economies and help to reverse rural-to-urban migration patterns (Carney 1998; Dasgupta 1998; Ellis 2000; Morison et al. 2005; Pretty et al. 2006)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

The impact of climate change on smallholder and subsistence agriculture.

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John Morton¹•Institutions (1)

University of Greenwich¹

11 Dec 2007-Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

TL;DR: Some recent work relevant to these farming systems is reviewed, a conceptual framework for understanding the diverse forms of impacts in an integrated manner is proposed, and future research needs are identified.

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Abstract: Some of the most important impacts of global climate change will be felt among the populations, predominantly in developing countries, referred to as “subsistence” or “smallholder” farmers. Their vulnerability to climate change comes both from being predominantly located in the tropics, and from various socioeconomic, demographic, and policy trends limiting their capacity to adapt to change. However, these impacts will be difficult to model or predict because of (i) the lack of standardised definitions of these sorts of farming system, and therefore of standard data above the national level, (ii) intrinsic characteristics of these systems, particularly their complexity, their location-specificity, and their integration of agricultural and nonagricultural livelihood strategies, and (iii) their vulnerability to a range of climate-related and other stressors. Some recent work relevant to these farming systems is reviewed, a conceptual framework for understanding the diverse forms of impacts in an integrated manner is proposed, and future research needs are identified.

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1,229 citations

Cites background from "Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in ..."

...Many smallholder livelihoods will also include use of wild resources (11), and nonagricultural strategies, such as use of remittances (12)....
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...They also widely participate in off-farm and/or nonfarm employment (12)....
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...However, all of the populations grouped as smallholder and subsistence farmers, including pastoralists and artisanal fisherfolk, also possess certain important resilience factors: efficiencies associated with the use of family labor (14), livelihood diversity allowing spreading of risks (12), and indigenous knowledge (39) allowing exploitation of risky environmental niches and coping with crises....
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Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries

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