scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question

Showing papers on "Subsistence agriculture published in 1983"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In the context of agroforestry development in humid, tropical countries, the authors argues that much of this debate deals not with the empirical facts of swidden agriculture, however, but rather with widely-accepted myths, and that this explains the widespread failures of developmental schemes involving swidden agriculturalists.
Abstract: Swidden agriculture is today the focus of a great deal of debate in the context of agroforestry development in humid, tropical countries This paper argues that much of this debate deals not with the empirical facts of swidden agriculture, however, but rather with widely-accepted myths, and that this explains the widespread failures of developmental schemes involving swidden agriculturalists The paper examines three of these myths in some detail One myth is that swidden agriculturalists own their land communally (or not at all), work it communally, and consume its yields communally The truth is that their land (including land under secondary forest fallow) is typically owned by individual households, it is worked by individual household labor forces and/or by reciprocal but not communal work groups, and its yields are owned and consumed privately and individually by each household A second myth is that swidden cultivation of forested land is destructive and wasteful, and in the worst cases results in barren, useless grassland successions The truth is that swidden cultivation is a productive use of the forests, indeed more productive than commercial logging in terms of the size of the population supported, and forest-grassland successions are typically a function not of rapaciousness but of increasing population/land pressure and agricultural intensification — the grasses, including Imperata cylindrica, having value both as a fallow period soil-rebuilder and as cattle fodder A third myth is that swidden agriculturalists have a totally subsistence economy, completely cut off from the rest of the world The truth is that swidden agriculturalists, in addition to planting their subsistence food crops, typically plant market-oriented cash crops as well, and as a result they are actually more integrated into the world economy than many of the practitioners of more intensive forms of agriculture In the conclusion to the paper, in a brief attempt to explain the genesis of these several myths, it is noted that they have generally facilitated the extension of external administration and exploitation into the territories of the swidden agriculturalists, and hence can perhaps best be explained as a reflection of the political economy of the greater societies in which they dwell

277 citations


Posted Content
Michael R. Dove1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that much of this debate deals not with the empirical facts of swidden agriculture, however, but rather with widely-accepted myths, and that this explains the widespread failures of developmental schemes involving swidden agriculturalists.
Abstract: Swidden agriculture is today the focus of a great deal of debate in the context of agroforestry development in humid, tropical countries. This paper argues that much of this debate deals not with the empirical facts of swidden agriculture, however, but rather with widely-accepted myths, and that this explains the widespread failures of developmental schemes involving swidden agriculturalists. The paper examines three of these myths in some detail.One myth is that swidden agriculturalists own their land communally (or not at all), work it communally, and consume its yields communally. The truth is that their land (including land under secondary forest fallow) is typically owned by individual households, it is worked by individual household labor forces and/or by reciprocal but not communal work groups, and its yields are owned and consumed privately and individually by each household. A second myth is that swidden cultivation of forested land is destructive and wasteful, and in the worst cases results in barren, useless grassland successions. The truth is that swidden cultivation is a productive use of the forests, indeed more productive than commercial logging in terms of the size of the population supported, and forest-grassland successions are typically a function not of rapaciousness but of increasing population/land pressure and agricultural intensification- the grasses, including Imperata cylindrica, having value both as a fallow period soil-rebuilder and as cattle fodder. A third myth is that swidden agriculturalists have a totally subsistence economy, completely cut off from the rest of the world. The truth is that swidden agriculturalists, in addition to planting their subsistence food crops, typically plant market-oriented cash crops as well, and as a result they are actually more integrated into the world economy than many of the practitioners of more intensive forms of agriculture.In the conclusion to the paper, in a brief attempt to explain the genesis of these several myths, it is noted that they have generally facilitated the extension of external administration and exploitation into the territories of the swidden agriculturalists, and hence can perhaps best be explained as a reflection of the political economy of the greater societies in which they dwell.

246 citations


Book
01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the relationship between sociocultural, economic, and demographic factors and the extent of women's participation in the market economy and their confinement to subsistence agricultural production and domestic work.
Abstract: This paper attempts first to analyze how various sociocultural, economic, and demographic factors affect the extent and structure of female economic participation in the large subsistence economy of rural Nepal. It then investigates the relationship between these variables and the extent of womens' input into the household decision-making process. Among the specific hypotheses examined is the supposition that the strength of female decision-making power in the household is positively affected by women's participation in the market economy and negatively affected by their confinement to subsistence agricultural production and domestic work. The paper also investigates the hypothesis that women's decision-making input is inversely related to the income status of the household.

150 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Carol R. Ember1
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that women contribute relatively less to agriculture when it becomes intensive because their domestic work and fertility have increased, and that most men contribute more to agriculture in societies cultivating intensively.
Abstract: This paper suggests why the intensification of agriculture is associated with a relative decline in women's participation in agriculture. The statistical evidence described here is consistent with the theory that women contribute relatively less to agriculture when it becomes intensive because their domestic work and fertility have increased. It is also argued that most men may be able to contribute more to agriculture in societies cultivating intensively because hunting, warfare, and trade are not so likely to pull them away from crop production [women's contribution to subsistence, agricultural intensification, time allocation, fertility, cross-cultural]

141 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the importance of towns and small cities for developing hinterlands transforming subsistence into commercial agriculture and integrating urban and rural economies is discussed, and investment in farm-to-market roads and small scale agroprocessing establishments and health and social services will help establish rural industrialization an important element for the development of small cities.
Abstract: The strategy if Industrial growth poles initiated during the 1960s now seems to be neither appropriate nor sufficient to generate widespread development in developing countries. This paper discusses the importance of towns and small cities for developing hinterlands transforming subsistence into commercial agriculture and integrating urban and rural economies. Although cities have a strong influence on the development of their regions their areas of influence are clearly limited. Towns and small cities provide essential links of distribution and exchange between agricultural areas and urban centers. The growth of massive metropolitan areas in 3rd World countries has created serious economic and social problems. The effects of cities on villages and rural populations decline with increased distance thereby creating an uneven distribution of growth economy and improved access for the rural population to town-based services and facilities such as medical services banks and agricultural exchange. The absence of these essential services and facilities in small cities helps to create underdeveloped low-order settlements in rural regions. The linkage between towns and rural areas are therefore the primary channels through which rural populations derive their income. In addition investment in farm-to-market roads waterways small scale agroprocessing establishments and health and social services will help establish rural industrialization an important element for the development of towns and small cities.

87 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The economics and technology of maritime subsistence of coastal Peru are more complex than previously thought, and the nutritional values of terrestrial versus maritime foods are debatable as mentioned in this paper, and the dynamics of El Nino events are complex.
Abstract: Recent arguments stating that marine resources were relatively unimportant in cultural developments on the coast of Peru during the Preceramic Period are incorrect on several counts. It is shown that the economics and technology of maritime subsistence of coastal Peru are more complex than previously thought, that the nutritional values of terrestrial versus maritime foods are debatable, that the dynamics of El Nino events are complex, and that maritime resources must still be seen as important for Preceramic Period economies. [Central Andes, coastal adaptations, ecological anthropology, origins of complex societies]

84 citations


Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the subsistence practices, diet, and the growth of young children in a community of recently sedentarized Xavante Indians of Central Brazil to ascertain some of the effects of transition from foraging to food production.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the subsistence practices, diet, and the growth of young children in a community of recently sedentarized Xavante Indians of Central Brazil to ascertain some of the effects of transition from foraging to food production. For hunters and gatherers, all subsistence labor is essentially harvest labor. With dependence on agriculture, a new factor enters into the scheduling of time and labor. Agriculture requires that people spend time in planting and caring for crops that they will not eat for several months. There is little in the Xavante experience to support the hypothesis that the transition from subsistence based on wild food to agriculture would produce an increased and more reliable food supply. Fluctuation in food supplies increase rather than to stabilize as this group attempts to reconcile the conflicting demands on labor for the collection of wild foods and the production of cultivated foods. Populations whose primary dependence is on root crops, such as manioc, that can be stored in the ground and harvested year-round but are low in protein would be less subject to seasonal shortage of calories but would be under more pressure to continue to hunt and fish to obtain animal protein.

51 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a model is presented to show how the arrival of specialised farming communities in Central Kenya affected the economy and settlement location of pastoral peoples; data to support the model are presented.
Abstract: Previous research in eastern Africa has identified ‘pastoral’ groups in the prehistoric record. The definition ‘pastoral’ has been based on faunal remains. Evidence is presented to show that farming was probably practised as well, and the emphasis on the use of subsistence to define pastoral communities is questioned. An examination of the ethnographic literature shows that pastoral peoples are best identified by the cultural value placed on livestock. It is shown that the settlement locations of early pastoral communities in eastern Africa demonstrate this cultural emphasis. A model is presented to show how the arrival of specialised farming communities in Central Kenya affected the economy and settlement location of pastoral peoples; data to support the model are presented. The model illustrates the importance of ideological factors for an understanding of stability and change in pastoral settlement and subsistence systems in eastern Africa.

45 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that the subsistence traditions of Bengal derive from locally generated values of abundance and indulgence rather than from a universal "moral economy" and suggest that detailed accounts of subsistence traditions in other parts of Asia will confound attempts to prove that European experience is a reliable guide to Asian practices.
Abstract: The author questions the assumptions of an “Asian school of scarcity and risk,” of which James C. Scott is the principal exponent, using Bengali peasant history as a case in point. He argues that it is more likely that the subsistence traditions of Bengal derive from locally generated values of abundance and indulgence than from a universal “moral economy” and suggests that detailed accounts of subsistence traditions in other parts of Asia will confound attempts to prove that European experience is a reliable guide to Asian practices.

43 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The traditional subsistence agriculture is being replaced by a transitional agricultural system as discussed by the authors, which results in significant changes in the traditional agricultural patterns and exploitation of other natural resources, especially forest for firewood and grazing land.
Abstract: Extensive areas of the High Himalaya are economically backward. Other areas, such as Khumbu Himal, are influenced by tourism and modernization which thereby affects the way of life of the local people. The traditional subsistence agriculture is being replaced by a transitional agricultural system. Tourist trekking is competing with traditional demands for both human and natural resources. The results include significant changes in the traditional agricultural patterns and exploitation of other natural resources, especially forest for firewood and grazing land. Political, social, cultural, and economic factors affect the processes of change. Traditional Buddhist values are exposed to western influence and this leads to internal socio-economic and socio-cultural re-structuring. Relative self-sufficiency in food is giving way to an economic dependence on the external world.

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, a case study on the economic role of low income rural women, especially as women workers employed in subsistence farming in Andra Pradesh, India, is presented, which covers labour force participation, sexual division of labour, sex discrimination in land tenure and occupational structure.
Abstract: Working paper comprising a case study on the economic role of low income rural women, especially as women workers employed in subsistence farming in Andra Pradesh, India. Covers labour force participation, sexual division of labour, sex discrimination in land tenure and occupational structure, the role of women's organizations, income generating activities, employment as agricultural workers and domestic workers, income and family budget. Discusses the effect of the milk credit scheme on poverty. References.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed the following interrelation of Jomon period subsistence: lowland, waterside villages, a generalized subsistence tradition comprising fishing, hunting, gathering, and farming lasted until the end of the Jomon Period (ca. 2300 B.P.).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the material culture of a domestic British colonial site at Fort Frederica, Georgia, was used in assessing colonial adaptations to 18th century frontier conditions on the Georgia coast.
Abstract: The material culture of a domestic British colonial site at Fort Frederica, Georgia, is used in assessing colonial adaptations to 18th century frontier conditions on the Georgia coast. Using Jay Allen Anderson’s data on English foodways, a model of resource utilization is proposed for comparison with the Frederica faunal evidence. It is suggested that the site’s occupants substantially altered the traditional “English Barnyard Complex” of resource utilization. Similar evidence from 18th century British and Spanish colonial sites is used to define a coastal subsistence strategy focusing on wild resources and cattle and transcending ethnic affiliation.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The economic basis of demographic reproduction is explored through an analysis of the shift from self-sustaining agricultural production to wage earning in the industrial sector and how access to cash, wage levels, employment duration, and food prices affects demographic growth.
Abstract: This article investigates the changes affecting demographic reproduction of population of peasant origin when they shift from self‐sustenance to market economy and wage‐earning. It shows how in the domestic mode of production, the birth‐rate and the survival of the pre‐productive generation until the age of production are dependent on the labour productivity of subsistence agriculture and on the techniques of conservation of crops, and how social reproduction is governed by the mode of distribution of the surplus‐product. The loss of control of the communities over their grain reserves, and their progressive integration into the market economy and wage‐earning, change the conditions of demographic reproduction, which comes to depend on money income, prices of subsistence, market supply, level of employment etc. These circumstances and the concomitant insecurity favour both a burst of natality as a means of social security and the survival of the younger generations for longer periods; and they accentuate ...

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: The role of resources in determining settlement patterns in Amazonia is discussed in this article, where the authors show that under extensive management systems, the increased labor time cost of subsistence production provides a strong incentive for groups to keep their settlement density low and to move about frequently.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the role of resources in determining settlement patterns in Amazonia. The human use of soils, plants, and animals leads to steadily rising labor inputs for each unit produced, especially for food. Under extensive management systems, the increased labor time cost of subsistence production provides a strong incentive for groups to keep their settlement density low and to move about frequently. The stress by natives on life-threatening factors in their decisions to move is may be a way of translating environmental imperatives into social ones. However, documenting the frequency of movements and the duration of settlements and the natives' explanations of them will not be sufficient to verify this hypothesis. There must also be measurements taken of the population density and resource availability in terms of actual rates of capture. Only then will one would be able to state with some confidence that such practices as warfare, internal disputes, sorcery, and so forth are the pivotal aspects of a system whose leverage is provided by subsistence.

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: The chapter presents an integrated model of settlement and evaluates it with data collected on the Yąnomamo of Venezuela, a culture that adapts to the physical and biological components of its environment as well as to its human components.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the factors that govern the settlement pattern of native Amazonians. The size, mobility, and location of settlements have been interpreted as a means for adapting to the distribution of scarce subsistence resources. These interpretations assume that the Amazonian populations are constrained by the distribution of strategic resources and as a result, a settlement pattern is an adaptation designed to maintain a population's demographic equilibrium in relation to environmental constraints. The chapter presents an integrated model of settlement and evaluates it with data collected on the Yąnomamo of Venezuela. A culture adapts to the physical and biological components of its environment as well as to its human components. The neighboring settlements are important factors to which a settlement must adjust. The trend in cultural ecology has been to focus on various forms of subsistence adaptation while paying scant attention to the effects of neighboring settlements. Yąnomamo settlement pattern can be understood in terms of human and non-human factors in the environment. Another trend in cultural ecology has been the assumption that adaptation, competition, and limiting factors relate to subsistence or material objects, which enhance survival or system stability.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Taddlock and Spoonbill sites in the Sabine River Basin of East Texas provide one of the first opportunities to document the subsistence strategies of sedentary hamlet occupations during the Early Caddoan period as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Well preserved faunal and floral materials recovered from the Taddlock and Spoonbill sites in the Sabine River Basin of East Texas provide one of the first opportunities to document the subsistence strategies of sedentary hamlet occupations during the Early Caddoan period. The Taddlock site, dated ca. A.D. 940-1000, has a large faunal assemblage indicating a generalized and balanced exploitation of small and large mammals, reptiles, and fish. The two components at Spoonbill, dated ca. A.D. 970 ?65 and A.D. 1260 ?65, are characterized by an ex tensive floral sample of wild plant foods, seeds, and maize. At both sites, maize constitutes less than 10% by weight of the total plant food remains. The Early Cad doan inhabitants exploited a wide variety of animal and plant food, but at this time maize was likely one of several main sources of food energy rather than the focus of a specialized economy.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a case study from Mkushi District, Central Province exemplifies the influence of external factors on environmental degradation in general, and soil erosion in particular, and the implication for conservation strategies is briefly reviewed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report the main results of a preliminary survey on human perception of mountain ecosystems, focusing on four groups of people: subsistence farmers, goatherds, summer tourists, and winter tourists.
Abstract: In central Chile (lat. 31-35? S), massive human occupation of mountains is rather recent (Tagle, 1980), unlike the situation in the Altiplano. People using mountain ecosystems in this area tend to fall into four main categories: subsistence farmers, goatherds, tourists, and miners. Because there is no tradition on how to' use these fragile ecosystems conservatively (Fuentes, 1979) and human pressure is constantly increasing, there is a real danger of severe damage to the ecological bases sustaining the lives of these human groups. Close by, in the flatland areas around lat. 320 S, a similar lack of know-how produced severe desertification (Fuentes and Hajek, 1979). In both cases, little knowledge exists regarding the ecological processes and of the environmental perception of the human groups involved. The aim of this article is to report the main results of a preliminary survey on human perception of mountain ecosystems. Four groups of people were considered: subsistence farmers, goatherds, summer tourists, and winter tourists. Our interest, in this first study on the subject, was to explore their perceptions of the biota, soils, and water.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Chastanet et al. as mentioned in this paper established a chronology based upon district reports and retrospective enquiries in the Soninke villages of Bakel District, in order to understand the conditions of their outbreak, their impact and the social dynamics during the colonial period.
Abstract: M. Chastanet - Subsistence Crises in the Soninke Villages of Bakel District, 1858-I945- Problems of Method and Research Prospects. ; This paper offers a method for the analysis of subsistence crises in Black Africa during the colonial period. Lacking the long homogeneous statistical series generally used for the location and description of the European famines of the Ancien Regime, we have established a chronology based upon district reports and retrospective enquiries in the Soninke villages. In view of the strong correlation between the length of a crisis and its seriousness, we have set up a typology of crises and distinguished, according to their duration, between 'scarcity', 'famine' and 'serious famine'. This chronology reveals sequential crises inscribing the production System and social life within a pluri-annual cycle with food shortages appearing as a structural trait. This chronological series is but a step in the analysis of subsistence crises which must eventually be correlated with ecological, socio-economic and political data in order to understand the conditions of their outbreak, their impact and the social dynamics during the colonial period.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is proposed that, independently of agricultural productivity effects of research, structural nutritional vulnerability prevails where the strictly capitalist commodity—labor power—is sold below its value, and because, in the framework of capitalist production, science is biased against subsistence food crops that are used restrictively in reproduction of labor.
Abstract: A tentative theoretical explanation of modern nutritional vulnerability is derived from an original study of agricultural science as part of the social process in societies distinguished by the extent to which their form of production (specifically reproduction of labor) falls within or outside the world of commodities. The selected case studies--the United States, Israel, Brazil, and Cuba--are characterized also by advanced agricultural research, remarkable agricultural productivity, and, with the exception of Brazil, a satisfactory state of public nutrition. This particular selection thus lays the basis for a holistic investigation of malnutrition which considers the mode of production as the appropriate unit of analysis. As a theoretical, not statistical, account of nutritional status variations in a variety of social environments, the study employs a two-dimensional comparison of agricultural research orientation and impact, on the one side, and of predominant modes of reproduction of labor, on the other. It is proposed that, independently of agricultural productivity effects of research, structural nutritional vulnerability prevails where the strictly capitalist commodity--labor power--is sold below its value, and because, in the framework of capitalist production, science is biased against subsistence food crops that are used restrictively in reproduction of labor. This bias is rooted not in the nature of such crops, but in their role in determining the value of labor power, which as expressed by wage, stands in inverse proportion to profit.

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the social structure and labour market in the agricultural sector in Turkey are discussed, including the historical background of peasant farmer landowner system, impact of agricultural mechanization (tractorisation), incidence of landlordism in sharecropping and capitalist farming, limited incidence of wage labour, absence of a landless category, seasonal workers and internal migration in subsistence farming and commercial farming.
Abstract: ILO pub-WEP pub. Working paper on the social structure and labour market in the agricultural sector in Turkey - discusses the historical background of peasant farmer landowner system, impact of agricultural mechanization (tractorisation), incidence of landlordism in sharecropping and capitalist farming, limited incidence of wage labour, absence of a landless category, seasonal workers and internal migration in subsistence farming and commercial farming, etc.; includes case studies. References.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper is concerned with two fundamental aspects of this paper: the conceptual and technical differences among objectives, goals, and constraints are not clearly established, and the possible effects of setting pessimistic levels of aspiration in a goal-programming problem are not analyzed.
Abstract: In a recent Journal article Barnett, Blake, and McCarl (BBMcC) provide an interesting and welcome application of linear goal programming. Until recently agricultural economists have been slow in the use of this and similar techniques in farm planning. However, we are concerned with two fundamental aspects of this paper. First, the conceptual and technical differences among objectives, goals, and constraints are not clearly established. This creates difficulties of identifying, unambiguously, situations to which techniques of multiple-goal and multiple-objectives should be applied. Second, the possible effects of setting pessimistic levels of aspiration in a goal-programming problem, allowing goals to be satisfied readily, has not been analyzed.

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jul 1983
TL;DR: In this paper, the Palm Sago (Metroxylon Species) As A Subsistence Crop (PSC) was proposed. But it was not considered as a sustainable crop.
Abstract: (1983). Palm Sago (Metroxylon Species) As A Subsistence Crop. Journal of Plant Foods: Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 115-134.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Cultural and bioligical control and plant resistance adapted to subsistence farming holds the greatest promise and better understanding of cropping systems must be the keystone to development of IPM programs.
Abstract: The concept and practice of IPM has emerged over the past two decades or more. The primary impetus for its development has come from developed countries. IPM technology transfer to developing countries has followed the earlier pattern of the ‘green revolution’. The technology being proposed requires high energy inputs and an intensive infrastructure to support it. These conditions simply do not exist in most developing countries. IPM programs for developing countries must be based on their own socioeconomic situation rather than on simple technology transfer. Better understanding of cropping systems must be the keystone to development of IPM programs. Chemical control should play a secondary role. Cultural and bioligical control and plant resistance adapted to subsistence farming holds the greatest promise. Little attention has been given to the reciprocal feature of studies of traditional agriculture. These practices embrace a wealth of time-honoured ecological wisdom which if unravelled could provide useful leads for modern agriculture. The sequence of steps contributing to this process are proposed.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, an intensive study of the relationship between subsistence agriculture and nutrition in one lowlands community where there is a high rate of child malnutrition was made to determine whether the seasonality of the agricultural system is an important influence upon nutritional status.
Abstract: In many lowland areas of Papua New Guinea, rainfall and subsistence agriculture show marked seasonal patterns. As part of an intensive study of the relationship between subsistence agriculture and nutrition in one lowlands community where there is a high rate of child malnutrition, an attempt was made to determine whether the seasonality of the agricultural system is an important influence upon nutritional status. Between October, 1980, and September, 1981, rainfall and temperature records were kept, the agricultural year described and a sample of adults weighed monthly. The analysis detected statistically significant weight changes for both males and females. The description of the agricultural year provides a reasonable explanation for the pattern of weight change observed. However, the range in mean monthly weights is small, and the biological significance difficult to determine. It is unlikely that seasonality alone is sufficient to account for the high rates of malnutrition.

Posted Content
TL;DR: According to as mentioned in this paper, livestock production provides a vital alternative source of employment, food, and income to the small farmer, and livestock production may represent an important survival strategy for Egypt's small farmers.
Abstract: Egypt's rural population contains a high proportion of farmers with very small farms. Average farm size, now thought to be less than 2.5 feddan, continues to decline under the pressure of the growing rural population. More than two thirds of the farming units are less than three feddan in size. Often it is asserted that a two to three feddan farm is necessary for "subsistence" or to avoid the need to work for others. Surprisingly, however, this study indicates that smaller farmers are not very active participants in hired farm labor markets. How, then, can such farmers survive? We contend that livestock production provides a vital alternative source of employment, food, and income to the small farmer. Livestock production may represent an important survival strategy for Egypt's small farmers. The authors discussed the problems in drawing upon national statistics as a source of information about livestock. Survey data found that livestock production generates a higher proportion of income on small farms than on large farms, and showed that small farmers devote more labor to livestock than to crops. Livestock production provides attractive opportunities for Egypt's farmers, particularly small farmers, to augment farm incomes as well as to obtain vital human food nutrients. An estimated sixty-five percent of all equivalent animal units were found to be on farms with three feddan and less. More than three quarters of the edible milk and dairy products are home consumed on farms on this size. Given the fact that livestock production is so heavily concentrated on these small farms and that they consume such a high proportion of what they produce, it follows that these farms cannot be counted upon to supply a very significant amount of dairy and other livestock products to Egypt's growing off-farm population. But data presented here indicates the opposite. Because they are so much more productive than larger farms, the amount of livestock products w hich is marketed by small farms exceeds that marketed by larger farms, when measured on either a per feddan or per animal unit basis. Is the intensification in livestock production which Egypt has experienced during the past two decades a temporary or a long term phenomenon? Apparently, it seems that livestock intensification cannot normally succeed in developing countries, in the face of high human population densities and the resultant competition for crop land. Data presented in this study seems to indicate that just the opposite may be true in Egypt during the current epoch. Why? Will the current situation last? Egypt's farm population has continued to grow on a fixed base of land. The average farm size has become smaller it is currently estimated to be about 2.4 feddan and the farm family labor available per farm and per unit area of land has increased. Evidence presented here indicates that livestock production has a much greater capacity than crop production for utilizing additional family labor. This factor favors livestock production, aside from the favorable relative price situation which exists. Livestock production has normally been intensified when declines in grain price have been the stimulus for a shift from arable to relatively more !intensive livestock farming."[14] Clearly, government policies have held grain and other crop prices relative to livestock prices. Without doubt this has contributed to livestock intensification. Should the Egyptian government decide to permit crop prices to rise towards their international trading equivalent, then the current incentives to produce livestock would be greatly reduced