Showing papers on "Subsistence agriculture published in 1997"

Farming the forest edge: vulnerable places and people around kibale national park, uganda

Abstract: . Subsistence farmers near Kibale National Park, Uganda, fear and resent many wildlife species. In this article I compare records of crop damage by wildlife and livestock with local complaints about the worst animals and the most vulnerable crops. I discuss the concordance and discrepancies in complaints versus actual damage in light of physical parameters of risk and of social factors that shape perceptions and vulnerabilities. Crop losses were greatest at the edge of the forest, where immigrants are disproportionately represented. State proprietorship of wildlife amplifies local vulnerability and constrains traditional coping strategies, such as hunting.

From Subsistence to Commercial Production Systems: The Transformation of Asian Agriculture

Abstract: Economic growth, urbanization and the withdrawal of labor from the agricultural sector lead to the increasing commercialization of agricultural systems. Subsistence-oriented monoculture food production 'systems give way to a diversified market-oriented production system. Agricultural commercialization means more than the marketing of agricultural output. It means that product choice and input use decisions are based on the principles of profit maximization. Commercial reorientation of agricultural production occurs for the primary staple cereals as well as for the so-called high value cash crops. On the demand side, the process of agricultural commercialization is triggered rapid income growth and the consequent diversification in food demand patterns. A slowdown in income-induced demand for rice and for coarse

Crop-raiding by wild vertebrates: The farmer's perspective in an agricultural community in western Uganda

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to determine the extent to which wild vertebrates are perceived to damage crops, and to identify factors that help predict farmers' vulnerability to these animals. Data were collected using questionnaires and informal interviews in a farming community in western Uganda. Approximately 70% of farmers interviewed are wholly dependent on agriculture for their subsistence, either as farmers and/or as seasonal agricultural labourers. Farmers consider crop-raiding by wild animals, particularly baboons and pigs, to be a major source of crop losses. Susceptibility to crop-raiding is influenced by a number of factors including proximity of fields to forest boundary and types of crops grown. The farmers' expressed fear of baboons and pigs may truly reflect the scale of damage these animals can cause, or it may be influenced by baboons' and pigs' perceived ability to harm or even kill humans.

Roads, population pressures, and deforestation in Thailand, 1976-89

Abstract: Tropical deforestation is considered one of the major environmental disasters of the 20th century, although there have been few careful studies of its causes. This paper examines the causes of deforestation in Thailand between 1976 and 1989, a period when the country lost 28% of its forest cover. This paper takes the perspective that, in the long run, the determinants of deforestation are the determinants of land use change. While logging and fuelwood gathering may remove forest cover, regrowth will occur, at least in moist tropical forests. For an area to remain deforested, it must be profitable to convert the land to another use, and this use is usually agricultural. In Thailand, for example, agricultural land increased between 1961 and 1988; during the same period, forest land decreased. This paper focuses on what, in equilibrium, determines the amount of land cleared for agriculture. The authors emphasize the quantitative impact of two forces--roads and population pressures--that increase the profitability of converting forest land to agriculture. As aerial maps show, development follows road networks. The magnitude of the impact of roads on commercial and subsistence agriculture depends on soil quality along the road. In this case the Thailand government undertook a road-building program in the Northeast section in the 1970's to encourage settlement of that region as a bulwark against Communist encroachment from Laos. Road building very likely spurred deforestation in the Northeast during the 1970's and 1980's, although the magnitude of its impact is not known. Thailand also experienced rapid population growth during this same period, which may have contributed to deforestation in two ways: the growing population demanding more food, increased the demand for agricultural land; and more importantly, in rural areas where other economic opportunities are limited and squatters are permitted on forest lands, a growing population increased the demand for land for subsistence agriculture. The authors conclude that population pressures play less of a role in deforestation than was found in earlier studies on Thailand. Affecting the amount of deforestation are other factors, such as the profitability of converting the land to another use, natural protection for forests like poor soil and steep slopes, and agricultural price variations.

A Native American Exposure Scenario

Abstract: EPA's Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund (RAGS) and later documents provide guidance for estimating exposures received from suburban and agricultural activity patterns and lifestyles. However, these methods are not suitable for typical tribal communities whose members pursue, at least in part, traditional lifestyles. These lifestyles are derived from a long association with all of the resources in a particular region. We interviewed 35 members of a Columbia River Basin tribe to develop a lifestyle-based subsistence exposure scenario that represents a midrange exposure that a traditional tribal member would receive. This scenario provides a way to partially satisfy Executive Order 12,898 on environmental justice, which requires a specific evaluation of impacts from federal actions to peoples with subsistence diets. Because a subsistence diet is only a portion of what is important to a traditional lifestyle, we also used information obtained from the interviews to identify parameters for evaluating impacts to environmental and sociocultural quality of life.

Convergence Clubs and Subsistence Economies

Abstract: This paper focuses on one possible explanation for the empirical evidence of: (a) income convergence among the world’s poorest countries and among its wealthiest countries; and (b) income divergence among most of the remaining countries. The model incorporates the assumption of subsistence consumption into the neo-classical exogenous growth model – yielding outcomes that are consistent with the convergence-divergence empirical evidence. While subsistence consumption can lead to negative saving and disaccumulation of capital, it can also coincide with positive saving and accumulation of capital. The model predicts that the poorer the country, the lower its saving rate, a result that also appears to be borne out by the evidence provided here.

Market Incorporation, Agricultural Change, and Sustainability Among the Machiguenga Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Abstract: By marshaling empirical data from five Machiguenga communities studied over 20 years, this paper disputes two common assumptions about the behavior of indigenous peoples in the face of increasing commercialization. First, many Amazonian researchers suggest that the social and ecological deterioration confronting native populations results from externally-imposed political, legal and market structures that compel local groups to pursue short-term, unstable economic strategies. Second, these structural explanations are combined with the increasing recognition that indigenous peoples possess a substantial agroecological knowledge to suggest that, if indigenous people receive control of adequate land and resources, they will implement their traditional knowledge in conservative resource management practices. In contrast to these assumptions, this analysis shows that the Machiguenga are not compelled by external forces (such as land tenure, migration policies or economic trends), but instead are active enthusiastic participants seeking to engage the market in order to acquire western goods. Further, despite highly adaptive traditional subsistence patterns and a vast agroecological knowledge, households and communities facing increasing degrees of market integration are progressively altering their traditional cropping strategies, planting practices, labor allocation and land use patterns toward a greater emphasis on commodity crop production and domesticated animal breeding. This increasing concentration on income generating activities subverts the environmentally-friendly nature of traditional productive practices and creates a socially, economically, and ecologically unsustainable system.

Current issues in Chinese Neolithic archaeology

Abstract: Every year archaeologists in China discover numerous rich sites demonstrating significant regional variability in Neolithic cultures, primarily from about 6500 B.C. to 1900 B.C. This paper discusses a topic not covered in detail in current or forthcoming publications, the origins and development of agricultural systems. Recent fieldwork in both northern and southern China suggests that initial steps toward settled agricultural villages began circa 11,000 B.P. I review evidence for the cultivation of millet, rice, and other plants as well as animal husbandry in different regions of China. There are several later Neolithic sites in northern China with evidence for rice cultivation. I suggest how future research projects can investigate regional variation and change over time in subsistence and settlement during the Neolithic Period.

'Fishing farmers' or 'farming fishermen'? The quest for household income and nutritional security on the Kenyan shores of Lake Victoria

Abstract: The paper considers the relationships between fishing and farming in providing household income and nutritional security among Luo communities on the shores of the Kenyan sector of Lake Victoria. In recent years the resources of Lake Victoria have come under severe pressure due to a variety of economic and ecological factors associated with over-fishing and a significant decline in fish species. Farming has increased in importance as households attempt to meet subsistence needs, but plot fragmentation, drought and low investment have led to poor crop yields. Future development strategies need to enhance the sustainability of the resources of both lake and land, and possibly build upon traditional management methods and institutions. THIS STUDY AIMS TO SHED LIGHT upon two key issues relating to change and development in traditional African food production systems. Firstly, remarkably little has been written on the socio-economic aspects of artisanal fishing systems in Africa, in spite of the fact that fish provides a rich source of protein in a continent where there is a widespread and often chronic shortage of animal products.1 Secondly, in the face of popular media images of a continent constantly plagued by human and environmental problems, recent research has demonstrated that many traditional African food production systems are, in fact surprisingly resilient. This resilience is frequently based upon a wide range of indigenous 'coping mechanisms', the essence of which is the detailed appreciation and utilization of the filll spatial and ecological diversity of the resource base, to

Challenges to nature conservation with community development in central African forests

Abstract: Based on field research in the Central African Republic, this article discusses several social and economic challenges to conservation programmes that include community development components. These interrelated challenges include immigration as people elsewhere are attracted to economic opportunities, the lack of tenure of land and natural resources, diversification of economic and subsistence strategies, ethnic diversity and the lack of a conservation ethic. Addressing these challenges requires fundamental socio-economic change.

Land reform and farm restructuring in East Central Europe and CIS in the 1990s: Expectations and achievements after the first five years

Abstract: The countries of East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union have achieved considerable progress with land reform and farm restructuring since 1991. Yet the achievements fall short of original expectations, both it scope and in character. So far, agricultural transformation has not produced a quick increase in production; most land remains in collective ownership; most peasants prefer to remain in the safety of large cooperatives, which still dominate agriculture. The accomplishments of agrarian reform have been modest due to political and legal uncertainty, lack of a supportive environment, high risk, and inadequate mechanisms for farm restructuring and individual exit. The future agriculture in the region will be characterized by the coexistence of private farms, restructured cooperatives, commercial farms of various sizes, and part-time subsistence farms. Copyright 1997 by Oxford University Press.

Meat and Strength: The Moral Economy of a Chilean Food Riot

Abstract: The policies of a Latin American government drive food prices up; unions and neighborhood associations in the capital city organize a demonstration; the government calls in the army; many people are killed; an uneasy truce prevails. As area specialists and indeed most newspaper readers and television watchers know, such sequences of events are common in recent Latin American history.1 Such events seem familiar, not only because they appear regularly in journal articles, in books, in headlines, and on the evening news, but also because they can be easily fitted into plausible narrative frames. The actors (desperately poor masses, unresponsive governing elites) are well known, and they are engaged in a common sort of conflict (debates in public arenas over economic policies). The opening event in the narrative, a sudden rise in food prices, can be understood as one of the natural vicissitudes of an underdeveloped economy. Most readers, accustomed to hearing of such occurrences, would not be likely to question the direct links from the first event to the second, the public expression of political discontent, and then to the third, the repression by the government. This article examines one such set of events, which took place in Santiago, Chile in 1905, and compares it to food riots in other parts of the world. The analysis draws both on ways in which these events resemble other food riots and on ways in which they differ from them. The claims of the urban poor in this instance to have a right to subsistence and the rejection of these claims by elites are familiar to students of food riots in other parts of the world. The linkages among the three events in Chile in 1905, though, are less typical, for three reasons. First, the rise in food prices is a puzzling trigger of the riot, since the policy that caused the prices to increase took place years before the demonstrations and repression. Second, the foodstuff that was in dispute was not a common grain such as wheat or rice that provides the bulk of subsistence and whose price and availability form the key issues in most food riots, but meat, a luxury item that formed a small portion of the diet of much of the population of Chile at the time. Finally, the link between the protest demonstration and the repression is complex rather

Peripheral migrants : Haitians and Dominican Republic sugar plantations

Abstract: Peripheral Migrants examines the circulation of labor from rural Haiti to the sugar estates of the Dominican Republic and its impact on the lives of migrants and their kin. The first such study to draw on community-based fieldwork in both countries, the book also shows how ethnographic and historical approaches can be combined to reconstruct patterns of seasonal and repeat migration." "Samuel Martinez pays close attention to the economic maneuvers Haitians adopt on both sides of the border as they use Dominican money to meet their present needs and to assure future subsistence at home in Haiti. The emigrants who adapt best, he finds, are those who maintain close ties to their home areas. Yet, in addition to showing how rural Haitians survive under severe poverty and oppression, Martinez reveals the risks they incur by crossing the border as cane workers: divided families, increased short-term deprivation and economic insecurity, and, all too often, early death. He further notes that labor circulation is not part of an unchanging cycle in rural Haiti but a source of income that is vulnerable to the downturns in the global economy." "Acknowledging various theoretical perspectives, the author compares the Haitian migrations with similar population displacements worldwide. As he shows, the Haitian workers exemplify an important, if seldom studied, category of migrants - those who neither move to the cities nor emigrate to countries of the North but circulate between rural areas of the Third World. Thus, this book serves to broaden our understanding of this "lower tier" of the world's migrants."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Exploitation of Carnivores and Other Fur‐bearing Mammals during the North‐western European Late and Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic

Abstract: The exploitation of large mammals, particularly large herbivores, has dominated perceptions of Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic subsistence behaviour in north-western Europe. This paper critically reviews the evidence for the exploitation of a complementary resource which has received little attention within the archaeological literature — carnivores and other fur-bearing mammals. Evidence for exploitation of individual species is described and discussed. A model is then developed to explain the apparent expansion of the subsistence base to include a wide range of fur-bearing mammals during the Lateglacial and Mesolithic. This paper concludes by arguing that although the use of carnivore meat and pelts cannot be viewed as a dominant trend in European hunter-gatherer subsistence practices, their contribution to hunter-gatherer economies cannot be ignored.

A comparison of traditional and modified inland artisanal aquaculture systems

Abstract: Traditional artisanal aquaculture systems are commonly assumed to be mainly for subsistence, to use predominantly on-farm inputs, and to have been developed by farmers themselves. Such systems with a long history in South East Asia exist mainly in northern Lao PDR, northern Vietnam and in West Java. In most other areas the traditional fish supply, wild fish, has declined only relatively recently, providing a stimulus for growth of aquaculture over the past few decades. An overview of artisanal aquaculture so defined in the South East Asian region is presented from a systems context considering social and economic aspects (micro- and macro-level perspectives), production technology (rice fields, ponds, cages), and environmental aspects (fitting into the local resource base without adverse environmental impact). Most artisanal aquaculture systems are integrated with crops and livestock but generally resource-poor farms constrain production. Rising expectations mean that productivity must be enhanced by off-farm inputs for aquaculture to contribute significantly to the farm household livelihood system. It is proposed that the term ‘small-scale’ be used rather than ‘artisanal’ because of increasing farmer interest in income rather than subsistence, because of increasing use of off-farm inputs, and because of the increasingly important role of science in the promotion of such systems.

Tapirs, Tractors, and Tapes: The Changing Economy and Ecology of the Xavante Indians of Central Brazil

Abstract: This paper explores the process of change in a Brazilian indigenous community, relating it to historical, economical, and political forces at the regional and national levels, as well as to environmental variables. In the light of current fieldwork, we examine the predictions of a model constructed 20 years ago based on fieldwork in this and three other Indian communities of Central Brazil by Daniel Gross and collaborators. This model ascribed involvement in the market economy of small-scale communities primarily to land circumscription and resulting environmental degradation, increasing the labor cost of subsistence food production. We find that in the case of the Xavante community entry into the market was more the result of a top-down government plan to implement mechanized rice production on Xavante reservations. With the collapse of the project the Xavante have, on the one hand, returned to a more "traditional" economy based on hunting, gathering, and swidden agriculture and, on the other hand, are innovating by marketing their cultural image through connections with national and international environmentalist organizations.

Poverty, land degradation and climatic uncertainty

Abstract: This paper studies farmers who operate in a risky environment at a minimum level of subsistence. In particular we investigate how poverty influences the soil conservation decision in the absence of formal insurance markets. It is shown that the consequences for the optimal soil conservation decision from poverty differ across the three agricultural activities considered in the model. Output-induced soil depletion increases with poverty, while soil conservation incentives improve for the same reason when conservation inputs and win-win technologies are considered. Consequently it remains unclear whether poverty in general induces farmers to manage their resources poorly in the long run. TROPICAL agriculture is a risky activity. Fragile soils and the high potential capacity of rainfall and wind to cause erosion are special problems. These two factors are important contributors to land degradation in the third world. Climatic variability and the occurrence of pests and plagues are in general unpredictable and result in fluctuating incomes. Extreme rainfall variability and other changes in climate tend to be severe in their impact on crop yields and may also lead to natural hazards such as droughts and floods. Another reason for the uncertainty being more pervasive and serious for tropical farmers than for farmers in temperate zones is the lack of well-developed markets. Governmental and private organisations have generally failed to provide not only insurance niarkets but also credit markets which may be an important substitute (Binswanger, 1986). In the absence of such markets farmers adapt to risk in various other ways. Household-level strategies such as scattering of plots, crop diversification, and intercropping can also be considered as risk management strategies but such actions are seldom able to cope fully with uncertainty. It is often suggested that soil degradation is one of the most severe environmental problems in developing countries and that farmers are not addressing it properly. One obvious cause of the divergence between private and social values of soil degradation are off-farm externalities, but government policies (input subsidies, export and output taxes, income assistance programs), tenure arrangements, and the lack of well-developed markets may also be of importance. Previous work on land degradation has shown that there is no obvious relationship between price reforms and soil conservation (see Barbier, 1990;

From prices to incomes: agricultural subsidization without protection?

Abstract: Drawing on experience with direct income-support programs recently introduced in the European Union, Mexico, and the United States, the authors highlight problems that may arise when a developing economy's agricultural sector moves from price-based subsidies to income support programs. They conclude that income-support programs, despite their theoretical appeal, have many shortcomings and that developing countries may lack the support mechanisms needed to make them effective. The consequences of delinking support from current production decisions, even though fully expected, may be perceived as negative. Producers will undoubtedly face greater variation in prices, and as the ratio of output to input prices will be lower, a negative supply response for the crops affected may in turn reduce demand for agricultural labor. Finally, as with many types of support, the lion's share of support may go not to the target group most in need of support but to large producers. It is important to remember what a direct income-support mechanism does and does not do. Although it increases the income of subsistence landholders, it is not supposed to be a poverty reduction program. Nor is it supposed to be an investment program (as there is no provision for where and how the money will be spent). And because of its association with lower producer prices, it is not expected to induce sectoral growth. Instead, it is a transitional income-redistribution mechanism that could eventually transform agriculture into a fully liberalized sector that helps allocate resources more efficiently. And because it is linked to an asset -land- the lion's share of the payments will inevitably go to large farmers, subject to an upper limit (if such is in place).

How to sustain a living? urban households and poverty in the sahelian town of mopti

Abstract: During the last ten to fifteen years Africa's urban population has had to deal with diminishing incomes and the increasing cost of living. Even the real wages of urban workers in the formal sector fell, sometimes so dramatically that a growing proportion of wage-earning households were pushed below the poverty line. Both the security and the stability of employment in the formal sector declined, partly owing to the implementation of structural adjustment programmes. As a result of these trends the distinction between earnings in the formal and informal sectors become blurred (Jamal and Weeks, 1988). At the same time, rural-urban migration has continued, leading to steady growth in the number of people dependent on informalsector activities for their subsistence. Urban households can be expected to take steps to safeguard or better their position and spread risks in order to survive should their sources of income run dry. Most such measures will be similar to those of rural households (Corbett, 1988)-although, of course, they do not focus primarily on agricultural production: diversifying the sources of income, maintaining social networks which can be relied on for help in time of need, depleting household reserves by selling possessions, consuming less or changing patterns of consumption and ultimately, in times of total distress, turning to charity. (See, for a detailed overview, Rakodi, 1995.) The reactions of urban households to poor or deteriorating economic conditions are influenced by a variety of factors. First, their socio-economic position. According to some authors (Jamal and Weeks, 1988; Herbert and Thomas, 1990) the primary classification of the urban population has to be between the poor and the wealthy. We can expect the ability of households to protect themselves against economic hardship and their ability to cope with reduced earnings or lack of income to differ accordingly. A second factor is the household's migration history. In the view of Baker

Indigenous Soil Knowledge among the Fulani of northern Burkina Faso: Linking soil science and anthropology in analysis of natural resource management

Abstract: The indigenous soil knowledge among the Fulani subsistence farmers in two villages of northern Burkina Faso is examined, analysed and assessed with the aim of evaluating its adequacy for sustaining soil fertility and for the appropriateness of tapping indigenous knowledge in development programmes. The analytical framework is a multidisciplinary approach combining soil science and anthropology. The results show a high degree of consistency between the science-based western soil classification and the Fulani soil classification although the routes of generation are different. The farmers are aware of and active in management of soil fertility based on their experience, but express no thorough understanding of the mechanisms of plant growth. The soil knowledge is applied in the farming strategies which, as a primary aim, seek to minimize the risk of harvest failure. However, the analysis also suggests that the knowledge is no part of a ‘free-standing’ knowledge body which can be separated from the actual agricultural performance. The farmers express a general concern about the present state of the environment and degradation processes; however, there is no motivation to take active control of and manage the bush area. This is in contrast with the way millet cultivators actively manage their fields. An explanation of this is suggested by the division between the two Fulani ethnic subgroups, the FulBe who are the former masters and the RimayBe, the former slaves.

Subsistence hunting and wildlife management in the central Canadian Arctic

Abstract: During the winter of 1992/93, a perceived caribou decline in the vicinity of Holman, NWT, Canada, led a government wildlife manager to suggest that a ban on caribou hunting was the only reasonable solution to managing the caribou population. This paper focuses on the resulting interaction between wildlife managers and Inuit. On the surface, the process appeared to be an adequate exercise in co-management, as the community was involved in all phases of addressing the problem. However, further examination suggests that some local Inuit were unhappy with both the process and the solution. It is also suggested that a ban on caribou hunting was unnecessary because Inuit recognized that continued hunting was economically unproductive.

Risk and Uncertainty among the Maasai of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania: A Case Study in Economic Change

Abstract: For the last fifteen years I have been studying, working and living among nomadic pastoral people in East Africa. The focus of this research has been land use and livestock management; firstly among the Turkana of northern Kenya and more recently among the Maasai of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) in northern Tanzania. Understanding the sources of risk, responses to risk and evaluating the success or failure of these responses has been a critical component of this research. During the last five years (i.e. since about 1990) I have witnessed a major shift in the subsistence economy of the Maasai living in the NCA; during this period their economy has changed from one based exclusively on the raising of livestock to one which combines cultivation and livestock keeping. In this paper I want to examine how changes in Maasai subsistence strategies can be viewed as a response to the failure of traditional risk handling strategies. Cashdan (1990:2) defines uncertainty as 'an individual's lack of knowledge about the state of the world'. She also identifies two definitions of risk which are

Monopsony and Time–Consistency: Sustainable Pricing Policies for Perennial Crops

Abstract: Since farmers in developing countries must make sunk investments to produce perennial crops, governments, in the guise of state-run marketing boards, face constraints on maximal sustainable price which can be charged by a marketing board assuming that “punishments” involve reversion to subsistence by untrusting farmers. This maximal price balances concerns about revenue extraction against the incentive of governments to cheat by capitalizing on sunk investments.

Agricultural crop and livestock depredation by wildlife in langtang national park, nepal

Abstract: A national park model that neglects the subsistence needs of the local people and denies them benefits from the park can lead to resentment and conflict. About 35,000 people living in and around Langtang National Park are dependent mainly on agriculture for their livelihood. Agricultural crop and livestock depredation by wildlife results in disputes between the park authorities and the local people. Potential solutions discussed here emphasize the need for the Langtang National Park administration to accept responsibility for the protection of crops and livestock from park wildlife.