Showing papers on "Subsistence agriculture published in 2001"

Was agriculture impossible during the pleistocene but mandatory during the holocene? a climate change hypothesis

Abstract: Several independent trajectories of subsistence intensijcation, often leading to agriculture, began during the Holocene. No plant-rich intensijcations are known from the Pleistocene, even from the late Pleistocene when human populations were otherwise quite sophisticated. Recent data from ice and ocean-core climate proxies show that last glacial climates were extremely hostile to agriculture-dry, low in atmospheric CO,, and extremely variable on quite short time scales. We hypothesize that agriculture was impossible under last-glacial conditions. The quite abruptfinal amelioration of the climate was followed immediately by the beginnings of plant-intensive resource-use strategies in some areas, although the turn to plants was much later elsewhere. Almost all trajectories of subsistence intensijcation in the Holocene are progressive, and eventually agriculture became the dominant strategy in all but marginal environments. We hypothesize that, in the Holocene, agriculture was, in the long run, compulsory. We use a mathematical analysis to argue that the rate-limiting process for intensijcation trajectories must generally be the rate of innovation of subsistence technology or subsistence-related social organization. At the observed rates of innovation, population growth will always be rapid enough to sustain a high level of population pressure. Several processes appear to retard rates of cultural evolution below the maxima we observe in the most favorable cases.

Soil fertility management strategies and practices by smallholder farmers in semi-arid areas of Zimbabwe

Abstract: Indigenous soil fertility management strategies in semi-arid Communal Areas of Zimbabwe have largely been driven by an extensive use of resources. The shrinking of common property resources (CPRs) due to expansion of cultivated lands, the general loss of productivity in natural ecosystems (e.g., poor grazing) and increasing demand for nutrient sources due to the increased number of farming households have resulted in a critical scarcity of the traditional sources of nutrients. Although farmers use many locally derived fertilizers (e.g., leaf litter, manure or termitaria), they do so more in desperation than by choice. Because of their low quality and declining availability, locally derived fertilizers fall short of satisfying crop growth requirements for the current market-oriented economy. Such inputs also require a lot of labor for collection and transport, often for little return in soil fertility improvement. There should therefore be a limit to which we can expect to manipulate farmer innovativeness or exploit indigenous knowledge systems in order to sustainably manage soil fertility. Farmers have probably done their best under the prevailing circumstances. The study by Scoones et al. (1996) gives examples of how farmers have adopted and fine-tuned technologies to suit a variety of circumstances. This raises a major issue of whether indigenous soil fertility management and practices in semi-arid Communal Areas can be improved without introducing major changes to the farming systems. The answer depends on the level of production that it is hoped farmers can achieve. If yields above subsistence production levels are expected, then the idea of low-input agriculture in these marginal environments is nonsensical. As population pressure continues to increase, the major challenge in semi-arid communal Areas is that of transforming an extensive management system into an intensive one. This involves changes in extension strategies, farmers attitudes and perceptions and a concomitant change in resource utilization. It therefore requires an interdisciplinary and integrated approach and should be expected to take time. Current indigenous soil fertility management practices are dependent on CPRs. Net nutrient outflows from these ecosystems are likely to result in declining productivity of CPRs. Households in semi-arid areas get significant income from forestry products (Clarke et al. 1996) e.g., crafts and wood carvings. Intensification of soil fertility management on arable lands will save forestry resources and spare these ecosystems from degradation. Under the current management practices, the only viable nutrient sources are manure and crop residues

The Influence of Accessibility, Local Institutions, and Socioeconomic Factors on Forest Cover Change in the Mountains of Western Honduras

Abstract: Tropical deforestation poses a threat to ecological sustainability and socioeconomic development in many parts of the world. Information on forest transformations is especially pertinent in sensitive ecological zones such as mountainous regions, where forest cover protects steep slopes and thin soils from erosion. Such areas are frequently unsuitable for agriculture, but inhabitants may have few alternatives to meet subsistence needs. Understanding the relationship between human behavior and forest change poses a major challenge for development projects, policy makers, and environmental organizations that aim to improve forest management. Knowledge of the areal extent of forest cover and the processes of change represents an integral step, but in many areas of the globe, these processes are still relatively unknown. This study addresses forest cover change in a community in the mountains of western Honduras. Between 1987 and 1996, 9.77 km2 of land was reforested and only 7.48 km2 was deforested, ...

An archaeology of Elmina : Africans and Europeans on the Gold Coast, 1400-1900

Abstract: Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Historical Background 2. The Elmina Settlement 3. The Archaeology of an African Town 4. Subsistence, Craft Specialization, and Trade 5. The European Trade 6. Culture, Contact, Continuity, and Change Notes References Index

Diversification of tree crops: domestication of companion crops for poverty reduction and environmental services

Abstract: New initiatives in agroforestry are seeking to integrate indigenous trees, whose products have traditionally been gathered from natural forests, into tropical farming systems such as cacao farms. This is being done to provide from farms, marketable timber and non-timber forest products that will enhance rural livelihoods by generating cash for resource-poor rural and peri-urban households. There are many potential candidate species for domestication that have commercial potential in local, regional or even international markets. Little or no formal research has been carried out on many of these hitherto wild species to assess potential for genetic improvement, reproductive biology or suitability for cultivation. With the participation of subsistence farmers a number of projects to bring candidate species into cultivation are in progress, however. This paper describes some tree domestication activities being carried out in southern Cameroon, especially with Irvingia gabonensis (bush mango; dika nut) and Dacryodes edulis (African plum; safoutier). As part of this, fruits and kernels from 300 D. edulis and 150 I gabonensis trees in six villages of Cameroon and Nigeria have been quantitatively characterized for 11 traits to determine combinations defining multi-trait ideotypes for a genetic selection programme, I. gabonensis fruits are rich in vitamin A (67 mg 100 ml -1 ), while the kernels are rich in fat (51.3%) and contain a polysaccharide that is a food thickener. The fruits of D. edulis are also rich in oil (31.9%) and protein (25.9%). This poverty-reducing agroforestry strategy is at the same time linked to one in which perennial, biologically diverse and complex mature-stage agroecosystems are developed as sustainable alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture. To meet the objective of poverty reduction, however, it is crucial that market expansion and creation are possible. Hence, for example, it is important to determine which marketable traits are amenable to genetic improvement. While some traits (such as fruit and kernel mass) that benefit the farmer are relatively easy to identify, there are undoubtedly others that are important to the food, pharmaceutical or other industries which require more sophisticated chemical evaluation. There is a need, therefore, for better linkages between agroforesters and the private sector. The domestication activities described are relevant to the enrichment of smallholder cacao farms and agroforests. This diversification is seen as being important for the support of the cacao industry.

There is an Alternative: Subsistence and Worldwide Resistance to Corporate Globalization

Abstract: This is a thought-provoking collection of essays by radical thinkers. It moves beyond criticism of current globalisation trends, and offers theoretical and practical alternatives for our world.

Artisans and cooperatives : developing alternative trade for the global economy

Abstract: With new markets opening up for goods produced by artisans from all parts of the world, craft commercialization and craft industries have become key components of local economies. Now with the emergence of the Fair Trade movement and public opposition to sweatshop labor, many people are demanding that artisans in third world countries not be exploited for their labor. Bringing together case studies from the Americas and Asia, this timely collection of articles addresses the interplay among subsistence activities, craft production, and the global market. It contributes to current debates on economic inequality by offering practical examples of the political, economic, and cultural issues surrounding artisan production as an expressive vehicle of ethnic and gender identity. Striking a balance between economic and ethnographic analyses, the contributors observe what has worked and what hasn't in a range of craft cooperatives and show how some artisans have expanded their entrepreneurial role by marketing crafts in addition to producing them. Among the topics discussed are the accommodation of craft traditions in the global market, fair trade issues, and the emerging role of the anthropologist as a proactive agent for artisan groups. As the gap between rich and poor widens, the fate of subsistence economies seems more and more uncertain. The artisans in this book show that people can and do employ innovative opportunities to develop their talents, and in the process strengthen their ethnic identities. ContentsIntroduction: Facing the Challenges of Artisan Production in the Global Market / Kimberly M. Grimes and B. Lynne MilgramDemocratizing International Production and Trade: North American Alternative Trading Organizations / Kimberly M. GrimesBuilding on Local Strengths: Nepalese Fair Trade Textiles / Rachel MacHenry"That They Be in the Middle, Lord": Women, Weaving, and Cultural Survival in Highland Chiapas, Mexico / Christine E. EberThe International Craft Market: A Double-Edged Sword for Guatemalan Maya Women / Martha LyndOf Women, Hope, and Angels: Fair Trade and Artisan Production in a Squatter Settlement in Guatemala City / Brenda RosenbaumReorganizing Textile Production for the Global Market: Women s Craft Cooperatives in Ifugao, Upland Philippines / B. Lynne MilgramTextile Production in Rural Oaxaca, Mexico, and the Complexities of the Global Market for Handmade Crafts / Jeffrey H. Cohen"Part-Time for Pin Money": The Legacy of Navajo Women s Craft Production / Kathy M CloskeyThe Hard Sell: Anthropologists as Brokers of Crafts in the Global Marketplace / Andrew CauseyPostscript: To Market, To Market / June Nash"

The agrarian question in Mozambique's transition and reconstruction

Abstract: The economic policies of transition and reconstruction in Mozambique, like the policies of central planning beforehand, were based on an inappropriate model of the inherited rural economy. Under central planning, the peasantry was looked upon as a mass of subsistence producers; with the economic reforms came the vision of the peasantry as a mass of smallholder producers. Both these views ignored the extent to which peasant livelihoods depended on the complex and varied linkages between wage labour and household production.

Classifying tree planters and non planters in a subsistence farming system using a discriminant analytical approach

Abstract: Since the 1970s tree planting has been promoted to meet the multipurpose needs of subsistence farmers and to arrest deforestation in many developing countries. Financial support and extension systems were developed as tree growing outside the forest became more important. The limited success of the forest extension approaches used in the 1980s has been attributed to the failure to ascertain householders' priorities and attitudes to tree growing. Although the broader theoretical paradigm of factors influencing householders' planting of trees has been discussed household and regional level analyses are rare. This study used discriminant analysis to assess the extent to which social and economic factors affect smallholder farmer tree planting in Orissa, eastern India. The validity of the predictive model to define the different groups was tested by assessing the accuracy of classification. The significance of the factors was probed using the identified variables in the discriminant functions developed for smallholder farmers in the coastal and inland zones of Orissa. The results contradicted some common assumptions that only large landowners with a substantial income are innovators. The likelihood of adopting agroforestry is dependent on the progressive attitude of farmers, membership of village organisations, their wealth status and, more importantly, their perceived risk concerning agricultural production. This approach enables tree planters and non-planters to be characterised and hence give better targetting of planning and social forestry programmes.

Introduction: the role of agricultural technologies in tropical deforestation.

Abstract: This introductory chapter sets the scene for the discussion in the edited volume on how new agricultural affects tropical forests. It critically reviews four hypotheses that have been central in the claim that better technologies help protect forests: the Borlaug, the subsistence, the economic development and the land degradation-deforestation hypotheses. Each of them appears to be valid only under certain restrictive conditions. The chapter then gives the aims and scope of the book, the key conclusions, as well as a summary of each of the chapters. A key objective of the book is to identify which technologies under which conditions lead to a win-win situation or trade-off between forest conservation and increasing farm productivity.

Demand, supply and willingness-to-pay for extension services in an emerging-market setting

Abstract: Although it may be wholly inappropriate to generalize, the most important resource available to a subsistence household is the total amount of time that its members have available to spend in productive enterprises. In this context, services that minimize the time that it takes to perform productive activities are valuable to the household. Consequently the household is willing to relinquish quantities of other resources in exchange for quantities of the time-saving service. These simple observations motivate a search for the values that subsistence households place on time-saving services. This search is especially important when it is realized that extension services promote productivity, enhance the surplus-generating potential of the household and can, as a consequence, promote immersion into markets that are currently constrained by thinness and instability. In this capacity, extension visitation has the potential to overcome one of the principal impediments to economic development, namely lack of density of market participation. In this article, we consider this issue in the context of a rich data set on milk-market participation by small-holder dairy producers in the Ethiopian highlands.

The Subsistence Perspective:Beyond The Globalized Economy

Abstract: The Subsistence Perspective: Beyond The Globalized Economy. Veronkia Bennholdt-Thomsen and Maria Mies. New York: Zed Books, 2000.

Household production in Chaco Canyon society

Abstract: The household is the most basic and flexible component of human social organization. It is through the household that we can understand the Chaco phenomenon from the point of view of agriculture and craft production. Households strive for autonomy and self sufficiency and they spread themselves thin to meet basic subsistence requirements. As a result, scheduling of agricultural and craft activities is critical to the success of the household. Craft technologies must be complementary with agricultural activities ; for example, pottery may be made during the heat of the day when agricultural tasks are at a lull. The concept of intersecting technologies suggests that technical knowledge, resources, and labor may be shared among crafts and other activities. Chacoan households probably specialized in the production of different crafis including pottery, jewelry, basketry, and other woven goods. Within the context of the Chaco regional system the mobilization of labor would have been through obligatory work assignments that complemented domestic autonomy in agricultural production and, as a result, would have been organized seasonally.

Post-Socialist Peasant?: Rural and Urban Constructions of Identity in Eastern Europe, East Asia and the Former Soviet Union

Abstract: List of Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction: Post-Socialist Peasants PLeonard & DKaneff Peasant Consciousness JFlower Old Corn New Corn PLeonard Just a Peasant: Economy and Legacy in Northern Vietnam RMAbrami Rural Identities in Transition: Particle Persons and Partial Peasants in Post-Soviet Russia LPerrotta Subsistence Farming and the Peasantry as an Idea in Contemporary Russia CHumphrey The Village, the City and the Outside World: Integration and Exclusion in Two Regions of Rural Poland FPine Work, Identity and Urban/Rural Relations DKaneff Urban Peasants in a Post-Socialist World: Small-Scale Agriculturalists in Hungary ACzegledy Index

Can Stated Preference Methods be used to Value Attributes of Subsistence Hunting by Aboriginal Peoples? A Case Study in Northern Saskatchewan

Abstract: The desire for economic growth has increased pressure to allocate timber harvesting and mineral extraction rights in northern Canada. A result of this desire is an increased number of overlapping and sometimes incompatible demands for the land base. One important group affected by expanding resource development is the Aboriginal People' who reside in the boreal forest. There are two factors that suggest the importance of the inclusion of Aboriginal People's use of land base in resource planning. First, nontimber resources continue to play an important role in their culture, economy, and diet as documented in anthropology, geography, sociology, and nutrition literatures (Tobias and Kay; Usher; Beckley and Hirsch). The second factor is that Aboriginal People make up a large percentage of the northern Canadian population, and their numbers are growing at a higher rate than the rest of the Canadian population (Statistics Canada).2 In the Canadian boreal forest, Aboriginal People are the primary users of nontimber forest products (e.g., berries, medicinal plants, wildlife meat, and fur). As a result, they are often most affected by changes to the forest landscape. Determining the influence of forest practices and policy changes on their use of the land base is hindered by lack of knowledge on their use and preferences for nontimber forest products. The goal of this project was to investigate the underlying determinants of Aboriginal preferences for hunting-site characteristics, the frequency of their hunting activities, and marginal values of the characteristics and activities.

Global Environmental Change and Historical Transitions

Abstract: What do transition processes in rural areas in Thailand, biomass consumption in nineteenth-century Austria and the ecology of hunter-gatherers have to do with the appropriation of plant production and global environmental change? More than one might think of in the first place. They are part of a scholarly discourse on our changing relations with the environment. We argue that global change can be analysed in terms of transitions between major modes of subsistence and try to document this with several case studies.

Win:Win landuse strategies for Africa: 1. Building on experience with agroforests in Asia and Latin America, and 2. Capturing economic and environmental benefits with multistrata agroforests

Abstract: A win:win landuse strategy has to provide both economic and environmental benefits, ideally with enhanced livelihoods for the poor and the provision of commodities for the international market. This paper reviews recent developments in agroforestry and some case studies from SE Asia and Latin America, where income-generating non-timber forest products are being produced by subsistence farmers within either enriched forest fallows (agroforests) or other forms of multistrata agroforestry. It then examines the opportunities for similarly producing non-timber forest products in the four main regions of Africa (Humid lowland forests of West and Central Africa, the East African Highlands, and the Miombo woodlands of southern Africa and the Sahel), as well as opportunities to domesticate the priority tree species for income generation. To follow and build on the Green Revolution, there is a need for landuses that: i) provide for livelihood needs of subsistence farmers; ii) meet the global needs for international commodities; and iii) provide international environmental services. In recent years, it has been realised that under certain circumstances, African farmers are planting trees on their farms and are developing agroecosystems that meet these needs. In addition, progress has been made towards the domestication of indigenous trees for their potential to generate farm income and so to reduce poverty. Some recommendations are made about research and development activities that would further encourage the development of sustainable landuses based on tree crops. A role is suggested for the industrial sector in tree crop/agroforestry development, based on new initiatives in the car manufacturing industry, but with opportunities of novel foods for the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Role of ICARDA in improving the nutritional quality and yield potential of grasspea (Lathyrus sativus L.), for subsistence farmers in dry areas.

Abstract: Introduction Lathyrus sativus L. or grasspea (khesari in India and Bangladesh, guaya in Ethiopia, san li dow in China, pois carré in France) has been cultivated in South Asia and Ethiopia for over 2,500 years (3) and is used as food and feed. It is a popular drought-tolerant crop as food and feedstuff in drought-prone areas of Africa and Asia . Its ability to provide an economic yield under adverse conditions has made it a popular crop in subsistence farming in many developing countries, and it offers great potential for use in marginal lowrainfall areas. Despite its tolerance to drought, grasspea is not affected by excessive rainfall and can be grown on land subject to flooding . In Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, it is often broadcast into a standing rice crop, where it flourishes on the residual moisture left after the rice has been harvested. It is a very hardy crop with a penetrating root system and can be grown on a wide range of soil types, including very poor soils and heavy clays. This hardiness and its ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen make the crop one that seems designed to grow under adverse conditions.

Feast or famine? Epipalaeolithic subsistence in the northern Adriatic basin

Abstract: In this paper I use a late glacial-early postglacial archaeological case study from Istria, Croatia, to develop methods for inferring the social contexts of food consumption from animal remains. A number of lines of evidence are suggestive of an increase over time in the diversity and scale of food consumption at Pupi≤ina Cave. At the scale of the region, these data are consistent with subsistence intensification in response to shortfalls in food resources. At the scale of the site, however, these data can be interpreted as remains from “celebratory” feasts. This paper addresses the gap between theory and method in the identification of prehistoric feasts.

Local owner‐based management of Finnish lake fisheries: social dimensions and power relations

Abstract: Traditionally most inland water bodies in Finland were privately owned as an extension of land ownership. Statutory fishery associations are responsible for local decision-making on most lakes. Social dimensions have been tightly embedded in decision making by these associations. The local level of Finnish fisheries management has been subjected to a fundamental shift from locally based subsistence fishing and wide local participation in fisheries associations to a wide range of non-local recreational demands and decreasing participation. In this paper the functionality of local resource management in the Finnish context of private ownership of fishing waters is studied, with focus on the social significance of local decision-making and representation of user groups in the decision-making process. The main material consists of personal thematic interviews with a range of fishermen, decision makers and other stakeholders in two lakes.

The rational peasant in china flexible adaptation, risk diversification, and opportunity

Abstract: A central component of economic development is the reallocation of household labor, typically from subsistence agriculture to nonfarm employment. This occurred in the advanced market economies during the Industrial Revolution, contributing to increases in agrarian and industrial productivity and raising standards of living dramatically. A similar process began in China in the first decade of economic reform and has been central to the development of China's rural and urban economies. Despite its broad social implications, the process by which rural households allocate labor is not well understood. In this paper, we examine the strategies rural households used in the early stages of China's economic reform as they adapted to fundamental changes in the institutional structures of the nation's agrarian economy. Using a large, national sample, we explore the degree to which households diversified labor efforts across types of non-farm work. We find that peasant households allocated labor to non-farm work only...

Impact of agroforestry intervention on farm income under the subsistence farming system of the middle hills, Nepal

Abstract: Practices that minimize the rate of soil degradation, increase crop yields and raise farm income are key to sustaining agricultural productivity in the hills of Nepal. The use of farmland is undergoing rapid changes in response to increasing population pressure, deforestation and subsistence needs. Against this background, this study examined the impact of an agroforestry intervention project on farm income based on a sample of subsistence farm households in Dhadhing district. The project was implemented by Nepal Agroforestry Foundation in 1993/94 to increase fodder production through the promotion of agroforestry. A total of 223 households (82 ‘with’ project and 141 ‘without’ project) were interviewed during May‐October 1998 to collect information on production and agroforestrys’ impact on farm income. The benefit-cost analysis showed that the agricultural system including agroforestry was more profitable than the conventional one. The results also showed that the introduction of mulberry trees for sericulture could further enhance the profitability of an agroforestry-based system. Thus, agroforestry has great potential for enhancing food production and farmers’ economic conditions in a sustainable manner through its positive contributions to household income.

Life Without Pigs: Recent Subsistence Changes Among the Irakia Awa, Papua New Guinea

Abstract: Beginning in the late 1980s, the Irakia Awa commenced changing their basic subsistence adaptation. This included altering gardening practices, changing basic food consumption patterns, and most importantly, eliminating the production of domestic pigs. These changes were undertaken as part of an effort to improve the life experience of local residents and usher in a new plan of village improvement. The plan promoted the disintensification of subsistence production and increased involvement in cash-earning and recreational pursuits, as well as Christianity. If successful, the promoters of the plan hope that the village will become a more attractive place to live, migrants living away will return home to help revitalize the community, and Irakia will flourish in the new cash-oriented modern economy.

Culture of the 'aquatic chicken': present concerns and future prospects.

Abstract: This is not actually a swimming chicken, but rather a fish that fulfils a similar role for subsistence farmers and can also be farmed on a commercial scale. Like the chicken, the tilapiines are meeting protein needs in an affordable way world-wide. However, present farming strategies are struggling to meet ever-rising consumer demand.