Showing papers on "Subsistence agriculture published in 2018"

The legacy of 4,500 years of polyculture agroforestry in the eastern Amazon

Abstract: The legacy of pre-Columbian land use in the Amazonian rainforest is one of the most controversial topics in the social1–10 and natural sciences11,12. Until now, the debate has been limited to discipline-specific studies, based purely on archaeological data8, modern vegetation13, modern ethnographic data3 or a limited integration of archaeological and palaeoecological data12. The lack of integrated studies to connect past land use with modern vegetation has left questions about the legacy of pre-Columbian land use on the modern vegetation composition in the Amazon, unanswered11. Here, we show that persistent anthropogenic landscapes for the past 4,500 years have had an enduring legacy on the hyperdominance of edible plants in modern forests in the eastern Amazon. We found an abrupt enrichment of edible plant species in fossil lake and terrestrial records associated with pre-Columbian occupation. Our results demonstrate that, through closed-canopy forest enrichment, limited clearing for crop cultivation and low-severity fire management, long-term food security was attained despite climate and social changes. Our results suggest that, in the eastern Amazon, the subsistence basis for the development of complex societies began ~4,500 years ago with the adoption of polyculture agroforestry, combining the cultivation of multiple annual crops with the progressive enrichment of edible forest species and the exploitation of aquatic resources. This subsistence strategy intensified with the later development of Amazonian dark earths, enabling the expansion of maize cultivation to the Belterra Plateau, providing a food production system that sustained growing human populations in the eastern Amazon. Furthermore, these millennial-scale polyculture agroforestry systems have an enduring legacy on the hyperdominance of edible plants in modern forests in the eastern Amazon. Together, our data provide a long-term example of past anthropogenic land use that can inform management and conservation efforts in modern Amazonian ecosystems. Fossil records suggest that the Amazon rainforest in the pre-Columbian era was home to polyculture agroforestry, with multiple annual crops providing subsistence for indigenous groups who shaped the Amazon as early as 4,500 years ago.

Principles of Cattle Production

Abstract: This introductory level textbook covers the welfare and environmental implications of producing cattle as well as traditional subjects such as nutrition, reproduction and housing. Its broad, international coverage includes feedlot systems, transport, subsistence farming systems and the contribution of cattle production systems to land, air and water pollution. It is an invaluable resource for undergraduate students of animal science, veterinary medicine and agriculture, as well as diploma and certificate courses and industry personnel.

Farm production diversity and dietary quality: linkages and measurement issues

Abstract: Recent research has analyzed whether higher levels of farm production diversity contribute to improved diets in smallholder farm households. We add to this literature by using and comparing different indicators, thus helping to better understand some of the underlying linkages. The analysis builds on data from Indonesia, Kenya, and Uganda. On the consumption side, we used 7-day food recall data to calculate various dietary indicators, such as dietary diversity scores, consumed quantities of fruits and vegetables, calories and micronutrients, and measures of nutritional adequacy. On the production side, we used a simple farm species count in addition to looking at the number of different food groups produced. Regression models showed that production diversity measured through simple species count is positively associated with most dietary indicators. However, when measuring production diversity in terms of the number of food groups produced, the association turns insignificant in many cases. Further analysis revealed that diverse subsistence production often contributes less to dietary diversity than cash income generated through market sales. If farm diversification responds to market incentives and builds on comparative advantage, it can contribute to improved income and nutrition. Yet, increasing the number of food groups produced on the farm independent of market incentives may foster subsistence, reduce income, and thus rather worsen dietary quality. The results suggest that improving the functioning of agricultural markets and smallholder market access are key strategies to enhance nutrition.

Factors determining subsistence farmers' access to agricultural credit in flood-prone areas of Pakistan

Abstract: This paper examines the factors influencing farmers' access to agricultural credit in a flood disaster risk-prone area in Pakistan. Multistage sampling through a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 168 subsistence landholders in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The empirical results of the heteroscedasticity corrected and weighted least squares regression with robust standard errors revealed that education, farming experience, total landholding, monthly income, family size, and proportion of owned land were significant factors in farmers' access to credit. The findings of this study reveal that socio-economic factors play a key role in farmers' access to agricultural credit in flood-hit areas in Pakistan. Hence, there is a need for credit policy to address the issues of farmers living in risk-prone areas. Moreover, the existing credit policy could be amended to protect the interest of tenant farmers, who lack collateral security.

Agricultural origins on the Anatolian plateau

Abstract: This paper explores the explanations for, and consequences of, the early appearance of food production outside the Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia, where it originated in the 10th/9th millennia cal BC. We present evidence that cultivation appeared in Central Anatolia through adoption by indigenous foragers in the mid ninth millennium cal BC, but also demonstrate that uptake was not uniform, and that some communities chose to actively disregard cultivation. Adoption of cultivation was accompanied by experimentation with sheep/goat herding in a system of low-level food production that was integrated into foraging practices rather than used to replace them. Furthermore, rather than being a short-lived transitional state, low-level food production formed part of a subsistence strategy that lasted for several centuries, although its adoption had significant long-term social consequences for the adopting community at Boncuklu. Material continuities suggest that Boncuklu’s community was ancestral to that seen at the much larger settlement of Catalhoyuk East from 7100 cal BC, by which time a modest involvement with food production had been transformed into a major commitment to mixed farming, allowing the sustenance of a very large sedentary community. This evidence from Central Anatolia illustrates that polarized positions explaining the early spread of farming, opposing indigenous adoption to farmer colonization, are unsuited to understanding local sequences of subsistence and related social change. We go beyond identifying the mechanisms for the spread of farming by investigating the shorter- and longer-term implications of rejecting or adopting farming practices.

Undermining subsistence: Barren-ground caribou in a “tragedy of open access”

Abstract: Sustaining arctic/subarctic ecosystems and the livelihoods of northern Indigenous peoples is an immense challenge amid increasing resource development. The paper describes a “tragedy of open access” occurring in Canada’s north as governments open up new areas of sensitive barren-ground caribou habitat to mineral resource development. Once numbering in the millions, barren-ground caribou populations (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus/Rangifer tarandus granti) have declined over 70% in northern Canada over the last two decades in a cycle well understood by northern Indigenous peoples and scientists. However, as some herds reach critically low population levels, the impacts of human disturbance have become a major focus of debate in the north and elsewhere. A growing body of science and traditional knowledge research points to the adverse impacts of resource development; however, management efforts have been almost exclusively focused on controlling the subsistence harvest of northern Indigenous peoples. These efforts to control Indigenous harvesting parallel management practices during previous periods of caribou population decline (for example, 1950s) during which time governments also lacked evidence and appeared motivated by other values and interests in northern lands and resources. As mineral resource development advances in northern Canada and elsewhere, addressing this “science-policy gap” problem is critical to the sustainability of both caribou and people.

Spatiotemporal Variations in Rainfall and Temperature in Ghana Over the Twentieth Century, 1900–2014

Abstract: Climate‐dependent subsistence agriculture remains the main livelihood for most populations in Ghana. The spatiotemporal variations in rainfall and temperature have influence particularly in poorly‐developed agrarian regions with limited or no irrigation infrastructure. Therefore, a systematic understanding of climate patterns across space and time is important for mitigating against food insecurity and household poverty. Using over a century of high‐spatial resolution data, this study examines the spatiotemporal variations in rainfall and temperature across Ghana to identify climate‐stressed locations with potential effect on the production of major staple crops. The data for the analysis were drawn from the University of Delaware's Gridded Precipitation and Temperature Monthly Climatology version 4.01. The analysis was restricted to the main crop‐growing periods (March to December). The Mann‐Kendall nonparametric regression test was used to examine significant changes in rainfall variability and temperature at the district level. The results show that Ghana's climate has become progressively drier over the last century and prone to drought conditions. The most climate‐stressed districts are clustered within the three northern regions (Upper West, Upper East, and Northern) and the Western region. The most recent census in Ghana shows that the three northern regions also have the highest prevalence of subsistence agriculture. The findings from this study have implications for targeted interventions such as the Ghanaian government's recent policy initiative aimed at alleviating rural poverty by encouraging youth participation in agriculture along with efforts to intensifying crop production using modern farming techniques.

Chemical warfare in Colombia, evidentiary ecologies and senti-actuando practices of justice.

Abstract: Between 1994 and 2015, militarized aerial fumigation was a central component of US-Colombia antidrug policy. Crop duster planes sprayed a concentrated formula of Monsanto's herbicide, glyphosate, over illicit crops, and also forests, soils, pastures, livestock, watersheds, subsistence food and human bodies. Given that a national peace agreement was signed in 2016 between FARC-EP guerrillas and the state to end Colombia's over five decades of war, certain government officials are quick to proclaim aerial fumigation of glyphosate an issue of the past. Rural communities, however, file quejas (complaints or grievances) seeking compensation from the state for the ongoing effects of the destruction of their licit agro-forestry. At the interfaces of feminist science and technology studies and anthropology, this article examines how evidentiary claims are mobilized when war deeply politicizes and moralizes technoscientific knowledge production. By ethnographically tracking the grievances filed by small farmers, I reveal the extent to which evidence circulating in zones of war - tree seedlings, subsistence crops, GPS coordinates and bureaucratic documents - retains (or not) the imprints of violence and toxicity. Given the systematic rejection of compensation claims, farmers engage in everyday material practices that attempt to transform chemically degraded ecologies. These everyday actualizations of justice exist both alongside and outside contestation over the geopolitically backed violence of state law. Rather than simply contrasting everyday acts of justice with denunciatory claims made against the state, farmers' reparative practices produce an evidentiary ecology that holds the state accountable while also ' senti-actuando' (feel-acting) alternative forms of justice.

Cultural and economic negotiation : a new perspective on the Neolithic Transition of Southern Scandinavia.

Abstract: The diversity of archaeological evidence for the adoption of farming in Northern Europe has led to competing hypotheses about this critical shift in subsistence strategy. Through a review of the archaeological material alongside ethnographic evidence, we reconsider the Neolithic Transition in Southern Scandinavia, and argue for both continuity and change during the early Funnel Beaker Culture (c. 4000–3500 cal BC). A new model is proposed for understanding the processes of regional transition—one which allows for compromise between the dominant explanatory frameworks. We conclude that the first centuries of the Scandinavian Neolithic saw cultural and economic negotiation between the last foragers and the first farmers. This has major implications for the understanding of agricultural origins in Northern Europe.

Converting ‘trade-offs’ to ‘trade-ons’ for greatly enhanced food security in Africa: multiple environmental, economic and social benefits from ‘socially modified crops’

Abstract: To address the issues of food insecurity within the context of land degradation, extreme poverty and social deprivation, this review seeks first to understand the main constraints to food production on smallholder farms in Africa. It then proposes a highly-adaptable, yet generic, 3-step solution aimed at reversing the downward spiral which traps subsistence farmers in hunger and poverty. This has been found to be effective in greatly increasing the yields of staple food crops and reducing the ‘yield gap’. This solution includes the restoration of soil fertility and ecological functions, as well as the cultivation, domestication and commercialization of traditionally-important, highly nutritious, indigenous food products for income generation and business development. A participatory approach involving capacity building at the community-level, leads to the development of ‘socially modified crops’ which deliver multiple environmental, social and economic benefits, suggesting that increased agricultural production does not have to be detrimental to biodiversity, to agroecological function, and/or to climate change. These are outcomes unattainable by attempting to raise crop yields using conventional crop breeding or genetic modification. Likewise, the livelihoods of smallholder farmers can be released from the constraints creating spatial trade-offs between subsistence agriculture and (i) international policies and (ii) globalized trade.

Profitability and Determinants of Smallholder Commercial Vegetable Production

Abstract: If growers can step up from subsistence production to intensive commercial farming, there should be an impact on their welfare. Profitability of vegetable farming and factors that determine farmers...

The contribution of NTFP-gathering to rural people’s livelihoods around two timber concessions in Gabon

Abstract: NTFPs are often presented as a major contributor to livelihoods, as sources of food and cash, particularly for rural communities. There are few data available in Gabon to confirm this common assertion. This study was conducted on 127 households in 14 villages around two timber concessions in the south-eastern and south-western regions of Gabon for a period of one year. Conventional socio‐economic survey tools such as focus group discussions, census and semi-structured interviews with households were used for gathering the data. Results reveal that rural people depend on various sources of food and income for their livelihoods, but overall, the current contribution of NTFPs obtained from plant sources is insignificant compared to those from other activities. Odika (Irvingia gabonensis), ‘atanga sauvage’ (Dacryodes buettneri), fungus (Termitomyces spp.) and Gabon nut (Coula edulis) represent the main forest products commonly harvested by rural people. They are used primarily for subsistence, but the surplus is sold. The results of this study suggest that: (1) the main components of decree No. 137/PR/MEFP of February 4, 2009, that prohibits the logging of five multiple-use tree species over a period of 25 years in order to safeguard the sources of NTFPs, should be reviewed; and (2) state authorities and partners should promote projects aimed at increasing public awareness of the NTFP sector. These projects should include a census of NTFPs (for food, for medicine and for services), characterize their uses and identify the markets of target products as well as the development potential of NTFPs. Such projects could help Gabon and other Congo Basin countries to fix norms/standards for sustainable natural resource management and for enhancing the contribution of NTFPs to the national economy. This will be particularly relevant in the wake of dwindling oil revenues and the need to diversify and promote other revenue sources in the country.

The impact of e-wallet on informal farm entrepreneurship development in rural Nigeria

Abstract: Transforming agriculture from a largely subsistence enterprise to a profitable commercial venture is both a prerequisite and a driving force for accelerated development and sustainable growth in sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of this investigation is to assess the impact of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) e-wallet programme on informal farm entrepreneurship development in rural Nigeria. Informal sector farmers are those that are not legally registered at the national level though could be connected to a registered association. The research is motivated by the absence of literature focusing on the problem statement or objective of study. One thousand, one hundred and fifty-two rural farmers were sampled across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. Results from the use of a bivariate probit model indicate that the mobile phone-based technology via the e-wallet programme is a critical factor that has enhanced farm entrepreneurship in rural Nigeria. However, results also show that the impact of mobile phones (as a channel to accessing and using modern agricultural inputs) is contingent on how mobile networks are able to link farmers who live in rural areas and work mainly in farming. The results suggest that increasing mobile phone services in rural Nigeria enhances farmers’ knowledge, information and adoption of improved farm inputs and by extension, spurs rural informal sector economic activities in sub-Saharan Africa. Implications for practice, policy and research are discussed.

Quantifying Land Use in Past Societies from Cultural Practice and Archaeological Data

Abstract: Quantitative reconstructions of past land use facilitate comparisons between livelihoods in space and time However, comparison between different types of land use strategies is challenging as land

“Living off the Land”: How Subsistence Promotes Well-Being and Resilience among Indigenous Peoples of the Southeastern United States

Abstract: Indigenous peoples of the United States tend to experience the most severe social, behavioral, and physical health disparities of any ethnic minority. This critical ethnography uses the fra...

Marketing Practices of Rural Micro and Small Businesses in Ghana: The Role of Public Policy

Abstract: Using social identity theory and social capital theory as a backdrop to understand the context of subsistence marketplaces, this study investigates how rural micro and small businesses engage in ma...

From intermediate economies to agriculture: trends in wild food use, domestication and cultivation among early villages in southwest Asia

Abstract: This paper addresses the range of subsistence strategies in the protracted transition to agriculture in Southwest Asia. Discussed and defined here are the intermediate economies that can be characterized by a mixed-subsistence economy of wild plant exploitation, fruit cultivation and crop agriculture. Archaeobotanical data from sites located across the Fertile Crescent and dated 12000 to 5000 cal. BC are compared alongside a backdrop of data for domestication (i.e., non-shattering rachises and seed size increase) and crop diversity with regionally distinct profiles of crop agriculture and wild food exploitation. This research highlights sub-regional variations across Southwest Asia in the timing of subsistence change in the transition from hunting and gathering to diversified agricultural systems.

The global geography of human subsistence.

Abstract: How humans obtain food has dramatically reshaped ecosystems and altered both the trajectory of human history and the characteristics of human societies. Our species' subsistence varies widely, from predominantly foraging strategies, to plant-based agriculture and animal husbandry. The extent to which environmental, social and historical factors have driven such variation is currently unclear. Prior attempts to resolve long-standing debates on this topic have been hampered by an over-reliance on narrative arguments, small and geographically narrow samples, and by contradictory findings. Here we overcome these methodological limitations by applying multi-model inference tools developed in biogeography to a global dataset (818 societies). Although some have argued that unique conditions and events determine each society's particular subsistence strategy, we find strong support for a general global pattern in which a limited set of environmental, social and historical factors predicts an essential characteristic of all human groups: how we obtain our food.

The impact of e‐wallet on informal farm entrepreneurship development in rural Nigeria

Abstract: Transforming agriculture from a largely subsistence enterprise to a profitable commercial venture is both a prerequisite and a driving force for accelerated development and sustainable growth in sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of this investigation is to assess the impact of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) e-wallet programme on informal farm entrepreneurship development in rural Nigeria. Informal sector farmers are those that are not legally registered at the national level though could be connected to a registered association. The research is motivated by the absence of literature focusing on the problem statement or objective of study. One thousand, one hundred and fifty-two rural farmers were sampled across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. Results from the use of a bivariate probit model indicate that the mobile phone-based technology via the e-wallet programme is a critical factor that has enhanced farm entrepreneurship in rural Nigeria. However, results also show that the impact of mobile phones (as a channel to accessing and using modern agricultural inputs) is contingent on how mobile networks are able to link farmers who live in rural areas and work mainly in farming. The results suggest that increasing mobile phone services in rural Nigeria enhances farmers’ knowledge, information and adoption of improved farm inputs and by extension, spurs rural informal sector economic activities in sub-Saharan Africa. Implications for practice, policy and research are discussed.

The first discovery of Neolithic rice remains in eastern Taiwan: phytolith evidence from the Chaolaiqiao site

Abstract: Located in the key junction between mainland China and Island Southeast Asia, Taiwan is of great significance for our understanding of the southeastward dispersal of rice agriculture in the prehistoric period. Until now, quite limited archaeobotanical work has been done in this region. In eastern Taiwan, no archaeological evidence of rice agriculture has been obtained, probably owing to the poor preservation conditions for plant macroremains. Here, we report a new discovery of 4200-year-old domesticated rice remains at the Chaolaiqiao site, which for the first time in detail demonstrates the ancient practice of rice agriculture in this area. Based on a combination of factors that include a rice-based plant subsistence strategy, the mid-Holocene limits to available farmland and the fast-growing Taiwan Neolithic population from settlement pattern data, we infer that this contradiction in eastern Taiwan between land-dependent agriculture and limited suitable farmland encouraged a population movement out of Taiwan during the Middle Neolithic period.

Inuit adaptability to changing environmental conditions over an 11-year period in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories

Abstract: Current understanding of climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability among Inuit in the Arctic is relatively static, rooted in the community and time that case studies were conducted. This paper captures the dynamism of Inuit–climate relationships by applying a longitudinal approach to assessing vulnerability to climate change among Inuit in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada. Data were collected in 2005 and 2016 following a consistent methodology and analytical framework. Findings from the studies are analysed comparatively together with longitudinal datasets. The data reveal that many of the climatic changes recorded in 2005 that adversely affected hunting activities have been observed to be persisting or progressing, such as decreasing sea ice thickness and extent, and stronger and more consistent summer winds. Inuit are responding by altering travel routes and equipment, taking greater pre-trip precautions, and concentrating their efforts on more efficient and accessible hunts. Increasing living and subsistence costs and time-constraints, changes in the generation and transmission of environmental knowledge and land skills, and the concentration of country food sharing networks were identified as key constraints to adaptation. The findings indicate that the connections between subsistence activities and the wage economy are central to understanding how Inuit experience and respond to climate change.