Showing papers on "Subsistence agriculture published in 2019"

The “Political Ecology” of Amazonia

Abstract: This chapter presents a model of the socio-political system that can be used to analyze the processes pertinent to understanding the human use of natural resources. The framework, drawn from the perspective of political economy, shows the relationship between surplus production, social class, the function of the state in promoting private accumulation, and the role of ideology in public discourse and development planning. The chapter illustrates how economic and political processes determine the way natural resources have been exploited in frontier regions of northern Brazil. It argues that both the design of intervention projects and the strategies to implement them must be formulated on the basis of a thorough assessment of a society's overall political economy. In some societies, such as certain indigenous groups in Amazonia, the goal of production is subsistence. The chapter summarizes the indigenous groups, Caboclos, and peasants share, to a greater or lesser extent, a production system oriented primarily to simple reproduction.

Global Dimensions of Plant Virus Diseases: Current Status and Future Perspectives

Abstract: Viral diseases provide a major challenge to twenty-first century agriculture worldwide. Climate change and human population pressures are driving rapid alterations in agricultural practices and cro...

A Regional Comparison of Factors Affecting Global Sorghum Production: The Case of North America, Asia and Africa’s Sahel

Abstract: Understanding the dynamics of food production is critical to improving food security. This is particularly important in regions that rely on subsistence agriculture with little adaptive capacity to climate change. Sorghum plays an important role in food security in some of the poorest parts of the world. This article reviews the literature to identify and examine the major factors affecting sorghum production in three major production regions. Factors were not categorized ex ante but rather determined from the review. Ten major factors were identified as having notable impacts on sorghum production: climate change, population growth/economic development, non-food demand, agricultural inputs, demand for other crops, agricultural resources scarcity, biodiversity, cultural influence, price and armed conflict. This synthesis revealed that (1) multiple factors simultaneously affect sorghum production; (2) the effect of each factor is greatly influenced by the magnitude and certainty of one or more other factors; and, (3) factors differ in relevance and degree with regard to geography. Generally, improved agricultural inputs, population growth/economic development and climate change have substantial influence on sorghum production. However, local dynamics likely go beyond these broad trends and more exhaustive, locally-focused studies are needed for actionable planning purposes.

Marine Social Science for the Peopled Seas

Abstract: Coastal communities, indigenous peoples, and small-scale fishers rely on the ocean for livelihoods, for subsistence, for wellbeing and for cultural continuity. Thus, understanding the human dimensi...

Managed retreat as a strategy for climate change adaptation in small communities: public health implications

Abstract: In coming decades, sea level rise associated with climate change will make some communities uninhabitable. Managed retreat, or planned relocation, is a proactive response prior to catastrophic necessity. Managed retreat has disruptive health, sociocultural, and economic impacts on communities that relocate. Health impacts include mental health, social capital, food security, water supply, sanitation, infectious diseases, injury, and health care access. We searched peer-reviewed and gray literature for reports on small island or coastal communities at various stages of relocation primarily due to sea level rise. We reviewed these reports to identify public health impacts and barriers to relocation. We identified eight relevant small communities in the USA (Alaska, Louisiana, and Washington), Panama, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. Affected populations range from 60 to 2700 persons and are predominantly indigenous people who rely on subsistence fishing and agriculture. Few reports directly addressed public health issues. While some relocations were successful, barriers to relocation in other communities include place attachment, potential loss of livelihoods, and lack of funding, suitable land, community consensus, and governance procedures. Further research is needed on the health impacts of managed retreat and how to facilitate population resilience. Studies could include surveillance of health indicators before and after communities relocate due to sea level rise, drought, or other environmental hazards. Lessons learned may inform relocation of both small and large communities affected by climate change.

Assessment of food insecurity and its determinants in the rural households in Damot Gale Woreda, Wolaita zone, southern Ethiopia

Abstract: Food insecurity is directly related to poverty at global, regional, national and local levels. FAO’s most recent estimates indicate that globally, 842 million people were unable to meet their dietary energy requirements in 2011–2013. Thus, around one in eight people in the world is likely to have suffered from chronic hunger, not having enough food for an active and healthy life. Around 827 million hungry people which are vast majority live in developing countries where the prevalence of undernourishment is now estimated at 14.3% in 2011–2013. So, we were interested to assess food insecurity and its determinants in the rural households in Damot Gale Woreda, Wolaita zone, southern Ethiopia. Cross-sectional household survey was used to collect primary data from 155 randomly selected households; focus group discussion and key informant interview were conducted. The data analysis techniques involved both descriptive and bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. The results of the study revealed that the majority (71.6%) of rural households in the study area were food insecure. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) shows that HH cannot cover the required daily food from the production generated from their agriculture as well as other activities. Households with large family size, households who cannot read and write and old household heads are more likely to be food insecure than their counter parties. Similarly low land size, lack of livestock, not having confidence to overcome food insecurity of HH, borrowing money from informal rural money lenders and not using farm input by the HH are significantly associated with food insecurity. Finally, promoting income-generating activities, enhancing the micro-financing efficiency, initiating family planning, strengthening the inter-resettlement programs, enhancing saving habits, creating employment opportunities at local areas to deter unskilled labor migration on-farm diversification. The findings of the study revealed that 71.6% of the households are food insecure through the use of HFIAS measurement. These food insecure households could not cover the required daily food from the income generated from their major activity of subsistence agriculture and non-farm activities both in quality and quantity.

Heat stress and chickens: climate risk effects on rural poultry farming in low-income countries

Abstract: Compared to other types of livestock, poultry is widely owned by rural households in developing countries. Rural poultry production is not a primary agricultural activity per se, but rather serves ...

Livelihood strategies, capital assets, and food security in rural Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract: Households combine capital assets in a process involving human agency and resourcefulness to construct livelihood strategies and generate well-being outcomes. Here, we (1) characterized types of livelihood strategies; (2) determined how different capital assets are associated with different livelihood strategies; and (3) determined how livelihood strategies differed in food security outcomes. We conducted a survey in southwestern Ethiopia and used principal component and cluster analyses. Five types of livelihood strategies, which differed mainly in food and cash crops comprising the strategy, were identified. These were, in order of decreasing food security: ‘three food crops, coffee and khat’, n = 68; ‘three food crops and khat’, n = 59; ‘two food crops, coffee and khat’, n = 78; ‘two food crops and khat’, n = 88; and ‘one food crop, coffee and khat’, n = 44. The livelihood strategy ‘three food crops, coffee and khat’ was associated with a wide range of capital assets, particularly having larger aggregate farm field size and learning from other farmers. A generalized linear model showed that livelihood strategies were significantly associated with food security outcomes. Particularly, a high number of food crops in a strategy was linked with relatively high food security. In this context, diversified livelihood strategies primarily through having a mix of food crops for subsistence, in combination with cash crops for income, are important for food security. This suggests a need to rethink dominant policy narratives, which have a narrow focus on increasing productivity and commercialization as the primary pathway to food security.

Climate Change and Agriculture: Subsistence Farmers' Response to Extreme Heat

Abstract: This paper examines how subsistence farmers respond to extreme heat. Using micro-data from Peruvian households, we find that high temperatures reduce agricultural productivity, increase area planted, and change crop mix. These findings are consistent with farmers using input adjustments as a short-term mechanism to attenuate the effect of extreme heat on output. This response seems to complement other coping strategies, such as selling livestock, but exacerbates the drop in yields, a standard measure of agricultural productivity. Using our estimates, we show that accounting for land adjustments is important to quantify damages associated with climate change.

Regional diversity in subsistence among early farmers in Southeast Europe revealed by archaeological organic residues.

Abstract: The spread of early farming across Europe from its origins in Southwest Asia was a culturally transformative process which took place over millennia. Within regions, the pace of the transition was probably related to the particular climatic and environmental conditions encountered, as well as the nature of localized hunter-gatherer and farmer interactions. The establishment of farming in the interior of the Balkans represents the first movement of Southwest Asian livestock beyond their natural climatic range, and widespread evidence now exists for early pottery being used extensively for dairying. However, pottery lipid residues from sites in the Iron Gates region of the Danube in the northern Balkans show that here, Neolithic pottery was being used predominantly for processing aquatic resources. This stands out not only within the surrounding region but also contrasts markedly with Neolithic pottery use across wider Europe. These findings provide evidence for the strategic diversity within the wider cultural and economic practices during the Neolithic, with this exceptional environmental and cultural setting offering alternative opportunities despite the dominance of farming in the wider region.

Beyond ‘Hobby Farming’: towards a typology of non-commercial farming

Abstract: In this paper we develop a typology of ‘non-commercial’ approaches to farming, based on a survey of a representative sample of farmers in Scotland, United Kingdom. In total, 395 (16.6% of the sample) farmers indicated that they do not seek to make a profit on their farms. We estimate that these non-commercial approaches to farming are utilised on at least 13% of agricultural land in Scotland. As such, non-commercial farming (NCF) is not a marginal practice, nor are NCF limited to small-scale ‘hobby’ farms: NCF exist across the scale of agricultural holding sizes and are operated by a wide range of socio-demographic cohorts. We identify 6 types of NCF: agricultural residences, specialist smallholdings, horsiculture holdings, mixed smallholdings, amenity mixed farms, and large farms or estates. These types were differentiated primarily by the scale of farm size, presence of diversification activities and types of animal present. The analysis demonstrates a number of emergent patterns of land management: de facto land abandonment, transition towards ‘horsiculture’, and management differences between retiring and new entrant NCF. We argue that the types identified reflect a number of intersecting issues in contemporary agrarian transitions, particularly the aging farmer population; generational renewal; and gendered implications of agricultural restructuring.

‘We know our Terrain’: indigenous knowledge preferred to scientific systems of weather forecasting in the Delta State of Nigeria

Abstract: It is acknowledged that subsistence farmers in developing countries rely on indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) to determine the appropriate time, the types and quantity of food to produce in a particular farming season Due to the unprecedented rate in which climate variability is occurring globally, there are concerns that IKS will become unreliable to predict future weather events accurately, which will compromise the ability for farmers to secure their livelihoods Nonetheless, some scholars are optimistic that if farmers rely on seasonal climate forecast (SCF), it will facilitate the adoption of planned and more efficient adaptation strategies, thereby ensuring that they continue effectively in food production While most countries in sub-Saharan Africa have been investing in meteorology, farmers still rely heavily on IKS Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the Delta State of Nigeria, this paper discusses the factors that contribute towards farmer’s willingness to adhere to IKS The results suggest tha

Current status, challenges and prospects for dairy goat production in the Americas.

Abstract: Dairy goat production continues to be a socially, economically and culturally important part of the livestock industry in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean islands. Goat milk, cheese and other dairy products offer consumers food products with nutritional, health and environmental benefits. In North America, Mexico produces the greatest volume of goat milk, but most is for family or local consumption that is typical of a mixed farming system adopted by subsistence farmers in dry areas. The United States is not yet a large global goat milk producer, but the sector has expanded rapidly, with dairy goat numbers doubling between 1997 and 2012. The number of dairy goats has also increased dramatically in Canada. Commercial farms are increasingly important, driven by rising demand for good quality and locally sourced goat cheese. In South America, Brazil has the most developed dairy goat industry that includes government assistance to small-scale producers and low-income households. As of 2017, FAO identified Haiti, Peru, Jamaica, and Bolivia as having important goat milk production in the Western Hemisphere. For subsistence goat producers in the Americas on marginal land without prior history of chemical usage, organic dairy goat production can be a viable alternative for income generation, with sufficient transportation, sanitation and marketing initiatives. Production efficiency, greenhouse gas emission, waste disposal, and animal welfare are important challenges for dairy goat producers in the Americas.

Leadership and Organizational Culture in the Sustainability of Subsistence Small Businesses: An Intellectual Capital Based View

Abstract: The concept of leadership is complex and has been studied from multiple approaches, especially from the psychological field and from the field of management. Small businesses created as way of subsistence for the entrepreneur and their family present a limited leadership. The cultural traditions of the forestry industry are based on the culture and indigenous know-how of the territory, especially affecting small timber businesses, the small businesses working in timber activities. This paper analyzed the interrelation between culture and leadership in the process of generating performance from sustainable competitive advantages using partial least squares (PLS) techniques. The results show that culture and leaderships are sources of competitive advantage in subsistence small businesses, but culture does not generate competitiveness directly; an organizational culture needs to act through entrepreneurial leadership.

Stepping up from subsistence to commercial intensive farming to enhance welfare of farmer households in Indonesia

Abstract: This article assesses the welfare impact of intensive chilli farming and determines the factors motivating farmers to engage in commercial farming. This study uses a structural equation model that measures the direct and indirect effects of explanatory variables on intensive chilli production and welfare. This study uses data of field surveys of randomly selected 220 farmers in three regions of Java. The results show that stepping up to intensive and profit‐oriented farming improved farmers' welfare. Internal and external factors, directly and indirectly, affected farmers' decision to devote more resources to commercial chilli farming. Farmers' knowledge, as well as access to credit, technology adoption, marketplace, and traders, played significant roles in improving rural welfare. The government needs to reform marketing system of horticultural products and establish market infrastructures to accommodate oversupply during peak season. Easy and flexible credit should be available and accessible to farmers, with technology applicable to such agriculture.

Stepping up to market participation of smallholder agriculture in rural areas of Indonesia

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to analyse factors that determine farmers’ intention to commercialise vegetable-based agribusiness ventures in rural areas and assess the effect of commercialisation on farmers’ income.,The study used a regression approach. Market participation and farmers’ income were hypothesised to be dependent on other external factors. This study employed data compiled from a quantitative survey of 357 farm households located in four major vegetable producing regions of rural East Java and Bali, Indonesia.,Results indicate that household attributes, business environment, supporting facilities and farm characteristics determined farmers to commercialise vegetable farming. Access to credit, seed technology and farm site played high contribution to the market participation. Ultimately, commercial vegetable farming provides an economic advantage regarding increased income. Land fragmentation and status of landholding were identified to influence the net revenue of vegetable farming.,This study has a limitation concerning the number of samples and the availability of data and information. The number of samples is 357 which is about 4 per cent of the total population.,Establishment of vegetable agribusiness terminals with all market infrastructures, adequate access to market information, credit and human capital investment through training and extension services are also required, will boost market participation. Re-structuring land ownership might be the best step to augment farmers’ income, through consolidation of fragmented fertile lands devoted to intensive vegetable farming.,This study was purposely conducted in rural areas where there were subsistence farmers, as this is to improve farmers’ income by commercialising vegetable crops. A novel feature of this finding is the role of access to credit in the commercialisation of vegetable farming and the impact of landholding status on the profitability of intensive farming of high-valued vegetables.

Implications of climate change for semi-arid dualistic agriculture: a case study in Central Chile

Abstract: The nexus between climate change, agriculture, and poverty has become a major topic of concern, especially for dry regions, which represent a large share of the world’s population and ecosystems vulnerable to climate change. In spite of this, to date, few studies have examined the impacts of climate change on agriculture and the adaptation strategies of vulnerable farmers from emerging semi-arid regions with dualist agriculture, in which subsistence farms coexist with commercial farms. This study aims to assess the micro-level impact of climate change and the farm household adaptation strategies in a semi-arid region in Central Chile. To this end, we develop a modelling framework that allows for (1) the assessment of farm-household responses to both climate change effects and adaptation policy scenarios and (2) the identification of local capacities and adaptation strategies. Aggregated results indicate that climate change has a substantial economic impact on regional agricultural income, while the micro-level analysis shows that small-scale farm households are the most vulnerable group. We observe that household characteristics determine to a large extent the adaptation capacity, while an unexpected result indicates that off-farm labour emerges as a powerful option for adapting to climate change. As such, our approach is well suited for ex ante micro-level adaptation analysis and can thereby provide useful insights to guide smart climate policy-making.

Why Rice Farmers Don’t Sail: Coastal Subsistence Traditions and Maritime Trends in Early China

Abstract: The Lower Yangtze River Valley is a key region for the early development of rice farming and the emergence of wet rice paddy field systems. Subsistence evidence from Neolithic sites in this area highlights the importance of freshwater wetlands for both plant and animal food resources. Early Neolithic rice cultivators looked inland, especially to wetlands and nearby woodlands, for their main protein sources. Links to the sea among these Neolithic populations are notably scarce. Due to the high yields of wet rice, compared with other staple crops as well as dryland rice, the wetland rice focused subsistence strategy of the Lower Yangtze would have supported high, and increasing, local population densities. Paddy agriculture demands labor input and water management on a large scale, which would have stimulated and reinforced trends towards more complex societies, such as that represented by Liangzhu in the lower Yangtze region. Population growth could have been largely absorbed locally, suggesting that population packing, not migration, was the dominant trend. Other case studies of agricultural dispersal, for the Korean Peninsula and Japan further illustrate the lack of correlation between the spread of rice agriculture and wet rice cultivation. Although wet rice cultivation was a pull factor that drew local populations towards increased density and increased social complexity, it did not apparently push groups to migrate outwards. Instead, the transition from wetland to rain fed rice cultivation systems and/or the integration of rice with rain fed millet crops are much more likely to have driven the demographic dynamics that underpin early farmer migrations and crop dispersal.

Subsistence protection and mitigation ambition: Necessities, economic and climatic:

Abstract: The distinction between subsistence emissions and luxury emissions was originally devised in 1992 to guard people so poor as to be able to afford only fossil fuels from being priced out of energy b...

Rural Subsistence Maize Farming in South Africa: Risk Assessment and Intervention models for Reduction of Exposure to Fumonisin Mycotoxins.

Abstract: Maize is a staple crop in rural subsistence regions of southern Africa, is mainly produced for direct household consumption and is often contaminated with high levels of mycotoxins. Chronic exposure to mycotoxins is a risk factor for human diseases as it is implicated in the development of cancer, neural tube defects as well as stunting in children. Although authorities may set maximum levels, these regulations are not effective in subsistence farming communities. As maize is consumed in large quantities, exposure to mycotoxins will surpass safe levels even where the contamination levels are below the regulated maximum levels. It is clear that the lowering of exposure in these communities requires an integrated approach. Detailed understanding of agricultural practices, mycotoxin occurrence, climate change/weather patterns, human exposure and risk are warranted to guide adequate intervention programmes. Risk communication and creating awareness in affected communities are also critical. A range of biologically based products for control of mycotoxigenic fungi and mycotoxins in maize have been developed and commercialised. Application of these methods is limited due to a lack of infrastructure and resources. Other challenges regarding integration and sustainability of technological and community-based mycotoxin reduction strategies include (i) food security, and (ii) the traditional use of mouldy maize.