Subsistence agriculture

About: Subsistence agriculture is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 8069 publications have been published within this topic receiving 156876 citations. The topic is also known as: subsistence farming.

From famine to food crisis. What history can teach us about local and global subsistence crises

Abstract: The range of famine prone regions in the world has been shrinking for centuries; it’s currently mainly limited to sub-Sahara Africa. Yet the impact of endemic hunger has not declined and the early 21st century seems to be faced with a new threat: global subsistence crises. In this essay I question the concepts of famine and food crisis. I will formulate some suggestions to understand these seemingly unrelated processes in a more integrated way. The article successively debates historical famine research, Europe’s ‘grand escape’ from hunger, past and contemporary ‘depeasantisation’, and the state of 21st century food systems. Only more integrated models of interpretation can supersede the dualistic histories of food and famine that have been dominating developmentalist stories for so long.

Indigenous knowledge of field insect pests and their management around lake Victoria basin in Uganda

Abstract: Food security and poverty alleviation has remained the primary agenda in the Eastern Africa regional food policies, and Uganda is no exception. Field pests that attack crops are among the greatest threat to increased food production. The subsistence farmers in the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) rarely use synthetic pesticides in the field due to the high cost and availability issues. Therefore, some rely on the use of botanical pesticides and other natural methods of pest control. However, this indigenous knowledge (IK) on botanicals has remained largely unexploited with limited regional research and resources committed and these are the premises upon which this ethnobotanical fieldpests management survey was launched and conducted. Most of the respondents were women (59%). The study findings revealed that the major field pests reported by farmers in declining order of importance, included banana weevil, bean fly, cereal stem borers, pod feeders, grain moth, rodents, moths, termites, birds, aphids and cutworms. The anti-pest plants documented included, Capsicum frutescens,Tagetes spp, Nicotiana tabacum, Cypressus spp., Tephrosia vogelii,Azadirachta indica, Musa spp, Moringa oleifera, Tithonia diversifolia, Lantana camara, Phytollacca dodecandra, Vernonia amygdalina, Aloe spp., Eucalyptusspp., Cannabis sativa, Cofea species and Carica papaya. The study has demonstrated that usage of botanical pesticides in field pest management is normal around Lake Victoria basin for the subsistence farmers since all the 117 respondents had ever tried or used botanical pesticides. We recommend more specialized studies in the usage of the plant-based pesticides to ensure safety and effectiveness that will enhance food security and environment protection. In addition, appropriate recommendations generated on the issues investigated will be advanced as leads for further research, extension and regional industrial endeavors in the LVB. Key words: Indigenous knowledge, field pests, pesticide plants, Uganda, Lake Victoria Basin

Peasant Entrepreneurs in China's "Second Economy": An Institutional Analysis

Abstract: The promotion of a market-oriented economic policy in China after 1978 set the stage for explosive growth in the number of peasant households shifting from subsistence agriculture to production for the marketplace. Though peasant households continued to produce quota grain for the state and used the free markets as an outlet for their sideline production, some households began to specialize in producing commodities primarily for the market. These entrepreneurial households seized on local and extralocal market opportunities and invested household savings or loans to open up a diverse range of petty commodity production. Peasant entrepreneurs drew primarily on labor power within the household, but as some businesses expanded, they began to hire kinsmen and fellow villagers. Rather than expend labor on less profitable grain production, many of these "specialized households" (zhuanye hu) chose to rent their land, negotiated share-cropping arrangements, or lent their land to kinsmen or neighbors who agreed to assume responsibility for the contracted grain quota. Some pooled their capital and labor power to form joint-stock companies or small private cooperatives in their villages and nearby marketing towns. Such private ventures have contributed significantly to the rapid pace of rural industrialization following market reforms. Many also specialized in commercial activity as merchants, distributors, peddlers, and shopkeepers. Their activities have sparked the beginnings of a commercial revolution in rural China. This article seeks to identify the institutional context that promotes or inhibits the rise of such peasant entrepreneurship in China after market reform. Despite the far-reaching institutional transformation of agriculture since 1978, there have been important areas of continuity with the past. Though the commune system has been formally abandoned, many of the bureaucratic features of the Maoist era continue to persist as politi-