Family agriculture for bottom-up rural development: a case study of the indigenous Mayan population in the Mexican Peninsula

Since pre-colonial times the indigenous communities of Mayan origin in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, widely practice home gardens on a sustainable basis as the principal form of family agriculture. This study analyzes the structural complexity, functional diversity and management strategy of these indigenous home gardens in order to attempt to propose recommendations for improved family farming. The Mayan home gardens are structured into three or more vertical layers of multiple plant species of herbs, shrubs and trees, and horizontally into well-defined zones for production of both domestic and wild animals. The home gardens provide multiple services apart from food and nutrition security. For sustainable bottom-up rural development, we recommend the continuation of multifunctional home gardens.

Rural Development & the Countryside.

Este libro cubre las necesidades básicas del programa de geografía del nivel AS/A2 de enseñanza secundaria. El libro se divide en cuatro partes: El papel de las zonas rurales ( Definiendo ruralidad, contrastando la geografía rural en países desarrollados, el estudio de tres casos: Australia, Gran Bretaña y los Andes), entornos cambiantes (cambios en la población, cambios en el mundo desarrollado, movimientos migratorios, el impacto del turismo en los servicios, cambios en el empleo), conflictos en el campo (las disputas por el agua en Tanzania), el futuro rural (el papel de la tecnología en el desarrollo de las zonas rurales, el uso del teléfono móvil en Sudáfrica).

Small towns as 'sub-poles' in English rural development: Investigating rural-urban linkages using sub-regional social accounting matrices

This paper uses spatial economic data from four small English towns to measure the strength of economic integration between town and hinterland and to estimate the magnitude of town-hinterland spill-over effects. Following estimation of local integration indicators and inter-locale flows, sub-regional social accounting matrices (SAMs) are developed to estimate the strength of local employment and output multipliers for various economic sectors. The potential value of a town as a 'sub-pole' in local economic development is shown to be dependent on structural differences in the local economy, such as the particular mix of firms within towns. Although the multipliers are generally small, indicating a low level of local linkages, some sectors, particularly financial services and banking, show consistently higher multipliers for both output and employment. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implications for food production, land use and rural development of the European Union's Single Farm Payment: Indications from a survey of farmers' intentions in Germany, Portugal and the UK

The 2003 reform of the European Union's (EU) Common Agricultural Policy introduced a decoupled income support for farmers called the Single Farm Payment (SFP). Concerns were raised about possible future land use and production changes and their impact on rural communities. Here, such concerns are considered against the workings of the SFP in three EU Member States. Various quantitative studies that have determined the likely impact of the SFP within the EU and the study countries are reviewed. We present the results of a farm survey conducted in the study countries in which farmers' responses to a decoupling scenario similar to the SFP were sought. We found that little short-term change was proposed in the three, rather different, study countries with only 30% of the farmers stating that they would alter their mix of farm activities. Furthermore, less than 30% of all respondents in each country would idle any land under decoupling. Of those who would adopt a new activity, the most popular choices were forestry, woodland and non-food crops. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A framework for ICT-based knowledge sharing in sustainable rural development : the case of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

Some 50% of the people in the world live in rural areas, often under harsh conditions and in poverty. The need for knowledge of how to improve living conditions is well documented. In response to this need, new knowledge of how to improve living conditions in rural areas and elsewhere is continuously being developed by researchers and practitioners around the world. People in rural areas, in particular, would certainly benefit from being able to share relevant knowledge with each other, as well as with stakeholders (e.g. researchers) and other organizations (e.g. NGOs). Central to knowledge management is the idea of knowledge sharing. This study is based on the assumption that knowledge management can support sustainable development in rural and remote regions. It aims to present a framework for knowledge management in sustainable rural development, and an inventory of existing frameworks for that. The study is interpretive, with interviews as the primary source for the inventory of stakeholders, knowledge categories and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure. For the inventory of frameworks, a literature study was carried out. The result is a categorization of the stakeholders who act as producers and beneficiaries of explicit and indigenous development knowledge. Stakeholders are local government, local population, academia, NGOs, civil society and donor agencies. Furthermore, the study presents a categorization of the development knowledge produced by the stakeholders together with specifications for the existing ICT infrastructure. Rural development categories found are research, funding, agriculture, ICT, gender, institutional development, local infrastructure development, and marketing & enterprise. Finally, a compiled framework is presented, and it is based on ten existing frameworks for rural development that were found in the literature study, and the empirical findings of the Gilgit-Baltistan case. Our proposed framework is divided in four levels where level one consists of the identified stakeholders, level two consists of rural development categories, level three of the knowledge management system and level four of sustainable rural development based on the levels below. In the proposed framework we claim that the sustainability of rural development can be achieved through a knowledge society in which knowledge of the rural development process is shared among all relevant stakeholders.

NGOs, enterprise and rural development

Non-Government Welfare Organisations (NGOs) in rural areas have traditionally relied upon the state for a large part of their revenue which in turn provides the state with the capacity to impose strict monitoring and evaluation. However the tightening of state funding has either forced NGOs to stretch their own resource to the limit or to become more enterprising and innovative in their desire to provide people with access to an ever increasing range of community-based services and opportunities for connection with their local communities. The term that is often used for these new approaches is ‘social enterprise’ that has been defined as a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners’ . It is most often seen as an interface between public and private sector, being part of neither but engaging closely with both through partnerships, stakeholding and joint ventures as well as through complex trading and contracting relationships.

Such broad definitions however do not give much guidance to how particular NGOs can shift to a social enterprise model and still remain within their chosen missions. It is the very processes of re-imagining and reforming their enterprise that is a vital element in moving to a successful social enterprise practice. Accordingly this project focuses on two NGOs in different parts of the world (Brophy Family and Youth Services in Warrnambool. Australia and Aberdeen Foyer in Aberdeen, Scotland) that have developed (and are developing) new ways of approaching their roles as service providers and early intervention agents for youth in their local areas. Since both organisations have faced (and are facing) issues associated with depleting state allocated resources they are attempting to break new ground in the ways in which they redevelop their work with youth. Both agencies are leading the way in developing a broader approach that draws together disparate element of a social enterprise model. The project analyses the processes used by these two agencies to develop as social enterprises and how likeminded agencies can use the model for capability enhancement.