Factors influencing a conversion to organic farming in Nepalese tea farms

Organic agriculture in developing countries has increased in past decades especially due to the high demand of organic products in developed countries. The rate of conversion to organic production in Nepal, however, is observed much slower than expected. This study investigates factors that determine the conversion to organic production using Nepalese tea producers as a case study. A survey of 181 farmers was conducted in the Ilam and Panchthar district of Nepal, among which 86 were organic farmers and 95 were conventional farmers. A discriminant analysis was used to identify socio-economic characteristics that distinguish conventional and organic farmers. Results from the estimated discriminant function suggest that farmers located in a distance from regional markets, older in age, better trained, affiliated with institutions and having larger farms are more likely to adopt organic production. Similarly, a factor analysis shows that environmental awareness, bright market prospects, observable economic benefit and health consciousness are the major factors influencing farmers’ decisions on the conversion to organic production. While planning programs for the development of the organic tea sector in Nepal, policy makers should consider the support of farmers’ institutions, provision of training to farmers and raise farmers’ awareness about the environmental, economic and health benefits of organic farming.

Effect of rural transportation system on agricultural productivity in Oyo State, Nigeria

Food farming in Oyo North, Nigeria is characterised by an increasing use of Intermediary Mode of Transportation (IMT) to ease inputs and outputs mobility and farm access. To assess the influence on food farmer’s productivity, a random sample of 230 respondents was selected and data collected on their socio-economic and farm specific characteristics. Descriptive statistics, Herfindhal Index and Technical Efficiency Approach were used to analyse the data. The results indicate that majority of food farmers were in their middle age with mean age of 50 years and most of them used one plot at a location between 5 and 10km to their village of residence. They acquired land by inheritance and practiced intensive crop diversification as risk management strategy. The transportation modes used in addition to walking include bicycle, motorcycle, and car with increasing trend in the use of motorcycle. The mean Technical Efficiency (TE) of food farmers was 0.82 with significant inefficiency effects. The inefficiency analysis indicates positive effect of distance, crop diversification and un-tarred type of road on farmer’s productivity, while poor level of education among farmers, use of bicycle; trekking and weekly working time negatively affect farmer’s efficiency. The negative effect of trekking and use of bicycle and the excess working time suggest the adoption of more IMT of motorized type to optimize farming time and increase farmer’s productivity.

Swamp buffalo keeping – an out-dated farming activity? A case study in smallholder farming systems in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, PR China

Expansion of rubber tree plantations and agricultural mechanization caused a decline of swamp buffalo numbers in the Naban River National Nature Reserve (NRNNR), Yunnan Province, China. We analysed current use of buffaloes for field work and the recent development of the regional buffalo population, based on interviews with 184 farmers in 2007/2008 and discussions with 62 buffalo keepers in 2009. Three types of NRNNR farms were distinguished, differing mainly in altitude, area under rubber, and involvement in livestock husbandry. While pig based farms (PB; n=37) have abandoned buffalo keeping, 11% of the rubber based farms (RB; n=71) and 100% of the livestock-corn based farms (LB; n=76) kept buffaloes in 2008. Herd size was 2.5 +/-1.80 (n=84) buffaloes in early 2008 and 2.2 +/-1.69 (n=62) in 2009. Field work on own land was the main reason for keeping buffaloes (87.3 %), but lending work buffaloes to neighbours (79.0%) was also important. Other purposes were transport of goods (16.1%), buffalo trade (11.3%) and meat consumption (6.4%). Buffalo care required 6.2 +/-3.00 working hours daily, while annual working time of a buffalo was 294 +/-216.6 hours. The area ploughed with buffaloes remained constant during the past 10 years despite an expansion of land cropped per farm. Although further replacement of buffaloes by tractors occurs rapidly, buffaloes still provide cheap work force and buffer risks on poor NRNNR farms. Appropriate advice is needed for improved breeding management to increase the efficiency of buffalo husbandry and provide better opportunities for buffalo meat sale in the region.

Characteristics, socioeconomic benefits and household livelihoods of beef buffalo and beef cattle farming in Northeast Thailand

Since the Thai economy experiences rapid growth, agricultural systems, i.e. crop-livestock systems, are changing rapidly. On account of these changes, buffalo and cattle production has to be re-examined in terms of performance characteristics and roles of livestock for farm households in order to initiate suitable development programmes. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the present characteristics of beef buffalo and beef cattle farms in Northeast Thailand. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, 121 randomly selected beef buffalo and beef cattle farms were interviewed in Nakhon Ratchasima province between October 2007 and May 2008. Both buffaloes and cattle were mostly integrated in mixed crop-livestock systems with medium to large farm sizes (7.9 ha), whereof less than half of the area was used for livestock. Family members were mainly responsible for the different activities of livestock farming and salaried labourers were only found on large-scale farms. The dominant roles of livestock were income generation to build up wealth or savings, the coverage of expected and unexpected expenses and earning of regular and additional income. Another important issue was the improvement of the social status, which increased with herd size. In order to improve farmers’ livelihoods and develop sustainable farming systems in Northeast Thailand the changing economic circumstances of cattle and especially buffalo production should receive more attention of researchers, governmental institutions and stakeholders.

Smallholder pig production systems along a periurban-rural gradient in the Western provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), pigs are raised almost exclusively by smallholders either in periurban areas of major cities such as Kinshasa or in rural villages. Unfortunately, little information is available regarding pig production in the Western part of the DRC, wherefore a survey was carried out to characterize and compare 319 pig production systems in their management and feeding strategies, along a periurban - rural gradient inWestern provinces of the DRC. Pig breeding was the main source of income (43%) and half of respondents were active in mixed pig and crop production, mainly vegetable garden. Depending on the location, smallholders owned on average 18 pigs, including four sows. Piglet mortality rate varied from 9.5 to 21.8% while average weaned age ranged between 2.2 and 2.8 months. The major causes of mortality reported by the farmers were African swine fever 98 %, swine erysipelas (60 %), erysipelas trypanosomiasis (31 %), swine worm infection (17 %), and diarrhoea (12 %). The majority of the pigs were reared in pens without free roaming and fed essentially with locally available by-products and forage plants whose nature varied according with the location of the farm. The pig production systems depended on the local environment; particularly in terms of workforces, herd structure and characteristics, production parameters, pig building materials, selling price and in feed resources. It can be concluded that an improvement of Congolese pig production systems should consider (1) a reduction of inbreeding, (2) an improvement in biosafety to reduce the incidence of African swine fever and the spread of other diseases, and (3) an improvement in feeding practices.

Assessing the users’ need for a spatial decision support system of smallholder farming in Kenya

Accurate data of the natural conditions and agricultural systems with a good spatial resolution are a key factor to tackle food insecurity in developing countries. A broad variety of approaches exists to achieve precise data and information about agriculture. One system, especially developed for smallholder agriculture in East Africa, is the Farm Management Handbook of Kenya. It was first published in 1982/83 and fully revised in 2012, now containing 7 volumes. The handbooks contain detailed information on climate, soils, suitable crops and soil care based on scientific research results of the last 30 years. The density of facts leads to time consuming extraction of all necessary information. In this study we analyse the user needs and necessary components of a system for decision support for smallholder farming in Kenya based on a geographical information system (GIS). Required data sources were identified, as well as essential functions of the system. We analysed the results of our survey conducted in 2012 and early 2013 among agricultural officers. The monitoring of user needs and the problem of non-adaptability of an agricultural information system on the level of extension officers in Kenya are the central objectives. The outcomes of the survey suggest the establishment of a decision support tool based on already available open source GIS components. The system should include functionalities to show general information for a specific location and should provide precise recommendations about suitable crops and management options to support agricultural guidance on farm level.

Evaluation of major feed resources in crop-livestock mixed farming systems, southern Ethiopia: Indigenous knowledge versus laboratory analysis results

Evaluation of major feed resources was conducted in four crop-livestock mixed farming systems of central southern Ethiopia, with 90 farmers, selected using multi-stage purposive and random sampling methods. Discussions were held with focused groups and key informants for vernacular name identification of feed, followed by feed sampling to analyse chemical composition (CP, ADF and NDF), in-vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), and correlate with indigenous technical knowledge (ITK). Native pastures, crop residues (CR) and multi-purpose trees (MPT) are the major feed resources, demonstrated great variations in seasonality, chemical composition and IVDMD. The average CP, NDF and IVDMD values for grasses were 83.8 (ranged: 62.9–190), 619 (ranged: 357–877) and 572 (ranged: 317–743) g kg^(−1) DM, respectively. Likewise, the average CP, NDF and IVDMD for CR were 58 (ranged: 20–90), 760 (ranged: 340–931) and 461 (ranged: 285–637)g kg^(−1) DM, respectively. Generally, the MPT and non-conventional feeds (NCF, Ensete ventricosum and Ipomoea batatas) possessed higher CP (ranged: 155–164 g kg^(−1) DM) and IVDMD values (611–657 g kg^(−1) DM) while lower NDF (331–387 g kg^(−1) DM) and ADF (321–344 g kg^(−1) DM) values. The MPT and NCF were ranked as the best nutritious feeds by ITK while crop residues were the least. This study indicates that there are remarkable variations within and among forage resources in terms of chemical composition. There were also complementarities between ITK and feed laboratory results, and thus the ITK need to be taken into consideration in evaluation of local feed resources.

De la désorganisation à l’organisation apprenante en milieu rural

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Von der „Chaosgruppe“ zur lernenden Organisation. Fallstudien zur Induzierung und Verbreitung von Innovation in ländlichen Kleinorganisationen im Buruli (Zentral-Uganda). Die oft fehlende Nachhaltigkeit landwirtschaftlicher Projekte in Afrika allgemein und in Buruli (Zentral-Uganda) insbesondere gab den Anstoß zu der Forschung, die der vorliegenden Dissertation zugrunde liegt. Ein häufiger Grund für das Scheitern von Projekten ist, dass die lokale Bevölkerung die landwirtschaftliche Innovation als Risiko für die Ernährungssicherheit der Familie betrachtet. Die vorliegende Arbeit ist daher ein Beitrag zur Suche nach einem Weg zur Nachhaltigkeit, der dieser Tatsache Rechnung trägt. Als Forschungsmethode wurden die Gruppendiskussion und die Beobachtung mit den beiden Varianten „teilnehmender Beobachter“ und „beobachtender Teilnehmer“ gemäß Lamnek(1995b) angewendet. Es stellte sich heraus, dass die ablehnende Haltung der Zielbevölkerung landwirtschaftlicher Innovation gegenüber durch finanzielle Anreize, Seminare oder die Überzeugungskunst von Mitarbeitern der Entwicklungsorganisationen kaum behoben werden kann, sondern nur durch den Einbezug der Menschen in einen von ihnen selbst gesteuerten Risikomanagementprozess. Die Prozessberatung von Schein (2000) und die nichtdirektive Beratung von Rogers (2010) haben sich im Rahmen unserer Untersuchung für die Motivierung der Bevölkerung für eine risikobewusste Entwicklungsinitiative von großem Nutzen erwiesen ebenso wie für die Beschreibung dieses Prozesses in der vorliegenden Studie. Die untersuchten Gruppen wurden durch diesen innovativen Ansatz der Entwicklungsberatung in die Lage versetzt, das Risiko von Innovation zu analysieren, zu bewerten und zu minimieren, ihre Zukunft selbst in die Hand zu nehmen und in einem sozialen, ökonomischen und physischen Umfeld zu gestalten sowie auf Veränderungen im Laufe der Umsetzung angemessen zu reagieren. Der Erwerb dieser Fähigkeit setzte eine Umwandlung einfacher Bauerngruppen ohne erkennbare Strukturen in strukturierte und organisierte Gruppen voraus, die einer lernenden Organisation im ländlichen Raum entsprechen. Diese Transformation bedarf als erstes eines Zugangs zur Information und einer zielorientierten Kommunikation. Die Umwandlung der Arbeitsgruppe zu einer lernenden Bauernorganisation förderte die Nachhaltigkeit des Gemüseanbauprojekts und das Risikomanagement und wurde so zu einem konkreten, von der Umwelt wahrgenommenen Beispiel für die Zweckmäßigkeit des oben beschriebenen Forschungsansatzes. Die Herausbildung einer lernenden Organisation ist dabei nicht Mittel zum Zweck, sondern ist selbst das zu erreichende Ziel. Die Beobachtung, Begleitung und Analyse dieses Umwandlungsprozesses erfordert einen multidisziplinären Ansatz. In diesem Fall flossen agrarwissenschaftliche, soziologische, linguistische und anthropologische Perspektiven in die partnerschaftlich ausgerichtete Forschung ein. Von der Entwicklungspolitik erfordert dieser Ansatz einen neuen Weg, der auf der Partnerschaft mit den Betroffenen und auf einer Entemotionalisierung des Entwicklungsvorhabens basiert und eine gegenseitige Wertschätzung zwischen den Akteuren voraussetzt. In diesem Prozess entwickelt sich im Laufe der Zeit die „lernende“ Bauernorganisation auch zu einer „lehrenden“ Organisation und wird dadurch eine Quelle der Inspiration für die Gesamtgesellschaft. Die Nachhaltigkeit von ländlichen Entwicklungsprojekten wird damit maßgeblich verbessert.

Optimising contributions of goat farming to household economic success and food security in three production systems in Ethiopia

The study aims to analyse factors affecting contributions of goat farming to household economic success and food security in three goat production systems of Ethiopia. A study was conducted in three districts of Ethiopia representing arid agro-pastoral (AAP), semi-arid agro-pastoral (SAAP) and highland mixed crop-livestock (HMCL) systems involving 180 goat keeping households. Gross margin (GM) and net benefit (NB1 and NB2) were used as indicators of economic success of goat keeping. NB1 includes in-kind benefits of goats (consumption and manure), while NB2 additionally constitutes intangible benefits (insurance and finance). Household dietary diversity score (HDDS) was used as a proxy indicator of food security. GM was significantly affected by an off-take rate and flock size interaction (P<0.001). The increment of GM due to increased off-take rate was more prominent for farmers with bigger flocks. Interaction between flock size and production system significantly (P<0.001) affected both NB1 and NB2. The increment of NB1 and NB2 by keeping larger flocks was higher in AAP system, due to higher in-kind and intangible benefits of goats in this system. Effect of goat flock size as a predictor of household dietary diversity was not significant (P>0.05). Nevertheless, a significant positive correlation (P<0.05) was observed between GM from goats and HDDS in AAP system, indicating the indirect role of goat production for food security. The study indicated that extent of utilising tangible and intangible benefits of goats varied among production systems and these differences should be given adequate attention in designing genetic improvement programs.

Changes of traditional farming systems and their effects on land degradation and socio-economic conditions in the Inle Lake region, Myanmar

At many locations in Myanmar, ongoing changes in land use have negative environmental impacts and threaten natural ecosystems at local, regional and national scales. In particular, the watershed area of Inle Lake in eastern Myanmar is strongly affected by the environmental effects of deforestation and soil erosion caused by agricultural intensification and expansion of agricultural land, which are exacerbated by the increasing population pressure and the growing number of tourists. This thesis, therefore, focuses on land use changes in traditional farming systems and their effects on socio-economic and biophysical factors to improve our understanding of sustainable natural resource management of this wetland ecosystem. The main objectives of this research were to: (1) assess the noticeable land transformations in space and time, (2) identify the typical farming systems as well as the divergent livelihood strategies, and finally, (3) estimate soil erosion risk in the different agro-ecological zones surrounding the Inle Lake watershed area. GIS and remote sensing techniques allowed to identify the dynamic land use and land cover changes (LUCC) during the past 40 years based on historical Corona images (1968) and Landsat images (1989, 2000 and 2009). In this study, 12 land cover classes were identified and a supervised classification was used for the Landsat datasets, whereas a visual interpretation approach was conducted for the Corona images. Within the past 40 years, the main landscape transformation processes were deforestation (- 49%), urbanization (+ 203%), agricultural expansion (+ 34%) with a notably increase of floating gardens (+ 390%), land abandonment (+ 167%), and marshlands losses in wetland area (- 83%) and water bodies (- 16%). The main driving forces of LUCC appeared to be high population growth, urbanization and settlements, a lack of sustainable land use and environmental management policies, wide-spread rural poverty, an open market economy and changes in market prices and access. To identify the diverse livelihood strategies in the Inle Lake watershed area and the diversity of income generating activities, household surveys were conducted (total: 301 households) using a stratified random sampling design in three different agro-ecological zones: floating gardens (FG), lowland cultivation (LL) and upland cultivation (UP). A cluster and discriminant analysis revealed that livelihood strategies and socio-economic situations of local communities differed significantly in the different zones. For all three zones, different livelihood strategies were identified which differed mainly in the amount of on-farm and off-farm income, and the level of income diversification. The gross margin for each household from agricultural production in the floating garden, lowland and upland cultivation was US$ 2108, 892 and 619 ha-1 respectively. Among the typical farming systems in these zones, tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) plantation in the floating gardens yielded the highest net benefits, but caused negative environmental impacts given the overuse of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and spatial analysis within GIS were applied to estimate soil erosion risk in the different agricultural zones and for the main cropping systems of the study region. The results revealed that the average soil losses in year 1989, 2000 and 2009 amounted to 20, 10 and 26 t ha-1, respectively and barren land along the steep slopes had the highest soil erosion risk with 85% of the total soil losses in the study area. Yearly fluctuations were mainly caused by changes in the amount of annual precipitation and the dynamics of LUCC such as deforestation and agriculture extension with inappropriate land use and unsustainable cropping systems. Among the typical cropping systems, upland rainfed rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation had the highest rate of soil erosion (20 t ha-1yr-1) followed by sebesten (Cordia dichotoma) and turmeric (Curcuma longa) plantation in the UP zone. This study indicated that the hotspot region of soil erosion risk were upland mountain areas, especially in the western part of the Inle lake. Soil conservation practices are thus urgently needed to control soil erosion and lake sedimentation and to conserve the wetland ecosystem. Most farmers have not yet implemented soil conservation measures to reduce soil erosion impacts such as land degradation, sedimentation and water pollution in Inle Lake, which is partly due to the low economic development and poverty in the region. Key challenges of agriculture in the hilly landscapes can be summarized as follows: fostering the sustainable land use of farming systems for the maintenance of ecosystem services and functions while improving the social and economic well-being of the population, integrated natural resources management policies and increasing the diversification of income opportunities to reduce pressure on forest and natural resources.

Determinants of technical efficiency of freshwater prawn farming in southwestern Bangladesh

This paper estimates a translog stochastic production function to examine the determinants of technical efficiency of freshwater prawn farming in Bangladesh. Primary data has been collected using random sampling from 90 farmers of three villages in southwestern Bangladesh. Prawn farming displayed much variability in technical efficiency ranging from 9.50 to 99.94% with mean technical efficiency of 65%, which suggested a substantial 35% of potential output can be recovered by removing inefficiency. For a land scarce country like Bangladesh this gain could help increase income and ensure better livelihood for the farmers. Based on the translog production function specification, farmers could be made scale efficient by providing more input to produce more output. The results suggest that farmers’ education and non-farm income significantly improve efficiency whilst farmers’ training, farm distance from the water canal and involvement in fish farm associations reduces efficiency. Hence, the study proposes strategies such as less involvement in farming-related associations and raising the effective training facilities of the farmers as beneficial adjustments for reducing inefficiency. Moreover, the key policy implication of the analysis is that investment in primary education would greatly improve technical efficiency.

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.

Proposta de Parc Rural a la Vall de Llémena

En aquest projecte es presenta una Proposta de Parc Rural a la Vall de Llémena, que ha de servir per definir el marc gestor del desenvolupament d’aquest espai rural. Es pretén dinamitzar el sector agroramader, forestal i de serveis per tal de millorar la situació socioeconòmica de la Vall de Llémena. Això ha d’ajudar a fixar la població al territori, i tenir en compte la integració de les accions a les potencialitats i requeriments del medi. Amb aquesta finalitat, s’han definit una sèrie de línies estratègiques on s’han proposat accions per la Producció Agrària Ecològica i la Integració del turisme a l’activitat agrària. Aquestes accions s’han basat en les opinions i els suggeriments dels llemenencs, detectats al procés de Participació Ciutadana

El estado de la educación rural en América Latina y en África.

Es necesario tomar en serio los procesos de educación rural en ambos continentes, para lo cual sería muy importante que, más allá de las políticas nacionales, pero sin prescindir de ellas, la Comunidad Internacional y sus grandes organizaciones, se empeñasen seriamente en afrontar los problemas de una planificación estratégica para la educación rural, sin excluir Asia y que movilizase todo tipo de voluntades y recursos. Para entender y afrontar la búsqueda de soluciones a la educación en el mundo fue trascendental el Forum Mundial sobre educación celebrado de Dakar. El objetivo de 155 países reunidos fue revisar los compromisos de la comunidad internacional para la reducción del analfabetismo y el acceso universal a una educación de calidad. La fecha fijada par ese gran cambio fue el año 2000. Aunque ya en la reunión de 1995 los gobiernos tuvieron que reconocer que no se caminaba a buen paso y la pospusieron para el 2015. sin embargo, los principales organismos reunidos en torno a la campaña mundial por la educación nos advierten de que si las cosas siguen así, llegaremos a esta última fecha igual ¿Qué ha pasado? ¿Es un problema de costes? No. Los gobiernos tienen o podrían tener dinero si corrigiesen algunos errores o tendencias perversas de los recursos suficientes para hacer frente al gasto que supone la educación básica universal. Esto es, el acceso a la escuela primaria de todos los menores entre seis y doce años y la alfabetización de los adultos. Pero también podría si se invierten las tendencias actuales, ir más allá y apostar por la formación generalizada, elemento esencial para el desarrollo duradero de la humanidad. Es una cuestión de voluntad política.

Lesbian migrants in the gentrified valley: other 'geographies' of rural gentrification

This paper explores the migration and cultural consumption practices of lesbian households within processes of rural change. Taking forward Phillips' (2004. Progress in Human Geography 28, 5-30) discussion of neglected geographies of rural gentrification, and building upon Halfacree's (2001. International Journal of Population Geography 7, 395-411) critique of dominant conceptualisations of rural in-migrants, the paper presents empirical findings from a qualitative study of lesbian households in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. This follows up an earlier study of rural gentrification (Smith and Phillips, 2001. Journal of Rural Studies 19, 457-469). Lesbian households are shown to be a significant group that socially and culturally (re)produce distinct constructions of rurality, and act as gentrifiers via their migration, residential, and consumption practices. Many parallels to the migration processes of non-lesbian gentrifiers in Hebden Bridge are revealed, with the alternative cultural structures of Hebden Bridge being a key factor. We therefore argue that lesbian households should not be 'othered' within discourses of rural gentrification. The discussion emphasises the value of focussing upon neglected socio-cultural groups in robust ways, in order to shed light on the wider lifestyles and experiences of diverse rural populations, and to deepen understandings of other geographies of rural gentrification. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.