Local food production in a subarctic Indigenous community: the use of willow (Salix spp.) windbreaks to increase the yield of intercropped potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) and bush beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)

Addressing food security with local and sustainable food production is a key requirement for supporting a globally sustainable agricultural system. Food insecurity is prevalent in Indigenous communities in Canada, especially in rural and remote regions of northern (subarctic and arctic) Canada. Further, climate change has disproportionately impacted subarctic and arctic regions worldwide ? surface air temperatures are now more favourable for agricultural activities ? offering the potential for local food production under ambient conditions. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate bush bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) intercrops grown over a two-year period in two sites (treed, windbreak-lined with native willow, Salix. spp.; and non-treed, or open) in the subarctic Indigenous community of Fort Albany First Nation, Ontario, Canada. Intercrops grown in the windbreak-lined site produced significantly greater (p?3, NH₄ and total N) showed that with some local amendments such as offal and bone meal, both the windbreak-lined and open sites can support continued agricultural use. This study informs Indigenous communities across subarctic regions of the world that climate change not only brings challenges, but also opportunities, such as potentially sustainable local food production.     

Migration and agrarian transformation in Indigenous Mexico

Migration is of particular concern to Indigenous peoples and communities. It physically separates those who migrate from the land upon which collective processes of labour and ritual practice are often based, it affects congruence between individual and collective rationality (as migrants make the choice to maintain or relinquish community membership), and it robs communities of the adult residents who can be essential for projects of collective action. Using the concept of comunalidad, created by Indigenous intellectuals in Oaxaca, Mexico to analyse the importance of alternative practices surrounding land, labour, governance, and ritual found in the region, we show that while Indigenous villages are profoundly affected by different forms of migration, migration itself is not necessarily a “death knell” for Indigenous peasants. We argue that communities struggle—often successfully—to find ways to evolve and reconfigure themselves economically and politically, incorporating migration into the fabric of their daily lives and organizational structures. To make this argument, we draw on ethnographic research conducted with Indigenous Oaxacan transnational communities, both in the United States and Mexico.     

Paying for ecological services in Ecuador: The political economy of structural inequality

Paying Indigenous communities to conserve land for carbon sequestration is a controversial way of tackling climate change. Critics argue that paying for ecological services (or ‘PES’) in the form of carbon offset programmes reduces land and social relations to an economic transaction that devalues Indigenous livelihoods and communities. At the same time, empirical studies have shown that Indigenous communities have accepted and even embraced the idea of being paid to conserve land for climate change mitigation. This paper explores this apparent contradiction by investigating the implementation of Programa Socio Bosque (PSB), a PES carbon sequestration programme in Ecuador. Drawing upon primary fieldwork in the highland province of Chimborazo, it makes the case that PES programmes need to be understood as form of state power that reconfigures and reinforces the ways in which Indigenous peoples engage with the state. Particularly important in this regard is the role of the state in reinforcing the agrarian conditions under which Indigenous communities use and interpret PES payments while at the same time reconfiguring new forms of land conservation. Empirically, the research reveals important complementarities between the goals of carbon sequestration PES programmes and Indigenous land-use practices. Methodologically, it highlights the importance of situating the study of PES programmes in a context of land struggles, community–state relations and agrarian change.     

西南民族地区旅游扶贫绩效评价研究——以重庆武陵山片区为调查对象

[目的]以重庆武陵山片区为调查对象,依据当地贫困人口抽样调查数据定量分析其旅游扶贫的经济、社会、环境绩效,以客观评价西南民族地区旅游扶贫开发取得的成效。[方法]采用调查分析法、统计分析法,利用长江师范学院"西南民族地区旅游扶贫"课题组在重庆武陵山片区所获得的抽样调查数据,对西南民族地区的旅游扶贫绩效进行定量评价。[结果]有超过85%的受访者表示旅游扶贫促进了当地农产品的销售,65%的受访者认为加快了脱贫致富和带来了新的思想观念,有超过90%的受访者认为基础设施得到改善,近80%的受访者表示环境卫生得到改善。但是,也有50%的受访者认为存在飞地效应,有超过70%的受访者认为造成生活成本上升,有超过80%的受访者认为拉大了贫富差距。[结论]旅游扶贫对增加西南民族地区贫困农户收入有显著效应,生活及卫生环境得以较大改善,但也存在生活成本上升、飞地效应及贫富差距拉大等负面效应。     

Economic development and Indigenous Australia: contestations over property,institutions and ideology*

Economic development for remote Indigenous communities cannot be understood unless the relative importance of customary activity, potentially enhanced by native title legal rights in resources, is recognised. The present article uses a three‐sector hybrid economy framework, rather than the usual two‐sector private (or market) and public (or state) model to more accurately depict the Indigenous economy. Examples are provided of the actual and potential significance of the customary sector of the hybrid economy. Focusing on the concepts of property and institutions, it is demonstrated that significant local, regional, and national benefits are generated by the Indigenous hybrid economy. A role is foreshadowed for resource economists and the New Institutional Economics in quantifying these benefits, including positive externalities, so that they might be more actively supported by the state.     

经济发展与收入分配对社会保障支出的影响——基于安徽省面板数据的门槛模型研究

经济的高质量发展需要社会保障体系的进一步完善,收入分配制度是影响经济发展水平与质量的重要因素,因此研究其三者之间关系对社会发展具有重要意义。文章基于2008—2018年安徽省面板数据,从收入分配的角度,采用非线性门槛模型研究经济发展对社会保障支出的影响机制。研究发现:经济发展水平与社会保障支出之间并不是简单的线性关系,收入分配程度使得经济发展水平对政府社会保障支出规模的作用路径呈现出非线性特征,即存在单门槛效应,且城乡收入不平等差距的缩小将有利于社会保障支出规模的提升。因此,政府应大力缩小收入差距,保障经济的高质量发展,扩大社会保障支出规模,完善社会保障制度。     

The Arctic as a food producing region: Consumer perceptions and market segments

The Canadian Arctic is a unique food producing region. Much of the food produced in the Canadian Arctic has a strong tie with Indigenous cultures and communities, is produced or harvested in a pristine environment, and features species not commonly consumed in other parts of Canada. Building upon previous work and using data from a survey of Canadian consumers featuring a discrete choice experiment positioned around a seafood purchasing decision (Arctic Char), we use a latent class model to examine heterogeneity in consumer responses to Arctic food. We identify three groups (classes) of consumers who differ in the relative importance placed on geographic origin, Indigenous origin, wild harvested (vs. farmed), and certification for sustainability and authenticity. A class membership model explores the sociodemographic and psychographic characteristics differentiating consumers across these three groups, including food neophobia and consumers’ prior perceptions of the Arctic as a food producing region with respect to quality expectations, environmental and social impacts, Indigenous cultural origins, health, moral and price concerns. Our analysis sheds light onto Indigenous cultural origin as a novel type of credence attribute. We discuss implications for the Arctic food sector and for regional certification initiatives.     

Exploring the adoption of precision agricultural technologies: A cross regional study of EU farmers

Precision agricultural technologies (PATs) allow more detailed management of in-field variability. Policy and advisory communities have championed PATs as a route to preserving natural capital whilst increasing productivity from agricultural land. A range of PATs are currently available for the agricultural producer but uptake varies by the type of technology and region. Whereas most studies on uptake have focused on US or Australia we empirically examine uptake of machine guidance (MG) and variable rate nitrogen technologies (VRNT) within European farming systems. Using primary information from 971 arable crop growers across five countries: Belgium, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and the UK, a multilevel random intercept regression estimated a) the differences between adoption and non-adoption and b) the differences between VRNT and MG adoption. We find, aside from size and income differences, which reflect the economic cost barrier to adoption, an attitudinal difference, in terms of optimism towards the technology’s economic return leading to more probability of uptake. Moreover innovative and information seeking behaviour also proved significant when upgrading from machine guidance to variable rate technologies. Subsidy and taxation were considered positive drivers of uptake within the community. However, results suggest that more indirect interventions, such as informational support to counteract industry bias, and demonstration to prove the viability of economic return may be effective at meeting land manager and policy expectations towards PATs.     

Livelihood roles of cattle and prospects for alternative land uses at the wildlife/livestock interface in South Africa

The emergence of wildlife ranching as an alternative land use option to agriculture, in Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs), has cast renewed interest on the role of cattle farming in rural livelihoods in areas close to wildlife parks. This study analysed the contribution of cattle to livelihoods and relationships between cattle and potential wildlife land uses in rural areas near Kruger National Park. Data were collected through household surveys, key informant interviews and community workshops. About 11% of households studied owned cattle, and cattle income constituted 29% of total household income. Benefits from cattle were also derived by households without cattle. About 71% of households had at least three sources of income, reflecting diversity of livelihoods. Wildlife related land uses were perceived by some households as threatening cattle production, whilst others viewed them as opportunities for alternative livelihoods. We conclude that cattle production has important livelihood roles, but is not sufficient as a driver of economic development in these areas. Incentives to encourage diversification of livelihoods at the wildlife/livestock interface, with possibilities for rural communities to explore wildlife based land uses should be put in place. In addition, land use policy and planning in such areas should focus on creating institutional mechanisms through which programmes integrating conservation and rural development goals can benefit rural communities.     

When collective action and tenure allocations collide: Outcomes from community forests in Quintana Roo,Mexico and Petén,Guatemala

Based on a comparative case study of four community forestry enterprises in Guatemala and Mexico, we examine the relationship between user group characteristics and state allocation of tenure bundles. Using Schlager and Ostrom's four levels of tenure bundles and collective action theory, we illustrate how tenure bundles and collective action costs interact to either promote or create disincentives for conservation and communal economic benefits. We suggest that in communities with high costs for collective action, a tenure bundle that includes management, withdrawal and exclusion rights yet omits alienation rights may be optimal for community forestry. We also demonstrate how unclear allocation of rights can result in local interpretations of land rights that do support collective action.     

Adaptive society in a changing environment: Insight into the social resilience of a rural region of Taiwan

Taiwan has abundant biological resources that provide a quality living environment; however, industrial land use may change that environment through urban sprawl and thus have impacts on rural society. This study examined the experience of a Taiwanese rural region that has been exposed to industrial wastewater discharge specifying the relationship of industrial development to rural society and its role in policy. We addressed the societal adaptation to environmental degradation from risk perception perspectives about land use. Drawing on social vulnerability concept, semi-structured interviews were conducted in five communities that use irrigation water exposed to wastewater discharge. The interviews were designed using the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) causal framework to examine residents’ risk perceptions highlighting both built-environmental sensitivity (degradation) and residents’ adaptability (capacity). In addition, remote sensing technology was used to identify the urban sprawl that led to industrial land use and exposed the rural region to water pollution risks. As a result, we present a social resilience cycle to introduce adaptive responses underlining social amplification of risk. Both local knowledge of the locals (the Hakka people) and their societal response to environmental change reflect the role of culture in influencing land use policy. It is underlined that individual and community responses shape the social experience of risk and are related to both the ethnicity of the locals and the land use policy of the government. We indicated further that a large-scale survey that would really quantity this exploratory study to support land use decision-making is expected.     

An empirical assessment of food security on First Nations in Canada

Using data generated from surveys conducted on First Nations throughout Canada, we use regression analysis to examine factors influencing food insecurity. To our knowledge, this is the first time a regression-based analysis has been conducted to examine food insecurity on First Nations in Canada. As expected, income is inversely related to the likelihood that one reports their household as experiencing food insecurity. In addition, individuals in extremely remote areas are more likely to report their household as experiencing food insecurity. Although traditional food consumption is prevalent, we do not find evidence that it is associated with reductions in the prevalence of self-reported household food insecurity. We find that gender and mental health are associated with perceived household food insecurity. Although this study is novel, for reasons and limitations detailed in the paper, it should be viewed as an initial effort to establish potential relationships that underscore one of the most important issues facing Canada: the high prevalence of food insecurity in First Nations communities.     

Trees,agroforestry and multifunctional agriculture in Cameroon

Modern agriculture has deprived local communities in the tropics of their natural life-support system—the forest resource and the traditional knowledge about indigenous species—and this has not been replaced by employment opportunities or social services. This project in the west and northwest regions of Cameroon takes an innovative three-step approach to improving the lives of local people by establishing rural resource centres (RRCs) to: (i) Rehabilitate degraded land and promote food security through the use of nitrogen-fixing trees to restore crop yields and then the diversification of the farming system with new crops; (ii) Create income generation opportunities from village tree nurseries and the domestication of indigenous fruits and nuts for local and regional trade. Income is rising annually and currently averages $150, $16,000 and $21,000 per RRC after 2, 5 and 10 years, respectively; (iii) Encourage the processing and marketing of food crops and tree products in order to create employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for community members. Income is currently $2400 per enterprise. The project's philosophy is one of helping smallholder farming communities to help themselves: first to become self-sufficient and economically independent, and then to be a hub for the dissemination of knowledge and skills to neighbouring communities.     

The role of access to finance in disaster recovery: Evidence from coastal communities in India

Natural disasters affect economic activities and welfare of small-scale producers in developing countries, but may also offer opportunities to reinvest in productive asset, economic capital, and new technologies for future economic prospects. This paper investigates the impacts of a livelihood recovery project that provided access to finance and rehabilitated communal infrastructures in the coastal communities of Tamil Nadu, India which were severely affected by the 2004 tsunami. We replicate the project's eligibility criteria to build the counterfactual to identify control households based on the validation of secondary data and administrative records. Using data from a carefully designed primary survey, we estimate the impacts of providing access to finance and rehabilitating communal infrastructures on economic and livelihood outcomes. Results indicate positive and significant impacts on income, asset and food security. These impacts are mainly driven by improved access to finance provided and participation in groups. Findings highlight the importance of ensuring access to finance for sustainable economic recovery among small-scale producers, particularly in the aftermath of natural disasters.     

Agricultural Commercialisation and Nutrition in Smallholder Farm Households

Commercialisation of smallholder agriculture is important for rural economic growth. While previous studies have analysed effects of commercialisation on productivity and income, implications for farm household nutrition have received much less attention. We evaluate the effects of commercialisation on household food security and dietary quality with a special focus on calorie and micronutrient consumption. We also examine transmission channels by looking at the role of income, gender, and possible substitution effects between the consumption of own-produced and purchased foods. The analysis uses survey data from farm households in Kenya and a control function approach. Generalised propensity scores are employed to estimate continuous treatment effects. Commercialisation significantly improves food security and dietary quality in terms of calorie, zinc and iron consumption. For vitamin A, effects are insignificant. Commercialisation contributes to higher incomes and increased nutrients from purchased foods, but it does not reduce the consumption of nutrients from own-produced foods. Enhancing market access is important not only for rural economic growth, but also for making smallholder agriculture more nutrition-sensitive.     

陇南经济林产业可持续发展战略研究

位于甘肃南部的陇南市,地处亚热带向暖温带过渡地区,自然条件优越,经济林资源丰富,主要经济林品种产业化发展已取得了长足进步,在农业结构调整、农村经济发展、农民增收致富和扶贫攻坚中发挥着重要作用。但是,甘肃陇南经济林产业发展,仍然存在着规模大、效益小、管理差、支撑弱等问题,为山区群众增收的基础性作用发挥还不显著。分析了甘肃陇南经济林产业的现状、存在问题和发展潜力,在此基础上提出了甘肃陇南经挤林产业可持续发展提质增效、转型跨越的技术措施。     

Land acquisition for and local livelihood implications of biofuel development in Zimbabwe

Proponents of “green and clean” fuel argue that land acquisitions for biofuel development could result in significant economic benefits, such as job creation, local development, fuel and energy security, and minimal negative impacts on the environment. With a dominant focus on these purported benefits, comparatively little attention has been given to the processes and impacts of land acquisitions on the local people whose livelihoods depend on land-based activities. Using a case study of bio-ethanol development in Chisumbanje, Zimbabwe, this paper assesses the processes and local livelihood implications of land acquisitions for biofuel development and considers who is likely to bear the costs. Our findings show that local communities felt they were not consulted in the land acquisition process and despite the promises of local livelihood enhancement from biofuel development, displaced households (farmers) perceived that the costs incurred from biofuel development were more than the benefits received.     

Impact of conservation-induced displacement on host community livelihoods: Complicating the DIDR narratives

Studies of development-induced displacement and resettlement (DIDR) and conservation-induced displacement argue that when displaced people are resettled at a new location, their ‘hosts’ suffer impoverishment risks due to loss of common property resources to resettlers. Compensation for host communities, though acknowledged increasingly in policy, is rare in practice. This paper unpackages ‘host community impacts’ by investigating intra-household variations in livelihood impacts in a central Indian host village in a case of conservation-induced displacement. The ability of host households to cope with risks and gain from new opportunities is distributed unevenly along lines of power encoded in caste, class and gender. However, we show that site-specific historical and ecological factors can create contingent and multi-directional livelihood outcomes. Moreover, the overall human development impact on host households varies depending on how old vulnerabilities like low cash income give way to new vulnerabilities related to stronger integration with the market and the developmental state.     

试分析社区参与旅游发展的类型和层次

指出社区参与旅游发展的有关概念;剖析社区内部政治、社区内部文化、社区内部经济、社区外部政治、社区内部文化、社区外部经济6个影响社区参与旅游发展的因素;讨论目前社区参与旅游发展的4种类型:未参与型、被动参与型、主动参与型、成熟参与型。     

Free in the mountains or home in the vineyard: Institutional changes in agriculture and negotiating between contract farm labour and valuable fungi collection in Tibet

This paper evaluates how Tibetan farming communities choose between two methods of livelihood production: working as labourers on vineyard land they have leased to a French winery or collecting valuable fungi. I argue new transnational land and labour management, as part of institutional rearrangements in land tenure, are leading to significant changes with mixed benefits for rural farming communities. These communities respond by seasonally seeking freedom from capitalist labour and returning to communal forms of income production based around community land tenure and common‐pool resources. Although villagers have become contracted labour, they choose to escape this new agricultural work in the mountains, collecting fungi together as a community. The common‐pool land on which fungi are collected is also managed for access in a specific way by and for the community. Contrary to agricultural labour for the winery, fungi collection creates a chance for people to interact once again more as a cohesive community as they once did in their fields by collecting a commodity from land controlled by the community. The disembedding of one section of the economy has thus in a way reinforced the embeddedness of social relations in another as a coping mechanism for the former.