Examining rural income and employment in Bangladesh: A case of structural changes in the rural nonfarm sector in a developing country

This study uncovers some important stylised facts about the structural changes in the rural nonfarm (RNF) economy in Bangladesh for the period 2000–2016 and identifies some broad determinants. Our work uses household-level, secondary sources such as Household Income and Expenditure Survey, Labour Force Survey and Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey. We find that the positive relationship between landownership and rural income has become weaker in recent years, indicating the increasing role of nonland inputs in generating rural income. The share of RNF income in total rural income has increased substantially over the years. The increase in nonfarm income is largely driven by the nonfarm wage income of the richer households, indicating adverse distributional consequences. There are also indications for specialisation in nonfarm activities—the share of income from the ‘mixed’ sources of farm and nonfarm has decreased, and the ‘only nonfarm’ source has increased. Households tend to move away from agriculture and specialise in RNF occupations as the education level increases. Our results offer important insights into rural development strategies and contribute to the broader questions of the development discourse on the structural changes in developing countries.     

“十四五”时期中国农村发展若干重大问题

"十四五"时期是中国经济社会发展的重要转折时期,其规划制定必须处理好继承和创新的关系,实现继承性与创新性相统一。新中国70年的持续发展、40多年的农村改革经验以及"十三五"规划的有序推进,为"十四五"时期中国农村发展奠定了坚实的基础。随着2020年全面建成小康社会和脱贫攻坚目标的实现,中国将进入高水平全面建成小康社会进而向富裕社会迈进的"后小康"时代,国家"三农"工作的重点将逐步由脱贫攻坚转移到全面实施乡村振兴战略上来。在"十四五"时期,立足"两个阶段"发展目标,进一步巩固提高农村全面小康质量、为农业农村基本现代化开好局将成为核心主题。围绕这一核心主题,中国农村发展需要着力解决好五个重大问题,即建设高水平的农村全面小康、夯实农业农村基本现代化的基础、实现由脱贫攻坚到乡村振兴的转型、破解粮食安全和农民增收难题以及推动农村改革由试点走向全面推开。     

Is it Possible to Utilise the Agricultural Potential of Ukraine under the Current Agrarian System?

The government of Ukraine aims to transform the country into an ‘agricultural superpower at the international level’ with the hope that the sector will gain high foreign currency earnings and become ‘the engine of national economic development’. The large agribusiness corporations have willingly responded to these calls. However, placing hope solely in the corporate sector is inadequate as the key role of agriculture to create business diversity and achieve rural social and environmental objectives will remain unfulfilled. Many other national economies have experienced ‘the offensive’ of capital on agriculture during the twentieth century, with associated negative consequences, thus encouraging them to adopt more balanced agrarian policies which benefit the whole rural population. Utilisation of Ukrainian agricultural potential as an economic growth engine requires a fundamental change in the interpretation of its purpose, which is currently focused on profit‐making export‐oriented commercial activity. The multifunctional nature of the sector needs to be emphasised, the purpose of which is not only the production of agricultural and food products, but also the creation of public benefits, such as the development opportunities and means for existence for 14 million Ukrainian rural inhabitants, maintenance of ecological balance, regeneration of soil fertility and preservation of rural landscapes.     

Farm size,productivity and returns to scale in agriculture revisited: a case study of wine producers in South Africa

The inverse relationship between farm size and productivity has almost become a ‘stylised fact’ in the economic development literature. Most of the studies contributing to this preception have been Hawed by methodological shortcomings and the request is that these studies be treated with caution. Using recent farm survey data from the wine producing areas of the Western Cape of South Africa, this study attempts to overcome some of the methodological problems, distinguishing between partial and total productivity measures. Using data envelopment analysis, most of the wine grape producers were found to operate under constant returns to scale. Co-operative membership seemed to overcome the economies of scale associated with processing and marketing. The inverse relationship between farm size and both land productivity and total factor productivity is weak, not consistently negative and differs between regions. Thus, caution must be used when advocating rural development policies based on the inevitability of an inverse relationship existing in all sectors and production regions of agriculture.     

Safe food,green food,good food: Chinese Community Supported Agriculture and the rising middle class

The growth of China's middle class is driving an expansion of interest in ‘green’ and sustainable food, food that is perceived to be healthy, safe and environmentally friendly. Self-consciously ‘sustainable’ agriculture is a new phenomenon in China, but it has emerged from, and builds upon, an agrarian history that is markedly different from that of the West. In this paper, we address the relationship between the Chinese middle class, an overwhelmingly urban group, and Chinese sustainable agriculture, a largely urban-oriented enterprise, from the perspective of our work in establishing and operating Beijing's first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm. We discuss the farm's environmental and institutional sustainability, situating its development within the larger context of contemporary Chinese agriculture, and we examine the potential for future success with CSA models in China based on evidence from this case.     

Agricultural sustainability of fadama farming systems in northern Nigeria: the case of Karshi and Baddeggi

Nigeria is endowed with underground and surface water reserves, rich pastures and favourable agroecological conditions in the country's low-lying plains with alluvial deposits, popularly referred to as fadama lands. The 3,000,000ha of fertile soils with residual moisture offer attractive opportunities for the arable farmers to grow both season and off-season high-value crops. The potential and importance of fadama agriculture for food production and economic development is crucial, given rising food prices, climatic changes, environmental risks associated with ‘modern’ agriculture, modelled farming systems and population growth. Fadama areas are therefore of critical importance to the survival and economic development of millions of rural dwellers. This research surveys and analyses the sustainability of fadama farming systems in semi-arid northern Nigeria. Findings reveal a delicate interaction and negotiation across the formal and informal boundaries where traditional agricultural practices, based on an understanding of the particular physical reality and exploitation of natural synergies, are combined with inputs typical of conventional agriculture. African agriculture thus stands poised at a crossroads: whether to abandon tradition in favour of entirely ‘modern’ methods and export markets as often advocated in certain circles or to depend on time-tested indigenous knowledge systems and grassroots-defined development vision which combines popular livelihoods with respect for nature's systems.     

Identifying beliefs underlying successors’ intention to take over the farm

The youth out-migration of rural areas, the ageing of farmer population and the lack of a successor within the farm family imply some drawbacks for rural development and for a more sustainable agriculture. This study used the reasoned action approach (RAA) to identify the beliefs underlying Brazilian successors’ intention to take over the farm. The RAA hypothesizes that successors’ intention to take over the farm is determined by three constructs: attitude, perceived norms and perceived behavioral control. These three constructs are derived from behavioral, normative and control beliefs. Results showed that the behavioral beliefs ‘Satisfaction for taking care of family farm assets’ and ‘Ease for managing the farm’ influence successors’ evaluation (attitude) of taking over the farm. The normative beliefs ‘Father’ and ‘Mother’ influence successors’ perceptions about the social pressure (perceived norms) to take over the farm. The control beliefs ‘Ease to buy more land’ and ‘Professional recognition’ influence successors’ perceptions about their own capability (perceived behavioral control) to take over the farm. The identification of these beliefs revealed important implications for designing interventions to encourage successors to take over the farm.     

"三化"有机结合加快建设福建农村小康社会进程

福建农村小康社会建设面临着农业产业化与工业化、工业化与城镇化、农业产业化与城镇化的不协调问题。农业产业化、工业化、城镇化在小康社会建设进程中是一个有机整体,三者关系紧密,相互依存,相互制约。"三化"有机结合利于推进农业现代化,提高农民收入、改善农村面貌。最后提出创建"三化"有机结合的发展平台、编制农村小康社会建设规划等对策。     

Russian to modern world history: Teodor Shanin and peasant studies

This paper is a retrospective of Teodor Shanin's work, mostly in the 1970s and 1980s, the principal period of his publications in English. It may also serve as a guide to tracing Shanin's main themes and issues, which included establishing a ‘generic’ peasant studies (‘peasantology’) and how he aimed to do so; his explorations of the development of capitalism and its impact on peasantries in Russia from the late 19th century to the contemporary Third World; similarly, his ideas of the promotion of ‘modernization’ of peasant agriculture by states; his relationship to Marxism in the historic Russian context and beyond; his views of peasant ‘classness’ and politics; and his vision of an alternative path of agricultural development based in peasant farming, which he drew largely from Chayanov.     

中国农业农村发展七十年:成就、经验与展望——中国农业经济学会第十次会员代表大会暨2019年学术研讨会综述

2019 is the 70 th anniversary of the founding of the people’s Republic of China and the key year for implementing the rural vitalization strategy.Summarizing the great achievements made by agriculture and rural areas in the past 70 years will have an important theoretical value for promoting the modernization of agriculture and rural areas and the strategy of rural revitalization.Under such circumstances,the 10 th member congress and 2019 academic seminar of CAAE was successfully held in Beijing.The key to promote rural revitalization lies in deepening rural reform,focus on the property right system and market-oriented allocation of factors,and establish a system and mechanism of free circulation and equal exchange between urban and rural areas.In order to promote the organic connection between small-scale peasant and the modern agriculture,it is necessary to speed up the development of agriculture social service industry.Finally,it is suggested to adhere to the two-wheel drive of rural revitalizationand new urbanization,promote the effective coverage of rural public services,and improve the rural governance mode of combining autonomy,rules of law and virtue.     

不同地貌类型农户农业投入质量特征——基于安徽省农户的实证调查

农户作为农业生产投入的微观主体,其农业投入行为对农业和农村经济发展影响重大。以安徽省平原地区和丘陵山区23个县(市、区)的353个农户抽样调查数据,构建农户投入质量模型,分析不同地貌类型的农户农业投入质量。结果表明:①平原地区农户土地投入质量、资本投入质量优于丘陵山区,而劳动力投入质量劣于丘陵山区;②土地投入质量低可能是丘陵山区农户资本投资收益低的原因之一,增加农业基础设施投人是使农业摆脱困境的根本途径;③劳动力投入表现出兼业化、劣质化,应鼓励耕地有序流转,扩大农户耕地经营规模,使耕地集中到种粮专业户手中;④农户农业投入主要是流动资本,固定资本投入较少,农药、化肥投入一直处于上升趋势,其施用已经进入"进退维谷"中。     

Environment, Land Use and Amenities – the New Dimension of Rural DevelopmentEnvironnement, utilisation des terres et aménités – la nouvelle dimension du développement ruralUmwelt, Landnutzung und landschaftliche Schönheit – die neue Dimension bei der Entwicklung des ländlichen Raums

Environment, Land Use and Amenities – the New Dimension of Rural Development
While agriculture, environmental conditions, and rural development are concerns common to both sides of the Atlantic, their interrelationships are viewed quite differently. For the EU, agriculture is seen as a means of sustaining the countryside; keeping it attractive to tourists and prospective residents. Farmers are stewards of the land and as such a key to rural development. For the US, agriculture and the environment are seen in potential conflict. Most of the expenditure on conservation goes to keeping environmentally sensitive cropland out of production. At the national level at least, the appeal of the countryside is not seen as a means to rural development, so that conservation programs tend to be seen as a threat to rural development by reducing the use of local off-farm services. Part of the difference in viewpoint may stem from the greater socio-cultural significance of agricultural landscapes in the EU. However, recent research in the US suggests that landscape is important in attracting new rural residents and visitors and there is growing recognition on both sides of the Atlantic that the natural environment helps shape rural growth. More research is needed on the relationship between the environment and rural development as unsupported assumptions seem to underlie policies in both regions.     

乡村振兴:农村转型、结构转型和政府职能

农村发展过程有其共性规律和区域差异。本文首先以亚洲主要国家为例,分析了农村转型和结构转型存在的共性问题及其与农村发展的关系;其次基于40年中国农村发展改革经验,分析了农村转型路径与转型效果以及与农村转型各阶段相适应的的制度安排、政策支持和投资重点;基于以上分析,本文提出在乡村振兴过程中,要加速农村转型速度,促进高值农业发展和农民增收;加速结构转型速度,促进农村劳动力非农就业和农业劳动生产率的大幅提升;要转变政府职能,通过制度创新、政策创新和投资创新,加快农村转型和结构转型,促进乡村振兴战略的顺利实施;不同地区加速农村转型不能搞一刀切;同时也提出未来需要深入研究的重大理论和政策问题。     

我国4省农民思想教育现状分析及对策研究

加强农民教育,提高农民素质,培养新型农民是建设社会主义新农村的现实需要,是当前农业与农村工作中一项十分紧迫的任务。该文从社会学视角,结合陕西、河南、山东、江西4省样本,对当前农民思想素质教育问题进行较为深入的探讨,在此基础上,提出了今后农民思想教育发展的思路。     

Agribusiness,Peasant Agriculture and Labour Markets: Ecuador in Comparative Perspective

The consolidation of capitalist agriculture in countries such as Ecuador has led to a recent revaluation of territories (central highlands) where cheap labour has facilitated agribusiness development linked to the world market. This process generates growth in the numbers of rural wage workers and the creation of a labour market that, in relation to others in several Latin American countries, has certain particularities: permanent jobs, gender balance, an absence of intermediaries and low levels of precariousness. Small‐scale peasant producers are marginalized in this context and play functional roles within the current dynamics of agribusiness firms. The organizational weakness of rural wage earners and the pursuit of clientelist relationships by firms do not allow rural workers and local communities to devise economic and social strategies that might improve their position in this ‘field of forces’ in the territory.     

基于农户视角的循环农业外部环境分析 ——来自湖北省的实证研究

发展农业循环经济是实现现代农业发展战略的重要途径。该文以湖北省6个国家和省级生态农业试点地区为研究范围,通过受访农户对当前循环农业生产影响因素、设施条件状况、信息传播渠道等的感知和评价,对我国循环农业发展的外部环境状况进行了描述性分析。研究结论表明:当前循环农业发展的外部环境比较落后,其主要制约因素是循环农业产品价格偏低、种养技术欠缺、市场信息闭塞、乡村基础设施落后、金融信贷支持不足,以及循环农业技术、品种的实际应用效果和市场化效益缺乏等几个方面。对此,该文认为,当前应着重从大力培养创新农民,加大农业科技投入和农村基础设施建设,规范政府引导等几个方面去促进循环农业的发展。     

An Analysis of Standards‐based Regulation in the EU Organic Sector, 1991–2007

Against the background of a discussion of recent analyses of capitalist subsumption of agriculture and of neo‐liberalism, the paper uses a ‘liberal governmentality’ framework to trace the development of the EU Regulation on organic agriculture from its adoption in 1991 to its recent repeal and replacement in 2007. The central argument is that regulatory development took the form of a cycle of elaboration, tightening, increasing deviation and finally a ‘return to principles’ in order to reduce deviation. At different stages in this cycle, different groups of ‘stakeholders’, including experts, were influential. Likewise, different forms of expertise became dominant or were sidelined. Meanwhile, ‘capital’ in its different incarnations remained marginal throughout. The paper leaves open the questions of the generalizability of this analysis to regulatory arenas other than the EU, as well as to regulatory objects more central than organic agriculture to capitalist accumulation.     

Agricultural modernization and sustainable agriculture: contradictions and complementarities

This paper explores the relations between agricultural modernization and sustainable agriculture. The point of departure is the observable decrease in the sustainability and social–ecological resilience of agricultural and food systems. We ask where, precisely, the notions of agricultural modernization and agricultural sustainability contradict each other. In more concrete terms we ask what forms of modernization makes agriculture more (or less) sustainable. Our literature review shows that while the term ‘sustainable agriculture’, has been extensively debated, the term ‘agricultural modernization’, while carrying a positive and forward-looking connotation, remains poorly defined. To address this gap, we draw on evidence from real-life cases in fourteen countries in an attempt to interpret how the two concepts are perceived in very different contexts. These case studies show that different understandings of modern and sustainable agriculture coexist and that agricultural development follows diverse pathways. We conclude that the growing demands for an agricultural and food system that is more resilient, equitable and inclusive can be met by providing more support for the many divergent trajectories of agricultural modernization that practitioners are actually pursuing: trajectories that are often more attuned to the imperatives of ecology and to changing socio–economic preferences than the classical modernization trajectory.     

农村人力资本投资与统筹城乡发展关系辨析

统筹城乡发展,就是从整体上科学规划城镇体系、新农村建设、统筹城乡劳动就业等,其目的是缩小城乡差距,提高农民生活水平,促进城乡经济社会一体化发展.而农村人力资本投资状况对城乡差距有较大的影响.在界定相关概念的基础上,对国内外关于人力资本与城乡差距关系作了研究综述,得出农村人力资本投资与城乡统筹发展之间的辩证关系     

基于农业可持续发展的湖南省乡村规划影响因素分析

[目的]文章从乡村规划的角度出发,以乡村振兴战略规划为指导,从农业可持续发展的角度探寻乡村规划的影响因素,以期对湖南省乡村阶段性规划提供合理的参考建议。[方法]运用DEMATE方法对湖南省乡村规划影响因素进行定性识别,并利用熵权法对湖南省乡村规划影响因素系统进行定量评价。[结果](1)城镇化率对乡村规划的影响度最大,其在所有因素中影响度和被影响度均最大,其次为第三产业从业人员、农业财政支出、规模农业经营。(2)结合中心度与原因度的分析对湖南省乡村规划重要影响因子进行识别,其中,城镇化率、农业财政支出、规模农业经营、第三产业从业人员、节水灌溉面积共5个因素为湖南省乡村规划实施的重要影响因素。[结论](1)经济因素是农业可持续发展背景下乡村规划的主导因素,以休闲农业产值、规模农业经营和农业财政支出构成乡村规划实施的关键因素,提升经济效益对湖南省乡村规划建设具有重要的推动作用。(2)从结果因素来看,贫困发生率、休闲农业产值、城乡居民人均收入比受农业生产方式、城乡资源分配和产业融合的影响较大,充分掌握重要影响因素之间的相互关系是巩固湖南省乡村规划结果因素效益的关键。(3)人口因素和社会因素是湖南省乡村规划实施的制约因素,加快推进湖南省科技兴农、特色强农、质量强农、开放强农建设成为其提高农业可持续发展能力和乡村规划实施的关键。