The relentless de facto privatization process of Chilika Lake,India

In the early 1990s Chilika Lake saw a conflict over aquaculture practices that culminated in a process of de facto privatization of the lake waters and the implementation of illegal shrimp cultivation. An earlier article explored the class dynamics of the conflict and the present paper, based on a 2015 fieldwork revisit, reviews the unfolding of the socioeconomic dynamics underlying the illegal aquaculture activities. Looking at recent developments in the implementation of illegal shrimp cultivation in the lake, it interrogates the underlying balance between coercion and consent, and the implications for the livelihoods and protest politics of the fishing people. The paper draws attention to the reality of occupational displacement, analysing its implications for the viability of the fisher people's oppositional movement. Through doing so, it draws renewed attention to the complexity of state–society relations underlying the dynamics that govern conflict and critically contributes to recent debates on subaltern politics.     

The expansion of intensive marine aquaculture in Turkey: The next‐to‐last commodity frontier?

Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food‐producing sectors, and its share in global seafood production is rising significantly compared with capture fisheries. This transforms seafood production practices while allowing capital to expand to new marine commodity frontiers. Building on the conceptualization of aquaculture as a new frontier for capture fisheries, the article aims to uncover how commodity frontiers expand within the intensive marine aquaculture sector and shape the transformation of seafood production by focusing on its recent growth in Turkey. It analyses this transformation based on 22 in‐depth interviews with key social actors in Turkey, as well as a review of sector and state reports and the relevant legislations of Turkey and the European Union, and argues that the three‐pronged horizontal, vertical, and taxonomic expansion already observed in industrial capture fisheries has similarly taken place in intensive marine aquaculture through the commodity widening, deepening, and marketing strategies employed by aquaculture firms.     

Scaling service delivery in a failed state: cocoa smallholders,Farmer Field Schools,persistent bureaucrats and institutional work in Côte d’Ivoire

The increased use of sustainability standards in the international trade in cocoa challenges companies to find effective modes of service delivery to large numbers of small-scale farmers. A case study of the Sustainable Tree Crops Program targeting the small-scale cocoa producers in Côte d’Ivoire supplying international commodity markets shifts attention from mechanisms of private governance to the embedding of service delivery in the institutional dynamics of the state. It demonstrates that, despite a recent history of violent conflict and civil unrest, the introduced Farmer Field Schools programme achieved a surprising scale in terms of numbers and geographical spread. The analysis of this outcome combines political science and anthropological studies of effective and developmental elements in the state with the interest in institutional work found in organization science. The scaling of a new form of service delivery is explained by the skilful practices of institutional work by managers of a public–private partnership. They have been professionally associated with the sector for a long time and had the capacity to embed new forms of service delivery in persistent pockets of bureaucratic effectiveness in a failed state.     

Blue Revolution in a Commodity Frontier: Ecologies of Aquaculture and Agrarian Change in Laguna Lake,Philippines

Aquaculture presents a radically different way of producing fish that aims to transcend the limitations of capture fisheries but that in turn creates new forms of agrarian and ecological transformations. Using the case of Laguna Lake, the paper probes how aquaculture production and corresponding agrarian transformations are inextricably tied to dynamics in capture fisheries in multiple ways. It emphasizes the fundamentally ecological nature of the relations between aquaculture and capture fisheries through a discussion of three interrelated features of agrarian change: commodity widening through the production of a commodity frontier, aquaculture producer strategies of working with materiality of biophysical nature, and the attendant consequences of these processes for agrarian configurations. By examining the appropriation of nature in commodity frontiers and situating relations between aquaculture and capture fisheries as historical‐geographical moments in commodity widening and deepening, the paper highlights the centrality of nature in agrarian change.     

Class formation and commodity chains in the making of regional monocultures: Agrarian reform from above and below in Mexico's henequen and cotton zones

This paper analyses the rise and fall of two regional monocultures in Mexico: the henequen zone in the southern state of Yucatán and the cotton‐growing area of La Laguna. Both regions experienced a dramatic expansion of commodity production between 1870 and 1910, but their key crops came to be cultivated under different labour regimes: debt peonage in the case of henequen and wage labour in the case of cotton. The process of class formation that unfolded in each region culminated in the 1930s in different kinds of crises. In Yucatán, a political struggle between hacienda owners and the federal government resulted in an agrarian reform “from above.” In La Laguna, class conflict between rural wageworkers and the landed bourgeoisie forced an agrarian reform “from below.” These previously distinct labour regimes converged in subsequent decades, however, as rural producers became de facto wageworkers on state‐organized and state‐administered production units known as collective ejidos. Ultimately, changes in the global markets for cotton and henequen, combined with the inability of the Mexican state to reconcile the political logic of agrarian clientelism with shifting commodity chain dynamics, resulted in the collapse of these regional monocultures in the late 20th century.     

Forestry conflict in Spain: Rethinking peasant protest and resistance

This article examines forestry conflict in the Spanish province of León and the struggle between village communities and the state over the control of common lands and forests. One of this article's conclusions is that forestry conflict reflected, on the one hand, the struggle for economic control not only between the peasants and the state but also between the peasants themselves and, on the other hand, the clash between the market economy championed by the state and the traditional arrangements, values, and solidarities defended by the peasants. Another conclusion is that widely used concepts such as “weapons of the weak” or “environmentalism of the poor” are deemed inadequate regarding the peasant protest and resistance analysed here, which in turn calls for a definition of these new forms of rural resistance or a reformulation of those already in use.     

Social conflict and agrarian change in Uganda's countryside

In this paper, I explore the significance of Giovanni Arrighi's scholarship about the dynamics of capitalist accumulation and transformation in Africa and other “hostile” environments for critical agrarian studies. Specifically, I examine the relevance of his work for the analysis of multiple trajectories of agrarian change and social conflict in Uganda's countryside. By adopting synchronic and diachronic perspectives, the analysis here unveils the geographically uneven nature of transformation in the agrarian social structure in two distinct regions in Uganda: Buganda and Acholi. This complementarity allows us to grasp continuities and discontinuities in the processes of agrarian change and in the social struggles over the production and appropriation of surplus value in the longue durée. I argue that the agrarian social structure and the associated dynamics and forms of social conflict in the two regions massively diverged during the colonial period, while partially converging in the current era of neoliberal restructuring.     

Fragmented Territories: Incomplete Enclosures and Agrarian Change on the Agricultural Frontier of Samlaut District,North‐West Cambodia

In Cambodia, the interactions between large‐scale land investment and land titling gathered particular momentum in 2012–13, when the government initiated an unprecedented upland land titling programme in an attempt to address land tenure insecurity where large‐scale land investment overlaps with land appropriated by peasants. This paper is based on a spatially explicit ethnography of land rights conducted in the Samlaut district of north‐west Cambodia – a former Khmer Rouge resistance stronghold – in a context where the enclosures are both incomplete and entangled with post‐war, socially embedded land tenure systems. We discuss how this new pattern of fragmentation affects the prevailing dynamics of agrarian change. We argue that it has introduced new forms of exclusion and a generalized perception of land tenure uncertainty that is managed by peasants through the actualization of hybrid land tenure arrangements borrowing from state rules and local consensus. In contrast with common expectations about land formalization, the process reinforces the patterns of social differentiation initiated by land rent capture practices of early migrants and pushes more vulnerable peasants into seeking wage labour and resorting to job migration.     

Revisiting the World Bank's land law reform agenda in Africa: The promise and perils of customary practices

This paper revisits the World Bank's land law reform agenda in Africa by focusing on two central issues: (1) land law reform as a tool for resolving land conflicts, and (2) the role of land law reform in addressing gender inequalities. While the Bank's recent land report provides insights for improving land governance in Africa, it fails to acknowledge the exploitative and contentious politics that often characterize customary land tenure systems, and the local power dynamics that undermine the ability of marginalized groups to secure land rights. Using insights from recent fieldwork, the paper analyses the links between land law reform and conflict in Ghana, and the gendered dynamics of reforming land governance in Tanzania. These “crucial cases” illustrate how land law reform can provoke conflicts over land and threaten the rights of vulnerable populations (e.g. migrants and women) when customary practices are uncritically endorsed as a means of improving land governance. As such, the paper concludes with a series of recommendations on how to navigate the promise and perils of customary practices in the governance of land.     

Gatekeeping as Accumulation and Domination: Decentralization and Class Relations in Rural South India

Gatekeeping is taken here to mean the act of channelling formal and informal resources between the state and society for private economic and political gain. Based upon fieldwork in Karnataka, India, this paper argues that whilst traditional forms of control over the labouring class have been eroded, gatekeeping increasingly allows the dominant class to exert a more subtle form of political control, which in turn facilitates processes of accumulation. Rather than equalizing political power and control over public resources, heightened levels of fiscal decentralization to village councils (gram panchayats) have increased levels of gatekeeping, which both provides a significant share of the politically active dominant class's income and forges new patterns of labouring class dependence upon the dominant class. This heightens socio‐economic differentiation and reproduces the latter's political dominance despite the loosening of labour‐related ties. In addition, it is argued that although a minority of gatekeepers are from the labouring class, their inclusion facilitates dominant class accumulation rather than their own upward mobility. The paper stratifies gatekeeping in order to locate it amongst the totality of social relations between and within classes, which collectively produce processes of accumulation, differentiation and domination within society. The paper concludes that although the forms taken by extra‐economic aspects of capital's control over rural labour have been altered during the erosion of traditional forms of dominance, they remain highly significant and are increasingly so in the fieldwork area in a context of decentralized governance.     

湖北省水产养殖水体资源和产业地理分布格局

[目的]文章分析湖北省宜养水体资源禀赋、探究水产养殖业地理分布格局,旨在为该省水产养殖产业区划布局提供参考依据。[方法]利用高新遥感技术准确解读水产养殖水体资源分布状况;基于水产统计年鉴数据,综合利用空间自相关和多元统计分析方法,研究湖北水产养殖特征及其地理分布格局。[结果](1)湖北具水产养殖功能的水体资源面积合计81.4万hm~2,其中大水面和养殖池塘为主要养殖水体类型,两者所占养殖水体总面积的比重分别为51.5%和41.9%;(2)湖北水产养殖业表现出了显著的正向空间自相关性,其空间分布呈现非随机的地理集聚格局,武汉、仙桃和鄂州等市所辖的长江沿岸县域单元是该省水产养殖业的集聚区;(3)湖北水产养殖类型存有明显的空间异质性,襄阳、十堰、恩施、随州等西部地市以水库和精养池养殖为主,其余地市则以精养池养殖占据主导地位。[结论]在"湖泊拆围、水库限养"政策背景下,湖北省水产养殖业面临的资源环境刚性约束日益凸显,优化产业布局、探寻集约化发展模式是实现该省水产养殖业可持续发展的必循之路。     

北方淡水池塘养殖业与无公害渔业的差距

无公害渔业已成为今后养殖业所追求的目标,也是世界渔业发展的方向.本文从饲料、种质、渔用药物使用等五个方面分析了我国北方地区淡水养殖业的现状以及与无公害渔业间的差距,并提出了相应的解决办法.     

AN OPTIMAL MANAGEMENT MODEL FOR INTENSIVE AQUACULTURE — AN APPLICATION IN ATLANTIC SALMON*

In this paper the optimal management strategy for intensive aquaculture is viewed in terms of a combined strategy of releasing the optimal number of recruits and harvesting those recruits at the optimal harvesting time. A model which can be used to determine the optimal management strategy is developed. In the model the optimal harvesting model documented by Bjorndahl (1988, 1990) in which harvesting and feed costs are considered, is extended by including release costs and how they influence the optimal number of recruits. The model forms the basis for an empirical analysis in which the optimal management strategy for a yearclass of Atlantic salmon farmed in Australia during 1989-91 is considered.     

国有林区缓解贫困与生态保护共生协调度及应用研究

[目的]缓解贫困与生态保护的协调发展关系到区域的可持续发展问题,对国有林区缓解贫困与保护森林生态系统安全两者关系的分析研究是生态文明建设新阶段值得高度关注的课题。正确处理生态保护与林区经济发展互促互进具有重要意义,把国有林区缓解贫困与森林生态保护看作两个相互影响相互作用的生物体,用以揭示国有林区缓解贫困与生态保护之间的协调共生关系,以期为区域可持续发展提供理论基础和现实依据。[方法]以黑龙江省国有森工林区40个林业局为研究对象,选取2016年国有森工林区贫困与森林生态综合发展水平的14个指标数据,并运用主客观赋权法确定各指标权重,构建两子系统的共生协调度模型,探究国有森工林区各林业局贫困与生态的共生协调模式的空间布局和差异。[结果]黑龙江省国有森工林区共生协调模式呈现多样化趋势,经历互利共生、寄生协调、寄生冲突和互害竞争等关系,但寄生模式是黑龙江省国有林区贫困与生态的主要模式。[结论]黑龙江省森工国有林区要想实现缓解贫困与生态保护的共生协调,一方面需要加大对森林资源的保护的投入及抚育力度,另一方面森工企业要转变生产方式,优化林业产业结构,提高对林木资源的利用效率。     

我国罗非鱼生产要素投入变化及趋势分析

论文从生产要素投入的角度分析了我国罗非鱼养殖生产现状,研究结果表明,在罗非鱼养殖生产过程中,饲料费、苗种费和人工费等资本投入在不断增加,但土地面积、劳工数量等资源投入保持稳定甚至下降趋势,建议通过规模化养殖、集约化经营、专业化分工以及信息化管理来提高资源利用率和劳动生产率,以保障我国罗非鱼养殖生产良性发展.     

Visual,seascape and landscape analysis to support coastal aquaculture site selection

The visual impact of aquaculture is a controversial issue and in some countries must be assessed prior to any new development. However, at present, there are no definitive, objective methods used to evaluate the potential visual impacts of new aquatic farms and therefore assessment is difficult for both developers and regulators. This study presents a GIS based methodology for use in the visual assessment of a potential new coastal fish farm development, focusing on both sea cages and the associated land based structures. The methodology has been applied to a case study area, the Western Isles located off the North West coast of Scotland, which already has an extensive aquaculture industry and significant potential for future growth.Using a two stage sequential modelling process, the methodology combines visual, seascape and landscape analysis within a GIS environment to produce spatial models indicating where there is the potential for new aquaculture development with minimal visual impact. The preliminary visual assessment model combines a series of Boolean viewsheds with landscape and seascape sensitivity models to assess the potential visibility across different user groups and the sensitivity of the area to visual change. The second stage focuses on an area identified from the preliminary model as having potential for development and then performs a more detailed analysis using a site specific proportional visual impact model. This model quantifies the impact by assessing the proportion of viewpoints from which the proposed development can actually be seen. Both stages of the modelling process provide valuable information and support for decision makers regarding the potential visual impacts of aquaculture.     

Quality control in nonstaple food markets: evidence from India

Using original survey data collected on growers, traders, processors, markets, and village communities, we will compare the situation in four states: Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Orissa. We examine the way that information about crop attributes is conveyed (or not) along the value chain. We find that little information circulates about unobservable crop characteristics. Growers receive a price premium when they dry, grade, and pack their produce, but we find no evidence that information about crop salubrity or agricultural practices circulates through the value chain or that growers are encouraged to follow specific agricultural practices for quality purposes. Market infrastructure is deficient regarding sanitation, with few public toilets, inadequate drainage, and no coordinated pest control.     

Human Capital Development,War and Foreign Direct Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper traces the ethnographies of conflict and development in Sri Lanka on two levels of analysis. First, it examines two related discourses in the policy arena of Sri Lanka, one looking at the peace–development nexus, the other at the paradox of welfarism and clientelism in Sri Lanka's polity. Second, it analyses the political field of relief and development practice—its order and disjuncture—as it presented itself during times of ongoing warfare. The empirical studies build on ethnographies of a bilateral German–Sri Lankan development project operating in the war-affected areas of Sri Lanka. Four trajectories of politics and practices in aid and conflict are discussed to illustrate the ambiguities and complexities of multiple perceptions, rules and discourses, which influence the work of aid agencies operating in spaces of military contestation. The analyses suggest that clientelism as a deeply embedded system of ordering and meaning production can be found in both the peaceful areas and the war zones, though in different manifestations. Aid agencies operating in the context of clientelism and ethnicism may need to engage with combatant parties—to “dine with the devils” as it has been named—to build space for bringing aid to needy people in war-affected areas.     

How feasible is regional integration for reconciling land use conflicts across the urban–rural interface? Evidence from Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei metropolitan region in China

Competition among different uses for land is becoming acute under the process of urbanization, and conflicts related to this competition are becoming more frequent and more complex. This article presents a methodology for confronting this issue. By applying an integrated framework, we explore the implicit role of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Regional Integration (BRI) policy in land use conflicts by focusing on the urban-rural interface, and try to address the research question: “How feasible is BRI for reconciling land use conflicts across the urban-rural interface?” An original structure of the analysis is developed based on the identification of three types of conflicts, namely, conflicts over land use structure, conflicts over land conversion and conflicts over landscape pattern. According to the interactions and relationships among these conflicts, we define broad categories of land use conflict areas. Indeed, these conflicts are all related to the unplanned use of agricultural land reserves, which competes with other more immediate uses, and the over-exploitation of land resources caused by unsustainable urban practices. This policy is clearly a critical objective for optimizing the land use structure. It, however, fails to reconcile the conflicts over land conversion and landscape pattern, especially for considerable agricultural land conversion to non-agricultural uses, and low-density development pattern with mixed residential and industrial land uses. Hence, alternative strategies involving public participation, spatial equity, rural revitalization, land-use system reform, and new type of urbanization, can be identified as viable solutions for land use conflict management, which may be complementary to regional integration. The findings of our paper may also contribute to the policy debate on BRI concerning land use planning and regional sustainability.