The trade-offs between economic efficiency and job creation in olive grove smallholdings

Cooperation among farmers is an effective alternative to reduce production costs in smallholdings of traditional olive groves and increase their low profitability. However, an increase in efficiency reduces working hours and the labour required for the management of farms. This fact can lead to negative effects in rural areas, especially considering the importance of the social aspect of the crop. Therefore, to contribute to the global discussion on the transition towards more sustainable farming, it is important to know, ex ante, what level of employment is generated by olive groves and what could be lost under more competitive and efficient scenarios. The purpose of the work is to quantify the expected impact on employment by the implementation of cooperative management methods in order to generate true and accurate information that can be used in the design of future policies that aim to increase the economic profitability of small olive farms. The results make clear that this way of managing farms, by increasing the efficiency of agricultural work, has a significant negative impact on employment. However, this management formula does encourage the professionalisation of the sector by generating quality employment, in addition to contributing to the preservation of small farms and the socio-cultural and territorial benefits they generate.     

What lies beneath: Climate change,land expropriation,and zaï agroecological innovations by smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana

Large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) are increasing in Ghana amid a weak legal and regulatory framework. This paper explores the impacts of this phenomenon on farmer innovations under recurrent environmental changes. Using a case study of zaï, an indigenous innovative farming practice, the paper makes two interrelated arguments. Firstly, it shows that the pervasive enclosures coerced by the Ghanaian state undermine how indigenous knowledge could be proactively deployed for climate risk management. Secondly, LSLAs produce a social barrier to climate change adaptation, as they lead to heightened uncertainty and apprehension among farmers, which affects decisions on climate risk management. More specifically, land expropriation is an example of how adaptation could be hindered by governance, institutions, and policy at the extra-local scale, including not only existing land use laws, but also the constitutional guarantee of private property. The evidence supporting these arguments come from survey data on 619 plots, 70 in-depth interviews, village-level transect walks, and participant observations. Overall, the paper contributes to emerging debates at the interface of land use policy, climate justice, and sustainable adaptation. Theoretically, it also contributes to understanding State-society relations, as well as the political economy of eminent domain, often justified through discourses of “public benefits.”     

Remote sensing-based detection of agricultural land losses around Greater Cairo since the Egyptian revolution of 2011

Over the last four decades, the loss of agricultural land has been observed in Egypt at high rates. However, the highest rates of losses have occurred since the January 25th revolution in 2011. Greater Cairo (GC), which is the largest metropolitan in Egypt, has witnessed a massive loss of agricultural land since the 2011 revolution. However, until now, no study or official report has revealed the volume of agricultural land losses in this region. This study quantifies agricultural land losses around the GC using Landsat satellite images from 2010 and 2018. Supervised classification was performed using the maximum likelihood algorithm in QGIS software. A post-classification comparison method was applied to detect the land use/land cover changes between the classified images; then, the loss of agricultural land was quantified using Arc GIS software. Visualizations of the gains and losses in agricultural land and the spatial trends of agricultural land losses were created using TerrSet software. The results show that 9600 ha of agricultural land were converted to urban use during 2010–2018, which means that the annual rate of agricultural land loss has tripled and now reaches approximately 1200 ha per year. Decay of executive authority, rapid population growth, real estate market speculation and fragmentation of agricultural land were the main driving factors of agricultural land losses during this period. The results of this research may help decision makers understand the current high rate of agricultural land loss. Hence, appropriate strategies may be adopted to prevent future losses of this valuable land.     

A game theoretic approach to optimize multi-stakeholder utilities for land acquisition negotiations with informality

To combat the critical stresses of rising urbanization, the government acquires land from private owners using the power of eminent domain. This land assembly causes negative externalities such as increasing social tension and injustice that may impose a long-term threat to stability and sustainable development. Therefore, there is a need to make the land acquisition process more transparent and just. Considering the unique Indian context where informality has a strong presence, we propose an approach based on game theory that models the bargain through a three-stage Nash equilibrium game. Four agents – the government, the private developer, the landowner, and the free rider – are considered. We provide conditional solutions for the generalizable Case and proceed to model different stakeholder behavior patterns through two utility functional forms – linear and exponential. In the linear case, we find that the free rider obtains half of the revenue of the project, whereas the landowner gains between one-fourth and one-half of the revenue. Thus, we highlight the undeniably crucial role free riders play in land acquisition negotiations. However, closed form solutions cannot be obtained for the exponential form, due to which we use simulations to demonstrate a solution procedure. We conclude by stating that the proposed model can be useful in formulating future land policies in a sustainable and inclusive manner, with optimal utility derivations for all concerned stakeholders. Our model can also be extended to other spatial contexts where informality features heavily in the land market, especially in the Global South.     

Work,Care and Gender during the COVID-19 Crisis*

We explore the effects of the COVID-19 crisis and the associated restrictions to economic activity on paid and unpaid work for men and women in the United Kingdom. Using data from the COVID-19 supplement of Understanding Society, we find evidence that labour market outcomes of men and women were roughly equally affected at the extensive margin, as measured by the incidence of job loss or furloughing. But, if anything, women suffered smaller losses at the intensive margin, experiencing slightly smaller changes in hours and earnings. Within the household, women provided on average a larger share of increased childcare needs, but in an important share of households fathers became the primary childcare providers. These distributional consequences of the pandemic may be important to understand its inequality legacy over the longer term.     

Exploring the determinants of usage continuance willingness for location-based apps: A case study of bicycle-based exercise apps

This paper investigates how mobile app design and social media can be used to influence the intention for continued use of location-based mobile apps. Uses and gratification theory and information systems success model are used to explore the key factors of continued usage intention. Three hundred and fifty-six valid questionnaires were collected to test the research model. The results showed that perceived usefulness, enjoyment, sense of belonging would significantly influence the usage habit and satisfaction of bicycle-based exercise app. In particular, the habit and satisfaction had strong impact on the intention for continued use. This study extended the findings of exercises with mobile apps and provided implications for the developers and operators of fitness and leisure-oriented apps.     

Non-income effect of land ownership and tenure on subjective wellbeing in South Africa

Aside from the very high inequality of land ownership, South Africa is characterised by a dual land tenure system comprising of private ownership and communal land ownership. Using waves 4 and 5 of the National Income Dynamics Study longitudinal data set, a set of econometric methodologies is employed to quantify the impact of ownership and tenure on an index of subjective wellbeing (SWB) constructed from eight self-reported responses covering general life satisfaction, contrast, social capital, mental health and hope for future. Controlling for the income effect and other pertinent drivers of SWB, the study highlights the non-income impact of land ownership and tenure on the subjective wellbeing of individuals. To account for possible endogeneity and self-selection, instrumental variable and matching method-based treatment effects are computed. This paper has two main findings in relation to land tenure in South Africa: (a) land owners have on average a higher index of SWB compared to those not owning land, and (b) owning land privately, compared to owning land communally, has a positive impact on subjective wellbeing within land owners. These results are consistent and statistically significant across the various estimation strategies and provide additional motivation for expediting land reforms in South Africa.     

Changing land use intensity in Europe – Recent processes in selected case studies

In recent decades the intensification of agricultural production in many European countries has been one of the key components of land-use change. The impact of agricultural intensification varies according to national and local contexts and a greater understanding of the drivers of intensification will help to mitigate against its negative impacts and harness potential benefits. This paper analyses changes in land use intensity in six case studies in Europe. A total of 437 landowners were interviewed and their responses were analysed in relation to changes in land use intensity and agricultural production between 2001 and 2011. In the case studies in Western and Eastern Europe we observed stabilisation during the last decade, and no clear tendency of increase or decrease of land use intensity. The use of fertilizers and pesticides seems to have decreased in our cases in Western Europe, which is contrary to trends in Eastern Europe. Agricultural production remained stable in almost all cases, except for an increase in Austria and Romania which may indicate that the farming efficiency has increased. A statistical analysis showed a division between study areas in Romania and Austria (increasing land use intensity) versus those in the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece (decreasing). In the Mediterranean cases we observe a process where agriculture is becoming increasingly marginalised, at the same time as changes in function with regard to urbanisation and recreational land uses have taken place. Logistic regression highlighted the importance of farm size and farmer type in understanding changes in land use intensity. The dominant pattern of stabilisation which has occurred over the past 10 years may also partly be a result of effective EU and national environmental and agricultural policies, which are increasingly concerned with improving environmental conditions in rural areas.     

How much do alternative cookstoves reduce biomass fuel use? Evidence from North India

Despite widespread global efforts to promote clean cookstoves to achieve improvements in air and forest quality, and to reduce global climate change, surprisingly little is known about the degree to which these actually reduce biomass fuel consumption in real-world settings. Using data from in-house weighing of fuel conducted in rural India, we examine the impact of cleaner cookstoves ⿿ most of which are LPG stoves ⿿ on three key outcomes related to solid fuel use. Our results suggest that using a clean cookstove is associated with daily reductions of about 4.5 kg of biomass fuel, 160 fewer minutes cooking on traditional stoves, and 105 fewer minutes collecting biomass fuels. These findings of substantial savings are robust to the use of estimators with varying levels of control for selection, and to alternative data obtained from household self-reports. Our results support the idea that efforts to promote clean stoves among poor rural households can reduce solid fuel use and cooking time, and that rebound effects toward greater amounts of cooking on multiple stoves are not sufficient to eliminate these gains. We also find, however, that households who have greater wealth, fewer members, are in less marginalized groups, and practice other health-averting behaviors, are more likely to use these cleaner stoves, which suggests that socio-economic status plays an important role in determining who benefits from such technologies. Future efforts to capture social benefits must therefore consider how to promote the use of alternative technologies by poor households, given that these households are least likely to own clean stoves.     

Transformations of the Romanian agricultural paradigm under domestic economic policy reforms: An analysis during 1960–2011

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the transformations of the Romanian agricultural paradigm under the domestic economic policy reforms. An econometric approach is adopted by analyzing the evolution of Romanian agriculture between 1960 and 2011 from the perspective of its implications on residential land economy. This methodological choice relies on its high degree of applicability and its ability to reveal the massive transformation of the Romanian agricultural paradigm during the period under focus. Two regression models have been developed in the attempt to analyze the evolution of total value added and labor productivity in agriculture. The results obtained during the research confirm that Romanian agriculture exhibits determinant and significant elements able to trigger a massive change of paradigm.