Is there decentralization in North Korea? Evidence and lessons from the sloping land management program 2004–2014

In the 1990s, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) suffered from severe food shortages and large-scale deforestation, which triggered a stage of rural conservation reform. Since 2004, with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), North Korea’s Ministry of Land and Environmental Protection (MoLEP) has implemented a Sloping Land Management Program (SLMP). The SLMP established sloping land user groups and granted these groups the right to use marginal land for agroforestry development. This devolution of land rights from state control onto local groups is a landmark in North Korea, and this decentralization initiative has now expanded to over eight counties to involve thousands of households. It has also led to the launch of a National Agroforestry Policy and Strategy. Drawing from both qualitative and quantitative data collected from 2008 to 2014, this paper documents the process and effects of the SLMP. It argues that the decentralization reform in land management has contributed to not only food security with increased food crop diversity and productivity, but also notably forest recovery through an expansion of tree plantations and agroforestry practices on degraded sloping lands. However, an insufficient power transfer in the form of a lack of timber rights granted to the local user groups has hampered the effectiveness of the SLMP. There are also institutional and geopolitical challenges that are limiting further scaling-up of land-use decentralization across the country. The policy implication calls for more international investment as well as national land-use policy reforms in order to promote and facilitate further decentralization of sloping land management and to secure greater use rights for sloping land user groups.     

Incentives and disincentives for diversified agroforestry systems from different actors’ perspectives in Bolivia

Even though diversified agroforestry systems can provide sustainable livelihoods and a resilient production of different goods, adoption remains limited in Bolivia. We examine major obstacles to agroforestry adoption and possible incentives proposed by farmers and civil-society organizations, and relate them to governance and international mechanisms that might play a role in agroforestry adoption. Market access for produce from diversified agroforestry remains difficult, as does its processing and transport. Moreover, farmers have difficulties in achieving the quantities and homogenous quality demanded by markets in the major cities. But most importantly, farmers and civil-society organizations saw little government support, although ‘ecological production in harmony with Mother Earth’ is prescribed by law and the constitution. Agroforestry farmers needed support most urgently in the initial phase, when investment costs are high and returns low. They suggested affordable credits, subsidies for diversified farming systems, and insurance against fire. We identified important albeit small steps towards developing markets for agroforestry products, but government support – mostly in the form of diesel subsidies, materials, and infrastructure – mainly benefitted large-scale monocultures and cattle ranching. In response to this, interviewees opted for strengthening farmers’ organizations, for demanding support with the help of civil-society organizations, and for disseminating best practices.     

Reforestation and smallholder livelihoods in the humid tropics

Smallholder livelihoods and the restoration of tropical forests are intimately intertwined. To address the question of how reforestation affects livelihoods and how they in turn affect reforestation, a meta-synthesis was undertaken of 339 scientific publications identified from a systematic literature search. This study is focused on smallholders in the humid tropics, and uses the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, which was developed by the UK Department for International Development as the framework for analysis. The links between reforestation and livelihoods are found to be diverse and highly interconnected. Reforestation is only one of a smallholder’s activities and typically forms part of a mosaic of land uses across a landscape. Therefore, reforestation should be designed, managed and evaluated under the perspective of a diverse livelihood portfolio, and not as a single activity isolated from other portfolio components, especially under current landscape approaches. It is important for reforestation to be a complementary rather than a competitive livelihood activity. Reforestation has great potential to address poverty, and to increase smallholder socio-ecological resilience and local social equity. However, reforestation outcomes are often suboptimal. Assessing smallholder capacity and the surrounding environment prior to reforestation, and addressing limiting local capacities and conditions in a timely manner, may enhance the likelihood of optimal benefits.     

当代农用林业进展

本文介绍了农用林业的定义、分类和调查设计等方面的最新进展,并根据有关资料概括出农用林业未来发展的六大方向和今后研究的十个领域。     

西南山区的农用林业类型及其评价

本文应用农用林业的理论,对我国西南山区推广的农用林业进行分类和评价。共划分出11种农用林业系统,21个类型,近40个亚类型。它们具有不同的树木、农作、牲畜、水产、禽、虫菌等表现出多样的产品和较高的生产力。     

Valuing soil conservation benefits of agroforestry: contour hedgerows in the Eastern Visayas,Philippines

Trees can be considered as investments made by economic agents to prevent depreciation of natural assets such as stocks of top soil and water In agroforestry systems farmers use trees in this manner by deliberately combining them with agricultural crops on the same unit of land. Although advocates of agroforestry have asserted that soil conservation is one of its primary benefits, empirical estimates of these benefits have been lacking due to temporal and spatial complexity of agroforestry systems and the nonmarket aspect of soil capital assets. This study designs and applies a bio-economic framework for valuing the soil conservation benefits of agroforestry. The framework is tested with econometric analysis of data from surveys of households in Eastern Visayas. Philippines, where USAID/Government of Philippines introduced contour hedgerow agroforestry in 1983. By constructing a weighted soil quality index that also incorporates measures of soil fertility, texture and color in addition to erosion, we extend previous economic studies of soil resources. This index is regressed on a variety of farming and site specific bio-physical variables. Next, we use a Cobb-Douglas profit function to directly relate agricultural profits and soil quality. Thus, the value of soil conservation is measured as a quasi-rent differential or the share of producer surplus associated with a change in soil quality. Because this framework assumes the existence of markets, the assumption is tested by analysing the statistical significance of consumption side variables, e.g., number of household members, on production side variables, e.g., profits. Instrumental variables are used to handle the endogeneity of the soil index in the profit equation. Seemingly unrelatedregression (SUR) analysis is used to accommodate correlation of errors across the soil and profit equations. Regression results reveal the importance of agroforestry intensity, private ownership, land fragmentation, and familiarity with soil conservation as positive covariates of soil quality. Analysis of production data indicate the importance of market prices, education, farming experience, farm size, topography, and soil quality as positive covariates of household profits Investments in agroforestry to improve or maintain soil capital can increased annual agricultural profits by US$53 for the typical household, which is 6% of total income. However, there are significant up-front costs. Given that small farmers in tropical uplands are important players in the management of deteriorating soil and forest resources, policy makers may want to consider supporting farmers in the early years of agroforestry adoption.     

Evaluating the long‐term impacts of promoting “green” agriculture in the Amazon

Frontier development in the Brazilian Amazon has created vast areas of largely deforested landscapes. Conservation efforts in these post‐frontier zones seek to protect the remaining forest fragments and promote sustainable agricultural practices that absorb labor, meet market demand, and generate ecosystem services. Assessments of these efforts often find that rates of sustained uptake are disappointingly low and that impacts are difficult to discern, but this could be due to the short‐time frames of both the efforts themselves and their evaluation. We investigate the impacts of participation in an internationally sponsored farmer association that for 15 years promoted sustainable agricultural practices in the heavily deforested state of Rondônia, Brazil. Using data from a georeferenced four‐period panel survey of farmers in combination with remote sensing data on land use spanning the life of the association, we apply matching methods to estimate the impacts of participation. We find that membership resulted in more diversified production systems, including more land allocated to agroforestry. Members also deforested less of their farms, but this difference is not statistically significant after we control for selection bias in membership.     

Ecuadorian Farmers Facing Coffee and Cocoa Production Quality Labels

Quality labels refer to the adoption of voluntary standards by producers to highlight the quality to consumers and customers. Usually in agrofood, these focus on aspects of production systems and intrinsic characteristics of products. In agricultural production, quality labels focusing on ethical and environmental aspects have a high spectrum globally. The objective of this study was analyzing the farmers’ perceptions toward production with quality labels in cocoa and coffee in Ecuador. The information used comes from the development of two focus group sessions and 157 surveys addressed to producers. According to the results, environmentally friendly production systems represent an advantage and a disadvantage for farmers. When comparing farmers who produce with and without quality labels, it was found that issues related to market access are further motivating farmers to produce superior quality. Finally, from the producers’ point of view, the premium price paid for product certification is debatable.     

Farmers and Social Innovations in Rural Development: Collaborative Arrangements in Eastern Brazilian Amazon

Brazilian small-scale farmers are seeking new types of collaborations and economic opportunities amid a changing world. Market opportunities, however, have incurred demanding environmental, financial and labor requirements, and created trade-offs between expanding cash crops and maintaining livelihood security. We analyze the Tomé-Açu region in the Brazilian Amazon, where different collaborative models between small-scale farmers and other social agents (industries, government, non-governmental organizations) have emerged. Local farmers are engaging in collective actions and pursuing different types of partnerships, which facilitate knowledge exchange and access to market niches, also helping them overcome the infrastructural and logistical deficiencies that have historically limited rural development in the region. In particular, we discuss the diffusion and adoption of agroforestry and oil palm production systems among small-scale farmers. We examine the challenges and opportunities these partnerships and social innovations have created for local farmers, who are part of heterogeneous groups with distinct roles, assets and contexts. The state-led oil palm program posed challenges to small-scale farmers who experienced asymmetrical relationships within their partnership with private companies. On the other hand, the farmer-led agroforestry model opened new opportunities for farmers who had more flexibility in deciding their production arrangements, developing new agroforestry techniques, and pursuing commercialization pathways. Despite their limited power, small-scale farmers have been able to overcome some structural barriers through innovations, entrepreneurship, and renegotiation of oil palm contract farming. Thus, their ability to engage in both farmer-led agroforestry and state-led oil palm programs provides concrete examples of the potential of local governance based on collaborative arrangements to support sustainable farming production systems.     

Environmental discounting behaviour of smallholder farmers in Chibombo District,Central Zambia

This study utilised 158 semi structured interviews, three focus group discussions and two key informant interviews to achieve its aim of investigating environmental discounting by smallholder farmers in Chibombo, Zambia. Results suggest that most smallholder farmers were willing to continue using mineral fertilisers in the short to medium term even when they were told there could be potentially negative effects as a result. This result was attributed to the farmers’ experience with neutralising soil acidity through lime application and crop rotations. The proportions of smallholder farmers who would continue using pesticides increased with the period it takes for pesticide induced soil infertility to manifest. The respondents seemed more concerned about effects on the soil that would manifest in five years. Smallholder farmers preferred soil improving practices with short term benefits, and low risk. The proportions of smallholder farmers willing to plant fertiliser trees reduced from 68.5 % when the benefits accrue in five years to about 38 % when said benefits accrue to the next generation. Study recommends that agricultural development interventions should focus on low risk, locally available technologies with shorter term benefits and minimal future costs. Study recommends that agricultural development interventions include innovation of practices with shorter term benefits, minimal future costs and farmer sensitisation on the benefits of sustainable agriculture.