CHALLENGES TO FAMILY FARMING IN CHINA*

ABSTRACT. China's agricultural sector requires reforms to assure farmers and consumers of fair prices while protecting the environment and permitting sustainable growth in the coming years. The affluent eastern province of Jiangsu is an appropriate site in which to explore the effects of agricultural reforms on rural households and, in turn, the effects of these households on the environment. We compare two surveys (1987 and 1996), of 100 households each, of farmers in Huaiyin and Huai'an Counties, Jiangsu Province. Indicated are chronically low economic returns on grain, moderate returns for livestock, and the highest returns for vegetables. Unfortunately, the production of livestock and vegetables requires more farm chemicals, inorganic fertilizers, and placement of field plastic‐all of which are associated with greater environmental problems.     

Culture,Markets, and Agricultural Production: A Comparative Study of the Investment Patterns of Migrant and Citizen Cocoa Farmers in the Western Region of Ghana

Current agrarian reforms in Ghana, sponsored by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, are based on the notion that pricing incentives from markets are the key to agricultural investments. The turnaround in the production of the principal agricultural export, cocoa, seems to vindicate this view. However, this perspective is silent on the question of why many farmers continued to produce cocoa in the period preceding the reforms when prices were at their lowest in the country's history. Based on research on the comparative investment patterns of migrant and citizen cocoa farmers in two districts in the Western region of Ghana, this article suggests a holistic approach to comprehending investments. It indicates that the economic behaviour of cocoa farmers is complexly linked to the politics of land tenure, and cultural expectations and obligations.     

Culture,Markets, and Agricultural Production: A Comparative Study of the Investment Patterns of Migrant and Citizen Cocoa Farmers in the Western Region of Ghana

Current agrarian reforms in Ghana, sponsored by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, are based on the notion that pricing incentives from markets are the key to agricultural investments. The turnaround in the production of the principal agricultural export, cocoa, seems to vindicate this view. However, this perspective is silent on the question of why many farmers continued to produce cocoa in the period preceding the reforms when prices were at their lowest in the country's history. Based on research on the comparative investment patterns of migrant and citizen cocoa farmers in two districts in the Western region of Ghana, this article suggests a holistic approach to comprehending investments. It indicates that the economic behaviour of cocoa farmers is complexly linked to the politics of land tenure, and cultural expectations and obligations.     

The Cap and Water Trading in Australian Murray-Darling Basin for Wetlands Protection:The Possible Lessons for China

As the consequence of climate change, water that is received in Australian Murray-Darling Basin wetlands is declining and agricultural water demands are increasing. In order to keep the water use balance between environment protection including wetland protection and irrigation water use, the Australian government adopted a series of reforms in Murray-Darling Basin to address the environmental water shortage problem and encourage irrigators to use water more efficiently and plant high economic value crop. The water trading and cap are two major reforms in this process.In order to match up the environmental water demand such as wetland water use, based on the seasonal rainfall, dam level and environmental water demand, the cap system seasonally allocate how much water the irrigators can access as per water licenses. As the cap dramatically reduced the water access for irrigators, the water trading is aiming to use limited agricultural water more efficiently. The water trading scheme separate the water use right from the land property right and allow Australian farmers to trade their water licenses in the market. Water trading encouraged farmers who plant low value crops such as wheat and canola transfer their water entitles to farmers who plant high value crops such as grape. In the drought seasons, The Australian government can purchase the water licenses from irrigators to increase the environmental flows.This Australian water management system represents the most complicated and effective environmental and agricultural water use management in this world. There are possible many lessons that will help China to better manage the water use for wetland protection and farming practices.     

Context and contingency: the coffee crisis for conventional small-scale coffee farmers in Brazil

Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America and the world's leading producer and exporter of coffee. Smallholders are the predominant producers of Brazilian coffee and have been significantly impacted by post-ISI (import substitution industrialisation) neoliberal reforms that swept the nation's agricultural sector beginning in the 1980s. These reforms stimulated increased coffee production while simultaneously diminishing state interventions, including agricultural subsidies, farmer credits, research and development programmes, extension services, and rural development initiatives. These changes were closely followed by major restructuring of the global coffee market and the elimination of international coffee export quotas. Our research joins a growing body of recent literature exploring how changes related to market liberalisation and globalisation affect localities and regions where producers supply coffee for conventional markets. Through a case study, we describe the impacts of neoliberal globalisation on the lives, livelihoods, and environment of small-scale coffee producers in Minas Gerais, Brazil. We explore how neoliberal reform, reflected in the specific historical, geographical, and environmental context of Brazilian coffee production, has resulted in the increased marginalisation of small-scale farmers, the degradation of soils, and overall rural decline.     

Agricultural water poverty: Using Q-methodology to understand stakeholders' perceptions

The aim of this Q methodology study was to identify perceptions of farmers and agricultural specialists toward agricultural water poverty concept and its causes in Marvdasht County, Iran. Seventy five participants completed the Q sort procedure. Data analysis identified seven types of perceptions toward agricultural water poverty: Management-adherents, Adaptive-adherents, Fatalists, Support-seekers, Farmer blamer Pessimists, Technocratic Realists and Optimists. The first four types of perceptions were dominated by farmers and the last three by agricultural specialists. These different perspectives indicated that various individuals think differently about the nature, causes, effects and permanency of agricultural water poverty. Understanding the multiple meaning systems of agricultural water poverty for decision and policy makers will be critical as they may provide the basis for the development of more appropriate strategies to mitigate water poverty in agricultural sector.     

POWER, NATURE AND NEOLIBERALISM: THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF WATER IN CHILE

Since the 1990s, international water sector reforms have centred heavily on economic and market approaches. In regard to water resources management, tradable water rights have been promoted, often supported by the neoliberal model adopted in Chile. Chile's 1981 Water Code was reformed to comprise a system of water rights that could be freely traded with few restrictions. International financial institutions have embraced the Chilean model, claiming that it results in more efficient water use, and potentially fosters social and environmental benefits. However, in Chile the Water Code is deeply contested. It has been criticised for being too permissive and has produced a number of problems in practice. Moreover, attempts to modify it have become the focus of a lengthy polemic debate. This paper employs a political ecology perspective to explore the socio‐environmental outcomes of water management in Chile, drawing on a case study of agriculture in the semi‐arid Norte Chico. The case illustrates how large‐scale farmers exert greater control over water, while peasant farmers have increasingly less access. I argue that these outcomes are facilitated by the mode of water management implemented within the framework of the Water Code. Through this preliminary examination of social equity and the environmental aspects of water resources management in Chile, I suggest that the omission of these issues from the international debates on water rights markets is a cause for concern.     

Causes and Effects of Coastal Sand Mining in Ghana

Sand mining is a type of open-cast mining that provides material for the construction sector in Ghana. The construction sector in the coastal areas of Ghana relies heavily on coastal sand and pebbles in the building of houses, bridges and roads. Its contribution to Ghana's industrial output has increased from 17.4 per cent in 1986 to 20.8 per cent in 1993. However, the process of sand mining has accelerated coastal environmental degradation to an alarming rate in many areas. As a result the government has been compelled to spend millions of dollars to combat sea erosion. This paper examines the causes and effects of coastal sand mining in three communities in the Ahanta West District of Ghana. It argues that coastal sand needs to be exploited to satisfy human demands but this requires efficient and effective resource management to ensure sustainable development. It also calls for a concerted effort by policy makers, sand contractors, engineers, traditional rulers and local residents to find a solution to the coastal environmental crisis.     

Neoliberalism, environmentalism, and agricultural restructuring in Morocco

Neoliberal restructuring in Morocco has been taking place for over twenty years. Beginning with a decade of structural adjustment, from the early 1980s to the early 1990s, parts of the public sector have been privatized, state services such as health care and education reduced, tariffs lowered and exports heavily promoted. In the dryland agricultural areas, a declensionist colonial environmental narrative has been appropriated to help justify and implement the neoliberal goals of land privatization and the intensification of agricultural production in the name of environmental protection. This paper contributes to areas of growing interest for geographers through an analysis of the underexplored relationship between neoliberalism and environmentalism, in the form of questionable environmental narratives, in Morocco. Land degradation in the dryland agricultural areas of Morocco is commonly blamed on overgrazing by local pastoralists despite existing documentation that suggests instead that ploughing of marginal lands and over-irrigation are the primary drivers of land degradation in the region. The deployment of this colonial environmental narrative of 'native improvidence' has facilitated an expansion of state power over collective rangelands under neoliberalism at the same time that government involvement has decreased in other sectors. The effects of neoliberalism in Morocco have been complex and thus the paper argues that current neoliberal reforms such as the Morocco–US free trade agreement need to be scrutinized carefully to prevent a further exacerbation of poverty as well as to prevent further land degradation in these areas.     

Canada's environmental farm plans: transatlantic perspectives on agri-environmental schemes

Evaluation of Ontario's Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) scheme, launched in 1993, provides an opportunity for comparisons with agri-environmental measures instituted in the European Union and other parts of North America. The EFP has a strong 'bottom-up' dimension in that it is farmers' organizations that have been central both to the scheme's instigation and to its ongoing management. This has affected the nature of the actions taken by individual farmers participating in the scheme. These actions are reviewed, especially in terms of the participants' attitudes towards stewardship of the land, environmental outcomes, cross-compliance measures, barriers to participation and the role of statutory regulation. Some contrasts are drawn with the greater 'top-down' controls exerted in several EU agri-environment schemes, with the latter's promotion of extensification and the changing role of farmers as 'producers of countryside' in a multi-functional agricultural system. The diffusion of EFP schemes throughout Canada is noted and is cited as confirming the maintenance of fundamentally different attitudes to the development of farm-based environmental actions compared with those adopted in the EU.     

Some Polluting Effects of Small-Scale Industrial Production in theCentral Region of Ghana

Environmental impact assessments in developing countries are generally required for new large and medium-scale enterprises. However, a larger proportion of production takes place in the very small and micro-scale sector. This sector is characterised by low incomes and high levels of illiteracyamong the operators, both of which limit awareness of the polluting effects of their activities. The paper examines the environmental impacts of small-scale alcohol distilleries in the rural areas of the Central region of Ghana. The distillers covered in the study lacked information about the pollutionthey caused and continued to discharge large volumes of stillage (hot wastewater) into adjoining streams which are important sources of drinking water supply in rural Ghana. The discharge of waste products from the distilleries polluted the streams with negative implications for aquatic life as well as human health.     

Global warming,population growth,and natural resources for food production

Destruction of forests and the considerable burning of fossil fuels is directly causing the level of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases including methane, carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere to rise. Population growth in the US and the world indirectly contributes to this global warming. This has led the majority of scientists interested in weather and climate to predict that the planet's temperature will increase from 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. These forecasted climactic changes will most likely strongly affect crop production. Specifically these scientists expect the potential changes in temperature, moisture, carbon dioxide, and pests to decrease food production in North America. The degree of changes hinges on each crop and its environmental needs. If farmers begin using improved agricultural technology, the fall in crop yields can be somewhat counterbalanced. Even without global warming, however, agriculture in North America must embrace sensible ecological resource management practices such as conserving soil, water, energy, and biological resources. These sustainable agricultural practices would serve agriculture, farmers, the environment, and society. Agriculturalists, farmers, and society are already interested in sustainable agriculture. Still scientists must conduct more research on the multiple effects of potential global climate change on many different crops under various environmental conditions and on new technologies that farmers might use in agricultural production. We must cut down our consumption of fossil fuel, reduce deforestation, erase poverty, and protect our soil, water, and biological resources. The most important action we need to take, however, is to check population growth.     

关中平原典型村落农业转型对生态系统服务的影响研究

全球化和城市化驱动农产品市场需求的日益增长正在推动农村和农业的转变与重构,深刻影响着农村经济、社会和生态发展之间的关系。以关中平原典型村落—余家营和马家村为例,研究城市化影响下农业转型对农业生态系统服务产生了何种影响,对探索城乡互动机制、乡村特色农业发展以及生态景观建设等具有重要意义。通过问卷调查,半结构式访谈、野外填图等对余家营村和马家村的土地利用变化及农业生态系统服务进行测评,分析了关中平原农业转型变化及其对农业生态系统服务的影响与机制。结果表明：(1) “粮—粮”和“粮—果”转型使农业景观、种植结构、农户行为等都发生较大变化,在由传统粮食生产向水果、蔬菜、苗木花卉等现代型农业转变过程中,作物品种由低产量、低品质转为高产量、高品质,并更趋多样化;出现少许耕地转变为草地和林地的现象;农户积极性提高,科技水平有所提升。(2) “粮—粮”和“粮—果”转型的生态系统服务均以正服务为主,其中“粮—果”经济生产功能增长较大,增长了523.9%,但“粮—果”转型造成的负向生态系统服务也较高,因此在农业转型中生产经济价值增长越大对生态系统服务的负向影响就越大。（3） 农业转型主要受到城市化、国家政策的驱动,并通过影响农田的农业景观、农业结构、农户行为进而影响农业生态系统服务功能,反之,农业生态系统服务变化也会影响到国家政策以及农户行为。     

Agricultural liberalization,cotton markets and buyers’ relations in Zimbabwe, 2001–2008

The paper examines the relations between seed cotton buyers in Zimbabwe's deregulated cotton sector. It draws upon interviews with officials from cotton companies to expose the disagreements and lack of cooperation among them over side marketing of contracted seed cotton and in maintaining common industry standards. In this context, the paper discusses cotton sector reforms spearheaded by some industry stakeholders aimed to address problems in the cotton sector. Despite the companies’ official agreement to the draft reforms of 2004, there were simmering tensions and disputes that strained relations among them. The government's unwillingness to intervene and provide coordination exacerbated problems in the cotton sector. Further, the paper highlights the contradictions in neo‐liberal reforms that seek to promote competitive agricultural markets, and argue against state intervention and strong regulation of markets. It argues that there is a need to reconceptualize the role of the state in some predatory and developing countries that liberalized agricultural markets because of the multiple and uneven effects of the lack of regulation and absence of institutions in the private sector.     

What kind of intensification? Agricultural practice, soil fertility and socioeconomic differentiation in rural Burkina Faso

In rural Burkina Faso, intensification has been an uneven process that has resulted in social costs, particularly in the form of uneven distribution of assets and disparate environmental trade-offs. This study examines the effects of wealth status on agricultural practice and soil fertility, arguing that differences in the practices of wealthier and poorer farmers lead to differential social and environmental outcomes. Two concerns are highlighted. First is the role of poverty in environmental degradation. Much of the debate about the role of wealth and poverty in environmental outcomes in developing countries has pinpointed poverty as the main causal explanation. Using studies of agricultural practices and soil fertility from several villages in southwestern Burkina Faso, this paper will counter this dominant view by showing that wealthier farmers farm much larger areas, have fewer trees in their fields, and use higher levels of animal traction which, in turn, has led to lower levels of soil fertility. A second concern is that while poorer farmers may have agricultural practices that minimize environmental degradation, their exclusion from key institutions that provide access to resources has serious livelihood consequences and potentials for increasing socioeconomic differentiation. The agricultural practices of wealthier farmers, while not optimal environmentally, result in higher levels of household wealth. A paradox emerges that while poorer farmers are conserving environmental resources, they are doing so at the expense of economic development and well-being.     

黄土丘陵沟壑区生态系统服务对人类福祉的影响及其群体差异

生态系统服务对人类福祉的影响研究对于分析区域生态系统的社会贡献及有效减贫等方面具有重要的理论与实践意义。本文以地处黄土丘陵沟壑区的陕西省米脂县为例,在整合主客观人类福祉的基础上,基于生态系统服务可得性评估,利用结构方程模型定量分析了生态系统服务对人类福祉的影响及其群体差异。结果如下：① 生态系统服务对客观福祉和主观福祉具有显著正向影响,并通过客观福祉对主观福祉产生间接影响。农户属性对生态系统服务和客观福祉直接效应显著,对主观福祉直接效应不显著。② 生态系统服务对人类福祉的影响存在群体差异,纯农型与兼业型的服务可得性对客观福祉直接效应显著,而非农型不显著;纯农型与兼业型的服务可得性对主观福祉的直接效应明显大于非农型,且非农型间接效应不显著;非农型客观福祉对主观福祉的影响明显高于纯农型与兼业型。③ 生态系统服务对人类福祉影响的因子贡献与服务组合存在群体差异,即三类群体生态系统服务对福祉影响的差异不仅体现在服务类型及影响程度上,还体现在服务组合的差异上。     

Impact of Agricultural Labor Transfer on Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution: A Case Study of Jiangxi,China

A large proportion of the rural labor force in China will continue to transfer to non-agricultural sectors in the near future, which will inevitably lead to the transformation of the agricultural production mode and the structure of the farmers’ livelihood. The Chinese government is making great efforts to govern agricultural nonpoint source pollution (ANSP), and farmers' environmental behavior is a key factor that must be considered in the formulation of agricultural environmental policies. Based on a set of micro survey data on farmers in the study area and econometric methods, this study investigates the impact of agricultural labor transfer on ANSP by considering the substitution effect of agricultural factors and the effect of agricultural economies of scale. The results show that the increase of the agricultural labor force will not be conducive to reducing ANSP, while the income increase brought by agricultural labor transfer will improve the input structure of agricultural factors and have a positive impact on ANSP reduction. Government departments should provide subsidies or incentive measures to help agricultural social service organizations to expand their coverage and increase the frequency of socialized agricultural services, in order to guide farmers in the use of environment-friendly agricultural technology to reduce the ANSP caused by agricultural factors at the source. Furthermore, it is necessary to facilitate the development of small-sized agricultural machinery suitable for small-area land cultivation.     

The Australian Wool Crisis: Farm Adjustment Pressures and Strategies

Farm adjustment has resulted from the present crisis of production within the Australian agricultural sector. Farm adjustment pressures of the wool growers of the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales are outlined. The primary management strategies adopted by the wool producers are identified. Three farm adjustment strategies were noted; extensification, diversification and expansion. Choice of farm strategy was dependent on the characteristics of both the individual farm and farmer.     

The persistent water problems of Lima,Peru: Neoliberalism,institutional failures and social inequalities

The contingent relation between water governance and nature neoliberalization has defined most interventions in the water sector around the world in recent years. In the case of the Peruvian capital Lima, the provision of water and sanitation services in the last two decades has been the object of investments and institutional reforms strongly influenced by economic neoliberalism. This essay examines the evolution of these neoliberalizing tendencies, noting the internal disputes, necessary adjustments and underlying problems of water sufficiency in the metropolitan region. The empirical results suggest that, rather than a straightforward process, the neoliberalization of water in Lima has advanced according to political opportunities and technico‐operational constraints. The water reforms implemented in the 1990s – when the goal of privatization met political opposition – can be contrasted with the more recent phase in the 2000s, when more flexible mechanisms, such as public‐private partnerships, have facilitated public acceptance. Despite the renovation of the infrastructure, the modernization of the water sector has failed to address persistent water management problems, namely the discriminatory treatment of low income residents, the chaotic expansion of the metropolitan area and the risk of future water shortages.     

Decision–making and innovation among small–scale yam farmers in central Jamaica: a dynamic, pragmatic and adaptive process

Many researchers in the Caribbean have protested the generally negative stereotyping of small–scale farmers and the small–scale domestic agricultural sector. The essence of this pejorative attitude is that small–scale farmers display apathy and resistance to change and are reluctant to accept innovations. A major reason for this perspective is a lack of knowledge and understanding of and sensitivity towards the factors that influence and inform farmers' decisions. Studying the decision–making of small–scale farmers can, therefore, shed light on their activities and help inform policymaking. This paper uses the example of small–scale yam farmers in central Jamaica to explore and investigate important issues related to decision–making innovations around four questions. Can the decisions of farmers about innovations be considered to be rational? What are the major factors that influence decision outcomes? Why do so many agricultural innovations and modernization initiatives that target small–scale farmers fail? Do farmers really shun innovations that have clear and obvious benefits and, if so, why?