搬迁农户生计策略与土地利用行为耦合协调度分析--以贵州省习水县为例

易地扶贫搬迁改变了搬迁农户生计策略,同时影响了其土地利用行为,二者之间的耦合协调度直接影响着农户的可持续生计。本文以贵州省习水县易地搬迁农户调研数据为基础,构建以农户生计策略和土地利用行为为子系统的耦合协调度模型,分析2个子系统之间的耦合关系和耦合协调关系。研究表明:纯农型农户、农兼型农户、兼农型农户生计策略与土地利用行为之间的耦合度值介于0.4~0.5之间,水平较低,处于拮抗状态;不同类型农户生计策略与土地利用行为系统耦合协调度值均处于0.39~0.49之间,处于濒临失调阶段,存在较大优化空间;传统的农业生产形式对于改善农户生计无明显效果,引导农户向专业农业型农户转变对于促进移民安置区“人地系统”协调发展大有裨益。研究结果可为农户生计与土地利用的可持续发展提供理论依据。     

Is contract farming an inclusive alternative to land grabbing? The case of potato contract farming in Maharashtra,India

In the recent explosion of attention given to the land grabbing phenomenon, contract farming has been identified as a potentially inclusive alternative for smallholders to outright acquisition of farm land by agri-business capital. This paper responds to these claims by resituating contract farming as an equally important form of land control. The focus of the paper is a case study of potato contract farming in Maharashtra, India. While there is ‘nothing new’ about contract farming as a mode of agriculture production in India, its influence on patterns of agrarian change is poorly understood. Adopting an agrarian political economy-informed livelihoods approach, the paper argues that rather than an inclusive alternative to land grabbing, contract farming in the study site represents another way that capital is coming to control land in rural India, with just as important implications for agrarian livelihoods. While some individual households have improved their livelihoods through participation, the contract scheme acts to reinforce already existing patterns of inequality. In particular, the unequal power relations between firm and farmer skew the capture of benefits towards the firm, and render participating households vulnerable to indebtedness and loss of autonomy over land and livelihood decisions.     

Determinants of poverty: lessons from Kenya

Poverty and food security are twin concerns of Kenya in a manner similar to many affected developing countries. It is characterized by the inability of the affected households in the country to acquire and retain sustainable livelihoods. The picture in Kenya is bound to be complicated by the projected changes in climate, as well as by population increase and environmental degradation, all which will put pressure on the natural resource base and militate against the achievement of sustainable development. The poverty picture in Kenya has hardly changed since independence over four decades ago despite the enormous resources and efforts which have been directed at tackling it. The current national poverty level remains high at well over 70% in some pockets which remain particularly vulnerable. Following the recent post-election violence, there is now a fear that the situation could degenerate into famine conditions and further hopelessness for a sizeable proportion of the rural population. Government efforts to eradicate poverty and food insecurity spelled out in a thirty year development plan are unlikely to succeed unless underlying causes of inequality are properly addressed. The paper contains suggestions for new approaches to addressing the twin problems.     

Effective livelihood adaptation to climate change disturbance: Scale dimensions of practice in Mozambique

Natural resource-dependent societies in developing countries are facing increased pressures linked to global climate change. While social-ecological systems evolve to accommodate variability, there is growing evidence that changes in drought, storm and flood extremes are increasing exposure of currently vulnerable populations. In many countries in Africa, these pressures are compounded by disruption to institutions and variability in livelihoods and income. The interactions of both rapid and slow onset livelihood disturbance contribute to enduring poverty and slow processes of rural livelihood renewal across a complex landscape. We explore cross-scale dynamics in coping and adaptation response, drawing on qualitative data from a case study in Mozambique. The research characterises the engagements across multiple institutional scales and the types of agents involved, providing insight into emergent conditions for adaptation to climate change in rural economies. The analysis explores local responses to climate shocks, food security and poverty reduction, through informal institutions, forms of livelihood diversification and collective land-use systems that allow reciprocity, flexibility and the ability to buffer shocks. However, the analysis shows that agricultural initiatives have helped to facilitate effective livelihood renewal, through the reorganisation of social institutions and opportunities for communication, innovation and micro-credit. Although there are challenges to mainstreaming adaptation at different scales, this research shows why it is critical to assess how policies can protect conditions for emergence of livelihood transformation.     

Beyond the numbers: Understanding the value of vegetation to rural livelihoods in Africa

Different types of vegetation found in local environments are of value to rural livelihoods of many African households. However, the dominant way of expressing this value, which is mainly through economic valuation studies, is potentially limiting this knowledge’s usefulness in policy and research, due to the inability to present full picture. Using literature review and insights from field work, the paper argues that realized and notional values of vegetation to rural livelihoods are socially constructed and contested, and - in addition to understanding local livelihood context, which include social difference, and ecological dynamics - a focus on social institutions as terrains of negotiation is crucial. This means that resource value in rural livelihoods can be realized through contested and negotiated access arrangements that are mediated by complex institutions at local and external levels.     

Migration and urban survival strategies in Windhoek, Namibia

Based on recent research in Windhoek, this paper demonstrates that it is the well established and widespread social linkages that persist between rural and urban households that are central to the ability of poor urban households to survive. Whereas informal coping mechanisms that include borrowing, piecework and credit are pervasive in rural areas of Namibia, intra-urban sources of food are poorly developed, and outside of kinship circles, social networks within Windhoek are used sparingly, even in times of greatest need. In addition, urban agriculture plays a very limited role at present in urban food supply. The research demonstrates that urban households that are most vulnerable to hunger are those that have limited social connections to the rural areas, and must rely on intra-urban opportunities to get food (including borrowing, begging, piecework and crime). The most vulnerable are female- and male-headed households with no access to farm income and limited/irregular urban incomes. In contrast, those with active rural-urban linkages enjoy significant transfers of food from rural areas that offset hunger and vulnerability in the urban context. Urban-rural reciprocity is therefore not only a one-way movement of people and resources from the urban to the rural areas, but also a transfer of food from rural to urban households.     

‘Where is the life in farming?’: The viability of smallholder farming on the margins of the Kalahari, Southern Africa

This paper investigates the ways in which national and regional policies relate to farming activities and concerns amongst the rural population in an area of southern Africa. The struggle to make a living through farming was a common theme to emerge from research about changing livelihoods in response to both variability in the environment and changes in policy. This local discourse echoed regional debates about land and agrarian reform in post-apartheid South Africa and the uncertain future of mixed farming in Botswana. It also raised broader questions about the viability of the future of small-medium-scale farming systems in rural areas in Africa, especially those within dynamic dryland environments such as the Kalahari. This paper looks specifically at the links between poverty and asset holding and aims to identify the ways in which people are or are not able to utilise or mobilise these assets in times of need. We argue that this can vary significantly between seemingly similar settlements, and similar households and that understanding this complexity is the key to recognising how future interventions many impact upon people’s lives. Too often, in the quest to produce understandings of poverty and livelihoods, the complexity, incongruity and reality of day-to-day practices are overlooked. Thus we seek to draw out the interactions between policy and natural resource use, and the capital asset changes involved in these interactions, which influence the sustainability of livelihoods and the differing levels of poverty and vulnerability.     

Community strategies to promote sustainable wetland-based food security in rural areas of Zimbabwe

This article explores the various strategies rural households employ to sustain wetland use and conservation in the context of the restrictions imposed by the existing legal framework in Zimbabwe. Wetland cultivation is a common feature of the rural landscape and is mainly triggered by subsistence households endeavouring to stabilize their food security, especially in semi-arid and arid environments of the developing countries. Data was collected through a household questionnaire survey, key informant interviews, document review and direct observations. Quantitative data was analysed using ANOVA, Spearman Correlation Coefficient and Wilcoxon in Statistical Package for Social Scientists, whereas qualitative data was subjected to thematic analysis. The results revealed that most households adjacent to wetlands were food secure as wetland conditions enable the provision of a wide range of crops and natural products, contributing almost half of the food directly consumed and 48.2 % of average annual household total cash income. It was also observed that various soil and water conservation practices were adopted and local institutional arrangements were put in place to oversee their effective implementation. Thus, the general result has been increased wetland productivity, improved livelihoods and ecosystem protection. This has largely rendered the impact of legislation restricting wetland cultivation subtle in the local context. The study concluded that there is a need to promote participatory wetland management based on low-cost approaches sensitive to local conditions and the needs and practices of the local communities.     

Community control of resources and the challenge of improving local livelihoods: A critical examination of community forestry in Nepal

Community forestry in Nepal vests rights of access, use, exclusion, and management of national forestland to local user groups. There is strong potential for community forests to serve as the basis for improving the quality of life and the status of livelihoods in rural Nepal while conserving forest resources. Frequently, community forest user groups are dominated by local elites who choose to close access to community forestland for several years. As a result, forest conditions are improving, but the poorest households bear the cost of strict protection. In this paper I argue that community forestry is thus having rather limited success at improving rural livelihoods. Although community forestry is fairly successful at conservation, there remain huge wealth disparities between community forest member households, limited access to vital forest products, and significant power disparities within community forest user groups. Such conditions of inequity, reinforced by current community forestry policy and practice, severely challenge the development potential of community-controlled natural resources. In Nepal, overcoming these challenges may require a change in policy that mandates more inclusive local decision-making.     

Community-based strategies for coping with food scarcity: A role in African famine early-warning systens

The effectiveness of Famine Early Warning Systems (EWS) being used in Africa is being questioned because they are unable to provide sufficiently accurate information on the specific locations vulnerable to food scarcity. The data currently used to asses the emergence of local deficits are criticized as being inaccurate or belated. The range of strategies for coping with food deficits used by farmers and herders in rural Africa offers an alternative set of information which has the potential for improving the spatial specificity of EWS.     

可持续生计的研究现状及未来重点趋向

Under the background of fast urbanization and urban-rural dual structure in China, the research about sustainable livelihoods has important theoretical and practical meaning for solving the problem of poverty in rural areas and promoting the transformation of semi-urbanized farmers who live in city to urban residents. First, this paper reviewed the emergence and development history of sustainable livelihoods, and introduced current frameworks of sustainable livelihoods analysis. Second, this paper summarized the international research status quo from the aspects of both theory and practice, concluded the domestic research progress from four aspects including vulnerability context, livelihoods assets, policy and institution influencing process, livelihoods strategy and outcome. This study believed that the problems of current sustainable livelihoods research included: The theoretical system is incomplete and needs to be improved; research methods and technological means are not complete, which could obstruct research results; most researches focus on rather static assessment than dynamic forecast; researchers focus mainly on case study in rural areas, lacking in the semi-urbanized farmers in the urbanization process and macro level study. Finally, this paper suggested five key issues of future sustainable livelihoods research including the sustainable livelihoods research of a large number of semi-urbanized farmers in the urbanization process, sustainable livelihoods research at macro level, integrated study of both humanities and natural sciences, dynamic study based on new technological means, and sustainable livelihoods research in typical case areas.     

Farming as a livelihood source for the urban poor of Nakuru, Kenya

Farming among urban dwellers in Sub-Saharan Africa is a common phenomenon. The present study, carried out in a medium-sized town in Kenya, not only confirmed this but also showed that farming by urban dwellers in the rural areas was even more important for these households’ livelihoods than farming in town. However, those who could benefit most from farming, i.e. the urban poor, appeared to be underrepresented among urban farming households and those urban poor who did farm, either in urban or in rural areas, performed worse than the farming non-poor. The importance of farming as a livelihood source is illustrated by the fact that in years with very little or no harvest due to drought, many of the poor farming households faced food shortages.     

Multi-topographical landscape: comparative vulnerability of climate-induced disaster-prone rural area of Pakistan

Pakistan, being an agro-based economy, is considered most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The country is susceptible to many natural catastrophes and climate-induced events due to intra-geographical and intra-topographical disparities. This paper is an attempt to measure the relative vulnerability of diverse topographies in rural areas of Pakistan using vulnerability and capacity index tool. The results are based on the findings of primary survey data (350 households from 17 rural communities). Accordingly, and as expected, the key relative differences are attributed to topographical conditions besides the basic quandary of rural areas of Pakistan. The topographical attributes are largely linked to the nature of hazards and relative impacts. While the other aspects of vulnerability in all topographies stem out of inappropriate infrastructure, low education, and institutional factors. The absence of multi-sectoral and productive economic opportunities also poses an adverse impact on the resilience of households in rural areas. The women and households headed by females are found relatively more vulnerable than male-headed households.

     

Cattle-based livelihoods,changes in the taskscape,and human–bear conflict in the Ecuadorian Andes

Cattle-raising, especially for dairy, has expanded in the Ecuadorian Andes since the late 1990s as smallholding farmers have shifted their livelihood activities away from crop-based agriculture due to changes in climate, market conditions, and rural out-migration. Non-migrants constructing cattle-based livelihoods are turning to cattle as the basis for “viable” livelihoods in order to remain in depopulating rural parishes. Non-migrant farmers express ideals such as autonomy and tranquility as reasons for their attachment to rural places. In turn, their livelihood activities remake these places materially. Drawing on Tim Ingold’s conceptualization of taskscape and landscape, I argue that cattle-based livelihoods create a taskscape prone to human–wildlife conflict. Since 2009, residents have reported dozens of Andean bear attacks on cattle. Cattle are vulnerable capital assets. They represent both an investment with daily and weekly dividends over many years, in the form of milk, and a long-term form of wealth storage. The turn to cattle-based livelihoods in this region has thus heightened human–bear conflict. The phenomenon of the human–bear conflict is therefore a product of shifting livelihoods and accompanying changes in the taskscape. This analysis demonstrates the importance of listening to narratives of place attachment and accounting for the cultural logics of livelihood choices when considering interventions to address human–wildlife conflict.     

An assessment of women’s access to natural resources through communal projects in South Africa

With the passing of the apartheid regime and its multi-faceted mechanisms of exclusion, women in rural South Africa have begun expanding their access to natural resources for livelihood enhancement. One of the ways this has occurred is through community-based organizations that focus on local production as a mechanism to transform natural resources into material goods. While this practice is nearly ubiquitous throughout sub-Saharan Africa, the apartheid regime was particularly effective in limiting access to natural resources, a phenomenon reversed by the current democratic government. In this paper, we assess the impact of organizational design on women’s livelihood systems as a means of alleviating rural poverty. We surveyed women on both more formal, or bureaucratic, organizations and more informal, or socially-embedded, organizations. After locating the discussion in the relevant gender, environment, and livelihoods literatures, we employ four concepts, organizational context, environmental entitlement, livelihood systems, and gender and power relations to assess the impact of organizational design on livelihood enhancement. Having found that women derived no significant material benefit from participation in either type of organization, we conclude that women are straddling two processes, neo-liberalization and neo-traditionalism, that impact gender and power relations. This situation has left women in vulnerable positions within their organizations and with little livelihood enhancement.     

(Re)constructing rural–urban spaces: gendered livelihoods,migration, and natural resources in South Africa

Critical approaches to development theory and practice provide alternative perspectives that focus on counterhegemonic and discursive dimensions of the development process. Feminist development is one such approach that opens up new spaces and opportunities to promote socially progressive and sustainable economic strategies. This paper uses feminist development geography as a framework to highlight the intersection of diverse spaces and economic strategies at the household and community levels. The analysis focuses on gendered livelihoods that are linked to circular migration and use of natural resources as a way to understand the integration of rural and urban spaces of development. The empirical section of this paper examines demographic patterns and socio-economic trends in Limpopo Province, South Africa as a context for the case study of two community-based women’s producer groups. These examples illustrate how economic strategies and social identities are embedded in and integrate both rural and urban spaces. This analysis contributes to feminist and post-structural development theory and practice by highlighting the potential for progressive forms of economic and social empowerment.     

Peri-urbanization landuse dynamics: an analysis of evolving patterns and their impacts on Gabane Village,Botswana

This case study investigates peri-urban land-use conflicts and changes, in a typical African setting, for a village located on the outskirts of the capital city of Gaborone-Botswana, in order to explore policy implications for sustainable core-region development. The year 1982 provided the baseline situation that was compared with other dates, namely: 1996; 2006 and 2012 in order to analyze land-use conflicts, competition, and succession. The study tracked the landuse changes using: Geographic Information System (GIS), with 1:50 000 air photos taken in 1982; Landsat images from 1996 and 2006 as well as 2012 Google images of medium resolution. The investigation also relied on a social survey, historical landscape reconstruction approaches, field interviews and direct observations. An analysis of 1982 aerial photographs revealed that Gabane Village had experienced little urban influence from the city of Gaborone at that time. Subsequently, stakeholders with different socio-economic demand emerged. This caused extensive land-use changes over the study period. The residents of Gabane nonetheless employed diverse adaptive strategies to sustain their livelihoods. An analysis of the proposed 2001-2025 Development Plan for Gabane Village, identifies possible future land-use changes and conflicts and proposes tentative policy solutions for the emerging sustainable development challenges.     

Biodiversity conservation and land rights in South Africa: Whither the farm dwellers?

South Africa is unique in that its globally significant biodiversity, which is under significant threat, coexists with an apartheid history of dispossession that produced a starkly unequal land ownership pattern and widespread rural poverty. It is in this context that the post-apartheid government must fulfil constitutional and international obligations to safeguard environmental assets as well as undertake land reform benefiting the previously dispossessed. Consequently, there is a continuous challenge of reconciling complex and often conflicting relationships between poverty, inequitable access to resources, and the protection of biodiversity. Current efforts to conserve the Cape Floral Kingdom emphasize partnerships between private landowners and existing nature reserves to promote sustainable utilisation of biodiversity. This paper presents a case study exploring how this approach might be reconciled with land rights and opportunities for land-based livelihoods among farm dwellers in the Baviaanskloof area of the Eastern Cape. The paper identifies systemic and structural tensions in current attempts to reconcile biodiversity conservation and farm dwellers’ interests, and documents issues of process and principle that could become important in the future. In doing so, it highlights the influence of on-farm power relations and overly complex institutional arrangements in determining the real extent of participation by affected farm dwellers and the efficacy of social safeguard policies. Findings also caution against an over-reliance on ecotourism as the major occupation and the paper argues instead for support for multiple livelihood strategies.     

‘All my hopes and dreams are shattered’: Urbanization and migrancy in an imploding African economy - the case of Zimbabwe

During the 1990s, urban livelihoods in Zimbabwe began to suffer a series of economic stresses, which accelerated in 1997 and then accelerated again, with the inception of fast-track land reform, from 2000. This has reduced urban living standards significantly and devastated real urban income levels. After a discussion of the economic and political parameters of this period, this paper links these to empirical changes in the urban livelihoods and perceptions of urban living standards of recent in-migrants to Harare. This draws on a longitudinal database of four surveys of recent migrants to the city conducted in 1985, 1988, 1994 and 2001. Among a range of qualitative issues explored in these surveys has been the question of migrants’ future plans in relation to their intended length of stay in town. It is shown that migrants have been feeling increasingly negative or unsure about their urban experience since structural adjustment began in the early 1990s, and that these perceptions had greatly strengthened by 2001. By the last survey only a small minority felt they would remain permanently in town and most of the migrants from rural areas felt that their living standards in Harare were either worse than rural living standards, or no better. While Zimbabwe’s current political and economic crisis is exceptional, serious urban poverty is a feature across sub-Saharan African countries and it is argued that this has had a depressing effect on net rural-urban migration rates.     

Poverty and environmental nexus in rural Pakistan: a multidimensional approach

The study examines the relationship between poverty and forest cover degradation in rural areas of Pakistan. The area selected for the study District Upper Dir is a rural and relatively backward region located in northwestern Pakistan, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The study area is undergoing severe deforestation and natural disasters in the recent past. The study consists of two stages, in first stage the traditional Geographical information system image was used to analyze the spatial–temporal situation of the surroundings. In the second stage, well-designed questionnaire was used to collect the primary information from 420 randomly selected households of research areas. A multidimensional poverty index has been used to measure the poverty profile of the population. It has been found that 55% households were below the poverty line. Almost, 95% households are using wood for cooking purposes. High dependence on natural resources causes forest cover degradation while burning off too much wood causes CO₂ emission and leads to environmental degradation. A major portion of population is living on steeply sloped areas with certain risks. It is found that frequency of flash flood is 53% and agricultural land (54%) is at high risk and often flows with flash floods. It is concluded that there is strong correlation between multidimensional poverty and forest cover degradation which leads to climate and environmental risks.