Fallow,labour and livelihood in shifting cultivation: implications for deforestation in northern Lao PDR

Shifting cultivation is often blamed for deforestation in tropical upland areas. Based on a case study of three villages in northern Lao PDR, this paper combines household surveys with a remote sensing based analysis of forest cover, covering the period 1989–1999, in order to analyse changes in shifting cultivation practices and livelihood strategies and the impact of these on deforestation. Due to population pressure and relocation of villages, easily accessed land is increasingly scarce and fallow periods have been shortened during the 1990s. A net annual deforestation of about 1% was found in the area during the study period. This deforestation rate reflects shorter fallow periods in secondary forests rather than encroachment on mature forests, which are not used for cultivation by the farmers in the three villages. Farmers rate scarce labour as a major constraint on shifting cultivation; nonetheless, a tendency towards lower labour input with shorter fallow periods is observed, contradicting conventional intensification theory. Livelihoods are diversifying through the establishment of plantations, cultivation of wet rice and adoption of animal husbandry, but given the socio-economic conditions in the area, shifting cultivation is likely to remain the most suitable farming system in the near future.     

Financial efficiency of major soil and water conservation measures in West Usambara highlands, Tanzania

Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) measures are needed to control soil erosion and sustain agricultural production on steep slopes of West Usambara mountains. However, the adoption by farmers of the recommended soil and water conservation measures is low and soil erosion continues to be a problem. It could well be that the reason for the low adoption is that the costs to invest in soil and water conservation are higher than the eventual benefits. This research assessed the costs and benefits of bench terraces, grass strips and fanya juu, which are major SWC measures. Financial Cost Benefit Analysis (FCBA) was undertaken for farmers with low, moderate and high opportunity costs of labour at different slopes and soil types. The results show that labour is the major cost item in implementing SWC measures and is higher with bench terraces than with fanya juu and grass strips. The results also show that the costs of establishing the three SWC measures exceed the returns in the initial 2 years. However, in the long term, the three SWC measures are profitable to farmers with low to medium opportunity costs of labour on gentle to moderate slopes. It was also found that SWC measures are not financially attractive to most farmers with off-farm activities and other sources of income. It is concluded that high investment costs and initial negative returns are the major hindrances to the adoption of SWC measures by smallholder farmers in West Usambara mountains. Options to overcome the initial investment costs include the gradual investment in SWC measures, introduction of high value crops and small credit facilities. The promotion of dairy cattle under zero grazing system can also increase the adoption of SWC measures because of the high benefits from grasses used to stabilise SWC measures.     

Agribusiness and farmers in Mexico: the importance of contractual relations

In recent decades contract farming as a mechanism that integrates and subordinates agricultural production to export oriented agribusiness has expanded in Third World countries. In Mexico contract farming dominates the production of horticultural crops for processing and export. It is also used for barley and to grow some varieties of wheat for Cargill . The contract farming labour agreement represents an institution that links local and global processes where agribusiness is the key actor that integrates local farmers to national and world markets. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the implications of contract farming for productive relations by examining its impact upon farmers and firms. The study found that despite the disadvantages of contract farming for growers, and the disproportional risks born by producers, they enter into contract farming labour agreements because they lack alternatives for financing, technical assistance and access to markets. The experience of contract farming in Mexico and several Third World countries shows that its growth is related to the implementation of neo-liberal policies that are accompanied by the withdrawal of state support and regulation of agricultural production. In this context, contract farming represents a livelihood strategy for many Mexican growers.     

The State and Civil Society: Transition and Prospects of Labour Geographies in an Era of Economic Globalisation in Nigeria and South Africa

This paper seeks to provide a comparative analysis of the role of labour movements in democratisation during two very different political transitions in Nigeria and South Africa and in the context of globalisation and neoliberal hegemony. First, Nigeria is examined as an example of authoritarian rollback and containment of pro-democracy movements in an economy heavily conditioned by interventions from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Second, South Africa is discussed as a case of home-grown structural adjustment or gradual neoliberal shift in macroeconomic policies without relevant external interventions. The paper compares the failure of past Nigerian democratisation with the problems and issues arising after the first successful democratic electoral change in South Africa. Labour is analysed by focusing on its relationships with a set of organisations, institutions and regulated behaviours, and the broader concept of labour movement in its plurality of forms of identity, militancy and organisation. The argument of this paper is that the neoliberal discourse, with or without overt political authoritarianism, involves a narrowing of spaces for institutionalising the progressive role of labour in civil society. In the Nigerian case, this process leads to grassroots' demand for a significant radicalisation of trade union strategies, while the possibilities and constraints for such an outcome in the South African case are explored in relation to the crisis of corporatist solutions. The paper concludes that the impact of labour is the single most important factor in the establishment of democracy through alliance with other social forces. At the same time, this conclusion cautions with the contradictory nature of pressures placed on organised labour.     

SOIL SUITABILITY CLASSIFICATION BY SMALL FARMERS

Procedures for soil suitability classification by small farmers of southwestern Nigeria are examined. Data were collected through interviews with 225 farmers at group and individual levels. The survey relied on the farmers'perception of some observable soil properties in the field. Soil properties included texture, color, organic matter, drainage condition of soil, and bulk density. The farmers determine soil types year round, irrespective of season, unlike the Hanunoo system. While soil types were identified by their texture and color characteristics, suitability classes were defined principally by texture. Eighteen soil types and four soil classes were identified for soil suitability classification projects designed for small farmers. The reliability and viability of the results of this study need to be verified through on-farm experiments.     

Military Payroll And Regional Growth

Procedures for soil suitability classification by small farmers of southwestern Nigeria are examined. Data were collected through interviews with 225 farmers at group and individual levels. The survey relied on the farmers'perception of some observable soil properties in the field. Soil properties included texture, color, organic matter, drainage condition of soil, and bulk density. The farmers determine soil types year round, irrespective of season, unlike the Hanunoo system. While soil types were identified by their texture and color characteristics, suitability classes were defined principally by texture. Eighteen soil types and four soil classes were identified for soil suitability classification projects designed for small farmers. The reliability and viability of the results of this study need to be verified through on-farm experiments.     

The population factor in public service provision in Nigeria

"This paper is concerned with ascertaining the impact of population on the spatial pattern of public service provision in Nigeria....Using a set of population and revenue variables as explanatory variables, a step-wise multiple regression model was employed to determine the impact of these variables on the provision of selected public services. The results of the analyses show that urban population is generally more important than total population in explaining the spatial pattern of public services. Generally speaking, the revenue variables are even more important in this regard, especially the internal revenue of states....One implication of these results is that ability to pay, rather than need, is the basis for public service provision in Nigeria. Thus, the richer and more developed states are better off than the less developed ones, irrespective of population size."     

Responses of rural households to the impacts of population and land-use changes along the Eastern Escarpment of Wello,Ethiopia

The article analyses the effects of changes in land cover and land use changes together with population changes on the livelihood of rural households, and also farming households' responses to these changes, in typical rural settings of north-eastern Ethiopia. The study shows that the immediate impact of shrubland and forest increase since the late 1970s, coupled with population increase, is an exponential fall of per capita cropland and grazing land, which are the principal physical assets of livelihoods of the rural farming community in the area. Furthermore, the study reveals that the scarcity of cultivated land in the area neither brings about agricultural intensification nor leads to diversification into non-farm activities, and farmers did not respond to the scarcity of cultivated land through large out-migration. In general, the Boserupian assumption of land-use intensification through improved labour and land productivity did not happen in the region. Rather, the Malthusian thesis seems appropriate. The majority of farming households are destitute, unable to satisfy their own food demands, and live in absolute poverty. This situation has been brought about not only due to population pressure but also as a result of the policies that have been applied in all systems since the 1950s.     

温州市域城镇体系规划构想

本文在温州市域城镇体系规划实践的基础上,侧重分析影响城镇发展的地理背景和经济因素,应用城市地理学的基本理论探讨城镇体系的等级规模结构、职能分工系统及空间分布网络,并强调要发挥各级中心城市的作用。     

城乡劳动力的转移与城市化

本文从城市化基本定义出发,探讨了劳动力在农村与城市两大经济载体之间流动的机制,指出农业容纳力与排斥力、城市吸引力与吸收力是劳动力流动的决定因素,并在对四个因素进行相互关系分析的基础上,阐明了均衡与非均衡条件下劳动力转移的不同途径。     

Spatial redistribution of the Torres Strait Islander population: a preliminary analysis

Until World War II, Torres Strait Islanders were restricted in their distribution to the Torres Strait itself. Since that time, migration to the Australian mainland has contributed to a significant redistribution with the majority of Torres Strait Islanders now resident in the major cities of eastern Australia. Despite the importance of migration in determining Torres Strait Islander involvement in the labour market, study of their population movement has been limited and such analysis as does exist is unsystematic, spatially restricted and generally dated. This paper is therefore an attempt to draw from the literature what is known about the redistribution of Torres Strait Islanders and to supplement this with an analysis of the most recently available internal migration data from the 1986 and 1991 censuses. While it appears that the search for employment was an important stimulant for migration in the past, this is probably less so now, not least because Torres Strait Islanders now find themselves located in places where labour markets exist. No evidence is found from the 1986 Census to support the idea of sustained redistribution away from areas of long standing settlement in northern Queensland. This contrasts intuitively with distribution patterns revealed by the 1991 Census, and the extent to which this discrepancy is due to migration or census error raises a critical issue in the analysis of Islander population change.     

Female Farmers in Canada, 1971–1986*

The discussion of agricultural restructuring has often failed to include farm women, particularly those who own and operate their own enterprises. Accordingly, this research presents an overview of Canadian female farm operators, who are a growing component of the farm operator population. Using previously untabulated data from the 1971, 1981, and 1986 censuses of agriculture and population, the study draws comparisons to male farmers in Canada and female farmers in the United States. The census data show that the socioeconomic and farming profile of Canadian female farmers differs from that of their male colleagues, and that the differences in certain key characteristics (such as farm size, sales, and commodity type) are becoming more noticeable over time. This raises questions about whether female operators are in danger of becoming marginalized from mainstream production, and whether their needs as a minority group among agricultural producers are being recognized.     

川西地区劳动就业研究

以川西作为研究区域,对农村劳动力转移或非农就业从自然—人文相结合的观点进行了探讨。     

广州市流动人口管理研究—现状,预测与对策

广州市是我国流动人口最多的大城市之一，其流动人口具有来源地广泛、目的多样、性别比高、年龄构成轻、文化素质不高以及滞留时间长的特点。现在，流动人口的劳务、计划生育和社会治安管理中存在着诸多问题。１９７０年到１９９３年，广州市流动人口以每年平均１５．１８％的速度增长。为了预测其未来的发展趋势，本文根据灰色系统理论，建立ＧＭ（１，１）模型。该模型精度较高，通过检验，依据此模型对未来５年内广州市流动人口进     

快速城镇化背景下居住空间分异与失地农民社会融合的作用机制研究——以长三角地区为例

伴随着快速城镇化进程,中国城镇化已从速度型向质量型转变,这一转变的核心是实现人的城镇化,即农业转移人口的市民化。失地农民的居住形态由原来的宅基地建房为主转变成征地补偿房、租房和自购商品房等多种形式并存,即出现了居住空间分异现象。居住空间分异对失地农民的社会融合会产生重要影响,但其作用机制的有关研究尚少。论文基于长三角地区的调研数据,以“社会—空间”为主要视角,从住房类型(含区位)和住房人均面积2个维度衡量居住空间,通过建立回归模型,分析居住空间对城郊失地农民社会融合的影响。研究发现,其作用机制为：一是不同居住空间的城郊失地农民的社会融合程度有显著差别;二是住房类型对城郊失地农民的社会融合影响最大,住房面积则影响不大;三是性别、年龄、职业、收入、获得非农户口的时间等因素也与住房类型共同产生作用。为推动失地农民的社会融合、提升新型城镇化的质量,可采取的措施有推行混合居住模式、增强就业能力以及政府增加投入提升城郊失地农民社会保障水平等。     

Rethinking The "Local" in Labour Markets: The Consequences of Cultural Embeddedness in a Philippine Growth Zone

This paper contributes to recent geographical studies of local labour markets in three ways. First, it highlights the distinctive labour market processes occurring in an industrialising setting in the Philippines to complement existing studies that have tended to focus on "restructuring" contexts in the west. Second, it shows how labour markets are embedded not just in processes of institutional and social regulation, but also in the transformation of the culture of work that accompanies industrialisation in an agricultural setting. Thus, while a significant feature of the local labour market in the municipality of Tanza (Province of Cavite) is a shortage of labour in the agricultural sector, this cannot be explained solely by the massive shift of a young workforce into non-agricultural activities. It must also be understood in the context of changes found in youth culture and conceptions of work. The result is that the availability of labour for agriculture dries up even if the supply of labour, in a literal sense, is adequate for its needs. Third, a significant process operating in this "local" labour market is the extraction of labour for temporary overseas work. This suggests that local labour markets should be conceived not just on the basis of geographical contiguity, but also in the "networked space" of households functioning across very large distances.     

The Dynamic Pathways of Agrarian Transformation in the Northeastern Thai–Lao Borderlands

ABSTRACT

Rural livelihoods in the northeastern Thai borderlands have moved away from being predominantly agrarian, yet farming remains a desirable alternative for many people. The empirical findings from fieldwork in a village in the northeastern Thai–Lao borderlands indicate how dependence on agriculture is determined by family contexts, such as land ownership, education level of household members, their gender and age. Cheap Lao labour and government price-support policies have enabled farmers to remain in production and diversify. Some educated rural people have successfully found employment opportunities outside the village as migratory wage labour, and are able to attain higher social status back in the village. Successful migrants have invested their earnings on cash-crop production and become rural entrepreneurs. Conversely, less educated migrants were unsuccessful in finding good jobs in the city and viewed agriculture as a more favourable alternative and valuable security. Geographical, cultural and economic specificities conditioned rural transformation and contributed to increasingly diverse and geographically extended livelihoods.     

Rural poverty in Peninsular Malaysia and the Malaysian national agricultural policy

The National Agricultural Policy was implemented to arrest the decline that agriculture experienced in the 1970s and early 1980s. It aims to modernise and revitalise Malaysian agriculture and alleviate rural poverty while retaining labour in agriculture. This paper evaluates its likely effects on poverty among small‐scale padi farmers. The analysis is based on an evaluation of the strategies and programs that are being implemented as part of the policy. It is argued that the National Agricultural Policy will not alleviate poverty in the padi sub‐sector for three main reasons. Firstly, the strategies and programs currently being employed are essentially unchanged from those that were unsuccessfully employed in the past. Secondly, it is premised on a theoretical base which will not lead to the development of effective anti‐poverty strategies. And, finally, it is flawed by policy contradictions.     

Community Conflicts and Armed Militancy in Nigeria’s Niger Delta: Change and Continuity?

This article explores the complex relationship between communal conflicts and antistate armed militancy in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. Based on fieldwork in rural communities, the research found that individuals who emerged as dominant actors as a result of their involvement in communal conflict were at the forefront of antistate militancy. The article highlights the role of antistate militancy in the Niger Delta in the emergence of new elites in local communities. It argues that antistate militants who became new elites in local communities are now being integrated into the network of Nigeria’s ruling class. Meanwhile, ordinary civilians that were not involved in antistate militancy continue to contest the dominance of these new elites in local communities. This situation tends to perpetuate community conflicts in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region.     

Economic vulnerability, beer and HIV/AIDS: The struggle to sustain farmer livelihoods and indigenous sorghum varieties in eastern Uganda

Drawing on a case study from eastern Uganda, this paper describes how social and environmental factors combine to affect the sustainability of both sorghum landraces and the farmers who depend on it for food and income security. It delineates how changing regional patterns of agricultural production and consumption, institutional neglect, economic hardship, natural resource degradation and a labour supply crisis precipitated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, may be conspiring to place sorghum landraces at risk of extinction and, thus, undermine already precarious livelihoods. The paper therefore challenges the common assumption that marginalized rural women – by virtue of having diverse varieties and species under their care – can be expected to conserve that diversity.