The Rule of The Jungle in Pakistan: A Case Study on Corruption and Forest Management in Swat

Corruption in the forest sector of Swat, Pakistan is impairing the sustainable management of forest. We analyze corruption in a case study setting against the backdrop of the reform options that are most often cited as possible solutions. As we highlight in this study, the ‘crime and punishment’ approach is not feasibly implemented if the overall institutional environment is weak. Since countrywide overhaul of corruption through sweeping reform programs, the other reform approach, is a difficult and lengthy task, there is a need for an alternative kind of reform. In the case of a corruption-ridden centralised forest management regime, institutional reform should move away from enforcement of existing institutions and promote communal management of natural resources by locals.Corruption, Forest Management, Environmental Policy, Institutional Reform

Gender and global value chains : challenges of economic and social upgrading in agri-food

Supermarkets and agri-food companies increasingly dominate the production and retailing of food across the global south and north. They operate through global value chains (GVC) within which trade is coordinated by consumer-focused lead firms. This is generating jobs and incomes for workers and smallholders, a significant proportion female. Women contribute to enhancing productivity and quality in GVCs, but outcomes for improving their well-being appear to be mixed. The paper develops a gendered global value chain analysis as a frame for analysing processes of economic and social upgrading and downgrading in GVCs. It draws on case studies from African traditional and high value agro-exports to highlight three scenarios where: i. economic and partial social upgrading have gone together (floriculture); ii. upgrading and downgrading outcomes are mixed (horticulture); and iii. economic and social downgrading have gone together (cocoa). It considers the intersection of GVCs and gender embeddedness in shaping gender dynamics, and the role of private, civil society and public governance in promoting more gender equitable economic and social upgrading

Seed systems smallholder farmers use

Seed can be an important entry point for promoting productivity, nutrition and resilience among smallholder farmers. While investments have primarily focused on strengthening the formal sector, this article documents the degree to which the informal sector remains the core for seed acquisition, especially in Africa. Conclusions drawn from a uniquely comprehensive data set, 9660 observations across six countries and covering 40 crops, show that farmers access 90.2 % of their seed from informal systems with 50.9 % of that deriving from local markets. Further, 55 % of seed is paid for by cash, indicating that smallholders are already making important investments in this arena. Targeted interventions are proposed for rendering formal and informal seed sector more smallholder-responsive and for scaling up positive impacts

Colorado water, March/April 2019

The newsletter is devoted to highlighting water research and activities at CSU and throughout Colorado.Newsletter of the Colorado Water Center. Theme: Data-driven water management

Charting from within a Grounded Concept of Member Control

Organizational charts of membership structures can be useful tools for monitoring member control when they accurately depict a concept of control grounded in context and theory. This paper develops the concept "member control" by placing it within cooperative principles and democratic theory. From this perspective, members control their organization when, through a democratic process of decision making, they are able to keep the cooperative a cooperative, a condition we call "containment." With this conceptual development, a containment method of member control charting is developed and illustrative examples given.Agribusiness,

Estimation Of Lithologies And Depositional Facies From Wireline Logs

We approach the problem of identifying facies from well logs though the use of neural networks that perform vector quantization of input data by competitive learning. The method can be used in either an unsupervised or supervised manner. Unsupervised analysis is used to segregate a well into distinct facies classes based on the log behavior. Supervised analysis is used to identify the facies types present in a certain well by making use of the facies identified from cores in a nearby well. The method is suitable for analyzing lithologies and depositional facies of horizontal wells, which are almost never cored, especially if core data is available for nearby vertical wells. Both types of modes are implemented and used for the automatic facies analysis of horizontal wells in Saudi Arabia. In addition to the identification of facies, the method is also able to calculate confidence measures for each analysis that is indicative of how well the analysis procedure can identify those facies given uncertainties in the data. Moreover, constraints derived from human experience and geologic principles can be applied to guide the inference process.Saudi AramcoMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Borehole Acoustics and Logging ConsortiumMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Earth Resources Laboratory. Reservoir Delineation Consortiu

Smallholder Income and Land Distribution in Africa: Implications for Poverty Reduction Strategies

This paper provides a micro-level foundation for discussions of income and asset allocation within the smallholder sector in Eastern and Southern Africa, and explores the implications of these findings for rural growth and poverty alleviation strategies in the region. Results are drawn from nationally-representative household surveys in five countries between 1990 and 2000: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Mozambique, and Zambia. The paper addresses five major points: (1) why geographically-based poverty reduction or targeting strategies-e.g., focusing on marginal areas-is likely to miss a significant share of the poor in any particular country regardless of targeting efficiency in these areas; (2) why current enthusiasm for community-driven development approaches will require serious attention to how resources are allocated at local levels; (3) why sustained income growth for the poorest strata of the rural population will depend on agricultural growth in most countries, even though the poor generally lack the land and other productive resources to respond directly or immediately to policies and investments to stimulate agricultural growth; (4) why agricultural productivity growth, while most easily generating gains for better-off smallholder farmers, is likely to offer the best potential for pulling the poorest and land-constrained households out of poverty; and (5) why meaningful poverty alleviation strategies in many countries will require fundamental changes to make land more accessible to smallholder farmers. This could be accomplished through various processes, including improvement in land rental markets or perhaps land redistribution. We briefly elaborate on each of these findings.Food Security and Poverty, Land Economics/Use,

Farmer seed networks make a limited contribution to agriculture? Four common misconceptions

The importance of seed provisioning in food security and nutrition, agricultural development and rural livelihoods, and agrobiodiversity and germplasm conservation is well accepted by policy makers, practitioners and researchers. The role of farmer seed networks is less well understood and yet is central to debates on current issues ranging from seed sovereignty and rights for farmers to GMOs and the conservation of crop germplasm. In this paper we identify four common misconceptions regarding the nature and importance of farmer seed networks today. (1) Farmer seed networks are inefficient for seed dissemination. (2) Farmer seed networks are closed, conservative systems. (3) Farmer seed networks provide ready, egalitarian access to seed. (4) Farmer seed networks are destined to weaken and disappear. We challenge these misconceptions by drawing upon recent research findings and the authors’ collective field experience in studying farmer seed systems in Africa, Europe, Latin America and Oceania. Priorities for future research are suggested that would advance our understanding of seed networks and better inform agricultural and food policy