Transformation of the rural economy in the Philippines, 1988-2006

This research explores the changing structure of the rural economy in the Philippines from 1988 to 2006. We found that the expansion and upgrade of infrastructure such as electricity and roads and investment in secondary and tertiary education are important factors that induced the economic transformation of the rural economy. The importance of higher education as an entry requirement to the nonfarm labor market has declined over time, indicating that the rural nonfarm sector has been increasingly providing employment opportunities to the unskilled and the uneducated, which form the bulk of the rural poor.Embargo Period 18 monthshttp://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/estudillo_jonna/http://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/otsuka_keijiro

Self-sufficiency or surplus : Conflicting local and national rural development goals in Cambodia

Cambodia is currently experiencing profound processes of rural change, driven by an emerging trend of large-scale land deals. This article discusses potential future pathways by analyzing two contrasting visions and realities of land use: the aim of the governmental elites to foster surplus-producing rural areas for overall economic growth, employment creation and ultimately poverty reduction, and the attempts of smallholders to maintain and create livelihoods based on largely self-sufficient rural systems. Based on the MuSIASEM approach, the rural economy of Cambodia and different rural system types are analyzed by looking at their metabolic pattern in terms of land use, human activity, and produced and consumed flows. The analysis shows that the pathways of self-sufficiency and surplus production are largely not compatible in the long term. Cambodia's rural labor force is expected to increase enormously over the next decades, while available land for the smallholder sector has become scarce due to the granting of Economic Land Concessions (ELC). Consequently, acceleration in rural-urban migration may be expected, accompanied by a transition from self-employed smallholders to employment-dependent laborers. If the ELC system achieves to turn the reserved land into viable agribusinesses, it might enable added value creation; however, it does not bring substantial amounts of employment opportunities to rural areas. On the contrary, ELC have high opportunity costs in terms of rural livelihoods based on smallholder land uses and thus drive the marginalization of Cambodian smallholders

Analysis of the Immediate and Long-Term Impacts of Transferring of Men’s Labour Force from Agriculture to Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining in Tanzania

In Tanzania, agriculture has been earmarked as a priority area to stimulate economic development, However, challenges facing the country’s agriculture motivate an increasing number of men to transfer of labour into artisanal small-scale gold mining leaving women behind to sustain the livelihoods of their household. In literature on Tanzanian economic development, there is a gap on the actual impact on household welfare  prompted by men laborers switching to artisanal small-scale gold mining. This paper therefore, investigated different factors that explain the phenomena with the special focus on artisanal small-scale gold mining areas of Nyarugusu village, Geita Region, Tanzania. Data was collected from 200 women who had taken up household headship after their men migrated in search of gold. From this sample, data was collected regarding their demographic factors; education history, attitudes and perceptions about economic benefits and negative impacts of artisanal small-scale gold mining using a combination of tools and methods, which included; semi-structured questionnaire, focus group discussions and in-depth one-to-one interviews. The data was analyzed both descriptively and statistically using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS version 16.1) to establish the effects of transferring men's labour force from agriculture to artisanal small-scale gold mining on agriculture. Results revealed a number of immediate and long-term impacts on agriculture caused by the transferring of men's labour force from agriculture to artisanal small-scale gold mining. This included; immediate and long term impacts on agriculture as well as the change that happened in agriculture in comparison  when men were helping in agricultural activities to when it was only women working on agriculture. The major recommendation was that, Tanzanian government should consider to put in place community empowerment programs such as: cooperatives and involve all other stakeholders to invest in tailor-made ‘hands-on’ awareness programs for such disadvantaged communities, to improve their personal skills so as to benefit both in mining and other entrepreneurial endeavors hence reduce the transferring of men's labour force from agriculture to artisanal small-scale gold mining. Keywords: left behind women, agriculture, artisanal small-scale gold mining, livelihood impacts, Tanzani

Environmental problems and opportunities of the peri-urban interface and their impact upon the poor

The objective of this document is to provide an overview of the problems and opportunities of the peri-urban interface (PUI) with regard to the broad concerns of environmentalsustainability and poverty

Sierra Leone aquaculture assessment with special emphasis on Tonkolili and Bombali districts

This assessment set out to investigate why fish farming has spread in Tonkolili District yet been poorly adopted in neighboring Bombali District. The purpose was to analyze what was working in Tonkolili but not in Bombali and then extrapolate this beyond Tonkolili. The current study aims to consolidate the most recent FAO study and map out pond distribution in Tonkolili, the most popular aquaculture development district in Sierra Leone, while also trying to make sense of this distribution. It also tries to update existing GIS models for aquaculture site suitability, particularly Tonkolili, with a view to identifying the opportunities and challenges of developing aquaculture in the country

Strategies for sustainable agricultural development in the East African highlands:

Low agricultural productivity, land degradation and poverty are severe interrelated problems in the East African highlands. While the proximate causes of such problems are relatively well known, the underlying causes are many and complex, and depend upon many site-specific factors that vary greatly across the diverse circumstances of the region. In this paper, we argue that the appropriate strategy for sustainable development depends greatly upon the “pathways of development” that are feasible in a given location. We argue that such development pathways will be largely determined by three factors determining comparative advantage: agricultural potential, access to markets, and population density. We conclude the paper with hypotheses about the priorities for policy intervention to achieve sustainable development in the East African highlands. Among these, we suggest that the highest priority for road and irrigation development should be areas close to urban markets with high agricultural potential; that development of input and output markets and credit systems will be most critical in such areas; that increasing food security through increased food crop production or other means is likely to be a key to realizing the potential for more commercial production; that subsidies on the costs of transporting fertilizer to remote, high-potential, food deficit areas should be considered as a lower cost alternative to food aid; and that intensified and more private use of hillsides and grazing areas for sustainable uses such as tree planting may have potential to achieve more rapid and sustainable development of lower potential areas.Land degradation, Sustainable agriculture, Population density,

PREPARATION OF ACTION PLAN FOR PROTECTION OF LAND IN ALBANIA

The degradation of Albania's land resources is a serious impediment to the welfare of the people of Albania as well as that of future generations. Resolving land degradation requires the concerted action of governmental and nongovernmental agencies. The purpose of this paper is to describe how a Land Protection Action Plan could be developed. There are three general types of land degradation which this Land Protection Action Plan would attempt to solve: excessive soil erosion, contamination of surface and ground water, and unguided urbanization on high-quality agricultural land. The paper goes on to describe the steps to be taken to prepare the action plan, including documenting problems, identifying high-risk areas, identifying and carrying out needed research, designing educational programs, reviewing and preparing legislation, developing an investment program for land protection, and monitoring the evolution of different types of land degradation. The paper also describes the implementation of such an action plan.Agricultural conservation -- Albania, Land use -- Albania -- Planning, Land degradation -- Albania -- Prevention, Land Economics/Use,

Hungry Farmers: A Political Ecology of Agriculture and Food Security in Northern Ghana

Whilst Ghana has made momentous strides in national food security over the last decade, peasants in the rural north, indeed, those who produce the bulk of the country’s food, are also the hungriest population. This paradox immediately raises profound questions for research in human-environment geography. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate some of these questions, with particular emphasis on why Ghana’s food system is failing precisely those who produce food. The research combines insights from agrarian political economy and political ecology, and is informed by nine months of intensive fieldwork. Three carefully selected case studies uncover the full measure of struggle, suffering and resilience among peasant households in two savanna villages. A cross-cutting argument in the case studies is that peasant production systems are able to manage the inherent risks posed by the savanna ecology, and it is rather the induced vulnerability from external factors that undermines food production systems. Among the most far-reaching factors include land-grabbing, the introduction of Green Revolution technologies, and the rise and consolidation of neoliberal development. The study shows how these forces are interwoven, and layered upon gender politics to render women and children more vulnerable to food insecurity. In particular, land-grabbing has resulted in a landless class of peasants, who reproduce themselves through proletariatization in unrewarding sharecrop schemes. Theoretically, the thesis sheds light on how food insecurity is socially and politically produced, but continues to be cast as drought-induced. In the end, a strong case is made for an alternative agriculture that will keep peasants on the land, and feed the hungry population now and into the future

The State of Adaptation in the United States: An Overview

Over the past two decades the adaptation landscape has changed dramatically. From its early days as a vague theoretical concept, which was often viewed as a threat to advocating for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, it has developed into a widely, albeit not universally, recognized governmental mandate to reduce societal vulnerability to climate change. While it is important to appreciate the progress that we are making on this issue, it is impossible to ignore the urgent need to do more. Smart investment can be made by reflecting on what is already underway in order to determine where to build on existing efforts and where to innovate new approaches to fill the gaps in the path forward. In this report we provide illustrative examples of the variety of work on climate change adaptation that is underway in the United States. This is by no means an exhaustive survey of the field; however it does provide insight into the dominant focus of work to date, the resultant gaps, and the opportunities available for advancing this essential aspect of sustainability. We focus on four areas of activity -- agriculture, natural resources, human communities, and policy. The general trends relevant to these sectors can be applied more broadly to other sectors and countries. Adaptation can be thought of as a cycle of activities that ultimately -- if successful -- reduces vulnerability to climate change. This process starts with identifying the impacts of climate change to determine the types of problems climate change might pose. This includes all of the research on the causes and the global, regional, and local manifestations of climate change, often referred to as impacts assessments