Urban Agriculture in Thika, Kenya: the case of Small Ruminant Production in the Perspective of the Sustainable Livelihood Framework

Despite the millenary practice of urban agriculture (UA) in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) cities, research conducted on the topic is much more recent and still little is known on the impact UA has on the engaged households in terms of food security, nutrition and health. The overall picture that emerges from the literature is one of stark contrasts; some advocate UA as a tool of empowerment, capable to eradicate hunger and poverty for the most vulnerable, while others do not consider UA as a way for sustainable development. With the help of qualitative interviews and informal dialogues this study investigates on some aspects of UA as seen from the perspective of 33 small ruminants urban farmers in the medium-sized city of Thika in inland Kenya. Moreover, an interview with the local livestock authority and two extension officers further clarifies the understanding of urban farming practices and environment in the city also from a governmental perspective. An analysis of these interviews using the Sustainable Development Approach renders the urban farmers’ own perception of the benefits of engaging in small ruminants production within the city, as well as of the limitations in conducting it. Urban farming, besides creating additional income and/or additional food to urban households, contributes also in three other different ways, including (1) the improvement of resiliency towards external factors (e.g. food price fluctuations), (2) the improvement of self-sufficiency (e.g. rely less on food transfers) and (3) the easiness in selling the agricultural production (at farm-gates or local markets). Being part of a growing body of research on UA practices, the present study’s purpose is to explore and analyze the role of urban agriculture in contributing to food security, within the larger framework of sustainable development in SSA. By using a largely new and untapped source of oral histories on urban farming practices, this project also aims to contribute to future research on similar topics

Dynamics of food production and consumption in Brazil

Agribusiness operates in multiple forms, each one having a unique repercussion on the food systems and behaviors of local and global populations. Estimates suggest that Brazil will become the world’s largest producer of food in the coming decades. It is imperative, therefore, to examine Brazil’s agricultural commodities and analyze the different temporal and geographical changes related to food production and consumption. To contribute to the body of knowledge on the dynamics of food production and consumption in Brazil, this thesis includes a scientific investigation of interdisciplinary studies that are complementary to the proposed theme. The main purpose of this thesis is to analyze two aspects regarding food systems and their dynamics. The first aspect refers to food production in Brazil, specifically how the different expressions of agribusiness within agricultural and animal production have evolved, while the second aspect is related to changes in the Brazilian population’s dietary patterns. Through these analyses, this thesis will determine the participation of the Midwest region in changing the distribution of Brazil’s agricultural production. The movements of the geographical midpoints of major Brazilian agricultural commodities, which occurred between 1990 and 2015, seem to closely associated with changes in agricultural production and land use that occurred within this region during the same period. This thesis also presents the geographical changes related to Brazilian agribusiness and discusses how these changes are reflected in the population’s food patterns as well as in the heterogeneity of food acquisition among the Brazilian states. Sustainability is necessary for improving food production and accessibility and for preserving natural resources, and new consumption models and sustainable food supply chains are required to address these issues. The phenomenological analysis performed in this thesis offers insights for agribusiness agents regarding the main products that can boost sustainable development in Brazilian agriculture.O agronegócio expressa-se de múltiplas formas e tem repercussões nos sistemas alimentares e no comportamento das populações locais e globais. As estimativas sugerem que o Brasil se tornará o maior produtor mundial de alimentos nas próximas décadas. Assim, cumpre-se examinar as commodities agrícolas brasileiras e analisar as diferentes mudanças temporais e geográficas relacionadas à produção e ao consumo de alimentos no país. Com vistas a apresentar uma investigação científica que contribua para a construção do conhecimento da dinâmica da produção e do consumo de alimentos no Brasil, esta tese inclui pesquisas interdisciplinares que fornecem análises complementares para o tema proposto. O objetivo principal deste estudo é composto por dois aspectos que envolvem os sistemas agroalimentares e as suas dinâmicas. O primeiro refere-se à produção de alimentos no Brasil – especificamente como as diferentes expressões do agronegócio na produção agrícola e pecuária evoluíram – enquanto o segundo aspecto analisa como a população brasileira mudou seus padrões alimentares. Assim, a tese examina a participação da região do Centro-Oeste brasileiro na alteração da distribuição da produção agrícola brasileira. Os movimentos dos pontos médios geográficos dos principais produtos agrícolas brasileiros, ocorridos entre 1990 e 2015, parecem corresponder às mudanças geográficas ocorridas na produção agrícola e no uso da terra desta região durante o período analisado. Esta pesquisa também apresenta as mudanças geográficas relacionadas ao agronegócio brasileiro e discute como elas se refletem nos padrões alimentares de sua população, assim como na heterogeneidade da aquisição de alimentos entre os estados brasileiros. A relação entre o agronegócio e a sustentabilidade é necessária para melhorar a produção e a acessibilidade aos alimentos e preservar os recursos naturais. Nesse sentido, são necessários novos modelos de consumo e cadeias sustentáveis de suprimentos de alimentos para mitigar este problema. A análise fenomenológica realizada neste trabalho pode oferecer uma visão do agronegócio às partes interessadas, no que diz respeito ao panorama dos principais produtos que podem impulsionar o desenvolvimento sustentável da agricultura brasileira

Agricultural policies in India

"Since the early 1990s, India has undergone substantial economic policy reform and economic growth. Though reforms in agricultural policy have lagged those in other sectors, they have nonetheless created a somewhat more open economic orientation. In this study, we evaluate the protection and support versus disprotection of agriculture in India. Our methodology involves examining market price support (MPS) for eleven crops, the expenditures on input subsidies benefiting farmers (for fertilizer, electricity and irrigation), and product-specific and total producer support estimates (PSEs) over the period 1985-2002. We draw on the extensive price-comparison and subsidy-measurement data sets and analysis developed earlier by Gulati and his co-authors, often using disaggregated analysis for representative surplus and deficit states. This allows us to explore how key cost adjustments impact the results. Overall, our results indicate that support for agriculture in India has been counter-cyclical. Support for agriculture has been rising when world prices are low (as in the mid 1980s and 1998-2002) and falling when world prices are high (as in the early and mid 1990s). Our results demonstrate the increased importance of budgetary payments for input subsidies in agriculture in recent years. Yet, in the aggregate for both price support and budgetary expenditures over the period 1985-2002 the counter-cyclical dimension of agricultural policy dominates a clear trend of movement from disprotection towards protection. Using different variants of MPS and PSE measurment we have extended earlier analysis to demonstrate the impact of key assumptions on the calculations. These assumptions we argue are important to consider. For example, in the standard approach, the MPS for the covered commodities is “scaled up” based on the share of the covered commodities in the total value of production. If the commodity coverage is less than complete, as is often the case, the scaling up procedure leads to a total MPS of greater absolute value than the MPS for the covered commodities. This can result in PSEs of different sign than the non-scaled up version but is inappropriate unless market price support for the commodities not covered is similar to that of the covered commodities. Furthermore, we find that the standard procedure of computing the MPS through a comparison of the domestic price to an adjusted reference price based on observed imports or exports can be problematic. This happens when trade volumes are relatively small. In such a scenario a reference price based on observed imports or exports can lead to misleading conclusions. To address the reference price issue, we follow Byerlee and Morris (1993). Essentially the approach adopted is to compute the level of protection or disprotection based on a counterfactual reference price chosen on economic criteria i.e. the adjusted reference price that would exist in the country if the policy interventions were removed. The relevant price can either be the autarky equilibrium price or the import or export adjusted reference price depending on the relationship among these prices. We apply this modified procedure for six crops (wheat, rice, corn, sorghum, sugar and groundnuts). The choice of the crops is dictated by the fact that India has been near self-sufficiency and there have been changes in the direction of trade over the period of analysis. The magnitudes of estimated support for agriculture obtained in this paper are important for several reasons. The estimates confirm that high levels of subsidies were required for India to export wheat or rice in recent years, a conclusion reached by several other studies. However, we report less disprotection of Indian agriculture in the 1990s than in earlier studies. Partly this difference is explained by the modified procedure for choice of a reference price. A large component of this difference can be accounted for by whether or not the scaling up procedure is invoked. There are also fertile areas for future research. Estimates of adjustment costs used in domestic-to-border price comparisons, such as transportation and processing costs or marketing margins, are crucial variables in the analysis and merit being re-examined and further updated. Resolving what are the most reasonable assumptions about reference prices, or extending the analysis to additional crops and livestock to reduce uncertainty in future assessments will also contribute to fuller understanding of the net stance of policy toward agriculture and how it has evolved over time" Authors' AbstractSouth Asia ,South Asia and Central Asia ,Agricultural policy ,Producer Support Estimates (PSEs) ,Agricultural support ,Agricultural production ,Scaling up ,

Illegitimate voices, peripheral debates, valid alternatives: A developing world articulation of alternative food networks

ABSTRACT The theoretical argument that emerges from my empirical study argues that food provisioning systems in Johannesburg, as a potential lens to further investigation of food supply systems in the developing south cannot be classified within a traditional-modern dichotomy. This dissertation proposes a new conceptual device – a food provisioning continuum – which should inform research on African food supply systems in the future. The process of locating this rich case within a broader theoretical paradigm to validate it and to provide it discursive space, however, is not objective or without friction. I argue that it is possible to choose to locate rich empirical material in different conceptual frameworks, related not only to its applicability, but also to how the research may be valued and seen to extend knowledge. The expectation of the research community and the epistemological demand of new research, for a Masters dissertation is that the scholarly work will build on and extend existing knowledge. It is assumed that thorough research will challenge the boundaries of knowledge and that the candidate, after having undergone this academic rite of passage, will graduate from being a student to being a colleague within a research community. However, the process of creating new theory and advancing existing theory is not quite an objective or frictionless process as it first appears. Research in the south is validated more highly if it is located within, or builds upon international/northern theory even by research forums in the south like the NRF. The pressure for researchers from the south to locate their research in conceptual frameworks from the north – in order to be validated – appears to be one of the rules of the game. While this is validation as part of an academic exercise may be necessary, the practise entrenches spatial or geographical hierarchies within academia and academic discourse. The epistemological process of forging new theoretical frontiers is thus a constructed, unnatural space fraught with less critical valuing systems than are expected to be present within academia, no less within the discipline of geography

Strategic priorities for agricultural development in Eastern and Central Africa:

"Agricultural development strategies delineate priorities for actions to enhance agricultural and overall development. They are usually put forward by individual countries based on assessments of national needs. Seldom are attempts made to identify strategic priorities for agricultural development that cut across national boundaries. This gap is perhaps not surprising—organizations mandated to develop and implement regional agricultural development programs are rare. Although the gap may be understandable, it is also troubling. This report helps to fill that gap for eastern and central Africa (ECA), focusing on Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Recent trends and the current performance of agriculture in these countries expose a region progressively less able to meet the needs of its burgeoning population... The analysis... suggests that to avoid the bleak growth and poverty outcomes implied by business-as-usual in agriculture, ECA governments must invest in combinations of measures that (1) spur productivity growth, focusing on subsectors with high demand within ECA; (2) strengthen agricultural markets; (3) enhance linkages between agricultural and nonagricultural sectors; and (4) exploit opportunities for regional cooperation." from Authors' AbstractAgricultural development, Agriculture Economic aspects, Agricultural development projects, Eastern Africa,

Biodiversity of Andean grains: balancing market potential and sustainable livelihoods

The publication aims at shedding light on the use, nutritional properties, market potential and contribution to local livelihoods of Andean grains (quinoa, cañahua and amaranth). It addresses some of the research gaps regarding knowledge of the use, as well as the market and non-market value of these crops and their associated traditional knowledge, taking into account local livelihood assets of people living in difficult environments. It also investigates what effects the change from subsistence to market production has on farming communities and their environment. It is hoped that this book, which focuses in particular on quinoa in Southern Bolivia, will be helpful in providing food for thought in the occasion of the UN 2013 International Year of Quinoa, and serve at the same time as guidance for the future promotion of other currently underutilized crops

Agricultural Economics

Agricultural Economics - Current Issues is a review of topics related to the economics of agriculture in various parts of the world. It contains a total of seven chapters. These contributions are related to some of the significant current problems facing these regions. The book is divided into four parts. The first part is simply an introduction to the field of agricultural economics. It charts the development of the field from its origin of farm management economics to the current state of a variety of subjects in various parts of the world. In the second section, an issue related to marketing is discussed. This is followed in the third section by an issue related to water resource economics. In the last section the remaining three chapters are devoted to agricultural environment-related topics. All chapters present guidance for policymaking