Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook

The purpose of the Sourcebook is to act as a guide for practitioners and technical staff in addressing gender issues and integrating gender-responsive actions in the design and implementation of agricultural projects and programs. It speaks not with gender specialists on how to improve their skills but rather reaches out to technical experts to guide them in thinking through how to integrate gender dimensions into their operations. The Sourcebook aims to deliver practical advice, guidelines, principles, and descriptions and illustrations of approaches that have worked so far to achieve the goal of effective gender mainstreaming in the agricultural operations of development agencies. It captures and expands the main messages of the World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development and is considered an important tool to facilitate the operationalization and implementation of the report's key principles on gender equality and women's empowerment

Interdisciplinary Research Journeys

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Interdisciplinarity' has become a rallying cry among funders and leaders of research. Yet, while the creative potential of interdisciplinary research is great, it poses many challenges. If you don't have disciplinary boundaries, how do you decide what to include or leave out? And what are the parameters for evaluating the research? This book provides a practical guide for researchers and research managers who are seeking to develop interdisciplinary research strategies at a personal, institutional and multi-institutional level. The book draws on examples from across the social and natural sciences but also offers valuable lessons for other combinations of more proximate disciplines. At a time when interdisciplinary research is increasingly centre stage in the research agenda, this book offers a crucial practical guide for researchers, research funders and managers from all backgrounds and contexts

Knowledge Management in Rural Uzbekistan : Peasant, Project and Post-Socialist perspectives in Khorezm

Agricultural knowledge is important in rural Uzbekistan. Presented in this thesis is sociological data from field research in the Khorezm region of Uzbekistan, illustrating the ways in which knowledge operates in a certain context of power and culture. The way in which this agricultural knowledge is created, shared, stored and used is discussed in this thesis on the basis of three ‘systems’ of knowledge. These knowledge systems; peasant, project and post-Socialist are used to understand how agricultural knowledge is used differently. The peasant system constitutes the local knowledge of the rural community in the Khorezm province of Uzbekistan. Within this province a development research project, through which this research was conducted, also operates and the particular approach to knowledge creation and sharing is discussed here. Finally, both these systems operate within a knowledge ‘governance’ structure which establishes the ‘rules of the game’ for the region. Yet what we find in all three of these systems is that three phenomena of knowledge exist, in varying ways, in agriculture in Khorezm. These three phenomena are: (i) Knowledge dynamics: how knowledge is made, lost and destroyed, (ii) Power and Knowledge: the interplay of knowledge and power, (iii) Knowledge and Culture: why culture matters in knowledge management. Knowledge loss, especially in the post-1991 period is crucial to understanding the economic and ecological challenges in rural Khorezm and the process of knowledge loss (and creation) is prevalent in my research. Specific to the local knowledge system, evidence is presented that whilst specialisation is inherent in any knowledge system; this characteristic of the knowledge system is embedded in the patriarchal and hierarchal nature of Uzbek culture, and the position of power that this entails. Similarly, I examine the modes of knowledge reproduction within Khorezm and find these to be overwhelmingly family based, even in cases where formal education is necessary, although there are examples of external forms of knowledge being accessed and then reproduced within the knowledge system. I find that in all three systems there is a complex interplay of knowledge and power, with a mutually reinforcing of each occurring in social interactions, within and between the knowledge systems. Finally the phenomena of knowledge loss and knowledge/power relations are grounded in a specific cultural context and it is argued that the peculiarities of Khorezm, including the Soviet history and a specific understanding of authority (joshuli), means that knowledge is shaped and informed by the cultural context from which it is drawn. These findings are then discussed in terms of the theoretical implications of this research which argue for a wider appreciation of knowledge loss and deeper analysis of power/knowledge interactions. Finally, practical development advice is given on how foreign projects can better develop local knowledge in Uzbekistan, by seeing agricultural knowledge as it operates in the cultural context of Khorezm and by accessing local knowledge

FinBook: literary content as digital commodity

This short essay explains the significance of the FinBook intervention, and invites the reader to participate. We have associated each chapter within this book with a financial robot (FinBot), and created a market whereby book content will be traded with financial securities. As human labour increasingly consists of unstable and uncertain work practices and as algorithms replace people on the virtual trading floors of the worlds markets, we see members of society taking advantage of FinBots to invest and make extra funds. Bots of all kinds are making financial decisions for us, searching online on our behalf to help us invest, to consume products and services. Our contribution to this compilation is to turn the collection of chapters in this book into a dynamic investment portfolio, and thereby play out what might happen to the process of buying and consuming literature in the not-so-distant future. By attaching identities (through QR codes) to each chapter, we create a market in which the chapter can ‘perform’. Our FinBots will trade based on features extracted from the authors’ words in this book: the political, ethical and cultural values embedded in the work, and the extent to which the FinBots share authors’ concerns; and the performance of chapters amongst those human and non-human actors that make up the market, and readership. In short, the FinBook model turns our work and the work of our co-authors into an investment portfolio, mediated by the market and the attention of readers. By creating a digital economy specifically around the content of online texts, our chapter and the FinBook platform aims to challenge the reader to consider how their personal values align them with individual articles, and how these become contested as they perform different value judgements about the financial performance of each chapter and the book as a whole. At the same time, by introducing ‘autonomous’ trading bots, we also explore the different ‘network’ affordances that differ between paper based books that’s scarcity is developed through analogue form, and digital forms of books whose uniqueness is reached through encryption. We thereby speak to wider questions about the conditions of an aggressive market in which algorithms subject cultural and intellectual items – books – to economic parameters, and the increasing ubiquity of data bots as actors in our social, political, economic and cultural lives. We understand that our marketization of literature may be an uncomfortable juxtaposition against the conventionally-imagined way a book is created, enjoyed and shared: it is intended to be

Processes of strategic marketing planning : a longitudinal study of Scottish small and medium sized firms

The rationale for this study was the apparent difference between the marketing planning practices of Scottish SME's and the marketing planning practices recommended by management theory. The direction of this study was adaptedf rom two broad objectives: (i) To assess if , how, and why Scottish small and medium sized businesses go about strategic marketing planning; and (ii) To ascertain whether business performance is affected by participation in the marketing planning process. To address the research issues raised regarding marketing planning practice and its link with business performance, a conceptual framework that incorporated elements of the traditional strategic marketing planning process model suggested by the literature and also allowed for the marketing characteristics of SME's was developed. The research design involved a longitudinal survey of 626 Scottish SME's in 1990 and 183 of the same businesses in 1996. This study found that the incidence of marketing planning was significantly linked to business size supporting a number of authors who identify that business size has a direct influence on the nature of marketing and marketing planning practice. The research highlighted differences in the incidence of marketing planning across the three SME size categories. In assessing the planning-performance relationship 4 categories of SME's were defined according to their planning behaviour 1990-1996. These categories were Planners; Non-Planners; Embracers; and Disavowed. Analysis of these groups showed a significant positive relationship between planning and performance providing empirical support to case that marketing planning improves business performance

Varieties in Organic Agriculture: An Assemblage Thinking Approach to Agri-Environmental Governance in India

The need for sustainability in agriculture has become increasingly important in the face of mounting pressures from the changing environment. Several strategies for governing sustainability responses have emerged, one of which has been the adoption of private organic agriculture standards within formalized global value chains. A less researched strategy, however, has been the creation of non-formal forms of agriculture as a response to the specific problems faced by smallholder farmers in the Global South. This study seeks to fill this gap by studying organic agriculture as a form of agri-environmental governance in India. Using an Assemblage Thinking approach, it deals with the question of how varieties in organic agriculture arise in response to problems faced on the ground in a specific and situated geographical context. More specifically, I examine non-formal, existing versions of organic agriculture, exploring the diverse forms of organic agriculture in rice production as practiced in West Bengal state, and across parts of India. The problem of a lack of understanding non-formal forms of governance leads to a narrow view of sustainability governance as being mainly driven by desires and forces external to the system in question. The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to the discussion around agri-environmental governance by providing an overview of the various components, both discursive and non-discursive, which interact together and are utilized by various actors to produce an emergent form of organic. Put simply, the non-formal varieties of organic exist as an alternative imaginary of globalization, and arrange materials differently. In doing so, these assemblages challenge other concurrent assemblages of globalization like input-intensive farming and organic-for-export, creating a map composed of incommensurabilities and strange alliances to better understand governance in practice

Aquaculture Asia, Vol.13, No.3, pp.1-60, July-September 2008

Comments on possible improvements to carp culture in Andhra Pradesh. Aquaculture and environmental issues in the region of Nai Lagoon, Ninh Hai district,Ninh Thuan province, Viet Nam. Climate change impacts on fi sheries and aquaculture. New initiatives in fisheries extension. Selection potential for feed efficiency in farmed salmonids. Freshwater prawn hatcheries in Bangladesh: Concern of broodstock. Production of Cirrhinus molitorella and Labeo chrysophekadion for culture based fisheries development in Lao PDR 2: Nursery culture and grow-out. Mussel farming: alternate water monitoring practice. Benefit-cost analysis for fi ngerling production of kutum Rutilus frisii kutum (Kamensky, 1901)in 2005 in Iran. The effects of feeding frequency on FCR and SGR factors of the fry of rainbow trout,Oncorhynchus mykiss. Asia-Pacific Marine Finfish Aquaculture Network Magazine: The use of poultry by-product meals in pelleted feed for humpback grouper. Production update – marine finfish aquaculture in the Asia-Pacific region. Crustacean parasites and their management in brackishwater finfish culture. NACA Newslette

Interdisciplinary Research Journeys

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Interdisciplinarity' has become a rallying cry among funders and leaders of research. Yet, while the creative potential of interdisciplinary research is great, it poses many challenges. If you don't have disciplinary boundaries, how do you decide what to include or leave out? And what are the parameters for evaluating the research? This book provides a practical guide for researchers and research managers who are seeking to develop interdisciplinary research strategies at a personal, institutional and multi-institutional level. The book draws on examples from across the social and natural sciences but also offers valuable lessons for other combinations of more proximate disciplines. At a time when interdisciplinary research is increasingly centre stage in the research agenda, this book offers a crucial practical guide for researchers, research funders and managers from all backgrounds and contexts

Cartographic Calculation and Coordination in the Urbanisation of the Peripheral Slopes of Lima

The urbanisation of the peripheral slopes of Lima is often referred to in official discourse and the media as an informal/illegal process driven exclusively by the urban poor. However, a close examination of such process defies its understanding as occurring beyond the State, in violation of planning laws, or in the exclusive domain of the poor’s agency. Instead close engagements with regulatory frameworks and spatial outcomes compliant with planning norms are central features, since such practices shape local dwellers' entitlements to basic services, as well as their expectations on securing tenure. Notwithstanding that the slopes have been declared uninhabitable high-risk zones by the State, their occupation is occurring at an unprecedented rate, exposing an increasing number of inhabitants to hazardous living conditions. The thesis examines how and why this mode of urbanisation is enabled and sustained. In so doing, it offers analytical and methodological insights into contemporary urbanisation processes across the Global South. Borrowing from actor-network theory and institutional ethnography, the research takes a relational and socio-material perspective. It focuses on cartography - the maps and plans used on the slopes of Lima- to provide a transversal reading across 'black boxed' actors such as the 'State, 'communities' and 'land traffickers', and observe the engagement with the regulatory frameworks. Through an ethnography of cartographic practices, the thesis provides a novel methodology for bringing into view the processes, practices, alliances, and agency which are often invisible to policy makers, yet structure outcomes. The thesis demonstrates that peripheral urbanisation and planning need to be considered as socio-technical assemblages that have numerous and unexpected ways of interlinking. Unintended consequences, such as the production of risk, are outcomes of these assemblages. Consequently, planning research could do more to consider the technical as much as the political aspects of planning and interrogate the agency of materiality in urban processes. For policy makers and planners, a better understanding of the socio-technical configurations can guide their actions to rearrange these toward progressive agendas