Agricultural Information and Indigenous Knowledge in Peasant Economy

Agricultural information and indigenous knowledge were examined among peasants of the central Ethiopian highlands. Measures of central tendency, logical explanation, descriptive analysis, problem solving tests, scoring and logit analysis were performed. The findings indicate that information from extension agents tends to favour peasant associations or farmers that are closer to cities, service cooperatives, politicians and extension agents. Despite variations in the sources and access to information, the extent to which information is subjected to conscious processing determines its value to decision-makers. Furthermore, the value of information is greatly influenced by indigenous knowledge or social experience and schooling. Farmers who are beneficiaries of projects and friends with politicians received higher scores on production problems compared to the control group. Production knowledge is found to be locale-specific and varies by age. Production knowledge is greatly influenced by experience, index of awareness, proximity to infrastructural facilities and sources of information. The findings also indicate that education enables households to relate production problems to experience and outside information. Development strategies could facilitate the attainment of food self-sufficiency if the contents and delivery mechanisms of agricultural information are equitable, and indigenous production knowledge of peasants is integrated with secular and extension education.Agricultural information; indigenous knowledge; peasants; Ethiopia; central tendency; logical explanation; descriptive analysis; problem solving tests; scoring and logit analysis

The Contribution of Non-Physical Resources and Strategic Household Decision-making to Environmental and Policy Risks

Physical resources such as land, labour and livestock, and nonphysical resources such as indigenous knowledge and institutions of producers in the grain surplus and deficit regions of the Central Highlands of Ethiopia are examined under situation of environmental and policy risks. Frequency distribution and comparative statistical analysis of the grain-surplus regions suggest that in situations where all producers are subjected to a common source of risk (e.g. rainfall): I) institutional resources become less effective, and ii) combination of land, labour, knowledge and other complementary resources form the basis for adjustment mechanisms and sequential or strategic decisions. On the other hand, when essential resources such as land are government owned and household decisions are shared by the state, local institutions or social networks become an effective means to maintain reproduction of the farm and producers through providing access to or sharing of resources. In the extreme case of environmental degradation (e.g., drought), farmers follow sequential decision-making. This sequence of decision-making begins with minimization of expenditure, selling of resources that are intended to stabilize farm income, selling of resources essential to farming and depletion of household items, and finally evacuation. The ability of such farming system to regenerate, however, greatly depends not only on the availability of physical resources but most importantly by the potential of knowledge and institutions of producers to adjust to environmental changes, and support from governmental or non-governmental sources.Resources; indigenous knowledge; institutions; Ethiopia; frequency distribution; statistical analysis; risk; sequential decision-making; environment; government

Strategic Decision-Making: Adoption of Agricultural Technologies and Risk in a Peasant Economy

Descriptive and logit analysis were employed to investigate the impact of social, economic and technical factors on decisions to adopt new agricultural technologies in the Ada and Selale districts of Ethiopia. Peasants follow sequential adoption of technologies. In both study areas, priority is given to adoption of crop production augmenting technologies followed by technologies that complement crop production (Ada) and contribute to increases in milk production (Selale). Producers of both regions require existence of certain pre-conditions prior to the adoption of technologies. Ada farmers require more pre-conditions related to livestock production while Selale farmers require more preconditions related crop production. The impact of indigenous production knowledge and experience on adoption decisions was found not only positive but greater than most economic and social variables. The influence of most socioeconomic variables is greater on technologies that are proven to have a more certain outcome (e.g., fertilizer and pesticides) than on technologies which are either expensive or risky (e.g., cross-bred cows and improved seed). Risk-averse behaviour of households reduces the probability of adopting new technologies in both study regions. Households may be willing to take more risks if they receive insurance from social networks, governmental and non-governmental organizations or are rich. The results from the Selale and Ada regions suggest that physical inputs and knowledge exert large and significant positive impacts on production when farmers adopt combinations of fertilizer and pesticides (Ada), or fertilizer and cross-bred cows (Selale).Logit; Ethiopia; adoption of technologies; indigenous knowledge; crop; livestock; risk-averse; social networks; governmental; non-governmental organizations

Goals and Strategies of Peasants in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia

Multidisciplinary research methods such as observatory, participatory and multivariate regression analysis were employed to examine goals and strategies of two peasant communities in the Central highlands of Ethiopia. Continuing the family tradition of participating in social networks is found to be a universal normative goal of most study farmers. Securing subsistence food requirements and goals that may be used to characterise higher level of standard of living were ranked next to the normative goal. Five major goals were examined in relation to the normative goal. Furthermore, strategies identified by households were grouped into opportunistic, risk-minimization and long-range planning. Statistical analysis of relationship between the five goals and strategies indicate that i) most strategies are relatively important in attaining goals selected for statistical analysis, ii) strategies which are proven to be useful from prior experience of other producers prior to this study tend to have a stronger relationship with the current goals of decision-makers (e.g. pesticides and fertilizer ), iii) the ranking of goals and strategies recognize region, enterprise and experience-specific comparative advantages of peasants, and iv) producers rank strategies hierarchically and goals ranked high in the hierarchy are valued high on subsequent goals (e.g. securing subsistence on livestock husbandry). Development projects could successfully increase the attainment of securing food self-sufficiency if they properly identify comparative advantages of farmers and regions, and examine the compatibility of intervention strategies with the goals and strategies of peasants.Multidisciplinary; multivariate regression; Ethiopia; social networks; opportunistic; risk-minimization; long-range planning; peasants; hierarchical ranking; intervention strategies; goals and strategies

Layers of Illusions: John Rea’s Hommage à Vasarely

Can lines be heard? Curves? Trajectories? Shapes? These are the questions Canadian composer John Rea asks us in his Hommage à Vasarely (1976), inspired by the work of the Op-Art painter Victor Vasarely. Rea’s work attempts to transfer into sound the ‘optical kinetic’ illusions of movement, bending, and twisting that Vasarely projected onto two dimensions. The lines, shapes, and patterns embedded in the music are best illustrated through score excerpts, pitch-reduction examples and charts schematically displaying the use of the orchestra. Through an understanding of how Rea transfers these geometric patterns and motions into sound, a deeper appreciation of the work, and of the composer, is gained.Peut-on entendre des lignes? des courbes? des trajectoires? des formes? Ce sont les questions que nous pose le compositeur canadien John Rea dans son Hommage à Vasarely (1976), inspiré des oeuvres du peintre Victor Vasarely s’inscrivant dans le courant Op Art. L’oeuvre de Rea tente de transférer sous la forme du son les illusions d’ « optique cinétique » de mouvement, de torsion et de contorsion que Vasarely projette en deux dimensions. Les lignes, formes et patterns incarnés dans la musique sont illustrés par des extraits de la partition, des exemples de réduction de hauteurs et des tableaux représentant schématiquement l’usage de l’orchestre. À travers une compréhension de la façon dont Rea transfère ces formes géométriques et ces mouvements sous la forme sonore, l’auteur amène une appréciation profonde de l’oeuvre et de son compositeur

Redistribution in Aegean Palatial Societies. Introduction: Why Redistribution?

This collection of papers explores the role of redistribution in Minoan and Mycenaean economies

Redistribution in Aegean Palatial Societies. Redistributive Economies from a Theoretical and Cross-Cultural Perspective

In this article, we address the historical question of why Aegean Bronze Age economies are characterized as redistributive systems and whether it is appropriate to continue to describe them as such. We argue that characterizing the political economies of the Aegean as redistributive is inaccurate and misleading. Instead, we suggest it is more fruitful to describe how specific prehistoric social institutions were used to organize and allocate goods and services and thereby to study how political and economic systems interacted with one another. By examining how Aegean social institutions were constituted and changed over time, we will be in a position to use the prehistoric Aegean to develop and refine general models of political economy

La polémica sobre la objetividad de la ciencia

Este artículo estudia el enfrentamiento entre realistas y constructivistas con relación al tipo de objetividad característico de las ciencias. Tras analizar ambas posiciones extremas, deja abierto un camino aproximativo y creativo que implica tomar en serio el papel del lenguaje metafórico en la ciencia

Institutional factors affecting wild edible plant (WEP) harvest and consumption in semi-arid Kenya

AbstractPervasive food insecurity and poverty in much of the world drives vulnerable populations to harvest natural resources as a means of generating income and meeting other household needs. Wild edible plants (WEPs) are a particularly common and effective coping strategy used to increase socio-ecological resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa where agricultural systems are often sensitive to environmental perturbations and instability. WEPs are collected across the landscape, from agricultural areas to government-managed hilltops with varying degrees of success and legality. This multiple case study research, conducted in Eastern Province, Kenya, investigates the formal forest regulations and land tenure rights, as well as local enforcement and understanding of those rules, in order to understand their impact on the ability of vulnerable populations to use WEPs as a coping strategy. The results suggest that widespread confusion, trust issues and a strong focus on the commercialization of wild foods are limiting the possible contribution of WEPs to food security and increased socio-ecological resilience. We identify a number of policy changes and extension programs that could better support local communities relying on WEPs for subsistence purposes to improve their adaptive capacity

Agricultural Information and Indigenous Knowledge in Peasant Economy

Agricultural information and indigenous knowledge were examined among peasants of the central Ethiopian highlands. Measures of central tendency, logical explanation, descriptive analysis, problem solving tests, scoring and logit analysis were performed. The findings indicate that information from extension agents tends to favour peasant associations or farmers that are closer to cities, service cooperatives, politicians and extension agents. Despite variations in the sources and access to information, the extent to which information is subjected to conscious processing determines its value to decision-makers. Furthermore, the value of information is greatly influenced by indigenous knowledge or social experience and schooling. Farmers who are beneficiaries of projects and friends with politicians received higher scores on production problems compared to the control group. Production knowledge is found to be locale-specific and varies by age. Production knowledge is greatly influenced by experience, index of awareness, proximity to infrastructural facilities and sources of information. The findings also indicate that education enables households to relate production problems to experience and outside information. Development strategies could facilitate the attainment of food self-sufficiency if the contents and delivery mechanisms of agricultural information are equitable, and indigenous production knowledge of peasants is integrated with secular and extension education