Revisiting and modelling the woodland farming system of the early Neolithic Linear Pottery Culture (LBK), 5600–4900 B.C

International audienceThis article presents the conception and the conceptual results of a modelling representation of the farming systems of the Linearbandkeramik Culture (LBK). Assuming that there were permanent fields (PF) then, we suggest four ways that support the sustainability of such a farming system over time: a generalized pollarding and coppicing of trees to increase the productivity of woodland areas for foddering more livestock, which itself can then provide more manure for the fields, a generalized use of pulses grown together with cereals during the same cropping season, thereby reducing the needs for manure. Along with assumptions limiting bias on village and family organizations, the conceptual model which we propose for human environment in the LBK aims to be sustainable for long periods and can thereby overcome doubts about the PFs hypothesis for the LBK farming system. Thanks to a reconstruction of the climate of western Europe and the consequent vegetation pattern and productivity arising from it, we propose a protocol of experiments and validation procedures for both testing the PFs hypothesis and defining its eco-geographical area

institutional framework of in action against land degradation

While econometric and spatial data are increasingly helpful to quantify and locate the extent and costs of land degradation, there is still little understanding of the contextual factors that determine or influence the land users' practices that aggravate or counteract land degradation. In this chapter, we take an institutional economic approach to analyse the persistence of degrading practices, the low adoption of sustainable land management (SLM), or the eventual organisational reaction to land degradation. The chapter reviews four examples of land degradation in different contexts to reveal the multiple driving forces and contextual factors. We then propose a conceptual framework to better understand the incentive structure and factors determining the land users' decision making. A layered analysis of the social phenomena is applied, following Williamson (2000). The chapter shows how actions at different layers can help improve land management. The chapter concludes with practical recommendations for the institutional economic analysis of land degradation

Land tenure and agricultural productivity in Ethiopia

This research is being undertaken as an ILCA project with support from the Rockefeller Post-Doctoral Fellowship Programme. There are three objectives. One objective is very similar to that of the World Bank and Niger studies: to determine the effects of land tenure on investment, productivity and efficiency in crop-livestock systems in the Ethiopian highlands. The other objectives are: to identify the factors that influence the evolution of land tenure institutions in general and the Ethiopian land tenure systems in particular; and to quantify the prevalence of different types of land related contracts in Ethiopian agriculture and relate the terms of those contracts to household and land attributes. Ethiopia has a very dynamic land tenure situation that makes it very interesting, but also very difficult, to study

Measuring the production efficiency of alternative land tenure contracts in a mixed crop-livestock system in Ethiopia

In this paper, we test the hypothesis that land held under varying configurations of property rights will be farmed at different levels of production efficiency. Production data were collected from 477 plots in a fairly productive, mixed farming system in the Ethiopian highlands. Interspatial measures of total factor productivity, based on the Divisia index, were used to measure the relative production efficiency of three informal and less secure land contracts (rented, share-cropped and borrowed) relative to lands held under formal contract with the Ethiopian government. Although the informally-contracted lands are farmed 10-16 percent less efficiently, the analysis indicates that farmers of such lands actually apply inputs more rather than less, intensively (i.e., more inputs per unit of land). The gap in total factor productivity thus results from the inferior quality of inputs (or lack of skills in applying them) rather than a lack of incentive to allocate inputs to mixed crop-livestock farming. For this reason we find no empirical basis to support the hyothesis that land tenure is a constraint to agriucltural productivity

The determinants of livestock prices in Niger

Not only does livestock make an important contribution to rural incomes and export earnings in the Sahel, it is also kept as insurance against weather risk. Fluctuations in livestock prices can therefore trigger food entitlement failures. Using monthly price data from Niger, we show that livestock prices respond to droughts and pasture availability. They are also exposed to aggregate shifts in export revenues and meat demand that affect Niger and Its southern neighbour, Nigeria. These shifts add an important element of risk to the livelihood of Sahelian farmers and pastoralists. Famine early-wearning systems should keep an eye not only on weather shocks but also on macroeconomic conditions and other factors affecting the livestock economy. It is showed in this paper that livestock prices in Niger, a representative Sahelian country, respond not only to weather shocks but also to shifts in the rural and urban demand for meat in the country and in neighbouring Nigeria. The basis for the analysis is price data on 15 animal categories collected monthly in 38 districts of Niger over a period of 21 years. The questionable quality of the data and the high proportion of missing observations are compensated by the sheer number of data points: 87,000 in total. This data is complemented with monthly rainfall by district and published statistics on mineral exports and cereal production

Land tenure and farming practices: The case of Tiyo Woreda, Arsi, Ethiopia

This paper evaluates the potential problems in the context of mixed crop-livestock system of the Ethiopian highlands. Survey data from the Arsi region are used to describe the prevalence and nature of landlessness. The impact of the current land situation on selected parameters of crop agriculture, field management and interhousehold equity is analyzed. The first part discusses household characteristics. It describes demographic and economic characteristics of household by tenure class. The second part examins access to land with particular reference to types of contracts for croplands and nature of land contracts (security and rights). The third part deals with crop production in relation to input use, crop yields and crop profitability. Land management is the last topic. It disscusses farming problems, land improvement practices, and tree planting

Commercial investors and access to land

The first part of the paper describes the investment code in general and the agricultural code in particular. It lists the criteria to the issuance of operating license to domestic investors, and discusses about other licenses. The paper looks into the response by investors in commercial agriculture with particular reference to field data on agricultural investment projects, types of activities, inputs, land and community contributions. Issues faced by investors in commercial agriculture is also discussed. This includes high cost of doing business, financial challenges, poor infrastructure, corruption, issues raised by commercial agriculture, and competition for land resources

The spatial integration of livestock markets in Niger

Livestock makes an important contribution to the livelihood of Sahelian farmers and herders and is a source of self-insurance against income shocks. By allocating livestock efficiently over space, spatial market integration should foster a sustainable use of pasture resources. It is also expected to favour the sharing of risk across regions by smoothing idiosyncratic price variations. Using monthly livestock price data from Niger, we show that livestock markets are poorly integrated. Prices are seldom cointegrated, suggesting that large price differentials occasionally persist between adjacent areas for long periods of time. A parity bounds approach indicates that one has to assume high transportation costs and large quality variations to reconcile the data with efficient spatial arbitrage. These results confirm descriptive studies that have emphasised regional segmentation in West African livestock trade