Ethnography of Peasant Engagement in Food Systems

The PhD thesis analysis the sustainability of food systems on the basis of the authors in-depth ethnographic study on Kenyan peasants in the drylands of Laikipia, Northern Kenya. The thesis shows how shortcomings of current food systems are linked to historical transformations of land and property rights as well as global trends in agrarian markets and consumption. In this glocal context, peasants find themselves in a relative low bargaining position. Today, they are forced to accept unfavourable institutional and market specific constraints dominated by global agro-industrial food systems that do not only appropriate access to natural resources and exploit the local labour force but also promote the use of chemical inputs and hybrid seeds for local production. Local peasants can mitigate or prevent some of the shortcomings of the intertwined food systems by organizing in cooperatives. However, not all members have the same opportunities to engage in and benefit from this collective action and economic diversification. The PhD thesis reveals that processes of land and commons grabbing as well as dependence from global agro-industrial systems do affect peasants differently. Peasants who are able to secure their land rights, access to common water as well as reducing their dependence by being able to organize collectively are less vulnerable and more resilient facing global transformations and unsustainable impacts of agro-industrial food systems than those being more dependent. The author argues that when dealing with glocal land and agricultural issues there is a need to pay attention to the heterogeneity of local actors and their ability to cope with glocal market systems

Lifetime Prediction of Rubber Using the Chemiluminescence Approach and Isoconversional Kinetics

A common scepticism towards the application of many materials in art or in conservation-restoration results from the fact that their long-term stability is unknown and difficult to predict. In the present study we report on a new approach of kinetic analysis of the oxidation reactions of natural rubbers with and without stabiliser in an oxygen atmosphere at moderate temperatures using chemiluminescence measurements carried out on newly developed instrumentation. The kinetic parameters of the oxidation process, calculated from the chemiluminescence signals by means of the differential isoconversional method of Friedman, were subsequently applied to the simulation of the rubber aging using different temperature profiles. The results are a first step towards the use of chemiluminescence to characterise the oxidative aging of rubber and predicting the lifetime of rubber items

Research−implementation organisations and their role for sustainable development

Over the past decade, considerable progress has been made by higher education institutions (HEIs) to align with sustainable development goals. Specifically, aspects of sustainable development have been integrated into the existing mandates of HEIs – education, research and operations. The main objective of the current study was to assess a sub-group of African HEIs that have an explicit mandate for implementation science and pursue development assistance-type services and to describe their added value to advance sustainable development. We conducted a qualitative situational assessment, including 22 institutions from 13 countries. Interviews and surveys were done with 42 participants composed of director-level representatives and staff members engaged both in research and implementation. The data were subjected to qualitative content analysis. The main strengths of the participating organisations vis-à-vis implementation projects and wider sustainable development were the quality of implementation, local relevance of the research and uptake of research evidence into policy and practice. A major weakness was the challenge of operating such a bi-sectoral model, while maintaining high-level performance in both areas. Yet, the examined research implementation institutions draw from and combine the competences of research, education and implementation and have a distinctive role to play in the attainment of sustainable development, especially when operating by an optimised support system and within strong research ecosystems. Based on our study, we provide a definition of research implementation organisations that may serve institutions to enhance their standing, their operations and their significance for sustainable development

Food System Impacts on Community Water Projects in the Mount Kenya Region

After independence, colonial ranches in the semi-arid region North-West of Mount Kenya were allocated mainly by immigrating Kikuyu settlers who cultivate crops mainly for local as well as national consumption. In the 1990s commercial horticultural and floricultural companies started to grow food for a global agro-industrial food system linking Kenyan producers with European consumers. In the semi-arid region, both, the settlers and the commercial producers faced serious water constraints. To cope with water scarcity and emerging conflicts, they joined forces and formed water projects for the construction and maintenance of water supply systems. Companies supported these projects mainly to avoid conflicts with neighbouring communities, accusing them of drawing off their water. Together with the government and aid agencies, the companies took over an important role for the funding and implementation of these water supply projects. Commonly developed rules, often formally committed to paper, prescribe the mandatory contribution and allowed benefit of the different members of such water projects. According to the literature, this seems to be a successful model of participatory bottom up initiatives for a common management of a sparse resource, even including commercial companies. These institutions are also well nested in regional and national legislations through so-called Water Resource User Associations and the New Water Act of 2002. With the involvement of the commercial horticultural companies, these water projects also illustrate an interesting and positive interlink of the agro-industrial and the local to national food systems in this region. However, by a closer look on the ground at which interest groups are actually benefiting from these water supplies, analysis of selected water projects show that not all members are benefiting equally. Some groups have advantageous positions to access water even in times of scarcity while others are still not connected to the supply system. This can be explained through physical characteristics of the system (e.g. proximity to intakes), but negotiation processes, including bargaining power positions, also influence the distribution of the piped water. While the companies’ supply is relatively secure, some groups of smallholders do not benefit from the project at all and again accuse the companies of drawing off too much water. A further problem is lack of funding. Members who do currently not receive water or expect limited access in times of scarcity – because others have better abilities to take water – are not willing to invest in the construction and maintenance of the pipe system. This reduces available funds to improve the distribution system for the sake of all members and in turn increases the number of members with limited access. Some of the actors who do not benefit from the current management of the resource see the failure in the bad management of these common projects and call for private companies as water supply provider. The presentation will address questions of impacts of the different food systems on the management of the common water supply from local actors’ perspectives scrutinized in a three months exploratory anthropological field research

Ethnography of a Land Grab and Gendered Coping Strategies in Northern Sierra Leone

Despite an increased scientific interest in the relatively new phenomenon of large-scale land acquisition (LSLA), data on the implementation of such projects and their impacts on the heterogeneous group of project-affected people are still sparse and superficial. Our ethnographic in-depth research on a Swiss-based bioenergy project in Sierra Leone generates well-documented data and provides insights into gendered access to land and wage employment. In the area where the project is located, customary land tenure applies. Thereby, women are structurally discriminated since they are not entitled to own land. However, user rights grant women and non-landowning men access to land and associated resources. Following the investing development banks’ guidelines, the company considered the local customary law when implementing its project. Nevertheless, the company only consulted and compensated landowners although women and non-landowning men could previously benefit from acquired land as well. Moreover, the company’s policy to enhance employment possibilities for women is barely implemented, and only few local women are hired. In order to cope with the transformed situation some women and non-landowning men continue to engage in subsistence farming on a reduced area of land. Others are involved in informal petty-trade or cooking food for the labourers whereby they subsidize the capitalist production of the company. In one village, women resisted additional land takes of the company. Acting within the framework of a specific power constellation on community level and simultaneously accommodating their claims within policy paradigms on transnational level, they were able to force a landowner to refuse leasing land to the company

Local Perceptions and Vertical Perspectives of a Large Scale Land Acquisition Project in Northern Sierra Leone

Despite increased scientific interest in the phenomenon of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLA), accurate data on implementation processes remain sparse. This paper aims at filling this gap by providing empirical in-depth knowledge on the case of the Swiss-based Addax Bioenergy Ltd. in Sierra Leone. Extensive fieldwork allowed the interdisciplinary research team 1) the identification of different actors that are necessary for the implementation on a vertical level and 2) the documentation of the heterogeneous group of project affected people’s perceptions and strategies on a horizontal level. Findings reveal that even a project labeled as best-practice example by UN agencies triggers a number of problematic processes for affected communities. The loss of natural resources that comes along with the land lease and the lack of employment possibilities mostly affects already vulnerable groups. On the other hand, strategies and resistance of local people also affect the project implementation. This shows that the horizontal and vertical levels are not separate entities. They are linked by social networks, social interactions, and means of communication and both levels take part in shaping the project’s impacts

Ethnography of a Land-Deal. Local Perceptions and Vertical Perspectives of a Large Scale Land Acquisition Project in Northern Sierra Leone

Despite an increased scientific interest in the relatively new phenomenon of large-scale land acquisition (LSLA), data on processes on the local level remain sparse and superficial. However, knowledge about the concrete implementation of LSLA projects and the different impacts they have on the heterogeneous group of project affected people is indispensable for a deepened understanding of the phenomenon. In order to address this research gap, a team of two anthropologists and a human geographer conducted in-depth fieldwork on the LSLA project of Swiss based Addax Bioenergy in Sierra Leone. After the devastating civil war, the Sierra Leonean government created favourable conditions for foreign investors willing to lease large areas of land and to bring “development” to the country. Being one of the numerous investing companies, Addax Bioenergy has leased 57’000 hectares of land to develop a sugarcane plantation and an ethanol factory to produce biofuel for the export to the European market. Based on participatory observation, qualitative interview techniques and a network analysis, the research team aimed a) at identifying the different actors that were necessary for the implementation of this project on a vertical level and b) exploring various impacts of the project in the local context of two villages on a horizontal level. The network analysis reveals a complex pattern of companies, institutions, nongovernmental organisations and prominent personalities acting within a shifting technological and discursive framework linking global scales to a unique local context. Findings from the latter indicate that affected people initially welcomed the project but now remain frustrated since many promises and expectations have not been fulfilled. Although some local people are able to benefit from the project, the loss of natural resources that comes along with the land lease affects livelihoods of vulnerable groups – especially women and land users – considerably. However, this research doesn’t only disclose impacts on local people’s previous lives but also addresses strategies they adopt in the newly created situation that has opened up alternative spaces for renegotiations of power and legitimatisation. Therewith, this explorative study reveals new aspects of LSLA that have not been considered adequately by the investing company nor by the general academic discourse on LSLA

Assessing Food Systems and Their Impact on Common Pool Resources and Resilience

The ongoing expansion of agro-industrial food systems is associated with severe socio-ecological problems. For a closer look at the socio-ecological impacts, we analyze the capacity of six food systems to provide farm-based agroecosystem services with the Agroecosystem Service Capacity (ASC) approach. At the same time, we analyze how food systems affect the management of common pool resources (CPR). Our findings show that indigenous peoples and agroecological food systems can have up to three times the ASC-index of agro-industrial food systems. Through their contribution to the sustainable management of cultural landscapes with robust institutions for the management of CPRs, food systems contribute to socio-ecological integrity. On the other hand, regional and agro-industrial food systems with a lower ASC-index contribute less to socio-ecological integrity, and they undermine and open up common property institutions for robust CPR management. As a result, they appropriate (or grab) access to CPRs that are vital for food systems with higher ASC-indexes resulting from a robust management of CPRs. Strengthening a robust management of CPRs could put a halt to the ongoing expansion of food systems with a low ASC-index by replacing them with a high ASC-index to prevent an exacerbation of the current socio-ecological situation