Homestead forestry and rural development : a socio-empirical study of Bangladesh : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, New Zealand

This thesis is concerned with the role of homestead forests in the development of poor, labour surplus economies. The term 'homestead forest' refers to the collection of vegetation - trees, plants, herbs, creepers and others - which almost all rural households in Bangladesh grow, for their own use as well as for sale, using the land in and around their homesteads and dwellings. The term 'development' encompasses economic, social, cultural and ecological aspects of countries. The thesis therefore examines the role of homestead forests in this wider context. It starts by reviewing the existing theoretical literature on development drawing on the works of sociologists, social anthropologists, development economists, geographers and others. It argues that many of the theories do not fit the particular conditions of the very poor agriculture-dependent economies such as Bangladesh. This study therefore advances the hypotheses that of 'non-conventional' approaches involving the development of the resources of homestead forests in the rural areas would go a long way towards assisting the poor, landless masses of Bangladesh. An extensive survey of the many and varied uses of homestead forests is undertaken to support these hypotheses on the basis of direct observation and experience. To give further content to the hypotheses, village surveys were undertaken in carefully selected areas of Bangladesh. With the help of scientifically formulated questionnaires the situation of the rural people of the selected villages was examined. This helped to identify the many causes of poverty and helplessness among the rural poor. The methods of survival were also focused on in these surveys of the rural people. It became clear that homestead forests play a major role in the lives and livelihoods of the rural people. The question why the large scale forestry development programmes did not help the rural poor also figured in this investigation. It was found that the large scale commercial types of forests deny access to the majority of the rural people, while homestead forests, being directly owned and controlled by the people, provide them with much needed support. It is true that such support, however valuable, is still inadequate. It is also unevenly distributed among the rural people. The survey therefore looked at the distributional aspects of homestead forestry resources within the survey villages. The findings confirm the need to strengthen this valuable resource base in rural Bangladesh if widespread poverty, and its inevitable concomitant, social and political unrest and instability are to be attacked. The study ends with a number of recommendations to make the changes necessary for more efficient utilization of the homestead forestry resources for the benefit directly of the poor and, indirectly, the rest of society as well

Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment and Its Impact on Economic Growth in Developing Countries

By bridging the gap between domestic savings and investment and bringing the latest technology and management know-how from developed countries, foreign direct investment (FDI) can play important role in achieving rapid economic growth in the developing countries. The fact is that FDI mostly flows towards the developed countries and only a small portion of FDI flows to a limited number of developing countries. Thus, most of the developing nations almost fail to attract a handsome amount of FDI. Using panel data from 60 low-income and lower-middle income countries, this paper firstly identifies the influential factors that determine FDI inflow in the developing countries and secondly empirically demonstrates the relationship between economic growth and FDI. It is found that countries with larger GDP and high GDP growth rate and maintain business friendly environment with abundant modern infrastructural facilities, such as internet can successfully attract FDI and FDI on the other hand, significantly affect economic growth of a country.foreign direct investment, determinants, developing countries, economic growth

Rural Craftsmanship, Employment Creation and Poverty Alleviation: The Case of the Bamboo Craftsmanship in Bangladesh

Abstract: More than 30 percent of total population in Bangladesh is extremely poor. Halving the existing poverty level as per the millennium development goals of the UN by 2015 is the major challenge of the country. The question arises as to how to eradicate extreme poverty quickly? Successful experience of the East Asian countries reveals that creation of employment opportunities in the non-farm industrial sector for the rural poor is instrumental to eradicate poverty. Due to stagnant large and medium scales industrial sector and sole dependence on agriculture sector for employment and income, Bangladesh suffers from huge unemployment and disguised unemployment, which has been further worsening due to high population growth rate. Since the long past, rural informal income generating activities, such as traditional bamboo craftsmanship, however, has created enormous employment and income opportunities in the country especially for the rural poor and distress women. Empirical studies though recognize the contribution of rural informal activities to poverty alleviation, seldom focuses on who are the craftsmen, how they produce and market their products. Using primary data collected from more than 200 bamboo craftsmen from four districts in Bangladesh, this study tries to examine the role of rural informal activities and characterizes who are the craftsmen. The study finds that bamboo craftsmen are mostly uneducated and inherited the skills and businesses from their parents. The study also finds that all of the workers in the bamboo industry are family members and nearly 50 percent of total workers in the bamboo sector are female. Thus, the traditional bamboo sector contributes enormously to the creation of employment opportunities for the rural women. Finally, based on the opinions of the craftsmen, the study recommends some suggestions for the development of the bamboo industry in Bangladesh.industrial cluster, industrial development, craftsmanship, bamboo

Do mutualistic organisms associated with wild Nicotiana benthamiana plants influence drought tolerance?

In arid regions, such as those in north-western Australia, plants survive under water deficit, high temperatures, intense solar radiation and nutrient-impoverished soils. They employ various morphophysiological and biochemical adaptations including interaction with microbial symbionts. Seed from thirty-two accessions of four Nicotiana species (N. benthamiana, N. occidentalis, N. simulans, and N. umbratica) collected from wild plants from northern Australia, were grown and used to assess their responses to water stress. The original wild host plants were selected because they grow in an extremely hot environment where water supply is often unpredictable, and because they share a close genetic relationship to the international model plant N. benthamiana research accession 4 (RA-4). Under moderate water stress conditions, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root fresh weight, root dry weight, root/shoot ratio, and relative water content of leaves was significantly affected. However, the degree to which the accessions were affected varied considerably. Some accessions of N. simulans, N. benthamiana and N. occidentalis were significantly more affected by water stress than others. There was significant inherent variation between accessions in leaf and shoot tip wilting times. Initial symptom expression (leaf wilting) was significantly delayed in two accessions of N. benthamiana and in one accession of N. umbratica. The least water stress tolerant lines, three accessions each of N. occidentalis and N. simulans exhibited advanced symptoms of water stress (shoot tip wilting) within 14-17 days of cessation of watering. This stage was significantly delayed in three accessions of N. benthamiana and two accessions each of N. occidentalis and N. simulans, which exhibited tip wilting after only 21-24 days. There were variations among the accessions of Nicotiana species on their tolerance to water stress. Plant responses to water stress could not be predicted from their phenotype under well-watered conditions. We evaluated identity, host and tissue association, and geographical distribution of fungal endophytes isolated from above and below-ground tissues of wild plants of three indigenous Australian Nicotiana species. Isolation frequency and α-diversity were significantly higher for root endophyte assemblages than those of stem and leaf tissues. We recorded no differences in endophyte species richness or diversity as a function of sampling location, but did detect differences among different host genotypes and plant tissues. There was a significant pattern of community similarity associated with host genotypes but no consistent pattern of fungal community structuring associated with sampling location and tissue type, regardless of the community similarity measurements used. We developed and evaluated two rapid screening methods to identify fungal endophytes that enhanced water deprivation stress tolerance in seedlings of N. benthamiana RA-4. Sixty-eight endophyte isolates taken from wild Nicotiana plants were co-cultivated with N. benthamiana RA-4 seedlings on either damp filter paper or on an agar medium before being subjected to water deprivation. The longevity of seedlings was compared under association with different fungal isolates and under the two screening methods. The filter paper method was faster and simpler than the agarbased method. Based on results, 17 isolates were selected for further testing under water deprivation conditions while growing in washed river sand in a glasshouse. Only two fungal isolates, one resembling Cladosporium cladosporioides (E-162) and a fungus not closely related to any described species (E-284), significantly enhanced seedling tolerance to moisture deprivation consistently in both in vitro and glasshouse-based tests. Although a strongly significant correlation was observed between any two screening methods, the results of the filter paper test was more strongly reflected (r = 0.757, p< 0.001) in results of the glasshouse-based test, indicating its relative suitability over the agar-based test. In another experiment, the same 17 isolates were inoculated to N. benthamiana plants growing in sand in a glasshouse under nutrient-limiting conditions to test their influence on growth promotion. Isolates resembling C. cladosporioides, Fusarium equiseti, and Thozetella sp. promoted seedling growth, evidenced by increased shoot length and higher biomass than non-inoculated control. The two promising fungal endophytes identified from wild Nicotiana plants, E-162 (C. cladosporioides) and E-284 (an unidentified species) were inoculated to plants of N. benthamiana RA-4 to examine their metabolic response to endophyte colonisation under adequate water and water deficit conditions. We examined leaf metabolites using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) to compare levels of sugars, sugar alcohols, amino acids and other metabolites at various stages of plant growth and stress application. Ninety-three metabolites were detected in leaves, including 20 sugars, 13 sugar alcohols, 21 amino acids, 29 organic and fatty acids and ten other compounds. Endophyte colonization caused significant differential accumulation of 17-21 metabolites when the plants were grown under well-watered conditions. The presence of endophytes under water stress conditions caused differential accumulation of cytosine, diethylene glycol, galactinol, glycerol, heptadecanoate, mannose, oleic acid, proline, rhamnose, succinate, and urea. Accumulation of these metabolites suggests that fungal endophytes influence plants to accumulate certain metabolites under water-stress. Further, the two different endophytes tested caused slightly different accumulation patterns of some metabolites. We evaluated how these two fungal endophytes as well as yellowtail flower mild mottle virus (genus Tobamovirus), influenced water stress tolerance in N. benthamiana RA-4 plants. The water stress tolerance of fungus-inoculated plants correlated with increased plant biomass, relative water content, soluble sugars, soluble proteins, proline content, increased activity of the antioxidant enzymes catalase, peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase, and decreased production of reactive oxygen species and electrical conductivity in plants under water stress. In addition, we found that there was significant differential upregulation of drought-related genes in the fungus-inoculated plants subjected to water stress. Plants inoculated with the virus exhibited a similar response to those plant inoculated with the fungi in terms of increasing plant osmolytes, antioxidant enzyme activity and gene expression. Although the fungus and virus infection similarly increased plant water stress tolerance by influencing plant physiology and gene expression, their presence together in the same plant did not have an additive effect, nor did they decrease water stress tolerance. These findings suggest that both fungi and virus influence plant physiology and gene expression under water stress, and it suggests that there is potential to use endophytic fungi, and perhaps virus, to induce greater tolerance to water stress in agricultural production systems

人的資本と産業発展: バングラデシュのニットウェア産業の事例

公共政策プログラム / Public Policy Program政策研究大学院大学 / National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies論文審査委員: 園部 哲史（主査）, 大塚 啓二郎, 山野 峰, 山形 辰史（日本貿易振興機構アジア経済研究所）, 大山 達

Value of Hedging in U.S Airline industry: A Perspective on firm value and accounting performance

The purpose of this research is to investigate the value premium associated with extent of hedging in the U.S. airline industry during the period 2006 to 2010 and to study the results of hedging on accounting performance as a proxy for firm value. The multivariate approach has been taken to measure the firm value using Tobin's q and accounting performance variables. The results show that hedging has a significant effect having a premium of 22.2% on firm value using Tobin's q but the hedging has no effect on Accounting performance as value measure. Therefore, the results on accounting performance do not complement our value results of Tobin's q