Search

Smallholder farmers in developing countries often lack resources. They rely mostly on extensive production approaches, such as cattle keeping and resort more to extracting forest resources at no charge. Our objective is to assess the relationship between the diversification of income sources, poverty and livelihood capital for smallholder farm households which combine cattle farming with forest extraction. We collected 600 surveys from Indonesian farmers specialized along the cattle rearing supply chain (464 breeders, 66 feeders and 70 mixed breeder-feeders). We found no correlation between poverty and income diversification. Cattle breeders have been found to rely most on forest resources. Distance to cropland and forest correlated positively, whereas their education level correlated negatively with income diversification. Feeders who were owning other livestock, were a member of a forest user group and owned some modest capital like a motorbike showed increased income diversification. Crops are the most important source of income for farmers, whereas cattle keeping and forest extraction play a role in income diversification. Increasing ecological pressure caused by forest extraction due to expanding cattle production could be best avoided by extending those parts of the cattle sector that use forest resources in a sustainable manner, for instance, through silvopastural systems or agroforestry so that incomes of poor farmers get more diversified and, therefore stabilized.

Taking concepts from economic geography, this study decomposes locational factors as ‘first-nature’ and ‘second-nature’ geography, and argues that the second-nature geography, which is the concentration of entrepreneurial activities, helps entrepreneurs to discover entrepreneurial opportunities and gives them an incentive to integrate business with supporting activities in close proximity due to pecuniary and technological externalities. This study has taken the agricultural sector as the context of its research, and finds that the agricultural entrepreneurship literature has neglected the impact of the second-nature geography. Findings from the Netherlands show that the higher the concentration of entrepreneurial diversification in a region, the greater the likelihood that a farmer undertakes entrepreneurship on the farm.

We explore the mechanisms of the attitude–behavior paradox and how multiple stakeholders strategize to compromise their attitudes and behaviors. Through an instrumental variable probit model, we examine the effect of income heterogeneity and social ties on the farmers’ attitude–behavior paradox for collective action. The empirical results demonstrate that weak and strong ties, income heterogeneity, interaction terms, education, community environment, and community rules negatively affect the paradox, whereas water stealing and water use conflicts positively affect it. After dividing the paradox into two forms, we find that weak ties, the interaction terms thereof, negatively affect the paradox for “having negative attitude but do have behavior”, while income heterogeneity negatively affects the paradox for “having positive attitude but no behavior”. We contribute to the understanding of mechanisms whereby economic incentives and social structures interplay in addressing the above paradox. We conclude by discussing the implications for policies to overcome this social dilemma.

The understanding of the role of using forest resources in the livelihood strategies of smallholder farmers is limited. Rural household surveys often omit this aspect. From a survey of 600 Indonesian cattle farmers, we apply the sustainable livelihood framework to investigate the role extracting forest resources has in livelihood strategies and household income. We also quantify which farmers’ characteristics impact the decision to extract them. Forest extraction appears a core livelihood strategy of farmers who rely in some way on forests, which are on average poorer. Our findings suggest that forest extraction increases with increased income diversification. Farmers who specialize as feeders in the cattle supply chain engage significantly less in that. The promotion of sustainable forest resource usage schemes, such as agroforestry or silvopastoral systems that facilitate, and support cattle breeding would maintain the supply of youngstock for feeders and contribute to sustainable future use of forest resources.

Amartya Sen, the economist and philosopher, defines entitlement as command over resources that permits a household to have access to essential goods and services to sustain life within legal and established social norms and practices. Entitlement failure occurs when a household's command over all available combinations of resources does not ensure sufficient provisions of food to avoid starvation. This paper provides an overview of the literature on causal relations between civil war and household entitlements. It suggests a conceptual framework for empirically analysing the ramifications of armed political conflict on household entitlements. In addition, it develops a composite index as a tool to investigate the effect of civil war on household entitlements and to guide policy in the context of conflict-related international humanitarian interventions. The paper's key contribution is to suggest an empirical framework for quantitative measurement of the impact of civil war on household entitlements and to improve targeting criteria in post-conflict rehabilitation efforts.

Mongolia is a country with rich natural resources, including more than 70 million domesticated animals. The livestock sector is the traditional economic sector of Mongolia, and it is a major food source of the nation. Currently, the country faces an overgrazing problem caused by an increase in the number of animals whereas rangeland carrying capacity is limited. Exporting more meat and other products of animal origin has the potential to reduce the livestock population to sustainable levels, reduce overgrazing pressure, and increase the country’s export income. Policies aimed at promoting animal product exports should take the comparative advantages of different types of products of animal origin into account in order to maximize their impact. This paper aims to provide science-based evidence to support such policies by investigating the comparative advantage of meat and other selected products of animal-origin using the revealed comparative advantage index. Official statistics for 81 products over nine years were used for the data analysis. The results suggest that Mongolia’s meat export policy should focus on large volumes and relatively lower processing level products in the short run and should shift to differentiated value-added products in the long run. We recommend that the Government of Mongolia improves its meat sector’s regulation and develops formal supply chains in order to effectively monitor food safety and create high-quality Mongolian brand products of animal origin.

One of the key issues in collective action is whether stakeholders are able to realize commons governance through a trust-based mode or control-based mode. This paper, examines whether trust and control affect the commons governance for small-scale irrigation facilities, and the moderating effects of group size on the relationship between trust and control and cooperative performance. The data were collected from 504 households who participated in the collective action for small-scale irrigation facilities in Shaanxi, Gansu Province, and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of Northwest China. The analysis was performed by Structural Equation modeling and hierarchical regression. The findings show that trust and control are contrasting forces that influence the participation degree and the cooperative performance, although their relationship is not of a simple supplementary character but could be moderated by the group size. Both trust-based and control-based modes of irrigation management are effective in small groups, whereas only a control-based mode of management has an effect in big groups. The theoretical contribution of this paper clarifies the mechanisms through which the contrasting forces of group size are exerted on trust and control, directly and indirectly influences the participation degree and the cooperative performance in commons governance.

Agropastoral societies in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa are facing challenges in their land use. Land shifts toward large-scale land investments have exacerbated the scarcity of pastures, thus affecting the resilience of pastoral systems. In this study, we assessed how large-scale land investments affect household resilience using data from the Living Standards Measurement Survey in Ethiopia. We estimated household resilience capacity by a multivariate two-step factor analysis and welfare resilience from net changes in welfare outcomes between two survey intervals. We also assessed the effect of large-scale land investment on household resilience using random effects ordered logistic regression model. Factors that enhanced the resilience capacities of households included access to livestock markets, social safety nets, extension, mobility, and social services. Approximately one-third of the study population had a low resilience capacity, and more than half had low welfare resilience. Moreover, proximity to a large-scale land investment significantly reduced households' likelihood of having high resilience capacity. Therefore, future resilience programs in agropastoral areas should mitigate the adverse effect of large-scale land investments by enhancing livelihood diversification and households' access to communal pastures.

This article discusses two methods to measure the concept of local competitiveness: Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The goal of this analysis is to determine whether these two methods used in social sciences research lead to comparable model results. By non-parametric tests we show that there is a significant correlation between the PCA and AHP local competitiveness indexes. Thereafter, a developed mixed method examination of whether the methods can be used interchangeably is presented and illustrated with detailed examples of two mixed approaches. The mixed method confirms the correlation between the PCA and AHP models. However, the mixed modelling results indicate the utility of the PCA in the situation of a multicriteria local competitiveness data examination.

We examined the determinants of conflict among agro-pastoral households in areas affected by large-scale land investments in Ethiopia. We combined household and community surveys to collect data and used descriptive statistics and a binary logit model to analyze them. The results indicated that, in the last decade, land conflicts were prevalent in more than a quarter of the studied communities and that they increased since the establishment of large-scale land investments. The scarcity of pastureland and tenure insecurity are the key drivers of land conflict. We conclude that the state appropriation of traditional pastures for industrial plantations and a lack of property rights for the commons exacerbate land conflicts.

In Ethiopia, large scale land investments have been expanding into pastoral regions. However, little is known about the consequences of these investments on the food security of the pastoral community. Using Living Standard Measurement Survey data of the World Bank, we find that, on average, about 32% of the respondents from the (agro-)pastoral regions are food insecure. After controlling for confounders, proximity to large scale land investments is associated with additional food intake of up to 745 kcal per day per adult compared to the households located farther away from a large scale land investment. Proximity to large scale land investment has no significant effect on the coping strategies based food security. For households located in proximity to a large scale land investment, food intake significantly increases with access to roads and markets. Proximity to a large scale land investment has a positive effect on household food consumption not necessarily because of direct benefits from large scale land investments, but due to land and soil quality near the large scale land investments.

This paper measures the development of the national income share of the bioeconomy for 28 European Union Member States (MS) and 16 industries of BioMonitor scope from 2005 to 2015. The paper proposes a model which includes the up- and downstream linkages using Input-Output tables. The results show that for the majority of the MS the value added of the up- and downstream sector is at the band of 40%–50% of the total bioeconomy value added and has on average increased since the financial crisis.

Despite the purposeful governmental programs, agricultural cooperation in Russia is not developing - on the contrary, the number of cooperatives has been continuously declining. This study investigates the reasons for farmers' refusal to join cooperatives. A prepared questionnaire was distributed in one of the Russian regions (the Republic of Tatarstan), and the collected data were analyzed via the cross tabulation method and logit analysis. According to the study results, the major reasons for not cooperating are as follows: respondent farmers lack the experience of cooperation, they have problems trusting each other, they are not socially active in their communities, and they rarely have a higher education. The study results recommend that the Ministry of Agriculture, willing to develop agricultural cooperation, pay special attention to educating farmers in terms of cooperation. Particular work should be done in teaching farmers to work in groups, trust each other, and organize systems of cooperative ventures in a way that would exclude cheating and free-riding behavior on the parts of both the cooperative members and the leaders. Stimulating social activities among farmers in rural areas might also increase cooperation. In addition, there is a need for agricultural consulting services offering high quality educational courses explaining the advantages of cooperatives and profits that they may provide to the members.

Russia’s agricultural import ban is one of the most recent examples of protectionism in agricultural trade. Introduced in 2014 and renewed every year since then, it has disrupted food supply chains and agricultural trade in Europe and influenced the prices and structure of food production in Russia. Current literature on Russia’s import ban mentions the multidirectional effects of the ban, with limited negative effects on agricultural output, employment, and trade flows for countries within the scope of the ban (the EU, the USA, Canada, Australia, and Norway), and a significant increase in the self-sufficiency of certain sectors of agricultural production in Russia. In parallel, Russia’s domestic prices of food products included in the ban have increased, shifting the cost of the ban on consumers and providing additional support for producers via a price channel. Trade flows from countries within the scope of the ban have been partially substituted by supplies from Latin America and Asia, as well as the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Russian agricultural producers received some benefits after the introduction of the ban, while Russian consumers and EU agriculture suffered losses, although there is a possibility of a compensating effect from the re-export of banned products via neighboring countries.

Agro-pastoral areas in Ethiopia have been targeted by large-scale land investments, particularly for the establishment of sugar plantations, since the 1970s. This has led to the displacement of local communities. We investigate the impact of this displacement due to large-scale land investment on land degradation in semiarid agro-pastoral areas in Ethiopia. We conducted a survey of 866 households in two agro-pastoral sites in Ethiopia in 2019, where extensive large-scale land investment was implemented. We use an endogenous (switching) treatment model to assess the effect of the displacement of households on land degradation. The result shows that 75% of the surveyed households experienced moderate–severe land degradation. Forestlands and grasslands are ranked as the most degraded areas. About 43.7% of the households face a reduction in herd size and 55.8% lost land due to large-scale land investment, while 86% of the households show a substantial decline in crops and livestock productivity due to land degradation. The results also reveal that the displacement of households leads to a significant increase in land degradation. Household exposure to drought and conflict, the number of livestock, overgrazing, and sharecropping are other drivers of land degradation. Market access, extension services, household income, and mobility, on the other hand, limit the occurrence of land degradation. We conclude that the shifts in property rights from common land used by pastoralists to private land in large-scale plantations aggravate land degradation in semiarid drylands.

Recent research has indicated an increase in the likelihood and impact of tree failure. The potential for trees to fail relates to various biomechanical and physical factors. Strikingly, there seems to be an absence of tree risk assessment methods supported by observations, despite an increasing availability of variables and parameters measured by scientists, arborists and practitioners. Current urban tree risk assessments vary due to differences in experience, training, and personal opinions of assessors. This stresses the need for a more objective method to assess the hazardousness of urban trees. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of factors that influence tree failure including stem failure, root failure and branch failure. A systematic literature review according to the PRISMA guidelines has been performed in databases, supported by backward referencing: 161 articles were reviewed revealing 142 different factors which influenced tree failure. A meta-analysis of effect sizes and p-values was executed on those factors which were associated directly with any type of tree failure. Bayes Factor was calculated to assess the likelihood that the selected factors appear in case of tree failure. Publication bias was analysed visually by funnel plots and results by regression tests. The results provide evidence that the factors Height and Stem weight positively relate to stem failure, followed by Age, DBH, DBH squared times H, and Cubed DBH (DBH3) and Tree weight. Stem weight and Tree weight were found to relate positively to root failure. For branch failure no relating factors were found. We recommend that arborists collect further data on these factors. From this review it can further be concluded that there is no commonly shared understanding, model or function available that considers all factors which can explain the different types of tree failure. This complicates risk estimations that include the failure potential of urban trees.

With the rapid development of urbanization, industrialization and decentralized fiscal reform in China, large areas of farmlands are being converted from rural land to urban construction (residential, commercial and industrial) land. Taking Wuhan City in Hubei Province, China as a case study, we analyze land value creation by value creators including farmers (collectives), the government and developers at the level of the individual parcel, community, township and district in the process of rural-urban land conversion from farmland to residential, commercial and industrial use. The results show that (1) at the individual analysis level, land prices increase significantly during the process of land acquisition, land leasing and real estate development and sales. Land prices and incremental values differ greatly across the three land types, with higher prices for residential and commercial land, and lower prices for industrial land. In addition, farmers (collectives) receive the lowest share of the land value revenue, while the highest share is obtained by developers, followed by the government. (2) At the community, township and district levels of analysis, the spatial distribution of land values shows similar characteristics at different scales. Moreover, scale effects are found in land value creation and benefit distribution. Average land prices and incremental values decrease from the scale of the community, to the township, to the district. Furthermore, the difference in land values decreases gradually when moving from the community scale to the district scale. This study contributes to a better understanding of land value increments and benefit distribution at multiple levels of analysis, for multiple stakeholders, and for multiple land use types.

Next to heat and energy production, geothermal energy presents with opportunities for rural and suburban areas linking sustainable development goals with expansion of new local economy sectors. We conduct the shift share analysis for the ten municipality cases of the geothermal exploitation in Poland, comparing their employment structure with their reference poviat as a control group, in the years 2005 and 2018. The results reveal a strong shift in the trade and service sectors employment in all of examined geothermal localities, outperforming the reference poviats. In the tested period, more jobs were generated in the geothermal municipalities than in poviats too. Moreover, the structure of the differential shift component indicates that the trade and services employment growth is related with the development of the geothermal spas and recreational centers in the examined municipalities. The hypothesis that the geothermal resources utilization increases the employment in the local services sectors is corroborated.

Agricultural policies can only be effective if intended beneficiaries are sufficiently aware of them. This basic condition for policy success is substantially challenged by smallholder farmers’ lack of awareness of existing support schemes. We studied the perceptions of 600 farmers of preservation policies for the traditional Indonesian Ongole cattle breed. We measured farmers’ knowledge of existing policies, their perceived ease of participation, their participation level and their satisfaction with the benefits obtained. We found that the target group has little awareness of existing policies. Policy awareness increases with education, the less remote the farm is, and with increasing specialization in cattle farming. We recommend therefore that policymakers should simplify and redesign existing policy schemes to create one coordinated policy. The various support schemes currently implemented should be combined in this policy and it should be presented in such a way that is easily understood by farmers. Incentives for Ongole breeders should be tailored, the establishment of farmers groups facilitated, and a breeding and selection programme initiated to improve the genetic potential of Ongole for domestic beef production.

Agglomerations of agricultural activity yield a number of institutional and infrastructural benefits for farmers. However, these regional concentrations also increase competition between farmers. We quantify to what extent competitive pressure affects farmers’ behaviour in agro-clusters analysing a survey of 1,250 farmers in West Java. This assessment is derived from a conceptual model based on the theory of planned behaviour and the behavioural interaction model. We also derive several hypotheses which are econometrically tested. We find that the specific competitive environments farmers are exposed to for specific aspects of agricultural production matter most. In high density agglomeration environments, lower degrees of peer pressure foster cooperative behaviour. Food insecurity is found to enlarge self-interest, more intense cooperation is associated with lower income levels and appears to be regionally heterogeneous. Policies intended to facilitate cooperation could therefore be tailored to specific aspects of agricultural production and the specific region of interest.