Search Results (30)

Desertification, accompanied by the loss of perennial grasses and bush encroachment, affects more than 10% of the world’s drylands, thereby placing increasing pressure on rangelands and farmers’ livelihoods. In Namibia, rangeland desertification is exacerbated by external shocks such as droughts, market changes, and new regulatory frameworks that have led to profound social and ecological changes within this tightly coupled social–ecological system (SES). In this context, the interrelationship among system components, drivers, and external factors, as well as the impact of strategies to halt desertification, remain poorly understood. The present study employed a retrospective mixed-methods approach to investigate the drivers of desertification on Namibia’s freehold farms by applying the social–ecological trap (SET) concept. Our approach combined remote sensing methods with semi-structured interviews and a literature review. The aim was to decipher the underlying processes and self-reinforcing feedback loops and to identify associated changes in the social and ecological subsystem. Our results revealed that inadequate grass availability, coupled with income deficits, serves as a pivotal catalyst for rangeland desertification, perpetuating a self-reinforcing feedback loop. To avoid or mitigate the effects of ecological regime shifts and to help farmers escape the SET of desertification, it will be necessary to implement changes in the dominant feedback loops through long-term risk mitigation strategies, such as rangeland restoration measures, as well as on- and off-farm income diversification. These strategies will provide a foundation for subsequent research on effective long-term mitigation strategies to prevent further rangeland desertification and to secure the livelihoods of farmers. Full article

The issue of ensuring food and nutrition security has become a prominent item on the global agenda, particularly for low-income countries with high population growth rates. Despite the implementation of numerous policies and programs with the objective of enhancing household calorie intake, food insecurity is worsening in Ethiopia. It is crucial to comprehend the principal factors influencing food security, as this knowledge is essential for implementing effective interventions to enhance food security. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the food security status of households, measure the extent and severity of food insecurity, and identify the determinants of food security in Northeastern Ethiopia. The data for this study were collected through key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and a multi-stage sampling method, which involved the selection of 300 households. Descriptive and inferential statistics, the Foster–Greer–Thorbecke (FGT) index, and a probit model were employed to analyze the collected data. The results indicate that 41.67% of the sample households were food secure. By decomposing the results to the two land use systems, 34.62% and 50.69% of the pastoral and agro-pastoral households were food secure, respectively, indicating that agro-pastoral households were relatively more food secure than pastoral counterparts. Furthermore, the gap and severity of food insecurity among the sample households were calculated using FGT indices, resulting in a value of 15.02% and 5.31%, respectively. The probit model revealed that educational attainment, the number of milking cows, cultivated farm size, annual farm income, and participation in off-farm activities were significant predictors of improved household food security status. The findings of this study suggest that policies aimed at addressing food insecurity should consider livelihood diversification, the promotion of education and training, and the strengthening of institutional and technological environments. Full article

Malnutrition is a major concern in Madagascar. Eating a wide variety of nutritious food is necessary because Malagasy diets heavily rely on rice consumption. This study explored the barriers to dietary change towards diversification from the perspective of consumer behaviour. We analysed the impact of risk and time preferences on dietary diversity using economic experiments conducted with 539 rural lowland rice farmers in Central Highlands in Madagascar. The results showed that risk-averse or impatient individuals were more likely to have lower Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), indicating poorer diet quality. Risk-averse people may not want to add different foods to meals as they perceive unfamiliar food as a ‘risk’; people who prefer immediate gratification may fail to invest in nutritious diets now to achieve better health in the future. Additionally, higher HDDS was observed among households with a female head who earned off-farm income and who had frequent market visits. These findings contribute to explaining the limited shift in nutritional transition in Madagascar and provide useful insights into nutritional policies promoting healthier food choices. Depending on the preferences, more focused support such as nutritional education, financial support, market development, and pre-commitment mechanisms could be provided to reward long-term nutritional benefits. Full article

Climate change and variability present major environmental and socioeconomic challenges to populations in sub-Saharan Africa that depend upon favourable climatic conditions for agricultural production and for their sustenance and livelihoods. This study assessed the adaptation strategies used by farming households in north-central Nigeria to reduce the impacts of persistent ongoing climate variability, mainly changes in rainfall and temperatures, as a result of climate change. Data were collected through household questionnaires from 120 farming households in Bokkos Local Government Area, Plateau State, north-central Nigeria. The results indicated that the number of years of farming experience was positively correlated with farmers’ knowledge and awareness of climate change (p = 0.000). Furthermore, education status significantly influenced farmers’ adaptation strategies to both deal with climate variability and to ensure household income (p < 0.05). The results from farmers indicated that a range of on-farm and off-farm adaptation strategies have been adopted. On-farm strategies include changing the crop planting time; crop diversification; irrigation farming; the use of fertilizers, manure, and agrichemicals to boost crop yield; and planting disease-resistant and drought-tolerant crop varieties. Off-farm strategies include small-scale trading and artisanal ventures that can augment the household income. Together, these diverse activities can enhance households’ resilience to the negative effects of climate variability. It is recommended that policymakers improve institutional support and training for farmers to enable viable livelihood diversification strategies, enhancing their climate change adaptation and resilience. Full article

Amazon, the largest global tropical forest, is central to counterbalance the effects of climate change. However, the extant literature has not fully explained the effects of demographic changes on land use and livelihoods sustainability that reconciles production and conservation. Using a case study of 28 years in the Brazilian Amazon, this article provided novel empirical evidences on the co-evolution of household demographic dynamics (composition and life cycles), land use and livelihoods as depicted by the demo-livelihoods theoretical framework. Methods of analysis involve the combination of exploratory (descriptive, cluster and correlation) and a multivariate hazard model. The results validated the demo-livelihoods theory and showed that livelihoods adaptation over time involves diversification combining perennials and cattle ranching, land consolidation and off-farm strategies (remittances, wage labor, cash transfers). These strategies are conditioned by demographic dynamics. Households are less likely to diversify livelihoods with annual crops due to unsustainable environmental conditions and costs associated with land intensification and market accessibility. While diversification historically occur at the expense of primary forest, household ageing may create a momentum to limit deforestation and allows the future incorporation of plot-based natural capital as a source of diversified, sustainable land uses and livelihoods for carbon emissions and bioeconomy markets. Full article

Land degradation, food and tenure insecurity are significant problems in the northern highlands of Ethiopia, particularly in the region known as the country’s famine corridor. Addressing these twine issues in the region has become a focal point for both local and international organizations, underscoring the significance of preventive measures. Since 2000, the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has been implementing sustainable land management and certification programs. This study aims on households involved in these programs, specifically in Dessie Zuria and Kutaber Woredas, South Wello Zone (SWZ). The primary objectives of the research were to assess households’ current food security status, identify factors influencing their food security, and classify coping and survival strategies employed by households during food shortages. Primary and secondary sources have been used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data were collected from surveyed households and analyzed USING SPSS software version 26, whereas qualitative data were transcribed, grouped, and interpreted in line with the aim of the research. Three food security models, namely the Household Food Balance Model, Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning, and Household Dietary Diversity Score, were employed to evaluate food security. Consequently, a significant percentage of the surveyed households, amounting to 88.3%, 35.6%, and 93.8%, were found to experience food insecurity according to the respective models. Rainfall shortages and variability, crop pests and diseases, shrinking farm plots, and land degradation are among the identified food security determinants. During dearth periods, households deploy a variety of coping and survival strategies. To mitigate food insecurity stemming from both natural and socio-economic factors, the research suggests several recommendations. These include advocating for tenure policy reforms by the GoE, and the local governments should promote the adoption of efficient land management practices, instituting a land certification system based on cadasters, encouraging family planning, boosting investments in education and literacy, raising awareness and providing training in climate-smart agriculture techniques, educating communities on optimal grain utilization, saving, trade, and storage methods, facilitating opportunities for income generation through off-farm and non-farm activities, and offering support for crop and livestock diversification. Full article

In order to alleviate ecological environmental degradation and to enhance sustainable rural household livelihoods, the Shaanxi government of China launched a disaster mitigation program: the disaster avoidance resettlement. Measuring household livelihood vulnerability and further assessing its influence, hold the key to strengthening livelihood adaptation in the context of disaster resettlement. Taking Ankang—in southern Shaanxi Province, China—as an example, this article explores the impact mechanism of household livelihood vulnerability on adaptation strategies through a multinominal logistic regression model in which 657 rural questionnaires were employed. In order to provide more integrated empirical evidence, we draw lessons from the livelihood of the previously proposed vulnerability framework, which has three dimensions: the degree of sensitivity, exposure, and adaptive capacity. The adaptive strategies were divided into pure farming, non-agricultural, and diversified adaptation types according to the types of income sources. The results indicated that livelihood vulnerability varies with different resettlement characteristics. In terms of adaptive strategy types, the vulnerability of pure farming households was the largest. This article found that the relocated households who had a lower sensitivity preferred the non-farming livelihood adaptation strategy. Local households with a high adaptive ability preferred to implement diversified adaptation strategies. The weaker the social support network of the relocated households, the more likely they were to choose off-farm adaptation strategies. Our research results are robust and have broader implications in terms of promoting rural household diversifications of adaptation strategies and reducing livelihood vulnerability. Full article

It has been generally agreed that income is a critical means of obtaining the resources required to sustain one’s living standards. In the developed world, the increase in life satisfaction does not keep pace with the increase in income. In the developing world, the majority of the population is dependent on income from agriculture, and the incidence of poverty is high. As in other regions, Cambodia has been in the process of an agricultural transformation, and the incomes of agricultural families are becoming increasingly diverse. Household wellbeing is related to income diversification and positively impacts the quality of life of farmers in the farming communities of Tang Krasang and Tapang Trabek in Stung Chreybak. As a result, most farmers have found that the diversification of their income provides them with a sustainable livelihood through the expansion of dry season rice production, access to higher education, access to good health care, and the upgrading of houses. The objectives of this paper are to examine the life goals of rural people and to assess whether the diversification of income affects their wellbeing. Structured interviews were used to collect data along with field observation, interviews with key informants interviews, and focus group discussions on the income diversification of various stakeholders including representatives from authorities, local traders, and key relevant provincial department bodies. A total of 300 household families were selected for the questionnaires through multistage purposive and random-sampling techniques conducted in six villages, two communes, and two districts in Stung Chreybak. We found that income diversification is strongly associated with the attainment of external life goals and the sustainable livelihoods of farmers. This study recommends that supporting the importance of income diversification through the creation of model agricultural technologies and off-farm activities and the development of vocational training skills would allow more farmers to easily attain improved socio-economic wellbeing. Full article

Several studies have reported farmers’ perceptions of climate change, but there is inadequate knowledge available on the farm households’ climate change awareness (CCA) in Pakistan. This study was undertaken to assess farmers’ CCA. For this purpose, the study collected the data from southern and central Punjab, Pakistan, through a purposively multistage random sampling technique. Binary logit and odds ratio were used to analyse the data. The analysis of the study shows that the majority of respondents were aware of climate change but had differing perceptions of climate change. This research showed that 70.8% of farmers are aware of climate change and reported their awareness level on winter and summer rainfall and temperature, the growing season length (GSL) of crops, the sea level rise, and the causes of climate changes and conceptual understanding of it while persistently denying climate change. However, many farmers did not perceive decreasing winter (48%) and summer (31.2%) precipitation, the majority of the farmers could not perceive in the GSL of summer (63.2%) and winter (64.4%) crops, while few did not notice increased winter (36.4%) and summer (33.6%) temperature, respectively. Financial and non-financial factors such as education (1.16), experience (1.07), distance to markets (1.07), non-agricultural income (2.83), access to agricultural credit (0.29) and marketing of produce (6.10), access to extension services (3.87) and the number of adaptation strategies (1.30) were pointedly related to farm households’ CCA. These odds values in the parenthesis show that the likelihood of CCA increases/decreases as these determinants increase. Moreover, the results of the study show that CCA is a significant predictor of adaptation to climate change. Main adaptation strategies opted for by farmers include changing crop variety and type, changing planting dates, tree plantation, increasing/changing fertilizer, soil and water conservation, off-farm income and diversification. Further, the study finds that some farmers did not perceive climate change as it takes time to be visible, but they are aware of climate change. Therefore, there is a need to reshape the households’ perception of climate change and enhance farmers’ CCA through existing extension services. Full article

The contradiction between environmental protection and livelihood development is becoming increasingly serious for most protected areas in developing countries. Livelihood diversification is an efficient way to increase household income to alleviate poverty related to environmental protection. However, its impacts on household welfare in protected areas have rarely been quantitatively explored. This article investigates the determinants of four livelihood strategies in the Maasai Mara National Reserve and explores the association between livelihood diversification and household income and its heterogeneities. Based on the sustainable livelihoods framework and the information collected from 409 households through face-to-face interviews, this study adopted multivariate regression models to obtain consistent results. Results show that the determinants of the four strategies differed. Natural capital, physical capital, and financial capital had significant associations with the probability of adopting the strategy of livestock breeding. Physical capital, financial capital, human capital, and social capital were associated with the probability of adopting the joint strategy of livestock breeding and crop planting and the joint strategy of livestock breeding and off-farm activities. The probability of adopting the joint strategy of livestock breeding, crop planting, and off-farm activities was associated with all five kinds of livelihood capital except for financial capital. Diversification strategies, especially those involving off-farm activities, played greater roles in raising household income. The findings indicate that the government and management authority of Maasai Mara National Reserve should provide the households around the protected area with more off-farm employment opportunities to increase the welfare of local residents as well as to utilize natural resources appropriately, especially for those located far away from the protected area. Full article

Smallholder agriculture remains the heart of Ghana’s food crop production and crucial to meet the zero-hunger target. Unfortunately, rural households continue to see no significant improvement in their livelihoods, as poverty and food insecurity remain high in these areas. This has raised concerns about the economic viability of smallholder agriculture in Ghana. We estimated propensity score matching on a sample of 581 farmers to determine the economic viability of the smallholder farmers and the impact of farm output commercialization and off-farm diversification on their food security and welfare status. Large-scale (>2 ha) maize production led to 8% more yield and 96% more income than small-scale (≤2 ha) production. At observed mean levels, large-scale farmers performed better in most of the livelihood outcomes. The impact of diversification and commercialization on livelihood outcomes was mixed, based on the scale of production. For small-scale farmers, diversification reduced per capita consumption expenditure, while commercialization improved food security, consumption expenditure, and income. For large-scale farmers, diversification improved yield and food security, while commercialization improved fertilizer application rate and income but reduced yield. Although small-scale farmers are not necessarily doomed, the heterogeneity of farmers’ production scale should be considered in the design of rural agricultural policies. Full article

The dynamics of rural human-environment systems in developing countries have increasingly been attracting attention. Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a valuable simulation tool for detecting complex feedback loops in rural human-environment systems with a ‘bottom-up’ approach. However, such models require the prerequisite analysis of household typology to simulate households’ decision-making process, where a gap exists between having accurate classification criteria and a simplified modeling framework. This study aimed to develop a household typology for two selected counties in southwest China based on multivariate analysis techniques and the classification tree method. Four categories of socioeconomic variables, including labor conditions, resource endowments, economic status, and social connections, were screened as possible factors impacting agriculture practice decisions. The results showed that household diversification in the study area was mainly determined by diversified livelihood strategies of off-farm work, livestock breeding, subsidy dependence, and traditional planting. Five distinct household types were identified: non-farm households, part-time households, livestock breed households, subsidized households, and traditional planting households. The household types were associated with specific cropland use behaviors, and their decision-making behaviors were verified with bounded rationality theory (where the maximization of profits is the primary goal). The quantitative classification criteria obtained in this study were clear and could be easily identified and used by ABMs. Our study provides a basis for further simulation of the complicated rural human-environment systems in southwest China. Full article

Ensuring food and nutrition security (FNS) is a formidable challenge under increasing population pressure. Governments around the globe have been striving to achieve this goal, but a major impact is attainable once the masses opt for measures at the household level. We conducted this study to explore household-level practices aimed at ensuring FNS and their association with FNS in rural Pakistan. Using cluster analysis, we divided a sample of 200 randomly selected rural households into high and low FNS groups, the majority of which belonged to the low FNS group. Logistic regression was applied to explore the association between household-level measures with the FNS of rural households. The households in the high FNS group adopted a greater number of measures for ensuring FNS. Households headed jointly by a male and female showed to have a higher likelihood of FNS. Similarly, households adopting diversification strategies on their farms were more likely to have high FNS. Moreover, households with working women exhibited a greater probability of experiencing high FNS. Similarly, households’ adoption of value addition in dairy products decreases the probability of food and nutrition insecurity. This study concludes with an emphasis on women’s empowerment, off-farm income diversification, and on-farm enterprise diversification to address FNS challenges. Full article

Many farmers worldwide resort to choosing various income-earning options for diversifying their income sources as a means of risk-avoidance, social protection, and, above all, to finance agricultural operations. Non-farm income generation among farm families has become an imperative part of livelihood earning strategies in recent years amid fast-evolving climatic and sociodemographic changes. In this regard, this study seeks to identify the patterns and socioeconomic factors responsible for the uptake of various non-farm income diversification sources among agricultural households in southern Punjab, Pakistan. For this purpose, a total of 290 farm households were sampled using a random sampling technique to collect relevant data through structured questionnaires. Results show that approximately 79% of the surveyed farmers were involved in non-farm income generation activities, whereas, the income from these sources accounts for about 15% of total household income. The majority of the respondents offered labour for off-farm work followed by self-employment ventures. The major reason to pursue non-farm work includes low income from agriculture, mitigating risks associated with farming, and acquiring funds to finance farming operations, along with the desire to increase family income. A range of socioeconomic and infrastructure-related variables are associated with the decision to participate in specific off-farm activity, such as age, education, family size, farm income, dependency burden, farming experience, and distance to the main city. Results imply the provision of technical support to increase livelihood from farming operations to ensure food security and curb rural-urban migration. However, vocational training can enhance the rural inhabitants’ skillset to diversify on the farm through agribusiness development within rural areas, enabling them to employ local people instead of populating urban centres. Full article

Arable farming is an intrinsically risky enterprise. Therefore, managing risks and uncertainties in agriculture is very important as it affects all sectors of the economy of a developing country like Pakistan. To do so, a whole suite of options is available to the farming community to safeguard against any type of risk. However, farmers’ behavior of the concurrent adoption of multiple risk management tools is largely ignored in previous studies and has formed the rationale for this research. Thus, the current study is intended to investigate farmers’ decisions of adopting risk management strategies (contract farming, off-farm income diversification, and farm credit use) and to examine the impacts of a variety of factors on farmers’ risk management decisions. The present study is carried out in four districts of Punjab province, Pakistan with a focus on hybrid maize growers. A multivariate probit model is used to evaluate the impacts of independent variables on growers’ choices of adopting contract farming, off-farm income diversification, and farm credit use to manage farm risks keeping in view the potential for the concurrent adoption of these risk management strategies. Results show that 78% of farmers are risk-averse and hence ready to manage risks. The top risk faced by farmers is price risk followed by biological, climatic, and financial risks. Contract farming is the most popular strategy (61% farmers) followed by off-farm income diversification (49% farmers), and the use of farm credit (42% farmers). The findings also reveal that the decisions of adopting risk management strategies are interlinked while the adoption of one risk management tool complements farmers’ decision to adopt other risk management strategies. In addition, the risk management strategies’ adoption choices are affected by the number of factors including socioeconomic characteristics, farmers’ risk perceptions about risk sources, and their attitude towards risk. The study recommends the provision of timely information (climatic, extension) along with easy access to farm credit and the streamlining of contractual arrangements. Full article