The sessions will cover the following two broad themes:
(1) Trade supply chains and regulation
(2) Rural livelihoods: diversification, movement of people and remittances
Click on the abstract title to download the papers (not all abstracts
have papers yet)
SESSION A
SAHELIAN ACTION SPACES: AN EXAMINATION OF LIVELIHOOD
CONFIGURATIONS IN A RURAL HAUSA COMMUNITY
Adam Manvell
Action space is defined by Painter et al. as “…the geographical
and temporal distribution of the ensemble of opportunities and constraints,
both local and distant, that individuals exploit and address as they endeavour
to survive and improve their lives” (1994: 452). This paper examines
changes in the social organisation of rural livelihood configurations
in action spaces from three inter-related perspectives: marriage patterns,
personal communities and migration. It concludes with a discussion of
the potential for addressing the configuration of livelihoods in action
spaces.
Hausa marriages are virilocal and their arrangements involve the participation
of a scattered body of individuals. The kinship connections that are created
or affirmed through marriage have an important bearing on the direction
of opportunities in action space, for example, where seeds, land, farm
labour assistance and food can be sought. An examination of socio-spatial
patterns of marriage over the 20th century revealed only nominal changes
in the study community. As the community is in a post-pioneer region,
this is not surprising. In contrast, the marriage economy has seen a significant
change, and men, but not women, are now increasingly drawing on non-farm
means to provide their contributions.
In a setting where face-to-face communication predominates, contact within
personal communities is defined in part by locality and access to transportation.
Virilocal marriages and social controls on women’s mobility differentiate
the ways men and women establish and maintain their social networks. Marriage
and its instability propel women to continuously create or affirm their
friendships in typically constricted settings. Though men in contrast
are much more mobile than women, the enduring friendships they form ultimately
tend to be with individuals from a limited geographical area.
With the exception of movements in times of severe food shortages, most
men migrate in search of income-earning opportunities without women. Attitudes
towards migration in its various forms and the ways they develop vary
between and within communities. Significant entry barriers exist to local
high returning non-farm activities and alternate distant opportunities
are often sought via home area connections that facilitate the adaptation
of the migrant to his new setting. In the study community migration earnings
have become increasingly important in meeting farm production shortfalls.
They have also become a successful means of generating relatively quickly
contributions for marriage transfers. This is particularly the case if
migration occurs in the rains in lieu of farming since the majority of
migrants at the principle destinations return home resulting in improved
income-earning opportunities.
Future livelihood configurations in the Sahel are likely to require
the continued incorporation of distant non-farm opportunities. Some evidence
was found of brothers relaying between the farm and distant opportunities.
Urbanisation rates in Africa are increasing and potential forms of organising
multi-spatial livelihoods innumerable. New livelihood configurations will
entail changes in the social organisation of farming, personal communities
and married lives. Rural policy would do well to look up from field level
processes and think outside sectoral boxes in order to address these issues
and the development trajectories they offer.
THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS ON RURAL LIVELIHOODS
AND POVERTY REDUCTION
Professor David Souter, University of Strathclyde and ict Development
Associates ltd, Dr Nigel Scott, Gamos Ltd, Professor Christopher Garforth,
University of Reading
This paper reports on field research on the impact of telephony on rural
livelihoods in three research countries - India (State of Gujarat), Mozambique
and Tanzania. Extensive questionnaire research was undertaken in summer/autumn
2004 (750 interviews per country in rural locations around three research
locations per country), and focused on:
a) communication flows and preferences
b) usage of telephony and Internet
c) attitudes towards telephony and Internet.
Respondents in all three countries gave a high value to telephony for
emergency use and for social networking, especially within the family.
In financial terms, the telephone was highly valued for saving money and
resources but much less valued as an instrument for earning income. Perceived
conomic benefits were significantly correlated with economic status. The
telephone was felt to have very little value as an information resource
in all three countries, while Internet services had been barely used by
populations surveyed. Face-to-face communications remained the predominant
mode of communications for business and information purposes in all three
countries.
The findings have substantial implications for the relationship between
ICTs, particularly telephony, and development initiatives. These are developed
in the paper.
The research reported in this paper was financed by the Department for
International Development's Knowledge and Research programme. Research
was undertaken by ict Development Associates ltd and Gamos Ltd in the
UK, the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad), the Mozambique Information
and Communication Technology Institute at Eduardo Mondlane University
and the Tanzania Commission on Science and Technology. Research was coordinated
by Professor David Souter and logistical management undertaken for DFID
by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation.
DOES IN-KIND FOOD AID HARM DOMESTIC PRODUCERS? A GENERAL
EQUILIBRIUM PERSPECTIVE ON FOOD AID IN ETHIOPIA
Ayele Gelan, The Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen
There has been a growing interest among policy-makers and donor agencies
regarding the role of food-aid in developing economies. This has stimulated
academic research on the subject but no consensus has yet emerged from
research findings mainly because of the ambiguous nature of effects of
food aid, which is manifested both at conceptual and empirical levels.
Conceptually, food-aid has an unambiguously positive impact on household
welfare but it also has an unambiguously adverse effect on income of domestic
food producers, because food aid inevitably depresses food prices thereby
reducing the incentive to produce marketable food. Thus, the impact of
food-aid seems unclear, since the net impact would depend on the balance
between these opposite effects. Similarly, a review of the empirical research
shows mixed and ambiguous results. This study is stimulated by the conceptual
and empirical literature on food-aid and sets out with a primary purpose
of quantifying system-wide economic impacts of food aid on the Ethiopian
economy. We employ a computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling approach,
using a social accounting matrix (SAM) recently constructed for Ethiopia
through a macro-economic study project sponsored by the World Bank. Given
the quantity of food-aid in the SAM (the baseline database), the simulation
experiment examines the effect of transferring in-kind food-aid and to
cash payments. The removal of food-aid is an exogenous shock, which causes
a disturbance to relationships between the variables that make-up the
system, as represented in baseline databases. Hence, all endogenous variables
would adjust until a general equilibrium solution is established with
variations from the initial values of the endogenous variables. The simulation
results indicate the replacement of in-kind food aid to cash payments
would have expansionary effect not only on domestic food production but
also household welfare and aggregate GDP. The reason for the positive
impact of cash payment on producers’ income has dominated the negative
welfare impacts in our model is that the system-wide economic modelling
framework could capture inter-industry linkage effects.
The present study was to address the issues and conflicts associated
with Urban Dairying (UD), which was primarily undertaken as a livelihood
activity by a group of poor urbanites inside Bhopal (India), but gets
stiff opposition from non-consumers urbanites as well as urban authorities.
A set of respondents comprised of 6 milk producers and 120 urbanites (i.e.
consumers and non-consumers), was selected through proper sampling, and
was later subjected to different data collection techniques, i.e. case
study approach and semi-structured interviews, respectively. It was found
that the UD inside an urban setting of Bhopal was constrained by typical
urban settings (e.g. lack of space, water, etc.) and stiff regulations
(e.g. dairying as an illegal activity).
Particularly on the production side, it was observed that all the four
major operations, viz., (i) feeding, (ii) breeding, (iii) health-care,
and (iv) management, had its own distinctive features as compared to rural
settings, and even had variation among the different regions of the city
(e.g. in Old Bhopal most of the producers were practising UD for generations,
but in New Bhopal, they were mainly urban-migrants). The issues related
to (i) procurement of green fodder, (ii) lack of space to store dry fodder,
(iii) absence of grazing-field, etc., were major concerns in relation
to feeding activities. As far as breeding is concerned, surprisingly there
was not a single case of Artificial Insemination (AI), which was relatively
popular in the neighbouring rural settings. For animal health, the prompt
veterinary services were taken by paying fairly good charges. Further,
due to limited space, most of the diseased and unproductive animals were
sold in the animal fairs, however there were few instances that depicted
the presence of rural linkages for the various activities associated with
UD. The issues related to (i) disposal of dung, (ii) a proper drainage
for urine disposal, (iii) space for keeping unproductive animals, etc.,
were other major concerns.
On the other hand, there were 8 animal cages inside city to imprison
urban animals and were regulated by an Urban Act of 1978 (based on Cattle
Trespass Act, 1871), which strictly prohibits animal rearing inside Bhopal.
In addition to it, there were several concerns raised by a group of urbanites
towards existence of UD inside city, viz., (i) concerns associated with
danger to human health and probable disease-spread; (ii) concerns associated
with city traffic and road accidents; (iii) concerns associated with city-pollution;
(iv) concerns associated with cleanliness and sanitation at city infrastructures/instalments;
and (v) concerns associated with human psychology: a feeling of discomfort
to live with animals. To its extreme, there were few instances where neighbours
had sued the milk producers for unauthentic animal rearing.
SESSION B
THE FRAMING OF AGRI-BIOTECHNOLOGY REGULATORY POLICY IN
AFRICA
Seife Ayele, Open University
Based on empirical evidence from case studies, this paper discusses fundamental
issues of biotechnology policy and regulation, from the point of view
of the stakeholders. It looks at how the governance of biotechnology in
Africa has addressed such issues, and goes on to consider the implications
of their actions in terms of generating trust and confidence in the community
towards biotechnologies.
THE PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING OF ORGANIC LEMON GRASS,
GINGER AND CHAMOMILE IN NEPAL AND THEIR IMPORT TO AND MARKETING IN THE
UK.
R. W. Cozens, Greenacres Agricultural Consultancy
Introduction
The market for organic food in the UK is now a substantial one and growing
at a rapid rate. Much of this organic food is imported and the trend for
imports in new food groups is growing. This study shows how a developing
country like Nepal can capitalise on this lucrative market whist at the
same time benefiting the growers by guaranteeing them a larger share of
the margin through fair trade labelling. By so doing the outcome of the
project is to offer relevant and sustainable development support to the
producer organisation. Some inevitable risks and uncertainties have been
highlighted but the financial projections show a healthy profit is available
as a result of this activity.
Description of Approach
These crops are produced in a producer group offering opportunities for
horizontal co ordination of production. There are some 600 households
involved in a micro-finance scheme supported by the Asian Development
Bank. There have been problems in taking a scientism type approach to
setting up these groups in other countries in the past (Atampugre, 1993).
In particular the problems revolve around poor knowledge of the social
reality of the local environment and focusing on quick and concrete results
to satisfy funding requirements. This group was set up using participatory
methodology to make use of indigenous knowledge rather than impose a more
institutional model.
The herbs being grown are further processed as a group by being dried
chipped and in some cases essential oil extraction is carried out to further
add value. The farmers belong to a co-operative or association, sign an
agreement amongst themselves, and have a democratic and participative
structure. There are elected officials such as chair and secretary.
The producer groups have reliable partnerships with trustworthy exporters
and EU importers with whom informed decisions are made regarding the inspection
and certification bodies that give the greatest opportunity of entry into
EU markets. The key figure for organic certification is the group co-ordinator
who keeps records and organises the internal control system. (Farnsworth,
2001). In this way the roles of co-ordinator and farmer merge so that
the joint activities are central. (Riej, 1997)
Conclusion
Thess projects goes a long way towards meeting the DFID International
Development Target and has the effect of improving rural livelihoods,
promoting sustainable agricultural practice and improving environmental
management of the land in the study area There is a need for more support
in the future to investigate an information service to obtain information
on import regulations, markets, organic certification and potential new
partners.
SEASONAL WAGE LABOUR MOVEMENTS IN WESTERN INDIA AND THEIR
IMPLICATIONS FOR RURAL LIVELIHOODS
Czech Conroy, Reader in Rural Livelihoods, Natural Resources Institute
Various studies in semi-arid and sub-humid parts of western India (south
Rajasthan and much of Gujarat), including one in Udaipur district, Rajasthan
coordinated by the author, have found that adult members (particularly
men) in increasingly large numbers of poor rural households have been
taking up seasonal wage labour activities outside of the village where
the household is based. The Udaipur study undertook semi-structured discussions
with groups of poor people in selected villages in four blocks of the
district, and collected secondary data at the district and block levels.
Several factors appear to have been driving the increase in seasonal wage
labour movements, including: population growth; decreasing farm size;
reduced availability of and access to common pool resources (forests,
pastures); reduced availability of water in the winter and summer seasons
for crop production and livestock (due to falling water tables, poorer
water retention, reduced soil moisture content, reduced surface water
availability); and improved transport infrastructure (roads and bus services),
and hence easier access to work opportunities outside the village. Seasonal
wage labour movements take two basic forms – seasonal labour migration
to other areas for several weeks or months, and daily commuting from the
rural village to nearby towns during certain periods of the year. The
principal off-farm labour activity appears to be construction work, mainly
in urban areas. In most families it is only adult males who are absent
from their village for long periods of time, with females, elderly people
and children generally remaining at home. The impacts of this phenomenon
on traditional rural livelihoods have not been studied in depth, but there
is some evidence that it can result in: reduced household ownership of
(a) large ruminants and (b) goats; and greater vulnerability of women,
financially and/or physically. Another issue that needs further investigation
is the effect of this phenomenon on farm maintenance and investment: one
hypothesis is that the absence of male members reduces the amount of labour
invested in farm maintenance, and hence the productivity of the farm;
and another hypothesis is that the income earned off-farm is, or can be,
re-invested in the farm and hence can increase farm productivity.
SESSION E
CONNECTING PEOPLE IN CROSS-CULTURAL AGRIBUSINESS:
THE CASE OF THE FRESH PRODUCE SUPPLY CHAIN IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA
John Spriggs and Barbara Chambers, Australian Institute for Sustainable
Communities, University of Canberra
The Highlands of Papua New Guinea comprises over half of the country’s
population and is home to the poorest and least literate of its inhabitants.
Fresh produce is one of the very few sources of cash income available
for impoverished rural families living in this region. Cash income is
needed for such expenses as education, health and brideprice. Highland
farmers know how to produce good quality temperate climate fresh produce
(e.g. potatoes, cabbage, broccoli), but they complain that markets are
limited. There are substantial markets in the coastal cities (e.g. Port
Moresby) but these markets are a long way away and the marketing system
connecting the Highlands to the coastal cities is poorly structured and
poorly coordinated.
In our project, which has been going for 2½ years so far, the
objective has been to facilitate improvements to this marketing system
for fresh produce; including both its physical and human aspects. What
we found is that while stakeholders in the marketing system understood
early on the need for improvements in the physical aspects (e.g. roads,
storage facilities, communications technology and logistics), it has taken
more time for them to realize the equal importance of the need for improved
relationships among farmers (horizontal relationships) and between farmers
and other players in the supply chain (vertical relationships). Of particular
importance is the issue of how to develop vertical relationships between
players who are culturally very different. The growers based in the Highlands
are PNG nationals while wholesale and retail buyers based in Port Moresby
are primarily expatriates (mostly from Australia or New Zealand).
Our paper explains the major issues surrounding the human aspects of
this marketing system and discusses how we have attempted to facilitate
improvements in these aspects. We basically view the various participants
of this fresh produce marketing system (including growers, traders, shippers,
wholesalers, supermarkets etc) as members of a community, albeit a somewhat
dysfunctional community, and use principles of community development to
help address joint problems (such as how to improve the functioning of
the system for the benefit of all, particularly for impoverished Highland
farm families). Our methodology is interdisciplinary and involves critical
action research (i.e. action research based on critical theory) in conjunction
with a specific workshop methodology we have developed called CPSM (collaborative
problem solving methodology). In this project, we have found this approach
provides a robust approach to development where collaborative decision-making
is required between members who may come from different cultures.
LIVELIHOOD DIVERSIFICATION THROUGH PARTNERSHIP WITH A
SPONSOR IN RURAL BANGLADESH: AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO INCOME GENERATION
FOR THE LANDLESS POOR
Rie Makita, PhD student, the Australian National University
In land-scarce countries like Bangladesh, income generation for the landless
poor in the non-farm sector has been regarded as a crucial instrument
for poverty reduction. The prevailing approach to income generation has
focused on the provision of micro-credit. However, the majority of self-employment
projects, administered through provision of credit and training, has generated
“livelihood enterprises” only for temporary survival, which
rarely develop into “micro-enterprises” set on the path to
long-term growth. Experience suggests that a paradigm shift is necessary,
from helping poor people’s livelihood enterprises survive in the
long term to helping poor people improve their livelihoods as much as
possible during an involvement in a specially arranged opportunity.
As an alternative approach to income generation, this paper explores
the possibility of the intentional creation of a non-farm sector exclusively
for the landless. This approach is unique because it combines poor people’s
activities with managerial, technical and financial support from a “sponsor”
to form a single enterprise, and the enterprise negotiates with markets.
The sponsor is expected to function as a master trader to sub-contracted
landless partners, and also as an intermediary or catalyst between the
landless producers and other stakeholders in the rural economy, such as
private enterprises and landowners. Such partnerships enable the landless
to enter into previously inaccessible markets.
This paper uses field observation of three income-generating programmes
in poultry rearing, pond fishery and sericulture, implemented by a local
NGO in Bangladesh to describe how the landless poor have diversified their
livelihoods by participating in the sponsored non-farm sector. An analysis
of variation in the impact of the participation among the participant-households
identified four different livelihood levels: (1) landless chronically
indebted by cross-financing, (2) landless with seasonally fluctuating
income, (3) landless with access to year-round income, and (4) “graduates”
with more than two regular income sources.
In conclusion, participation in the sponsored activities can contribute
to the upward mobility at each livelihood level. However, progress can
be blocked by poor people’s vulnerability to shocks such as ill
health, natural disasters and the payment of dowries for their daughters.
Whether or not this alternative approach can lead a landless household
to the “graduation” level depends on (1) the livelihood level
of the household at the entry; and (2) whether or not the household can
evade extra large outlays during the process of livelihood diversification.
Another major finding is that this alternative approach is more effective
than conventional credit programmes, especially in livelihood diversification
at the lower and upper levels. For coping with temporary adversity at
the lower level, loans linked with specific activities generate income
from the beginning and are not used for other non-investment purposes.
For accumulation and reinvestment at the upper level, participation in
the sponsored sector can bring a regular income source in addition to
the male breadwinners’ current income sources, by allowing female
household members to take charge of activities in the sponsored sector.
SURVIVAL WITHIN THE RURAL ECONOMY: ADULT AND CHILD MIGRATION,
REMITTANCES AND RETURN
Joseph Assan, University of Liverpool
Since the introduction of the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) in 1983,
the government of Ghana has adopted Structural Adjustment Policies aimed
at improving the economic status of the country. The adoptions of these
policies and programmes have had a diverse impact on the population, especially
the rural small farmers. Several programmes with the aim of reducing the
social cost of the adjustment and levels of poverty were launched but
made little impact.
Migration has become an important livelihood diversification strategy
in small farm households. The motivation for this form of diversification
is diverse and associated with both positive and negative outcomes. Studies
on migration, as a livelihood diversification strategy in Ghana has until
recently been focused on north – south movements, with the assumption
that very little migration occurs within rural communities in the south-eastern
part of the country. The study seeks to identify the pattern and variation
of rural migration activities and employment, its importance and value
to farm households in Southern Ghana. Migration as a livelihood diversification
strategy is inevitably pursued via a range of portfolios in relation to
available capital, access, culture and economic activity at destination.
Also, migration varies in form and extent of adoption by wealth disparities
and differential access to entitlements. In addition, knowledge and risk
perception greatly affects the extent and nature of migration. It is perceived
that migration as a diversification strategy will lead to an oscillating
downward trend of impoverishment.
In the light of the above, this study sampled two agricultural districts
in southern Ghana. The paper examines the types of migration occurring
in these communities, together with the major causes of such migration,
the goals for which such migration is undertaken, and the social and economic
repercussions. The paper also considers the forms of remittances sent
by migrants, how remittances are used, whether they influence household
livelihoods, how they affect the household economy, and the ways in which
remittances influence the ability of a household to diversify. Returnees
and their influence on the rural economy are also examined. In this investigation
consideration is given to both qualitative and quantitative variables
relative to migration, remittances, return and their interactions.
In addition to on-farm diversification and the gradual integration and
expansion of non-farm activities within the rural household economy, migration
of household members, particularly children and their involvement in income
activities are amongst the issues of significant implications for development
economics. Also, remittances from migrants and income from circular migration
is observed to have a positive influence on the household investment but
with some long term negative implications. Although returnee migrants
are considered as a source of innovation and vital resource to both household
and community, not all returnees are accepted as potential human capital
to the rural economy.
Cesare’s (1974) theory of return classified returnees into three
broad return-groups: the return of failure, return of conservatism and
the return of innovation. In addition to these, this study identified
the return of the retrenched and child migrants.
PROVIDING LOW COST, SUSTAINABLE ACCESS THROUGH INFRASTRUCTURE
WORKS SUITABLE FOR SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
Robert Petts, Intech Associates (Hanoi, Vietnam), Dr Jasper Cook, TRL
Ltd (Hanoi Vietnam), Bach The Dung, TEDI (Hanoi, Vietnam), Heng Kackada,
Intech Cambodia (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)
The lack of year round access to many rural communities is a serious
constraint to social and economic development, and poverty reduction.
Poor access limits the effectiveness of agricultural, commercial, educational
and health initiatives though unreliable travel and high unit transport
costs for crops, goods, services and people. Previous rural transport
initiatives have concentrated on the provision of gravel roads for all
year rural access. However, experiences have shown that these roads, although
relatively cheap to construct, are often an unsustainable maintenance
burden for many rural communities, and are rarely maintained in a serviceable
condition. Dust from gravel roads in dry weather is also an environmental,
health and safety problem and can adversely affect crops and property.
The paper describes recent DFID funded research on gravel road performance
in Vietnam.
Furthermore, through other research programmes in Cambodia, Vietnam and
elsewhere, co-funded by DFID, a range of proven, low-cost, rural road
paving options is available that are suitable for construction and maintenance
by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Most of these paving options require
little capital investment, use labour-based techniques and can optimize
the use of local materials resources. They can utilize locally made simple
equipment, thus promoting local manufacturing. For many of these techniques
overhead costs are reduced and a higher proportion of the costs are recycled
in the local community and therefore facilitate poverty reduction. The
maintenance burden is usually lower than for gravel roads, and whole life
costs can be cheaper than the provision of a gravel surface.
The paper also reviews the surfacing options and how they can be effectively
mainstreamed in the rural road sector using Small and Medium Enterprises
(SMEs).
