Market Orientation, Rural Out-migration, Crop Production and Household Food Security
Market Orientation, Rural Out-migration, Crop Production and Household Food Security

Author: Ochieng, Justus

Publisher: kassel university press GmbH

Published: 2014-01-01

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 3862198006

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The research presented in this volume analyses the impact of market orientation on agricultural production and household food security; identifies determinants of farmer groups marketing; and investigates the effect of rural out-migration on agricultural intensification considering the case of banana and legume based systems in Central Africa. Based on a comprehensive field survey, the results show that market orientation enhances input use, yields, and food security by increasing rural households’ dietary diversity. They also demonstrate that the quality of marketing performance increases with the age of the farmer groups, the strengths of their internal structures and the extent of member participation in product bulking. Under the given conditions, policies that promote market orientation particularly by improving road infrastructure, provision of market information, and extension services would address production, marketing and food insecurity challenges while smart input subsidy programs targeting poor households can create additional employment and discourage massive rural out-migration. Besides, a transition of farmer groups into formal business entities could considerably support their marketing performance and hence their production efficacy.

Water Resources Availability, National Food Security Strategies and Farmers' Reactions in Darab, Iran
Water Resources Availability, National Food Security Strategies and Farmers' Reactions in Darab, Iran

Author: Sudeh Dehnavi

Publisher: kassel university press GmbH

Published: 2015-08-10

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 3862198189

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Water scarcity is threatening food security in many countries, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. At the same time, the attainment of national food autarky is an essential goal for the governments of these countries, which implies critical effects on long-term water availability in the farm sector. Focusing on the Darab region of Iran, the research presented in this volume demonstrates how short-term oriented government strategies - in the form of policy measures such as low-interest credit, crop insurance schemes, and a minimum guaranteed purchase price - may jeopardize the country's long-term food security by accelareating the depletion of its water resources. These policies run counter to a sustainable use of groundwater resources, pointing to an obvious conflict between Iran's food self-sufficiency strategies and the country's long-term food security.

Traditional Smallholder Farmers in a Growing Economy and a Globalized World
Traditional Smallholder Farmers in a Growing Economy and a Globalized World

Author: Knerr, Béatrice

Publisher: kassel university press GmbH

Published: 2020-02-04

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 386219907X

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?Smallholder farming plays a central role for the livelihood security of rural families in most low- to middle income countries. Beyond that it contributes to sustain important ecological functions and services. Yet, world-wide, increasing economic pressure threatens its viability, while young and capable labour force is attracted away to urban centres. In the Mexican state of Yucatán - where foremost indigenous Mayan people are practicing traditional farming under adverse natural conditions, using a broad variety of agro-biodiversity - these predominant trends can be observed like in a burning lens. Farming is more and more just performed for subsistence while cash for daily expenses is obtained from other sources. Aware of the sector’s benefits for society, Mexican policy makers recently put its services regarding food and livelihood security, agro-biodiversity, and maintenance of cultural heritage high on the agenda. Starting from that baseline, research teams affiliated to the University of Kassel and the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY) conducted several interrelated research projects. All investigations are grounded in field work, including intensive interviews among local people and experts. The results are assembled in this volume.

Farming Systems and Poverty
Farming Systems and Poverty

Author: John A. Dixon

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 9789251046272

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A joint FAO and World Bank study which shows how the farming systems approach can be used to identify priorities for the reduction of hunger and poverty in the main farming systems of the six major developing regions of the world.

Cities and Agriculture
Cities and Agriculture

Author: Henk de Zeeuw

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-09-16

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 1317506618

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As people increasingly migrate to urban settings and more than half of the world's population now lives in cities, it is vital to plan and provide for sustainable and resilient food systems which reflect this challenge. This volume presents experience and evidence-based "state of the art" chapters on the key dimensions of urban food challenges and types of intra- and peri-urban agriculture. The book provides urban planners, local policy makers and urban development practitioners with an overview of crucial aspects of urban food systems based on an up to date review of research results and practical experiences in both developed and developing countries. By doing so, the international team of authors provides a balanced textbook for students of the growing number of courses on sustainable agriculture, food and urban studies, as well as a solid basis for well-informed policy making, planning and implementation regarding the development of sustainable, resilient and just urban food systems.

Globalization and Agriculture
Globalization and Agriculture

Author: Antônio Márcio Buainain

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2017-11-08

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 1498542271

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Globalization and Agriculture: Redefining Unequal Development focuses on the development of national agriculture of nine countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia from two different and complementary angles. One angle is the opportunities created by globalization for agricultural production and how the countries have dealt with the expansion of the world, as a consequence of the world market. The other angle is the social and economic consequences of globalization for agricultural and rural development. The case studies included in this book prove that the contradictory meanings referred above are indeed representative of different facets and features of globalization.

Shifting Cultivation Policies
Shifting Cultivation Policies

Author: Malcolm Cairns

Publisher: CABI

Published: 2017-11-13

Total Pages: 1117

ISBN-13: 1786391791

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Shifting cultivation supports around 200 million people in the Asia-Pacific region alone. It is often regarded as a primitive and inefficient form of agriculture that destroys forests, causes soil erosion and robs lowland areas of water. These misconceptions and their policy implications need to be challenged. Swidden farming could support carbon sequestration and conservation of land, biodiversity and cultural heritage. This comprehensive analysis of past and present policy highlights successes and failures and emphasizes the importance of getting it right for the future. This book is enhanced with supplementary resources. The addendum chapters can be found at: www.cabi.org/openresources/91797

Disentangling food security from subsistence agriculture in Malawi: Synopsis
Disentangling food security from subsistence agriculture in Malawi: Synopsis

Author: Benson, Todd

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2021-05-24

Total Pages: 4

ISBN-13: 0896294072

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Malawi is a food-insecure country, and although most households have access to arable land, many rural Malawians cannot reliably obtain enough food to meet their dietary needs. Rainfed, low-input subsistence production, particularly of the staple crop maize, has historically been the primary means of assuring household food security. Today, most of Malawi’s 4 million households continue to grow much of their own food. However, with increasing regularity, several hundred thousand households each year are vulnerable to acute food insecurity. Insufficient crop harvests resulting from poor seasonal growing conditions and limited use of inputs, coupled with reliance on shrinking landholdings as the population continues to grow and in the context of weak markets in which to sell crops and buy food, mean that subsistence farming cannot meet the dietary requirements of all Malawians.

New Directions for Smallholder Agriculture
New Directions for Smallholder Agriculture

Author: Peter B. R. Hazell

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2014-03-06

Total Pages: 641

ISBN-13: 0191003565

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The majority of the poor and hungry people in the world live on small farms and struggle to subsist on too little land with low input - low yield technologies. At the same time, many other smallholders are successfully intensifying and succeeding as farm businesses, often in combination with diversification into off-farm sources of income. This book examines the growing divergence between subsistence and business oriented small farms, and discusses how this divergence has been impacted by population growth, trends in farm size distribution, urbanization, off-farm income diversification, and the globalization of agricultural value chains. It finds that policy makers need to differentiate more sharply between different types of small farms than they did in the past, both in terms of their potential contributions towards achieving national economic growth, poverty alleviation, and food security goals, and the types of assistance they need. The book distinguishes between smallholders that are business oriented, subsistence oriented, and at various stages of transition to the non-farm economy, and discusses strategies appropriate for assisting each type. The book draws on a wealth of recent experience at IFAD and elsewhere to help identify best practice approaches.