Home  About us  Contact
 

Livelihood Diversification (livelihood + diversification)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences50%

Selected Abstracts

Farmer Initiatives and Livelihood Diversification: From the Collective to a Market Economy in Rural China

JOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, Issue 2 2009
JINGZHONG YE
This paper explores how, despite relatively undifferentiated economic, cultural and land tenure conditions, some farmers in a rural area of Hebei Province, north-east China, have managed to devise innovative livelihood activities that provide them with better living standards than the majority of villagers. The research concludes that the dynamics of farmer innovations emerge from a variety of factors: the building of effective social networks and sources of information, ,enlightenment' deriving from small-group interactions, and the construction of trust relations, self-help and cooperation. These factors belong to the sphere of social resources rather than to those of natural, physical, human or financial assets. Hence it is social components that constitute the mobilizers of change in regard to farmers' livelihood development. [source]

Domestic Transitions, Desiccation, Agricultural Intensification, and Livelihood Diversification among Rural Households on the Central Plateau, Burkina Faso

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 3 2009
Colin Thor West
ABSTRACT Understanding how and why domestic groups alter their function and form has long been a theme within anthropology. Numerous accounts have detailed the processes that drive household transformations and their underlying mechanisms. Mostly, these studies describe how domestic groups fission and fuse between extended and nuclear forms. In recent years, scholars have emphasized that these transformations should be understood within larger contexts of social and environmental change. Mossi communities on the Central Plateau of Burkina Faso provide an excellent opportunity to explore such processes because the large extended households documented 30 years ago were predicted to decline and eventually disappear. In this study, I examine dynamics of household transformations and test the validity of this prediction. I use perspectives from sustainability science and computer-simulation modeling to understand how regional desiccation, agricultural intensification, and livelihood diversification articulate with domestic transitions. [source]

Livelihood diversification and implications on dryland resources of central Tanzania

AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 2009
Emma T. Liwenga
Abstract The concern over sustainable livelihoods in African drylands is an issue that has received considerable attention from researchers and policy makers alike. Over the past two decades African rural areas have undergone rapid changes, whereby, rural income diversification has become the most salient feature. With a particular focus on dryland ecosystems, among the major challenges facing communities in these areas is recurrent drought leading to conditions of food insecurity. This paper draws on experience on coping mechanisms for food insecurity from an agro-pastoral community in Mvumi, located in the semiarid areas of central Tanzania. An understanding of livelihoods of people in this area has involved examining how communities have managed to adjust their livelihood in the midst of challenges resulting not only from drought but also from various forces such as socio,economic, political and ecological factors. It has been found out that, despite profound food crisis in this area, people are not always desperate and that there are possibilities for realizing some hidden potentials of dryland resources for livelihood diversification. The issue of sustainable natural resource management in such areas is, however, questionable because of some adverse environmental effects associated with some of the coping mechanisms. [source]

Wetlands, livelihoods and sustainability in Tanzania

AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 2009
A. G. Mwakaje
Abstract Wetlands in Tanzania are among the world's most biologically productive ecosystems and are rich in species diversity. Wetlands support family livelihoods through crop production, grazing pastures and direct resource extractions. Ecologically, wetlands are instrumental in water storage, filtration, flood control and toxic retention and are also important habitat for biodiversity both flora and fauna. The last 30 years have witnessed rapid degradation of wetlands which threatens livelihoods; disturbs ecological settings and leads into unsustainable development. In this study, an attempt has been made to describe the livelihoods and sustainability issues of the Bahi Wetlands in Central Tanzania. This is a semi-arid area and therefore the wetland plays a key role socio-economically and environmentally. Data were collected from 200 households in Ngaiti and Kitalalo villages using structured and semi-structured questionnaires. There were also focused groups interviews, key informants and Participatory Rural Appraisal methods. Findings show Bahi Wetlands to play a significant role in livelihoods, cultural and ecological functions. However, the sustainability of the wetlands is threatened by over-cultivation, overgrazing and over-extraction of natural resources directly. Livelihood diversifications through credit provision, improved extension services and strengthened local institutions, are recommended. Wetlands policy and laws should be developed and enforced. [source]

A socio-economic perspective on gear-based management in an artisanal fishery in south-west Madagascar

FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2009
T. E. DAVIES
Abstract, Artisanal fisheries are important socially, nutritionally and economically. Poverty is common in communities dependent on such fisheries, making sustainable management difficult. Poverty based on material style of life (MSL) was assessed, livelihoods surveyed and the relationship between these factors and fishery data collected using a fish landing study were examined. Species richness, diversity, size and mean trophic level of catches were determined for six fishing gears in an artisanal fishery in south-west Madagascar. There was little livelihood diversification and respondents were highly dependent on the fishery. No relationship was found between poverty and gear use. This suggests that poverty does not have a major impact on the nature of the fishery; however, this study was dominated by poor households, so it remains possible that communities with more variation in wealth might show differences in fishing methods according to this parameter. The fishery was heavily exploited with a predominance of small fish in the catches. Beach seines caught some of the smallest fish, overlapped in selectivity with gill nets and also had the highest catch per fishers. Thus, a reduction in the number of beach seines could help reduce the catch of small fish and the overlap in selectivity among gears. [source]

Livelihood diversification and implications on dryland resources of central Tanzania

AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 2009
Emma T. Liwenga
Abstract The concern over sustainable livelihoods in African drylands is an issue that has received considerable attention from researchers and policy makers alike. Over the past two decades African rural areas have undergone rapid changes, whereby, rural income diversification has become the most salient feature. With a particular focus on dryland ecosystems, among the major challenges facing communities in these areas is recurrent drought leading to conditions of food insecurity. This paper draws on experience on coping mechanisms for food insecurity from an agro-pastoral community in Mvumi, located in the semiarid areas of central Tanzania. An understanding of livelihoods of people in this area has involved examining how communities have managed to adjust their livelihood in the midst of challenges resulting not only from drought but also from various forces such as socio,economic, political and ecological factors. It has been found out that, despite profound food crisis in this area, people are not always desperate and that there are possibilities for realizing some hidden potentials of dryland resources for livelihood diversification. The issue of sustainable natural resource management in such areas is, however, questionable because of some adverse environmental effects associated with some of the coping mechanisms. [source]

Domestic Transitions, Desiccation, Agricultural Intensification, and Livelihood Diversification among Rural Households on the Central Plateau, Burkina Faso

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 3 2009
Colin Thor West
ABSTRACT Understanding how and why domestic groups alter their function and form has long been a theme within anthropology. Numerous accounts have detailed the processes that drive household transformations and their underlying mechanisms. Mostly, these studies describe how domestic groups fission and fuse between extended and nuclear forms. In recent years, scholars have emphasized that these transformations should be understood within larger contexts of social and environmental change. Mossi communities on the Central Plateau of Burkina Faso provide an excellent opportunity to explore such processes because the large extended households documented 30 years ago were predicted to decline and eventually disappear. In this study, I examine dynamics of household transformations and test the validity of this prediction. I use perspectives from sustainability science and computer-simulation modeling to understand how regional desiccation, agricultural intensification, and livelihood diversification articulate with domestic transitions. [source]

RISING FOOD PRICES, SOCIAL MOBILIZATIONS, AND VIOLENCE: CONCEPTUAL ISSUES IN UNDERSTANDING AND RESPONDING TO THE CONNECTIONS LINKING HUNGER AND CONFLICT

ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2009
Ellen Messer
In 2008, the world confronted food-insecurity situations that provoked political demonstrations in more than 50 countries. The alleged sources were production failures and spiking food prices because of bad weather and flawed food and development policies. But additional contributors were the legacies of food wars, armed conflicts in which one or both sides use food (or hunger) as a weapon and in which hunger persists as a consequence of conflict and its attendant social-economic disruptions. This article argues that UN and NGO international and national agencies responding to food insecurity challenges in particular places must consider food-and-conflict scenarios, and adopt conflict-concerned strategies, which are sensitive to the ways in which past foodwars have stymied increases in agricultural production, marketing, and livelihood diversification. Policy makers should also be attentive to political-geographic-ethnic-religious (PGER) divisions that can skew government distributions and access to aid and potentiate additional conflict. [source]