Poverty and livelihoods after full‐time farming: A South‐East Asian view

Abstract: Drawing on Harold Brookfield's seminal interventions on intensification and disintensification in tropical agriculture, the paper argues that a de‐linking of poverty and livelihoods in rural areas from farming and agricultural resources is occurring in rural South‐East Asia. This is often driven as much by changes in lifestyles and life views than by economic and environmental imperatives. The paper proposes that farming is in the process of losing its resonance and significance for the rural poor. Emerging patterns of change in the South‐East Asian countryside are used to construct a generalised framework of agrarian transition where the current trend towards pluriactivity is likely to be replaced by a mixed landscape of agrarian entrepreneurs, neopeasants and remnant smallholders. The paper concludes by reflecting on the implications of this trajectory for understanding poverty and pro‐poor interventions in the countryside.     

Practices of place‐making: Globalisation and locality in the Philippines

Abstract: Global flows of people and information in the Asia–Pacific region are creating new forms of place that stretch across national boundaries and rural–urban distinctions. These new mobile forms of place link long‐inhabited rural areas to cities, national centres, and to rural frontiers within the nation. Here, we describe new forms of place that are being produced by contemporary migration and economic change, using data from the Philippines and applying Appadurai's theorisation of translocality. Our analysis links these flows of overseas migrants to concomitant processes of economic change, migration and new rural livelihoods. We outline changing practices of place within the Philippines, exploring ways that transnational migration can articulate with apparently ‘local’ development and the flow‐on effects from migration on the spatial patterns of rural livelihoods.     

Re‐encountering resistance: Plantation activism and smallholder production in Thailand and Sarawak,Malaysia

Abstract: The emergence of social and environmental movements against plantation forestry in Southeast Asia positions rural development against local displacement and environmental degradation. Multi‐scaled NGO networks have been active in promoting the notion that rural people in Southeast Asia uniformly oppose plantation development. There are potential pitfalls in this heightened attention to resistance however, as it has often lapsed into essentialist notions of timeless indigenous agricultural practices, and unproblematic local allegiances to common property and conservation. An exclusive emphasis on resistance also offers little understanding of widespread smallholder participation in plantation production across the region. A useful method of approaching the complexity of local responses to plantation development is through the history of legal and informal resource tenure, within an analysis of rural political‐economic restructuring. Drawing on research in Thailand and Sarawak, I suggest that a more nuanced appreciation of both the structural constraints and deployments of agency which characterise the enrolment of rural people into plantation commodity networks, opens up new spaces for analysis and political action, which supports a geographically embedded view of relations of power, rural livelihoods and environmental politics.     

Sustaining livelihoods in a palm oil enclave: Differentiated gendered responses in East Kalimantan,Indonesia

With large tracts of forested land planned for, or already converted to, industrial palm oil concessions, there is a need to better understand the gendered implications for, and responses by, communities affected by such landscape change. This paper examines the differentiated gendered responses and livelihood strategies of Dayak Modang women and men in a hamlet in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, surrounded by industrial palm oil plantations. Informed by feminist political ecology, we investigate how the compounding impact of industrial oil palm – the basis and outcome of enclavement – curtails livelihood options and reinforces gender differentiation in terms of access to and use of customary resources. Gendered inequalities and food insecurity dynamics emerge as a result. We show how, however, that despite gendered exclusions, Dayak Modang women use their own knowledge and practices to diversify livelihoods to negotiate emerging constraints over resource access and use. Our paper demonstrates that ways in which Dayak women ‘sustain livelihoods’ reflects forms of everyday negotiations and resistance to intensifying constraints over life and livelihood.     

Spices as the saviour? The complex vulnerabilities of three commodity crop booms and ethnic minority livelihoods in Yunnan's agrarian frontier

Commodity crops are redefining land use and rural smallholder livelihoods across Asia. These crops often have boom‐bust cycles with important implications for the drivers of farmer entry into and exit from particular cash crop opportunities. This paper offers a comparative analysis of the boom‐bust processes of three popular spice crops cultivated in Yunnan Province, southwest China. Drawing from agrarian frontiers and rural livelihoods literature, we disentangle the vulnerability contexts associated with black cardamom, cinnamon and star anise production, finding that farmers cultivating these spices face a combination of interlocking forms of vulnerability. Despite the monetary potential that each crop offered during its ‘boom’, the associated environmental, economic and political vulnerabilities caused most farmers to exit their production, responding with myriad on‐farm and off‐farm diversification strategies. Using a multi‐sited ethnographic approach, we draw on 52 in‐depth interviews with ethnic minority cultivators, spice traders and local government officials to untangle the complexities associated with cash crop production in this agrarian frontier, the interwoven vulnerabilities that result in their ‘busts’ and the coping and adaptation strategies that smallholder farmers employ. Our findings underline the importance of disaggregating farmer vulnerabilities and the need for more nuanced policy responses to adequately support small‐scale farmers.     

Livelihood diversification with certification‐supported farming: The case of land reform beneficiaries in the Philippines

The promotion of intensive farming through organic and fair trade certification appears contradictory to the increasing significance of non‐farm income sources in rural Asia as well as in many other parts of the rural South. By observing a sugarcane producer co‐operative comprising land reform beneficiaries in the Philippines, this paper explores the reality of livelihood diversification as practised by member households of the certified co‐operative, focusing on the compatibility of certification‐supported farming with diversified activities. In this case, diversification at the household level progressed both away from farming and into farming. Behind the long‐term use of agricultural certification, there are compelling reasons for continuing both certification‐supported farming and diversified activities, and for employing mechanisms that further the compatibility at all phases between the former and the latter, and maximising income‐generating opportunities. The operation of communal land with agricultural certification may be an effective form of assistance to land reform beneficiaries who share a strong desire to be landowners.     

Managing risk and vulnerability in Asia: A (re)study from Thailand, 1982–83 and 2008

In the 1980s, rural settlements in the Northeast of Thailand were farming focused, and strategies of living were structured around the need to secure subsistence in the face of a capricious environment and a weak developmental state. More than half of households in the region lived below the poverty line, and the immediate prospects for ‘development’ were not bright. Drawing on a 25‐year longitudinal study of two villages in Mahasarakham, the paper describes and reflects on how risk and vulnerability have been re‐shaped during a quarter of a century of profound economic and social change. From largely environmental and local, the pattern of risk and opportunity have become increasingly economic and non‐local as external events wash across the shores of rural settlements like Ban Non Tae and Ban Tha Song Korn.     

农户生计可持续性定量测度及动态分析研究

结合生计可持续性分析框架和PSR概念模型,提出农户生计可持续性的“压力-状态-效应-响应”评价指标体系和评价模型,以重庆市为例,评价并分析了该区农户生计可持续性的现状、演进过程以及结构变化特征。研究表明：（1）提出的评价指标体系能够体现农户生计可持续性的各方面,评价结果能够反映农户生计的实际可持续性水平;（2）重庆市1997—2011年农户生计可持续性逐渐由基本不可持续逐渐提升为基本可持续;（3）状态、效应和响应指数都呈现持续向好的态势,压力指数表现出明显的波动增长特征,其中自然灾害和物价上涨压力是农户生计可持续性的主要限制因素;（4）虽然生计脆弱性压力表现出明显的不确定性,但是政府和农户自身都做出了积极响应,农户生计资产持续增加,农户收入水平和生活质量显著提升。     

Work and struggle of fishing livelihoods in the Delta: Development and ‘new’ change along the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River,Myanmar

Fishing constitutes a key source of income and food for rural communities worldwide. This is the case in predominantly rural Myanmar (World Fish, 2019), particularly in the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River Delta. Fishing has long been a central livelihood strategy and valuable source of food security in the Delta, and now also generates a substantial contribution to the gross domestic product. However, the livelihood practices of the fishers, particularly small‐scale fishers, are largely ‘invisible’ in the literature and policy. In this article, we advance understanding of the significant but understudied livelihoods of small‐scale fishers through interviews with fishers and a range of other actors in 2018. Taking a careful examination of the challenges, practices and responses of fishers in the Delta, our research underlines that fishers are important actors in the ‘making’ of the Delta as a geographical scale and concept, yet they are being pushed out of the very landscape they have helped co‐create and have lived in for generations. At this crucial point in Myanmar's development and change, we contend that a better understanding of the livelihoods of fishing households, as some of the nation's most vulnerable, is important for inclusive policy development, economic reforms and research strategy going forward.     

农村居民点用地发展变化驱动力研究

本文在分析鹿泉市现状农村居民点存在问题的基础上,从地理学的角度入手,将农村居民点变化的驱动因子归纳为经济、人口、技术、政策、社会五个方面,得到定量度量各驱动因子影响的多元线性模型,并用路径分析方法探讨驱动因子与农村居民点面积变化以及各驱动因子之间的关系。研究结果表明：经济因子、人口因子和政策因子对农村居民点变化均有较大影响,其中,技术因子和社会因子对农村居民点发展变化的影响是通过经济和人口因子来体现的。     

Voting with Their Feet: Jobs versus Amenities

ABSTRACT The determinants of rural and urban community population change over the period 1991–2001 are investigated at a very fine level of disaggregation for Canada. The study examines the influence of local amenities, economic factors, and agglomeration economies on population growth for age cohorts starting from the very young to the elderly. Motivated by the objective of assessing the overall jobs versus people question in economic development, the emphasis is on estimating the relative contribution of groupings of variables in explaining the variations in population change rather than the contribution of individual variables. Results indicate that rural and urban populations are influenced to differing degrees by amenity, economic, and urban scale groupings of variables and that there are variations among age cohorts in both urban and rural areas. While economic variables are the most influential in population change for all rural cohorts, their contribution somewhat diminishes with age. In urban areas, amenity, and economic variable groupings have approximately equal importance across all cohorts. For the key young adult cohort, the economic grouping is clearly the most influential in rural areas, while it is a close second to amenities in urban areas.     

Grass pea (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Lathyrus sativus</Emphasis>): Is there a case for further crop improvement?

An ideal legume for resource-poor farmers, grass pea [Lathyrus sativus] is a drought tolerant crop that thrives with minimal external inputs. It is grown on 1 million ha throughout South Asia, mainly as a relay crop after rice. It is also grown extensively in Ethiopia, where it is an important legume for human consumption. Traditionally used for human consumption and as a source of animal feed, this protein-rich legume is favoured for its excellent flavour. There is great potential for an expansion in the utilization of grass pea in drought-prone economies, such as Ethiopia. However, L. sativus produces small quantities of a neurotoxin, β-N-oxalyl –L-α-diaminopropanoic acid (ODAP), which, when consumed alone in large quantities, may cause ‘lathyrism’, an irreversible paralysis of the legs. Lathyrism is a medical condition closely associated with poverty in rural areas. Despite efforts in some countries to discourage production of L. sativus, poor farming communities continue to rely on the crop to supplement their meagre diets. As local land races with high toxin levels generally outperform introduced varieties with lower toxin levels, farmers have little option but to continue to grow their locally-adapted varieties. While there has been some success in breeding grass pea lines with low levels of ODAP, crop improvement programmes are scarce and under-resourced. Facing rising food prices and more frequent natural disasters associated with climate change, we should not neglect the ability of grass pea to provide human and animal feed, under conditions unsuitable for economic production of other legume crops.     

Climate change trends in Malta and related beliefs,concerns and attitudes toward adaptation among Gozitan farmers

In this study we report the results obtained from an island-wide survey aimed at researching an under-emphasized key feature of climate change adaptation—namely willingness to adapt on the basis of the perceptions and beliefs held by the Gozitan livestock and crop farmers. Some of the main objectives of this study included the: (1) determination of whether the current perception is in line with the observed climatic changes at the local scale, and (2) identification of the typology of these farmers, together with those factors that affect both skepticism and acceptance of climate change. This study provided an important first step in the objective validation of local farmers' perceptions of climate change, as well as in the development of a comprehensive understanding of their attitude, beliefs, willingness and capacity to adjust their practices in response to climate change. The results pointed to several important conclusions that can be used to inform research, outreach strategies and policy formulation, targeting the Gozitan farming sector to adapt to climate change without delay. The forgoing analysis showed a dire need for more information both on impacts and risks, as well as on ways how to introduce new farming techniques and practices.     

Trading places: Inclusive cities and market vending in the Pacific Islands

Rapid population growth in Pacific island cities far exceeds employment opportunities and is contributing to rising urban inequality and social exclusions. Livelihoods in the informal urban sector, such as market vending, provide much needed income, rural–urban connectivity and food security, but remain largely excluded from policy and planning frameworks. Spatial, economic and social exclusions limit vendors’ economic advancement, their influence over decision‐making, and their access to basic services. Local communities close to informal markets fill some of the gaps left by the policy neglect, but investment and strategic management remains inadequate when vendors do not have secure market places and recognised rights to work. This article reports on a study of three informal markets in Honiara, Solomon Islands. These markets lack legal status but make significant contributions to urban development and economic opportunities. Drawing on surveys and focus groups with vendors and urban decision‐makers we explore the impact of informal markets on urban economies, how social and institutional relationships hinder vendors’ economic advancement, and the opportunities to create more inclusive livelihoods that could contribute to equitable cities.     

简析清代农书《马首农言》

为了弘扬中国古代农耕文化,继承传统农学精华,对晚清大学士祁隽藻撰写的《马首农言》一书,进行了全面探讨。对该书中关于整体提高“三农”经济、文化、风俗的改革性主张以及该农书中介绍的核心技术锄耕作业进行了总结,指出祁隽藻的《马首农言》所论所述,切合实际,针对性强,曾对当时及以后的国内“三农”活动,产生过积极的指导作用,并认为这是一部思想性和学术水准很高的著作。今天,重新认识和研究《马首农言》,对于进一步开发、利用、保护和弘扬祖国优秀的传统农耕文化遗产,吸取其颇具价值的文化营养,意义甚为重大,特别是对于培养国人的民族自豪感和爱国精神包括净化乡间民风而言,是很有必要的。     

Participatory natural resource management in rural China: Making and unmaking environmental narratives

Environmental and development discourses in China can be categorised into three narrative motifs framing human–nature relationships: peasant, indigenous, and community. Indigenous and community narratives have been widely adopted by environmental NGOs (eNGOs) in China in promoting community‐based natural resource management projects, but there has been very limited critical research on such phenomena. Analysis of socio‐economic change in two ethnic minority communities in Yunnan shows that neither narrative theme is fully internalised by the relevant communities. Instead narratives may be strategically modified or even rejected by local communities. This is due to different agendas being held by local communities and eNGOs, and two factors pertinent to rural China: the incompatibility of concepts of ‘community’ in Chinese and international contexts results in confusion, and a lack of recent territorial and cultural claims by rural communities since the collectivist era makes it difficult to construct the identity of a community. It remains challenging for eNGOs in China to advocate either community or indigenous narratives in contexts of rapid socio‐economic change.     

高效农业及其发展思路

高效农业是以市场为导向,运用现代科学技术,充分合理利用自然资源和社会资源,实现各种生产要素的最优组合,各种农业实用技术的科学集成,提高土地产出率、资源利用率、劳动生产率,生产多系列、多品种、高产量的质量安全农产品,最终实现经济、社会、生态综合效益最佳的农业。高效农业的发展思路就是要根据农业生态学原理, 从当地资源条件出发,以国际、国内市场为导向,以发展生态农业为基础,以农业产业化为动力,以设施和特色农业为辅助,科学发展农村经济。     

Rural‐to‐Urban Commuting: Three Degrees of Integration

Commuting ties between rural places of residence and urban places of employment are among the most visible forms of rural–urban integration. For some rural areas, access to urban employment is a key source of population retention and growth. However, this access varies considerably across rural areas, with distance representing a primary deterrent. In addition to distance, the size of the urban community will also influence rural‐to‐urban commuting opportunities. In this paper, using Canadian data, we empirically estimated the influence of local rural population and job growth on rural out‐commuting within the urban hierarchy. We find consistent support for the deconcentration hypothesis where population moves to rural areas for lifestyle and quality of life reasons, while retaining urban employment. Further, we find some evidence that in addition to distance from the nearest urban center being a deterrent, increased remoteness from the top of the urban hierarchy exerts a positive influence on out‐commuting. Recognition of these types of rural–urban linkages through commuting is essential in designing Canadian rural policy and targeted programs that may effectively support local rural populations. In particular, they point to the need to have reasonable transportation infrastructure for urban accessibility, which should be complemented by other “built” infrastructure to improve the livability of rural communities.     

干旱区村域种植业生产效益影响因素研究——以新疆奇台县三屯村为例

为了对干旱区村域种植业生产效益影响因素进行研究,以旱地区生态脆弱的奇台县西北湾乡三屯村为例,通过实地调查和入户问卷调研与访谈获取研究数据,利用回归分析方法,分析种植业成本构成及关键成本、成本与土地种植面积对种植业收益的影响、作物种植类型对种植业收益的影响。结果表明：打井成本和作物种植成本是影响农户种植业生产总成本的重要因素;种植业生产属于资本密集型,地租、作物种植成本和打井费用是影响种植业收益的主要因素;种植业属于粗放的土地资源依赖型,承包土地面积扩张是影响农民种植业收益的主要方式;小麦种植是农户的种植业的主要收益来源。     

Divided communities and contested landscapes: Mobility,development and shifting identities in migrant destination sites in Papua New Guinea

Abstract: Internal conflicts at the local and national levels in several South Pacific countries have revealed the fragility of national unity and the difficulties nations face in governing and managing their own economic development. In Papua New Guinea, the focus of this paper, an uncertain economic future for many rural and urban communities, and rising inequalities in income opportunities and access to resources, have coincided with greater intolerance of migrants at sites of high in‐migration by customary landowners and provincial and local authorities. This paper draws on fieldwork undertaken in the major oil palm growing regions of Papua New Guinea where migrants from densely populated regions of the country have settled on state land alienated from customary landowners. We examine how struggles over land, resource control and development are polarising migrant and landowner identities resulting in increasing tensions and episodic communal violence. A settler identity is emerging based on a narrative of nation building and national development, while an ethno‐regional identity amongst customary landowners is undermining the citizen rights of migrants and challenging the role and authority of the state in land matters.