Abandoning land in search of farms: challenges of subsistence migrant farming in Ghana

Migration remains an important strategy for livelihood security in sub-Saharan Africa. Like other parts of the region, migrant flows within Ghana have historically been directed towards urban, mineral, and plantation economies. This study, however, examines a new pattern of migration related to rural livelihood that has intensified in recent decades largely in response to mounting environmental pressures and worsening poverty. Using in-depth interviews and focused group discussions and drawing on perspectives from the livelihood approach and political ecology, this paper examines the challenges confronting farmers who flee poverty and environmental pressures in Ghana’s Upper West Region and migrate to the agriculture-rich area of Brong Ahafo Region to farm for subsistence. The study revealed that migrant farmers’ acute lack of social assets and agrarian resources in these remote enclaves not only hampered their productivity but also subjected them to exploitative and exclusionary practices in these remote, host communities. The study contributes to the understanding of social of realities migrant farming as an emerging safety valve for the rural poor and makes relevant policy recommendations.     

环境管制下规模养猪户绿色养殖模式演化机理——基于湖北省规模养猪户的实证分析

针对目前我国养猪业规模化、集约化发展带来的环境面源污染和猪肉质量安全等问题,本文提出了规模养猪户绿色养殖模式。通过规模养猪户绿色养殖模式驱动机理的分析,建立了政府环境管制下规模养猪户绿色养殖模式演化博弈模型。在分析政府和规模养猪户不同策略下各自的成本和收益基础上,进一步分析了政府管制与规模养猪户绿色养殖模式选择的博弈关系。研究结果表明:在完全市场机制作用下,规模养猪户难以实现绿色运营模式的自我演化,政府规制对规模养猪户绿色养殖模式的演化具有较强的推动作用,而且演化博弈结果受到消费者绿色消费偏好,猪肉产品的绿色度,养猪户环保投资,政府的监管成本、环境排污收费和绿色补贴等参数的影响。最后根据研究结果,从政府层面提出了加大环境管制、政策扶持、绿色产品的宣传和绿色养殖技术的推广和指导等规制措施。     

System of raising young breeding stock at highly productive Black Pied breeding farms

Monitoring of raising and feeding young Black Pied breeding stock is carried out.     

How farmers research and learn: The case of arable farmers of East Anglia,UK.

This study of arable agriculture in East Anglia, UK, draws on the experiences of farmer participatory research and the use of indigenous knowledge in agricultural development in less developed countries. Farmers were found to be continually doing research, although agricultural science has tended to play it down. Farmers' research was found to be closely linked to the specific locality and the strategies, aspirations, and experiences of farmers. The diversity of agriculture within East Anglia makes local research necessary and the idea of blueprints for agricultural production untenable. The process of generating information can come from learning while working, which may appear to be experiential rather than experimental. Other ideas are generated by observing chance occurrences and some farmers were found to be doing more structured experiments similar to agricultural science. Criticisms of farmers' own research are reviewed. However, this paper proposes that such research should not be compared to scientific method, since agricultural science has the primary objective of generating information while farmers' research is embedded in the local context and is part of the farming practice. It is therefore necessary to have complementary roles for farmers' own research and formal research rather than an attempt to combine or translate indigenous knowledge and farmers' experimentation in agricultural science.     

四川规模化养猪生产工艺分析

现代状猪普遍采用分阶段饲养和全进--全出的连续流水式生产工艺.生产工艺流程通常将猪群划分为若干工艺类群,然后将它们分别置于相应的专门化猪舍内,把配种、妊娠、分娩、保育、生长肥育等各个生产环节有机地联系起来,形成一条科学合理的养猪生产线,使整个生产按固定的周期,有节律地、连续、稳定地生产出指定数量的规范化产品.     

The economics of small farms

The role of the small farm in American agriculture has been the focus of much public discussion since Secretary of Agriculture Bob Bergland elevated farm structure to the national political agenda during the Carter Administration. Eight hypotheses based on common assertions concerning the alleged advantages of the small farm were tested in the light of available empirical evidence. No basis was found to accept any of the eight hypotheses. There may be reasons to preserve and even encourage small farms but they are not the reasons commonly given for political initiatives and public policies favoring small farms. Although it is questionable whether any size of farm can be viewed as optimal, the strongest case is for the typical moderate-size family farm of today rather than for small farms or large industrial-type farms.     

The multi-dimensional nature of environmental attitudes among farmers in Indiana: implications for conservation adoption

Attempts to understand farmer conservation behavior based on quantitative socio-demographic, attitude, and awareness variables have been largely inconclusive. In order to understand fully how farmers are making conservation decisions, 32 in-depth interviews were conducted in the Eagle Creek watershed in central Indiana. Coding for environmental attitudes and practice adoption revealed several dominant themes, representing multi-dimensional aspects of environmental attitudes. Farmers who were motivated by off-farm environmental benefits and those who identified responsibilities to others (stewardship) were most likely to adopt conservation practices. Those farmers who focused on the farm as business and were most concerned about profitability were less likely to adopt practices. The notion of environmental stewardship in particular was found to be much more complex than the way it is traditionally measured in quantitative studies. The interplay between on-farm and off-farm benefits to practice adoption is an issue that quantitative studies largely do not address. This study seeks to increase understanding of farmers’ environmental attitudes and the connections to conservation behavior.