Your search found 17 records
1 Sugden, Fraser; Shrestha, L.; Bharati, Luna; Gurung, P.; Maharjan, L.; Janmaat, J.; Price, J. I.; Sherpa, Tashi Yang Chung; Bhattarai, Utsav; Koirala, S.; Timilsina, B. 2014. Climate change, out-migration and agrarian stress: the potential for upscaling small-scale water storage in Nepal. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 38p. (IWMI Research Report 159) [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2014.210]
Climate change ; Water storage ; Ponds ; Tanks ; Migration ; Water availability ; Gender ; Women farmers ; Agrarian structure ; Hydrology ; Models ; Economic aspects ; Political aspects ; Social aspects ; Land management ; Property rights ; Case studies / Nepal
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H046684)
(2.09 MB)
Climate change could have a critical impact on agriculture in Nepal due to dry-season water shortages, and changes in the variability of water availability and associated uncertainty. This makes water storage systems (most notably ponds and tanks) increasingly important. This report explores the potential role of small-scale water storage infrastructure in two subbasins within the larger Koshi River Basin in central and eastern Nepal, yet shows that upscaling such infrastructure requires an appreciation of the other drivers of change in agriculture aside from climate (e.g., rising cost of living and poor terms of trade for agriculture). It also identifies the social relations and dynamics (distribution of land, water and labor) which could mediate the success of future interventions. It is clear from the research that, while small-scale water storage has the potential to significantly strengthen livelihoods in the Nepali hills, it is necessary to tailor projects to the existing political-economic context.
2 CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). 2015. Groundwater and ecosystem services: a framework for managing smallholder groundwater-dependent agrarian socio-ecologies - applying an ecosystem services and resilience approach. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) 25p. [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2015.208]
Groundwater irrigation ; Ecosystem services ; Smallholders ; Farmers ; Agrarian structure ; Sociology ; Ecology ; Wetlands ; Research ; Hydrology ; Geology ; Irrigation water ; Water use ; Water management ; Land use ; Sustainability ; Impact assessment ; Living standards ; Case studies
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H046997)
(1 MB)
3 Suhardiman, Diana. 2018. Linking irrigation development with the wider agrarian context: everyday class politics in water distribution practices in Rural Java. Journal of Development Studies, 54(3):413-425. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2016.1228878]
Irrigation systems ; Agrarian structure ; Water distribution ; Water supply ; State intervention ; Bureaucracy ; Local government ; Developing countries ; Farmers / Indonesia / Kulon Progo District
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047718)
Poor performance of government managed irrigation systems persists globally despite numerous policies over the last four decades to address the problem. I argue that policy efforts to improve irrigation performance in developing countries fail in part because they are often formulated in isolation from the existing agrarian reality. This article uses the example of Indonesia to show the link between irrigation outcomes and the wider agrarian context and highlights how the interface between farmers and irrigation bureaucracies is shaped by the existing agrarian structure.
4 Amarasinghe, Upali A.; Sugden, Fraser; Clement, Floriane. 2016. Poverty, inequalities and vulnerability of the rural poor. In Bharati, Luna; Sharma, Bharat R.; Smakhtin, Vladimir (Eds.). The Ganges River Basin: status and challenges in water, environment and livelihoods. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.255-272. (Earthscan Series on Major River Basins of the World)
Rural poverty ; Equity ; Indicators ; Agricultural development ; Productivity ; Agrarian structure ; Land ownership ; Policy ; Population growth ; Households ; Income ; Socioeconomic environment ; Living standards ; Riparian zones ; River basins / India / Nepal / Bangladesh / Ganges River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H047818)
5 Sugden, F. 2009. Neo-liberalism, markets and class structures on the Nepali lowlands: the political economy of agrarian change. Geoforum, 40:634-644. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2009.03.010]
Agricultural sector ; Agrarian structure ; Small farms ; Surpluses ; Marketing policies ; Lowland ; Political aspects ; Economic aspects / Nepal / Terai
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047884)
In recent years, neo-liberalism has manifested itself in peripheral social formations on an ideological basis through strategies of poverty alleviation. This process is epitomized by Nepal’s donor led agrarian strategy, which constructs farmers as ‘rational entrepreneurs’ responsible for their own welfare. In the processit seeks to encourage smallholders to shift from subsistence to market oriented production. However, over 10 years since the current agrarian strategy was released, there is little evidence of commercialisation and the integration of rural populations into global or domestic markets, while subsistence production remains dominant. To understand this failure, one must examine both the contradictions inherent in neo-liberal ideologies and the rural political economy of Nepal. While the emphasis on self-help through market access can be understood to be an ideological process constitutive of the overdetermined nature of capitalist expansion, contradictions are evident in such ideologies when they are mobilised in regions dominated by non-capitalist economic systems. The depoliticizing assumptions inherent in such ideologies can serve the interests of capitalist expansion through glossing over the associated forms of class exploitation. However, a case study from Nepal’s eastern lowlands demonstrates how they also divert attention from complex non-capitalist modes of surplus appropriation in both the relations of production and circulation. Such forms of exploitation have not only obstructed the process of classical agrarian transition long envisaged in Marxian theory, but have also blocked the emergence of the particular form of rural commodity production envisaged in Nepal’s neo-liberal agrarian strategy itself.
6 Sugden, Fraser. 2017. A mode of production flux: the transformation and reproduction of rural class relations in lowland Nepal and North Bihar. Dialectical Anthropology, 41(2):129-161. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-016-9436-3]
Agricultural production ; Climate change ; Cultivated land ; Lowland ; Landowners ; Agrarian structure ; Tenant farmers ; Labour ; Living standards ; Political aspects ; Capitalism ; Feudalism ; Colonialism ; Rural communities ; Households ; Social aspects ; History ; Caste systems ; Migration ; Economic situation ; Indebtedness ; Farm income ; Remuneration / Nepal / India / North Bihar / Tarai / Eastern Gangetic Plains / Madhesh / Mithilanchal / Madhubani / Dhanusha / Morang / Purnea / Sunsari
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047834)
(2.24 MB)
The Eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia represents a peripheral region far from the centers of global capitalist production, and this is all the more apparent in Mithilanchal, a cultural domain spanning the Nepal/Bihar border. The agrarian structure can be considered ‘semi-feudal’ in character, dominated by landlordism and usury, and backed up by political and ideological processes. Paradoxically, Mithilanchal is also deeply integrated into the global capitalist market and represents a surplus labor pool for the urban centers of Western India as well as the Persian Gulf in a classic articulation between pre-capitalist and capitalist modes of production. A review of the changes in the agrarian structure over recent decades in the context of globalisation, out-migration and climate stress, shows that while landlordism remains entrenched, the relationship between the marginal and tenant farmer majority and the landed classes has changed, with the breakdown of ideological ties and reduced dependence on single landlords. The paper thus ends on a positive note, as the contemporary juncture represents an opportune moment for new avenues of political mobilization among the peasantry.
7 Rao, N. (Ed.) 2015. M. S. Swaminathan in conversation with Nitya Rao: from reflections on my life to the ethics and politics of science. New Delhi, India: Academic Foundation. 227p.
Agricultural research ; Green revolution ; Gender ; Women's participation ; Farmers ; Social aspects ; Mobilization ; Cultural factors ; Diversity ; Human rights ; Hunger ; Right to food ; Agricultural planning ; Strategies ; Seeds ; Sciences ; Technology ; Economic aspects ; Governmental interrelations ; Political aspects ; Public policy ; Ethics ; Standards ; Demography ; Resource management ; Governance ; Agrarian structure ; Education ; Motivation ; Information exchange ; Geneticists ; Biographies ; Interviews / India
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 576.5092 G635 RAO Record No: H047823)
(0.33 MB)
8 De Silva, Sanjiv; Curnow, J.; Ariyatne, A. 2016. Groundwater rising: agrarian resilience against climatic impacts on water resources. In Shamsuddoha, Md.; Pandey, M. S.; Chowdhury, R. K. (Eds.). Climate change in the bay of bengal region exploring sectoral cooperation for sustaiable development. Dhaka, Bangladesh: Coastal Association for Social Transformation (COAST) Trust. pp.93-109.
Groundwater ; Agrarian structure ; Climatic factors ; Climate change ; Water resources ; Surface water ; Water use ; Water storage ; Irrigation water ; Domestic water ; Industrial uses ; Rain ; Tank irrigation ; Food security ; Rice ; Dry season ; Rainfed farming ; Wells ; Cultivation ; Households ; Farmers ; Case studies / Sri Lanka / Bangladesh
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048070)
9 Belton, B.; Filipski, M. 2019. Rural transformation in central Myanmar: by how much, and for whom? Journal of Rural Studies, 67:166-176. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.02.012]
Rural areas ; Transformation ; Agricultural mechanization ; Living standards ; Household income ; Remittances ; Remuneration ; Migration ; Agrarian structure ; Labour ; Land ownership ; Arid zones / Myanmar / Mandalay / Magway / Sagaing
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049134)
(1.42 MB)
Rural Southeast Asia is undergoing a series profound changes, often referred to as ‘rural transformation’, but recent research is divided as to whether rural transformation is underway in Myanmar. This paper addresses two empirical questions. (1) Is rural transformation taking place in Myanmar? (2) How has rural transformation affected the welfare of rural households in Myanmar's Central Dry Zone? We find evidence of significant rural transformation happening in the Dry Zone. The following features stand out: First, there has been a shift in relative economic status and power between landholders and the landless, in favor of the latter. This rebalancing has occurred mainly due to rising rural wages linked to rapid migration to urban areas. Second, widespread agricultural mechanization has taken place over the same period as migration. However, despite generating some labor savings for farm households, the labor productivity boosting effects of farm machinery appear to have produced insufficient gains to offset the effects of rural wage increases. Third, migration appears to offer the prospect of greater social and economic mobility to landless and marginal farm households. For all groups of households, including the landless, remittance incomes have more than offset income earning opportunities lost in agriculture due to mechanization. Fourth, landownership patterns, gender relations, and the extent of agricultural commercialization all appear largely unaffected by these changes.
10 Kansanga, M. M.; Luginaah, I. 2019. Agrarian livelihoods under siege: carbon forestry, tenure constraints and the rise of capitalist forest enclosures in Ghana. World Development, 113:131-142. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.09.002]
Forest resources ; Agrarian structure ; Living standards ; Carbon ; REDD-plus ; Smallholders ; Farmers ; Land tenure ; Land access ; Displacement ; Local communities / Africa South of Sahara / Ghana / Bosomoa-Kintampo Forest District / Offinso Forest District
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049161)
(1.10 MB)
Drawing on theoretical insights from agrarian political economy, and based on empirical research in the High Forest Zone of Ghana using in-depth interviews and participant observation, this paper examined the context-specific but often less highlighted impacts of REDD+-based carbon forest development activities on local agrarian livelihoods. We find that although REDD+ intends to align local communities to benefit financially for contributions to carbon forestry, its uptake in the Ghanaian context has created entry points for the displacement of smallholder farmers through unregulated profit-driven and restrictive plantation-style carbon forest activities. This yields landless smallholder farmers whose labour is craftily integrated into a capitalist carbon forestry regime as tree planters, with many others striving to reproduce themselves through exploitative sharecropping arrangements and corrupt ‘backdoor’ land deals. We emphasize that, ‘more than carbon’ accumulation engendered by REDD+ is fast moving beyond land grabs to a more complex dimension in which the labour and financial resources of marginalized groups are further appropriated by forest investors, and their relatively powerful counterparts in what we term intimate exploitation. Given the ongoing plight of smallholder farmers, particularly the multitude of ‘hungry’ migrant farmers who seek ‘salvation’ in the High Forest Zone, it is obvious that REDD+ is pushed at the expense of ensuring food security. To sustainably address current land-related agricultural production bottlenecks and empower local communities to directly benefit from REDD+, we recommend that rather than centralizing both carbon rights and land rights in the hands of the state and a few private investors, community forestlands should be returned to local people under community-led forest management approaches. Local control of both land and carbon stocks will promote sustainable coexistence of smallholder agriculture and carbon forestry.
11 de Bont, C.; Komakech, H. C.; Veldwisch, G. J. 2019. Neither modern nor traditional: farmer-led irrigation development in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania. World Development, 116:15-27. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.11.018]
Farmer managed irrigation systems ; Groundwater irrigation ; Initiatives ; Traditional methods ; Modernization ; Irrigated farming ; Wells ; Food crops ; Cash crops ; Markets ; Agrarian structure ; Smallholders ; Land access ; State intervention / Africa South of Sahara / United Republic of Tanzania / Kilimanjaro / Kahe
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049169)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X18304248/pdfft?md5=b48636491a19a986bdbfb32de90fda20&pid=1-s2.0-S0305750X18304248-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049169.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049169.pdf
(0.91 MB) (932 KB)
The debate around what kind of irrigation, large- or small-scale, modern or traditional, best contributes to food security and rural development continues to shape irrigation policies and development in the Global South. In Tanzania, the irrigation categories of ‘modern’ and ‘traditional’ are dominating irrigation policies and are shaping interventions. In this paper, we explore what these concepts really entail in the Tanzanian context and how they relate to a case of farmer-led groundwater irrigation development in Kahe ward, Kilimanjaro Region. For our analysis, we rely on three months of qualitative fieldwork in 2016, a household questionnaire, secondary data such as policy documents and the results of a mapping exercise in 2014–2015. In the early 2000s, smallholders in Kahe started developing groundwater. This has led to a new, differentiated landscape in which different forms of agricultural production co-exist. The same set of groundwater irrigation technologies has facilitated the emergence of different classes of farmers, ranging from those engaging with subsistence farming to those doing capitalist farming. The level of inputs and integration with markets vary, as does crop choice. As such, some farms emulate the ‘modern’ ideal of commercial farming promoted by the government, while others do not, or to a lesser extent. We also find that national policy discourses on irrigation are not necessarily repeated at the local level, where interventions are strongly driven by prioritization based on conflict and funding. We conclude that the policy concepts of traditional and modern irrigation do not do justice to the complexity of actual irrigation development in the Kahe case, and obfuscate its contribution to rural development and food security. We argue that a single irrigation technology does not lead to a single agricultural mode of production, and that irrigation policies and interventions should take into account the differentiation among irrigators.
12 Sugden, Fraser; Nigussie, Likimyelesh; Debevec, Liza; Nijbroek, R. 2022. Migration, environmental change and agrarian transition in upland regions: learning from Ethiopia, Kenya and Nepal. Journal of Peasant Studies, 49(5):1101-1131. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2021.1894552]
Migration ; Agrarian structure ; Labour mobility ; Remittances ; Income ; Remuneration ; Capitalism ; Peasantry ; Agriculture ; Investment ; Farmers ; Landlessness ; Tenants ; Livelihoods ; Women ; Decision making ; Highlands ; Communities / Ethiopia / Kenya / Nepal / Tigray / Chirkhuwa Valley / Gatanga / Muragua / Embahasti / Raya Azebo / Kimalung / Gufagaon / Sanrang / Aaptari / Bhadare
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050498)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03066150.2021.1894552
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050498.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050498.pdf
(3.52 MB) (3.52 MB)
This paper analyses the relationship between cyclical labour migration and agrarian transition in the uplands of Nepal, Ethiopia and Kenya. It shows that while migration decision-making is linked to expanding capitalist markets, it is mediated by local cultural, political and ecological changes. In turn, cyclical migration goes on to shape the trajectory of change within agriculture. The dual dependence on both migrant income and agriculture within these upland communities often translates into an intensifying work burden on the land, and rising profits for capitalism. However, on some occasions this income can support increased productivity and accumulation within agriculture – although this depends on both the agro-ecological context and the local agrarian structure.
13 Fujita, K.; Mizushima, T. (Eds.) 2021. Sustainable development in India: groundwater irrigation, energy use, and food production. Oxon, UK: Routledge. 251p. (Routledge New Horizons in South Asian Studies) [doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003036074]
Sustainable development ; Groundwater irrigation ; Energy consumption ; Food production ; Nexus ; Sustainability ; Irrigation systems ; Irrigated farming ; Tank irrigation ; Irrigation water ; Canals ; Tube wells ; Water use ; Water market ; Policies ; Farmland ; Land development ; Agriculture ; Diversification ; Organic farming ; Nitrogen cycle ; Fertilizers ; Subsidies ; Agrarian structure ; Villages ; Case studies / South Asia / India / Bihar / Gujarat / Haryana / Karnataka / Orissa / Punjab / Rajasthan / Tamil Nadu / Uttar Pradesh / West Bengal / Sundarbans / Khurda
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy SF Record No: H050563)
14 Sugden, Fraser; Dhakal, S.; Rai, J. 2022. Agrifood systems policy research: historical evolution of agrifood systems in Nepal. New Delhi, India: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Initiative on Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA). 47p.
Agrifood systems ; Policies ; History ; Agrarian structure ; Social aspects ; Political aspects ; Cropping systems ; Cropping patterns ; Land reform ; Landowners ; Migration ; Labour ; Indigenous peoples ; Resettlement ; Taxes / South Asia / Nepal
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051631)
(1.94 MB)
This report explores the agrarian history of Nepal over the last 500 years, and the historical, social, and political trajectories that still shape modern agrifood systems in Nepal. The report is organised according to the main epochs in Nepal’s political-economic history. The study explores the complex layers of factors which vary across space according to contemporary and historic state formations, the local agroecology and indigenous and imported cultural-economic institutions and technologies that shape regional diversity in modes of production and food production systems across Nepal. The study is based on readily available documents including secondary literature and archival data as data sources.
15 Sarkar, Anindita; Chakraborty, Shreya; Mukherji, Aditi. 2022. Agrifood systems policy research: historical evolution of agrifood systems in Odisha, India. New Delhi, India: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Initiative on Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA). 14p.
Agrifood systems ; Policies ; Food production ; Food security ; Agrarian structure ; Political aspects ; Agricultural productivity / South Asia / India / Odisha
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051632)
(705 KB)
The diverse political influences and agrarian histories in Odisha have played a major role in determining the heterogenous regional contexts of agricultural development in the region. Several important political-economic developments like land tenure systems, feudal and semi-feudal structures, and their alliance with colonial extraction of revenue and taxation regimes historically have determined the agrarian pathways manifested in present inequalities in access to land, resources, and capital. There is a historical path dependence in agrarian systems, agrarian relations and the policies that aim to bring about changes. Thus “solutions” to a sustainable and resilient agrifood system needs to be contextualized within the historical and socio-political context. This research brief discusses the major drivers of food production and food security in Odisha charting the evolution of agrifood systems in the state. It traces the major political, economic, and social developments in Odisha that have taken place since 1850 that have determined the agrarian relations and agrifood outcomes for the region. It also discusses the major climatic events, particularly droughts and floods, that have influenced food production and livelihoods of rural communities. It brings out the temporal continuities and discontinuities in agrarian relations and technological transformations in agriculture.
16 Mollinga, P.; Lamba, A.; Aderghal, M.; Amzil, L.; Dessalegn, Mengistu; Masotti, M.; Murzakulova, A.; Kharel, A.; Sugden, F.; Pagogna, R.; Fengbo, C.; Jian, C. 2023. Making sense of diversity in agrarian and rural change outcomes of labor out-migration through comparative analysis: first lessons from China, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal and Thailand. [Policy Brief of the Migration Governance and Agricultural and Rural Change (AGRUMIG) Project]. London, UK: SOAS University of London. 8p. (AGRUMIG Policy Brief Series 24)
Labour ; Migration ; Migrants ; Governance ; Diversity ; Agrarian structure ; Rural development ; Policies ; Remittances ; Households ; Agriculture ; Livelihoods ; Land concentration ; Environmental factors ; Comparative analysis / China / Ethiopia / Kyrgyzstan / Republic of Moldova / Morocco / Nepal / Thailand
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H052014)
(3.01 MB)
17 Lamba, A.; Sugden, F.; Aderghal, M.; Fengbo, C.; Pagogna, R.; Masotti, M.; Dessalegn, Mengistu; Murzakulova, A.; Kharel, A.; Amzil, L.; Stirba, V.; Kuznetsova, I.; Vittuari, M.; Jian, C.; Crivellaro, F.; Naruchaikusol, S.; Lucasenco, E.; Mogilevskii, R.; Mollinga, P.; Phalkey, N.; Bhattarai, S. 2023. Migration governance and agrarian and rural development: comparative lessons from China, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal and Thailand [Policy Brief of the Migration Governance and Agricultural and Rural Change (AGRUMIG) Project]. London, UK: SOAS University of London. 12p. (AGRUMIG Policy Brief Series 25)
Migration ; Governance ; Migrant labour ; Agrarian structure ; Rural development ; Policies ; Employment ; Training ; Impact assessment ; Monitoring and evaluation ; Financing ; Political aspects ; Communities / China / Ethiopia / Kyrgyzstan / Republic of Moldova / Morocco / Nepal / Thailand
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H052005)
(2.28 MB)
The purpose of this policy brief is to draw together key comparative lessons on different types of migration governance interventions in the AGRUMIG project research regions and examine how they support positive feedback loops between migration and agrarian and rural development. This exploration offers stories of success and omission. Moving beyond the elusive triple-win situation on the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries, migrants themselves and the highly politicized domain of the migration-development nexus, our point of departure is that there are vital prospects for augmenting the positive impacts of migration for societies globally. This brief focuses on how migration governance interventions are potentially useful in maximizing the gains between migration and agrarian development in the sending communities in China, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal and Thailand.
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