Your search found 67 records
1 Tinsley, R. L. 2004. Developing smallholder agriculture: a global perspective. Brussels, Belgium: AgBe Publishing. 437p.
Smallholders ; Economic aspects ; Social aspects ; Farmers ; Public policy ; Farming systems ; Land management ; Land tenure ; Rain ; Labour ; Governance ; Public participation ; Private sector ; Farmers organizations ; Technology transfer ; Sustainable agriculture ; Nutrient management ; Pesticides ; Irrigation schemes ; Irrigation systems ; Water user associations ; Animal husbandry
(Location: IWMI-HQ Call no: 631.72 G000 TIN Record No: H043510)
2 Lanjouw, P.; Murgai, R. 2009. Poverty decline, agricultural wages, and nonfarm employment in rural India: 1983–2004. Agricultural Economics, 40:243-263.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H041957)
(0.19 MB)
3 Ellahi, M. 2004. Poverty issues and policies for its alleviation: a need to redirect the focus of planning strategies. In Jehangir, Waqar A.; Hussain, Intizar (Eds.). Poverty reduction through improved agricultural water management. Proceedings of the Workshop on Pro-poor Intervention Strategies in Irrigated Agriculture in Asia, Islamabad, Pakistan, 23-24 April 2003. Lahore, Pakistan: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). pp.205-219.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 631.7.3 G730 JEH Record No: H043770)
A pragmatic approach towards poverty alleviation in Pakistan was adopted in 1960s with Dr. Mahboob-ul-Haq’s notion that ‘take care of GNP and it will take care of poverty itself’. A reversal of this philosophy was advocated by the Haq school of thought in 1980s addressing poverty as core issue in development lanning. The new millennium is marked by a two-pronged policy, through the I-PRSP, to combat poverty and revive economic growth. The first policy package emphasized a boost in agriculture by combining inputs, services, infrastructural development and institutional support. The improved seeds, fertilizers and plant protection materials increased manifold, while irrigation water increased more than two-fold along with a massive ractorization. The second policy package, inter alia, enjoyed a shift over to value added commodities through textile industry. It appears that the process of technical breakthrough was not tailored in accordance with a wide range of factors operating in the international scenario. More precisely, pricing signals of the international market were not responded to by adjustment in output. Pakistan has a turnover of about US$ 20 billion (Rs. 1200 billion) in international trade. Thus, focus of this study is to describe over time impacts of international prices on the domestic ones. It also aims to analyze the effects of sectoral support and domestic policies on crop production, domestic economy and general welfare. In January 1982, one US dollar was worth Rs. 9.91, which climbed up to Rs. 67 per US dollar till September 11, 2001 with a u-turn to a current level of Rs. 58 per US dollar. Since then, the export prices in US dollar have shown a declining trend. Hence, the year 1981-82 being on the borderline of policy changes is a reference point for this study. The major crops, such as wheat, cotton, rice and sugarcane, account for about two-third of agricultural output and a major share of Pakistan’s international trade. In view of time and space limitations, scope of the study is narrowed down to these crops and labor wages. The analysis demonstrated that a heavy reliance on traditional commodities pushed export prices down due to pouring excessive supplies into export market. Hence, it is recommended that export/production of traditional commodities should be adjusted and accompanied by a shift over to non-traditional ones.
4 Mati, B. 2010. Agricultural water management delivers returns on investment in Africa: a compendium of 18 case studies from six countries in eastern and southern Africa. Saarbrucken, Germany: VDM Verlag Publishing. 280p.
Agriculture ; Water management ; Investment ; Case studies ; Water conservation ; Soil conservation ; Water harvesting ; Watersheds ; Households ; Income ; Irrigated farming ; Rainfed farming ; Rice ; Irrigation schemes ; Sprinkler irrigation ; Surface irrigation ; Runoff ; Farming systems ; Agricultural production ; Crop production ; Crop yield ; Field crops ; Highlands ; Marshes ; Economic aspects ; Cost benefit analysis ; Social aspects ; Environmental effects ; Labour ; Ponds / Africa / Ethiopia / Tanzania / Madagascar / Kenya / Malawi / Rwanda / Anjenie Watershed / Minjar Shenkora / Sewur Irrigation Scheme / Shinyanga / Kagera Region / Tsivory / Alaotra Lake Region / Andranomanelattra Highlands / Lare / Sagana-Maganjo / Kaiti Catchment / Kamalambo / Mchinji / Domasi / Buberuka / Rusuri-Rwamuginga Marshland / Cyabayaga
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 333.91 G100 MAT Record No: H044364)
(0.28 MB)
5 Jenbere, D.; Lemenih, Mulugeta; Kassa, H. 2012. Expansion of eucalypt farm forestry and its determinants in Arsi Negelle District, South Central Ethiopia. Small-scale Forestry, 11(3):389-405. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-011-9191-x]
Forestry ; Eucalyptus ; History ; Small scale systems ; Farm income ; Wood products ; Households ; Labour ; Surveys ; Models ; Water table / Ethiopia / Arsi Negelle District
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H044638)
(0.37 MB)
Declining natural forests and growing demands for wood products are encouraging the rapid expansion of eucalypt farm forestry in Ethiopia, and Arsi Negelle district represents areas with recent plantation expansion in the Rift Valley area of Ethiopia. This study assessed trends in eucalypt planting over the last five decades, identified the determinants, and examined perceptions of local stakeholders towards this expansion in the district. Quantitative data were gathered through a household survey and farm level inventory. About 90% of the respondents had planted eucalypts, and 52% of them were engaged in planting since the late 1990s. About 11% converted cropland to eucalypt woodlots, which is also a growing trend in the area. Proximity to Arsi-Forest Enterprise (P\0.01) and area of land holding (P\0.01) positively and significantly affected both decision to plant and land area allocated to eucalypts plantings. Active labour in the family negatively and significantly (P\0.05) affected planting decisions, while education level of the household head positively and significantly (P\0.05) affected land area allocated to eucalypts plantings. Despite strong policy discouragement and perceived adverse ecological effects by the farmers themselves, 96% of them and 90% of the district experts support the expansion. Eucalyptus has become the most desired and planted tree genus, and economics not ecology appears to drive its expansion. Unless better alternative sources of cash income and substitutes for energy and construction materials are found, its expansion is likely to continue even at the expense of cropland. It is concluded that research is needed to fine-tune current eucalypt farm forestry practices to reduce the associated ecological externalities, rather than grossly banning eucalypt planting by smallholders.
6 Fan, S.; Pandya-Lorch, R. 2012. Reshaping agriculture for nutrition and health. Washington, DC, USA: IFPRI. 213p.
Agricultural development ; Nutrition ; Public health ; Health hazards ; Waterborne diseases ; Malaria ; Sanitation ; Food supply ; Economic growth ; Poverty ; Hunger ; Malnutrition ; Case studies ; Investment ; Gender ; Public sector ; Water security ; Water use ; Wastewater irrigation ; Labour / Africa South of Sahara / Tanzania / Uganda / India
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 630.7 G000 FAN Record No: H044807)
http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/oc69.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H044807.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H044807.pdf
(4.63 MB) (4.6MB)
7 Cestti, R.; Malik, Ravinder Paul Singh. 2012. Indirect economic impacts of dams. In Tortajada, C.; Altinbilek, D.; Biswas, A. K. (Eds). Impacts of large dams: a global assessment. Berlin, Germany: Springer. pp.19-35.
Economic impact ; Dams ; Reservoirs ; Models ; Value added ; Households ; Income ; Case studies ; Irrigation ; Water power ; Electricity supplies ; Water supply ; Labour / India / Egypt / Brazil / Bhakra Dam / High Aswan Dam / Sobradinho Dam
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H044915)
(4.45 MB)
8 Enters, T. 2000. Financial assessment of land management alternatives: practical guidelines for data collection and calculation of costs and benefits. [Training/Course material] Bangkok, Thailand: International Board for Soil Research and Management (IBSRAM). 35p. (IBSRAM Global Tool Kit Series 2)
Economic analysis ; Land management ; Cost benefit analysis ; Investment ; Soil conservation ; Agricultural production ; Cropping patterns ; On-farm research ; Labour ; Farming systems ; Farmers ; Households ; Fertilizers ; Guidelines ; Data collection
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046253)
(2 MB)
9 Garrido, R. J. S. 2015. Price for domestic water supply: an innovative method developed for the Tucano aquifer in the State of Bahia, Brazil. In Dinar, A.; Pochat, V.; Albiac-Murillo, J. (Eds.). Water pricing experiences and innovations. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. pp.407-429. (Global Issues in Water Policy Volume 9)
Domestic water ; Water supply ; Water demand ; Water rates ; Pricing ; Enterprises ; Costs ; Labour ; Electrical energy ; Supervision ; Maintenance ; Wells ; Amortization ; Profit / Brazil / Bahia / Tucano Aquifer
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy SF Record No: H047134)
This chapter analyzes the pricing of bulk water extracted from the Tucano aquifer in the semiarid region of Bahia, Brazil, using the optimizing economic behavior agent model. The starting point is a set of demand and supply equations on groundwater that is pumped from the aquifer and used for domestic supply. The main goal of this chapter is to offer bulk water tariff levels through a methodology especially adequate to a region that, due to the scarcity of this natural resource as well as the level of poverty that characterizes the region, demands more and more application of mechanisms that contribute to the efficiency of its use, while ensuring adequate prices to be paid by poor families.
10 Aheeyar, Mohamed; Manthrithilake, Herath; Pathmarajah, S. 2016. Drivers of the adoption of farmer-innovated sprinkler irrigation systems: evidence from Kalpitiya, Sri Lanka. Paper presented at the 8th International Perspective on Water Resources and the Environment, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 4-6 January 2016. 14p.
Irrigation systems ; Microirrigation ; Sprinkler irrigation ; Drip irrigation ; Groundwater irrigation ; Farmers ; Crops ; Cultivation ; Labour ; Costs ; Water conservation ; Pumps ; Farmers ; Farming systems ; Energy ; Policy making / Sri Lanka / Kalpitiya
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047399)
(0.83 MB)
Since the 1980s, along with many other countries, Sri Lanka rapidly embraced groundwater irrigation. At the same time, the government, externally funded projects and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) made bold efforts to promote water-saving technologies, such as drip and sprinkler irrigation systems, among farmers, but achieved little or no success. Despite the continuous failure in the promotion of 'professionally designed', micro-irrigation systems across the country, grassroots innovations have emerged. These locally initiated endeavors, mainly in sprinkler irrigation, have been adopted comfortably and competently by the farmers themselves without any external assistance. Farmers in the Kalpitiya Peninsula have adopted this technology within a few years. This paper presents the 'drivers' behind this spontaneous 'irrigation revolution' that has occurred in the peninsula. The findings indicate that the adoption of sprinkler irrigation in this groundwater-based agricultural ecosystem has brought in tremendous changes to agricultural practices, and also to the lifestyles and livelihoods of the people living in the area. These positive and desirable results have been obtained with zero subsidy provision, and without any external inputs from the government or NGOs. Adoption of this sprinkler system for irrigation has increased the net sown area, net irrigated area and cropping intensity, resulting in significant economic returns and welfare gains. The low-cost sprinkler innovations are considered as an input cost that is recoverable within a year or two, rather than a long-term capital investment. The main drivers of this technological shift are (i) significant reduction in the cost of irrigation due to lower expenditure on labor and energy; (ii) user-friendly and affordable technology; (iii) easy to assemble, install and manage (operation and maintenance); (iv) easy access to components and spare parts (locally available); (v) potential to cultivate high-value cash crops; (vi) environmental context of the area (high number of rainless days, year-round availability of groundwater resources, low water-holding capacity of sandy soil); and (vii) immediate connection to markets through mobile phones and improved road networks. Promotion of micro-irrigation exclusively as a water-saving technology, as done in the past, is not a motive for farmers to adopt micro-irrigation systems. This is particularly the case where farmers do not recognize water scarcity as a 'real constraint'. Conserving water and sustainable management of the resource, at least for the time being, is not factored in farmers decision making.
11 Douxchamps, Sabine; Ayantunde, A.; Panyan, E. K.; Ouattara, K.; Kabore, A.; Karbo, N.; Sawadogo, B. 2015. Agricultural water management and livelihoods in the crop - livestock systems of the Volta Basin. Water Resources and Rural Development, 6:92-104. (Special issue: Managing Rainwater and Small Reservoirs in Sub-Saharan Africa). [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wrr.2014.10.001]
Agriculture ; Water management ; Crop production ; Livestock ; Water availability ; Reservoirs ; Living standards ; Indicators ; Households ; Labour ; Income ; Food consumption ; Access to information ; Strategies / Burkina Faso / Ghana / Volta Basin / Ouahigouya / Koubri / Lawra / Tolon-Kunbungu
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047522)
(0.90 MB)
With mixed crop-livestock systems projected to be the principal source of food in developing countries in the coming decades, opportunities exist for smallholders to participate and benefit from emerging crop and livestock markets in the Volta Basin. Given the economic, social and environmental vulnerability due to high water scarcity and variability in the basin, improvements in agricultural water management (AWM) are needed to ensure sustainable benefits. A survey was conducted among 326 crop-livestock households in four water scarce sites of the basin in Burkina Faso and Ghana to characterize households in terms of access to water, services and information, AWM intensity and livelihoods, and to explore the linkages between these characteristics. The sources of water were more diverse for study sites in Ghana than in Burkina, allowing different types of AWM strategies. Most of the farmers perceived a strong positive impact of AWM strategies on their livelihoods. Almost 70% of the variation in livelihood assets was explained by variation in AWM intensity, affecting mainly food consumption, sources of income and housing index. With increasing access to water, services and information, AWM intensity significantly increased, as well as labour for water-related activities and food consumption. This increase in AWM was significantly related to an increase in livelihood assets (R2 = 52%). Policies should be developed to improve access to information and services as well as access to market in rural areas of the Volta Basin, to enhance positive impact of AWM strategies on livelihoods of the rural households.
12 Sullivan, A.; Odonkor, E.; de Haan, Nicoline. 2016. Poverty, vulnerability and livelihoods in the Volta Basin: a gendered analysis. In Williams, Timothy O.; Mul, Marloes L.; Biney, C. A.; Smakhtin, Vladimir (Eds.). The Volta River Basin: water for food, economic growth and environment. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.95-107.
Poverty ; Living standards ; River basins ; Gender ; Role of women ; Rural communities ; Households ; Cropping systems ; Food security ; Labour / West Africa / Benin / Burkina Faso / Ivory Coast / Ghana / Mali / Togo / Volta River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H047727)
13 Weeratunge, N.; Joffre, O.; Senaratna Sellamuttu, Sonali; Bouahom, B.; Keophoxay, Anousith. 2016. Gender and household decision-making in a Lao village: implications for livelihoods in hydropower development. Gender, Place and Culture, 23(11):1599-1614. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2016.1219319]
Gender ; Women ; Men ; Decision making ; Households ; Living standards ; Water power ; Economic aspects ; Income ; Upland rice ; Rural settlement ; Reservoir operation ; Social welfare ; Labour ; Cost benefit analysis ; Equity ; Cultivation / Lao People's Democratic Republic
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047838)
Hydropower development with concomitant changes in water and land regimes often results in livelihood transformation of affected people, entailing changes in intra-household decision-making upon which livelihood strategies are based. Economic factors underlying gender dimensions of household decision-making have been studied rigorously since the 1970s. However, empirical data on gender and decision-making within households, needed for evidence-based action, remain scarce. This is more so in hydropower contexts. This article explores gender and livelihood-related decision-making within rural households in the context of hydropower development in Lao PDR. Based on a social well-being conceptual approach with data from a household survey and qualitative interviews, it focuses on household decisions in an ethnic minority resettlement site soon after displacement, from an interpretive perspective. The article, first, aims to assess the extent to which household decision-making is gendered and secondly, to understand the complex reasoning behind household decisions, especially the relevance of material, relational, and subjective factors. It argues that while most household decisions are ostensibly considered as ‘joint’ in the study site, the nuanced nature of gendered values, norms, practices, relations, attitudes, and feelings underlying these decisions are important to assessing why households might or might not adopt livelihood interventions proposed by hydropower developers.
14 Lalani, B.; Dorward, P.; Holloway, G.; Wauters, E. 2016. Smallholder farmers' motivations for using conservation agriculture and the roles of yield, labour and soil fertility in decision making. Agricultural Systems, 146:80-90. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2016.04.002]
Farming systems ; Conservation agriculture ; Agricultural practices ; Smallholders ; Farmers attitudes ; Soil fertility ; Yield increases ; Labour ; Decision making ; Psychological factors ; Human behavior ; Adaptation ; Motivation ; Models ; Socioeconomic environment / Africa South of Sahara / Mozambique / Cabo Delgado
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047845)
(0.50 MB)
Conservation Agriculture (CA) has been widely promoted as an agro-ecological approach to sustainable production intensification. Despite numerous initiatives promoting CA across Sub-Saharan Africa there have been low rates of adoption. Furthermore, there has been strong debate concerning the ability of CA to provide benefits to smallholder farmers regarding yield, labour, soil quality and weeding, particularly where farmers are unable to access external inputs such as herbicides. This research finds evidence that CA, using no external inputs, is most attractive among the very poor and that farmers are driven primarily by strong motivational factors in the key areas of current contention, namely yield, labour, soil quality and weeding time benefits. This study is the first to incorporate a quantitative socio-psychological model to understand factors driving adoption of CA. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), it explores farmers' intention to use CA (within the next 12 months) in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique where CA has been promoted for almost a decade. The study site provides a rich population from which to examine farmers' decision making in using CA. Regression estimates show that the TPB provides a valid model of explaining farmers' intention to use CA accounting for 80% of the variation in intention. Farmers' attitude is found to be the strongest predictor of intention. This is mediated through key cognitive drivers present that influence farmers' attitude such as increased yields, reduction in labour, improvement in soil quality and reduction in weeds. Subjective norm (i.e. social pressure from referents) and perceived behavioural control also significantly influenced farmers' intention. Furthermore, path analysis identifies farmers that are members of a Farmer Field School or participants of other organisations (e.g. savings group, seed multiplication group or a specific crop/livestock association) have a significantly stronger positive attitude towards CA with the poorest the most likely users and the cohort that find it the easiest to use. This study provides improved understanding relevant to many developing countries, of smallholder farmers' adoption dynamics related to CA, and of how farmers may approach this and other ‘new’ management systems.
15 Ali, D.; Bowen, D.; Deininger, K.; Duponchel, M. 2016. Investigating the gender gap in agricultural productivity: evidence from Uganda. World Development, 87:152-170. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.06.006]
Gender analysis ; Agricultural production ; Productivity ; Women farmers ; Men ; Farm managers ; Labour ; Cropping patterns ; Field size ; Crop yield ; Economic value ; Statistical methods ; Models ; Households ; Socioeconomic environment / Africa South of Sahara / Uganda
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047853)
(0.33 MB)
Women comprise 50% of the agricultural labor force in Sub-Saharan Africa, but manage plots that are reportedly on average 20–30% less productive. As a source of income inequality and aggregate productivity loss, the country-specific magnitude and drivers of this gender gap are of great interest. Using national data from the Uganda National Panel Survey for 2009–10 and 2010–11 that include a full agricultural module and plot-level gender indicator, the gap before controlling for endowments was estimated to be 17.5%. Panel data methods were combined with an Oaxaca decomposition to investigate the gender differences in resource endowment and return to endowment driving this gap. Although men have greater access to inputs, input use is so low and inverse returns to plot size so strong in Uganda that smaller female-managed plots have a net endowment advantage of 12.9%, revealing a larger unexplained difference in return to endowments of 30.4%. One-half of this is attributed to differential returns to the child dependency ratio, implying that greater child care responsibility is the largest driver of the gap. Smaller drivers include differential uptake of cash crops, differential uptake and return to improved seeds and pesticides, and differential returns to male-owned assets.
16 Buisson, Marie-Charlotte; MacDonald, K.; Saikia, Panchali; Balasubramanya, Soumya; Aslamy, Sohrob; Horbulyk, Theodore. 2016. Impact of water users associations on water and land productivity, equity and food security in Tajikistan. Mid-term Technical Report. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 102p.
Water user associations ; Water productivity ; Water governance ; Water management ; Water availability ; Water supply ; Water rates ; Land productivity ; Equity ; Food security ; Household food security ; Role of women ; Women's participation ; Female labour ; Farmers ; Irrigation water ; Irrigation management ; Small scale farming ; Agriculture ; Cultivated land ; Private farm ; Field preparation ; Decision making ; Community organizations ; Crops ; Labour / Tajikistan
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047854)
(3.57 MB)
17 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.
18 Mathebula, J.; Jonas, S.; Nhemachena, Charles. 2017. Estimation of household income diversification in South Africa: a case study of three provinces. South African Journal of Science, 113(1/2):1-9. [doi: https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2017/20160073]
Diversification ; Households ; Income ; Urban areas ; Rural areas ; Poverty ; Living standards ; Economic aspects ; Businesses ; Labour ; Financing ; Social aspects ; Case studies / South Africa / Eastern Cape / Limpopo / KwaZulu-Natal
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047999)
http://www.sajs.co.za/system/tdf/publications/pdf/SAJS-113-1-2-Mathebula_ResearchArticle.pdf?file=1&type=node&id=35462&force=
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H047999.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H047999.pdf
(585 KB)
We estimated household income diversification in settlement types of the poorest provinces in South Africa – the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. We obtained data from the 2010/2011 Income and Expenditure Survey from Statistics South Africa and Wave 3 data from the National Income Dynamics Study. We used the number of income sources, the number of income earners and the Shannon Diversity Index to estimate income diversification in the study provinces. The results show that households in the traditional and urban formal areas diversified income sources to a greater extent than households in urban informal and rural formal settlements. The varied degrees of income diversification in the three provinces suggest that targeted policy initiatives aimed at enhancing household income are important in these provinces.
19 Wichelns, D. 2017. The water-energy-food nexus: is the increasing attention warranted, from either a research or policy perspective? Environmental Science and Policy, 69:113-123. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2016.12.018]
Water resources ; Integrated management ; Water management ; Energy consumption ; Agriculture ; Food production ; Food security ; Living standards ; Labour ; Poverty ; Research ; Policy ; Natural resources management ; Soils ; Environmental effects
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047995)
(0.57 MB)
In recent years, the notion of a nexus involving water, energy, and food has been gaining attention in the scholarly literature and popular press, due partly to the impetus provided by an international conference on the nexus in 2011, and partly to the increasing interest among researchers and public officials in determining the investments and policies needed to achieve and sustain water, energy, and food security. While the notion of such a nexus is compelling to some observers, interactions involving water, energy, and food have been known and studied for many years by scientists and policy analysts. The need for greater integration of research and policy discourse across sectors and regions has been expressed in international meetings since the late 1940s. In addition, the conceptual basis for including water, energy, and food in the “nexus,” to the exclusion of other resources and inputs is not evident. In many cases, the information excluded from studies claiming to implement a nexus approach might be of greater importance to science and policy than the information included in the analysis. In this paper, I review some of the experience gained in earlier attempts to enhance integration and policy coherence, and to promote systems analysis. The challenges observed in implementing programs of integrated natural resources management (INRM) and integrated water resources management (IWRM), in particular, suggest that efforts to implement a water-energy-food nexus approach will not enhance the policy process in all settings. In sum, it is not clear that the increasing attention given to studies claiming to implement a nexus approach is warranted.
20 Naber, M. A.; Molle, Francois. 2017. Water and sand: is groundwater-based farming in Jordan's desert sustainable? Groundwater for Sustainable Development, 5:28-37. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsd.2017.03.005]
Groundwater irrigation ; Irrigated farming ; Farming systems ; Deserts ; Highlands ; Water table ; Water quality ; Water productivity ; Water policy ; Water rates ; Surface water ; Cultivated land ; Cropping patterns ; Cost benefit analysis ; Profitability ; Labour / Jordan / Azraq / Mafraq
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048256)
Irrigated agriculture in Jordan's highlands relies on overexploited groundwater. Drops in water tables and water quality, but also tougher policy measures by the government, threaten the sustainability of this activity which has long thrived on lax law enforcement and cheap desert land. This paper is based on field work in two locations of Azraq groundwater basin [around the Azraq oasis and in the northern part (Mafraq)], and first presents farm typologies which show the variability of farm gross margins and the contrast between the two zones. While Mafraq stands for capital-intensive fruit-tree cultivation on legal land/wells, Azraq's agriculture is largely based on olive cultivation and wells that are either illegal or granted permits with higher block tariffs, and has a return that is only one tenth of Mafraq's. The paper reviews the constraints and changes in land, energy, water, labor and input costs and reflects on their bearing on current dynamics and future prospects. While Mafraq is found to be largely immune to policy changes and resilient to foreseeable changes in factor prices or markets, Azraq's future is threatened by various vulnerabilities, including salinization of groundwater, rising energy and labor costs that, in the long run, are likely to be overcome only by farmers emulating the Mafraq intensification model, or accepting temporary losses in the hope of a future legalization of land and wells. Solar energy now emerges as a trump card, in particular for illegal farms which, on the other hand, are challenged by recent tough water pricing regulations that are shown to make them unprofitable. The government's resolve in enforcing these regulation is put to test and will largely decide the future of Azraq's agriculture.
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