Demands,responsibility, and influence in Malawi’s participatory agricultural extension services

Participatory governance offers the potential to deliver responsive and accountable services. This article tests this expectation by looking at how members of participatory extension platforms in Malawi understand the meaning of “demand-driven” services, and allocate responsibility and influence in service provision. Results show that most respondents agree on bottom-up extension services that respond to expressed farmers’ needs (86% of respondents), and assign responsibility and influence widely across state and non-state actors. While these findings suggest that these participatory mechanisms can promote responsiveness to farmers’ needs and accountability, they also point toward different governance challenges in extension services.     

Socio-political tensions in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) development in low-income Asian cities

International development agencies, with the help of the central government, support building state of art Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in low-income Asian cities. However, BRT investment over indigenous modes of mobility is creating socio-political tensions at the local level. This article uses multi-level governance as a theoretical lens to examine the relationships among actors in BRT investment decisions in Bandung and Surabaya, Indonesia. The research finds that local stakeholders can distort national and supranational policy initiatives totally or in a way that while projects are delivered, they are of limited use to the local communities they intended to help.     

Does fertiliser use improve household welfare? Evidence from Ghana’s cocoa industry

This article analyses welfare impacts of fertiliser adoption using data collected from 838 cocoa farm households in the four key cocoa-producing regions in Ghana. Using propensity score matching (PSM), the study indicates that application of fertiliser leads to significant gains in farm yields, farm income, consumption expenditure, consumption expenditure per capita, and value of productive farm assets. The article concludes that cocoa-specific programmes such as Cocoa High Technology (Cocoa Hi-tech), initiated to intensify the application of improved farm technologies such as fertiliser, should be strengthened through effective and efficient management systems.     

Modelling trust and contractual arrangements in a local economy

This article investigates trust among dairy value-chain actors to understand the innovative process in a local productive sector in Tunisia. It uses a sample of 45 smallholder farmers chosen randomly nearby existing collection centres in the region. A trust variable is constructed employing 11 ordinal variables based on principal component analysis, and institutional arrangements then modelled to examine the effect of trust on contracting decisions and cooperative membership. The results show that trust is defined by values such as “integrity”, “competence”, and “existence of credible information”, which are preconditions to sustainable contracts. The article contributes to the growing literature which considers social capital, networking and trust as determinants of farmer’s behaviour, as opposed to the classical model of rationality.     

Facilitating industrial symbiosis programmes in developing countries: reflections from Gauteng,South Africa

This viewpoint reflects on how to improve the process of introducing facilitated industrial symbiosis programmes (FISPs) to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries. Although FISPs are a long-established industrial practice, their formal introduction to SMEs in developing countries has only recently begun, mostly through support from international development agencies. Based partly on anecdotal evidence from Gauteng, South Africa, we identify six key questions which need to be addressed to improve the process of facilitating FISPs.     

贵州传统民居建筑的环境自然生态观

本文在研究贵州传统民居环境自然生态特点的同时,关注传统民居在历史、文化、地理的综合作用下,分析传统民居的生态特点,挖掘传统民居中普遍而朴素的生态价值、历史意义及现实意义,并为具有生态价值的新民居设计提供理论依据。     

论环境与资源诉讼中的公益理念

环境权从某种意义上属“社会性”权利 ,无论在立法还是司法实践中 ,这一权利都带有明显的公益色彩。为保障公民环境权的实现 ,我国应借鉴西方国家经验 ,放宽对环境诉讼起诉资格的限制 ,对现行司法制度进行制度创新     

数码相片和传统相片的比较研究

视听资料作为《刑事诉讼法》和《民事诉讼法》所规定的七种证据形式中的一种,而数字图像又是视听资料的一类,在办案和诉讼活动中起着举足轻重的作用。本文主要就数码相片与传统相片的本质区别及其相关问题进行了比较研究。     

试论侦查讯问的时空环境

讯问时空环境,也叫场境,即讯问言语活动所发生的时间、地点。侦查讯问的时空环境是讯问言语环境的一种,它是不属于讯问言语活动之内,但又与之有密切相关,不可或缺的因素与条件。时空环境对讯问活动有着重要的影响,在讯问中要注意加以控制和运用。     

困境及对策：我国海洋环境污染执法的完善

海洋环境污染主要是海洋资源的污染。在海洋环境的污染治理中存在很多问题,执法是其中之一。当前困扰海洋环境执法的主要问题从沿海建设规划失当到公众的海洋保护意识淡薄,涉及很多方面。解决这些问题,应从战略高度上重视做好海洋生态立法与执法工作,根据海洋环境的特点,有针对性的科学执法,加快海洋环保与治理科技保障体系建设。