Globalisation and Unequalisation: What Can Be Learned from Value Chain Analysis?

Although many have gained from the process of globalisation, there remains a stubbornly large number of people living in absolute poverty and a rise in inequality within and between countries. The issue is thus not whether to participate in the global economy but how to do so in a manner which provides for sustainable and equitable income growth. This study shows how value chain analysis can be used to chart the growing disjuncture between global economic activity and global income distribution and to provide causal explanations for this outcome. In so doing, value chain analysis provides valuable insights into policy formulation and implementation.     

A gendered analysis of goat ownership and marketing in Meru,Kenya

Studies show that women are more likely to own small, rather than, large livestock. This study sought to establish gendered preference for different livestock species while focusing on the gendered differences in ownership, management, and marketing of goats in Meru, Kenya. Men demonstrated a higher preference for cattle than women, who had a higher preference for poultry than men. Men and women preferred goats equally, but women derived and managed more income from goats than men. Development projects should apply a gender lens before introducing different livestock species as gender differences exist in the preference and the management of different livestock.     

Who are those people we call farmers? Rural Kenyan aspirations and realities

Rural Kenyan households have different aspirations and income portfolio strategies, including agricultural intensification and income diversification. This article reports on a study that interviewed 624 households to explore rural aspirations and derive lessons for agricultural technology development and transfer. Though few households specialised in farming, many households self-identified as farmers and aspired to increase their agricultural income. Despite the prevalence of agricultural aspirations, few aspired for their children to have a future in farming. Combining aspirations with potential to invest, the article provides suggestions for targeting agricultural interventions. We need to start listening better to those people we call “farmers” to develop and offer innovations that meet their realities.     

Building pathways out of poverty through climate smart agriculture and effective targeting

One focus of agricultural development is climate smart agricultural technologies and practices (CSA). Development practitioners invest in scaling these to have wider impact. Ineffective targeting stymies CSA’s contribution to poverty reduction by excluding many of the poor and/or including those for whom agriculture is not a pathway out of poverty. This viewpoint proposes the need to recognise differentiated livelihood pathways within smallholder agriculture, linked to farmers’ differential capacity to engage in climate risk management. A farmer and livelihoods typology provides a framework to improved targeting of CSA and to identifying where alternative interventions, such as social protection, are more appropriate.     

Moving to commercial production: a case of intensive chili farming in Indonesia

This article analyses factors determining farmers’ intentions to move from subsistence to advanced farming. Data were compiled from a survey of 222 randomly selected farmers in three districts of central Java, Indonesia. Intensive chili farming is considered commercial, and three technologies are considered advanced. The results show many significant factors determined farmers moving toward commercial farming and adopting advanced technologies. Better access to credit and market facilities encourages farmers to grow chili. The study suggests policy recommendations for strengthening chili farming and related high-value vegetables in Indonesia.     

Comment on Scott A. Bollens's “In through the back door: Social equity and regional governance”

Abstract

The resurgence in regionalism is not coming about primarily because cities and suburbs see themselves as interdependent competitors in the global economy, as argued in Scott A. Bollens's “In Through the Back Door: Social Equity and Regional Governance.” Instead, enough communities are finding tax equity programs, land use measures, and cooperative governance in their own self‐interest to create gentle progress toward regional equity. However, regionalism lags in ending concentrated poverty and racial segregation because few civil rights organizations are raising these issues as fundamental to a regional agenda. The race issue is not being raised because of lack of understanding and because of competing visions on how to do it.     

Cassava value chain and its products in Morogoro rural district,Tanzania

This study was conducted to examine the cassava value chain and determine strategies for enhancing farmers' profitable participation in the chain, to reduce poverty in Tanzania. Data were collected from 98 farmers from three villages of Morogoro rural district. Profit and marketing margins along the cassava value chain were computed. A linear model was estimated whereby farm size, experience, total family labour, group participation, non-crop livelihood sources, and food insecurity were the main determinants of profitability. The emerging recommendation was for farmers' participation in profitable cassava value chain strands by strengthened coordination, improved cassava varieties, and enhanced agronomic practices and processing technologies.     

Participatory appraisal of competitive advantage (PACA) approach in local economic development

In South Africa, local economic development has become the focus to overcome obstacles such as low skills, low entrepreneurial culture, weak support mechanisms, and spatial marginalisation, which lead to high unemployment and poverty. With conventional approaches having little effect, local communities are looking for innovative approaches to their economic challenges. PACA methodology prepares an action-oriented diagnostic of the local economy to initiate economic development initiatives. It mobilises local stakeholders to take an active role through fast analysis and action learning. This article assesses how the PACA approach implemented by George Municipality was applied, and what advantages and limitations were experienced.     

浅议当前农村贫困问题

改革开放以来中国农村经济得到了迅速的发展,但农村贫困问题没有得到有效彻底的解决,农村贫困问题作为历史的延续,它在动态中发展,在新形势下受到一些新的因素的影响而较以前具有不同的表现形式。农村贫困问题造成城乡之间的二元对立,对社会的良性运行和协调发展带来许多不利的影响,削弱了现代社会的后续推动力。     

A cooperative Peru: Is centralisation of cooperatives better for local development?

Research shows that some agricultural cooperatives implement development projects in their local communities. What remains to be explained is why certain cooperatives pursue local development while others do not. Through a comparison of coffee cooperatives in two regions of Peru, this study examines the implications of a regional cooperative for local development. The creation of a regional cooperative leads to a concentration of resources and a decrease in the need and ability of local cooperatives to pursue independent development projects. At the same time, it allows for more equal access to those resources and to the benefits of cooperative-led development projects.