As food scares have hastened the growth of safety and quality standards around the world, certification schemes to assure various attributes of foods have proliferated in the global marketplace. High-value food commodities produced in the global south for export have been the subject of such schemes through third-party environmental certifications, providing regulatory and verification mechanisms welcomed by global buyers. As certification becomes more common, re-localization in the current global context can also mean the projection of place onto a food commodity to highlight its origin or attributes secured by transparent verification mechanisms. However, environmental food certification is often criticized for its inapplicability in the context of the global south, due to the extensive documentation requirements and high costs. The key question here is the process for small-scale producers in the global south to navigate increasing international regulation of food safety and quality. This dissertation examines (1) how the environmental standards (as defined by the global north) were translated in the rural global south through international certification schemes, and (2) what the implications are at the local level, especially where producers had not yet integrated into conventional global markets before the introduction of certification. The dissertation also analyzes the influence of such certification in determining the development trajectories of rural society in the global south. A case study is used to examine newly-introduced certified organic shrimp production in Ca Mau Province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. The selected shrimp production site is the first pilot organic shrimp project in Vietnam working with an international third-party certification scheme. It is located in rural Vietnam where, as in other parts of Southeast Asia, an accelerated process of agrarian transition is underway. Whereas elsewhere the trend with intensified regulation has been the consolidation of large-scale farms and the exclusion of small-scale farms from international agrofood markets, this case study demonstrates comparative advantages of small-scale farms over large-scale farms in producing sensitive high-value crops. This dissertation employs two main analytical approaches. The first approach is to examine the network of actors and the flow of information, payment and shrimp at the production level using environmental regulatory network (ERN). In contrast to chain analyses, which can be useful in identifying linear structure of supply chains for global commodities, ERN can capture the interrelatedeness of actors in the network built around environmental certification for agrofood products. The second analytical lens is that of agrarian transition. Countries experiencing agrarian transition at present are doing so in a very different international context from countries that accomplished their transitions in the past. Results of this research indicate that technical and financial constraints at the time of initial certification are not the primary obstacles to farmers getting certified, since the extensive farming method employed at the study site is organic by default. In spite of this, many farmers unofficially withdrew from the organic shrimp project by simply shifting their marketing channel back to a conventional one. Inefficient flows of information and payments, and a restrictive marketing channel within the environmental regulatory network that does not take into account local geographical conditions and farming practices, all contributed to limiting the farmers’ capacity and lowering their incentives to get involved in the network. The analysis also indicates that, by influencing those agrarian transition processes, food standards and certification based on values developed in the global north may modify, reshape and/or hold back agrarian transition processes in agricultural sectors of developing countries. The potential benefits of environmental certification are enhanced rural development, by generating opportunities for small-scale farmers to connect to global niche markets. The findings of this dissertation highlighted that such certification schemes or their environmental regulatory networks need to ensure information sharing and compensation for farmers. As an empirical finding, this dissertation also captures where ecological credibility and market logic meet: the success of this kind of certification depends on finding a balanced point where standards are ecologically (or ethically) credible to the level that does not attract too much criticism for being green washing, but not too unrealistic to become a disincentive for farmers to participate.

As food scares have hastened the growth of safety and quality standards around the world, certification schemes to assure various attributes of foods have proliferated in the global marketplace. High-value food commodities produced in the global south for export have been the subject of such schemes through third-party environmental certifications, providing regulatory and verification mechanisms welcomed by global buyers. As certification becomes more common, re-localization in the current global context can also mean the projection of place onto a food commodity to highlight its origin or attributes secured by transparent verification mechanisms. However, environmental food certification is often criticized for its inapplicability in the context of the global south, due to the extensive documentation requirements and high costs. The key question here is the process for small-scale producers in the global south to navigate increasing international regulation of food safety and quality. This dissertation examines (1) how the environmental standards (as defined by the global north) were translated in the rural global south through international certification schemes, and (2) what the implications are at the local level, especially where producers had not yet integrated into conventional global markets before the introduction of certification. The dissertation also analyzes the influence of such certification in determining the development trajectories of rural society in the global south. A case study is used to examine newly-introduced certified organic shrimp production in Ca Mau Province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. The selected shrimp production site is the first pilot organic shrimp project in Vietnam working with an international third-party certification scheme. It is located in rural Vietnam where, as in other parts of Southeast Asia, an accelerated process of agrarian transition is underway. Whereas elsewhere the trend with intensified regulation has been the consolidation of large-scale farms and the exclusion of small-scale farms from international agrofood markets, this case study demonstrates comparative advantages of small-scale farms over large-scale farms in producing sensitive high-value crops. This dissertation employs two main analytical approaches. The first approach is to examine the network of actors and the flow of information, payment and shrimp at the production level using environmental regulatory network (ERN). In contrast to chain analyses, which can be useful in identifying linear structure of supply chains for global commodities, ERN can capture the interrelatedeness of actors in the network built around environmental certification for agrofood products. The second analytical lens is that of agrarian transition. Countries experiencing agrarian transition at present are doing so in a very different international context from countries that accomplished their transitions in the past. Results of this research indicate that technical and financial constraints at the time of initial certification are not the primary obstacles to farmers getting certified, since the extensive farming method employed at the study site is organic by default. In spite of this, many farmers unofficially withdrew from the organic shrimp project by simply shifting their marketing channel back to a conventional one. Inefficient flows of information and payments, and a restrictive marketing channel within the environmental regulatory network that does not take into account local geographical conditions and farming practices, all contributed to limiting the farmers’ capacity and lowering their incentives to get involved in the network. The analysis also indicates that, by influencing those agrarian transition processes, food standards and certification based on values developed in the global north may modify, reshape and/or hold back agrarian transition processes in agricultural sectors of developing countries. The potential benefits of environmental certification are enhanced rural development, by generating opportunities for small-scale farmers to connect to global niche markets. The findings of this dissertation highlighted that such certification schemes or their environmental regulatory networks need to ensure information sharing and compensation for farmers. As an empirical finding, this dissertation also captures where ecological credibility and market logic meet: the success of this kind of certification depends on finding a balanced point where standards are ecologically (or ethically) credible to the level that does not attract too much criticism for being green washing, but not too unrealistic to become a disincentive for farmers to participate.

Dans le contexte de la transition agraire actuellement en cours en Indonésie, les paysages se transforment rapidement, généralement aux dépens de la forêt. En 2010, le district de Bungo présente une mosaïque paysagère, qui combine des vestiges de forêts à des agroforêts à hévéa et à durian, et à des plantations monospécifiques de palmier à huile et d’hévéa. Les agroforêts sont de plus en plus converties en plantations par les agriculteurs, dans l’espoir d’améliorer leurs revenus. Cette évolution repose sur l’implication de différentes catégories d’acteurs – population, gouvernements, secteur industriel – qui partagent un intérêt commun dans le développement économique du district. Cette thèse analyse en détails les dynamiques de conversion des agroforêts à hévéa en plantations monospécifiques de palmier à huile et d’hévéa. Une approche multiscalaire et transdisciplinaire a été suivie pour articuler les différentes échelles spatiales et sociales, du champ cultivé à la famille étendue, du village au district, et au contexte international. Les communautés locales souhaitent intensifier leurs pratiques agricoles, et participent volontairement et activement au développement des plantations monospécifiques, en particulier du palmier à huile. La conservation des forêts et des agroforêts dans l’intérêt général n’est pas une de leurs préoccupations, mais bien celle de la communauté internationale, représentée par des organisations non gouvernementales et des conventions internationales sur la préservation de l’environnement. / In the wider context of the agrarian transition in Indonesia, changes in landscapes are happening very quickly and generally at the expense of forested lands. In 2010, Bungo district presents a landscape mosaic, combining remnant forest patches to rubber and durian agroforests and monoculture plantations of oil palm and rubber. Agroforests are increasingly converted into monoculture plantations by farmers, in intend to enhance their income. This evolution rests on the investment of different categories of stakeholders – population, governments, industrial sector - who share a common interest in the economic development of the district. This thesis analyses in details the dynamics of rubber agroforests conversion to rubber and oil palm monoculture plantations. A multi-scale and transdiciplinary approach was used to articulate different spatial and social scales, from the cultivated plot to the extended family, from the village to the district, and to the broader international context. Local communities are willing to intensify their agricultural practices, and voluntarily participate in the development of monoculture plantations, in particular of oil palm. The conservation of forests and agroforests in not their concern, but one of the international community, represented by non governmental organizations and international conventions for the preservation of the environment.

In developing countries, land management, government intervention in peri-urban land, and the striking decline of agricultural land have all affected farmers’ livelihoods and the capacity of locally supplied food for ever-growing cities. A growing body of literature has focused on the exploration of these issues in rural areas, which are believed to be the backbone of the national agriculture economy, and in peri-urban areas of large cities, which have experienced extreme changes during recent decades. But the issues are also relevant to peri-urban mid-sized cities where urbanization is in a different phase compared to the above areas. This study examines the main changes underway in the agrarian transition of peri-urban areas of Vinh city, a mid-sized city in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam. Vinh was chosen given its unique position in transforming from a mid-sized to a large city. This study explores the dynamics of agricultural production, and the role of the Vinh government in mediating urbanization and its impacts on farmers’ livelihoods. In order to attain the objectives, interviews with local leaders, and a survey with farmers were conducted, and a GIS database was also developed. The findings regarding agricultural production in the case study demonstrate that this mid-sized city, in the early phase of development, manifests itself as a duplicate of larger cities, escalating the threat of food accessibility from local sources. Duplication is in the sense that the peri-urban population in Vinh still depends largely on agriculture with a shift to commercial agriculture with higher value products despite the shrinkage of agricultural land. Agricultural production primarily uses manual family labor, and traditional products are substantially subsistent. Compared to larger cities, post-production activities (including processing, packaging, marketing, and delivery) and the organization of the agrofood supply chain in Vinh are underdeveloped due to minimum support from local and outside agencies. The case study confirms that as general trend in developing countries, Vietnam’s land policies favor the expropriation of agricultural land for industrialization and modernization. The findings also demonstrate the heterogeneity of land administration in Vietnam, structured from the ‘bottom-up’ mechanism, through which Vinh’s local authorities have the prerogative to not issue land use right certificates of agricultural land despite the national policy. This has occurred in order to control land markets to satisfy the city’s goal of transforming to an independent municipality. The situation is perpetuated by the absence of agricultural land legislations in a peri-urban context while contemporary legislation has been developed to address the rural areas because of their importance in the national agriculture economy. This is an issue for land management in Vietnam as well as in other developing countries. Finally, the findings on land expropriation in the peri-urban areas of Vinh city also confirm that direct government intervention through land expropriation in developing countries, with low compensation and lack of alternative vocational training, undermines farmers’ livelihoods and threatens the local food supply.

In developing countries, land management, government intervention in peri-urban land, and the striking decline of agricultural land have all affected farmers’ livelihoods and the capacity of locally supplied food for ever-growing cities. A growing body of literature has focused on the exploration of these issues in rural areas, which are believed to be the backbone of the national agriculture economy, and in peri-urban areas of large cities, which have experienced extreme changes during recent decades. But the issues are also relevant to peri-urban mid-sized cities where urbanization is in a different phase compared to the above areas. This study examines the main changes underway in the agrarian transition of peri-urban areas of Vinh city, a mid-sized city in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam. Vinh was chosen given its unique position in transforming from a mid-sized to a large city. This study explores the dynamics of agricultural production, and the role of the Vinh government in mediating urbanization and its impacts on farmers’ livelihoods. In order to attain the objectives, interviews with local leaders, and a survey with farmers were conducted, and a GIS database was also developed. The findings regarding agricultural production in the case study demonstrate that this mid-sized city, in the early phase of development, manifests itself as a duplicate of larger cities, escalating the threat of food accessibility from local sources. Duplication is in the sense that the peri-urban population in Vinh still depends largely on agriculture with a shift to commercial agriculture with higher value products despite the shrinkage of agricultural land. Agricultural production primarily uses manual family labor, and traditional products are substantially subsistent. Compared to larger cities, post-production activities (including processing, packaging, marketing, and delivery) and the organization of the agrofood supply chain in Vinh are underdeveloped due to minimum support from local and outside agencies. The case study confirms that as general trend in developing countries, Vietnam’s land policies favor the expropriation of agricultural land for industrialization and modernization. The findings also demonstrate the heterogeneity of land administration in Vietnam, structured from the ‘bottom-up’ mechanism, through which Vinh’s local authorities have the prerogative to not issue land use right certificates of agricultural land despite the national policy. This has occurred in order to control land markets to satisfy the city’s goal of transforming to an independent municipality. The situation is perpetuated by the absence of agricultural land legislations in a peri-urban context while contemporary legislation has been developed to address the rural areas because of their importance in the national agriculture economy. This is an issue for land management in Vietnam as well as in other developing countries. Finally, the findings on land expropriation in the peri-urban areas of Vinh city also confirm that direct government intervention through land expropriation in developing countries, with low compensation and lack of alternative vocational training, undermines farmers’ livelihoods and threatens the local food supply.

Les systèmes agro-sylvo-pastoraux (SASP) d’Afrique de l’Ouest sont des agro-écosystèmes limités en biomasses et en nutriments. Le recyclage des nutriments et les transferts de fertilité sont traditionnellement rythmés par la mobilité des troupeaux de ruminants conduits en extensif. Les agro-éleveurs pratiquent le parcage nocturne de leurs troupeaux pour concentrer la matière organique, dans les champs à proximité des habitations afin de sécuriser une production vivrière suffisante à leurs besoins. Dans un contexte de croissance démographique et de réduction des parcours naturels au profit des zones cultivées, le système d’élevage « traditionnel », basé sur une forte mobilité intra-terroir villageois, est remis en cause. Les stratégies adoptées par les agro-éleveurs sont, soit (i) l’éloignement des troupeaux du terroir villageois pendant des périodes plus ou moins longues par des pratiques de transhumance saisonnière vers des régions moins peuplées et disposant de davantage de ressources fourragères ; soit (ii) plus récemment, des pratiques d’intensification avec des animaux gardés à l’étable au sein du terroir villageois et nourris avec des aliments concentrés, achetés sur le marché local. Ces changements de systèmes d’élevage ont possiblement des conséquences importantes sur les flux de biomasses et les cycles des nutriments au niveau du ménage et du territoire. Il convenait de les évaluer en termes d’impacts sur le fonctionnement et la durabilité des SASP. A cet effet, le modèle multi-agents TERROIR a été développé et implémenté sur la plateforme de modélisation GAMA. Il simule l’effet de changements dans l’organisation du paysage et des systèmes d’élevage sur les flux de biomasse et d’azote aux différents niveaux d’organisation du territoire : la parcelle, le troupeau, le ménage et le terroir villageois. Le modèle simule les échanges de biomasses entre une centaine de ménages comportant des stratégies et des pratiques différentes. Cela inclut les transferts spatiaux de biomasses orchestrés par plusieurs centaines de troupeaux se déplaçant de façon indépendante sur un millier de parcelles. Le modèle synthétise ces flux par un ensemble d’indicateurs issus de deux méthodes d’analyse (« Ecological Network Analysis » et « System Gate Balance ») pour décrire la structure, le fonctionnement et la durabilité de l’agroécosystème, en termes de productivité, d’efficience, d’autonomie, de recyclage, de transferts spatiaux et de bilan de nutriments. Le modèle a été conçu et paramétré à partir des données disponibles sur les agroécosystèmes de savane en Afrique de l’Ouest et il a été évalué à partir des données observées dans deux terroirs villageois du bassin Arachidier au Sénégal où les pratiques des agro-éleveurs sont particulièrement contrastées.Le modèle TERROIR a été utilisé pour explorer les impacts des dynamiques territoriales observées sur la période 1920-2015 dans le bassin Arachidier au Sénégal, une zone agricole à transition agraire rapide et avancée. Les résultats soulignent une réorganisation du cycle de l’azote et une tendance générale à l’intensification des flux et à l’augmentation de la dépendance des agroécosystèmes vis-à-vis de sources extérieures de nutriments. Cependant, le recyclage et les transferts spatiaux de nutriments internes aux agrosystèmes restent à des niveaux élevés. L’intégration sol-plantes-animaux-hommes et l’hétérogénéité spatiale de la répartition des ressources fertilisantes apparaissent comme deux propriétés persistantes des agro-écosystèmes étudiés. Consolider cette intégration et cette organisation spatiale seraient ainsi un gage pour la durabilité des futurs systèmes agricoles qui émergeront dans un contexte de poursuite de la forte croissance démographique et de changement climatique. / Agro-sylvo-pastoral systems (systèmes agro-sylvo-pastoraux - SASP) of West Africa are agroecosystems limited in biomass and nutrients. Nutrient recycling and fertility transfer are traditionally driven by the mobility of ruminant herds led in extensive practices. Agro-pastoralists practice night corralling of their herds to concentrate the organic matter in the fields near the houses, in order to secure a sufficient food production for their needs. In a context of demographic growth and the reduction of natural rangelands in favor of cultivated areas, the "traditional" mobile livestock system, based on high mobility within the village is being called into question. The strategies adopted by the agro-pastoralists are: (i) keeping the herds away from the village for periods of varying lengths, by seasonal transhumance in less populated regions where forage resources are more important, or (ii) more recently, intensified practices with animals kept in the barn within the village and fed with concentrate feeds, bought on the local markets. These changes in livestock systems may have important consequences for biomass flows and nutrient cycling at the household and village landscape level. There was a need to assess their impact on the functioning and sustainability of SASP.To this end, the TERROIR multi-agent model has been developed and implemented on the GAMA modeling platform. It simulates the effect of changes in the organization of the landscape and livestock systems on biomass and nitrogen flows at different levels of organization in the village: plot, herd, household, village landscape. The model simulates the exchanges of biomasses between dozens of households with different strategies and practices. It includes the spatial transfers of biomasses between several hundred plots orchestrated by dozens of herds moving independently. The model synthesizes these flows with a set of indicators from two methods of analysis (Ecological Network Analysis and System Gate Balance) to describe the structure, functioning and sustainability of the agroecosystem, in terms of productivity, efficiency, autonomy, recycling, spatial transfers and nutrient balance. The model was designed and configured with available data on savannah agroecosystems in West Africa. It was evaluated from data observed in two villages of the Groundnut Basin in Senegal where the practices of agro-pastoralists are particularly contrasted. The TERROIR model was developed and implemented to explore the impacts of the village dynamics observed over the period 1920-2015 in the Groundnut Basin in Senegal, an agricultural zone in fast and advanced agrarian transition. The results highlight a reorganization of the nitrogen cycle and a general trend towards increased flows and increased dependence of agroecosystems on external sources of nutrients. However, the recycling and spatial transfers of nutrients internal to agroecosystems remain at high levels. The soil-plant-animal-human integration and the spatial heterogeneity of the distribution of fertilizing resources appear as two persistent properties of the studied agro-ecosystems. Consolidating this integration and spatial organization could guarantee for the sustainability of future farming systems that will emerge in a context of continued high-population growth and climate change.

L’île de Java fait partie des régions les plus densément peuplées du monde. Lors de la seconde moitié du vingtième siècle, le gouvernement indonésien a instauré des politiques de transmigrations visant à décongestionner démographiquement l’île-maîtresse. Mais les objectifs de ce programme étaient multiples, visant notamment à fournir la main d’œuvre agricole, à bas prix, aux agro-industries afin de les inciter à s’installer dans les îles de la périphérie javanaise. La transition agraire a valorisé l’implantation de l’agriculture intensive à grande échelle. Ceci a contribué à l’exclusion progressive des paysans Javanais au sein des systèmes de production agricole, engendrant un changement de valeurs et d'aspirations au sein des communautés rurales. La transition agraire a ainsi contribué à accentuer la désagrarianisation des communautés rurales javanaises, se traduisant en un immense surplus de main-d’œuvre dans les campagnes suite à la révolution verte qui a été entamée au cours de la décennie 1970. L’émergence d’un noyau d’entrepreneurs et les migrations de travailleurs sont au cœur des stratégies de résilience économique développées par les paysans javanais pour faire face aux impacts de la transition agraire. Les rapatriements de fonds qui découlent des migrations contribuent à la survie de certaines communautés rurales, dans lesquelles de nombreux membres passent le plus clair de leur temps à l’extérieur du village. / Java island is part of the most densely populated regions of the world. During the second half of the twentieth century, the Indonesian government established transmigration policies aiming to lower the demographic pressure on the main island. But the intentions behind those policies were various, including the aim to provide cheap labor for the agribusiness to encourage their settlement on the islands surrounding Java. The agrarian transition valued the establishment of large scale intensive agriculture. This contributed to the progressive exclusion of javanese peasants in agricultural production systems, generating a change of values and aspirations inside rural communities. The agrarian transition thus contributed to emphasize the deagrarianization of javanese rural communities, engendering a great surplus of labor on the countryside following the green revolution which took place in the 1970’s. The emergence of entrepreneurship and the migration of workers are amongst the economic resilience strategies developed by javanese peasants to cope with the impacts of the agrarian transition. Remittances resulting from those migrations contribute to the survival of multiple rural communities, in which many members spend most of their time outside the village.