Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Paris, 1901.

<p>The government of Zimbabwe started implementing its fast track resettlement programme in July 2000, the objective being to accelerate both land acquisition and land redistribution. This programme witnessed a massive movement of people from various localities into mainly large-scale commercial farms in search of agricultural land. Under this programme, people were settled under the A1 model (which involves villages and land use pattern similar to those found in communal areas) as well as the A2 model, which involves commercial farming. This study investigates, documents and analyses the opportunities and constraints currently being faced by newly resettled crop production farmers in one example of an A1 model resettlement project (Fair Ranch Estate in Masvingo Province). A questionnaire was used to gather data on livelihood sources, income, assets and also aspects of the associational life of crop production farmers. Seventy households were interviewed, and a number of key informant interviews were undertaken with both government officials and the local leadership. The greatest opportunity that A1 crop production farmers in Fair Range Estate experienced was the fact that they now have access to land that they can call their own, without having to go through the market to try to acquire such land. In terms of crop production, however, farmers in Fair Range Estate face a number of challenges and constraints: they lack adequate access to tillage and livestock / the supply of inputs is inadequate / generally negative socio economic conditions prevailing in the country have led to sharp increases in prices of all basic commodities, including inputs such as fertilisers and seeds / they lack tenure security / the amount of rainfall received in the area is generally not sufficient for crop production / and many lack crop production skills. Measures to reverse this decline must include the availability of foreign currency to buy spare parts for tractors, rebuilding of the national herd, which was greatly affected by both drought and the disturbance of commercial agriculture as a result of the controversial land reform programme. Fuel should also become more readily available, and urgent policy measures be put in place to revamp institutional frameworks in the agricultural sector to make them more farmer-oriented.</p>

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in 50% fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Management (in the field of Public Policy). February 2017 / The government of Zimbabwe embarked on a land redistribution programme at the turn of the twentieth century. The programme has been mired in controversy which has culminated in polarisation. The major objective of the land redistribution was to redress historical imbalances and to increase food security by increasing access to fertile and arable land to indigenous people. Due to lack of policy clarity and consensus, the programme has so far been a huge failure. This study sought to interrogate the policy implementation and how this had impacted on productivity on the A1 model of farming in Zimbabwe. Results showed that the programme was adversely affected by lack of political will and lack of policy clarity while it was clogged with political interference. The government had failed to provide sustainable funding to enhance productivity. This had led to despondency among civil servants and beneficiaries of the land reform programme. There is ineffective implementation of policy due to factors such as lack of experienced personnel and unavailability of funding. Polarisation has seen other key stakeholders shunning this programme. Under the prevailing socio-political environment, this programme is set to be an outright failure to enhance food security sustainability. The study unpacked valuable impediments which inevitably, were drivers of poor attainment of the objectives of model A1 farming in Zimbabwe. / MT 2017

At the height of his power in 1923, the head of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (BANU), Alexander Stamboliiski, summed up the significance of his politics for European history in the following way: "Today there are only two interesting social experiments: the experiment of Lenin and my own." Taking the aspirations reflected in the quotation above seriously and rescuing the agrarian project from the enormous condescension of posterity is the foundation of this dissertation. Briefly, it is about unpacking and restoring the significance of the Golden Age of the European Peasantry between the two world wars by focusing on the paradigmatic cases of Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. The dissertation proposes a novel synoptic approach with regards to interwar agrarianism as a counterpoint to ideology driven classifications or structuralist synthesis. Its thematic chapters alternate between strategic probes of evocative micro histories and broader theoretically informed overviews in order to illustrate and clarify the analytical frame. The most radical expression of interwar agrarianism, that of Bulgaria, and the man responsible for it, Alexander Stamboliiski, serve as the center of this dissertation. The juxtaposition of this center to the development of agrarianism in Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, as well as to various oppositional formations such as the Communist International Peasant Union allows this dissertation to overcome the national parochialism that has contributed to the sidelining of the study of agrarianism. The innovative structure of the dissertation is above all a demonstration of the rich possibilities still open to researchers in this field to reinsert the study of agrarianism into contemporary theoretical debates and developments in the historiography. The dissertation explicitly engages agrarianism with the theoretical literature on nationalism, corruption, the subaltern, as well as makes possible the connection to the problematics of modernity, politics as systemic change, transnational and global history.

"10 November 2004" / Bibliography: leaves 203-212. / xvi, 217 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / In this thesis, four features of China's agricultural reforms, namely the HRS, PGRS and regional comparative advantage grain marketing reform, and problems concerning farmers' incomes, are studied through an analysis of household survey data gathered in grain producing regions. The experiences of successful and unsuccessful measures adopted in China's agricultural sector are discussed, and it is shown that the agricultural reforms in China start at the bottom at local institutions and then become government policy. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, School of Economics, 2005

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Sally Wallace, committee chair; James R. Alm, Jorge L. Martinez-Vazquez, Ragan Petrie, Yongsheng Xu, Stephen D. Younger, committee members. Electronic text (186 p. : ill., col. map)) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Dec. 11, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-144).

This study attempts to determine whether or not Portuguese wheat policies have resulted in a stabilization of the wheat price and/or the stabilization of income for wheat growers in the Alentejo region. It was found that these policies have contributed to a stabilization of price rather than a stabilization of income. It was also found that the income variability caused by yield variability was greater for the Alentejo farmers than that for the country as a whole. Weather uncertainties measured by rainfall were found to be a major source of that variability in both area and yield equations. Therefore, it was concluded that rainfall is significant in explaining variations in wheat supply and cannot be eliminated from the model specification. Finally, this study looked at a policy that would stabilize output returns to Alentejo farmers since high yield variability will continue to constrain farmers' willingness to invest in wheat production. An insurance program may be the policy to implement in this region since yield risks are the predominant source of income variability. However, the cost of financing an agricultural insurance scheme as well as the delineation of homogeneous areas are crucial determinants to the success of an all-risk insurance program.

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Although agri-environmental policies represent only a small part of the agricultural support system, they symbolise a major change in the direction of government policy. Consequently, the move from supporting farmers for food production to supporting them for looking after the environment, involves a significant change in the culture of farming. In this thesis, the way farmers gave meaning to the changes occurring in agriculture, and to the growing importance of conservation issues, was considered. An actor-oriented approach was used to theorise farmers' interpretations of the situation in agriculture. This approach acknowledged individuals as knowing, active subjects directing their lives, but the importance of external conditions in facilitating and constraining farmers' choices and interpretations was recognised. The research was carried out in southern Scotland, where farmers' perceptions of changing agriculture, in the light of the designation of the Southern Uplands Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) scheme, were examined. In-depth, qualitative interviews with farmers were the main source of data. Major themes in farmers' interpretations of the situation in agriculture were the uncertainty and growing bureaucracy in farming. Additionally, many farmers felt they were increasingly dependent on, and controlled by, the government. The changing role of farmers in society was of interest; many felt that the status of farmers had declined. Whereas previously the public depended on them for food production, now farmers were reliant on public support. Farmers' construction of conservation, their views of Nature, and the meanings they attached to conservation activities, were examined. Their perceptions of conservationists were found to influence interpretations of conservation.