This study aims at investigating household food accessibility categories (food insecure, vulnerable, marginal and food secure) of rural households in Sekhukhune district of Limpopo province. The study is based on five wards in Mamone village in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Ten households from each ward were randomly selected for the study. Structured questionnaires administered by enumerators were used to collect information from household heads. In all 50 household heads constitutes the sample size for the study. Data was collected from 20 August 2007 to 25 August 2007. Responses in the questionnaires were tabulated, coded and processed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) programme. Based on comprehensive food security and vulnerability analysis the study showed that over 70 per cent of the sampled households were food insecure. Lack of education, income sources, water source, and infrastructure were some of the important factors contributing to food insecurity. The government should also give special attention to policy measures that guide towards the provision of household assets. It is recommended that special attention be given to measures that will provide the necessary factors that negatively affect household food security and vulnerability. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M.A. (Human Ecology)

This study aims at investigating household food accessibility categories (food insecure, vulnerable, marginal and food secure) of rural households in Sekhukhune district of Limpopo province. The study is based on five wards in Mamone village in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Ten households from each ward were randomly selected for the study. Structured questionnaires administered by enumerators were used to collect information from household heads. In all 50 household heads constitutes the sample size for the study. Data was collected from 20 August 2007 to 25 August 2007. Responses in the questionnaires were tabulated, coded and processed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) programme. Based on comprehensive food security and vulnerability analysis the study showed that over 70 per cent of the sampled households were food insecure. Lack of education, income sources, water source, and infrastructure were some of the important factors contributing to food insecurity. The government should also give special attention to policy measures that guide towards the provision of household assets. It is recommended that special attention be given to measures that will provide the necessary factors that negatively affect household food security and vulnerability. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M.A. (Human Ecology)

R É S U M É<p><p>I. Actuellement, en Afrique sub-saharienne, les acteurs de la conservation considèrent que la<p>survie à long terme de la faune sauvage ne peut être assurée que par le maintien de son habitat<p>en dehors des aires de conservation intégrale. Dans cette optique, les projets de conservation<p>tentent de préserver des étendues de végétation naturelle au sein de « zones tampons » ou de<p>« corridors de migration » dans la périphérie des aires protégées. Cette thèse s’est intéressée aux possibilités de conserver de tels espaces en concertation avec les populations riveraines du parc national de Zakouma, une aire protégée du Sud-est du Tchad. Notre objectif a été de rechercher des solutions aux problèmes que rencontrent généralement les aménagistes dans cette action. Notre hypothèse est que l’aménagement des périphéries d’aires protégées doit s’appuyer sur une meilleure identification des déterminants locaux de l’exploitation des espaces de végétation naturelle, et que leur analyse doit s’appuyer sur une approche spatiale.<p>II. Plusieurs étapes de recherches ont permis d’alimenter notre réflexion :<p>Une première phase de terrain a été tout d’abord été menée à Am Choka, un village représentatif de la zone la plus densément peuplée de la périphérie est du PNZ. Les objectifs visés étaient i.) d’une part, de déterminer les activités humaines affectant le plus le paysage<p>végétal naturel de la périphérie du parc, et donc susceptibles d’annihiler son rôle de « zone<p>tampon », et ii) d’autre part, d’identifier les savoir-faire et les facteurs socioéconomiques et<p>politiques qui régissent l’exploitation des espaces de végétation naturelle. Outre l’observation participante au village, des cartographies fines du terroir et des zones d’exploitation, ainsi que des entretiens semi-structurés ont été réalisés sur le terrain.<p>La seconde phase de recherche a été consacrée à la réalisation d’un outil cartographique dans<p>le but (i) d’évaluer l’état de la zone périphérique en terme de répartition et d’occupation relative des diverses formations végétales naturelles par rapport à l’emprise agricole, et ii.) d’en déduire les zones de la périphérie les plus susceptibles de faire l’objet d’un processus de gestion des espaces de végétation naturelle. A cet effet, quatre images satellites récentes ont été acquises. Les opérations de terrain ont donné lieu à 234 relevés sur ligneux et 2440 relevés qualitatifs d’autres types d’occupation du sol. Ces relevés ont été utilisés pour l’interprétation des scènes satellites en unités cartographiques.<p>La troisième phase de recherche a porté sur une analyse du dispositif d’aménagement récemment proposé pour la zone périphérique du PNZ par le projet gestionnaire du parc. Notre objectif était de mettre en évidence, les modalités réelles de prise en compte de l’organisation locale de l’exploitation ou de la gestion des espaces de végétation naturelle, et de les confronter avec les connaissances acquises lors de la première phase de recherche. <p>III. La recherche aboutit aux résultats suivants :<p>Les populations rurales ont une bonne connaissance du milieu physique et utilisent une<p>typologie qui leur permet de localiser les différentes composantes de leur terroir et de leur<p>finage, et d’en évaluer le potentiel.<p>La défriche des espaces de végétation naturelle à des fins agricoles est régie par des instances<p>coutumières villageoises et cantonale qui exercent un fort pouvoir en matière de gestion du<p>foncier et de planifications agricoles.<p>La culture du sorgho repiqué (berbéré - Sorghum bicolor) constitue la principale source de<p>réduction des espaces de végétation naturelle. Elle modifie le paysage sur de grandes portions<p>de territoire car sa mise en place nécessite un essartage intégral des savanes à Acacia seyal.<p>L’accès et l’usage des espaces de végétation naturelle pour la collecte de produits forestiers<p>ligneux et non-ligneux sont libres et non liés à la propriété foncière. L’exploitation de ces<p>produits n’entraîne pas de coupe à blanc mais les contraintes d’exploitation conditionne l’étendue spatiale du finage autour d’un village donné. Certaines zones du finage sont cependant l’objet de bornages fonciers en vue de projets agricoles à plus ou moins long terme. Les travaux cartographiques ont abouti à l’appréciation de l’étendue et de répartition des formations végétales naturelles. Le sorgho de décrue occupe un peu moins de 5% de la totalité de la superficie de zone périphérique. Les zones de cultures sont concentrées pour l’essentiel à<p>l’est et au nord de l’aire protégée. Un dixième de la superficie d’origine des savanes à Acacia<p>seyal a déjà été exploité à des fins agricoles. Cette carte peut être exploitée pour localiser les<p>zones d’enjeux entre conservation et développement économique. Cet exercice permet de<p>reconsidérer la délimitation en zones de protection de la périphérie.<p>Dans sa formulation, le « plan de gestion » témoigne largement d’une volonté d’associer les<p>populations riveraines à l’aménagement de la périphérie du parc. Cette collaboration sera<p>certainement entravée par l’absence de compensation en contrepartie de la limitation du<p>développement agricole au profit de l’habitat de la faune sauvage. Par contre, elle pourrait<p>être favorisée si le zonage proposé correspondait aux limites des terroirs et des finages. Un<p>préliminaire à tout processus de gestion concertée des espaces de végétation naturelle est aussi l’identification des décideurs qui ont autorité sur ces espaces. L’étude débouche sur suggestions permettant aux aménagistes leurs permettant d’atteindre leurs objectifs de conservation de la faune et de son habitat en concertation avec les populations riveraines. Ces recommandations peuvent certainement être adaptées à d’autres contextes d’aménagement des périphéries d’aires protégées. <p><p><p>ABSTRACT<p>I. Nowadays, in Sub-Saharan Africa, conservation actors believe that the long-term survival<p>of wild animals can be ensured only through the maintenance of their habitat outside areas of<p>total conservation. Accordingly, conservation projects seek to preserve areas of natural<p>vegetation in “buffer zones” or “migration corridors” on the periphery of protected areas.<p>The present doctoral thesis studies the possibilities of conservating such areas in concertation<p>with the populations living around Zakouma National Park (ZNP), a protected area in southeast<p>Chad. Our aim has been to find solutions to the problems generally encountered by forest<p>managers working towards this goal. Our hypothesis is that the management of surroundings<p>of protected areas must be grounded on a better identification of the local factors determining<p>the exploitation of natural vegetation areas, and that any analysis must be based on a spatial<p>approach.<p>II. Several steps in the research provided grounds for reflection:<p>As a first phase, a survey was conducted in Am Choka, a village representative of the most<p>densely populated zone of the eastern periphery of ZNP. The objectives were (i) to determine<p>which human activities most affect the natural vegetal landscape of the periphery of the park<p>and hence are likely to annul its role of “buffer zone”, and (ii) to identify which know-how<p>and socio-economic or political factors govern the exploitation of natural vegetation areas. In<p>addition to participatory observation in the village, detailed maps were made of the ‘terroir’<p>and the ‘finage’ (the total area exploited by a village), and semi-structured interviews were<p>conducted on the spot.<p>The second phase of research was dedicated to the creation of a cartographic tool with the<p>intention of (i) assessing the state of the peripheral zone in terms of where and to what extent<p>the natural vegetal formations are situated in comparison with the land under cultivation, and<p>(ii) pinpointing the peripheral zones best suited to a process of management of natural<p>vegetation areas. To that end, four recent satellite pictures were acquired. Operations on the<p>ground yielded 234 plottings over wood stands and 2 440 qualitative plottings of other types<p>of land occupation. These plottings were used to convert the satellite images into cartographic<p>units.<p>The third phase of research was concerned with an analysis of the management mechanism<p>recently proposed for the peripheral zone of ZNP by the park management project. Our aim<p>was to bring to the fore the actual methods by which the local organisation of exploitation or<p>management of the natural vegetation areas is taken into account and to compare them with<p>the knowledge acquired under the first phase of research.<p>III. The research produced the following results:<p>The rural populations have a good knowledge of the physical environment and use a typology<p>which enables them to localise the different components of the terroir and of the finage, and<p>to assess their potential.<p>The clearing of areas of natural vegetation for agricultural purposes is governed by traditional<p>village or canton authorities, which exert a powerful influence over land management and<p>agricultural planning.<p>The cultivation of transplanted sorghum (berbéré - Sorghum bicolor) is the main source of<p>reduction of areas with natural vegetation. It modifies the landscape over large swathes of<p>territory inasmuch as this cultivation method leads to a total clearing of the Acacia seyal<p>savannas. Access to and use of areas of natural vegetation for collecting wood and non-wood forest<p>products are free and not linked to land ownership. Exploiting these products does not lead to clear-cutting of the forest, but the constraints of exploitation influence the spatial extent of the finage around a given village. Some zones of finage are nevertheless subjected to land<p>boundary markings when agricultural projects are planned in the shorter or longer term.<p>The cartographic findings led to an assessment of the area covered by, and the distribution of,<p>natural vegetal formations. Flood-irrigated sorghum occupies just under 5% of the total area<p>of the periphery. The cultivation zones are mostly concentrated east and north of the protected area. One tenth of the original area of Acacia seyal savannas has already been exploited for agriculture. The map can also be used to identify areas caught between conservation and<p>economic development. This exercise makes its possible to reconsider the delimitation of the<p>periphery into protection zones. In its formulation, the “management plan” largely reveals the will to involve local populations<p>in the management of the periphery of the park. This collaboration will certainly be hampered<p>by the absence of compensation to offset any limitation of agricultural development to the<p>benefit of the wild animal habitat. It could, however, be promoted if the proposed zoning were<p>to correspond to the limits of the terroirs and finages. A preliminary to any process of<p>concerted management of the areas of natural vegetation would also be to identify the<p>decision-makers who have authority over these expanses. The present study throws up suggestions as to how forest managers might attain their<p>objectives for the conservation of fauna and their habitat in concertation with the local<p>populations. These recommendations can certainly also be extrapolated to other contexts of<p>management of the peripheries of protected areas. / Doctorat en Sciences agronomiques et ingénierie biologique / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Executive summary: last page (unnumbered) / The Sustainable Livelihood framework approach is a comprehensive method for determination of food insecurity and poverty at household level. The objective of this study was to determine the livelihood strategies and the coping mechanisms used by rural households in Abela Lida PA, Shebedino district, Southern Ethiopia. This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to estimate the contribution of different resources to total food access and cash income, detailing expenditure patterns, asset holdings and capacity to cope with shocks. Simple random sampling was used for selecting 72 households for the survey. The data was collected during the hunger season using the checklists designed for livelihood and coping strategies. The study showed only 30% households had all the adults as working members, due to poor work skill, low awareness and lack of job opportunities. The main sources of income are sale of cash crops mainly coffee (55.6%) followed by sale of cash crops plus livestock (18%), labour (12.5%), PSNP (8.3%). The average annual income for the households was found to be birr 4,727.92 (~$293.34) and agriculture is the main livelihood strategy. Awareness and access to basic social services has improved and escalated price of staple foods, has negatively affected poor households and safety net beneficiaries who rely on purchase. Seasonality has also affected agricultural activities, prices and employment opportunities. The increase in fuel price was found to be the main shock followed by coffee price fluctuations and failure in purchasing power of money. About (63%) households faced shortage of food or money to buy food, medical expenses, cooking fuel and school fees. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M.A. (Human Ecology)

Executive summary: last page (unnumbered) / The Sustainable Livelihood framework approach is a comprehensive method for determination of food insecurity and poverty at household level. The objective of this study was to determine the livelihood strategies and the coping mechanisms used by rural households in Abela Lida PA, Shebedino district, Southern Ethiopia. This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to estimate the contribution of different resources to total food access and cash income, detailing expenditure patterns, asset holdings and capacity to cope with shocks. Simple random sampling was used for selecting 72 households for the survey. The data was collected during the hunger season using the checklists designed for livelihood and coping strategies. The study showed only 30% households had all the adults as working members, due to poor work skill, low awareness and lack of job opportunities. The main sources of income are sale of cash crops mainly coffee (55.6%) followed by sale of cash crops plus livestock (18%), labour (12.5%), PSNP (8.3%). The average annual income for the households was found to be birr 4,727.92 (~$293.34) and agriculture is the main livelihood strategy. Awareness and access to basic social services has improved and escalated price of staple foods, has negatively affected poor households and safety net beneficiaries who rely on purchase. Seasonality has also affected agricultural activities, prices and employment opportunities. The increase in fuel price was found to be the main shock followed by coffee price fluctuations and failure in purchasing power of money. About (63%) households faced shortage of food or money to buy food, medical expenses, cooking fuel and school fees. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M.A. (Human Ecology)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The landscape of James A. Garfield’s Mentor, Ohio home (now preserved at James A. Garfield National Historic Site) contains multiple layers of historical meanings and values. The landscape as portrayed in political biographies, political cartoons, and other ephemera during Garfield’s 1880 presidential campaign reveals the existence of the dual cultural values of agrarian tradition and agricultural progress in the late nineteenth century. Although Garfield did not depend on farming exclusively for his livelihood, he, like many agriculturalists of this era participated in a process of mediation between these dual values. The function of the landscape of Garfield’s farm between 1876 and 1880 is a reflection of this process of mediation. After President Garfield’s assassination in 1881, his wife and children returned to their Mentor home. Between 1885 and c. 1905, Garfield’s widow Lucretia made numerous changes to the agricultural landscape, facilitating the evolution of the home from farm to country estate. Despite the rich history of this landscape, its cultural complexity and evolution over time makes it difficult to interpret for public audiences. Additionally, the landscape is currently interpreted exclusively through indoor museum exhibits and outdoor wayside panels, two formats with severe limitations. I propose the integration of deep mapping into interpretation at James A. Garfield National historic site in order to more effectively represent the multi-layered qualities of its historic landscape.