This study investigates some of the issues affecting participation of the poor in two development projects in Inkosikazi communal lands in Zimbabwe. Recent trends in participatory development are reviewed and discussed in the study. Some definitions of the concept of participation are explored, including its historical background, importance and challenges. Fieldwork was undertaken in Inkosikazi communal lands in July 2004. Two projects were randomly sampled, and in one of them involving goat-rearing, some of the participants were classified as being very poor, while in the other, a heifer loan-scheme project, none of the participants could be classified as very poor. The possible reasons for these variations are explored in the study. The conclusion of the thesis is that the study succeeds in examining certain key issues affecting participation of the poor in Inkosikazi communal lands in Zimbabwe and recommendations thereof are made. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

There is a noticeable improvement in the quality of the lives of women engaged in economic activities beyond the home. In a democratic South Africa, women – including those in rural areas – are being freed from their fixed gender roles. Today women are regarded as co-participants in any undertaking, whether as organisers, natural environmentalists or economists, in order to achieve sustainable development. It is for this reason that a number of laws and statutory bodies are in place to speed up the empowerment of women. Consequently, women as individuals or groups are doing their best to respond to the call of democracy in order to balance the equation which has for long remained skewed. In the study area of the Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality, women have initiated projects through mobilisation of their capabilities and available resources to sustain their personal needs, and those of their households. Hence, their well-being with regard to health, nutrition, mobility and social connectivity has improved. There is no doubt that these women are primary breadwinners for their families on a daily basis, as the majority have no other source of income or their husbands’ jobs are taken by migrant labour. The research reveals that, unless women stand up and take action to disprove what is known as ‘feminisation of poverty’, nothing good can happen. Through Participatory Rural Appraisal and Community Asset Mapping techniques, an observation of ethical considerations, participants responded willingly and exposed the realities of their lives. One remaining challenge that needs to be constantly monitored is that there should be a balance between policies and practices with men needing to be empowered to understand, accept and assist in the empowerment of women with a view to achieving sustainability in almost every undertaking. / Geography / D.Litt. et Phil. (Geography)

There is a noticeable improvement in the quality of the lives of women engaged in economic activities beyond the home. In a democratic South Africa, women – including those in rural areas – are being freed from their fixed gender roles. Today women are regarded as co-participants in any undertaking, whether as organisers, natural environmentalists or economists, in order to achieve sustainable development. It is for this reason that a number of laws and statutory bodies are in place to speed up the empowerment of women. Consequently, women as individuals or groups are doing their best to respond to the call of democracy in order to balance the equation which has for long remained skewed. In the study area of the Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality, women have initiated projects through mobilisation of their capabilities and available resources to sustain their personal needs, and those of their households. Hence, their well-being with regard to health, nutrition, mobility and social connectivity has improved. There is no doubt that these women are primary breadwinners for their families on a daily basis, as the majority have no other source of income or their husbands’ jobs are taken by migrant labour. The research reveals that, unless women stand up and take action to disprove what is known as ‘feminisation of poverty’, nothing good can happen. Through Participatory Rural Appraisal and Community Asset Mapping techniques, an observation of ethical considerations, participants responded willingly and exposed the realities of their lives. One remaining challenge that needs to be constantly monitored is that there should be a balance between policies and practices with men needing to be empowered to understand, accept and assist in the empowerment of women with a view to achieving sustainability in almost every undertaking. / Geography / D.Litt. et Phil. (Geography)

Text in Afrikaans / During the last few decades the need existed for a new framework to give direction to development and ecological thought in respect of the sustaining of nature in order to place development and ecological thought within the limits of nature. However, development thought and the debate relating to nature are to some extent still treated in theory and practice as two separate entities. One of the current challenges for sustainable development is to reconcile the development and ecological branches of this debate. The thesis firstly explains the origin and characteristics of sustainable development. Secondly, the crisis in nature is discussed, followed by a discussion of the most important ecological views relating to sustainable development. Then issues in development thought that relates to sustainable development is discussed, as well as the changing emphasis in development thought that stimulated the growth of sustainable development. The mainstream development view, as the other main branch of sustainable development thinking, is then discussed. In conclusion, some issues relating to the operationalisation of sustainable development is discussed. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Ontwikkelingstudies)

This study investigates some of the issues affecting participation of the poor in two development projects in Inkosikazi communal lands in Zimbabwe. Recent trends in participatory development are reviewed and discussed in the study. Some definitions of the concept of participation are explored, including its historical background, importance and challenges. Fieldwork was undertaken in Inkosikazi communal lands in July 2004. Two projects were randomly sampled, and in one of them involving goat-rearing, some of the participants were classified as being very poor, while in the other, a heifer loan-scheme project, none of the participants could be classified as very poor. The possible reasons for these variations are explored in the study. The conclusion of the thesis is that the study succeeds in examining certain key issues affecting participation of the poor in Inkosikazi communal lands in Zimbabwe and recommendations thereof are made. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

The study has established that modernisation development paradigm is currently governing the contemporary world of conventional development. Globalisation is the tool currently in use for modernisation, drummed up by the North, largely targeting the resources of the Southern hemisphere, through Structural Adjustment Programmes. Social welfare development interventions have been devised to provide safety-net for the poor, social casualities of modernisation process. The short cut has been to bail them out through relief handouts. Participatory development concept, is built on the belief that the world had the means to improve the situation of the poor through fair redistribution of wealth, technology, knowledge, and ideas accruing from modernisation. But this calls for the political will to address the issue of inequality, power imbalance and social injustice as a primary goal. Achieving economic growth and ensuring equitable distribution should, of necessity, be compatible. Participatory development approach is to be preferred as it is accommodative, open and creative, drawing heavily from life experiences of those involved. It also puts people at the centre of development process. It is a paradigm that seeks to empower people to assume full responsibility for their own development including the consequences of their decisions and actions. It has been established that management boards and staff are the main prime movers of strategic planning activities in an organisation. Strategic planning was appreciated by the organisational staff as an opportunity to converge their views and towards influencing organisational policy, a precious window of opportunity for them to participate in causing organisational change. Notably, donor partners generally played a minimal role in this regard. Ironically, community constituency played the least role in the planning activities owing to their often marginal disposition among stakeholders. The most satisfactory outcome of participatory strategic planning was the clarity in the future direction of an organisations and more refined planning with sense of collective responsibility. It can authoritatively be declared here that participatory strategic planning is significantly efficacious as a tool for organisation building, but under certain conditions discussed in the concluding Chapter of the thesis. / Development Studies / D. Litt et Phil. (Development Studies)

Organic farming is increasingly viewed as a plausible production system for sustainable agriculture for smallholder farmers. However, there is not enough scientific evidence and knowledge to advocate certified organic farming for African smallholder farmers who face several constraints related to production, storage and marketing. The potential for organic farming for smallholder farmers, faced by these constraints, is not clearly defined. As a result, this study set out to evaluate the production potential of organic agriculture among three smallholder farmer groups. Production questions were used to investigate and evaluate the potential for organic agriculture among three smallholder farmer groups and constituted the following subproblems: · What crops can be grown in the three study areas, based on climatic data ? · Do farmers concur that these are the most suitable potential organic crops? · How useful do the farmers find the decision making tool? · What constraints threaten commercial production of the identified crops for these farmers? Participatory methodologies that included the use of Force Field Analysis, discussions and workshops were used to identify organic production constraints related to production decisions. Farmers faced constraints related to finance, capacity enhancement, technical knowledge, fencing, irrigation, and a lack of, or inappropriately trained extension officers. As a response to identified production constraints, a decision support tool was developed. Natural resource data, including climatic and agronomic data, was used to create a specially calibrated Microsoft Excel spreadsheet interface that functions as an empirical organic production decision support tool for organic and aspirant organic smallholder farmers, by providing answers for farmer-prioritised production constraints. A list of potential crops for each of the three study areas was subjected to a series of checks against suitability for climate and disease conditions and nutrient requirements. A limited supply of manure, to meet the enormously high requirements for organic production in the poor soils of these areas, is the major constraint to exclusive organic production and renders certified organic production difficult and unsustainable. Farmers disagreed with some of the crops on the list, arguing that familiar crops were rejected by the model, but they were excited by the prospects for production of “new” crops suggested as suitable by the decision support tool, but not yet grown in the study areas. End users welcomed the model and expressed the opinion that it would be useful in decision making related to organic crop production. The study concludes that, although a number of agronomically-suitable crops can grow in the study areas, organic production is restricted by rather high manure requirements, lack of compost making skills, lack of knowledge on natural pest and disease control and poorly nourished soils, leading to poor yields. The rainy season creates a disease-supporting environment, rendering organic farming risky for rain-fed smallholder farming. Risk in certified organic farming for smallholders was further exacerbated by a hardly inconducive policy environment that low literacy levels exist amongst farmers. This study is innovative for three reasons. First, farmers were true participants and drivers of the research. Second, trans-disciplinary expert seminars were attended by experts from different disciplines who critiqued the conceptualisation, design, and implementation of the study. Third, the development of a practical decision-support tool shows innovation towards solving complex smallholder farmers decisions. If organic farming is to be promoted, commitment by government is needed in order to establish policy and legislation on organic farming to direct and govern training, information provision and marketing. Intensive training and knowledge building of organic production for smallholder farmers and extension officers is critical. There are also agroecological risks associated with organic farming for smallholder farmers. Recommendations for future research include comparison between organic agriculture and conventional agriculture, where sustainability of certified organic farming and economic viability can be conducted in the South African context. Improvement of the decision making tool will require involving information technology specialists so that the tool can be installed in community centres, extension offices and other accessible places for farmers and others. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

Rice production in Sub-Sahara Africa is hampered by drought stress, low farmer adoption of improved varieties, un-adapted germplasm, problems of crossability between species and problems of efficient emasculation. This study was initiated to: (1) determine farmer preferences for rice varieties and production practices, (2) identify drought tolerant parental lines for use in interspecific crosses, (3) determine crossability between different rice species, (4) identify drought tolerant interspecific segregants from crosses, and (5) study the efficacy of ethrel and gibberrilic acid (GA3) as chemical hybridising agents. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) was conducted in Sikasso region in the month of September 2005 to determine farmer preferences for varieties and production constraints. A total of 125 rice farmers from 10 villages participated. This study found that farmer preferences for rice traits did not coincide with the breeders' objectives and trait preferences varied across ecologies. In upland and lowland rice ecologies, the most preferred characteristic was short duration. In the lowland tall plants was most preferred and short duration trait ranked second. Long duration ranked as the second most preferred trait after yield in the irrigated rice ecology. The estimated grain yield reduction was 60% due to drought stress from all ecologies. Sixteen genotypes including seven Oryza glaberrima Steud, six interspecific (0. saliva x 0. glaberrima) inbred genotypes and two improved 0. saliva L. subsp Gaponica) genotypes, with OS 6, as drought tolerant check were screened for drought tolerance at the vegetative stage during the dry seasons of 2004 and 2005 at Samanko research station, in Mali. Most of the genotypes could be regarded as exhibiting drought tolerance and avoidance mechanisms for most of the morpho-physiological characters under study. High selection index was observed for WAB 450-I-B-P-103-HB in the two season experiments. Drought stress tolerance (little leaf drying) was significantly correlated with leaf rolling, leaf area index, and plant height. Fast drought recovery was significantly correlated with drought tolerance, tiller number and leaf area index. Effects of genotypes, environment and their interactions were significant for tiller number, root dry weight and relative leaf water content. The most stable genotype was RAM 3 for tiller number and relative leaf water content. Thirteen genotypes were selected on the basis of these traits for rice hybridisation. A factorial arrangement involving three levels of gametocide concentrations and five application stages of the female rice parent was undertaken for each gametocide ethrel and GA3 for two seasons. Per cent empty spikelets and male sterility increased with concentration of ethrel. Male sterility induction of 41.5% and 42.8% at 2000 ppm was achieved in 2004 and 2005, respectively, while at 4000 ppm male sterility induction was 40.5 % and 46.1% in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The best application stage of ethrel that induced highest male sterility was at P4 (panicle primordium differentiation + spikelet primordium differentiation) of 46.6% in 2004 and 49.2% at PI (panicle primordium differentiation) in 2005. There was no measurement on GA3 for sterility due to lodging. Total male sterility was not achieved therefore, these gametocides could not be recommended for use as hybridising agents. Crossability was studied in four groups: group A (0. glaberrima x 0. saliva), group B (0. glaberrima x Interspecific), group C (Interspecific x 0. saliva) and group D (Interspecifics x Interspecific). High percent seed set was obtained in group D of 19.08% and group A had 9.29%, in group B the seed set was 11.26% and group Chad 6.62 %. The three best combiners as female parents based on percentage seed set were CG 14 (0.glaberrima), WAB 450-IBP-I05-HB and WAB450-I-B-P-I03-HB (interspecifics), and for male parents were NERICA 3, NERICA 2 (interspecifics) and WAB 375-B-9-H3-2 (0. sativa). Genetic components of variance and heritability estimates were studied in F3 and F4 generation progenies from North Carolina II design mating scheme. General combining ability (GCA), manly due to female and specific combining ability (SCA) were significant for tiller number, plant height and specific leaf dry weight indicating that additive and non-additive genetic effects controlled these traits. Heritability estimates for drought tolerance and leaf rolling were highly significant for all the populations examined, ranging from 0.32 to 0.72 and 0.22 to 0.56, respectively. Drought tolerance expressed as little leaf drying was significantly associated with less leaf rolling, larger leaf area index, and taller plants. Some genotypes and progenies such as WBK 39-B-B-B, WBK 30-B-B and WAB 450-I-B-P-I03-HB were identified as being drought tolerant with the ability to recover quickly from drought stress. There was a strong desire for tall plants and short duration rice in upland and lowland ecologies, while high yield was preferred in irrigated ecology. Therefore, the best breeding strategy would be ecosystem breeding targeting each of the ecologies. Screening for secondary traits that have been identified to be significantly associated with rice grain yield could be used for direct selection for grain yield under drought stressed conditions. Progenies identified, as drought tolerant would be considered for use as source germplasm in breeding that target Sikasso region and any other similar ecologies. This study therefore suggested that participatory research approaches that involve all stakeholders in rice production would be valuable in identifying and generating drought tolerant and adoptable rice cultivars in the tropics of Africa with considerable impact on food security. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

The majority of farmers in Tanzania have not yet adopted modern maize varieties and still cultivate landraces and open pollinated varieties (OPVs) with low production potential and susceptible to diseases like maize streak virus (MSV), grey leaf spot (GLS) and northern corn leaf blight (NLB). The NLB disease is among the major causes of low yield and has been reported in all 21 maize growing regions in Tanzania. Breeding for host plant resistance with high yielding potential and involving the community in the breeding process is expected to address the problem of low yield, NLB disease susceptibility and low rate of F1 hybrid adoption. Therefore, the study was conducted to obtain additional sources of resistance to NLB disease, high yielding cultivars with community acceptable traits adapted to Tanzanian conditions. The main objective was to contribute to increased maize productivity in the western zone of Tanzania. The specific objectives of this study were therefore to : 1) investigate maize production limiting factors for smallholder farmers in western Tanzania, 2) identify farmers and stockist perceptions, opinions and maize variety selection criteria in western Tanzania, 3) establish NLB disease status in farmers’ fields of western Tanzania, 4) determine the genetic relationships among landraces and assess maize landraces as sources of breeding materials, 5) determine the combining ability and heterosis for NLB disease resistance of eleven maize inbred lines adapted to Tanzanian conditions, and 6) determine the gene action and inheritance of resistance to NLB disease in five maize inbred lines adapted to Tanzanian conditions. The study was conducted from 2008-2011 in three diverse environments which represent all the maize growing regions in the country The participatory rural appraisal (PRA) was conducted in three districts to investigate farmers’ and stockists preferred traits for maize selection in western Tanzania, determine maize production constraints facing farmers and assess NLB disease prevalence in the same area. A focus group of 30 farmers was selected in each of the three villages. Transect walks, wealth ranking and historical profiles were used in an informal survey. One hundred and fifty questionnaires were used in a formal survey. The recorded yield was only 1 t haˉ¹. Thirteen major maize production constraints, 13 insect pests and vermin and, 11 diseases were recorded. The NLB disease was reported to be increasing in severity in all farmers’ fields. Farmers’ preferred traits included resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses, early maturity, preferred milling qualities, high storage qualities and high yielding potential. Stockists mentioned 12 preferred maize variety traits which included high yielding, disease and insect pest resistance, heavy grain, large cob size and large grain sizes. Similarity between farmers and stockist variety preference ranking were found to exist. The occurrence and distribution of northern leaf blight (NLB) disease study was conducted to assess the incidence and severity of NLB disease in farmers’ fields in seven districts. The study was conducted for two seasons. In each season, 175 fields with 5600 plants were sampled. There were sixteen varieties grown with wide NLB disease reaction variation. Gembe, a landrace, was among the three observed resistant varieties. The NLB disease has changed its distribution pattern affecting all districts of the western zone. The disease incidence in season two (2009/2010) significantly increased from season one (2008/2009) t= -3.25 (348), P= 0.001. About 30% of both means of blight incidence and severity were recorded in the area. Characterization and screening of maize landraces for northern leaf blight disease resistance was conducted to determine the genetic relationships among landraces, assess maize landraces as sources of NLB disease resistance and assess important agronomic traits for future maize improvement. Ninety breeding materials consisting of 71 landraces and 19 commercial varieties were evaluated. The average yield of landraces under research management was 2.3 t haˉ¹. Landrace TZA 3075 was identified as NLB disease resistant. Yield potential, dent grain texture, white endosperm and husk cover were important agronomic traits observed among landraces. There were high variations in terms of morphology and NLB disease resistance among the landraces. Five principal components contributed to 71.98 % of total variation. Clusters analysis revealed five distinct groups of landraces. Leaves/plant, infested leaves/plant, lesion number, lesion length, lesion width and NLB disease incidence traits highly contributed to variation and grouping of landraces. Combining ability analysis for northern leaf blight disease resistance was conducted to estimate the combining ability for NLB disease resistance of 11 maize inbred lines adapted to Tanzanian conditions, determine maternal effects which are involved in NLB disease resistance in maize germplasm, and determine the heterosis in the F1 hybrids. A full 11 x 11 diallel cross was performed. All top ten experimental hybrids in each of the three sites had negative midparent heterosis for NLB disease severity. The overall mid-parent heterosis means for yield across sites was 152%. The mean sum of squares for GCA was highly significant (P< 0.001) on disease severity indicating additive gene action effects. Mean sum of squares for SCA were highly significant for disease severity and yield implying non-additive gene action effects. The mean squares for reciprocal effects were highly significant on yield and non-maternal sum of squares had significant effect (P<0.05) on yield. The GCA contribution was high for disease severity (91%) and lesion number (85%). Almost, all GCA effects for NLB disease resistance were negative implying contribution to disease resistance. Due to preponderance of the additive gene action, recurrent selection could be used to improve the resistance of inbred lines while the non-additive gene action could be exploited in breeding for disease resistant hybrids. Generation mean analysis of northern leaf blight disease resistance was conducted to determine the mode of gene action involved in the inheritance of resistance to NLB disease in five inbred lines adapted to Tanzania at contrasting environments, estimate heterosis and heritability in five tropical inbred lines. Generation mean analysis was conducted using a six parameter model comprising P1, P2, F1, F2, BCP1 and BCP2 generation progenies. The mean sum of squares for environment, replication with the nested environment, generations, generations x environment interactions were highly significant (P<0.001). The full model of additive, dominance, additive x additive and additive x dominance epistatic effects was highly significant (P<0.001). Nonetheless, the additive gene effects were predominant ranging between 57% and 89% which was matched by large heritability (54%-85%). The average degree of dominance ranged between -0.52 and 0.88 supporting observations of partial dominance. The NLB disease severity showed a continuous distribution in all three sets for F2, BCP1 and BCP2 populations which is an indication of quantitative nature of inheritance and additive gene effects. The mid parent heterosis ranged from -19 to 1%. Therefore, resistance to NLB disease could be improved through selection by exploiting the additive gene effects. The epistatic gene effects would cause less complications because they were negligible (<25%). The client oriented breeding for maize northern leaf blight disease resistance was carried out to perform farmers and stockists assessment on the 110 F1 experimental maize hybrids and compare them with breeders selection criteria. Breeders selection criteria ranked 10 top high yielding experimental hybrids. Farmers developed 14 while stockists developed 13 selection criteria. The most preferred hybrids by farmers were VL 05616 x CML 159, CML 159 x KS03- 0B15-47 and EB04-0A01-304 x CML 442 while stockists preferred VL 05616 x CML 395, EB04-0A01-304 x CML 442 and VL 05616 x CML 159. Two F1 experimental hybrids EB04- 0A01-304 x CML 442 and CML 159 x CML 442 appeared in all top five ranked hybrids by breeders, farmers and stockists. Generally, findings showed that, farmers, stockists and breeders coincide in some selection criteria but also differ in other cases. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

[Truncated abstract] As a developing country, Indonesia has been struggling with complex and contentious development issues since Independence in 1945. Despite remarkable economic achievement during the New Order period (1966-1998), poverty has persisted and the benefits of development have been unequally distributed. Social welfare — the system of social security to protect the well-being of the weaker members of society has received little attention in Indonesia, both from the state and from the scholarly community. The historical neglect of social welfare in Indonesia has begun to be addressed recently, with the Social Safety Net (SSN) initiative. SSN is a social welfare program that was launched by the government of Indonesia to mitigate the deleterious impacts of the economic crisis that hit the nation in 1997. This thesis aims to assess how the SSN accommodated the needs and aspirations of poor women, particularly those who live in rural areas. The rural poor deserve attention because poverty in rural areas is widespread and often intractable, and because poverty in rural areas tends to be more invisible than in urban areas. The urban poor are more visible, because they are “in the face” of the powerful every day, and they are more likely to be able to access agencies of power than the rural poor.