Increasing the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of food systems while making them productive enough to feed a future global population of 9 billion is one of the most significant challenges facing humanity. Aquaculture is touted as a food system that can make a profound contribution to this challenge, but much more research is needed to understand how it can develop sustainably. In central Bolivia, an aquaculture system is emerging that is generating opportunities for empowerment, food security, and poverty reduction. However, pathways that lead to the capture of these opportunities while avoiding challenges are not well defined. It is also unclear how the trajectory of growth can be supported so that aquaculture in the region can sustainably contribute to rural development. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to determine how rural small-scale aquaculture systems can contribute to food production while also being environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. To do so, a new holistic value chain analysis that incorporates horizontal linkages (gender, food security, poverty analysis, and socio-political context) was developed and utilized. It included semi-structured interviews with 40 central Bolivian aquaculture producers, 40 farmers who did not produce aquaculture fish, 26 people employed in the aquaculture value chain, and 18 aquaculture system key informants. The study found that aquaculture in central Bolivia tends to have a positive effect on system participants and has a low environmental impact. It also identified improvements that the system could make to improve its productivity and sustainability. Beyond the central Bolivian aquaculture system specifically, the research makes an important and valuable contribution to knowledge by identifying and explaining the linkages between local and regional food systems in the global South, and sustainable development outcomes. This research provides insight for development researchers and practitioners looking to improve the productivity and sustainability of aquaculture systems. This research also improves our understanding of how food system development can generate empowerment, food security, and poverty reduction more broadly. / Graduate

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-02-24Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:19:48Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 tarsitano_ra_me_ilha.pdf: 823560 bytes, checksum: 904b96fb09c734a24f596c283e6fbfde (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A abordagem territorial das políticas públicas no Brasil é recente, iniciada em 2003 no âmbito da Secretaria de Desenvolvimento Territorial (SDT), do MDA. No Brasil foram criados 164 territórios, dos quais 5 no Estado de São Paulo e dentre estes o Território Rural Andradina. Este trabalho objetivou levantar e analisar os Projetos financiados nos municípios que compõem o Território Andradina com recursos do Proinf, entre os anos de 2004 e 2011. Neste período foi elaborado o Plano Territorial de Desenvolvimento Rural Sustentável do Território e aprovados 19 projetos para investimentos, somando quase dois milhões em recursos do Proinf. A grande maioria dos projetos manteve um caráter mais setorial, relacionado à pecuária leiteira, e com abrangência espacial limitada a um ou dois assentamentos rurais de um único município. Para que os projetos apresentados tenham maior abrangência territorial e institucional, e realmente contribuam para desenvolvimento territorial é necessário, além da ampliação dos recursos, uma maior articulação entre as instituições participantes / The territorial approach of public policy in Brazil is recent, initiated in 2003 in the ambit of the Clerkship of Territorial Development (SDT), of MDA. In Brazil, 164 territories were created, which 5 of them are located in the state of São Paulo and 1 of these 5 is the Rural Territory Andradina. This work aimed to analyze the financed Projects in the municipal districts that compose Andradina ́s territory with Proinf resources between 2004 and 2011. In this period, a Territorial Plan of Sustainable Rural Development was elaborated and 19 projects were approved for investments, totaling almost 2 million in Proinf resources. The majority of the projects maintained a more sectorial character and it is related to dairy cattle, spatial extend limited to one ore two rural settlements in a city. Besides resources increase, it was also considered important the greater coordination between participating institutions, so that the presented projects may have greater institutional and territorial coverage and really contribute to territorial development

The protection and creation of the functional, harmonic and sustainable landscape focuses on two main Instruments influencing the appearance of the landscape at most. These instruments are the territorial plans and comprehensive land consolidation. The thesis "Evaluation of the current territorial plan in the context of rural area development" deals with the issue of the co-operation of just these two instruments. Important items of both Instruments are the draft of plan of common facilities of the land consolidation and the definition of the publicly beneficial constructions and publicly beneficial measures in the draft of the territorial plan. Just under these items, the public interests for the further development of the territory are formulated. The practical part of the theoretical knowledge gained in writing this thesis and transferred to experience related to cadastral Štítary na Moravě. In the conclusion of the thesis the evaluation and summarizing of the acquired knowledge is performed and the draft of changes which will correspond better to the needs of the territory.

Buscando trazer luzes à relação entre arte, cultura e desenvolvimento rural, investigou-se o campo artístico-cultural no norte/noroeste de Minas Gerais (municípios de Arinos e Chapada Gaúcha). Este espaço é particularizado por uma “efervescência” artístico-cultural que se desdobra como produto ao mesmo tempo cultural, político e contingencial. Tal processo é contextualizado a partir da história recente da região, na qual atores diversos buscam imprimir características modernas em desfavor de uma “época” fundada na administração personalista de fazendas, na relação íntima com os recursos naturais e em modos particulares de vida. Tomando isso por base, (i) a realização de manifestações culturais por ex-residentes de áreas rurais, (ii) a organização de redes de artesanato, (iii) as ações artístico-culturais empenhadas pelas prefeituras e (iv) a ocorrência de festivais de cultura popular constituem pontos investigativos distintos que se integraram em uma etnografia conduzida a partir de uma Perspectiva Orientada aos Atores. De um modo, a pesquisa revela a interligação profunda entre esses temas, a despeito de sua aparente independência. De outro, revela arranjos sociais multimotivados que são usados para problematizar aspectos relacionados à construção de subjetividades, à articulação em redes e à realização de poder; aspectos estes fundados em uma ideia e em um idioma de desenvolvimento amalgamado (político-literário-ambiental-cultural). A análise é tensionada problematizando-se agência enquanto produto situado entre “algo que está saindo” e “algo que está chegando”. Por fim, reflete-se sobre o campo artístico-cultural e sua intersecção com questões de desenvolvimento rural. / Seeking to light the relation between art, culture and rural development, we have immersed the artistic-cultural field in the north/northwest of the State of Minas Gerais (municipalities of Arinos and Chapada Gaúcha), Brazil. This place can be characterizated by its artistic-cultural "spirit" resulted as product simultaneously cultural, political and contingential. Such a process is contextualized considering region’s recent history, in which several actors seek to print modern features despite of an "age" based on personalistic farm management, on people’s proximity to nature and on particular ways of life. Taking this into account, (i) the organization of artistic-cultural events by former residents of rural areas, (ii) the organization of craft networks, (iii) the artistic-cultural activities committed by local prefectures and (iv) the occurrence of festivals of popular culture constituted distinct research points that have been integrated in an ethnography conducted on an Actor-oriented Approach. On the one hand, the research reveals the deep interconnection between these issues, despite their apparent independence. On the other, reveals multimotivated social arrangements that are used to discuss aspects related to constructions of subjectivity, networks articulations and power attainment; these aspects are founded on an amalgamated (political-literary-environmental-cultural) development idea and idiom. The analysis is tensioned by positioning agency as a product located between "something that is coming out" and "something that is just coming." Finally, it is reflected on the artistic-cultural field and its intersection with rural development issues.

O objetivo deste trabalho é estudar a relação de causalidade entre crédito rural e produto agropecuário. Utilizando dados municipais do período 1999-2004, aplicou-se a metodologia de Granger e Huang (1997), que permite identificar o sentido da causalidade entre duas variáveis em um contexto de painel. Contrariamente à grande parte da literatura que estudou as relações de causalidade entre sistema financeiro e crescimento econômico, este trabalho não identificou a causalidade partindo da variável financeira para o produto. Em geral, os resultados apontaram causalidade unidirecional, partindo do Produto Interno Bruto da agropecuária para o crédito rural. / The main goal of this essay is to evaluate the causal relations between rural credit and agricultural output. Using municipal data for the period 1999-2004, we have implemented the Granger and Huang (1997) methodology, which allows us to identify the causality direction between two variables in a data panel context. Differently from a large part of the literature that has studied causal relations between finance and growth, this work did not find causality from the financial variable towards output. Instead, the results draw attention to unidirectional causality from agricultural output to rural credit.

Buscando trazer luzes à relação entre arte, cultura e desenvolvimento rural, investigou-se o campo artístico-cultural no norte/noroeste de Minas Gerais (municípios de Arinos e Chapada Gaúcha). Este espaço é particularizado por uma “efervescência” artístico-cultural que se desdobra como produto ao mesmo tempo cultural, político e contingencial. Tal processo é contextualizado a partir da história recente da região, na qual atores diversos buscam imprimir características modernas em desfavor de uma “época” fundada na administração personalista de fazendas, na relação íntima com os recursos naturais e em modos particulares de vida. Tomando isso por base, (i) a realização de manifestações culturais por ex-residentes de áreas rurais, (ii) a organização de redes de artesanato, (iii) as ações artístico-culturais empenhadas pelas prefeituras e (iv) a ocorrência de festivais de cultura popular constituem pontos investigativos distintos que se integraram em uma etnografia conduzida a partir de uma Perspectiva Orientada aos Atores. De um modo, a pesquisa revela a interligação profunda entre esses temas, a despeito de sua aparente independência. De outro, revela arranjos sociais multimotivados que são usados para problematizar aspectos relacionados à construção de subjetividades, à articulação em redes e à realização de poder; aspectos estes fundados em uma ideia e em um idioma de desenvolvimento amalgamado (político-literário-ambiental-cultural). A análise é tensionada problematizando-se agência enquanto produto situado entre “algo que está saindo” e “algo que está chegando”. Por fim, reflete-se sobre o campo artístico-cultural e sua intersecção com questões de desenvolvimento rural. / Seeking to light the relation between art, culture and rural development, we have immersed the artistic-cultural field in the north/northwest of the State of Minas Gerais (municipalities of Arinos and Chapada Gaúcha), Brazil. This place can be characterizated by its artistic-cultural "spirit" resulted as product simultaneously cultural, political and contingential. Such a process is contextualized considering region’s recent history, in which several actors seek to print modern features despite of an "age" based on personalistic farm management, on people’s proximity to nature and on particular ways of life. Taking this into account, (i) the organization of artistic-cultural events by former residents of rural areas, (ii) the organization of craft networks, (iii) the artistic-cultural activities committed by local prefectures and (iv) the occurrence of festivals of popular culture constituted distinct research points that have been integrated in an ethnography conducted on an Actor-oriented Approach. On the one hand, the research reveals the deep interconnection between these issues, despite their apparent independence. On the other, reveals multimotivated social arrangements that are used to discuss aspects related to constructions of subjectivity, networks articulations and power attainment; these aspects are founded on an amalgamated (political-literary-environmental-cultural) development idea and idiom. The analysis is tensioned by positioning agency as a product located between "something that is coming out" and "something that is just coming." Finally, it is reflected on the artistic-cultural field and its intersection with rural development issues.

New concepts and a synthesis of existing theories may assist in studying the relationship between social structure, development and rural development. The concept of social structure encompasses the concept of economic structure which may be analysed in terms of three "Moments" of production. On this basis, one can distinguish between heterogeneous and homogeneous relations of production structures. "Homogeneous relations" together with "system dynamics" and ''reproduction", define the concept of a mode of production. "Development" refers to the expansion of total productive capacity, premissed on advanced means of production, and corresponding to the particular relations and forces of production in an economic system. The capitalist mode of production has both tendencies and countertendencies to development. The latter prevail in the Third World due to the admixture and heterogeneity of production relations there, and to their subordinate articulation within an international capitalist economic system. In this context, underdevelopment is the result of the specific factors of monopoly competition, dependence-extraversion, disarticulation-unevenness, the three-tier structure of the peripheral economy, surplus transfer, and class structures and struggles. Rural development can be understood in terms of the specific contribution of agriculture to development, theorized as the "Agrarian Question". Agrarian capitalism has been slow to develop in the Third World, and the state of agriculture remains a problem there. "Rural development" has emerged as a deliberate and interventionist state strategy designed to restructure agrarian relations for development. This has contributed to the formation of particular heterogeneous relations of production articulated to the capitalist mode. In this context, the character of the associated classes has left the Agrarian Question unresolved. "Rural development" continues because it has an important~ and even primary, political significance - although this is not without contradictions.

Small scale farmers represent 80% of all farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and contribute up to 90% of agriculture production. Small scale farming is not without its problems and sub-Saharan Africa has one of the lowest agriculture productivities in the world - this despite ample land and water availability. These problems include inter alia, the fundamental lack of economies of scale and access to market, high transaction costs, and limited access to finance. This is in a global environment, where contract farming is becoming very dominant in agriculture: In 2010, 41% of the North American agriculture output was sold on contract, compared to 11% in the ‘60’s. The research objective was to evaluate contract farming as a vertical integration mechanism for small scale farmers to take advantage of this growing long term trend. To this end, a hypothesis was proposed that contract farming is a practical model that increases farm income for the small scale farmer. In support of this hypothesis, five propositions were tested, viz: does contract farming provide market linkage, reduce transaction costs, increase rural development, raise production output, and can it be applied across different crops. The research followed a deductive approach and a qualitative data collection method. The propositions were tested using empirical evidence obtained from semi-structured interviews with companies involved in contract farming. The hypothesis was confirmed by the evidence presented. The individual propositions: market linkage, transaction costs, rural development and different crops were all supported. However the evidence presented that contract farming raises output was inconclusive. These findings are however, subject to solving a number of issues - such as land transfer, mitigating the effect of low economies of scale, controlling side selling, and having a dispensation that increases profits over the long term. Further to the findings, a model framework is proposed to structure a contract farming system. With 60% of the sub-Saharan population involved in agriculture, the ability to increase farm side income presents an enormous opportunity to contribute to rural economic prosperity. This is not only for the benefit of farmer, but also for his community, via the multiplier effect. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / ccgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

M.A. / At the local-level, rural households in Lesotho, like across much of Southern Africa, suffer high livelihood vulnerability from their experience of poverty, marginalisation and dependence on natural resources. In Lesotho, rural households experience similar livelihood vulnerability from their exposure and sensitivity to these numerous social, economic and environmental stressors. In the coming decades, rural households, like those in Phelantaba village, northern Lesotho, will face even greater livelihood vulnerability from the impacts of anthropogenically influenced climate change. This phenomenon will possibly become one of the greatest stressors that rural livelihoods in the village will experience and have to adapt to. The overall objective of this dissertation was to undertake a site-specific assessment of the vulnerability of rural livelihoods in Phelantaba village to the impacts of future climate change. The rationale behind this was that the impacts of future climate change will not be spatially homogenous across a region. A vulnerability index, based on the composition of household livelihoods of the five livelihood capitals, was utilised to determine the livelihood vulnerability of Phelantaba households. In addition, participatory rural appraisal methods were applied in village focus groups to identify the coping strategies households relied upon to cope with climatic variability. Results illustrated that the most vulnerable households in Phelantaba village face the greatest livelihood vulnerability due to their poor access to physical capital and mimimal financial capital, coupled with their dependence on natural capital. Least vulnerable households faced lower vulnerability as they have good financial capacity and access to physical capital to respond to impacts of future climate change. Focus groups highlighted how households in Phelantaba do not have any specific coping strategies designed to address climatic variability. Rather, coping strategies to address poverty and economic stressors were indirectly applied to assist households to cope with climatic variability. In conclusion, the dissertation successfully conducted a site-specific assessment in Phelantaba village of the livelihood vulnerability households faced from future climate change. This research can assist policy makers to understand some of the key vulnerabilities rural households face at the local-level and begin to focus adaptation initiatives on the key areas of concern where they are needed most due to the impacts of future climate change.

M.Com. (Business Management) / Southern Africa, when viewed in the context of a developing region, is an area of extremes. Sophisticated urban development, financial markets, agricultural development and technically-advanced production processes form a direct contrast to the squatting, subsistence agriculture, malnutrition and unemployment found in a single complex Southern Africa socio-economic environment. The most important goal of economic development in Southern Africa is the raising of the standard of living of the entire population. The interests and needs of the individual play a prominent role in this pre-determined goal. The results that are obtained in this process are largely determined by the element of planning. In the planning stage, vision and insight need to be displayed to determine the anticipated end results. The availability of current information is the basis on which any real action, in the attempt to achieve the aforementioned objective, will depend. The purpose of this study was to compile a macro-economic information framework for development planning and to illustrate this framework with an example.