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Behavioral Economics of Agri-Environmental PoliciesThomas, Fabian 23 October 2019 (has links)
Modern agriculture is causing a wide range of environmental problems. By regulating the agricultural sector, human societies try to find a balance between enabling the production of food and public goods and preventing negative consequences for the environment. In the European Union this is mainly achieved through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Since many of the environmental indicators are still showing negative trends, an ongoing evaluation and adaptation of the policy instruments included in the CAP is asked for. At the same time, the field of policy evaluation is more and more incorporating a behavioral economic perspective on human behavior, one that deviates from the homo oeconomicus model that has long dominated research in this area. This thesis presents a study on “Behavioral Economics of Agri-Environmental Policies” by combining themes from agricultural and environmental economics with methods and perspectives from behavioral and experimental economics. It thereby contributes to the emerging field of behavioral agricultural economics. Specifically, it aims to shed light on the behavioral drivers of pro-environmental decisions of farmers and how these insights can be used to evaluate and adapt the CAP. With a lab-in-the-field experiment with farmers from Lower Saxony in Germany, an influence of the framing of the farmers’ societal role, their self-identity, as well as control aversion and feelings of warm glow on farmers’ behavior was uncovered. From a policy perspective, the results of this thesis provide a case for the continued use of both mandatory and voluntary policy instruments. Furthermore, with a Principal Components and Cluster Analysis, a multi-facetted picture of different farmer self-identities prevalent in the sample population was revealed. Based on a literature review, the thesis also provides an analysis of how behaviorally-informed interventions might increase the environmental performance of the CAP in the future.
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Cultiver la ville, semer la permaculture humaine: expérimentations de jardiniers et de plantes en sol québécoisBaillargeon, Léanne 08 1900 (has links)
Le terme « agriculture urbaine » renvoie à une diversité de « pratiques agricoles individuelles ou collectives qui se déroulent au sein même de la ville » (Mundler et coll., 2014). Bien que le sujet ait déjà généré beaucoup d’intérêt académique, ce mémoire vise à offrir une perspective novatrice, centrée sur les changements ontologiques qui se produisent chez les jardiniers tels que rapportés dans leurs témoignages alors qu’ils s’engagent pratiquement et affectivement avec les plantes qu’ils et elles cultivent. De cet engagement résulte la participation des jardiniers.ères à un réseau de relations multiespèces impliquant tous les insectes, animaux, champignons et microbes qui interagissent avec leurs plantes. Je décris ainsi comment les jardiniers.ères en viennent à développer des liens avec toutes ces espèces fourmillantes et à s’engager pour qu’elles prospèrent. Finalement, cet engagement les fait réévaluer comment ils désirent prendre une place comme humains dans ce collectif multiespèces et ils et elles en viennent à repenser le social sur le modèle permaculturel inspiré du jardin pour imaginer une « permaculture humaine », une nouvelle manière d’envisager le lien social et l’existence humaine et urbaine. / The term “urban agriculture” refers to a diversity of “individual and collective agricultural practices taking place within a city” (Mundler et al., 2014, free translation). This subject has been the interest of much discourse in the academic as well as the public sphere, as we hear more and more about a “greening of cities” that is coming about with increasing temperatures, drought, fresh food scarcity and loss of biodiversity in and around cities. This dissertation aims to offer a novel perspective on the subject of urban gardening, inspired by literature around ontologies and multispecies sociability. In my interviews of different urban gardeners involved in the production of food in cities around the province of Quebec, I highlight how these gardeners’ perspectives—and, more fundamentally, their world vision—become transformed as they entangle themselves in the network of multispecies living taking place in and around the garden. As their understanding of other species in the garden are transformed, so are their perspective of themselves as humans and their knowing of their place in the garden-and more generally, on our planet. Their practice of care, attention and responsibility for their other-than-human counterparts in the garden also allows them to rethink the politics of their occupation of urban space and food production more generally, as they propose we move towards a “human permaculture”.
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Asset portfolios and food accessibility in a village in Sekhukhune, Limpopo ProvinceMaponya, Phokele Isaac 30 June 2008 (has links)
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)
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GIS-based land suitability assessment and allocation decision-making in a degraded rural environmenBreytenbach, Andre 10 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MSc)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Rural development problems faced by the impoverished communities in the Transkei, South
Africa, are numerous, and environmental degradation has already taken much of its toll. By
working at a micro-catchment-level both the socio-economic and biophysical appreciation of the
land resources were captured as encapsulated in the concept of resource management domains.
Participatory decision-making allowed functional land use goals and evaluation criteria to be
incorporated into computerised multi-criteria evaluation and multi-objective land use allocation
models in order to reach an idealised or more sustainable land use situation. In the execution of the
decision-making process seven procedural steps were followed, which are discussed in detail and
applied in the case study. Synthesis of the results emphasised the envisaged rural planning
potential of the methods used. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In terme van plattelandse ontwikkeling staar talle probleme die behoeftige gemeenskappe van
Transkei, Suid-Afrika, in die gesig en omgewingsdegradering neem ongehinderd sy tol. Deur op ‘n
mikro-opvangsgebied vlak te werk kon beide die sosio-ekonomiese en biofisiese waarde van die
gebied se hulpbronne bepaal word en uitgebeeld word in hulpbron bestuursdomeine. Deur
deelnemende besluitneming is funksionele grondgebruiksdoelwitte en evaluasie kriteria gebruik in
gerekenariseerde meervoudige kriteria evaluering en veeldoelige grondgebruiksaanwysingsmodelle
ten einde die ideale of ‘n meer volhoubare grondgebruik situasie te verkry. Vir die
uitvoering van die besluitnemingsproses is van sewe opeenvolgende stappe gebruik gemaak en die
uitvoering daarvan word in diepte bespreek in hierdie gevallestudie. Sintese van die resultate het
die potensiaal van hierdie beoogde landelike beplanningsmetodes beklemtoon.
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Asset portfolios and food accessibility in a village in Sekhukhune, Limpopo ProvinceMaponya, Phokele Isaac 30 June 2008 (has links)
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)
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Effectiveness of the high value crop-based extension model in improving rural livelihoodsJakavula, Siyabulela Cornelius January 2013 (has links)
The problem that is researched in this study relates to the effectiveness of the extension model applied in the High Value Crop programme in improving rural livelihoods in the Eastern Cape. The extent of poverty in rural areas in the Eastern Cape motivated for the intervention of the Is‘Baya through the introduction of Integrated Village Renewal Programme (IVRP). The need to improve the quality of life of rural households through the promotion of agriculture and industry gave rise to the collaborative effort between the Is‘Baya Development Trust and Agricultural Research Council (ARC) in South Africa. The HVC programme was established to mitigate the effects of food shortage and poverty through the production of fruit trees, herbs and vegetables at household level. Evaluation of the effectiveness of this collaborative effort was carried out in four local municipalities of the OR Tambo District and these included: King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality (Zangci); Nyadeni municipality (Hluleka); Port St Johns municipality (Noqhekwana) and Ngquza Hill municipality (Hombe). An equal number of villages where Siyazondla was implemented by DRDAR were visited for the survey to relate the extension model applied with HVC. The villages visited included: OR Tambo (Mhlontlo local municipality) Xhokonxa village; Amathole (Amahlathi local municipality) Ndakana village, (Ngqushwa local municipality) Mgababa village and (Mbhashe local municipality) Mbanyana village. The broad objective of the study therefore, was to evaluate the effectiveness of the extension model applied on the HVC programme as well as to identify the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders involved in the model. The specific objectives of the study were to describe the HVC based extension model as it is currently organized and implemented in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa in relation to the erstwhile Siyazondla programme, to establish the effectiveness of the extension model in terms of skills transfer and capacity development, to determine the socio-economic impact of the extension model on the livelihood of involved households, to establish the extent to which the extension model has empowered women and youths and to study the factors that has contributed to the sustainability of the extension model. In carrying out this research and in line with the practice of Agricultural Research for Development (ARD), qualitative and quantitative methods of information gathering were applied. Group approach such as the Rural Rapid Appraisal (RRA) and the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods of data collection were used. These tools include semi-structured interviews, focus-group discussions, transect walks, seasonal calendars, key-informant interviews, resource maps and secondary data. A sample of 149 respondents was selected from eight villages in the OR Tambo and Amathole districts. The HVC model was analysed using qualitative approach, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The Is‘Baya/ARC extension model is thus said to be effective in meeting the objectives of the HVC programme due to the efficient transfer of skills and technology and its positive impact on the livelihood of the people. There was also an improvement of the income and food security status of the rural dwellers in O.R Tambo district. The regression analysis model was applied and the results of the model were significant to the highest income earned. Out of 22 explanatory variables fitted in the regression model, 12 were significant. The R² and adjusted R² are 73 percent and 68 percent respectively which shows the significance of the fitted variables in the model. The very high F value of 15.427 shows strong significance of the fitted variables to the model. The study therefore concluded that the HVC based extension model implemented by Is‘Baya and ARC was very effective in improving rural livelihoods. The study further recommended investment in infrastructure, market linkages, value adding, public-private partnerships, creation of tenure security, investigation of different funding sources, investment on agricultural research, extension of skills provided and implementation of similar model by the public sector.
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Socio-economic impacts of Villagisation and large-scale agricultural investment on the indigenous people of Gambella, South West EthiopiaAfera Alemu Desta 12 1900 (has links)
Villagisation and large-scale agricultural investments in Gambella region has been a major concern of human right groups. The Ethiopian government argues that Villagisation program is voluntary and part of Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) which attempts to bring
development to indigenous communities and nothing to do with large-scale agricultural investment. On the contrary, human right groups and local civil society organizations claim that the Ethiopian government is forcefully relocating indigenous people from their ancestral
land under the disguise of development while the true motive of the government is to expand agricultural investment in the region at the expense of the livelihood of the local communities.
This research is an attempt to investigate the controversial Villagisation and large-scale agricultural investment in Gambella regional state by looking into the link between large scale agricultural investment and Villagisation. The main focus of the research is to examine
the impacts of agricultural investment and Villagisation in Gambella region the light of the Ethiopian government policy in the region and the alleged development induced human right violations.
The research is based on a qualitative method to capture data from 32 Villagisation sites using in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and field observations. For the purpose of this study, 241 participants were selected from the study sites to participate in the research.
Out of the 241 participants 75 of them were participated in in-depth interviews and the rest were included in focus group discussions and informal discussions based on the participants’ knowledge, views, experience and feelings associated with Villagisation and
large-scale agricultural investment in the region. The findings of this study show no indication of involuntary Villagisation, no significant
relationship between Villagisation and investment, or no evidence of previously occupied land being leased to investors. However, the study reveals that there has been serious lack of communication and misinformation from the government side in the process of planning
and implementing the Villagisation program. Owing to this, suspicion and lack of trust between government officials and the local communities characterized implementation of the Villagisation project. / Geography / M.A. (Geography)
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A systematics for interpreting past structures with possible cosmic references in Sub-Saharan AfricaWade, Richard Peter 05 May 2009 (has links)
This thesis presents a method of identifying astronomical expressionsinherent within the spatial geography, cultural landscapes, and layouts of structures with a view to implementing the systematics in an African context. In determining astronomical codes of the southern African pre - early farmer and metalworking archaeological sites - this review deals with oral tradition, rituals, formative calendars, fertility, meteorites, eclipses, bio-diversity, sustainable agriculture, rainmaking and the general star lore. Conclusions are drawn from the hypothesis that certain structures functioned as astronomical expressions by use of monoliths and other configurations, with specific examples of how these possibilities were drawn from aspects within the Mapungubwe/Zimbabwe Cultural Complex and the preceding riverine cultural formations. / Dissertation (MSc(Applied Science))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Architecture / unrestricted
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Partner satisfaction and renewal likelihood in consumer supported agriculture (CSA) : a case study of The Equiterre CSA networkAchuo, George January 2003 (has links)
No description available.
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Partner satisfaction and renewal likelihood in consumer supported agriculture (CSA) : a case study of The Equiterre CSA networkAchuo, George January 2003 (has links)
No description available.
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