A field survey was conducted in eight villages in Northeastern Thailand to examine the impact of non-farm employment on rice production during the 1994-95 crop year. This study uses the human ecology approach based on the conceptual framework of Duncan's (1959) ecological complex. This study found that participation in non-farm employment directly affects whether the household will produce rice, but its impacts vary according to the extent of participation. Full-time employment, particularly with the yearlong absence of the male head of household, appears to inhibit rice production because it has the potential to cause a critical farm labor shortage. Part-time employment creates opportunities for farmers to integrate both farm and non-farm production to sustain their households. Women and elders have become the principal labor source for their own farms and waged labor for others. The traditional pattern of exchange labor can hardly be practiced when the demand for hired labor exceeds the supply. Waged laborers receive the same pay regardless of age and gender, and employers have no control over the wage rate. The use of machines is increasing. The supply of threshers exceeds demand, but there is a shortage of power-tillers. / However, non-farm employment does not lead to increased levels of farm investment as hypothesized, because a large proportion of waged income was used for other purposes, including daily consumption and debt repayment. Consequently, there is no significant difference in farm productivity (kg. of paddy/unit area) between households with and without participation in non-farm employment. Out-migration to participate in non-farm employment seems inevitable in the face of population growth and land scarcity, but its impacts on rice production vary according to how farmers adapt to the changing resource base and use of modern farm technology. If possible, farmers tend to continue farm and non-farm employment to distribute their risks. However, it is crucial to retain a balance between the types of employment so that the loss of labor does not lead to poor farm productivity nor to production costs that exceed the farm household's means.

Doctor of Philosophy / A rice grain is composed of 90% starch, and amylose contributes to up 30% of the starch with the remainder as amylopectin. The structure of starch largely defines the quality of rice, yet the methods to characterise starch have not been reviewed recently. This thesis begins by using the simplest form of starch, debranched amylopectin, to detail and apply the principles of molecular weight theory using Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) to illustrate that without correct calibration the molecular weight distribution of starch has been underestimated. In contrast to amylopectin, amylose is difficult to isolate from flour without causing irrevocable damage, is unstable in an aqueous system and is believed to be impossible to debranch with isoamylase. Here an amylose-rich fraction was extracted directly from flour using hot water to avoid the structural–damaging isolation techniques used previously. The ability of isoamylase to debranch the amylose was shown through traditional methods of controlled enzyme degradation of the starch, ensuring that association of chains did not hinder access to the enzyme activation site, and through the contrast of 1H NMR spectra before and after the debranching event. Further, it was shown that 20% of carbohydrate was not recoverable from the SEC, and the unrecoverable carbohydrate is likely to be of high molecular weight and with long chains. High temperatures during the grain filling period are known to impede on the rice quality of one classification of non-waxy varieties. That hypothesis was rigorously examined by growing rice from a wide genetic background in three temperature regimes, followed by analysis of amylose at a functional, structural and synthesis level. From that phenotypic data, the rice varieties could be divided into three distinct groups – two of poorer quality in an increasingly warmer climate. Candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified, and a mechanism proposed, to explain the phenotypes. Linking a phenotype to a SNP allows the opportunity for wide scale screening of varieties to predict the quality of rice in an increasing warmer environment. Rice quality has the potential to change with elevated carbon dioxide levels, both alone and with increased temperature. Here, the quality traits of varieties grown in four combinations of temperature and carbon dioxide levels were assessed. The negative impact of temperature on grain quality was unable to be overcome by an increase in carbon dioxide in all but one quality. Chalk is the undesirable opaque belly of a grain that defines the market price of the grain. In elevated carbon dioxide, the proportion of grains containing a high amount of chalk per grain which will increase the market value of the grain and may help to alleviate the burden of climate change on rice farmers.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Plant Science, 1996? / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 165-183). Also available on the Internet.

Four maps in pocket.

This is an exploratory study. Its purpose is to delineate and identify the important factors influencing land use in Malaya during the period 1947 to I960. Since the subject of land use is very wide our aim is to deal only with agricultural land use. Other uses are discussed only incidentally or as they are involved in the shifting uses of land. The scope and nature of land use patterns in Malaya as in other countries, is a reflection of economic, geographical and political factors. Land use usually reflects the operation of the principle of comparative advantage. Theoretically different types of land would normally be put to their best uses and any instability which exists would be cleared up by the market mechanism. Institutional barriers often impede this development as we show in the Malayan case. Two conflicts are apparent in the land use policies in Malaya. The first is between rubber and rice; that is, whether to specialise in the production of rubber, over which Malaya has a comparative advantage, or to produce rice for subsistence over which Malaya does not have a comparative advantage. Of course the rational course from an economic point of view is to produce more rubber. But more than economics are involved in such issues. The other conflict is whether to produce rubber on estates, which are the large scale enterprises, or on smallholdings, which are the peasant, small scale enterprises. Again more than economics, are involved. In this study attention is focussed primarily on the rubber-rice land use pattern. Even then rubber gets most of the attention. Technical questions especially those relating to rubber are of considerable interest but these are discussed only insofar as they have general economic relevance. The study as a whole can be divided into three parts. Chapters I and II comprise the first section. The opening chapter contains the economic and historical background to the land use patterns in Malaya and points out the rubber-rice land use pattern. In Chapter II we discuss the theoretical, suggested effects of the dual pattern of land utilisation. An attempt is also made to apply the dualistic theories of economic growth to Malaya in order to ascertain whether the conclusions of these theorists are verified in Malaya. The second section comprises of Chapter III. Here we discuss the obstacles to good land utilisation in the post war period. The third major section takes up the remaining chapters, all of which deal largely with rubber, which is one of the mainstays of the Malayan economy. In Chapter IV we discuss the relative efficiency of estates and smallholdings as producers of rubber. This chapter may be said to contain the heart of the matter since it helps us to evaluate two recent developments, which are discussed in Chapters V and VI. Chapter V, the "break-up" of rubber estates, discusses the various aspects of estates which have been diminishing in size. The most important effect of this is the creation of smallholdings and a loss in government revenue. The second recent development, the land development schemes initiated by the government, is discussed in Chapter VI. Here again the chief effect is the creation of rubber smallholdings. The concluding chapter has the twofold aim of summarising the main findings to this study and of setting out briefly the possible future trends of land use in Malaya. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

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Call number: LD2668 .T4 1965 M16 / Master of Science

This thesis focuses on manomin (wild rice) ecocultural restoration by Wabaseemoong Independent Nations (WIN) in Northwestern Ontario. Ecocultural restoration includes the recovery of habitats and re-establishment of relationships between WIN and manomin. The objectives are to: 1) Describe the past and present state of rice-related practices in WIN and changes of the 20th century 2) Select and document a restoration site(s) 3) Identify the possibilities for the involvement of school students in the restoration process 4) Design a prototype for a wild rice camp that contributes to relationship re-establishment. The main pillars of the WIN restoration process - traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), site selection, involvement of children and young people, and transformative learning experienced by adult participants of a wild rice camp – are the main study components. The project is guided by a design-based methodology with data gathered through interviews, design workshops, participant observation, and biophysical methods. / May 2016

No description available.