Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Rural communities depend on the use of natural resources surrounding them for their daily livelihoods. These communities have in the past lived off these resources amid the day-to-day natural threats that pose a threat to their environmental resources. These communities depend on tending the land and rearing livestock to provide for their day-to-day needs. The only period when these communities decide to sell what they have produced is when they have unexpected surpluses that were neither planned for and these are normally sold to derive extra income. Given the total dependence on the use of their natural resources as a means of their survival one would expect this group to be provided with relevant information and be kept abreast of developments in the sector to enable them to produce better and derive surpluses that will generate extra income. This is unfortunately not the prevailing arrangement, very often these communities are left on their own to fend for themselves using knowledge and practical experience that has been gained over the years. In other instances the nature of the information provided is in most cases such that it does not lend itself for easy use by a person who is either semi-literate or illiterate. For those who can read the information it is not always forthcoming or does not deal with the relevant local issues, and lack of supportive infrastructure also adds to the farmers ailing conditions. The kind of agricultural research as well as extension services provided to these farming communities is still lagging behind due to a number of factors, these include: poor interaction with the farmers in an effort to identify and prioritize their needs, high level of illiteracy, insufficient resources, low levels of income and a host of other related problems. Adomi et.al. (2003), in their study on crop farmers’ access to agricultural information in rural areas of Delta State Nigeria, also stress the importance of farmers having access to agricultural information if their agricultural efforts are to succeed. They further emphasize that farmers need to share knowledge and experience with farmers who operate under similar conditions, this will enable them to adapt and replicate experiences learnt from other farmers. Most importantly farmers need to be provided with information on access to credit and information from research institutions. The paper intends to look at challenges facing small-scale farmers in as far as information dissemination is concerned, appropriate techniques that can be applied to overcome these challenges and use lessons that have proved to work for countries operating under similar conditions. It is important to remember that farmers irrespective of their scale of operation, are managers in their own right, they are constantly facing challenges, are forced to make choices and decisions that will determine the future of their farming enterprise in the cut-throat competitive environment. The livelihoods of their families depend on these very decisions. Therefore providing timely, accurate, reliable and user-friendly information at affordable prices is their only hope for survival in the present free- market economy.

No description available.

The smallholders of Lebowa are not idealists farming for the good of the nation; they are farn1ing for survival, and any plan for the agricultural sector must be jn harmony with the hopes and aspirations of these farm people. The conceptual background was build around Mosher's philosophy of areas with different growth potentials and the Lebowa goverments declared developrnent policy. Following these guidelines, an attempt was made to divide Lebowa into three area types according to different growth potentials. The rnethodology of the division of areas was adjusted to place more emphasis on the human factor. Smallholders were divided into two groups: Group A (Immediate Growth potential areas) and Group B (Future and Low Growth potential areas). Group A farmers were found to be more settled with stronger traditional structures and are generally speaking more satisfied with the present state of affairs. They enjoy higher welfare levels. They are generally more conservative but sometimes also more rational than Group B fanners. The smallholders have little knowledge on the ecologically possible carrying capacity of grazing and their aspirations are unrealistically high. Non-traditional leaders regard lack of incentives, for example too small arable fields, inadequate markets, credit etc. and the subsistence base of the present social order; as major causes of low productivity. They generally have a very low opinion of traditional leadership. The level of rural off-farm employment, especially for Group A, is low and compares unfavourably with many African countries. A large variety of crops is grown and intercropping is common. In stock fanning, the smallholders have demonstrated positive response to price changes both in numbers and in percentages of stock sold. Overgrazjng is a growingg problem, and the pursuance of a. production oriented extension programme is in danger of being counter-productive, because this enables smallholders to build up larger herds. This is likely to occur as long as arable and grazing land is communal or free, even if agrict:ltural productjon will be significantly directed towards the market. Livestock is perhaps the only investment alternative open to many Lebowa farmers. This suggests that alternative investinent opportunities must be created. This will require modification in the direction of flow of capital between different sectors by creating opportunities to invest in agricultural and agro-based production or financial institutions. Extension efforts should concentrate more on livestock quality which, coupled with progressive farming practices should lead to reduced livestock numbers. The low level of market orientation can partly be explained by underdeveloped marketing and credit institutions. The Lebowa smallholders and their non-traditional leaders gave a clear tnandate for land tenure reform. The traditional leaders are iil many respect more progressive than popular belief will suggest, but are hesitant in this regard. / Thesis( DSc Agric)--University of Pretoria, 1982 / gm2014 / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

En Indonésie, la croissance économique rapide et la sensibilisation à la consommation d'aliments nutritifs sont des facteurs importants qui stimulent la consommation d'aliments d'origine animale, y compris laitiers.Le PIB de l'élevage a ainsi augmenté de plus de 56% entre 2011 et 2015. Même si elle reste relativement faible par rapport aux autres pays d'Asie du Sud-Est, la demande de produits laitiers n’est pas couverte par la production nationale. Celle-ci ne représentait qu'environ 835 000 tonnes en 2015, produites principalement par des petites exploitations familiales.Les petites exploitations représentent la grande majorité des fermes laitières en Indonésie. Avec seulement 4 vaches et moins de 1 ha de terres cultivées par ménage en moyenne, les activités laitières jouent un rôle important dans la sécurisation des moyens de subsistance de ces petites exploitations. Cependant, ces fermes font face à plusieurs contraintes qui empêchent leur durabilité. Dans ce contexte, nous souhaitions rechercher «dans quelle mesure les petites exploitations laitières peuvent-elles être plus durables ?».Notre approche visait à évaluer la durabilité des petites exploitations et à apprécier la dynamique et les changements dans les systèmes de production laitière dans la province de Java Ouest. La première phase (2014) consistait à identifier le rôle d'un projet de développement laitier local et les besoins des fermes laitières. Nous avons recueilli des données auprès de 61 fermes à travers une enquête formelle et auprès de la coopérative laitière. La deuxième phase (2015-2016) consistait à évaluer la durabilité des petites exploitations familiales. Après une revue de bibliographie, nous avons mené des entretiens avec des experts et des acteurs locaux (chercheurs, experts, gouvernement, coopérative, ONG, agriculteurs) afin de proposer six indicateurs de durabilité. Nous avons ensuite mené une enquête formelle auprès de 355 agriculteurs, ce qui nous a permis de quantifier ces indicateurs. La troisième phase (2016-2017) consistait à comprendre la dynamique des systèmes de production laitière. Sur la base des résultats de l'enquête formelle de 355 agriculteurs, nous avons construit une typologie agricole et caractérisé chaque type de fermes. Nous avons ensuite sélectionné 20 fermes qui représentaient chaque type de ferme pour des entretiens approfondis afin de comprendre leurs trajectoires.Nous voulons souligner 3 résultats principaux. Nous montrons l'importance de fournir des formations et un soutien technique pour le développement des moyens de subsistance des agriculteurs. Nous notons que le niveau de capital et la diversification des activités à la ferme jouent un rôle important dans la durabilité des exploitations agricoles. Enfin, si les systèmes mixtes agriculture-élevage restent stables en termes de production laitière, les exploitations spécialisées disposant d'une dotation en capital plus importante ont rapidement augmenté leur taille de troupeau.En conclusion, les agriculteurs ayant une activité diversifiée affichent de meilleures performances en matière de durabilité, mais leur contribution à la production nationale augmente plus lentement. Les fermes spécialisées pourraient jouer un rôle clé pour soutenir la production nationale en raison de l'augmentation rapide du cheptel laitier. Néanmoins, dans une politique de développement laitier il ne serait pas pertinent de se concentrer uniquement sur ces exploitations spécialisées. En raison de leur nombre élevé, les petites exploitations jouent un rôle important dans la réduction de la pauvreté, la création d'emploi, l'alimentation et la fourniture d'un marché national. À l'avenir, les politiques laitières devraient mettre davantage l'accent sur les formations et les programmes de crédit des petits exploitants et fournir des stratégies pertinentes tenant compte du type de ferme, du modèle de durabilité, des trajectoires agricoles afin d'assurer un développement durable. / In Indonesia, rapid economic growth and awareness to consume nutritious food boost animal source foods, consumption, including dairy. As consequence, GDP from livestock sub-sector shows an enhancement to more than 56 percent during five years (2011-2015). Even though, it remains relatively low compared to other South East Asian countries, the demand of dairy products could not be covered by national production. The national production accounted for only around 835.000 tons in 2015 which is produced mostly by smallholder farms.Smallholder farms represent the vast majority of dairy cattle farms in Indonesia. With only 4 cows and less than 1 ha of cultivated land per household on average, dairy activities play an important role in securing the livelihoods of those smallholder farms. However, those farms face several constraints that preclude their sustainability. In that context, we wanted to research “in what condition smallholder dairy farms are more sustainable”.Our approach aimed at evaluating the sustainability of smallholder farms and assessing the dynamics and changes in milk production systems, in West Java Province. The first phase of our study (2014) was to identify the role of a local dairy development project and the needs of the dairy farms. We collected data from 61 farms through formal survey and from milk cooperative The second phase (2015-2016) was to evaluate the sustainability of smallholder dairy farms. After an extensive literature review, we carried out in-depth interviews with experts and local stakeholders (researchers, lecturers, government, cooperative, NGO, farmers) in order to propose six main indicators of sustainability scoring from 0 to 100. We then conducted a formal survey of 355 farmers that allowed us to quantify those indicators. The third phase (2016-2017) was to understand the dynamics of dairy farming systems. Based on the results of the formal survey of 355 farmers, we built a farm typology and characterized each type of farm. We then selected 20 farms which represented each type of farm for in-depth interviews to understand their farm trajectories.From our study, we want to underline 3 main results. First, we show the importance of providing trainings and technical support for the development of farmers’ livelihoods. Second, we note that the level of capital and the diversification of the activities on farm both play important roles in the sustainability of the farms. Third, if mixed crop-livestock systems remain stable in terms of milk production, specialized farms with higher capital endowment increased their herd size rapidly.To conclude, farmers with diversified activity show better sustainability performances than specialized ones, but their contribution to national production increases more slowly. Specialized farm might play a key role to support national production due to rapid increase of the dairy herd. Nevertheless, in a dairy development policy to supply national market, to focus only on those specialized farms could not be relevant. Due to the high number, small-scale farms are important to reducing poverty, to opening job opportunity, to ensuring nutrition and to providing national market. In the future, dairy policies should give more emphasis to smallholders’ trainings and credit programs and to provide relevant strategies considering the farm type, the sustainability pattern, the farm trajectories in order to have sustainable development.

Thesis (M.Sc. Agriculture (Animal Production)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / The smallholder dairy sector in South Africa is characterized by a low input production system and poor animal productivity. Research has been carried out to benchmark cow productivity on smallholder dairy herds; however, there is a paucity of information on the current status of breeding practices and the genetic consititution of cattle used in this production system. This information is vital for the development of sound and sustainable breeding programs for SHD production, which can have an enormous positive impact on food security and rural livelihoods. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of genetic diversity and population structure in South African smallholder dairy (SHD) herds using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. A total of 192 animals from SHD dairy herds were genotyped using the GeneSeek® Genomic Profiler (GGP) 150K-BeadChip. Four specialized dairy breeds included the Ayrshire(n = 200), Holstein(n = 231), Jersey (n = 224) and Nguni (n = 209) were used as the reference populations. The mean MAF values ranged from 0.30 Ayshire (AYR), Jersey (JER), and Nguni (NGI) to 0.31 Holstein (HOL) and SHD between the populations. There were slight differences in the levels of genetic diversity ranged between 0.39 (JER and NGI) to 0.40 (AYR, HOL, and SHD). A moderate level of inbreeding (0.02) was observed in the SHD population, which results in high genetic diversity among this herds. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed four homogeneous clusters comprising of AYR, HOL, JER, NGI, and a heterogeneous cluster of the SHD. The heterogeneity observed in the SHD population indicates widespread crossbreeding. The model-based cluster analysis corresponded with the PCA and pointed out the predominance of HOL, JER, with marginal gene flow from the AYR and NGI. These results have provided a useful insight into the genetic structure and prevailing breeding practices on South African SHD herds. / National Research Foundation (NRF), Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and University of Limpopo (UL)

The land grabbing phenomena grew in both reported cases and in scholarly interest after the 2008 financial crisis. The concept of land grabbing has been greatly debated and some have chosen the term large scale land acquisition instead, focusing on win-win outcomes while the land grabbing term rather focuses on the unequal power relations involved. Our study has defined land grabbing as; a global land rush characterized by transnational and domestic investors, governments and local elites taking control over land in order to produce food and other industrial commodities for domestic and international markets. The study's aim is to examine land grabbings implications on smallholders local livelihoods in Ethiopia and furthermore to reveal what narratives that are being promoted by the Ethiopian government to justify these land grabs. This to understand how the implications on smallholders' livelihoods and the narratives by the government match. The study is based in a qualitative methodology, basing most of the study's result in a literature review. The study is examined through a Political Ecology framework, focusing on political economy with theory influences from both Marx and David Harvey. Furthermore, the study will also combine the theoretical understanding of discursive power, focusing on development discourses, with a narrative analysis. Findings of the study show that the main narratives pushed by the government to justify said land grabs in the country was economic growth, further enabling a ‘development state’, modernizing pastoralists by providing stable income and changing living situations for pastoralists and increasing the food security in the country. Furthermore, the study found that the livelihood implications for smallholders have been overall negative, with outcomes such as displacement, loss of land and resources, weakened food security and also negative psychological and social impacts as well. Therefore the study could conclude that the Ethiopian government's argumentations have not matched with the lived realities for many smallholders.

Powering Kenya's agricultural economy, the Kenyan flower industry is prided as an example of successful African integration into global agricultural trade. Export markets are bifurcated due to a marked shift from the Dutch flower auctions and an increase in trade within 'direct markets' which includes supermarkets and florists. While flower production is dominated by a few vertically integrated, large scale flower farms (>100 ha), mid-scale (20-80 hectares) and small-scale (>0.25 hectares) flower farms which are the focus of the thesis, face a unique set of challenges in terms of navigating access to the more stable direct markets. The overall narrative is that even in a buyer-driven market, Kenyan cut flower producers at the mid and small scale have agency, and they exercise their bargaining power for favourable export access by diversification and differentiation in strategies and networks. Two meta-narratives framing the sector coalesce around the development angle which showcases contestations around labour and environmental abuses and the political economy angle focusing on governance structures and power relations of production. This thesis goes deeper than these meta narratives by introducing micro-level, relational perspectives using the GPN framework, and asks what strategies Kenyan mid and small scale cut flower producers employ to navigate the shifts in export markets as producers diversify from the Dutch auctions towards supermarkets. My findings identify diversification as the common factor in mid and small scale producers' strategies for securing a range of lucrative export markets. Producers' enhance their bargaining power to access diverse markets through adaptable production, relationally through collective action, and in the regulatory sphere by circumvention, compliance or contestation for more favourable 'rules of the game'. Going beyond labour and environmental analyses, the thesis uniquely analyses the knowledge economy originating from the cut flower sector as an undertheorized aspect of its development impact.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet, 2008. / 4 uppsatser.

No description available.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo comparativo entre os dois modelos de cultivo mais usados hoje no Estado de Roraima que são o derruba e queima e Sistemas Agroflorestais, onde se analisou as técnicas utilizadas e o desenvolvimento socioeconômico proveniente dos mesmos, utilizando-se da metodologia de pesquisa participativa, DRR (diagnóstico rápido rural), DRP (diagnóstico rápido participativo) e Sondagem, estruturadas sob a forma de questionários semi-estruturados, em formulários próprios e pela obtenção de fotografias nas áreas dos agricultores familiares da vicinal 7 do projeto de colonização do Apiaú, situado no município de Mucajaí, em Roraima. A escolha desta área foi devido a mesma apresentar os dois modelos de trabalho da terra. Verificou-se neste trabalho, entre outros itens: o tempo de ocupação do lote, nível tecnológico, acessibilidade à utilização das novas tecnologias disponíveis e os métodos de escoamento e comercialização dos produtos, além das receitas e despesas provenientes ou não da área produtiva destes agricultores familiares. Neste estudo observaram-se algumas diferenças nos dois grupos, como a de que, os agricultores familiares que trabalham com SAFs se sobressaem ao grupo do derruba e queima no que diz respeito à educação, tempo no lote, bem-estar geral, e principalmente na parte econômica, onde este grupo consegue manter uma receita razoável através da comercialização feita pelos produtos provenientes dos diferentes consórcios por eles utilizados e das criações, o que os diferencia dos que utilizam o derruba e queima que usam o fogo, que acaba prejudicando o meio ambiente, e trabalham basicamente com culturas de subsistência. Após análise realizada vimos que a continuação dos trabalhos com SAFs depende diretamente de subsídios para que eles possam produzir com qualidade e produtividade, e de políticas públicas que consigam manter os agricultores e principalmente os jovens no lote, trazendo desta forma o desenvolvimento sustentável para o Estado de Roraima. Porém, isso ainda não ocorre, o que continua causando um grande êxodo rural na região estudada. / This work presents a comparative study between two most common cultivating models presently under use in state of Roraima, witch are slash and burn and agroforestry systems (SAF’s), where the technics utilized were analized among with socioeconomical development derived from them, by utilization of participative research methodology, DRR (rapid rural diagnostic), DRP (rapid participative diagnostic) and sounding, organized as semi-structurated questionnaire, under proper forms and trough pictures obtained from smalholders farms at vicinal 7 from Apiau colonization project situated in the municipality of Mucajaí, in Roraima. The definition of this área was due the presence of both land use models. Parameters assessed in this study were period of land tenure, technological level, accessibility for utilization of available knew technologies, methods for taking products away and commercialize them, besides incomes and costs derived or not from productive areas of these smalholders. In this study, differences were observed between these two groups, that is smalholders that develop agroforestry systems outstand slash and burn group concerning to education, period of land tenure, well-being mainly concerning to economical aspects, were this group maintain a reasonable income trough commercialization of products derived from diferent crop associations utilized by them and from livestock, making them different from those who make use of slash and burn who use fire, wich ends being harmfull to environment, and cultivate basically subsistence crops. Considering analisis of this study, one may stipulate that work continuity with SAF’s depend directly on subsidies in order to them produce with quality and productivity, and on public policies that are efficient in maintaining smalholders and specialy young ones within the farms, resulting in this way in sustainable development for State of Roraima, although this still does not happen, causing a great abandonment in the region under suty.