Smallholders in Southeastern Paraguay are threatened by the advance of mechanized
farming, environmental degradation, and limited access to credit and inputs.
Agroforestry initiatives have been proposed as a way to increase smallholder livelihood
security in the face of such vulnerability. Yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is a tree crop
native to Paraguay that may be grown in agroforestry systems. While prices paid to
farmers for yerba mate have increased in recent years, spurring interest and adoption of
yerba mate production among some farmers, to this date, there have been no analyses of
the effects that yerba mate production may have on livelihoods. This study, which was
conducted April-July 2013 in the community of Libertad del Sur in Southeastern
Paraguay, addresses this lack of research on yerba mate and livelihoods. Interviews were
conducted with 23 households interested in cultivating yerba mate and six key informants
on current livelihood strategies in Libertad del Sur and the potential effects of yerba mate
production. Yerba mate production was found to be a profitable option for reducing
certain sources of vulnerability, but the ability of households to invest in it was limited by
several factors including high initial costs and lack of credit.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-06162014-234438 |
| Date | 26 June 2014 |
| Creators | Bradbury, Mason Robert |
| Contributors | Dan Spencer, Steve Siebert, Laurie Yung |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-06162014-234438/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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