Analysis of livelihood security: a case study in the Kali-Khola watershed of Nepal

This paper examines household livelihoods in highland and lowland communities of the Kali-Khola agricultural watershed in western Nepal on the basis of economic, ecological and social security indicators. Significant differences were found in soil fertility status, pests and diseases management, risk and uncertainties, use of agrochemicals and access to social services. No remarkable variations were found in crop diversification, annual agricultural income and food sufficiency. However, uncertainty and risk in agricultural production is relatively low in highland communities. The findings reveal that agriculture production alone is not a viable livelihood option for agricultural watershed communities in Nepal. The households growing crops with hired labour have relatively sustainable livelihoods in Nepal's agricultural watersheds. Insufficient agricultural land, insufficient working manpower within a family, and lack of access to ecological agricultural services are prime factors in being livelihood insecure in agricultural watershed communities. Therefore, long-term policies and plans need to be developed for the empowerment of local farmers and to support rural livelihoods with adaptable and flexible income-generating strategies, resilient resource management institutions and enhancement of knowledge, skills and social capital.     

Review and appraisal of concept of sustainable food production systems

Environmental degradation, competition for resources, increasing food demands, and the integration of agriculture into the international economy threaten the sustainability of many food production systems. Despite these concerns, the concept of sustainable food production systems remains unclear, and recent attempts to appraise sustainability have been hampered by conceptual inconsistencies and the absence of workable definitions. Six perspectives are shown to underpin the concept. Environmental accounting identifies biophysical limits for agriculture. Sustained yield refers to output levels that can be maintained continuously. Carrying capacity defines maximum population levels that can be supported in perpetuity. Production unit viability refers to the capacity of primary producers to remain in agriculture. Product supply and security focuses on the adequacy of food supplies. Equity is concerned with the spatial and temporal distribution of products dervied from resource use. Many studies into sustainable agriculture cover more than one of these perspectives, indicating the concept is complex and embraces issues relating to the biophysical, social, and economic environments. Clarification of the concept would facilitate the development of frameworks and analytical systems for appraising the sustainability of food production systems. LRRC Contribution No. 90–46.     

Land resources potential and sustainable land management: an overview

Land degradation continues to be a major threat to local and national food security. With limited potential to develop new land, any increase in agricultural production must be sought largely through the better use of land already under cultivation. Concerns for the global environment associated with agriculture worldwide have also increased in recent years and require more coordinated efforts at global and national levels with decentralisation of activities at the local level.
This article presents an overview of land resources potential for food production, the processes and extent of land degradation and its economic and environmental costs and impacts, and highlights some macro-economic policies and institutional measures for the prevention of land degradation and rehabilitation of degraded lands. A people-centred programme is presented as a basis for decentralising activities for sustainable land use and land management. Finally, the need for better coordinated efforts of concerned UN, multinational agencies and NGOs for the implementation of Agenda 21 and related conventions is stressed.     

Can Export-Oriented Aquaculture in Developing Countries be Sustainable and Promote Sustainable Development? The Shrimp Case

Industrial shrimp farming has been promoted by international development and financial institutions in coastal indebted poor countries as a way to obtain foreign exchange earnings, reimburse external debt, and promote development. The promotion of the shrimp industry is a clear example of a more general trend of support of export-oriented primary products, consisting in monocultures of commodities, as opposed to the promotion of more diverse, traditional production directed to feed the local population. In general, it is assumed that export-oriented aquaculture and agriculture, in a framework of liberalization policies, facilitates economic growth and this is associated with poverty reduction and the improvement of food security. However, it has been shown that the promotion of export-oriented production, mostly in the hands of big corporations, can have detrimental consequences for the livelihoods of local populations and the environment. As a result, international institutions, NGOs, and the industry aim to minimize these impacts by promoting sustainable export-oriented production. But some impacts may remain, since the main issue is the primary focus on international deregulated markets and the search for cheap primary products. To illustrate the relationships between the mainstream concept of development, the environmental and social impact of industrial farming systems, and the promotion of export-oriented production in developing countries, this article analyzes the case of the shrimp aquaculture industry.     

Sustainable development in East Africa: impact evaluation of regional agricultural development projects in Burundi,Kenya, Rwanda,Tanzania, and Uganda

Investments in agricultural technologies, capacity building and policy harmonization are needed to support sustainable development across Africa. Regional development projects can facilitate the adoption of agricultural technologies and innovations across nation-state borders and generate benefits for shared prosperity. This paper uses panel data from 1,160 smallholder households including beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries from five countries in East Africa - Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. From a pool of over 90 projects implemented over a span of 15 years, 23 regional projects are included in this study. The major economic benefits to smallholder participants are higher crop productivity and income, access to adaptable technologies, access to markets, higher livestock and milk production, gender equality, enhanced food security, resilience and capacity building for uptake and scaling up of future innovation platforms. For example, the adoption of low-cost tissue culture banana by the beneficiaries increased their incomes by 15% in Rwanda while the adoption of appropriate land and water management technologies increased the potato yields from 2.8 tons (USD 2,840/ha) to over 7.5 tons (USD 7,410/ha) in Kenya. The beneficiaries ensured value added to commodities like bananas (for export) and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (a nutrition-sensitive intervention for enhancing domestic intake of vitamin A) in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Additionally, milk production increased from 6 to 11 L per cow per day in Uganda and from 6 to 8 L per cow per day in Tanzania, with increases in sales generating USD 115 per cow per month above the non-beneficiaries. These results are supported by previous studies on technology adoption, investments in agriculture and well-being outcomes. Our findings with the higher farm income Difference-in-Differences (DiD) estimator for the female beneficiaries compared to male beneficiaries might have important implications for investing in regional development projects that will close the gender gap in agricultural productivity in Africa. Regional projects can also support post-conflict development efforts for food security and peace in fragile contexts such as in Burundi. Our findings might serve as an input to the African Union's Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, localization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals related to food security and agriculture in Africa and an input to monitoring, evaluation and learning.     

Food Security: One of a Number of ‘Securities’ We Need for a Full Life: An Australian Perspective

Although agriculture in Australia is very productive, the current food supply systems in Australia fail to deliver healthy diets to all Australians and fail to protect the natural resources on which they depend. The operation of the food systems creates ‘collateral damage’ to the natural environment including biodiversity loss. In coming decades, Australia’s food supply systems will be increasingly challenged by resource price inflation and climate change. Australia exports more than half of its current agricultural production. Government and business are aiming to substantially increase production to bolster exports. This will increase pressure on agricultural resources and exacerbate ‘collateral’ damage to the environment. The Australian public have a deep and ongoing interest in a very wide range of issues associated with the food systems including the environment, health and sustainability. Food is something we require in order to live and a good diet is something we have to have to be healthy. For health over a life-time we need food security. However, we also require a range of other material goods and social arrangements in order to develop and flourish as human beings. And we need these other things to be secure over a life-time. Food is therefore one security among a range of other securities we need in order to flourish. The paper outlines a number of approaches, as examples, that help to identify what these other goods and arrangements might be. The approaches mentioned in this paper include human rights, national securities, human needs, authentic happiness, capabilities, sustainability and environmental ethics. The different approaches provide a way of evaluating the current situation and indicating a direction for change within the food systems that will address the problems. However, changing large systems such as those involved in food supply is difficult because inertias and vested interests make the current food supply systems resilient to change. The paper suggests that one of the first and ongoing tasks is to develop an understanding of the situation from a comprehensive social–ecological systems perspective. The paper also suggests that a practical leverage point for system change is restructuring the flow of information on the health, natural resources and biodiversity loss issues related to the food supply systems.     

Impact of climate change on food security of small islands: The case of Mauritius

This paper studies the implications of high food prices resulting from climate change on food security in small islands, using Mauritius as a case‐study. Climate change may adversely impact prices of agricultural commodities. The study derives and calculates the government costs and the welfare effects of an increase in the world price of rice on consumers in Mauritius. Using an equilibrium displacement model, this study finds that an increase in the price of rice by 35%, as predicted by the literature on climate change and rice prices, will result in an increase of 28.8% in government spending, representing the additional outlays to support the subsidy scheme for food security. Using 2012 as the baseline, the welfare analysis results suggest that consumer surplus for ration rice consumers increases by 626 million Mauritian Rupees (MUR) or US$18 million while consumer surplus decreases by MUR454 million (US$13 million) for basmati rice consumers.     

Wetland cultivation and hydrological management in eastern Africa: Matching community and hydrological needs through sustainable wetland use

Wetlands are critical natural resources in developing countries where they perform a range of environmental functions and provide numerous socio-economic benefits to local communities and a wider population. In recent years, however, many wetlands throughout eastern Africa have come under extreme pressure as government policies, socio-economic change and population pressure have stimulated a need for more agriculturally productive land. Although wetland drainage and cultivation can make a key contribution to food and livelihood security in the short term, in the long term there are concerns over the sustainability of this utilization and the maintenance of wetland benefits. This article draws upon recent research carried out in western Ethiopia, which addressed the sustainability of wetland agriculture in an area of increasing food insecurity and population pressure. It discusses the impacts of drainage and cultivation on wetland hydrology and draws attention to local wetland management strategies, particularly those characterized by multiple use of wetlands, where agriculture exists alongside other wetland uses. The article suggests that where multiple wetland uses exist, a range of benefits can be sustained with little evidence of environmental degradation. Ways of promoting and empowering such sustainable wetland management systems are discussed in the context of the wider need for water security throughout the region.     

Drivers of agricultural sustainability in developing countries: a review

Agricultural development has been an effective instrument for poverty alleviation and economic development in developing countries over the latter half of the twentieth century, and over 80 % of rural people globally still depend on agriculture for their living. However, issues such as water availability, land degradation and an increasing dependence on chemical fertilisers and pesticides continue to be on-going threats to sustainable agricultural development. These threats are being driven by the pressing need to ensure food security in the face of rapidly growing and urbanising populations. Developing countries will therefore continue to need improved methods for planning sustainable agricultural development. This paper presents a review of agricultural sustainability assessment in developing countries. The review highlights some of the key weaknesses that persist in sustainability assessment and the need to consider not only indicators of sustainability but also the drivers that influence indicator behaviour. We argue that without a good understanding of the drivers of sustainability and their systemic relationships to indicators, sustainability assessments run the risk of focusing on symptoms without addressing underlying causes of adverse indicator trends. Drivers of agricultural sustainability in developing countries encompass a range of demographic, natural, socio-economic, political, institutional and management factors. Understanding these and their relationships to sustainability indicators is needed in order to develop agricultural development policy that supports sustainability. The paper presents a conceptual framework for guiding systemic agricultural sustainability assessment and agricultural development planning in developing countries that includes both sustainability indicators and drives, and considers the broad relationships between them.     

Joint institutional arrangements for addressing transboundary water resources issues—lessons for the GEF

The lofty goals of the 1992 Earth Summit regarding sustainable development will not be achieved without major improvements in the management of transboundary water resources. This paper describes the serious nature of water-related conflicts and environmental damage associated with degradation of marine ecosystems, coastal zones, and shared surface/groundwater systems. Traditional approaches such as international conventions, watercourse agreements with basin organizations, and arbitration have generally fallen short of their objectives. This article suggests that a middle ground centered on multicountry institutional arrangements for joint fact finding, evaluation, and problem resolution may be a more productive approach over the short term to achieve sustainable development. The experience of the International Joint Commission (Canada and U.S.) is described as a way of providing a neutral ground for building trust among nations, for 'leveling the playing field' among small and large countries, and for providing mechanisms for countries to work jointly toward sustainable development of their shared resources without relinquishing their sovereignty. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is playing a catalytic role in assisting countries to address transboundary water resources issues. The paper describes GEF's Operational Strategy and discusses the implications of joint institutional arrangements for the international waters focal area. Given that the environmental security of many nations rests on improved transboundary cooperation, the GEF provides a pragmatic opportunity for countries to cooperatively address these pressing problems.     

DEVELOPING COMPETITION FOR WATER IN THE URBANIZING AREAS OF COLORADO1

ABSTRACT: Rapid population growth in the metropolitan area of Denver, Colorado, is causing conflicts over water use. Two cities, Thomton and Westminster, have begun condemnation proceedings against three irrigation companies to secure agricultural water rights for municipal use. This is the first condemnation proceeding against irrigation water rights for municipal use. Should the suit succeed, over 30,000 acres of presently irrigated land will lose its water supply. There are about four hundred landowners in the area; two hundred of these are commercial farmers, including truck, dairy and specialty farms. Total agricultural production amounts to about $8 million per year. About 561 jobs related to agriculture will disappear along with about $4 million in not income. Only 6.4 percent of the farmland along the Front Range is irrigated. Continued urban growth will put pressure on the water supply of much of this land. The interested parties of the region should cooperate to lessen the impact of urban growth on agricultural lands and water by forming a metropolitan water district. Such a district could share costs of development of additional municipal water and develop systems where municipalities would recycle waste water back to the irrigated lands.     

The need for integration of drought monitoring tools for proactive food security management in sub‐Saharan Africa

Reducing the impact of drought and famine remains a challenge in sub‐Saharan Africa despite ongoing drought relief assistance in recent decades. This is because drought and famine are primarily addressed through a crisis management approach when a disaster occurs, rather than stressing preparedness and risk management. Moreover, drought planning and food security efforts have been hampered by a lack of integrated drought monitoring tools, inadequate early warning systems (EWS), and insufficient information flow within and between levels of government in many sub‐Saharan countries. The integration of existing drought monitoring tools for sub‐Saharan Africa is essential for improving food security systems to reduce the impacts of drought and famine on society in this region. A proactive approach emphasizing integration requires the collective use of multiple tools, which can be used to detect trends in food availability and provide early indicators at local, national, and regional scales on the likely occurrence of food crises. In addition, improving the ability to monitor and disseminate critical drought‐related information using available modern technologies (e.g., satellites, computers, and modern communication techniques) may help trigger timely and appropriate preventive responses and, ultimately, contribute to food security and sustainable development in sub‐Saharan Africa.     

Biotechnology is not compatible with sustainable agriculture

Biotechnology increases commercialization of food production, which competes with food for home use. Most people in the world grow their own food, and are more secure without the mediation of the market. To the extent that biotechnology enhances market competitiveness, world food security will decrease. This instability will result in a greater gap between rich and poor, increasing poverty of women and children, less ability and incentive to protect the environment, and greater need for militarization to maintain order. Therefore, biotechnology should be discouraged. An active program to protect and strengthen local food production and to decrease reliance on industrial agriculture should be promoted.     

Basic principles of agroecology and sustainable agriculture

In the final analysis, sustainable agriculture must derive from applied ecology, especially the principle of the regulation of the abundance and distribution of species (and, secondarily, their activities) in space and time. Interspecific competition in natural ecosystems has its counterparts in agriculture, designed to divert greater amounts of energy, nutrients, and water into crops. Whereas natural ecosystems select for a diversity of species in communities, recent agriculture has minimized diversity in favour of vulnerable monocultures. Such systems show intrinsically less stability and resilience to perturbations. Some kinds of crop rotation resemble ecological succession in that one crop prepares the land for successive crop production. Such rotations enhance soil organic processes such as decomposition and material cycling, build a nutrient capital to sustain later crop growth, and reduce the intensity of pest buildup. Species in natural communities occur at discrete points along the r-K continuum of reproductive maturity. Clearing forested land for agriculture, rotational burning practices, and replacing perennial grassland communities by cereal monocultures moves the agricultural community towards the r extreme. Plant breeders select for varieties which yield at an earlier age and lower plant biomass, effectively moving a variety towards the r type. Features of more natural landscapes, such as hedgerows, may act as physical and biological adjuncts to agricultural production. They should exist as networks in agricultural lands to be most effective. Soil is of major importance in agroecosystems, and maintaining, deliberately, its vitality and resilience to agricultural perturbations is the very basis of sustainable land use.     

Ethical Analysis of the Use of GM Fish: Emerging Issues for Aquaculture Development

Improvements in production methods over the last two decades have resulted in aquaculture becoming a significant contributor to food production in many countries. Increased efficiency and production levels are off-setting unsustainable capture fishing practices and contributing to food security, particularly in a number of developing countries. The challenge for the rapidly growing aquaculture industry is to develop and apply technologies that ensure sustainable production methods that will reduce environmental damage, increase productivity across the sector, and respect the diverse social and cultural dimensions of fish farming that are observed globally. The aquaculture industry currently faces a number of technology trajectories, which include the option to commercially produce genetically modified (GM) fish. The use of genetic modification in aquaculture has the potential to contribute to increased food security and is claimed to be the next logical step for the industry. However, the potential use of these technologies raises a number of important ethical questions. Using an ethical framework, the Ethical Matrix, this paper explores a number of the ethical issues potentially raised by the use of GM technologies in aquaculture. Several key issues have been identified. These include aspects of distributive justice for producers; use of a precautionary approach in the management of environmental risk and food safety; and impacts on the welfare and intrinsic value of the fish. There is a need to conduct a comparative analysis of the full economic cycle of the use of GM fish in aquaculture production for developing countries. There is also a need to initiate an informed dialogue between stakeholders and strenuous efforts should be made to ensure the participation of producers and their representatives from developing nations. An additional concern is that any national licensing of the first generation of GM fish, i.e., in the USA, may initiate and frame an assessment cycle, mediated by the WTO, which could dominate the conditions under which the technology will be applied and regulated globally. Therefore, an integrated analysis of the technology development trajectories, in terms of international policy, IPR, and operational implications, as well as an analysis of a broader range of ethical concerns, is needed.     

Havana's popular gardens:sustainable prospects for urban agriculture

With the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and its economic support in 1989, as well as the tightening of the US economic embargo, Cuba has been forced to explore sustainable agriculture as a source of food security. This paper examines Havana's popular gardens, an important feature in Cuba's recent emphasis on self-reliant agriculture. Popular gardens are small plots of state-owned land that have been promoted since 1991 throughout Havana and other Cuban cities in response to recent food shortages. The popular gardens are a unique form of socialist agriculture which offer valuable insight into urban food production during economic crisis. They have emerged in the absence of land markets, with active government support and with widespread community organization and participation. The continued success of the gardens, however, is contingent on underlying political and economic factors.     

乡村在城镇化过程中受到的冲击及其发展问题

中国是一个农业历史悠久的大国,乡村在社会中具有重要地位。通过近30多年的改革开放,乡村的建设和农业生产水平均有了显著的提高。但是在工业化、城镇化的浪潮下,乡村所受到的冲击十分剧烈。城镇化是经济与社会发展的强大动力,也是历史发展的必然趋势。城镇化进程有其客观规律,而且城市与乡村之间有着密切联系。因此,人为地阻挡城镇化不利于经济发展。然而,若不顾实际条件,不惜代价地加快城镇化进程,不仅难以保持和提高城市的经济发展和生活质量,而且对乡村的影响会更大。本文在论述中国1949年以来几个阶段城镇化特点的基础上,从近年来城乡差距与乡村人口劳动力的变化、土地高速非农化与粮食安全、乡村生态环境、乡村文化四个方面论述快速城镇化对乡村的冲击,并在此基础上讨论乡村的发展问题。根据上述乡村发展问题,本文提出若干意见,其中最要顾及的是新型城镇化进程中的乡村建设和农业生产。由于我国的自然条件、资源禀赋、各地的经济区位差异很大、发展的起点不同、进程有快慢、水平有高低,所以,以人为本的新型城镇化,特别要在城乡发展一体化的进程中,构建平等协调的城乡关系。各地城镇化的发展时序可有所不同,但必须因地制宜、同时做好乡村发展规划,力求农业现代化与工业化、信息化、城镇化同步,从而使农业和乡村经济得到持续发展。     

The world agricultural system and ethical considerations relating to the rural environment: Some perspectives on cause and effect in underdeveloped countries

Food is a basic human need and therefore a basic human right. While food output has increased to a level where there is enough food produced to feed the world, still millions starve. Using the concept of capitalist world economy as a framework, this paper provides a structural analysis of the food production and distribution system within monopoly capitalism and its implications for countries of the underdeveloped world. Focusing on the impact of a dominant world food supply system on indigenous systems (particularly through the rise of science, technology, and monopoly capital), considerations relating to environmental use and food production and distribution are raised. Finally a call is made for a new agricultural ethic.     

From subsistence farming towards a multifunctional agriculture: sustainability in the Chinese rural reality

The rural economic situation in China-with a living standard mostly at subsistence level-lags far behind the prosperous development in the cities and coastal areas. To balance this disequilibrium, comprehensive concepts and endeavors are necessary keeping in view all-not just economic-interests and needs that contribute to lively rural identities. In this context the role of agriculture, where still 50% of the Chinese population are working, will be newly defined, and sustainability concepts can help to find a readjusted position within the Chinese economy focusing on environmental health and food safety as main targets of political and other supporting measures. Within the SUCCESS project, a Concept of Sustainable Agriculture was developed and it drafts one conceivable relation between the exposure to natural resources and economy and tries to find new answers to the broad range of rural challenges in China. It is a qualitative model and, therefore, not always fully applicable, but in the concrete situation of villages, it shows possible directions of sustainability-oriented development by considering the typical local potentials. In the Chinese context that means identifying the different functions of agriculture-the well-known and the hidden-to make them explicit for the Chinese public and therewith to give them new significance. The article is based on a 3-years study within the EU-China Project SUCCESS with field research in four Chinese rural communities. It analyzes the agricultural sustainability potential of these selected villages against the background of massive structural changes within the next 20 years in rural China. Starting from the current agricultural reality, based on a qualitative analysis of the actual situation, local potentials and needs towards sustainable production and marketing are identified, and possible functions of the Chinese agriculture are formulated for the future.     

Practical and ethical considerations of agricultural research assistance for the Third World

The right to eat and to an adequate standard of living for everyone motivates agricultural research assistance to developing countries with the primary objective of assuring sufficient food supply. This article focuses on aspects of food production and related agricultural research with specific examples from animal production. It discusses ethics of agricultural research in light of the utilitarian theory and compares livestock production in developing and developed countries. Major reasons for low outputs of animal production in developing countries are identified, and the potential for increasing the productivity of original, extensive production systems is evaluated. The article reviews the current status of biotechnology in developing countries and discusses several advanced animal technologies. The conclusions emphasize the need to involve local professionals in all phases of research and technology transfer in developing countries, avoidance of research that may worsen the situation of the recipients, sustainability of production systems, and the need for detailed assessment of potential impacts of technology on recipients.