Survivor needs or logistical convenience? Factors shaping decisions to deliver relief to earthquake‐affected communities,Pakistan 2005–06

In Bureaucratizing the Good Samaritan , Waters (2001) argues that bureaucratic rationality distracts humanitarian agencies from the needs of the people they are supposed to assist, in favour of other values that their institutional frameworks dictate. We test his claim by investigating the response to the Pakistan 2005 earthquake. One of us (Dittemore) worked with the United Nations Joint Logistics Centre in the theatre, managing a relief cargo shipment database. The response, known as 'Operation Winter Race', was hampered by extreme logistical challenges, but ultimately succeeded in averting a second disaster resulting from cold and starvation. We use statistical models to probe whether survivor needs significantly guided decisions to deliver relief to affected communities. Needs assessments remained incomplete and incoherent. We measure needs through proxy indicators and integrate them, on a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform, with logistics and relief delivery data. We find that, despite strong logistics effects, needs orientations were significant. However, the strength of decision factors varies between commodity types (food versus clothing and shelter versus reconstruction materials) as well as over the different phases of the response. This study confirms Thomas's observation that logistics databases are rich 'repositories of data that can be analyzed to provide post-event learning' (Thomas, 2003, p. 4). This article is an invitation for others to engage in creative humanitarian data management.     

种粮大户扩大农地规模意愿存在盲目性吗?

种粮大户扩大农地经营规模出于什么样的动机?是否存在盲目性?这一问题的答案不仅关系到粮食安全问题,也关乎到农村土地流转和农业适度规模经营政策等重大问题。本文基于2015年1月和8月对安徽省种粮大户的两次实地调研数据,建立heckman两阶段模型和解释结构模型(ISM),检验种粮大户扩大农地规模意愿是否存在盲目性并探寻导致规模扩张意愿的因素及其作用机制。研究发现:种粮大户扩大规模意愿强烈,且在不同农户间扩张意愿差异显著;影响其扩大规模意愿及意愿强度的浅层次因素为农户借贷能力,其中,民间借贷途径、正规金融贷款经验对扩大规模意愿的正向影响作用显著;中层次因素为家庭资源禀赋,其中家庭资本禀赋不足对农户扩大规模意愿及强度产生显著正向的影响,家庭劳动力数量对农户扩大规模意愿强度有显著负向影响;深层次因素为同行态度、家人态度、政策激励等外部环境因素,其中,同行态度、家人态度、获得荣誉称号、获得物质奖励等因素对扩大规模意愿的正向影响作用显著。研究结果表明,种粮大户规模扩展意愿存在一定的盲目性,究其原因:一是种粮大户强烈的逐利动机和较强的风险偏好,农户几乎完全褪去生计生产者的身份,家庭资源不足使得农户依赖于借贷满足扩大生产意愿,表现出对债务风险的偏好;二是粮食生产规模化进程中同行、家人的主观规范及一味求快贪大的行业政策激励导向。鉴于此,应加强现代企业管理知识培训,提升种粮大户科学管理和科学决策水平;建立粮食生产适度规模风险监测预警机制;调整政策导向、行业导向和舆论导向以抑制种粮大户的盲目扩张行为。     

Climate change and adoption of sustainable land management practices in the Niger basin of Benin

Due to the important role that the agricultural sector plays in sustaining growth and reducing poverty in developing countries, the adoption of practices that have the potential to simultaneously improve agricultural productivity while minimizing environmental impacts is essential. This paper examines the determinants of farmers’ perceptions of climate change and subsequent adoption of sustainable land management practices in the Niger basin of Benin. Binary and multivariate probit models are applied in a two‐stage regression procedure to cross‐sectional data collected through a survey of 545 randomly selected farm households in 28 villages. The findings indicate that there are substitutabilities among three pairs of sustainable land management practices being used by the farmers. Climate change perception is positively related to land tenure, experience in farming, number of relatives, tractor use, and membership in farmers’ organizations, and negatively related to household size, remoteness, and plough use. Moreover, the findings reveal that the uptake of land management practices is related to assets, land tenure, education level of the household head, remoteness, social network, non‐irrigated land size, having a farm located near a river/lake/stream, tractor and plough use, being a subsistence farmer or not, and memberships in farmers’ organizations. The adoption of sustainable land management practices could be encouraged through improving access to markets, adequate roads, and technologies, as well as by promoting membership in farmers’ organizations.     

南方稻区农户适应气候变化行为实证分析 ——基于江西省36县(市)346份农户调查数据

利用江西省36县346个农户调查数据,运用Heckman Probit选择模型实证分析了影响农户气候变化感知及其适应行为决策的因素,结果表明,户主年龄、文化程度、与村民交流频率、来往亲戚数、赶集频率、看电视频率、距离市场远近及气象信息服务等因素能显著影响农户对气候变化的感知;而户主性别、年龄、文化程度、可借款人数、来往亲戚数、赶集频率、看电视频率及气象信息服务等因素对农户气候变化适应行为决策有显著影响。最后,根据实证分析结果,提出了促进农户采用气候变化适应行为的政策建议。