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.     

Reconnecting nature,farming and society: environmental cooperatives in the Netherlands as institutional arrangements for creating coherence

An important implication of agricultural modernization has been the break-down of interlinkages between farming, ecology and society. Historically, farming systems evolved from the specific responses of farming communities to local ecological conditions. The totality of regionalized farming systems arising out of this co-production moulded the countryside into an ‘archipelago’ of differentiated ruralities. During the period of agricultural modernization, the nature of co-production changed thoroughly. The natural elements in co-production were increasingly artificialized or replaced by industrial artefacts. This paper analyses the emergence of environmental cooperatives in the Netherlands as a movement towards a renewed embedding of farming in its local environment. Environmental cooperatives are local farmers associations that promote activities related to sustainable agriculture and rural development and claim to be actively involved in effectuating rural policies in their locale. Since the foundation of the first cooperative in 1992, numbers have rapidly grown to over 100. This paper examines the genesis and practices of environmental cooperatives and assesses their socio-economic and ecological impact. The importance lies most of all, so the authors contend, in that they represent valuable ‘field laboratories’ for building stimulating and supportive institutional contexts for remodelling Dutch farming along the lines of environmental and economic sustainability. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Energy cooperatives in Germany – an example of successful alternative economies?

ABSTRACT

Because of their democratic governance and value-driven approach cooperatives are often regarded as a prime example for alternative economies and contributing to (more) equitable economic development. Furthermore, they theoretically combine production and consumption and are often regionally-oriented. The recent boom of German renewable-energy cooperatives provides an interesting example of how cooperatives can also make an important contribution to sustainable development, here the German energy transition, and its social acceptance. The paper will first show how a specific regulatory environment supported this development and then analyse how German energy cooperatives cope with legal changes leading to less favourable institutional conditions. Based on a comprehensive survey, we examine whether they can, apart from their legal form, be regarded as alternative economies. Our analysis is guided by a set of criteria derived from Gibson-Graham’s diverse-economies framework, including voluntary and paid work, (origin of) borrowed capital, size and structure of membership, business goals and strategies, especially after the legal changes, as well as regional orientation. We will show how different categories of German energy cooperatives differ with regard to their business models, alternative-economy characteristics and coping strategies. The future development of energy cooperatives in Germany will very likely be as diverse as their recent history, thus illustrating the diversity of alternative-economy organisations as stipulated by Gibson-Graham. Most of them, however, deal with the new regulatory environment pro-actively and are developing business models, which are independent from public support and might lead to new cooperative strategies at the shifting interfaces between state, market and civil society.     

Farm Level Adaptation to Climate Change: The Case of Farmer’s in the Ethiopian Highlands

In Ethiopia, climate change and associated risks are expected to have serious consequences for agriculture and food security. This in turn will seriously impact on the welfare of the people, particularly the rural farmers whose main livelihood depends on rain-fed agriculture. The level of impacts will mainly depend on the awareness and the level of adaptation in response to the changing climate. It is thus important to understand the role of the different factors that influence farmers’ adaptation to ensure the development of appropriate policy measures and the design of successful development projects. This study examines farmers’ perception of change in climatic attributes and the factors that influence farmers’ choice of adaptation measures to climate change and variability. The estimated results from the climate change adaptation models indicate that level of education, age and wealth of the head of the household; access to credit and agricultural services; information on climate, and temperature all influence farmers’ choices of adaptation. Moreover, lack of information on adaptation measures and lack of finance are seen as the main factors inhibiting adaptation to climate change. These conclusions were obtained with a Multinomial logit model, employing the results from a survey of 400 smallholder farmers in three districts in Tigray, northern Ethiopian.     

Assessment of the Enabling Rural Innovation (ERI) approach: Case studies from Malawi and Uganda

This paper presents lessons from applying an innovative action research approach for linking smallholder farmers to markets, in eastern and southern Africa. The Enabling Rural Innovation (ERI) approach aims to strengthen social organization and entrepreneurial capacity in rural communities. It focuses on fostering community‐based capacity for the inclusion of rural women and the poor in analyzing and accessing market opportunities. Using case studies from Malawi and Uganda the paper assesses the outcomes of ERI on rural communities with a focus on human capital, gender issues and investment in natural resource management. Results show that households are benefiting significantly from linkages to markets in terms of increasing household incomes, and accumulating assets. Skills in analyzing markets and in negotiating with traders have increased among smallholder farmers. The integration of gender in the approach has led to changes in gender decision making patterns at household and community level towards a more shared decision‐making process. The results however show a difference in skills between men and women, with women showing lower levels of skills acquisition. Farmer participatory research has increased investments in improved technologies such as fertilizer applications for soil fertility management.     

Assessing the Influence of Social Responsibility on Reputation: An Empirical Case-Study in Agricultural Cooperatives in Spain

The attention to ethics has gradually become a concurrent topic of modern companies’ management. In the last years Social Responsibility has become a key issue in the strategic agenda of competitive agriculture cooperatives. However, reputation management has not been a visible strength in the cooperative enterprises. First of all, this work theoretically analyzes the relationship between Social Responsibility and reputation in cooperatives. Later, from a practical point of view, we carry on an empirical analysis focused on the olive oil cooperatives in the south of Spain, in the province of Jaén. With respect to the previous studies on the topic, this work reveals a main reason of interest reinforcing the role of research in addressing real problems of cooperatives. The article points out the characteristics of this kind of agribusiness and shows the importance of the adoption of a responsible orientation in fostering reputation for creating sustainable competitive advantages.     

Waste-based composites—Poverty reducing solutions to environmental problems

This paper highlights an innovative model of waste management combined with poverty reduction, which has been developed by the organisation Waste for Life (wasteforlife.org) - a network of academics, students, practitioners and on the ground cooperative partners in low income communities. The Waste for Life teams work with local cooperatives to create waste-based composites, which may be sold in local markets, thereby creating an income stream. The application of this model to the context of cartoneros (waste picker) cooperatives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, reveals that viable products can be made from paper and plastic waste, with low-impact material preparation that circumvents the need for chemically intensive, polluting and mechanically degrading procedures, preserving recycled fibre integrity. Tests on material samples indicate mechanical properties comparable to products made with more complex processing. The production model is based on the philosophy that not only the waste materials, but also the production equipment should be locally sourced and manufactured and products created to suit local markets. A simple reproducible model has been developed for the local manufacture of composites from waste, which can provide an income source for waste pickers as well as providing an innovative waste management solution.     

Impact of nigerian agricultural policies on crop production and the environment

Summary Nigerian efforts in agricultural development over the past three decades have failed to improve the country's economy. A review of the sector depicts a gloomy picture. Performance is reflected in environmental degradation, mounting food deficits, and decline in both gross domestic product and export earnings, while retail food prices and import bills have been increasing. These effects have further impoverished the smallholder farmers, locking them into a poverty web. The Government must seek to establish agricultural strategies which promote political stability, self reliance, public participation, sustained production and environmental security.Dr Gbadebo J. Osemeobo is a land use and conservation specialist working for the Nigerian Tropical Forestry Action Programme. He received from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, a BSc in 1976, an MSc in 1982 and a PhD in 1985. His research interests are in rural land use, habitat/biotic preservation, and environmental conservation. He has worked in various capacities with the Federal Department of Forestry; as Head of the Zugurma Sector of Kainji Lake National Park, 1978–1980; as Head, Regional Offices of the Federal Department of Forestry in Benin and Abeokuta, 1981–1989; and as a specialist in the Tropical Forestry Action Programme from 1990 to the present time.     

Community values for environmental protection in a cane farming catchment in northern Australia: a choice modelling study

Choice modelling is an emerging approach to estimating the non-use values of environmental services with multiple attributes. In this paper, results are reported of a choice modelling study conducted in the Herbert River District of North Queensland to estimate the value placed on the protection of natural vegetation in areas suitable for cane production by the local community. Resource use options that vary in the level of environmental protection and the level of agricultural production were presented as a series of choice sets and respondents were asked to choose among a set of three discrete alternatives in a given choice set. The alternatives in each choice set were described by four attributes, pertaining to the area of teatree woodlands, the area of vegetation along rivers and in wetlands, regional income from cane production, and an environmental levy. The responses were analysed together with socio-economic data using a nested-logit discrete-choice model to estimate the community willingness-to-pay for the protection of natural vegetation. The results indicate that the environmental values of wetlands are comparable to returns from commercial production of sugar cane and that the values of teatree woodlands are comparable to returns from extensive grazing. It is argued that land allocation policies should recognise these values in tandem with commercial benefits of production to ensure that resources are used more efficiently.     

The Impact of Policy and Institutional Environment on Costs and Benefits of Sustainable Agricultural Land Uses: The Case of the Chittagong Hill Tracts,Bangladesh

As in other mountain regions of Asia, agricultural lands in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh are undergoing degradation due primarily to environmentally incompatible land-use systems such as shifting cultivation (jhum) and annual cash crops. The suitable land-use systems such as agroforestry and timber tree plantation provide benefit to the society at large, but they might not provide attractive economic benefits to farmers, eventually constraining a wide-scale adoption of such land-use systems. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate agricultural land-use systems from both societal and private perspectives in the pursuit of promoting particularly environmentally sustainable systems. This article evaluated five major land-use systems being practiced in CHT, namely jhum, annual cash crops, horticulture, agroforestry, and timber plantation. The results of the financial analysis revealed the annual cash crops as the most attractive land use and jhum as the least attractive of the five land-use systems considered under the study. Horticulture, timber plantation, and agroforestry, considered to be suitable land-use systems particularly for mountainous areas, held the middle ground between these two systems. Annual cash crops provided the highest financial return at the cost of a very high rate of soil erosion. When the societal cost of soil erosion is considered, annual cash crops appear to be the most costly land-use system, followed by jhum and horticulture. Although financially less attractive compared to annual cash crops and horticulture, agroforestry and timber plantation are the socially most beneficial land-use systems. Findings of the alternative policy analyses indicate that there is a good prospect for making environmentally sustainable land-use systems, such as agroforestry and timber plantation, attractive for the farmers by eliminating existing legal and institutional barriers, combined with the provision of necessary support services and facilities.

Effect of agricultural extension on cotton farmer's efficiency in arid and semi-arid areas of Burkina Faso

This study shows that farmers in arid and semi-arid land can improve their efficiency if they have access to agricultural extension services. An exhaustive survey was used to obtain data from 423 cotton producers in the arid zones and 144 of wetlands in Burkina Faso. The method of the directional distance function modeling a multi-output technology was used. The results show that cotton farmers in the arid zones are not technically more inefficient than those in wetlands. On average, arid zone producers have a technical inefficiency of 0.056 while that of wetland producers is around 0.052. The agricultural extension, defined as receiving visits and advice from technical agents, is important for producers because it helps farmers choose soil and water conservation techniques and fertilizers adapted to the Agro-climatic conditions of their respective zones. Agriculture extension also helps farmers of the arid zones to reduce their technical inefficiency by advising them to cultivate small agricultural plots. On average, in these zones, the size of an agricultural plot is around 1.03 ha compared to those of wetlands which is about 1.6 ha.     

Toward energy and livelihoods security in Africa: Smallholder production and processing of bioenergy as a strategy

The past few years have seen a phenomenal rise in the production and consumption of biofuels and biodiesel at the global level. This development is of special significance to Africa, where about 550 million people (75% of the total population in Sub‐Saharan Africa) depend on traditional biomass (wood, charcoal, cow dung, etc.) and lack access to electricity or any kind of modern energy service. Derived from plants and agricultural crops, biofuels and biodiesel represent modern forms of bioenergy and more efficient use of biomass energy. Beyond efficiency, modern bioenergy offers tremendous opportunities to meet growing household energy demands, increase income, reduce poverty, and mitigate environmental degradation. In the African setting, energy and livelihoods security are indeed inseparable. This paper argues economic, social, and environmental benefits of modern bioenergy can be realized through a strategy that centres on smallholder production and processing schemes and pursuit of a livelihood approach to energy development. Such a scheme opens up new domestic markets, generates new cash incomes, improves social wellbeing, enhances new technology adoption, and lays the ground for rural economic transformation and sustainable land use. The paper concludes by underlining the vital importance of considering sound property rights and strategic planning of sustainable development as tools for sustainable energy and livelihoods security.     

Stakeholders' expectations from the agri-environmental programme in Slovenia and Croatia

The agri-environmental programme (AEP) is the European Union policy instrument used for the delivery of environmental services expected by the society, but societal expectations for these environmental services are insufficiently assessed. In order to realistically meet the expectations of AEP, this research utilises analytical hierarchy process based web survey to assess the importance that various societal stakeholders in the European countries of Slovenia and Croatia give to specific environmental services and to also identify the agricultural practices that have the greatest potential to realise the expectations that society values the most. All stakeholders (overall group) from Slovenia and Croatia ranked water quality and availability as the first most important environmental service, and reduction of pesticides as the most important agricultural practice to deliver societal expectations. The results indicate that there is similar demand for environmental services in these two countries that differ in their agricultural settings.     

Assessing the role of economic actors in the production of private and public goods in three EU agricultural landscapes

The study analyses the contribution of relevant economic actors to the provision of private and public goods in agricultural landscapes. A method consisting of a multi-sectoral perspective and an integrated approach based on the analytic network process (ANP) and the use of selected local stakeholders is applied. The usefulness of the method is demonstrated in three European case studies in Austria, Italy and Spain. The results show that agriculture and tourism are the sectors that contribute the most and the least, respectively, to the provision of goods and services in agricultural landscapes. Moreover, the results underscore that policy instruments towards such provision need to be targeted differently in different areas and must take into account the different roles of the local actors involved.     

Journalists' views of advertiser pressures on agricultural news

All major journalism ethical codes explicitly state that journalists should protect editorial copy from undue influence by outside sources. However, much of the previous research on agricultural information has concentrated on what information various media communicate (gatekeeping studies) or communication's role in increasing innovation adoption (diffusion studies). Few studies have concentrated specifically on organizational and structural constraints that might adversely affect agricultural journalists' ethical standards; those that have, focus largely on farm magazines. A study of newspaper reporters who cover agricultural news found that the most pressing ethical concern is the effect of advertiser (agri-business) pressure on editorial copy, and that their concerns in general parallel those of farm magazine writers and editors. The majority reported being in situations in which they might be exposed to advertiser pressure, including pressures to change or withhold editorial copy. Large minorities suggested that advertising pressures affect the overall environment in which agricultural journalists work, and more than one in ten said they allow advertiser pressures to influence editorial decisions. The newspaper reporters who cover agricultural beats showed slightly more resistance to advertiser pressure than did farm magazine editors in a parallel study.     

An integrated approach to modeling resource utilization for rural communities in developing countries

Resource consumption in developing countries has been the focus of a considerable amount of research. What has been understudied however, has been the feedback affects of resource consumption on resource availability to both households and communities. Heavy reliance on natural resources and intensive smallholder agriculture common to many rural communities in developing countries has forced people to fulfill short-term needs to the detriment of long-term ecological and livelihood sustainability. This paper introduces a conceptual framework to examine how individuals and households fulfill daily caloric needs and the aggregate effects on resource availability and consumption. Data were collected from a large number of published case studies of rural land-use dynamics, growth and yield models, and human livelihoods were reviewed from scientific journals, reports published by NGOs, and government reports. Using inputs defined by the user, the model tracks annual fuelwood and agricultural land use based on meeting individual energy demands. A case-study-based analysis was patterned after smallholder agriculturalists at the family and community level. Three scenarios are presented in this paper using data from Uganda to illustrate the application of this model.     

Traditional agricultural practices enable sustainable remediation of highly polluted soils in Southern Spain for cultivation of food crops

This study relates elemental content of a range of edible crops grown in soils severely polluted by metals and metalloids as affected by traditional smallholder management practices. Five agricultural plots close to a sulfidic waste dump were monitored. Soil analysis demonstrated elevated concentrations of As, Cu, Pb and Zn that were greatly in excess of maximum statutory limits for agricultural soils in the studied region. The main vegetables (lettuce, chard, onion, potatoes) and lemon, together with their associated soils, were measured for elemental content. Extractable soil element concentrations were very low. There were differences in elemental accumulation between crops, but none exceeded statutory concentrations in edible parts. Soil-plant transfer factors were uniformly low for all elements and crops. It is concluded that traditional soil management practices (annual liming and application of animal manures) have created conditions for sustainable long-term safety use, with potential for multiple end-use, of these highly polluted soils.     

Soil fate of agricultural fumigants in raised-bed, plasticulture systems in the southeastern United States

Soil concentrations and degradation rates of methyl isothio-cyanate (MITC), chloropicrin (CP), 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D), and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) were determined under fumigant application scenarios representative of commercial raised bed, plastic mulched vegetable production systems. Five days after application, 1,3-D, MITC, and CP were detected at concentrations up to 3.52, 0.72, and 2.45 μg cm, respectively, in the soil atmosphere when applications were made in uniformly compacted soils with a water content >200% of field capacity and covered by a virtually impermeable or metalized film. By contrast, DMDS, MITC, and CP concentrations in the soil atmosphere were 0.81, 0.02, and 0.05 μg cm, respectively, 5 d after application in soil containing undecomposed plant residue, numerous large (>3 mm) clods, and water content below field capacity and covered by low-density polyethylene. Ranked in order of impact on the persistence of fumigants in soil were soil water content (moisture), soil tilth (the physical condition of soil as related to its fitness as a planting bed), the type of plastic film used to cover fumigated beds, and soil texture. Fumigants were readily detected 13 d after application when applied in uniformly compacted soils with water contents >200% of capacity and covered by a virtually impermeable or metalized film. By contrast, 1,3-D and MITC had dissipated 5 d after application in soils with numerous large (>3 mm) clods and water contents below field capacity that were covered by low-density polyethylene. Soil degradation of CP, DMDS, and MITC were primarily attributed to biological mechanisms, whereas degradation of 1,3-D was attributed principally to abiotic factors. This study demonstrates improved soil retention of agricultural fumigants in application scenarios representative of good agricultural practices.     

Environmental sustainability in an agricultural development project: a system dynamics approach

Regional agricultural projects based on water resource development have many potential impacts on social and natural environments. In this research, potential long-term environmental problems of the Southeastern Anatolian Project (GAP) related to water resources, land use, land degradation, agricultural pollution and demography are analysed from a systems perspective. The analysis focuses on the totality of environmental, social and economic issues. For this purpose, a system dynamics simulation model (GAPSIM) has been developed as an experimental platform for policy analysis. GAPSIM was validated, first 'structurally', using the tests suggested by the literature and then the model 'behaviour' was tested and calibrated with respect to available data. The reference behaviour of GAPSIM reveals that, as the irrigated lands are developed, GAP faces significant water scarcity because of the increased intensity of cotton, the crop with the highest demands for water. Simulation results also indicate that two key environmental factors, pesticide and fertilizer consumption may reach undesirable levels. Alternative irrigation water release strategies, development rates of irrigated fields and farm rotation practices appear as important policy tools in achieving long-term environmental sustainability. GAPSIM promises to be not only a useful laboratory for policy makers of GAP, but also a useful generic structure applicable to other similar regional development projects.     

Analysis of the impact of tourism on agricultural carbon emissions-based on the mediating effect of nonagricultural transfer of labor in China

How to control the growth of agricultural carbon emissions while developing tourism has become the primary issue that needs addressing in the development of rural China. This paper explores the impact of tourism on agricultural carbon emissions and further analyses the mediating effect of labor transfer in this relationship. The analysis is evaluated using provincial panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2007 to 2019 with a sequential regression model. The results show that tourism development increases agricultural carbon emissions, which is more pronounced in areas with advanced economies or higher education levels. Second, labor transfer to nonfarming industries suppresses the increase in agricultural carbon emissions caused by tourism. Finally, (i) the impact of tourism on labor transfer in less developed and less educated regions is limited, and (ii) there is the expectation of large-scale use of agricultural machinery due to labor transfer in economically developed or highly educated areas. The heterogeneity test shows these two reasons lead to a mediating effect of labor transfer on agricultural carbon emissions in different regions.