A model to examine farm household trade-offs and synergies with an application to smallholders in Vietnam

Lenora Ditzler,Adam M Komarek,Tsai-Wei Chiang,Stéphanie Alvarez,Shantonu Abe Chatterjee,Carl Timler,Jessica E Raneri,Natalia Estrada Carmona,Gina Kennedy,Jeroen C.J Groot

doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2019.02.008

Abstract

Farm models have the potential to describe farming systems and livelihoods, identify trade-offs and synergies, and provide ex-ante assessments of agricultural technologies and policies. We developed three new modules related to budget, labor, and human nutrition for the bio-economic whole-farm model ‘FarmDESIGN’. The expanded model positions the farming enterprise within the farm household. We illustrate the model's new capabilities for farm households in two villages in Northwest Vietnam, where we conducted multi-objective optimization to identify options for improving the farm households' current performance on key sustainability and livelihood indicators. Modeling results suggest trade-offs between environmental, economic, and social objectives are common, although not universal. The new modules increase the scope for modeling flows of resources (namely cash, labor, and food) between the farm enterprise and the farm household, as well as beyond the farm gate. This allows conducting modeling explorations, optimization routines, and scenario analyses in farming systems research.

Highlights

Family-run farms are key agents in global food production, those with landholdings ≤50 ha (Graeub et al, 2016; Herrero et al, 2017)
We evaluated the current performance of the case study farm households by assessing environmental, social, nutritional, and economic indicators calculated by FarmDESIGN (Table 1)
On farm Doan Ket (DK), the maize—French bean—maize rotation had the highest Labor Use Efficiency (LUE), and the home garden (DK5) had the lowest (Table 2); this was because the home garden required daily labor for maintenance and harvesting, while the value of produce was similar to that of pattern DK4

Summary

Introduction

Family-run farms are key agents in global food production, those with landholdings ≤50 ha (Graeub et al, 2016; Herrero et al, 2017). In less-developed countries where gains in food production are acutely needed, up to 70% of food calories are produced by farmers with landholdings < 5 ha, who are classified as ‘smallholders’ (Samberg et al, 2016) Despite their contribution to food production, many of these smallholders are nutritionally vulnerable and score poorly on health indicators related to nutrition and dietary diversity (IFPRI, 2016; Pandey et al, 2016; Pingali, 2015). The paradox that these smallholders play a vital role in global food provisioning while simultaneously falling short of meeting their own nutritional needs grounds the argument that these smallholders should be the primary target of innovations to sustainably increase production, improve diets, and improve livelihoods (IFAD and UNEP, 2013; Tittonell et al, 2016). These decisions are further shaped by competing farm and household needs across spatial and temporal scales (Rufino et al, 2011; Zingore et al, 2010), and may have radiating impacts on other farm household

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion