Agrarian Structure Research Articles

Migration and Agrarian Change in Eastern Hill Region of Nepal

Migration is a fundamental factor of human mobility and civilization through which people largely shift their ways of living to secure better life. The agrarian mode of social stratification dates back to the human civilization that have also been changing across. Among the various sectors, agriculture is considered to be the backbone of developing economy which has been largely influenced by mobility of the people. By considering this fact, the true value of migration lies on the rapid transformation of existing agrarian pattern of most of the economy. The aim of this paper is to analyze the role of migration in agrarian social change in the eastern hill of Nepal. This research paper is primarily based on the secondary data obtained through reviewing different published as well as digital scholarly sources and other official records to obtain the required information. The study reveals that migration is one of the dominant factors of agrarian social change in hill regions of Nepal. Since, agriculture growth is inevitable for better rural livelihood, the gradual diversification of rural livelihood dominantly influenced the agrarian social structure and the development of rural hill regions.

Land struggles, livelihoods, and trajectories of agrarian change in the Polochic valley, Guatemala

ABSTRACT This article assesses the impact of political contestation on trajectories of agrarian change in the Polochic valley, Guatemala. Livelihood surveys were carried out in four Indigenous Maya-Q’eqchi’ agrarian communities, two of which obtained access to land as a direct outcome of grassroots resistance to land grabbing. By situating livelihood strategies within the broader political economy, I argue that political contestation has inadvertently reproduced a functionally dualist agrarian structure that sustains the agroexport plantation economy while leaving little potential for expanded reproduction among campesino households. Agrarian social movements must look beyond land access alone to achieve the transformative change they seek.

Decades of Land and Agrarian Reform in Zimbabwe: a Review of Transformative Social Policy Lessons for Other African Countries

Abstract Land is an enabler and guarantor of people’s socioeconomic wellbeing. As Africa grapples with enduring multiple human development challenges, though not the sole pathway nor a panacea, reforming land tenure, agrarian structures, and agrarian relations has immense capacity to address the structural causes of poverty, inequality and marginalisation. Yet, the corpus of scholarly literature that consciously centres the transformative social policy lessons of land and agrarian reform is paltry. The article uses Zimbabwe and Transformative Social Policy as the evaluative case study and lens respectively, to navigate the lessons of transformative social policy that are pertinent to other African countries. If appropriately designed and supported, land and agrarian reforms are core social policy instruments with multiple transformative functions – redistributive, productive, protective, reproductive and social compact. Nevertheless, these reforms are not the sole approach for transforming and guaranteeing people’s socioeconomic wellbeing in Africa.

Changing Agriculture Patterns and Environment Concerns

Over fifty-percent of India's population depends on agriculture for their living, as it plays a major role in the country's food security. Agriculture has been and is still the foundation of the Indian economy. From Post-Independence subsistence-oriented and feudal systems to modern technologically sophisticated and market-driven agriculture, the sector's history is shaped by government reforms, technological advances, and socio-economic shifts. In this context this paper examines the Post-Independence agrarian structure, the transformative Green Revolution which comes with a number of environment concerns ranging from increased green-house gas emission contributing to global warming and climate change accompanied by land degradation, soil and water pollution. The paper also critically assesses the implications of climate change on crop production, water resources, and rural health and livelihoods and outlines future directions for sustaining agricultural growth and ensuring food security.

Trends and drivers of land abandonment in Poland under Common Agricultural Policy

The results of existing research predict that the area of abandoned land will increase in many European regions. One of the countries that are the most prone to this process is Poland where agriculture, after many transformations, is still an important sector of the economy. It is essential to determine drivers of the abandonment of agricultural land use in order to effectively counteract this process. Through the Common Agricultural Policy, the European Union financially supports farmers who use agricultural land in accordance with the environmental protection requirements. This study investigated to what extent the land use, the characteristics of agricultural holdings, the demographics as well as economic factors impacted the process of land abandonment in Poland during the period 2002–2020. The analysis was carried out using statistical and spatial data pertaining to the period before and after Poland’s accession to the European Union. Our results demonstrate that the share of abandoned land within the country's agricultural area has decreased from 9.7 % to 1.2 %. Direct payments to farmers and the agrarian structure of farms were the most significant factors affecting this process. Spearman’s rank order correlations between the share of abandoned arable land and the two mentioned variables are close to or higher than 0.5 in each analysed year. The obtained results did not confirm the common conviction that environmental factors play a decisive role in the process of cultivation abandonment.

Spatial Differentiation in the Use of Rural Development Programme Funds for the Environment in Poland for the Periods 2007–2013 and 2014–2020

The purpose of this paper is to assess the changes in agricultural producers’ use of funds allocated for environmental measures under the 2007–2013 RDP (Rural Development Program) and 2014–2020 RDP in Poland. The extent to which environmental CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) funds are used was examined on a geographic basis, so as to take account of socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of districts. Correlation analysis and a cartographic method were used. The study found growing differences in how the funds are used between territorial units. The analysis of correlation provided grounds for concluding that a relationship exists between the share of environmental funds used in total RDP payments and environmental conditions, mostly including the share of permanent pasture in the structure of agricultural land (0.515 in 2014–2020). Conversely, no relationship was discovered between the level of wealth and the local agrarian structure (0.249 and 0.327 in 2014–2020). The analysis of differences between territorial units revealed that in some geographic areas that had the potential for being granted environmental funds, the farmers decided not to apply for them. Based on the above, it was concluded that the potential beneficiaries’ activity in that respect is largely impacted not only by their environmental awareness and attitude but also by historical events.

Current state and forecast model development of the agrarian structure of the Southern Federal District

Current state and forecast model development of the agrarian structure of the Southern Federal District

Modernization and underemployment in a dual agrarian sector: The case of Brazil (1950–1980)

This paper presents a case study of employment trends in Brazilian agriculture between 1950 and 1980. Using primary data, I document the displacement of workers from large and mid-sized establishments and the expansion of self-employment in an increasingly fragmented smallholding sector. I compute novel measures of rural population and find significant corresponding trends in employment-to-population ratios, thus contributing new evidence of the persistence of rural underemployment in a period of fast industrialization and growth. I conclude by examining the main rural development policies adopted in the period within a coherent framework for understanding the adoption of technical innovations. I argue, in particular, that the State concentrated price and credit subsidies on large and mid-sized producers and neglected investments in research, extension, and rural infrastructure. This policy mix interacted with Brazil’s dual agrarian structure and enhanced the incentives for the adoption of labor-saving innovations.

Old Empires, Modern State: Legacies of Partitions on Voting Behaviour in the 2023 Polish Parliamentary Elections

Abstract The legacies of former partitions are still visible in today’s Poland in the economy, society and politics. Our article integrates the historical and geographical perspective into the study of electoral behaviour in Poland. We conduct a geographical description of electoral results in the 2023 parliamentary elections and determine how economic and cultural attributes related to different paths of development associated with the former partitions are reflected in the apparent spatial differences. We distinguish between direct and indirect influence. It is indirect when differences in economic development (e.g. changes in agrarian structures) or cultural transformations (e.g. secularisation) resulting from former policies are reflected in different electoral choices. The influence is direct if belonging to a former empire determines electoral behaviour regardless of the economic and cultural determinants of the vote. We found that the influence concerns primarily the former Russian and Austrian regions. The analysis is conducted at the county (powiat) level.

Territorial strategies of forestry and agricultural corporations in Uruguay – the Southern Cone region of Latin America

ABSTRACT Agribusiness is the main mechanism of spatial fix for international capital in the Uruguayan agricultural sector. Transnational corporations are the driving force behind the most significant agricultural transformations witnessed in the twenty-first century. The objective of this study is to gain insights into the territorial strategies employed by agribusiness corporations in Uruguay and to identify the resultant territorial changes linked to their expansion. The findings of this study reveal that these corporations: (i) prioritise the expansion over efficient territories with favourable agrarian structures; (ii) they significantly alter the preexisting agrarian structure – establishments size, intensity of land use and socioeconomic relationships; (iii) they give rise to new territorialities characterised by one-way agrarian transitions towards more capital-intensive uses. These transitions are linked to the intensification of land use, mounting pressure on land prices, and the deepening of processes of proletarianisation. This study stands as a significant milestone, as it is based on georeferenced data from land managed by companies. It provides evidence to support the argument that corporate encroachment in Uruguay exacerbates the processes of land concentration and exclusion, thus affecting the equitable distribution of wealth and resources. The article provides a general framework that can be applied to understanding corporate expansion in other regions.

Assessing Microbial Diversity in Páramo Soils (Multistrategy Analysis): Effects of Potato Farming and Livestock Grazing in Nevados National Natural Park, Colombia

High Andean Páramos are very fragile neotropical ecosystems. Moreover, biodiversity in these areas is threatened by the anthropic activities of agriculture, cattle raising, and mining and has been little studied. Changes associated with potato farming and livestock grazing on microorganisms of Páramo soil of the Nevados National Natural Park (Nevados NNP) were assessed by (1) determination of physical and chemical properties (physicochemical matrix) and enzymatic activities associated (enzymatic activity matrix) with different biogeochemical cycles (C, N, and P); (2) microbial community functional diversity via evaluation of functional groups associated with carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles using cultivation-dependent techniques (arable functional group matrix and most probable number matrix); and (3) microbial diversity using cultivation-independent techniques that employ the hypervariable V5–V6 region of the 16S rRNA gene and pyrosequencing (16S-454 genus matrix and 16S-454 OTU matrix). Four of the six evaluated matrices (physicochemical, enzymatic activities, most probable number, and arable functional groups) revealed significant differences according to land use. The strategy adopted by the arable functional group matrix, in which the diversity of nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, and cellulolytic compounds was evaluated, showed the most significant impacts of the different factors (land use, season, and elevation), especially those caused by potato cultivation and livestock. These results indicate that the initial impacts of potato farming and livestock grazing on the microbial community in El Bosque Village are better detected by functional diversity analysis than by molecular analysis of the 16S rRNA gene V5–V6 variable region. The results may have been caused by the type of molecular marker used in the analyses and the type of agricultural practices used by peasant farmers, which affect the functional diversity of the soil community. Among these practices are the maintenance of fallow periods greater than 7 years between each potato crop and the small proportion of cattle in relation to the total land area of the village. As the findings can be interpreted as an indicator of the early impacts of potato cultivation and livestock on microbial diversity, the effects of implementing community management plans, applying agroecological models, retaining biocultural memory, and changing agrarian structure are relevant for mitigating future changes.

Progress towards a more sustainable and equitable food system in Brazil?

Introduction: Brazil’s agri-food sector, traditionally being a low productivity sector, has evolved towards significant investment in technology-driven large-scale agribusiness, making Brazil a major food exporter. An increase in intensive large-scale agriculture production, while benefiting Brazil’s economy and export revenues, has also resulted in significant social and environmental externalities. With the aim to improve food security and more equitable access to food, Brazil’s federal government has intervened with a range of policies and initiatives to eliminate hunger and incentivize more sustainable practices for improved environmental outcomes. Objective: The paper provides an overview of the agri-food policy landscape, and policy innovations since the early 2000s intending to drive a transition towards a more sustainable and equitable agri-food system. Results and Discussion: It also highlights the challenges in implementing policies and programmes in the context of Brazil’s agrarian structures, vested interests and political conflicts surrounding the allocation of public assets. Successful implementation will require further innovation, collaboration and inclusive partnerships to foster food system transformation pathways towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

ФІНАНСОВИЙ МЕХАНІЗМ УПРАВЛІННЯ РИЗИКАМИ СТАЛОГО РОЗВИТКУ АГРАРНОГО СЕКТОРУ ЕКОНОМІКИ

The article considers the effectiveness of risk management in the process of implementation of agricultural activities by enterprises. Currently, all enterprises in the economic market, especially in the agricultural sector, strive to achieve the highest possible performance, guaranteeing financial stability and profitability. The nature of financial risk can be interpreted in different ways. However, one should not consider risk only as a negative factor in entrepreneurial activity. Risk is both the possibility of loss of funds and the possibility of their increase. The attempt to formulate the essence of the main risks, to summarize their types and to determine the management measures is made. The aspects of realization of risk management mechanisms occurring in the market environment have been studied. The results obtained show the importance of risk protection in the implementation of innovative technologies of agricultural production management. Conclusions are made about the effectiveness of instruments of influence on the sustainable development of the agrarian structure. Agricultural land, as well as other sectors of the economy, have characteristics that affect the specificity of the manifestation of risks. The nature of financial risks, their classification and influence on the financial condition of enterprises are considered. It is established that financial risk management is closely related to the implementation of methods of financial recovery of the enterprise, including effective financial and economic stability of the enterprise, ensuring smooth operation of economic entities, maintaining adequate rates of enterprise development and legal protection of all participants of economic activity. Proposed are steps to mitigate the influence of financial risks on the enterprise’s production outcomes. The domain of financial risk management is structured to safeguard the financial stability of the enterprise. Unlocking the potential is feasible when existing risks are countered or reduced, enabling farmers to attain an acceptable risk level. Hence, effective risk management becomes a crucial objective in overseeing agricultural sector activities.

Use of Union Funds in Developing Agricultural Entrepreneurship between 2014 and 2020 in Poland

The purpose of this paper was to examine the differences in using agricultural entrepreneurship support and how it relates to characteristics such as the agrarian structure, socioeconomic development level, and land use across the Polish territory. The analyses were carried out at the district (poviat) level which is an intermediate administrative unit. This study found that the decisions on co-financing the measures dedicated to non-agricultural economic activity heavily depended on the agrarian structure. The highest levels of activity were witnessed in districts where the agrarian structure was particularly fragmented.

Rural Shrinkage: Depopulation and Land Grabbing in Chilean Patagonia

One current global problem is the shrinkage of rural areas, which is expected to become an increasingly recurrent dynamic caused by the transformations in land uses and forms of habitation of the contemporary era. Patagonia is a suitable case study to understand the processes and challenges exposed by rural shrinkage, which not only addresses population loss but also the causes and consequences that transform rural territories. Its remote geographical location and climate conditions make it a complex place for human settlement. The objective is to describe the relationship between the agrarian structure and rural population decline in Chilean Patagonia. Taking a mixed methodological approach that combines the geohistorical review of settlement processes and the use of statistical procedures with census data, the presence of significant inequalities in the distribution of land and the accumulation of areas in large properties is discussed. The loss of rural population was identified, which may be driven by unequal access to land favoring concentration for extractive activities such as large-scale sheep farming, hydrocarbons and biofuels production. This prompts the exodus of young people to urban centers in search of work and education because land grabbing limits economic options, and rural depopulation reduces service coverage without timely responses from political institutions. This has caused the rural shrinkage in territories with demographic imbalances, with high aging and masculinization rates that hinder the repopulation of these areas, which have historically suffered from underpopulation. In conclusion, population strategies in these areas based on extractivism and a strict land ownership regime have not facilitated permanent human settlement but have instead complicated it more.

Promotion of Associativism for Family Production in Argentina and Uruguay (2003-2019)

In both Argentina and Uruguay, the agricultural policy of the progressive governments has evidenced two facets: a sustained stimulus to the expansion of agribusiness and a series of compensatory policies for family production and rural wage earners. Within this set, the study focuses on policies to promote associativism in family farming. In particular, it reconstructs the objectives, recipients, and implementation strategies in the territory of rural development programs. The quantitative impact that these programs had on the construction of the network of associations of family producers is also preliminarily. The work is part of agrarian history in a comparative key. It allows a narration that advances in the recognition of the general tendencies that the progressive governments of both sides of the Río de la Plata evidenced for the attention of the most vulnerable sectors of the agrarian structure, based on the complexity of the political-institutional framework and the rural world of each one of the countries involved.

Diversification of sugar production in Zimbabwe: wealth accumulation from below by outgrowers

ABSTRACT This article analyses the implications of the diversification of the sugar production occasioned by the land redistribution implemented in Zimbabwe since 2000 on wealth accumulation by sugar outgrowers. While the extensive land reforms altered the national agrarian structure it also widened participation in sugar production as more than 1,000 black land recipients were integrated as outgrowers of transnational capital. This study shows that wealth accumulation is noticeable through farm mechanisation. However, the exploitative nature of the schemes through pricing of inputs and outputs, as well as monopoly rents accruing to transnational capital tends to slow down the pace of accumulation.

STRATEGY OF PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT. ASSUMPTIONS AND PRACTICE

The aim of the article is to confront the arrangements of official strategy papers concerning agricultural and rural development, including the performance indicators, with the data illustrating the real policy pursued in this area and the effects of this policy. The content of key strategy papersas well as relevant data from the Central Statistical Office and the Ministry of Finance were also analysed. As a result, it was found that: (1) the indicators of objectives focused on supporting agriculture and rural areas adopted in analysed strategies cannot be used to interpret a coherent concept of the policy towards rural areas and agriculture; (2) there are inconsistencies between the arrangements of different strategies; (3) public support was aimed primarily at improving the income situation of farmers, to the detriment of achieving such objectives as improvement of agrarian structure and efficiency of farms, improvement of living conditions in the countryside and more effective environmental protection.

Становление Харбина как русского центра аграрного производства, земледельческой культуры и науки. 1898–1931 гг. (к 125-летию со дня основания)

In the article dedicated to the anniversary date – the 125th anniversary of the founding of Harbin, in retrospect, the author analyzes the cultural and industrial and technological influence of Russia on the modernization of the agricultural and industrial complex of the north-eastern frontier of China – the NEC (Manchuria). A brief analysis of the history of Harbin's development as a major center of the formation of Russian agricultural pro-duction, agricultural culture and science is given. The role of the Land Department of the KVZhD, the Manchuri-an Agricultural Society (MAS), the Society for the Study of the Manchurian Region (OSMR), as well as 3 agricul-tural Centers identified by the author in the process of research, with experimental fields at them, including the Harbin Experimental field, which played a leading role in the zoning of new crops for the region. The contribu-tion of Russian agricultural scientists and agricultural practitioners of Harbin to the development of the agricul-tural complex of the region is assessed. It is concluded that in the 1910–20s. By the beginning of the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1931, Harbin was formed as the basic center for the formation and development of the modern agrarian-industrial complex in the economic organization of the region at that time, which served to transform the traditional agrarian structures of this region of China.

Factors associated with rural aging in Brazilian municipalities: an analysis using quantile regressions

In rural Brazil, aging is an important phenomenon for the future of the country’s agricultural production. This process is associated with both increased life expectancy and rural-urban migration. According to studies on migration, young people are more likely to change their place of residence, being attracted by the existence of work opportunities and, consequently, repulsed by their scarcity. This study assumes the rate of rural aging tends to be higher in places where the ratio of urban to rural work opportunities is high. Thus, using spatial dependence models and quantile analysis of data from the 2017 Agricultural Census, the effects of factors associated with income, agrarian structure, and location on rural aging in Brazilian municipalities were assessed. The results suggest rural areas with low attractiveness situated close to urban centers are the most susceptible to population aging and, consequently, rural depopulation.