Household Subsistence Research Articles

Effect of Flood on Poverty Status: Evidence from Sugar cane Farmers in Kwara State and Osun State of Nigeria

In Nigeria, sugarcane is a prominent crop and the primary crop used to produce sugar. However, floods have been a major tragedy that has troubled Nigeria's small-scale farmers. The bulk of rural poor people are these small-scale farmers, and as poverty rates have been rising over time, corrective action is required. This study was therefore carried out to assess the poverty status of sugar cane farming households (affected by flood, and unaffected by flood) in Kwara/Osun State of Nigeria. The study employed two-stage sampling technique to select 120 sugarcane farming households in the study area. Descriptive statistics, the Flood Loss Estimation, Logit Regression and Foster Greer Thorbecke (FGT) are the empirical analytical tools employed to analyze the data collected for the study. The results of the poverty index analysis revealed that 46 percent of the respondents are relatively poor, the poverty depth was 0.16 which implies that 16 percent were below the poverty line and the poverty severity was 0.07 which implies that 7 percent of the respondents were severely poor. Also, it revealed that flood shocks, gender, household size, household income, access to credit and membership to social organization were significant determinants of poverty. The study then came to the conclusion that many coping mechanisms people employ are corrosive because they have detrimental long-term implications on the sustainability of household subsistence. For future risk assessments and flood mitigation, the study advises using a holistic strategy and adept models. The remedies outlined in this paper would help the government, private sector, and sugar cane farmers economically.

Typology of agricultural holdings: a starting point for understanding the performance of irrigated systems in Baalbek Al Hermel Lebanon.

The Mediterranean region is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change (CC) which raises important problems for Mediterranean agriculture. In fact, climate disruption creates some uncertainty in the decision-making of farmers in the management of their farms. This understanding can help researchers to better orient agricultural research on adaptation at the farm level and can help policy makers to develop adaptation policies. The semi-arid region of Baalbeck El Hermel is increasingly threatened by climate change. The agricultural systems constituting the main source of household subsistence in this zone show a significant vulnerability to these disturbances, especially about the limit in water resources. In this research we propose a framework to represent agricultural activities using typologies of farms and production units aggregated at a regional scale. We used empirical data from a local case study of the five most representative farming systems in the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. Analysis of the results showed several behaviors and several levels of resilience of these farms:1-farms specializing in market gardening or perennial crops are very sensitive to drought conditions and are not resilient in the face of water limit conditions;2-the diversified farm with olive tree dominance is less sensitive and more resilient.

Social Differentiation and Household Dynamics Associated with Early Season Shea Nut Collection and Trading in Burkina Faso

Originally a domestic product used by West African rural population, shea nut has become an international commodity exported all over the world. However, local periodic markets remain a central site of exchange and nut trading for many women shea nut collectors in Burkina Faso. Using survey data from Burkina Faso, this paper explores the ways in which shea nut collectors navigate shea nut trading. Many collectors engage in early nut trading during the farming season to cover their household subsistence needs, despite the lower shea nut price at that time of the year. The results show that this early market consists mostly of better off shea nut collectors buying nuts from worse off collectors, as the lead firms and wholesalers tend to enter the market later in the season. While the exchanged volumes remain small, this highlights social differentiation among women shea nut collectors, as the better-off collectors are able to invest their shea income in other sources of income, while the other collectors rely on shea for their reproduction needs. Furthermore, this social differentiation is also reflected in different household dynamics and bargaining strategies between spouses, as better-off collectors tend to collaborate to a larger extent with their partners than the other collectors.

Livelihood Activities of Ethnic Minorities in Cao Bang Province: Case Study in Nam Tuan Commune, Hoa An District

This study aims to analyze the livelihood activities of ethnic minorities in Cao Bang province, using data from direct interviews of 120 households in Nam Tuan commune, Hoa An district. The results show that the livelihood activities of ethnic minorities are still precarious and mostly reliant on agricultural production, with tobacco plants serving as the mainstay of household subsistence. Additionally, there are differences in the means of subsistence among household types, with the poor relying more on tobacco and having less means of subsistence than other types. The government must promulgate policies to support and restructure the agricultural sector in order to increase added value and sustainable development, particularly by encouraging cooperative practices in the value chain of agricultural products.

Digital inclusive finance and rural household subsistence consumption in China

This paper examines the impact of digital inclusive finance (DIF) on the subsistence consumption of rural households in China. We find that rural residents in areas with well-developed DIF tend to have greater subsistence consumption. Channel analyses show that such tendencies can be explained by the income growth effect and vulnerability mitigation effect associated with DIF. The income growth effect occurs as the development of DIF promotes rural residents’ income. Income growth is stimulated via improved entrepreneurship to earn operational income or inducing rural-to-urban migration to earn wage income. Meanwhile, the observed vulnerability mitigation effect suggests that DIF could reduce rural residents’ future income uncertainty by alleviating the impact of exogenous shocks. Furthermore, we apply Lasso algorithms to predict expected consumption, and find that the development of DIF is associated with a higher probability for overconsumption in rural households. Such side effect occur mainly among individuals with weak time preferences. We conclude that, the development of DIF has merits, because doing so is beneficial to increasing rural residents’ economic resilience and building an inclusive, sustainable and prosperous society in the post-COVID-19 era.

How many people globally actually use non-timber forest products?

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are widely used wild, biological products harvested from rural and urban landscapes for household subsistence, income and culture, thereby contributing to human wellbeing. Estimates of the numbers of people making use of, or being dependent on, NTFPs vary widely, and global estimates to date have excluded urban populations and also NTFP users in the Global North. Additionally, most global or continental estimates are two or more decades old, and hence do not account for significant worldwide changes in societies, cultures, economies and landscapes since the estimates were made. Here we collate more recent empirical studies reporting the number of NTFP users at fine scales that we extrapolate up for three broad regions, viz. rural areas of the Global South, urban areas of the Global South, and the Global North, as the basis for estimating the number of NTFP users globally. We calculate the lower and upper bounds, as well a median estimate. We find the lowest and median approximations to be 3.5 billion and 5.76 billion users globally, respectively, based on conservative approaches. This is more than double and triple, respectively, the oft cited and dated figure of 1.6 billion. Moreover, we find that only half of the global NTFP users are located in rural regions of the Global South, and that the other half are in urban areas and the Global North, showing that NTFPs are of importance across socio-economic and geographic regions, not just in remote and underdeveloped villages of the Global South. With such large numbers of users around the world, it is imperative that the supply, management, conservation and safeguarding of the values of NTFPs take a more central place in sectoral and development policies.

Subsistence Production and Commodity Production in the British Imperial Food System: The Case of Nova Scotia Apples

The history of agriculture in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley before the Second World War has mostly been written as a story of the marketing of apples to Britain. Indeed, the valley in the first half of the twentieth century featured the full apparatus of industrial fruit production: grading and inspection systems, mechanical sprayers delivering chemical sprays, expert advice, and an infrastructure of railways, packing houses, storage facilities, and commercial intelligence. Analysis of government and other expert reports, as well as diaries, oral interviews, and census data, reveals that the business of supplying apples to global markets was built on a foundation of household production that mixed commodity crops with the making of crop and animal products for local markets and the growing of food for farm families. For valley farmers, selling on global capitalist markets was only part of a range of strategies for household subsistence.

State and life in Cuba: calibrating ideals and realities in a state-socialist system for food provision.

Based on our collective ethnography of Cuba’s socialist system for the provision of state‐subsidised food, this article explores manners in which the state weaves itself into the fabric of people’s everyday lives in state‐socialist society. Instituted by Cuba’s revolutionary government in the early 1960s, Cuba’s ‘state system for provisioning’ is still today the backbone of household subsistence, propelling individuals into direct daily relations with the state via its neighbourhood‐level network of stores that distribute food catering to citizens’ ‘basic needs’. Our ethnography brings together a series of studies conducted by the members of our team in different parts of Havana, charting the most salient aspects of people’s interaction with the state in this alimentary context. We argue that the state becomes pervasive in people’s daily lives not just because it is present in so much of it, but also as the basic normative premise on which people interpret and evaluate everyday comportments in the interactions food provisioning involves. Life in state socialism involves the constant and intricate comparison of its own realities against the normative ideals the state purports to institute. These ‘vernacular comparisons’ between life and state, as we call them, are the ‘local knowledge’ of state socialism in Cuba.

Peraturan dan Pengendalian: Menjelaskan Penurunan Produksi Pangan di Jawa 1940-1946 dan Kelaparan 1944-1945

The paper discusses the major reasons for the drop in food production in Java during the period of Japanese occupation. Statistics on the acreage and production of six main foodstuff during the year 1940-1946 showed significant reduction of food production in Java after 1942. This reduction is explained as the result of several physical limitation to the production and marketing process of foodstuff. The article explicate several other factors that added to the principal reason for the fall in food production after 1942. The principal reason is laid on the control system of the Javanese rice economy that had reduced the real purchasing price of grain. This resulted in little incentive for peasants to pursue surplus production outside of their household subsistence needs. The only incentive was a negative incentive of forced deliveries.

Perceptions and Behaviors of Indigenous Populations Regarding Illegal Use of Protected Area Resources in East Africa's Mountain Gorilla Landscape.

Illegal activities and use of park resources are the main challenges facing mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) conservation and the protection of their habitats in the East Africa's Greater Virunga Transboundary Landscape (GVTL). Indigenous residents around GVTL are considered the primary illegal users of park resources. Despite this, there is limited understanding of the current and past perceptions of indigenous residents living in communities adjacent to two GVTL parks; Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda. Equally, there is also limited understanding regarding the actual incidences of illegal activities inside both parks. This paper addresses these gaps. Perception data were collected from indigenous residents living adjacent to both parks. Further, Ranger-based Monitoring (RbM) data from both parks were analyzed to determine actual numbers and types of illegal activities over the 9-year period. Interestingly, findings indicated that residents perceived the prevalence of illegal activities to be decreasing across GVTL. To the contrary, RbM findings indicated that the number of actual illegal activities was increasing significantly, particularly in Volcanoes National Park. The discrepancy found between the two perspectives provides for a discussion of the social biases potentially present in these data, and their implications for management. Results also illuminated the subsistence-related nature of most illegal behaviors and suggest that to reduce illegal activities and local dependency on park resources, park management must work with communities and support them in tapping into alternative livelihoods and finding ways to address community household subsistence needs.

New Improvement of Labor Accounting in the Sharing Economy

The investigation of labor is a key aspect of population research, and labor accounting, as its foundation, is an important means to judge the degree of economic development and monitor the changes of the labor market, having always been a focus of scholarly research. At present, the sharing economy is on the rise worldwide and influences labor accounting. In this paper, starting from the context of the sharing economy and the current situation of labor accounting, several important aspects of labor accounting will be discussed. In the context of the sharing economy, household subsistence service production is to be included in the production accounting boundary, which is the root of the changes in labor accounting. On this basis, the following findings are drawn. (1) The scope of accounting for employment should be expanded, which puts higher demands on the labor accounting method. (2) Working time should be remeasured, especially indicators based on pay time. (3) Finally, the design of indicators in labor underutilization also requires the formation of new ideas, especially unemployment should be redefined. Finally, in view of the current status of labor accounting in China, policy suggestions for future improvement under the sharing economy are put forward.

Determinants of Commercialization of Agricultural Products in East and West Gojjam, and Awi Zones, Amahara Region, Ethiopia

Agricultural commercialization is a process of involving the transformation from agricultural products for household subsistence to production for the market in orders to enhance the likelihood of the farmers. The objective of this study is to investigate the determinants of commercialization of agricultural products in the three zones of Amahara region. Both explanatory and causal types of research were applied and by review of previous empirical studies, a research questionnaire was developed for small holder farmers as a means of data collection. To address the objective of the study, 359 questionnaires were prepared and distributed to the respondents. The actual data collected from small holder farmers were analyzed by using binary logistic regression and the finding indicates that eleven predictor variables such as, marital status, education, family size, farm size, training, off farm income, access to extension, access to irrigation, access to private transportation, access to market information and price volatility have statistically significant effects on commercialization of agricultural products. Therefore, it is suggested that the identified problems are addressed through collaborative and deliberate action of both farmers and the government to bring sustainable solution to enhance commercialization of small holder farmer’s in the study areas. Keywords : Commercialization, logistic regression, determinant factors, Agricultural products, east & west Gojjam zone DOI : 10.7176/JMCR/63-04 Publication date: December 31 st 2019

Population structure and regeneration status of woody species in a remnant tropical forest: A case study of South Nandi forest, Kenya

The study was conducted to investigate the population structure and regeneration status of South Nandi forest and document uses of trees using 35 nested - plots of size 600 m2 (30 m × 20 m) each. A total of 68 species from 37 families and 60 genera of woody plants were encountered in the study area. The plants were categorized into seedlings, saplings and adults based on DBH classes then status of natural regeneration category determined. A Shannon-Weinner index mean value of 2.64 was obtained suggesting high species diversity in South Nandi forest. About 16.2% of woody species in the forest showed none to poor regeneration; good to fair regeneration (36.6%) and new regeneration of 47.2%.The population structure of the woody species showed an inverse-J curve when all species were considered. However, individual species showed varying patterns; for example, Olea capensis, Albizia gummifera, Maesopsis eminii and Mimulopsis arborenscens did not show the inverse -J curve. The density and basal area for whole forest was 537.3 ± 74.8 stems ha−1 and 26.8 ± 12.0 m2ha-1 respectively. Solanum mauritianum has become invasive in the forest and quick action is required to check its spread. Species with low Importance Value indices and those species with none to poor regeneration status should be prioritized for conservation. Over 78% of the plant species had multiple uses suggesting that this forest played an important role in the household's subsistence and income contribution. Detailed regeneration studies are recommended to fully understand the causes and probable mechanisms that could promote natural regeneration.

Determinants of objectively measured physical activity in rural East Timorese children.

The human juvenile period evolved as a period of learning and physical development in a family environment that subsidizes the costs of these processes. Children allocate energy to physical activity, maintenance, and growth. How energy is allocated has consequences for adult body size and other life-history traits. In subsistence agriculture populations, where child contributions to the household economy are common and energy availability is low, trade-offs in energy expenditure between activity and growth may help explain poor growth. Using accelerometry, we measured physical activity over 2 years in 88 free-living children aged 5-19 years in two ecologically varying communities in rural Timor-Leste. We model characteristics related to variation in activity, and subsequently, activity is modeled against growth, illness, and aspects of household and local ecology using linear mixed models. Physical activity in Timorese children is characterized by high levels of moderate ( = 8.8 h/day), no sustained vigorous, and little sedentary activity ( = 4.6 h/day). Children in the mountainous community show a slight trade-off between activity and growth (P = .077). Males down-regulate both growth and activity relative to females. Variation in household characteristics does not predict child activity. Both activity and growth are lower in the mountainous community than in the flat, coastal community. Household demands on child behavior may constrain children's ability to moderate activity relative to nutritional status. Activity in this population is high relative to other subsistence populations, possibly because children face the dual pressures of contributing to household subsistence and attending school.

Social Equity: A Route to Progressive Taxation of Individuals

Most countries of the world use a progressive scale to tax individuals. However, the level of taxprogression decreased a lot thanks to a lower number of rates and their fall in the first twodecades of the XXI-st century as liberal ideas had spread in the middle of the XX-th century.Individuals' income can be taxed either at a progressive or a flat scale of rates. At the sametime, there is no straightforward position, which scale to choose in the economic theory.Tying the personal income tax rate not to the absolute figures of income, but to suchcategories as a household's subsistence level, a budget of a household in comfortablecircumstances would be reasonable in conditions of a dynamic Russian market environmentburdened with inflationary phenomena. This model of the personal income tax and the use of a progressive scale in a city with population numbers of up to 20 million people shows that the tax will rise by a mere US $4.7 compared with the current 13% for low wage workers under the recommended model, while the income tax for medium paid workers will rise by US$ 57.8. At the same time the figure rose by US$ 372.9 for highly paid employees.The use of this model ensures a significant increase of budget income of a region and closureof the gap between wages of highly and low paid workers employed in the economy.

Restricted pasturing of domesticated cattle at a Late Neolithic settlement in Central Germany

Domestic cattle (Bos taurus) were one of the most important animal resources exploited by farming communities throughout the Neolithic period in Central Europe. However, little is currently known about cattle husbandry practices in use for Late Neolithic communities located in Central Germany. Here, we present new zooarchaeological and isotopic data in order to better understand cattle management strategies used during the late fourth and early third millennia BCE at the Late Neolithic Bernburg settlement of Hundisburg-Olbetal in Central Germany. Strontium isotope values of cattle tooth enamel reveal that these animals were most likely herded on local pastures. The overall range of carbon isotope values of sequentially sampled cattle teeth suggests the ingestion of graze that grew in open C3-environments all year round. Furthermore, the observed temporal offset between maximum carbon and oxygen isotope values most likely reflect a herding strategy where cattle grazed on open pastures in the floodplains during the growing season and were possibly kept near the settlement on stubble fields after harvest. Altogether, these data indicate Late Neolithic cattle management systems at the Bernburg settlement of Hundibsurg-Olbetal were small in scale and likely focused on meat production for household subsistence.

Regulations on the Use of Fish and Wild Meat Segregate the Intrinsically Un-Dissociable for Subsistence Livelihoods in Colombia

Wild animals have a special importance in Colombian rural contexts, where access to other sources of protein is limited. In rural communities, fishing and hunting provide food and generate income for household subsistence. In general, an important portion of the animals harvested is consumed within the family, and the remaining surplus is traded to acquire other subsistence foods and goods. Under the Colombian legal framework, harvesting animals from the wild (fishing and hunting) for subsistence purposes is allowed without restrictions on harvested amounts, if limited to family consumption. However, the trade of wild fish and wild meat, even in small amounts, is subject to a license, permit, or authorization. Regulations for the commercial use of wild fish, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, are clear and simple to comply with. On the other hand, the commercial use of wild meat, regulated under the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, remains illegal in practice, due to the complex requirements and the caveats in the regulatory framework. The reasons for these differences in the legal requirements to obtain a commercial permit for wild fish and wild meat are based on institutional differences and not on the sustainability of the practice. Considering the relevance of both hunting and fishing for rural livelihoods, it is important to question whether the current legal framework offers guarantees for the sustainable use of these resources in the future. Our analysis shows that the contrasting regulatory approaches between fish and wild meat use, as well as the discrepancies in the arguments to justify commercial fishing while prohibiting wild meat trade, have concrete consequences for local livelihoods. Moreover, instead of guaranteeing sustainability, bans on wild meat trade lead to more underground distribution channels and, potentially, also to increased pressure on fish stocks. Integrated management options need to be encouraged at the local level and promoted through integrated policy and regulatory frameworks for both resources and their habitats. Improved valuation and monitoring systems for subsistence and small-scale fish and wildmeat trade should also be integrated in the regulatory system to ensure sustainability for the future.

Precarious Labour, Occupied Lands: The Checkpoint Economy and the Proletarianization of Palestinian Women.

The thesis explores the phenomena of the proletarianization of Palestinian women and their experiences as migrant workers in Israel. Proletarianization refers to the separation of producers from the land they utilize for household subsistence and transforming them into wage labourers, hence integrating them into the capitalist system of production. Within this political economy framework, it will become clear that we are not only exploring a capitalist context, but most distinctly the economics of occupation. The assignment of these women to a separate ethnic group within Israel, but also to a separate economic group of "guest" workers who went back to their homes in Palestine at the end of the day had deep implications on both the economies and the structures of Palestinian and Israeli societies. This mostly unprecedented separation of the Palestinian woman from her land and family disturbed the traditional structure of the Palestinian private household. I will also explore how this phenomenon transformed these women and to what extent it transformed their gender roles, "liberated" them from patriarchy, and where it situated them in the nationalistic struggle against occupation.

Dairy buffalo production scenario in Bangladesh: a review

The objective of this review is to draw the present scenario of dairy buffalo production in Bangladesh and their contributions to the national economy. Buffaloes in Bangladesh are mostly indigenous type encompasses with swamp and river and are distributed throughout the country. However, the population is higher in coastal part, Meghna-Ganga and Jamuna-Brahamaputra flood plain, considered to be the buffalo pockets. The total buffalo population is 1.471 million which are mostly managed in household subsistence farming as well as bathan in coastal region. Buffaloes are normally used as a draught animal and in lower extent partially for milk and meat production. Most of the farmers are rural small holders; traditionally practiced crop-livestock integration upon which the management practices of buffalo usually depends. Buffaloes are raised in homestead and approximately 5-7 hours were grazes per day in household farming. Small amount of concentrate is usually offered to buffalo during dry season only by the economically viable farmers. On the other hand, in bathan, farmers are fully depended on grazing at public fallow land. Lower milk production efficiency, poor reproductive performance followed by under nutrition and low growth rate in buffaloes resulted insignificant contribution to the national economy of Bangladesh. Balanced nutrition and better management practices can improve buffalo productivity. In order to do so, a number of issues are required to be addressed such as establishment of nutrient requirements for dairy, development of buffalo calf feeding systems, artificial insemination technique, nutritional management of metabolic and reproductive anomalies, and understanding and exploitation of the buffalo gut ecosystem. Productivity of buffaloes can be mainly depended on genetic improvement, good nutrition, good management and also climatic conditions of an area. Extensive coordinated research and extension efforts are required for increasing dairy buffalo production in this country.Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. September 2017, 3(3): 305-316

Survivance Strategies and the Materialities of Mashantucket Pequot Labor in the Later Eighteenth Century

Scholars in New England have long been puzzled by the mixed materialities of colonial period Indian homes. Variously interpreted as a strategy for survival, a reflection of cultural loss, or as representations of continuity and change, these sites and their assemblages remain undertheorized. This article focuses on three sites from the Mashantucket Pequot Indian Reservation in southeastern Connecticut, dating between the 1740s/1750s and the 1780s. By considering the differences among them, archaeologists can begin working toward new understandings of Pequot Indian survivance. That research pathway starts with a reconsideration of Indian work in the 1700s, in which household subsistence labor is distinguished from household surplus labor and labor products from labor time. This tactic allows for more in-depth, contextual studies of furnishings and foodways, in which the differences amongst site assemblages become clues to changing reservation ecologies, social exchange networks beyond the reservation, everyday household rhythms, and acts of “quiet defiance.”