Livelihoods Of Rural People Research Articles

Construction of Large Dam: Thinking Dynamics and Struggle of Displaced People

In this modern era, mega development projects are largely responsible to bring about social change in rural community. These development interventions have direct or indirect impacts on the life of rural people. Dam construction for hydropower requires confiscation of large land and eventually displaces large number of people. Kulekhani hydropower project is one of few projects in Nepal that has its own reservoir unlike others which relies on run-off-the-river facilities. Thus being one of the large land acquiring project, it has displaced many people, of which, published works are not available regarding the social and cultural practices of displaced people in the aftermath of their displacement from original homeland. This study was conducted in 2018 on Kulekhani Hydropower Project focusing on the dam development from the perspective of psychological, social and cultural landscape of its affected people.This research is largely based on the primary data collected direct from the field study using biographical interview method, which cover the compensation they received and its utilization pattern, change in their old and new lifestyle and socio-economic status of the displaced people. Research shows that development projects displace people from their roots which cause lots of trouble in the beginning but gradually the displaced people develop the capacity to think according to new environment and with a new perspective which is obviously different that the one they had in their origin.

Uncovering the Potential for the Sustainable Commercialization of Non-Timber Forest Products: Palm Fruits in Pando, Bolivia

Palm fruits are important non-timber forest products for rural people's livelihoods in the Amazon region, as many are nutritious foods and have the potential to generate income. However, in Pando, Bolivia, their commercialization is in most cases still underdeveloped. This study aimed to assess the potential of four palm fruits for sustainable commercialization and to identify their related promoting and hindering conditions. The palm fruits studied were açaí (Euterpe precatoria Mart), majo (Oenocarpus bataua Mart), motacu (Attalea phalerata Mart. ex Spreng) and palma real (Mauritia flexuosa L.f.). We gathered data from 14 key informants using semi-structured online interviews, 10 community members using structured interviews, and literature. We analyzed the data with qualitative content analysis and a multi-criteria decision-making method. Açaí has the highest potential due to its high abundance, demand, and specialized institutional support, among others. Majo, with a medium potential, benefited from its similarities with açaí regarding harvesting and processing, but still has technical processing deficiencies. Palma real and motacu had low potential because of low demand and lack of knowledge regarding harvesting and processing. This study demonstrates the importance of considering multidisciplinary factors when assessing sustainable commercialization potentials.

The Dilemma and Countermeasure research of Guangxi Rural Develppment

Through the field investigation experience and literature review, it is found that Guangxi has made a series of remarkable achievements in promoting rural people's livelihood, including the sustainable and healthy development of rural industries, the steady increase of rural residents' income, the orderly promotion of grassroots governance modernization, and the remarkable achievements of beautiful rural construction. But at the same time, in the process of promoting the construction of rural people's livelihood, there are still many problems and difficulties, including the deficiencies of education, medical care, social security, food safety, cultural development and other aspects. In view of these difficulties, this paper puts forward a series of countermeasures and suggestions, such as exploring effective ways to increase rural income, strengthening investment in rural culture and education, improving rural medical service system, and strengthening rural food safety supervision. It is expected that these countermeasures and suggestions can help improve the living conditions of rural residents, improve the development results of rural areas, and provide strong support for promoting the strategic goals of rural revitalization.

A talajkímélő művelési rendszerek áttekintése az éghajlatváltozás hatásához alkalmazkodni képes talajok kialakítása és fenntartása céljából a szubszaharai Afrikában

Change in hydrological intensity in the form of rainfall is predicted to worsen in Southern Africa. Compounded by consequences of higher global temperatures such as heatwaves, may render many Southern African regions prone to drought. The agricultural sectors of the latter regions are faced with a greater threat. In view of such concerns, the aim of this study is to review the available literature to evaluate climate-smart agricultural practices suitable for the mitigation of climate change challenges faced by farmers. Climate-smart agriculture practices are advocated as alternatives for mitigating and managing climate change problems, increasing food production, and improving rural people's livelihoods. This review paper is aimed at the bestowed benefits of climate-smart agricultural practices on soil physical, chemical, and biological and its association to mitigate or manage predicted climate change effects in SSA.

The Good Life: Agriculture Transformation and the Pursuance of Goals in Two Rural Villages of Northeastern Thailand

Agricultural transformation of the developing world encompasses a broad set of subjects, usually revolving around the change in the mode of production and related aspects of production. However, the extent to which the transformation shapes subjective wellbeing is largely under explored. This paper examines how the constructed life goals of local people are shaped by the process of agricultural transformation and how they strive to attain wellbeing. We are especially interested in the ways rural dynamics are changing as a result. The empirical data is based on a two-village study using qualitative methods. The good life of rural people is classified into five types of life goals, including good health, decent quality of education and future employment opportunity for youth, good family relationships, having enough for living and eating, and self-sufficiency. Good health encompasses both the strength of the physical body and spiritual. The agricultural transformation has emerged new challenges to health, particularly the chemical use in agriculture that deteriorated the quality of the environment. The decent quality of education and future employment are attributed to education qualification and jobs with monthly salary. The high competition and the lack of social and political networks have lowered the expectation of rural people from getting government jobs. The transformation resulted in sprit types of family due to migration, while rural people remain highly valued good family relationships, in which modern technology such as cell phone play a part in maintaining distance interaction and good relations. Having enough for eating and living reflects the high priority that rural people giving on foods and housing. This is associated with the growing indebtedness that is threatening the loss of lands and property that are used for debt collateral. Finally, the self-sufficiency that was initiated by King Bhumipol is seen and adopted as a promising means to achieve a good life, however, self-sufficiency is variously defined.

Measuring ecosystem services supply and demand in rural areas: cases from China's key counties to receive assistance in pursuing rural revitalization.

There is a considerable challenge to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of ending poverty and maintaining ecosystems' function in rural areas, largely due to that the rural people's livelihood relied heavily on fragile ecosystems. China is ambitious to solve this issue by enacting economic stimulus policies such as ecological protection compensation and payment for ecosystem services (ESs). However, these interventions are generally based on stockholders' willingness and lack of scientific basis. Here, we firstly combined InVEST model and social-economic data to evaluate the ecosystem services supply and demand (ESSD), by taking 25 key counties to receive assistance in pursuing rural revitalization in Sichuan province as the study cases. The coupling coordination degree model was then employed to measure the coordination relationship of ESSD. Finally, the driving factors were analyzed based on correlation analysis and stepwise regression method. The results showed that all ESs, except carbon sequestration, were oversupplied with significant spatial heterogeneity. From 2000 to 2020, the supply of all ESs increased, in which the food production had the most notable increase ratio amounting to 48.20%, while the demand of water retention and air purification decreased substantially. Due to the inconsistency between cultivated land area and population changes, significant spatial heterogeneity existed in the coordination relationship of food production. The counties with the highest and the lowest annual average coordination index were Yanyuan (0.9950) and Rangtang (0.1208), respectively. The rural employees and the agricultural gross output value were the key positive factors influencing the quantity and coordination of ESSD, while ecological compensation and financial expenditure had no significant impact, further indicating that these policies were not linked to the performance of ecosystems' function. Finally, policy implications were raised. This study provides a scientific framework for enacting the interventions towards ecological sustainability and poverty ending from ESSD perspective.

Inner Lives and Outer World of Rural People: Educational and Socio- Economic Perspective

The objective of the study was to look into the inner and outer lives of rural people from the standpoint of their education and socioeconomic status. It was investigated why rural students could not continue their education after elementary school. The study was exploratory in nature and qualitative approach was applied. The purposive sampling technique was applied to select fifteen participants. A semi-structured interview was conducted to collect data from ten participants. The collected data were analyzed after the themes of the respondents’ responses were determined. Findings of the study revealed that rural people were also willing to get education but their outer world was not supportive. The findings revealed that rural people have dreams of getting higher education, but they were lacking better facilities for it. They could not afford finances to move to big cities to acquire higher education.

Sustainable Improvement Alternatives to Animal Health Service Delivery Constraints in the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa District of the Upper West Region of Ghana

Livestock production plays a key role in the livelihoods of rural people, serving as a source of employment, income, food, and security against the uncertainties of crop production. Yet delivering quality, affordable, and sustainable animal health services remains a major constraint in developing countries, including Ghana. This study explores the sustainable improvement alternatives to animal health service delivery constraints in Daffiama-Bussie-Issa District, Ghana. A total of 150 livestock farmers were randomly selected from fifteen communities and interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires. Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS/IBM) version 20.0 was used to compute all descriptive statistical variables. Chi square analysis was done to check for the effect of some variables on others at a significant level of 5%. The study showed that 42.7% of the respondents were between 46-60 years. However, age had no influence on veterinary service patronage (X=8.672, df=3, p=0.34). Sixty-four percent of the respondents had no educational background. Also, education did not influence veterinary service patronage (X=2.357, df=5, p=0.798). Majority (41.3%) of the respondents traveled over 16 km to access animal health service providers. All (100%) of the respondents who had access to veterinary drugs practiced self-medication. The study revealed government animal health service providers as a sustainable animal health delivery channel. Based on these findings, livestock farmers should be encouraged to consult veterinary service providers before administering drugs and vaccines to their livestock.

Хөдөө тосгоны хараа хÿналтгүй хүүхдүүдийн асран хамгааллын хэлбэр, давуу болон сул тал (Өвөр Монголын Өөртөө Засах Орны Тунляо хотын Баолуншань сум, Найман сум, Ганьчика сумдын жишээгээр)

The 21st century is the technological and industrial era. In this sense, there are many changes in the way of life of us, the humanity and causing many problems. This problem hasn’t skipped the life of rural people in the People’s Republic of China. Homeless children is one of the important burning problems, they face.
 I have made research based on Baolongshan soum, Ganqika soum and Naiman soum of Tongliao city of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. because there are many problems such as parents leave their children with their grandparents, siblings, friends, and neighbors to work elsewhere, parents don’t pay enough attention on their children’s education and they are not able to help their children which can lead to conflicts and misunderstandings between their children and caregivers.

A Critical Examination of Rural Out-Migration Studies in Ethiopia: Considering Impacts on Agriculture in the Sending Communities

Labor migration is a complex phenomenon, yet while much attention has been paid to understanding the drivers of migration, there is a huge knowledge and policy gap regarding the effects of migration on people and communities left behind. We sought to explore the impacts of rural outmigration on migrant-sending communities in Ethiopia. This remains an understudied topic when it comes to research on migration in Ethiopia. Our investigation is based on a critical review of the migration literature pertaining to Ethiopia and, more broadly. We pursued a holistic analysis of the multidimensional aspects of migration. There are indications that rural outmigration impacts involve issues related to remittances, household food security, agricultural labor use, farmland management, and rural infrastructure development. Our analysis revealed that there had been few systematic studies and limited analyses regarding the impacts of outmigration on agriculture and the livelihoods of rural people and households left behind. Instead, Ethiopia’s migration literature largely deals with migration’s causes, including environmental factors, climate variability, agricultural pressures, livelihood stresses, and changing aspirations.

Elements for Devising a Methodology to Assess the Potential for Scaling up Agroecological Initiatives

Given the positive impacts of agroecology on crop yields, conservation of natural resources and biodiversity, food sovereignty, climate adaptation and livelihoods of rural people, scaling up thousands of isolated successful agroecological experiences in the territories, constitutes an urgent mechanism to transform agrifood systems. We explore two pathways: Farmers lighthouses and the Campesino a Campesino methodology (CaC) as strategies to expand successful agroecological initiatives to reach a greater number of farmers and cover a broader geographic area. After identifying the diversity of opportunities and barriers to the scaling up of agroecology it is possible for stakeholders to determine the actions needed to scale up agroecology. A scalability checklist is proposed as an aid in prioritizing alternatives to scale up and to identifying some of the actions that can be taken to facilitate the scaling up process. The amplification dynamics in a particular region can be assessed utilizing ten amplification indicators which include social organization, participation in networks, community leadership, and degrees of dependency on policies or markets among others, as well as degree of adoption of on-farm agroecological practices, all of which capture farmer lighthouses’ potential to amplify territorial upscaling.

Exploring the Benefits of Culturally Responsive Art Learning Experience for Rural Chinese Students

AbstractThis ethnographic case study explored the benefits associated with culturally responsive art learning experience in a Chinese rural town in the process of urbanisation. The case of this study, Fuchong Art Education Programme (FAEP), provided culturally relevant art activities for primary and secondary rural students who cannot access enriched art programmes in schools. Art studio learning, a summer art camp, an art exhibition, neighbourhood sketching, online teaching, student home visits and teacher meetings were documented and examined over an eight‐month period of fieldwork. Semi‐structured interviews with the participating students, their teachers and parents and the programme coordinator were conducted to elicit the participants’ perspectives on the FAEP experience, the benefits of participation and the challenges involved in implementing a culturally responsive art programme. The emerging themes included artistic, personal, social and external benefits, which were examined in relation to previous research on the intrinsic and instrumental benefits of art learning and a local understanding of the value of community art engagement in the lives of rural people. The implications offer guidance for promoting culturally responsive art learning in rural settings.

Reasons for the Success Story of Amul: An Empirical Study of Customers' Opinions

Amul is derived from the Sanskrit word "Amulya," which means valuable or priceless. This paper examines how the dairy product company has reached the level of excellence as one of the leading corporate players. It all began 75 years ago when impoverished farmers with little cattle banded together to establish a rural dairy organization. The fundamental purpose has been emphasized with a quick summary of the practices responsible for the brand's extraordinary development and success (Carroll & Shabana, 2010). Implementation of solid marketing and ethical tactics will be the focus of this study about the management of this enormous endeavor to become Asia's biggest dairy products producer. The progressive work of Amul inspired India's "White Revolution" by improving the lives of rural people in order to increase output and meet the rising demand for healthy, nutritious food in society. This also focuses on the company's innovative advertising and the brief description of the high-quality standards mantras responsible for the company's phenomenal growth and success. The company was concerned with dairy farmers and product consumers as the nation battled to contain the covid virus-19 pandemic (Uddin et al., 2020). During the lockdown, most dairy product companies decided to reduce media spending, but Amul continued to promote its brand by educating the public about the importance of covid-19 guidelines. Amul chose to alter its marketing techniques by forming its cooperative organization, which became a turning point in the dairy growth program for the nation. Amul's establishment of eco-friendly operations to meet growing demand and achieve more success is contingent on the company's motivated and devoted employees in producing safe foods and goods. The dairy company's growth concerning other dairy products occurred despite its exposure to several difficulties and formidable market competition. The tenacity and labor of poor farmers and livestock owners enabled them to become entrepreneurs and sustain their way of life (Ferroni & Zhou, 2012). The endeavor demonstrated that Amul is invaluable in every way, and we must protect it. Therefore, it is not self-serving since it always assures that the profits gained are dispersed equitably for the benefit of farmers and socioeconomic advancement. A standard questionnaire with a five-point interval scale was used to gather data from 119 respondents.

Evaluation of Regional Rural e-Commerce Development Potential with Intuitive Fuzzy Information Theory

In recent years, China’s Internet industry has developed rapidly, and the Internet has penetrated into all aspects of people’s daily lives. As an emerging transaction model, rural e-commerce is an important channel for precise poverty alleviation. To be specific, rural e-commerce can greatly change the lives of rural people in one way or other ways, thus allowing rural consumers to purchase high-quality and inexpensive goods without having to leave home. In other words, the introduction of national e-commerce into rural areas has changed the lifestyle of rural residents, providing them with great convenience in their daily lives. According to statistics, the level of rural e-commerce development in coastal areas is much higher than that in the mainland, while inland areas are hesitant to develop. Rural areas are a crucial component of Chinese society, and the rural economy is also the main driving force of China’s agricultural economy. In an environment where e-commerce is gradually penetrating various fields, the development of rural e-commerce in China has become more urgent with the new and growing rural demand. To be specific, the development of rural e-commerce has become a hot topic in recent years, and it is necessary to gather efforts from all sides to explore and innovate, so as to promote the healthy and orderly growth of rural e-commerce in China. As one of the effective ways to solve the problems of agricultural industry development and farmers’ affluence, rural e-commerce has played an increasingly obvious role in industrial development, poverty alleviation, employment, and solving the problems of selling agricultural products. At the same time, the proportion of national online sales of agricultural products is also increasing year by year. Many rural areas have abundant natural resources, rich history and culture, and a pleasant ecological environment. As a result, a great number of rural areas are well suited for e-commerce development in terms of the overall environment and physical resources. In recent years, the development of rural e-commerce in China has been very rapid, but it has also revealed many problems. Therefore, an in-depth study of the regional factors affecting the development of rural e-commerce is helpful to provide a reference for its better development. Based on the analysis of the current situation of rural e-commerce development, this study collects and organizes the indexes of influencing factors of rural e-commerce. The index system of influencing factors of rural e-commerce development is constructed through data collection and so on. After that, this study adopts the regional fuzzy information theory to evaluate the potential of rural e-commerce development, so as to obtain the main influencing factors of rural e-commerce development.

Clinical Decision Making using Machine Learning

Abstract: Deaths due to cardiovascular diseases are increasing at an alarming rate. This led to nearly 2.1 million deaths in India in 2015. Heart disease is one of the deadliest causes of death worldwide and has a major impact on the lives of rural people. According to a recent study, cardiovascular disease mortality among rural Indians has surpassed urban Indians. Such numbers are alarming, especially when 68% of India's population lives in rural areas that have poor access to quality healthcare. This paper aims to provide a solution to this problem by introducing a new model*clinical*decision*support system*, abbreviated as CDSS, which*includes machine learning algorithms for the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. CDSS is intelligent enough to diagnose a patient's*disease* and help the doctor prescribe the*correct medication, reducing the cost and effort required to prescribe unnecessary treatment. *In this work, we applied correlation-based feature selection (CFS) and a multilayer perceptron classifier on a large heart disease dataset. The dataset used in this study is the "Cleveland Clinic Foundation Heart Disease Dataset" available at the UCI Machine Learning Repository. Our proposed model produced greater accuracy compared to other existing models used in this study. This system can be integrated into a public health care setting to help rural people get a correct, timely and cost-effective diagnosis.

The influence of religious beliefs to the practice of zemstvo insurance at the 2nd half of the 19th - early 20th century (based on the materials of Vladimir and Ryazan provinces)

Based on the materials of Vladimir and Ryazan provinces, the influence of mentality and religious beliefs of rural population on zemstvo insurance institute in the 2nd half of the 19th – the early 20th century is analysed in the article. Zemstvos not only insured movable and immovable property from fire, or cattle against various diseases, or fields and crops against natural calamities, but they also carried out mass fire-fighting activities – including planning settlements, planting trees, digging wells, embanking, buying fire-fighting equipment, developing fire-resistant construction. However, sometimes zemstvos failed to involve peasants in insurance operations. Peasants tried to keep their houses, cattle and crops at any cost, but, instead of insuring fields and crops, they often “dissolved” in the depth of religious beliefs and various prejudices. Based on the analysis of a wide range of sources, especially archival ones, zemstvo insurance activity within the territory of Vladimir and Ryazan provinces is studied in the article. The authors conclude that religious beliefs, along with prejudices, still played an important role in the life of rural people of that time, and insurance was viewed by peasants mainly through the prism of different superstitious beliefs.

From ‘hydrology of hope’ to ‘hydrology of despair’: a feminist review of Mushandike small-scale irrigation scheme in the semi-arid region of Southern Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT The physical and social environmental repercussions of large dam construction have pre-occupied development discourse for some time globally. Literature on dam projects focuses on the displacement of humans and wildlife from their natural habitats and the dam’s contribution to urban and industrial transformation. There is a dearth of literature on small dams and small-scale irrigation projects in communal areas. This article examines the status of Mushandike irrigation scheme, which was designed to transform the lives of rural people located in the semi-arid ecological region of southern Zimbabwe. We used ethnographic principles of data generation guided by a feminist theoretical framework to get to women farmers’ lived experiences. Mushandike small-scale irrigation scheme has been a ‘hydrology of hope’ for women farmers for many years. However, multifarious factors, both natural and human-induced, are turning it into a ‘hydrology of despair’. Although farming is still done from a business perspective, water stress due to an inefficient water and land allocation management system, linked to patriarchal ideological practices, has driven the irrigation scheme onto a difficult trajectory. The article recommends a paradigm shift in the irrigation scheme’s management to ensure that the original ethos – that irrigation farming is equivalent to formal employment – is re-adopted.

Medicinal Plant Resource Diversity of Agroecosystem in Thiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu, South India

The Agroecosystems provide food, fuel, fodder, medicines, etc. These are all natural resources and livelihood for rural people in India. The aim of the present study was to document the diverse medicinal plant resources available in the agroecosystem of Valayampattu village in Thiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu, India. The field study was carried out during October 2018 to march 2019. The diverse of medicinal plant resources include a total of 32 plant families comprising 52 medicinal plant species (36 Trees, 3 Shrubs and 13 Herbs). Of them, the share of dicotyledons was 86.54% and monocotyledon was 13.46%. Among the dicotyledons, the families of polypetalae contributed 48.08 %, gamopetalae 17.31%, and monochlamydeae 21.15% to the Siddha medicinal plants. A total of 27 plant

Use of clean energy for sustainable livelihood in rural areas: A case from South Odisha

For economic development of any country, state and region energy is necessary. In addition to economic development, to lessen the harmful effect of fossil fuels on environment and improve quality of life of people, ensuring availability of reliable clean energy solutions at an affordable price has become essential. However, their use is limited. The reasons for its limited uses could be due to weak institutional arrangements with respect to affordable financing and supply chain issues. People in rural areas face problems related to poor quality of life, low income and energy related problems which are characterised by availability, reliability, affordability, cost, drudgery, pollution, safety and health-related issues. Hence, there is need for a clean energy system that can address these challenges in a sustainable manner. This paper focuses on adoption of clean energy in rural areas of South Odisha. In the present paper, a case study analysis was used for understanding the diffusion process of clean energy products that is solar lights in the rural areas of South Odisha. The major findings were how the diffusion of solar lights helped in generating income for the rural people of South Odisha. A novel approach of action research initiative was undertaken to enhance the quality of life of rural people in South Odisha by diffusion of solar lights. An attempt was also made to develop the supply chain for last mile delivery of the solar lights and sensitising the community service providers to become clean energy entrepreneurs was also focused.

Food Security for Improving the Livelihood of Rural People

This paper highlights different ways of agriculture farming emphasizing food security in order to improve the livelihood of rural people in Nepal as a fundamental aspect of rural development. Italso reviews briefly the methods of farming going on in Nepal and also provides different types of impacts it has. It’s been found that a more dependent population is just engaged the agriculture for their households’ needs only and they are required to be motivated to engage in intensive agriculture. As all the regions of Nepal are having their own scheme of production, not much attention is given to food security. Food security programs incorporating local skills and agriculture inputs for higher productivity are important in order to improve the livelihood of rural people. The growing urgency of organic products can minimize the gaps between rural and urban areas from health, economic and socio-cultural perspectives.