Livelihoods Of Rural Communities Research Articles

Komunikasi Digital dan Perubahan Sosial Masyarakat Pedesaan

The digital era has brought significant changes in the lives of rural communities, including in Sukolilo Pati village. This research uses a qualitative descriptive method to describe the current phenomenon. The article outlines the challenges and opportunities faced by village communities in the face of digital technology development. Limited internet access, the potential for economic empowerment, improved access to information and education, and the role of technology in health and public services are the main focus of the discussion. In addition, this article examines the impact of social and cultural changes that occur due to the development of digital technology, including adjustments to social norms and traditional attitudes in rural communities. With this understanding, the importance of technological accessibility and efforts to equalize internet access in villages, as well as the social changes therein, become important topics of discussion to ensure that the full benefits and vigilance of the digital era can be felt by all rural communities.

Visual Branding Strategies For Culinary Msmes In Legok Village: A Community-Centered Approach Through Design Training

Community engagement through training in logo and packaging design for culinary MSMEs in Legok Village is an initiative aimed at enhancing the competitiveness and sustainability of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in rural areas. Legok Village, renowned for its traditional culinary richness, is the focal point of this research. This study presents a community-based approach employed to strengthen the visual identity of culinary MSME products through design trainingusing Adobe Ilustrator.The methodology includes phases of identifying the needs of MSMEs, conducting logo and packaging design training, and evaluating the impact of this training. The research findings indicate that logo and packaging design training has a significantly positive impact on the development of culinary MSME products, enhancing their visual appeal, and increasing brand awareness in both local and regional markets.The results have significant implications for the development of culinary MSMEs in similar villages. The improved quality of logo and packaging design benefits MSME businesses and can increase household income, stimulate local economic growth, and enhance the quality of life in rural communities. Thus, community engagement through logo and packaging design training for culinary MSMEs emerges as a crucial instrument in building economic sustainability in rural villages.

Study on Human Wildlife Conflict and Its Impact on The Livelihood of Rural Communities of Andhra Pradesh, India

The escalating human-wildlife conflicts in rural communities, driven by expanding human populations encroaching upon natural habits, pose significant risks to both human safety and livelihoods as highlighted in the WWF Magazine ‘s Spring Issue (2023). These conflicts result from differing perspectives on resolution, leading to tensions among various groups and causing a reduction in territory, natural resources, fatalities, injuries and habitat destruction for both humans and wildlife. Unfortunately, some rare and endangered species face the threat of extinction due to human action taken to prevent future conflicts, emphasizing the urgent need to address this issue. Philip J. Nyhus (2016) suggests that a range of social and psychological factors, including cultural backgrounds, emotional connections, economic considerations governance structures and stakeholder involvement influence people’s interaction with wildlife. Based on the data obtained from various sources around2020-23, the number of animal and financial losses was estimated. Most of the damage is caused in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Parvathipuram, and Eluru districts where most of the HWC occurs mainly due to elephant attacks (Elephas spp), along with monkeys (Maccacca spp), wild Boar (Sus spp), Snakes like (Naja naja, Krait, Bungarus spp) Mice, Mouse, Rat spp., Jackles (Canis spp), Tiger (Tigris spp) which is amounting to almost 22% of the livestock loss domesticated by farmers. The domesticated animals which were mostly eaten by the predators are Fishes, (Catla, Labeo,Cirhinus spp.) Birds (Gallus, Chittagong, Aseel spp.) goats (Capra spp.), sheep (Ovis spp,) Cows (Bos spp.), pigs (Sus), Buffalo (Bubalus spp.), etc. Altogether substantial amount of monetary loss has occurred. The public and government officials in combined action can mitigate these problems from future attacks. To address this issue, effective management strategies are needed that balance the needs of both humans and wildlife while minimizing the risk of conflict.

NTFP Contribution in Livelihood of Rural Area of Western Himalayan Region of Himachal Pradesh.

Non-timber forest goods (NTFPs) refer to the various goods obtained from plants and animals inside forest ecosystems, which possess tangible values that are often not accounted for in a nation’s fiscal records. Throughout the course of human history, these items have been utilized for a diverse range of reasons, including but not limited to sustenance, animal feed, textile production, traditional medicine, agricultural resources, household goods, construction materials, and similar applications. These products are often intertwined with several traditional beliefs and cultural practices. The current investigation was conducted in three districts within the Himachal Pradesh region of northern India, with the aim of comprehending the significance of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) in the everyday livelihoods of rural communities residing in the Himalayan area. A total of 700 participants were surveyed using a prepared questionnaire.

The Bir Sunarwala: An Uncharted Dalit Land Movement of Haryana, India

Dalits are the lowest social group in the Indian caste hierarchy, formerly known as ‘untouchables’. They have been subjected to centuries of discrimination, violence and continue to face widespread social exclusion and economic deprivation. In rural areas, Dalits are often forced to live in segregated quarters and are denied access to common resources such as wells, temples, schools and land. They are often forced to do the most menial and degrading work, such as manual scavenging and cleaning toilets. This exclusion and humiliation are rooted in their lack of access to socio-economic capital, namely, land. As the world’s primary source of wealth, land plays a significant role in the life of rural communities, transforming into a socio-economic reality. Dalits are historically landless; in this outbreak, they participated in various land movements to access land. Landless Dalits and other agricultural labourers fought alongside peasants for better wages, land ownership and to end the practice of forced labour. However, Dalit struggles always remain subordinate to peasant struggles. In this context, this study examines Haryana’s rarely documented and majorly unknown Dalit land movement that took place in 1973 at Bir Sunarwala village of the Jhajjar district of Haryana. Additionally, this study seeks to highlight the significance of the Bir Sunarwala land movement within the broader framework of the Dalit movements in India.

Pricing patterns of an indigenous goat in rural and urban communities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Agro-pastoralism plays an important role in the livelihoods of rural communities in many parts of the world. In southern Africa, small-scale rural farmers keep various kinds of livestock like goats for additional income and to meet their household needs. The objective of the study was to determine whether small-scale goat farmers obtained better prices for their animals at auctions as opposed to sales taking place at their homesteads. We quantified sales of indigenous goats that took place at homesteads and auctions, and determined the number, colour, sex, age, and the prices at which the goats were sold. We did this by collecting data on sales from 27 homesteads in the Msinga area of KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa during 2017 and 2018. Similarly, we collected data on sales at three goat auctions that took place at a rural and peri-urban centre located near Msinga and at another auction located at an urban centre distant from Msinga. All four auctions occurred between 2019 and 2022. The data were analysed using generalised linear models with a gamma distribution and log-link function. Results showed that male and female goats were sold in about equal numbers among all sales while subadult goats were more represented (55%) in the sales than adult goats (45%). At a mean price of ZAR1484.22 ± 30.23, a male goat was substantially cheaper than a female goat (R1911.81 ± 65.71) among all sales. Overall, the urban auction provided the best price, followed by homestead sales and the rural auction, and lastly the peri-urban site. Most of the animals that were not sold were returned from the peri-urban site. Adult goats fetched a significantly higher price than subadult goats, but at the auctions, this was also influenced by site, i.e. significant site × age interaction. Brown-coloured goats fetched the highest price at homesteads (R2287.50 ± 493.15) and auctions (R1965.10 ± 81.74) while black goats fetched similarly low prices of R1239.58 ± 147.37 and R1237.50 ± 519.82, respectively. Taken together, these results suggest that prices of indigenous goats sold at homesteads compare favourably or better than those obtained at local level auctions. Auctions at major urban centres may fetch higher prices but this may be offset by transport costs. Farmers may benefit from auctions when they need to sell many animals in a short time.

Modeling the influence of daily temperature and precipitation extreme indices on vegetation dynamics in Katsina State using statistical downscaling model (SDM)

Climate change significantly impacts local, regional, and global vegetation changes. These changes have continued to threaten ecosystems, especially in dryland areas where moisture is scarce, and the livelihoods of rural communities are at risk because of such changes, as well as their capacity to provide outputs and sustain the livelihoods of rural communities. This study aims to derive a simulation model of vegetation conditions concerning daily temperature and extreme precipitation indices in Katsina State, Nigeria. This study uses remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS)-based analysis, time series analysis of precipitation, maximum and minimum temperature, and twenty-four indices defined by the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection to evaluate the influence of Temp and precipitation extreme indices on vegetation dynamics/NDVI. The results indicate that the statistical downscaling model (SDSM) is performing satisfactorily in predicting maximum and minimum temperatures, along with precipitation, for the time horizon of the simulation. Mean precipitation of 1.98 mm (RCP2.6), 2.03 mm (RCP4.5), and 2.07 mm (RCP8.5) was revealed in the study area. Tmax and Tmin were projected under low emissions at 20.1 0C and 14.25 0C (RCP2.6), 20.13 °C and 14.26 0C (RCP4.5), and 20.15 0C and 14.27 0C (RCP8.5) respectively. All the scenarios present increasing minimum and maximum temperatures and decreasing precipitation, except for RCP8.5, which predicted a more adverse trend. However, in Katsina State, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), precipitation, Tmax, and Tmin, extreme temperature and precipitation indices, and drought indices successfully demonstrated spatial and temporal variability.

Forced displacement, TEKAN and women peacebuilding initiatives in Northern Nigeria

abstract TEKAN (Tarayyar Eklisoyoyi Kristi a Nigeria or the Fellowship of Churches of Christ in Nigeria) refers to the Conference of Churches in Nigeria (COCIN). The coming together of COCIN to form TEKAN in Northern Nigeria was the first time that women of indigenous churches in the region came together to render support to displaced victims of conflict. Since 2007 the TEKAN Peace Desk has become an important pillar in providing psychosocial support to displaced women who are victims of ethno-religious conflict in Plateau State. Other local peacebuilders are engaged in humanitarian activities for people in Kaduna displaced as a result of the banditry and kidnapping that has become rife in Northern Nigeria since 2012. Kaduna and Plateau State have been immensely affected by the banditry of the Fulani militia, who embarked on massive cattle rustling with forceful raiding of livestock, destruction of properties, and loss of lives in various rural communities, and its association with the kidnapping of girls and rape. It is against this background that this profile piece examines the role played by TEKAN and local women peacebuilders. The first category of women are those from church initiatives, while the second category comes from the larger cohort of women peacebuilders in Kaduna and Plateau State. TEKAN has succeeded in transforming the lives of communities displaced and traumatised by conflicts, by organising workshops on skills acquisition, dialogue, and interfaith psychosocial support, with the initiation of various programmes aimed at rendering support to victims of displacement.

Pemberdayaan Ekonomi Masyarakat melalui Pengolahan Singkong sebagai Bahan Makanan di Desa Sekidang Kecamatan Sambeng Kabupaten Lamongan

The development of technology and information that is increasingly advanced at this time is still not fully understood by the community, especially among rural communities. This is indicated by the lack of community creativity in the abundance of cassava food products, where they do not realize the potential that can be created from these food products. Cassava food products are generally food products that are only processed into monotonous products such as tape, jemblem, opaque cassava, and fried cassava. So that people feel bored with the monotonous variety of processed cassava, but on the contrary if it is processed into a variety of processed cassava properly, it will have a positive impact on products that have high selling power. The expected goal of this service activity is to educate the community by making local potentials that have not been explored can be optimized, especially those that can have an impact on improving the welfare of farmers and farm workers. The implementation method is by identifying potentials and problems, planning training, socializing training, and implementing training. This activity was attended by PKK women and housewives from Sekidang Village, Sambeng District, Lamongan Regency. The results of this activity are increasing creativity and new innovations to the community, also making people aware that we can process staple foods that have high economic value and in the end can help the economy and improve the quality of life of rural communities

Gandhian Thought for Rural Development

This paper focuses on the role of Mahatma Gandhi in promoting the concept of Gram Vikas or rural development. Mahatma Gandhi was a visionary leader who believed that the key to India's progress lay in the development of its villages. He advocated for selfsufficiency and decentralization as fundamental to achieving rural development and called for the use of local resources and skills to promote sustainable and equitable growth. Gandhiji firmly believed that the well-being of India's society was directly connected to the development of its rural areas. The study examines how Gandhiji's philosophy of nonviolence and education influenced his vision of rural development. He emphasized the importance of promoting cottage industries, handicrafts, and the use of renewable energy sources to create employment opportunities and improve the quality of life for rural communities. Gandhiji's ideas of Gram Vikas are seen as a holistic approach to rural development, encompassing social, economic, and environmental aspects. This work highlight the relevance of his ideas in the context of modern-day challenges such as poverty, unemployment, and environmental degradation. The promotion of Gram Vikas or rural development is seen as a way to address these challenges and create a more equitable and sustainable society. The promotion of Gram Vikas or rural development is essential to achieving this goal, and the principles underlying Gandhiji's vision of rural development can be seen as a way to promote constitutional values of democracy, social justice and equality such as the right to education and gender equality. This paper emphasizes the importance of integrating Gandhian principles in rural development policy and policymakers adopting Gandhi's principles to achieve sustainable rural development. By incorporating these principles into policy formulation and implementation, policymakers can promote equitable and sustainable growth in rural communities. The paper concludes that policymakers must prioritize sustainability to achieve long lasting progress in rural areas and to retain this progress involvement of community and sustainable use of resources is necessary.

Women in Pandemics and Sustainability of African Rural Communities

Covid-19 pandemic mitigation measures in the global South, particularly African developing countries like Nigeria were inadequate to alleviate socioeconomic effects of the pandemic on the livelihood and survival of rural communities. Rural women dominate the informal sector and have been active in agriculture, food security, health, nutrition, home management, traditional elderly care, and micro and small-scale enterprises. Whilst the effects of the pandemic on Nigerian rural women have been measured, the contribution of rural women to the sustainability of agrarian rural communities in the country have not been studied. This paper explored the role of women in supporting their families and communities for the sustainability of rural communities and challenges they faced as they serve as buffers for the survival of their families and sustenance of livelihood in rural communities during the pandemic. The paper adopted qualitative phenomenological research design. A sample of 30 rural women were drawn from Gbara Village, an agrarian rural community in Sagamu Local Government, Ogun State, Nigeria through convenience sampling and purposive sampling techniques. Semi-structured Interviews, focus group meetings, and documents were used as data sources and descriptive analysis was used to analyses the demographic characteristics of the respondents. The qualitative results were analyzed through content analysis and eight themes emerged. There were responses on contributions of rural women to the sustainability of Gbara Village during the pandemic in agriculture and food security value chain, health and nutrition, home management, traditional elderly care, and rural entrepreneurship. The paper also found that rural women were confronted with socio-economic challenges of gender inequalities, illiteracy, and limited access to technology to enhance their role as change agents in rural communities during the pandemic. The study suggested that the government, organized private sector, development agencies, non-governmental organizations, research institutions, and civil society organizations should priorities and fast-track the attainment of gender equality and women education to empower rural women and increase their capacity for socio-economic transformation of rural communities in Nigeria.

Modelling and mapping of soil erosion risk based on GIS and PAP/RAC guidelines in the watershed of Tassaoute (Central High-Atlas, Morocco)

Morocco watersheds, which provided many ecosystem services necessary for the socio-economic life of rural communities, are experiencing significant change and environmental problems. Therefore, examining potential soil erosion considered a major problem in the Moroccan highlands is very important to prioritize high erosion severity areas. Keeping in view of the above aspects, the present study aimed to evaluate and map areas at risk of water erosion in the upstream Tassaoute watershed (central High Atlas, Morocco), using the Priority Action Program/Regional Activity Center (PAP/RAC) method associated with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing. The PAP/RAC approach consisted of integrating the natural factors that influence water erosion, namely slope, lithology, vegetation cover and land use. This method provided an accurate cartographic product that reflects the reality of the state of soil degradation and the qualitative assessment of erosion. The generated erosion risk map of the study area showed that the phenomenon of erosion threatens this basin, especially in the middle and downstream, such that 40% of the basin surface has significant erosion and the high and very high degree of erosion represented 27% of the total surface of the study area. These results therefore demonstrated the PAP/CAR model reliability in assessing and mapping of water erosion risks in the upstream Tassaoute basin.

PELATIHAN PENGOLAHAN IKAN LELE DAN DIVERSIFIKASI PRODUK DI DESA SEBANGUN KECAMATAN SEBAWI KABUPATEN SAMBAS

Sebangun Village is a village whose main commodities are dominated by sago, rubber, and palm oil plantations. The livelihoods of rural communities focus on increasing agricultural and non-food plantation products. Local people have not been able to convert sago plants into productive plants. The community needs knowledge related to processing sago and fish into a product so that it can open up additional business opportunities apart from plantation products. Therefore, to support food security and improve the nutrition of the community in Sebangun Village, a community service program is carried out, namely training in making catfish amplang with the diversification of sago flour. The method used is demonstrations through training, practice, and assistance to improve the skills of the community, especially women in Sebangun Village, to produce nutritious and quality-processed catfish and sago flour products independently and sustainably. The results of the service showed that the participants already had the knowledge, skills, and directly practiced the process of making catfish amplang using sago flour. This community service activity can increase the consumption of fish protein in the Sebangun Village community and create business groups to improve the community's economy.

Community-based tourism issues in Pujon Kidul Tourism Village, Pujon Sub-district, Malang Regency

Tourism sector nowadays is one of sector that contributed to Indonesian economy. One of effort to ensure that people can get economic benefit from tourism sector are development of tourism villages. Tourism village can be defined as forms of accommodation, attractions and supporting facilities that are integrated with the life, traditions and local wisdom of rural communities. The development of rural tourism is a form of community-based tourism. Community-based tourism is a platform for local communities to gain economic benefits by offering tourism products that include local people's lives, culture and natural resources. One of village that success on managed their tourism sector is Pujon Kidul Tourism Village that located in Pujon District, Malang Regency, East Java Province. But nowadays, Pujon Kidul Tourism Village threatened decline of competitiveness caused by decline of tourist visits and lack quality of human resources. This research aim to identify problems in the development of community-based tourism in the Pujon Kidul Tourism Village along with their root causes by using fishbone analysis and Miles Huberman interactive model. The results of the research show that the main problem of tourism development in Pujon Kidul Village is the decline in competitiveness. The decline in competitiveness is caused by the post-pandemic of COVID-19 visit rate not yet recovering and the low quality of human resources.

Farmers’ Knowledge of Adaptation Strategies to Mitigate Climate Change and Factors Influencing Their Adoption

Climate change has emerged as a global threat negatively affecting the productivity and production efficiency of agriculture systems thereby endangering food security and livelihoods of rural communities in most of the developing countries like India. Climate change and extreme climatic events have caused India’s agriculture production to decline and exacerbated food insecurity during the last few decades. Consequently, Indian farmers have developed indigenous practices to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change on agriculture. This study aims at studying farmers’ knowledge of adaptation strategies, identifying the adoption of adaptation strategies and find out various factors influencing farmers’ adoption of adaptation strategies to cope up with climate change. The present study draws upon data collected through personal interviews with 180 farmers in one district of North-Western Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. The results showed that farmers knowledge of adaptation strategies was found to be medium; most common adaptation strategies employed were – change in sowing time/ date, crop diversification, inter/ mixed cropping, use of drought and heat resistant crop varieties, and short duration and early maturing crop varieties. Further, Using Karl Pearson Correlation, the results indicated that age, farming experience, landholding, annual income, information seeking behavior, scientific orientation, credit and subsidy orientation, decision making ability, extension contact were likely to affect their knowledge of adaptation strategies to cope up with climate change. The results of the present study will provide policy makers with new insights for the government and encourage agricultural extension services providers to promote location specific adoption of coping strategies so as to tackle the adverse impacts of climate change on agriculture.

Determinants of adoption of climate resilient practices and their impact on yield and household income

Climate change poses a risk to the livelihoods of rural communities by negatively impacting agricultural output and raising production costs. Climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices have been advanced as a possible solution to adapt to and mitigate climate change issues. This paper examined the main drivers of adoption of two CSA practices such as crop rotation and integrated soil management and their impact on paddy yield and net agricultural income. Household survey data was obtained from the coastal and inland districts of an eastern Indian state, namely, Odisha. Multivariate Probit model was used to identify the determinants of CSA adoption and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method was used to assess the impacts of these adopted CSA practices. The findings from the PSM method show that both paddy crop yield and net agricultural income have been higher for the adopters of crop rotation and integrated soil management. While, adoption of crop rotation resulted in an increase of 42–45% in farm income, the same for integrated soil management was between 27 and 34%. Further, adoption of these practices led to a yield improvement of about 2.5 quintals per acre of paddy crop for the adopters. The major drivers that jointly influenced farmers to adopt these practices were found to be access to extension service, access to credit, subsidies for seed and electricity use in agriculture. In light of these findings, main policy suggestions are – (i) extension staff need to be trained on regular basis on the technical aspects of CSA practices and (ii) more finances for CSA need to be raised and allocated for strengthening extension support, providing timely subsidies to the right beneficiaries and building CSA enabling infrastructure such as watershed projects and micro-irrigation facilities.

A perspective of sustainable livelihood framework in analysis of sustainability of rural community livelihoods: evidence from Migori River watershed in Kenya

ABSTRACT Evaluation of livelihood sustainability in ecologically sensitive areas, impoverished regions, and disaster-stricken zones is critical for understanding sustainability challenges and administering poverty-relief interventions. This paper assesses the sustainability of rural households’ livelihoods in the Migori River watershed in Kenya by constructing a livelihood sustainability index (LSI). A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from 318 randomly selected households from the upstream, midstream, and downstream watershed zones. The LSI was constructed using the UK Department for International Development (DFID) methodology based on the five livelihood capitals, and one-way ANOVA was used to test for significant differences between watershed zones. The results of the analysis show that although the livelihoods of all the three watershed zones are moderately sustainable with no significant variations (at p < 0.05) between the zones, the livelihoods of midstream households are most sustainable followed by the upstream households and then downstream. The social (ranging from 0.64 to 0.69), physical (ranging from 0.60 to 0.67) and natural (ranging from 0.60 to 0.64) capitals registered relatively high index values across the watershed zones unlike the human (ranging 0.55–0.65) and financial (ranging from 0.44 to 0.57) capitals that recorded relatively low index values; which implies that human and the financial capitals are least possessed assets in the watershed. Therefore this paper recommends increasing the natural capital through sustained conservation of natural resources, increasing human capital by providing skills training to household on alternative livelihood options, and increasing access to financial capital by strengthening rural entrepreneurship. The paper suggests the usage of LSI by policy-makers as a practical tool to quantify the livelihood capital endowment of rural communities to help in prioritizing watershed management programs and the development of interventions aimed at a specific livelihood asset. It may also help policy-makers in project monitoring and evaluation, where it provides feedback critical for continual project improvement.

The Social Impact of Online Games on the Lives of Rural Communities in Deli Serdang Regency

The habit of playing games has become a lifestyle that is favored by the community, especially the younger generation and even elementary school students in rural and urban areas. Especially in rural communities, the online game Higgs Domino Island is rife. The study aims to explore the factors of the rise of Higgs domino island online gambling and its impact on the community in the village of Kuta, Jurung, STM Hilir district, Deli Serdang regency. This type of research is qualitative research. This research is qualitative descriptive research with a case study method. In determining the informants researchers used a purposive sampling technique. The data was obtained through observation, interviews, and documentation for 3 months, starting from October 2022 until January 2023. The results showed that the factors causing the people of Kuta Jurung Village, STM Hilir District, Deli Serdang Regency to carry out online gambling, the Higgs domino island game, was due to a lack of awareness and concern from the community about the impact of gambling, besides that the majority of people also have low education and a background of socio-economic factors, situational, learning factors, perceptions of probability, and skills perception factors. The moral impact of Higgs domino island online game gambling includes unstable emotional levels, reduced social interaction, and increased criminal acts as evidenced by the increased theft of garden produce in the Kuta Jurung Village community.

Karyology of eight bamboo species endemic to Southern India

Species belonging to the genus Ochlandra Thwaites, the reed bamboos, play a significant role in sustaining the ecology of forests and the livelihood of rural communities in the Western Ghats. Karyology of this predominantly endemic genus of the region is poorly understood. Of the ten species belonging to the genus, chromosomal information is known for only two species. We studied mitotic and/or meiotic chromosomes of eight species, using squash and smear techniques. We report chromosome number (2n) of six species for the first time and two additional 2n reports of a previously studied species, O. travancorica (Bedd.) Gamble. The species and their chromosome numbers are: O. keralensis M. Kumar, Remesh & Sequiera and O. spirostylis M. Kumar, K. K. Seethal. & Sequiera (2n = 48), O. ebracteata Raizada & Chatterji (2n = 64), O. beddomei Gamble and O. setigera Gamble (n = 36, 2n = 72), O. scriptoria (Dennst.) C. E. C. Fisch. (2n = 72), O. wightii (Munro) C. E. C. Fisch. (n = 36, 2n = 60, 72) and O. travancorica (n = 24, 2n = 48, 72, 96). The basic chromosome number of the genus is x = 12. The somatic chromosomes of all studied Ochlandra species are small in size, with a length ranging from 0.45 to 2.50 µm. The present study has provided new perceptions on speciation, evolution and taxonomy of the genus and indicates that the taxonomic muddle in O. travancorica is due to intraspecific genetic variability as evident by chromosomal numerical variation and polyploidy.

Country Folk in Russia: Specific of Social Integration

The article presents the analysis of social integration factors of the country folk, living in four rural areas in Belgorod region (Russia). The study had two stages and included quantitative as well as qualitative research methods: first of all, the survey (n = 715) of country people aged 18–70 in order to explore the specific features of their social integration process; secondly, the expert survey (n = 23) devoted to study the activities of main social agents, managing regional social policy and including government and non-government organizations. As a result, the main factors, influencing the effectiveness of social integration of the country folk have been identified: 1) the maintenance of traditions and an active participation in rural community's life; 2) the infrastructure's development and the transportation accessibility; 3) the economy's type; 4) the type of settlement (town, village); 5) the degree of trust in local authorities and the assessment of local social services' activities. It is essential to take into account that the current processes of social integration of the country people, on the one hand, are due to the consequences of urbanization as a world trend and, on the other hand, it is due to the influence of a new, reverse process of de-urbanization. The results of the study conclude that current state social policy should be more effective to bridge the gap between the social conditions of people living in cities and rural areas, especially with regard to the access to education, health and social services, transportation, employment, etc. The improvement of quality of life of villagers allows to revive the most of rural settlements and attract youth to village.