Remunerative Activities Research Articles

The Effect of Renting in Cropland on Livelihood Choices and Agricultural Commercialization: A Case Study from Rural Vietnam

This paper investigates the role of land rental markets in livelihood choices using data from 792 farming households in rural Vietnam. First, we cluster households according to livelihood strategies and estimate the determinants of the respective decision. In a second step, we analyze the contribution of rented land in linking smallholders to output markets. Our results suggest that rented land can provide smallholders with an opportunity to increase their agricultural activities and avoid resorting to less remunerative activities such as agricultural wage labor. Moreover, rented crop area increases the probability of market participation as well as the quantity of sales. Our results point to the need for a further liberalization of land rental markets specifically targeted at households that have been excluded from more remunerative livelihood strategies previously. Supporting these households to have access to the assets required to cultivate the additional area is thus recommended.

Research requirement of agricultural engineering sector and formulation of new scheme at national level

Application of engineering in agriculture is getting momentum all over the world due to its long term benefit solution to the farming community besides attainment of sustainability in agriculture. Migration of people from agriculture to urban areas is inevitable due to socio economic changes. Application oriented agricultural engineering research is imperative for maximizing the input use efficiency, reducing post harvest losses, increasing the value addition of different agricultural produce, better utilization of agricultural waste for increasing the organic matter content of soil, promoting the utilization of solar energy in agriculture and thus increase the net income of the farmers. To retain the soil, water and youth in agriculture, agricultural engineering comprising of soil and water conservation, water management, farm machinery and power, post-harvest technology and value addition and agro energy activities in a dovetailed manner with a watershed approach shall be formulated at National level to retain the valuable soil and water resources besides encouraging youth to take up farming as a remunerative activity.

Destinies of artistic activity: visual artists' plural forms of employment and trade-offs in a French region

Based on a recent survey on the artistic work in a French region, the article consid-ers visual artists as a control population illustrating the possible destinies of low or poorly paid self-employment in contemporary capitalism. Artistic activities mainly attract graduates and people from the upper classes who nevertheless accept to be paid very little for their art and even, as entrepreneurs would do, to invest regularly in order to continue their activity. The maintenance of their artistic vocation then requires recourse to secondary income from social benefits, family resources or the development of complementary remunerative activities. Since all these possible combinations are not equally accessible, they determine variable regimes of artis-tic production, self-presentation and various articulations between salaried and non-salaried activities, the borderline case of which is the abandonment of crea-tion.

‘Mera Gaon, Mera Gaurav’ policy: A source of hypothesis for the co-production of adaptive agricultural knowledge

Over the past few decades, Indian agriculture is increasingly confronting a range of social, economic and ecological challenges putting the livelihood security of millions of resource poor farmers at risk. The ills plaguing the farm sector have received critical policy attention leading to the launch of several farmer-centric policies and programs aimed at infusing resilience into the ailing croplands, making agriculture a remunerative activity and for driving the rural poor out of poverty. One such initiative called 'Mera Gaon, Mera Gaurav' (My Village, My Pride) was launched in 2015 with the goal of revolutionizing the pace of technology transfer to the farmers' doorsteps in a time bound manner. In this article, we propose a new model consisting of five propositions for improving the modus operandi of 'Mera Gaon, Mera Gaurav'program such that it does not merely remain a tool of technology dissemination but instead serves as a viable platform for the co-production of agricultural knowledge which is more sustainable, inclusive and compatible to resolving the current and emerging agricultural issues.

Household livelihood diversification and gender: Panel evidence from rural Kenya

There are high hopes that livelihood diversification could contribute to goals of poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study uses household panel data collected in 2008 and 2013, combined with a mixed methodology to examine the regional and gender disparities, as well as the determinants of change in livelihood diversification in the agricultural regions of Nyeri and Kakamega in rural Kenya. The study period was characterised by important structural changes in the composition and sources of household cash incomes, with farm incomes declining significantly, pushing female headed households into absolute poverty. Whereas the contribution of nonfarm income to total household cash incomes increased significantly, especially in Kakamega. The econometric results show that there is a positive and significant relationship between changes in household asset wealth and changes in livelihood diversification at the regional level, implying that diversification is mainly an accumulation strategy for wealthier farm households. In addition, changes in livelihood diversification are significantly correlated with the initial level of diversification, household demographic characteristics such as age, gender, education level, and hiring labour. Furthermore, increased access to agricultural input credit and more secure land rights seem to promote specialisation in farming rather than diversification. Whereas poverty has a negative and significant effect on change in livelihood diversification. The results have implications for development policy in rural Kenya – highlighting the need to harness the positive aspects of livelihood diversification for poverty reduction, while reducing the negative effects on poorer households by reducing asset entry barriers into remunerative activities.

Results of urogenital fistulas repair using caravan approach in Côte d’Ivoire

Aims: To report the experience of surgical caravans for urogenital fistulas care.
 Methods: It was a retrospective study covering the period from January 1st 2014 to December 31st 2014 and which took place on 7 sites of fistula care. The epidemiological, anatomic, clinical, therapeutic and evolutionary aspects were studied. Recruitment was made by radio announcements and word of mouth approaches. Treatment was free of charge for patients.
 Results: During 14 caravans 346 patients were operated. Their mean age was 33.11 years (12 - 70 years). Most of these patients were without remunerative activities (80%) and without education (63.3%). They had been living with fistula for 6.08 years on average (0 to 42). Obstetrical etiology was predominant (87.9%), the otherswere iatrogenic and traumatic. According to the Kees Waaldijk classification, fistulas were distributed as follows: type I (67.4%), type II Aa (12.7%), type II Ab (8.4%) and type III (11.5%). The most common surgical approach was the transvaginal route (82.1%). The vesicovaginal splitting with separated suture of the bladder and the vagina was the basic technique (94.7%). The therapeutic results were judged after a follow-up of 1 month and 3 months. Lost to follow-up within that period was 23% i.e. 80 patients in month one and 70% (245 patients) at month three. The success rates evaluated in patients reviewed at month one and at month 3 were respectively 70% and 64%.
 Conclusions: Caravan approach to recruit patients with fistula was feasible using local advertisements mans. Patients have been living with fistula for long time. Follow-up was difficult at Month 3.

Diagnóstico da Economia Informal em um Município de Pequeno Porte no Sul de Minas Gerais

O fenômeno da informalidade tem impacto relevante na economia dos países, principalmente na economia de países em desenvolvimento como o Brasil. Assim, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo fazer um diagnóstico da economia informal no município de Machado/MG. Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa, com método de bola de neve (Biernacki; Waldorf, 1981), utilizando entrevistas estruturadas. Posteriormente, fez-se uma análise de conteúdo (Bardin, 1977). Foram realizadas 107 entrevistas com os proprietários de negócios atuando na informalidade, os quais, em sua maioria, são de propriedade de homens, com idade entre 40 e 59 anos, com baixa escolaridade, sendo esta sua única atividade remuneratória. Apesar de terem interesse em se formalizar, os indivíduos citaram que os elevados custos com impostos e o tamanho do negócio fazem com que se mantenham na informalidade. Conclui-se que a economia informal é um ambiente complexo, possuidor de aspectos tanto positivos, como o fato de flexibilizar o trabalho das pessoas para que estas possam ter mais tempo para a família, quanto negativos, quando não consideram o incentivo ao crescimento e à eficiência.

Linear Growth and Nutritional Status of Young Gabonese Sickle Cell Patients, and Associated Factors

Background: Stunting and undernutrition mark the nutritional status of the sickle cell patient, but some surveys show trends to overweight in some countries. The primary objective of this study was to compare the growth of children with sickle cell, with non-sickle cell children in Gabon. Methods: It was a prospective case-control study, conducted from April to June 2016 in Libreville and Lambarene in Gabon. Cases were homozygous (SS) sickle cell children aged from 0 to 15 years; controls were normal hemoglobin-AA documented, matched by sex and age. We compared their weight, height, arm and head circumferences measured according to conventional techniques. Results: We compared 118 cases to 118 controls, mean age was 85 ± 7.2 months, and the sex ratio was 1.07. Before 59 months, there was no significant difference in the comparison of the averages of the anthropometric indices except for the z-score of the brachial perimeter for age which was smaller in the cases (-0.85 versus -0.19, P = 0.04). The risk of stunting in cases was greater (odds ratio (OR) = 6.9, 95% confidence interval (CI): 5.4 - 8.3), the growth retardation increased with age, correlated factors with growth retardation were male gender (relative risk (RR) = 2.04, 95% CI: 1.2 - 2.7), a mother with no remunerative activity (r = 0.11, P 3 (r = 0.2, P = 0.003), and mean hematocrit of 9.6-15.9% (r = 0.4, P < 0.004). There were no obese subjects in cases. Conclusions: Growth retardation of children suffering from sickle cell in Gabon appears and increases with age. Male gender, low socioeconomic conditions and signs of severity or non-controlled disease are correlated with this retardation. Int J Clin Pediatr. 2018;7(1-2):1-5 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/ijcp290w

Results of the Management of Urogenital Fistulae from Community Caravans

Objective: To report the experience of surgical caravans for urogenital fistulas care. Methodology: This was a retrospective study covering the period from January 2014 to December 2014 and which took place on 7 sites of fistula care. The epidemiological, anatomoclinical, therapeutic and evolutionary aspects were studied. Results: 346 patients were operated during 14 caravans. Their average age was 33.11 years (range: 12 to 70 years). Most of these patients were without remunerative activities (80%) and without education (63.3%). The average duration of fistula progression was 6.08 years (range: 0 to 42 years). Obstetrical etiology was predominant (87.9%). According to the classification of Kees Waaldijk, fistulas were divided into type I (67.4%), type II (21.1%), and type III (11.5%). The most common surgical approach was the transvaginal route (82.1%). The vesicovaginal splitting with separated suture of the bladder and the vagina was the basic technique (94.7%). The therapeutic results were judged after a follow-up of 1 month and 3 months. Across the cohort, 80 patients (23.1%) were lost of sight for follow-up at 1 month and 245 (70%) at 3 months. The success rates evaluated in patients reviewed at 1 month and 3 months were respectively 70% and 64%. Conclusion: The incidence of urogenital fistulas is still high in Cote d'Ivoire. Various anatomoclinical varieties have been identified and treated with satisfactory results in poorly equipped local structures.

KARAKTERISTIK RUMAH TANGGA MISRIN DI DAERAH ISTIMEWA YOGYAKARTA

The proximate of poverty level is based on expenditure per individual member of a household. The low expenditures are primarily found among households engaged in labouring activities or in agricultural sector. The cousequences of a low expenditure or income is the inability of the household in providing appropriate needs for its members, including access to informations and schooling.An enhancement of humanresources development and promotionof equal access to the remunerative activities are among alternatives of raising the low income households.

Investigating the Efficacy of Non-agricultural Activities in Rural Settlements’ Economic and Social Development (Case Study: Firouzeh Mines in Khorasan Razavi)

Investigating the Efficacy of Non-agricultural Activities in Rural Settlements’ Economic and Social Development (Case Study: Firouzeh Mines in Khorasan Razavi)

Residents’ Participation, Perceived Impacts, and Support for Community-based Ecotourism in Cambodia: A Latent Profile Analysis

Throughout Cambodia, community-based ecotourism (CBET) has been initiated and established to generate additional income for local people and to conserve local natural resources since the early 1990s. However, few studies have addressed residents' attitude towards CBET. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the residents' attitude towards CBET. The study classified 209 residents of Yeak Laom CBET in north-eastern Cambodia with respect to their participation in non-remunerative and remunerative activities, perceived impacts on livelihood assets and livelihood outcomes, and support for CBET. Rather than the conventional cluster analysis used by most previous studies, Latent profile analysis was employed. The study suggests that residents of a CBET may consist of four attitude clusters, namely Absolute Supporter (69%), Beneficiary Supporter (14%), Concerned Supporter (11%), and Ambivalent (6%). In conclusion, most residents of a CBET are likely to support CBET development and believe that it has positive impacts on their livelihood assets and outcomes, albeit with little involvement. The residents of the study area can be considered as a tourism-hungry community.

Missing women? The under‐recording and under‐reporting of women's work in Malaysia

Common methods to collect data on women's labour force participation frequently result in under‐reporting and under‐recording of their work. Based on fieldwork in Malaysia's Penang state, this article presents some of the difficulties associated with recording women's informal work. It contributes to theorization on the under‐reporting of women's remunerative activities in official surveys by arguing that while women's work is often devalued, under‐reporting may also be the result of women making strategic and pragmatic choices. By reporting themselves as “housewives”, for example, they may avoid questioning their society's gendered norms while securing their own interests in work outside the home.

Inclusive development through innovative model: a case of KnidsGreen Pvt Ltd. (India)

This paper explores the innovative business model of KnidsGreen Private Limited founded by Kaushalendra Kumar, an Ashoka fellow. It is engaged in solving problems of poor and disadvantaged people dependent on the informal vegetable sector (resource poor vegetable growers, vendors, farm labourers, among others), and contributing to inclusive development in the Indian state of Bihar. Using grounded theory approach, this case-study identifies how an innovative business model benefits stakeholders resulting in their inclusive development. The profit-making market-driving approach challenges the perception that this is not a dignified and remunerative activity, sensitising and organising beneficiaries, enhancing productivity and marketability by building formal supply chain network through innovations, partnerships and alliances, backward and forward linkages, benefitting farmers, vendors and consumers, generating employment at grassroots level, eventually making profits. Though based on single case study, the findings are significant for adaptation and replication of this model in all countries encountering similar problem.

Gender and Economic Development in Africa: An Overview

Despite progress made towards achieving gender equality in African countries for instance by ratification of international and regional conventions and commitments by African countries, gender inequality is still prevalent and continues to be a major challenge in Africa. The majority of women work in the informal sector or on small pieces of land and are engaged in care work with little or no pay. Also, women have limited access to credit, land, agricultural inputs, equipment and extension services, as well as markets for their produce than men. Some of the inequities are embedded in the deep-rooted cultural norms and beliefs in the African societies. To some extent, the inequalities can partly be addressed by changing of policies that reinforce gender inequalities as well as formulating and enforcing laws that promote women's economic empowerment. Thus, more comprehensive research work is still required to highlight challenges associated with gender inequality and what needs to be done to move towards reducing gender inequality. The four papers in this journal supplement explore the issue of gender inequality and look at theoretical and empirical relationship between gender and economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. The first paper by Seguino and Were is on Gender, Development and Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper shows that a shift in emphasis of central bank targets to employment and public investment can help reduce gender gap. The second paper by Cheryl Doss focuses on Collecting Gender Disaggregated Data to Improve Development Policies. Its main finding is that consistent measures of gender asset and wealth gaps provide a means of tracking important dimensions of policies designed to reduce poverty and promote economic growth. The third paper is on Gender and Economic Empowerment in Africa: Evidence and Policy by Naomi Netsayi Wekwete. The paper shows that initiatives that improve women's economic empowerment such as skills training among others promote economic growth and development. Finally, the fourth paper by Nancy Folbre is on The Care Economy in Africa: Subsistence Production and Unpaid Care. The main finding of the paper is that economic policies that reduce the care burden on women with investments that enhance reproductive choice increase the productivity of unpaid work and pool the risks of caring for dependents through social insurance which promotes economic growth by improving the capabilities of both women and children to free up labour time for more remunerative activities.

DEVELOPMENT OF MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE PACKAGES ON THE QUALITY OF SICILIAN KALE (BRASSICA OLERACEA VAR. ACEPHALA) SHOOTS

Since some decades, and also in the present global economic crisis, the request for fresh-cut products has showed an increasing trend, and its productive chain represent one of the most remunerative activity of agriculture. In this frame we pointed our attention to diversify fresh-cut vegetable items by several minor and/or underutilized crops and in some case by wild species gathered and utilized as vegetables in Sicily. Kale (Brassica oleracea var. acephala) shoots seem to be of great interest for fresh-cut production both for its environmental friendly growing techniques and nutraceutical properties, as it is rich in antioxidants compounds as ascorbic acid, total polyphenols, carotenoids and glucosinolates. The use of low level of oxygen (O2) and of high level of carbon dioxide (CO2) atmosphere appeared useful for maintain quality and extend shelf-life for several vegetables. In this condition the plant reduces respiration process that involves a complex biochemical reactions, delayed ripening and senescence and also reduces fungal development. Besides, refrigeration is important for elongate the shelf-life but modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is an important complementary technique to apply. We studied a kale Sicilian type evaluating three modified atmospheres (air, 70% N2:30% CO2; 100% CO2), three temperature levels (0, 4 and 8°C) during three storage times (0, 3 and 7 days). Every day, the percentages of oxygen and carbon dioxide, colour parameters (CIE L*, a* and b*) and dry weight of the shoots were monitored. Results showed the best shoots quality utilizing 70% N2:30% CO2 storage atmosphere at 4°C, the product is kept in good condition for all seven days. This study has improved knowledge about the respiration process and variation of color of kale shoots in relation to modified atmospheres packaging, temperature and time.

Water Harvesting Based Integrated Vertical Farming

Water shortage at critical times is a dominant constraint in most rain fed areas. Small Farm Reservoir (SFR) could play an important role in alleviating the problem by mitigating drought situation and/or submergence in these areas. It has multiple uses such as reducing drainage congestion, irrigation and aquaculture, improved cropping systems, increasing productivity and income, harnessing idle farm labour and improving family nutrition, although the utilization of full potential of SFR depends on innovativeness of the owner. To address the main issue of the farmers who do not wish to loose 5 to 20% land forever, it is imperative to consider integrated vertical farming to have multifarious uses of the same land/water. The multi-storeyed farming and animal rearing on the bunds of SFR is one of the options. The stored water of SFR can be used for fish (below water surface) and duck rearing (on the water surface) and space above it for poultry and rabbit farming. This system has great potential to boost the economy of farmers. The excreta of rabbits and poultry birds served as a part of the fish-food as well as add value to the stored water. Besides the animal rearing practiced on peripheral bunds would produce good amount of dung and urine, which was sloped down to SFR water which further helped to provide feed and value addition to the water. This organic water through drip irrigation system was used to irrigate orchards grown in the vicinity of SFR. The B:C ratio of such a system varied from 5.08 to 6.17 depending upon the intensity of remunerative activities. This paper reviews some of the systems installed at various places in the country to bring out the practical applications. It is concluded that in view of the decreasing trend in the average land holdings, innovative forms of this technology could be used by adding suitable components to enhance the farmer’s income.

Determinants of Participation and Income from Rural Nonfarm Activities in the Kyrgyz Republic

The rural nonfarm economy is very important for sustainable poverty reduction in Central Asia, which faces high population pressure, constrained land resources, unfinished agricultural reforms and uncertain migration prospects. This paper uses two representative household budget surveys from the Kyrgyz Republic to analyze factors influencing participation and returns from different types of nonfarm activities in 2005 and 2006. Nonfarm activities were found to be most important for the poor, who are pushed out of agriculture due to limited and poor land resources. Education, access to infrastructure, and cattle ownership are found to increase nonfarm returns. This suggests that equipping poor households to move towards better remunerative nonfarm activities should be a priority.

Incentives in Higher Education: Potential Effects of Alternative Formula-Funding Models

In many countries, governments abandoned negotiated methods for allocating public resources among universities, moving towards the adoption of formula-funding models. From a policy perspective, a relevant issue is to correctly design such formulas, to stimulate universities in pursuing better results. The aim of this paper is to analyze the potential effects of different formula-based models on universities' behaviours. For this purpose, a theoretical framework is proposed, through which some hypotheses are derived. Specifically, main results show that if the formula is designed as a fixed transfer, proportional to output levels, then each university tends to specialize towards the more remunerative activity, that is the activity for which it is able to attract more external resources. Then, an empirical simulation is presented for testing this result. Then, a situation where universities strategically interact is presented. The results of this hypotheses show that universities tend to lessen their quantities of outputs, suggesting that more competition will led to less final products (teaching and research) - if it not accompanied by more resources. In the last section, policy implications from all results are discussed.

Extra-curricular physical activity and socioeconomic status in Italian adolescents.

BackgroundThe relationship between physical activity and health status has been thoroughly investigated in several studies, while the relation between physical activity and socio-economic status (SES) is less investigated. The aim of this study was to measure the extra-curricular physical activity of adolescents related to the socio-economic status (SES) of their families.MethodsThe survey was carried out by submitting an anonymous questionnaire to junior high school students in the following Regions: Lazio, Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Puglia, during the school year 2002–2003. Extra-curriculum physical activity was evaluated considering whether or not present and hours of activity weekly conducted. 2411 students agreed to participate in the study.ResultsParticipants were 1121 males (46.5%) and 1290 females (53.5%), aged between 11 and 17 years (median age: 12 years). 71.1% of the students reported to practice extra-curricular physical activity. Parents' educational levels and work activities play an important role in predicting students' physical activity, with the more remunerative activities and higher educational levels being more predictive.ConclusionThe results confirm the relationship between adolescents' physical activity and their families' SES. In particular, a positive relationship between participation in extra-curricular physical activity and their families high SES was found.These data will be useful for school administrators and for politicians in order to reduce the gap between adolescents from the least and most disadvantaged families.