Poor Rural Families Research Articles

Fecal calprotectin levels are higher in rural than in urban Chinese infants and negatively associated with growth

BackgroundFecal calprotectin (FC) is an established simple biomarker of gut inflammation. To examine a possible relationship between linear growth and gut inflammation, we compared fecal calprotectin levels in 6 month old infants from poor rural vs affluent urban families.MethodsThe project was a cross-sectional comparison of FC from rural and urban populations in China. The relationship between length-for-age Z-score (LAZ) and FC concentrations were also compared. Single fecal samples were assayed for FC using EK-CAL ELISA kits.ResultsThe age of subjects for both locations was 6.1 ± 0.2 mo; all were apparently healthy. The mean ± SD of the LAZ for the rural and urban infants were −0.6 ± 0.9 and 0.4 ± 0.9, respectively. FC had a non-normal distribution. The median FC of 420.9 and 140.1 μg/g for rural and urban infants, respectively, were significantly different (P < 0.0001). For the rural group, linear regression analysis showed that an increase in FC of 100 μg/g was associated with a decrease of 0.06 in LAZ.ConclusionFC levels were significantly elevated in the rural infants and high concentrations accounted for approximately one-third of the low LAZ scores of these infants.

Migration, Remittances and Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Rural Mexico

This article studies the link between migration, remittances and asset accumulation for a panel of poor rural households in Mexico over the period 1997–2006. In a context of financial markets' imperfections, migration may act as a substitute for imperfect credit and insurance provision (through remittances from migrants) and, thus, exert a positive effect on investment. However, it may well be the case that remittances are channelled towards increasing consumption and leisure goods instead. Exploiting within family variation and an instrumental variable strategy, we show that migration indeed accelerates productive assets' accumulation. However, when we look at the effect of migration on non-productive assets (durable goods), we find a negative effect. Our results then suggest that poor rural families resort to migration as a way to mitigate constraints that prevent them from investing in productive assets.

Impact of Grameen Bank Microcrdit Programme on Changing Livelihood Status of the Rural Women in Panchagarh District of Bangladesh

Problem statement: Rural women in Bangladesh are the most deprived part of the society and majority of them are extremely poor. They have very limited access to income generating activities and consequently less opportunity to imp rove their livelihood status. Microcredit programme contributes to improve the livelihood status of rur al women in Bangladesh. Approach: This study examines the extent of changes in livelihood status of rural women through their involvement in the microcredit programme of Bangladesh. Results: The study reveals that the rural women, after joini ng the microcredit programme, have been able to engage themselves in income generating activities and consequently improved significantly their livelihoo d status. Conclusion: Therefore, it can be concluded that microcredit programme plays a significant role in changing and improving livelihood status among the rural poor families.

Contribution of Rural Women to Family Income Through Participation in Microcredit: An Empirical Analysis

Problem statement: Rural women in Bangladesh have a lower socio-economic status and very limited access to income generating activities due to a number of social, cultural and religious barriers. Consequently, they have less opportunity to contribute to their family income. Rural women are economically dependent and vulnerable and socially discriminated. Microcredit programme provides loans to the rural poor women in order to undertake small financial and business activities that allow them to generate income. This income earning opportunity helps the rural women to contribute to their family income and achieve a level of independence. Approach: In the present study, an attempt has been made to assess the impact of microcredit programme on rural women’s contribution in improving the household income. The study is based on empirical data collected through interview from the two groups of rural women e.g. ‘with credit’ and ‘without credit’ rural women. The ‘with credit’ respondents represent the rural women who have taken loan from the Grammeen Bank’s microcredit programme. The results show that the proportion of the ‘with credit’ rural women who contributed to family income is much higher (19%) than that of ‘without credit’ rural women (10%). A multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify the factors influencing the respondent’s contribution to the total monthly family income. Results: The multiple regression analysis shows that there were strong positive effects of age of respondent, level of education, family size, earning member, occupation of respondent’s and also monthly income of respondent’s while status of marriage has a strong negative effect. It was found that majority of the ‘with credit’ respondents contribute much higher to the family incomes than the ‘without credit’ respondents. It was also found that with ‘credit rural’ women have improved their socio-economic status and income generating activities by participating microcredit programmes of Grameen Bank. Conclusion: It is concluded that women can contribute to increase in family income which is essential for survival of the rural poor families. Therefore, the MFIs should create provision of credit for women to get them involved in income generation activities.

Market-based approaches can provide water to poor rural families

Given the right mix of product, price and promotion, market-based solutions to supply water to rural households are feasible and sustainable. This requires a change in thinking from considering people as beneficiaries, and providing what we think that they need, to designing and marketing suitable products and services for clients that are affordable and are what they want to purchase. Products and services need to be developed in close collaboration with the clients and their feedback is critical in getting the right product at the right price. Social marketing, the combination of educational messages for behaviour change and product promotion is important to create a critical mass of demand for the new product or service. The market-based approach is a departure from traditional development projects where products are subsidized, to an approach where product development and initial promotion may be donor funded, but the products are supplied through a sustainable supply chain.

The Brazilian biodiesel program and family farmers: what is the social inclusion reality in the Brazilian savannah?

Biofuel production has been greatly discussed in Brazil. In 2004, some debates led the country to develop new policies and implement the National Biodiesel Use and Production Program (PNPB), with the intent to increase the share of renewable energy and foster rural development. In this context, the present study aims to assess the linkages between family farmers living standard and the adoption of oil seed activity in the Tocantins State, in a region of transition between the Cerrado (Brazilian savannah) and the Amazon rain forest. Ranges of socio-economic indicators were collected among smallholders who cultivate Jatropha curcas and Ricinus communis. A factor analysis based on living standard criteria and a non-linear probit model were applied to assess the inclusion of poor rural families in the biodiesel chain. Preliminary results point towards a positive relation between the family degree of deprivation and adoption of oil seed activity, for the Ricinus communis production, and a negative relation, for the Jatropha curcas production.

Vulnerability and Adaptation Analysis in Flood Affected Areas of Orissa

This article is an attempt to study about the way people adapt to the impact of climate change, especially with floods. It also looks at the sustainability of the coping mechanisms, which the communities adopt for this extreme event. This study tests for ex-ante and ex-post adaptation responses to weather risk for rural farm households of Orissa and also examines how poor rural families adapt with the changing pattern of livelihood. An examination of the coping mechanisms of the agricultural households during the flood period revealed a number of factors that include the sequencing of adaptation options adapted by the people responding to a particular event. The next step is to find out the factors affecting the success of the adaptation. The very important task then is to integrate those factors with the climate policy, which will have an adaptive solution in a sustainable way.

Rural Women in Group Enterprises

Group entrepreneurship offers an effective development strategy for harnessing rich rural resources into large number of income generating opportunities. A pragmatic view is that the group venture provides the poorest and most marginalized people who cannot start the venture individually with the opportunities to earn an income. While individual entrepreneurship is guided by profits largely depends for its success on the competence of individuals, success of group entrepreneurship depends to a large extent on the effective support of support agency in the form of supply of raw materials, selection of machinery, procurement of orders and quality control etc. The purpose of this research paper was to increase the understanding about women who are running group businesses, with the emphasis on “understanding” their experiences. The researchers have made an attempt to have better qualitative information and quantitative data and statistics to profile women engaged in group ventures (demographic information, benefits and sustainability). This would also assist in promoting awareness of the role of group entrepreneurship in the economy. The study has found that group enterprises promoted by SIRI have provided opportunities for the young rural girls, after their school education, to generate income and become financially independent. The young girls’ earnings from the group business are very important and contributed to the improvement in the quality of life of poor rural families. Women entering SIRI’s group enterprises are in the age group of 17-25 indicating that it is mostly unmarried women who do not have household and reproductive responsibilities that generally place severe constraints on developing business. Our research shows that SIRI offers a range of services to address the various constraints faced by women entrepreneurs and the sample respondents are quite happy with its support structure. From our research it is evident that women’s group enterprises need handholding support of support agencies for their start up, growth and sustainability since the poor and less educated rural women do not have basic competence to successfully manage a business.

Transportation Access: A Key Employment Barrier for Rural Low-Income Families

Findings from three sequential studies build an understanding of the transportation barriers facing poor rural families and the link between transportation access and economic outcomes. An in-depth, longitudinal qualitative study explored multiple dimensions of the role of transportation in family life. The results of this study yielded emergent themes and hypotheses used in the subsequent studies. The second study used multiple methods to analyze Census data, vehicle registration lists, and focus group interviews to identify transportation resources in a rural county and to assess transportation needs and barriers facing welfare recipients. The third study addressed the association between transportation and economic outcomes using a dual frame household survey in a cluster of five counties. The article concludes that although policies to provide access to transportation services for rural families may enhance employment opportunities, other related outcomes and longer term effects require additional study.

Household Rice Expenditure and Maternal and Child Nutritional Status in Bangladesh1–3

In Bangladesh, poor rural families often deal with high food costs by purchasing primarily rice. Our objective was to characterize the relationship between household expenditure on rice and nonrice foods with maternal and child malnutrition. Food expenditure data and anthropometry were obtained in a population-based sample of 304,856 households in the Bangladesh Nutrition Surveillance Project, 2000–2005. Food expenditures were categorized as rice and nonrice foods and expressed as quintiles of proportional food expenditure. Of children aged 6–11, 12–23, and 24–59 mo, the prevalence of stunting was 33.5, 56.3, and 53.1%, respectively. The prevalence of maternal underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2) was 37.3%. Among children aged 6–11, 12–23, and 24–59 mo, rice expenditures were associated with stunting [odds ratio (OR) 1.11, 95% CI 1.02–1.20, P = 0.01; OR 1.09, 95% CI 1.04–1.13, P < 0.0001; OR 1.13, 95% CI 1.08–1.18, P < 0.0001), respectively, among families in the highest compared with the lowest quintile, adjusting for potential confounders, and nonrice food expenditures were associated with stunting (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.80–0.95, P = 0.002; OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.83–0.90, P < 0.0001; OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.85–0.94, P < 0.0001) among families in the highest compared with the lowest quintile, adjusting for potential confounders. In the highest compared with the lowest quintile, rice expenditures (OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.08–1.15, P < 0.0001) and nonrice food expenditures (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.90–0.96, P < 0.0001) were associated with maternal underweight. Households that spent a greater proportion on nonrice foods and less on rice had a lower prevalence of maternal and child malnutrition.

Desarrollo territorial en el norte argentino: una perspectiva crítica

Th e strategies of development in rural territories in the provinces of Jujuy, Misiones and Salta in Argentina provide the objects of study in this analysis. Th ese three cases reveal that there has been a process of consolidation of grass-roots organization since 1990, which seems to have strengthened the historically marginalized sectors of the population. New kinds of relationships between the state and civil society have also appeared, leading to rural development institutions which are actively involved with poor rural families. For the analysis of these processes the following premises are generated: a) territory expresses social and spatial relations of power; b) rural development must imply greater autonomy for the benefi ciary population in the processes of public and private decision-making and management. Only in this way it is possible for development to lead to a new territoriality (a change in spatially bounded power relations). Th e article is organized by initially presenting the objectives and the cases, followed by a presentation of the theoretical framework relating to development, territory and power, a characterization of the analyzed experiences, and fi nally some comparative refl ections.

Maternal Mental Health and the Persistence of Food Insecurity in Poor Rural Families

Little is known about the causal relationship between and the mechanisms linking depression and food insecurity. Our purpose was to examine these knowledge gaps. Chi-squared analysis of longitudinal data from 29 rural upstate New York families followed for three years and qualitative analysis of interviews were used to identify associations and mechanisms. Depressive symptoms (p=.009) and poor mental health (p=.01) in mothers limited the likelihood families would leave food insecurity. This relationship was mediated through limiting the employment of adult family members and operated in three ways: preventing the depressed household member from working, preventing a different household member from working, and limiting access to childcare for depressed children so adults could work. Poor mental health is associated with keeping families food-insecure by limiting their employment. High-quality, accessible mental health care is needed for poverty-associated food insecurity to be alleviated.

Effectiveness of One Dose of SA 14-14-2 Vaccine against Japanese Encephalitis

To the Editor: Japanese encephalitis remains a major cause of viral encephalitis in Asia, imposing a significant burden on poor rural families. Vaccination is an important element of disease contro...

Marriage Practices in an Urban Slum: Vulnerability, Challenges to Traditional Arrangements and Resistance by Adolescent Women in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Compared to Southeast Asia, Dhaka city represents an apparent anomaly: a rapidly growing metropolis with relatively little change in early marriage practices, with 51 percent of 15-19 year-old females in 2000 already married. The rapid influx of rural poor families to Dhaka has led to a rapid increase in urban population growth, slum settlements and worsening poverty. Ethnographic fieldwork among married adolescent girls, aged 15-19, was carried out in a Dhaka slum from December 2001 to January 2003, including 50 in-depth interviews, 8 case studies from among 153 married adolescent girls, and observations and discussions with family and community. Informed by critical medical anthropology [1], this paper is about how early marriage practices and marital instability in an urban slum in Dhaka are grounded in the social, political and economic structures of their lives. A climate of poverty, violence and insecurity encourage early marriage practices and incidents of coerced marriages. Lawlessness, fears of sexual harassment and gang wars are a motivating factor for many families. In addition, the incentive to pay smaller dowries for poor families especially if their daughter is younger is also a motivating factor. While urbanization and the advent of the garment industry has increased employment opportunities and options for young girls, this has also led to a shift in traditional marriage arrangements, with greater incidence of love marriages, without parental permission at times. Incidents of young women resisting marriages organised by parents highlight a shift in parental authority as increasingly girls who work assert their agency, preferring to select and choose their own partners. The reasons for early marriage in a slum are shaped increasingly by structural and social inequalities which compel families and young women to make choices and trade-offs in order to survive in the difficult environment. [1] Disease is understood to be social as well as biological, and there is a focus on the links between disease and social class, poverty, power and ill health, i.e. the political economy of health.

IMPORTANCE OF UNDER-UTILIZED INDIGENOUS LEGUMES IN ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

Food legumes constitute a major crop group in the Asia-Pacific region because of their unique features including their role in human and animal nutrition, nitrogen fixation, adaptation to stress conditions, suitability to various cropping systems, and for overall sustainability of agricultural production systems. Most countries in the region have attained self-sufficiency in staple cereal crops production. However, the availability of legumes is low, and many countries are importing legumes costing huge amounts in foreign exchange. Dependence on a few legumes in production and market chain, and high demand has lead to increased price for legumes, and thus the poor rural and urban families cannot afford to eat legumes to the desired level (to meet protein needs). Only a handful of legumes are grown on large areas and enter commercial markets. There are many indigenous food legumes whose potential is under exploited and untapped. Many of these indigenous food legumes play a vital role in protein nutrition to poor farm families, especially to women and children, in the region. Looking at the total area cultivated and production, legumes such as soybean, groundnut, chickpea, lentil, common bean, field peas, chickpea, and pigeonpea can be considered as major legume crops. Other legumes that are indigenous and under-exploited are: Adzuki bean, bambara groundnut, blackgram, broadbean (faba bean), horsegram, lablab bean, lathyrus, moth bean, rice bean, and winged bean. Not all of them are indigenous (in the sense of origin), but have been cultivated in the region for more than 200-300 years. Hence, all these are considered indigenous for the purpose of this paper and their potential for expanding the food basket and commercialization in Asia-Pacific region is discussed.

The Wrong Side of the Tracks: Social Inequality and Mobile Home Park Residence

Given the emerging social stratification of post-agrarian small-towns, potential effects are apt to be exacerbated for rural poor families such as those residing in mobile home parks, a now characteristic rural neighborhood form. Although a mobile home park offers affordable access to rural residence, social costs are attached to such access. This paper examines the intersection between mobile home park residence and social disadvantage. Drawing on an ethnographic field study in rural Oregon, findings reveal distinct conditional features of place that determine the nature of how rural inequality is emerging and the implications for poor and working-poor families.

Perm Oblast's approach to reducing rural poverty

Effectively addressing rural poverty is a challenge around the world and not less so in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. In 2005 Russia's Perm Oblast implemented an innovative program with the objective of increasing the income of very poor rural families on a permanent basis. The principal tool is a one-time grant made to applicants who submit a credible plan for investing the grant funds in a way that is likely to lead to sustained higher incomes. This paper reviews the early experience with the program – both the application process and short-term outcomes associated with the program. Several outcome indicators were employed: self-rating by applicants of project success, reported improvements in living standards measured in several ways, and participants' stated intentions to continue with the activity in which the grant funds were invested. These indicators taken together suggest broad success in these terms – 39 per cent said that were fully successful in implementing their investment plans and 57 per cent said they were partially so; broad improvements in the quality of meals eaten were reported and 37 per cent of participants said that drugs and medical treatment were more affordable. The improvement cannot be strictly attributed to the program because of the lack of a control group. At least as important as the reported improvements in living standards is the extremely high share of participants that stated they would continue their activities: 93 per cent of those who invested in farm activities and 76 per cent of those who invested in self-employed activities said they planned to continue with the activities financed by the investment. Conditions necessary for implementing such a program elsewhere are discussed.

THE ROOTS AND THE STRATEGY FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN THE CITY OF AMBON, MOLLUCAS AND IN THE DISTRICT OF BOALEMO, GORONTALO

Many poverty alleviation programs had been implemented in the past, but only a few made it. In relation to this, the objectives of this study were: (1) to identify the roots of family poverty, (2) to identify factors related to the family poverty, and (3) to formulate a strategy for poverty alleviation. To reach these objectives, 420 poor households were randomly selected from the city of Ambon and the district of Boalemo, Gorontalo Province. They were interviewed from November 2003 through January 2005. The obtained data were analyzed by using the descriptive statistics and the multiple regression procedures. The findings pointed out that: (1) both the urban and the rural poor households lacked in productive and normative behavior, (2) factors related significantly to the welfare of urban poor families were social and political capitals; whereas to the rural poor families were natural, physical, financial, and behavioral capitals as well, and (3) the grand strategy for both urban and rural poverty alleviation should include good governance, capacity building, social capital revitalization, public policy advocacy, social assurance, infrastructure building, community-based economic development, and asset redistribution.

Change in food insecurity across time in poor rural families in the US

The objective was to identify predictors of change in food insecurity status across time in rural low-income families. A sample of families with children and annual household incomes of less than 200 percent of the Federal poverty line was recruited from 16 rural counties in 10 states. The mothers in these families were interviewed three times, once in each year of the study, between 2000 and 2003. Complete data are available for approximately 200 families. Thirty-four percent of the families in the study were food secure in all three years, and 24% were persistently food insecure. Twenty-three percent of the families were food insecure in year one and became food secure over the course of the study, 6% became food insecure, and 13% fluctuated between food security and food insecurity. Predictor variables in four categories were examined: human capital, including physical health, mental health, life skills, knowledge of community resources, and education; social capital, focusing on social support; financial resources, including income and employment, expenses, and government benefits; and demographic characteristics, paying special interest to family of origin socioeconomic status. Preliminary results indicate that the mental and physical health of the mother, the mother’s ability to stretch groceries to the end of the month, family income, the mother’s employment status, and participation in the Food Stamp Program, Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and housing assistance programs are important predictors of change in food insecurity status.

Pluriatividade, pobreza rural e serviço doméstico remunerado

Este trabalho se propôs analisar, com base nos microdados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD) - anos 1992-1999 e 2001 -, a participação da renda do serviço doméstico remunerado entre determinados tipos de famílias rurais pobres que apresentaram taxas de crescimento negativas nos anos 90, demonstrando que, em diversos casos, a renda do serviço doméstico explica melhor a redução da pobreza rural do que as transferências governamentais (aposentadorias e pensões). Para tanto, realizamos uma breve análise da evolução dos diferentes tipos de famílias extensas rurais (e pobres) nos anos 90, além de uma análise comparativa entre as Grandes Regiões do país no tocante às rendas média e per capita dos diferentes tipos de famílias rurais adotando como referência o ano de 2001. Além disso, procuramos mostrar que a redução de famílias pobres agrícolas se deve, neste caso, também ao fato destas estarem se tornando famílias de não-ocupados, residentes no meio rural, e não somente em virtude de êxodos agrícola (substituição de atividades agrícolas por atividades não-agrícolas) e/ou rural-urbano. Para testar estas hipóteses, adotamos como referência a linha de pobreza construída por Takagi et al (2001) - de U$ 1,08 - e a nova tipologia de famílias extensas desenvolvida pelo Projeto Rurbano.