Goal Of Self-sufficiency Research Articles

Reconciling self-sufficiency and renewable energy targets in a hydro dominated system: The view from British Columbia

Abstract British Columbia's energy policy is at a crossroads; the province has set a goal of electricity self-sufficiency, a 93% renewable portfolio standard and a natural gas development strategy that could increase electricity consumption by 21 TWh to 33 TWh. To ascertain the BC's supply position, a mathematical programming model of the physical workings of BC's hydroelectric generating system is developed, with head heights at the two dominant power stations treated as variable. Using historical water inflow and reservoir level data, the model is used to investigate whether BC is capable of meeting its self-sufficiency goals under various water supply and electricity demand scenarios.

Evaluation of the relevance of packages of extension recommendations on cassava to farmers' felt needs in Cross-river State, Nigeria: Implications for the attainment of Millenium Development Goal on food security

Relevance of packages of improved agricultural technologies to farmers’ felt needs would influence how readily the farmers adopt them as well as the attainment of the goal of self-sufficiency in food production vis-a-vis the Millennium Development Goal on food security. The study was, therefore, conducted to evaluate the relevance of extension packages of improved technologies to farmers’ felt needs in Cross River State, Nigeria. In conducting the study, 180 farmers participating in extension program in the state were randomly selected using the multi-stage random sampling technique. The data collected through a structured questionnaire were analyzed using the t-test of significance of difference between sample and population means. The study found that farmers were unanimous that most of the extension recommendations were not very relevant to their felt needs. There was no significant difference between the farmers’ rating of the relevance of extension recommendations and their felt needs. As such the null hypothesis was accepted and the alternative hypothesis rejected at 0.05 level of significance. Some recommendations were also made Key words: Evaluation, relevance, recommendations, cassava, farmers, felt-needs, Cross River.

Self-sufficiency policy and irrigated rice productivity in the Senegal River Valley

Senegal’s high dependence on rice imports exposes the country to international market shocks with concomitant serious risks for food security. Since 2011 and triggered by high international prices, several initiatives to upgrade the rice value chain have emerged in the private sector. However, the major constraint private investors are currently facing is the insufficient supply of Senegal River Valley (SRV) paddy rice, implying that investment in productivity is becoming vital for the continuation of their operations, which are currently running below their optimum. The Senegalese government is investing heavily in the national rice sector, with the ambitious objective of achieving self-sufficiency in the year 2015. However, the program focuses primarily on extension of the area grown rather than increased productivity. We provide econometric support for policy making by assessing the determinants of productivity and technical efficiency in irrigated rice production systems through a five-year panel dataset of small-scale irrigated rice farms in the SRV. We found that due to the exacerbation of biological and institutional constraints in the SRV, rice growers had difficulties in maintaining productivity of their land. These constraints prevented them from further intensification, jeopardizing the national objective of self-sufficiency. Farmers exhibited modest technical efficiency levels, suggesting that, in addition to the proposed intensification strategies, substantial efforts in extension services will be required in order to achieve the goal of self-sufficiency. Improved weed and bird control as well as technological, organizational and institutional improvements were identified as key factors for boosting productivity and technical efficiency and, hence, these are target areas needing attention by Senegalese farmers and policy makers in their quest for increased food security.

The Self-Sufficiency Trap: A Critical Examination of Welfare-to-Work

This article examines the notion of self-sufficiency as the central goal of recent policy efforts in Canada to move social assistance recipients into the labor market. The authors base their examination on a longitudinal, institutional-ethnographic study of 17 welfare-to-work participants attempting to make the transition from social assistance to employment in the province of Alberta, Canada. Findings from a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with participants about their day-to-day experiences show that there is a considerable gap between “the promise” and “the reality” of welfare-to-work programs. This gap reveals the difficulties of relying on the goal of self-sufficiency for all citizens, demonstrating how, as an abstract ideological notion, self-sufficiency has shaped concrete policy orientations that affect marginalized citizens by overpromising and underdelivering sustainable employment.

Capital deepening, land use policy, and self-sufficiency in China's grain sector

The objectives of this paper are twofold. First, we aim to clarify the mechanism by which use of farm machinery in Chinese agriculture has grown rapidly over the past decades, using a separate Cobb–Douglas (SCD) production function. Second, we determine under what condition will China's grain self-sufficiency be secured in the next decade. Our empirical results reveal that the supply and factor demand functions based on the SCD form can significantly explain the reality, in particular, the capital demand function. This finding suggests that the recent capital deepening in Chinese agriculture is caused by farmers' behavior in response to the government's directives aimed at securing arable land. Our simulation analysis reveals that the attainment of a 95% self-sufficiency rate would be quite challenging for China, unless the terms of trade in agriculture improve substantially in favor of producers. China's policy makers must therefore seriously reconsider whether adhering to the policy goal of grain self-sufficiency is worth the effort.

Global biofuel production and poverty in China

This study assesses the future impacts of biofuel production from the world’s major biofuel producers (the US, Brazil and the EU) over the next decade on global markets and the resulting spatial implications on income distribution and agricultural production in China. Rising global commodity prices arising from either positive market conditions for biofuels or government mandates on biofuel production levels, are transmitted, albeit imperfectly, into China’s domestic food economy. For those crops that are being used for feedstocks internationally (maize) or are close substitutes for feedstocks (soybeans), production rises sharply. Imports also fall significantly. Such dynamics help China to realize its self-sufficiency goals more fully. Another unintended benefit of the increase in global biofuel use is the impact on Chinese income distribution. China’s farmers—especially the poor—benefit from biofuels.

‘Land grab’ as development strategy? The political economy of agricultural investment in Ethiopia

This paper examines the domestic political economy of so-called ‘land-grabbing’ in Ethiopia, assessing the motivations of the Ethiopian government, which has strongly promoted foreign agricultural investment. The paper draws on a unique set of federal and regional databases detailing foreign and domestic investments in Ethiopia to analyse the likely role investment will play in the Ethiopian economy and the areas which have been targeted for investment. The analysis identifies increased foreign exchange earnings as the main likely contribution of investment but in doing so highlights concerns for food security in Ethiopia, as the goal of national self-sufficiency has given way to a risky trade-based food security strategy. The paper also argues that the federal government's attempts to direct investment to sparsely-populated lowlands have important implications for the ethnic self-determination that is a key tenet of Ethiopia's federal system.

Food Security vs. Food Self-Sufficiency: The Indonesian Case

Food security is an important social objective and relying on international food markets to meet the needs of Indonesia’s growing population is precarious. The policy of restricting food imports through tariffs or quantitative restrictions promotes the goal of food self-sufficiency, but does so at the cost of reducing the food security of the most vulnerable people – the poorest net consumers of rice. These policies reduce imports through the mechanism of raising the domestic price. The poorest consumers bear the greatest burden from this policy because they are the people for whom expenditures on food form the largest proportion of their household budgets. A preferable strategy for raising self-sufficiency is to promote improved agricultural productivity. This reduces imports by raising agricultural output but does so without raising the domestic price of food and so without creating a conflict between the goals of higher levels of self-sufficiency on the one hand and food security and poverty reduction on the other. Unfortunately, Indonesia’s commitment to raising agricultural productivity has seemingly waned. Finally, Indonesia has already demonstrated that practical mechanisms can be designed for shielding poor consumers from price increases that would otherwise be harmful, by designing systems of Conditional Cash Transfers.

Understanding Brazil’s Oil Industry: Policy Dynamics and Self-Sufficiency

This paper focuses on the premise that despite changes in the type of Brazil’s governmental leadership—and their respective political priorities and economic policies—the nation has engaged in a continual movement toward the fulfillment of its vision of self-sufficiency in oil, for the purposes of economic development as well as those of national security. After attaining self-sufficiency in oil in 2006, new offshore discoveries beginning in 2007 have placed Brazil among the world’s top ten countries in oil reserves. In light of these discoveries, the Brazilian government is considering a new legal framework with respect to its offshore oil reserves. This paper provides historical evidence to substantiate the premise and assesses the implications of the new framework in relation to continuing the country’s historical goal and achievement of self-sufficiency in oil.

Psychoeducational Workshops as a Practical Tool to Facilitate Resettlement with Iraqi Refugees and Anchor Relatives

This article describes an intervention developed by master's-level Applied Community Psychology students in collaboration with a Los Angeles-based refugee resettlement agency. As community practitioners, the authors consulted with agency stakeholders to assess the difficulties identified by the organization and proposed an intervention consisting of three psychoeducational workshops to facilitate the resettlement process. All three workshops allow the agency to partner with the refugee and the anchor relative to work toward the goal of self-sufficiency for the refugee. Although these interventions were developed for a specific resettlement agency, they can be generalized for use in most resettlement agencies in the United States working within U.S. State Department guidelines.

China's wine market: strategic considerations for Western exporters

With consumption rising 10?15% per year, there is no doubt about the potential of Chinese wine market. Market share and global exports from Western countries have been continuously increasing starting a trend of annual double digit growth these past years and almost making the Chinese market's limit unreachable. However, there are some facts that seriously affect this trend: the domestic wine production – as demand increases so does domestic production, domestic producers are well aware of the government's goal of self-sufficiency; the market structure – strong domestic producers and distribution difficulties critically influence strategies for exporters; and the wine consumer's behaviour – quite different from European or US markets, affecting price and advertising strategies.

Looked After Children and the Ethic of Care

This paper draws on the growing field of literature that discusses the relevance of the ethic of care to social work. It is argued that an ethic of justice predominates in looked after children policies and practice, which can serve to underplay the relevance of the traits associated with an ethic of care. Using case examples from a small-scale longitudinal qualitative study of looked after children and care-leavers, the author notes that care is likely to be found in relationships beyond formally ascribed carers and that relational aspects of interactions with social workers are important, despite the lack of opportunity to develop these relationships. Like most people in society, these young people are care-givers and care-receivers, reminding us of the interdependency of human relationships and potentially alleviating some of the ‘othering’ of these young people as care-recipients. It is suggested that the care system pays attention to informal, complex networks of care relationships that may be held by young people and encourages continuity in formal and informal care relationships. It is also suggested that interdependency be acknowledged and valued alongside a goal of self-sufficiency for care-leavers.

Toward the ultimate goal of tritium self-sufficiency: Technical issues and requirements imposed on ARIES advanced power plants

Due to the lack of external tritium sources, all fusion power plants must demonstrate a closed tritium fuel cycle. The tritium breeding ratio (TBR) must exceed unity by a certain margin. The key question is: how large is this margin and how high should the calculated TBR be? The TBR requirement is design and breeder-dependent and evolves with time. At present, the ARIES requirement is 1.1 for the calculated overall TBR of LiPb systems. The Net TBR during plant operation could be around 1.01. The difference accounts for deficiencies in the design elements (nuclear data evaluation, neutronics code validation, and 3D modeling tools). Such a low Net TBR of 1.01 is potentially achievable in advanced designs employing advanced physics and technology. A dedicated R&D effort will reduce the difference between the calculated TBR and Net TBR. A generic breeding issue encountered in all fusion designs is whether any fusion design will over-breed or under-breed during plant operation. To achieve the required Net TBR with sufficient precision, an online control of tritium breeding is highly recommended for all fusion designs. This can easily be achieved for liquid breeders through online adjustment of Li enrichment.

Leveraging assets: a case study of the sustainability initiative at the University of Minnesota, Morris

This article presents an overview of the sustainability initiative at the University of Minnesota, Morris, key components of which include a realistic goal of energy self-sufficiency by 2010, a new environmental studies curriculum, and various research and outreach projects. Many non-obvious institutional assets – such as lobbying networks in the state legislature, and geographic/demographic features that are more commonly thought of as liabilities – turned out to play critical roles in setting the initiative in motion. The initial physical assets have been leveraged into complementary opportunities for research, teaching, and institutional development in this direction.

MARKET SUPPLY RESPONSE AND DEMAND FOR LOCAL RICE IN NIGERIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR SELF-SUFFICIENCY POLICY

This study examined the supply response and demand for local rice in Nigeria between 1960 and 2004. A system of equations using secondary data was estimated by OLS and 2SLS techniques. Area planted with local rice is mainly affected by expected price of output, agriculture wage rate and by the partial adjustment coefficient. The short-run response elasticity is 0.077. The implied long-run response elasticity is 1.578. The partial adjustment measure is 0.049. This, points to the difficulty of supply response to changing economic conditions. The price elasticity of demand obtained is 0.841. The demand for local rice is thus price inelastic. Rice income elasticity is 0.3378. It is also inelastic. The ban on rice importation in Nigeria could be said to be a step in the right direction. This policy should be continued and policed. However, price, output and non-price incentives that can exert significant influence on rice supply response and demand are required if the self-sufficiency goal is to be achieved.

Implementing Full and Partial Work Sanctions

This study examines the implementation of work sanctions in Texas, a state that switched from partial to full benefit sanctions. A qualitative research design is used consisting of 255 individual case studies obtained from administrative fair hearing data under Texas's full and partial sanction regimes. Recipients' explanations for not complying with the work rules and how workers assessed these explanations and whether sanctions were appropriate are examined. This study found that recipients' reasons for not complying with work rules were similar for both full and partial sanctions. The primary reasons for their noncompliance were family obstacles and situational challenges or lack of notice. Workers responses under both regimes were also very similar, with workers using their discretion to apply sanctions punitively. Workers focused on the paper-processing tasks of sanctioning rather than the larger goal of encouraging self-sufficiency, with workers failing to distinguish between procedural and substantive violations of the work rules.

Practitioners' perspectives on effective practices for Hispanic teenage pregnancy prevention.

In the United States, the pregnancy rate and birthrate of Hispanic teenagers are higher than those of other races and ethnicities. Although recommendations for culturally appropriate pregnancy prevention programs are commonplace, little is known about how practitioners address such recommendations. In individual interviews, 58 teenage pregnancy prevention practitioners who work primarily with Mexican American female teenagers from two regions in California were asked about their understanding of recommendations for best practices and discussed the strategies they have used and challenges they have faced in implementing the recommendations. Qualitative methods were used to categorize responses and identify themes. Practitioners indicated that knowledge and awareness of Hispanic culture are essential, as is commitment to teenagers and their needs. They regard activities that encourage educational and career achievement as critical program components, and view both male partners' and family members' involvement in programs as important but challenging. Furthermore, practitioners feel that the implicit program goals of continued education and female self-sufficiency are often at odds with traditional Hispanic cultural values. Practitioners have valuable insight into the reality of implementing culturally sensitive programs. Programs need to balance the often competing values and goals of prevention programs with those of Hispanic youth culture and experiences.

Views from the Frontline

Abstract Through in-depth interviews, Kentucky welfare case managers compare their experiences working under Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) with their experiences working under Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). Interviewees unanimously agreed that TANF is more ambiguous, complex, and stressful than AFDC, both for clients and managers. Although case managers embrace the self-sufficiency goals of TANF, the strict work requirements, overwhelming paperwork and limited education and training opportunities create conflicting goals and barriers that frustrate case managers, leading to suggestions of a return to some rules of AFDC while retaining the TANF goal of independence from the welfare system.

Policy reform and productivity change in Chinese agriculture: A distance function approach

Agricultural policy reform has been an important source of change in the Chinese agricultural sector. The reforms led to productivity growth and helped China to pursue its self-sufficiency goal especially in the grain sector. In order to analyze whether observable productivity growth stems from technologically induced components or from the market induced parts, a multi-input–multi-output model is derived by using an econometric distance function framework. A decomposition allows to distinguish allocative effects, scale effects, technological change, and technical efficiency change. Data on farms in Zhejiang from 1986 to 2000 are used to analyze the impact of policy reform.

Health Goal Cognition and Adjustment in Women with Fibromyalgia

The purpose of this study was to identify individual differences in symptom-specific goal for persons diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and to determine whether those differences are related to adjustment outcomes. Women with FMS (N=71) rank ordered 12 FMS-specific goals and completed a packet of psychosocial outcome measures. Cluster analysis suggested that there were three relatively homogeneous subgroups defined. Cluster 1 ranked goals related to seeking professional care higher than all other groups. Cluster 2 ranked self-sufficiency goals higher than the other two groups. Cluster 3 ranked social-validation goals higher than the other two clusters. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) and post-hoc tests showed that goal profiles covaried with differences in pain, negative affect, goal-specific social support, general social support, goal-related interference, and negative life events. Differences between groups are discussed in the context of proposed relations between goals and environmental support.