Settlement Scheme Research Articles

Land Tenure and Productivity: Farm-Level Evidence from Papua New Guinea

Does land tenure form affect farm-level productivity? The answer, from farm-level data for an oil palm project in Papua New Guinea, is in the affirmative. Analysis of farm-level output, controlling for all measured inputs, shows systematic differences in productivity across three land tenure types, namely, farms under customary purchase agreements, those under the land settlement scheme, and those under village-owned land schemes. The empirics suggest that the higher productivity is due to benefits from economies of scale and absence of income sharing enjoyed by farms with improved tenure security.

Challenges to parenting in a new culture: Implications for child and family welfare

Increasing numbers of families arriving through Australia's humanitarian settlement scheme are coming into contact with Australian child protection systems. A large number of these families come from African and Middle Eastern countries and have common experiences of trauma, dislocation, loss and many are victims of genocide, war, and torture. Pre-migration experiences together with the considerable challenges of settling into a new country can significantly affect family well-being and parenting practices. It is therefore important that child and family welfare service planners are well informed about how best to support refugee families using culturally competent family intervention and community development practices. This paper draws on the findings of a research project designed to examine why recently arrived families from refugee backgrounds are presenting in the South Australian child protection system and to identify culturally appropriate strategies for intervention. The paper presents findings from the project that relate to (1) refugee parents’, community members’ and child protection practitioners’ perspectives on the challenges to being a refugee parent in Australia and (2) strategies and resources relevant to prevention and early intervention in refugee families before statutory child protection intervention becomes necessary.

Re‐thinking frontiers in Southeast Asia

Re‐thinking frontiers in Southeast Asia

Comparação de indicadores de desempenho de produtores de leite localizados dentro e fora de assentamentos de reforma agrária no Triângulo Mineiro

Na discussão sobre uma reforma agrária no Brasil, um ponto central é a competitividade dos assentamentos. Por isso, este estudo comparativo entre produtores leiteiros localizados dentro e fora dos assentamentos de reforma agrária busca ampliar a compreensão do potencial econômico e técnico dos assentados. A pesquisa perfaz 81 entrevistas: com 39 produtores de leite do assentamento "Rio das Pedras", no Triângulo Mineiro, com 42 produtores de leite fora do assentamento - nos municípios limítrofes de Uberlândia e Monte Alegre (MG). A pesquisa de campo foi feita entre abril e o início de junho de 2006, mas os dados se referem à produção, aos custos e à renda obtida no mês de março do mesmo ano. Foi recorrido a vários indicadores de desempenho econômico e técnico na produção de leite, como a margem bruta que corresponde à diferença entre receita e custo operacional. Os dados revelaram que a diferença entre as margens brutas médias por litro de leite dos produtores fora e dentro do assentamento é significativa, e a margem bruta média por litro de leite é maior para os produtores de fora do assentamento. A diferença nas margens brutas médias por litro de leite entre os produtores fora e dentro do assentamento resulta do preço por litro leite mais elevado obtido pelos grandes produtores de fora do assentamento. As maiores margens brutas totais foram encontradas entre produtores que produziram de 500 a 999 litros. As maiores margens brutas por litro de leite foram obtidas por médios ou pequenos produtores, inclusive assentados. Em ambos os grupos pesquisados, houve uma grande variação no desempenho. O conjunto dos indicadores de desempenho utilizados não aponta uma superioridade absoluta dos produtores de leite do entorno sobre os assentados. Produtores com desempenho fraco foram encontrados entre grandes e pequenos, independentemente de localização. Com esses resultados, recomenda-se a identificação e a implementação de ações para elevar o preço do litro de leite para os pequenos produtores da região. Este estudo revelou, também, a necessidade de reavaliar a intensidade ótima no uso de insumos adquiridos e de difundir as melhores práticas de produção entre produtores com dotações de recursos similares.

Custom Hire Systems for Agricultural Machines in Southeast Asia: In a Rural Community in Thailand

A distinctive feature analysis of custom hire systems is made in an attempt to clarify the process of technology acceptance in relation to demographic changes in mobility at the frontier in the western part of Thailand. Field surveys reveal that the mental component to agricultural mechanization varies from one community to another. There was a comprehensive settlement scheme at the study site around 40 years ago. Farmers suggested that a custom hire service would constitute a reliable tool for implementing specific farming practices and obtaining a reasonable income. To cope with the difficulties involved in securing a cheaper workforce and the necessary operating capital convinced the farmers that a professional custom hire business would be useful for achieving sustainable agriculture.

On the Overland Trail: Sheet Music, Masculinity and Travelling ‘Country’

On the Overland Trail: Sheet Music, Masculinity and Travelling ‘Country’

Poverty Incidence In Rural Farming Communities In Ogun State, Nigeria

This study investigated the incidence of poverty and foodcrop productivity in selected spatial rural communities in Ogun State, Nigeria. Two hundred (200) respondent small scale farmers were drawn, using a purposive sampling technique, from the four divisions in the state. Information was obtained from these farmers with the aid of structured questionnaire and data were collected between February and November, 2005. These information contained data on the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers cultivating mainly maize, cassava, cocoyam, vegetables and plantain. Their access to agricultural land, labour supply, credit use and other facilities were also included. Both Tobit Regression and Foster-Greer- Thorbecke analytical models were used for the analysis of data. Results indicated that only age, farmers' farm size, production cost and farming experience were statistically important determinants of the incidence of poverty and farmers' foodcrop production levels. The Incidence of poverty was highest for farmers between 30 and 39 years of age (0.74) and those between 40 and 49 years of age (0.79).It was then concluded that the farm settlement schemes, most of which are now moribund, should be rehabilitated and explored for the challenge of providing cultivable agricultural lands for the rural farmers. With increased farm size, farmers can produce more and thus enhance their farm income, alleviate their poverty status and the welfare of their family members. Keywords : Small-scale farmers; Rural areas; Foodcrops; Poverty incidence; FGT model JOAFSS Vol. 4 (1) 2006: pp. 1-8

Failure deconstructed: Histories and geographies of soldier settlement in New Zealand circa 1917–39

Abstract: The New Zealand discharged soldier settlement scheme of the 1920s has been much criticized as being a failure. This paper draws on the existing literature and new case study research to break open ‘failure’ as an undifferentiated term and proposes that it was of three different types relating to what was termed the ‘personal equation’, to debt levels and to broader structural adjustment problems in farming. Each operated at differing scales. This is incorporated into a typology of failure and is put forward as basis for further research.

Necessity and Settlement Scheme of Government Performance Budgeting

Necessity and Settlement Scheme of Government Performance Budgeting

The imperial race and the immigration sieve: The Canadian debate on assisted British migration and empire settlement, 1900–30

During the 1920s assisted migration from Britain sparked a complex and often bitter debate in Canada. It had long been held that migrants who required assistance were highly unlikely to make desirable new citizens. While the great majority of Anglo-Canadians wished to see increased British immigration in order to strengthen imperial ties and maintain the cultural character of their nation, they feared an influx of ‘unfit’, unemployed urban workers. In some quarters, these negative attitudes intensified as a result of Empire settlement schemes. Complaints about assisted migrants have been interpreted by some historians as evidence of growing nationalist, anti-imperial feeling in Canada. However, a broader overview of the debate indicates that many observers blamed the problems of Empire settlement on Canadian economic and social conditions, calling for reforms that would help British newcomers to succeed. At the end of the 1920s, even the strongest critics of assisted migration were still eager to encourage British settlement, provided that the immigrants could be drawn from rural areas rather than the cities.

A Probabilistic Reserve Market Incorporating Interruptible Load

A probabilistic method for a pool-based combined energy and reserve market, which considers both generators and interruptible loads (ILs), is proposed in this paper. We minimize generation production cost together with the cost associated with expected energy not supplied (EENS) due to outages of generating units and failures of ILs to supply the reserve when required. The proposed settlement scheme allocates equitably cost of reserve among generators and ILs. Given that the method takes into account reliability of individual generators and ILs, the proposed scheme provides incentives for all market participants to improve their performance. A number of case studies are carried out to illustrate the impact of participant's characteristics on the reserve cost allocation

THE VILLAGE AS TERRITORY: ENCLOSING LOCALITY IN NORTHWEST ZAMBIA, 1950S TO 1990S

Planned villagization is a recurrent feature in modern Africa. Apart from their official goals, which were missed in most cases, rural settlement schemes can be seen as attempts by colonial and postcolonial states to inscribe a new territorial order into the countryside. Taking a group of villages in northwest Zambia as an example, this article examines the process and impact of territorialization in a long-term and interactionist perspective. The result is a history of contestation about competing concepts of spatiality and sociality which opens new perspectives on the making of both locality and the nation state in Central Africa.

Prolonged Exile: Long-Term Consequences of Contrasting Refugee Policies in Tanzania. By Mans Fellesson. Uppsala: University Publications, 2003. 275pp. + Appendix. Nps. ISSN 0585 5551; ISBN 91 554 5507 7.

The changing political climate for long-term refugees in African host countries is a topic warranting careful analysis and lively thinking, but Mans Fellesson's dissertation on Tanzania is not that book. Tanzania is by now a very well researched host country, but Fellesson's monograph reflects no scholarship after 1999, perhaps because his dissertation, granted in 2003, was published without any attempt to update it. The book is divided into three parts. The first part provides general background on refugee protection in the context of the ‘Human Security agenda’ of the 1990s, and some historical perspective on African refugee policy. There is little new here, mostly a literature review, with a mishmash of theoretical perspectives and bland generalizations that leave the reader at a loss over what to expect in the empirical research section that follows. Part II describes Tanzania's ‘two hosting policies’, as Fellesson conceives it: organized rural settlement schemes and assisted temporary camps. A chapter is devoted to each policy type, reviewing the history of the settlements (mainly Ulyankulu), and the camps of the 1990s in western Tanzania. Although there is some value to the historical account of Tanzania's refugee experience and policy response, the quality of the analysis is suspect. It was not clear where Fellesson acquired the survey data he cites, but after much searching of footnotes, it turns out that he is citing two surveys done by UNHCR's operational partner, Lutheran World Federation/Tanganyika Christian Refugee Service, in the 1990s. The first was of 100 ‘individuals’ (presumably refugees?), the second of 200, but there is no further information about these surveys—where they took place, under what circumstances, or who conducted them. Was the author himself involved in these surveys? We have no idea. Nonetheless, Fellesson uses these data repeatedly to confirm assertions about such issues as ‘resettlement’ (by which he means relocation within Tanzania) (p. 117), agricultural activities (p. 135), self-sufficiency (p. 137), income distribution (p. 139), perspectives on education (p. 146) and so forth. Refugees are frequently quoted without any indication of when or where the quote came from, to whom the refugee was speaking, or even whether the author himself was present. Is this entire section taken from existing sources, or did the author interview the refugees? There is no mention of research methods anywhere in the book. What is particularly troubling about this freewheeling use of survey data and quotes, is that given the general paucity of hard numbers on difficult-to-measure variables like refugee income and self-sufficiency, future scholars of Forced Migration Studies might use these data without much thought as to their validity or reliability. The author's failure to discuss his methods means that potentially interesting observations are undermined by our doubts about their validity. For example, in discussing refugee-host relations, Fellesson says (p. 161), ‘The presence of refugees in the region seem[s] to have had a marginal effect on the host society.’ He argues that the isolation of the settlement at Ulyankulu, and the ‘absence of competition for resources’ (p. 161) made for a sympathetic local attitude, as long as mobility restrictions on refugees continued. While this might be true, there is no evidence to back up such assertions and we wonder again if the author is simply speculating.

"Promises and Pineapples": Post-First World War Soldier Settlement at Beerburrum, Queensland, 1916-1929

Queensland's post-First World War Soldier Settlement Scheme, begun with noble and optimistic intentions in 1916, officially terminated in 1929 after ignominious failure. There were a number of factors which contributed to the erosion and ultimate destruction of this phase of land settlement, but Commonwealth-State antagonism and the incompetence of many State agricultural advisers were certainly significant elements. Beerburrum, just north of Brisbane, was one of the largest groups of settlements which characterised Queensland's attempts to turn swords into ploughshares. Beerburrum soldier settlers and their families strove valiantly to extract a basic living in the face of overwhelming adversity, and an examination of their circumstances offers a valuable window into the trials and tribulations of the entire scheme.

Making a living: Land pressures and changing livelihood strategies among oil palm settlers in Papua New Guinea

Since the establishment of oil palm land settlement schemes (LSSs) in West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, the settler population has increased significantly as second-generation settlers marry and raise families on their parents’ blocks. We explore how settlers are responding to demographic and socio-economic change in an environment in which opportunities for land-use change are limited. In the context of rising population pressure, LSS smallholders are developing innovative livelihood strategies by pursuing non-farm income sources, increasing food production, acquiring additional land and migration. The type of migration or land accumulation strategy depends on household access to various resources, especially social and kinship networks, and capital. Agricultural extension and rural development policies have not yet responded to this socio-agronomic transformation. We conclude that economic diversification amongst smallholders creates new opportunities for the oil palm industry to formulate more innovative and sustainable policies that strengthen the oil palm industry in PNG while facilitating broad-based rural development.

A Probabilistic Reserve With Zero-Sum Settlement Scheme

A probabilistic reserve scheme with iterated linear programming is proposed to maintain a uniform system reliability level in each dispatch period. Besides, a new zero-sum settlement scheme is introduced. It maintains a net zero sum of payment (loss) and compensation (gain) among the online generators by considering the expected energy not served (EENS) or reserve responsibility share of each unit. Solution results of the IEEE 26-unit system have revealed that the combined probabilistic reserve and zero-sum settlement scheme gives the Gencos stimuli to enhance their performance.

Settlement Schemes as Centres of Socio-Economic Change: The Case of Nyansiongo Scheme Nyamira District, Nyanza Province, Kenya

Field work for this study was conducted between the months of November 1989 and February 1990. Its purpose was toestablish the direction and magnitude of change that had occurred among the resettled farmers, socially and economically.To achieve that goal, it became necessary to document and analyze the socio-economic changes among the resettlers in thescheme. The demonstration model was the theoretical orientation that was used to guide and inform this study. Itpresupposes that for any meaningful changes to be effected, government change agents such as veterinary and agriculturalextension workers should have dialogue with the farmers. It is indicated that the demonstration model is viable forplanned social change. The methodology that was used to collect data in this study was documentary library search, focusgroup discussion, interviews and participant observation methods. The respondents were randomly selected usingsystematic random sampling, in which every 5th household head was interviewed. The household was the unit of analysis.The findings indicate that, on the overall, Abagusii farmers in Nyansiongo settlement have undergone significant socioeconomictransformations. They enjoy a higher standard of living than they did in the pre-settlement area. They now havebigger pieces of land that they utilize in the production of more food and cash crops. Most of them derive adequateincome from their farming activities which they invest in both farming and non-farming ventures. It was also establishedthat, socially, the resettlers have to a large extent adapted to the new environment by leading lifestyles that tend to beurban oriented, characterized by investing in the environment, being more individualistic and self-reliant. In brief, theyhave taken farming as a commercial activity. KEY WORDS: settlement scheme, population pressure, Abagusii, traditional land reserves, systematic random sampling,extension worker, mass socio-economic transformation, household, Nyansiongo settelement scheme, Nyamira, Kenya Résumé Des travaux sur le terrain pour cette étude ont été conduits entre les mois de novembre 1989 et février 1990 et son objectif était d'établirle sens et l'ampleur du changement socio-économique qui se serait produit chez les paysans réinstallés. L'étude a également essayéde faire des observations sur l'implication de ces changements et émettre des recommandations sur la viabilité de tels schémas, àl'avenir. Les données destinées à cette étude ont émané des discussions de groupe, des observations des participants, des entrevueset des rapports documentaires. Le modèle d'encadrement de la population réinstallée était l'orientation théorique qui a été employéepour guider et informer cette étude. Celui-ci part du principe que tous les changements significatifs effectués, sont véhiculés par lesencadreurs de base de l'état tels que les vétérinaires et les vulgarisateurs agricoles par voie de démonstration et de dialogue avec lespaysans. Les répondants ont été aléatoirement choisis en utilisant un échantillonnage aléatoire systématique dans lequel un sur cinqchefs de ménage a été interviewé. Le ménage a constitué l'unité de d'échantillon et d'analyse. Les résultats montrent que d'une façongénérale, les membres de la communauté Abagusii qui ont été installés à Nyansiongo ont significativement changé leurs conditionssocio-économiques. Ils apprécient les conditions de vie plus décentes qu'ils ont acquises grâce à ce schéma d'habitat. Actuellement,ils possèdent de plus grands lopins de terre qu'ils utilisent pour la production de plus de cultures vivrières et celles de rente. Laplupart d'entre eux tirent de grands profits de leurs activités agricoles et s'investissent à la fois dans des activités agricoles et dans desentreprises non agricoles. On s'est également aperçu que du point de vue social, les populations réinstallées ont largement créé unnouvel environnement reflété par un nouveau style de vie qui tend à être plus urbain et caractérisé par l'investissement dansl'environnement viable. Au point de vue social, les paysans sont devenus plus individualistes et ne comptent que sur soi même. Enbref, les paysans ont transformé leurs techniques culturales de subsistance en mode de vie d'activités économiques lucratives. Mots clés: schéma directeur d'habitat, pression de population, réserves foncières traditionnelles, Abagusii, encadreurs debase, échantillonnage aléatoire systématique, ménage, conditions de vie, transformation socio-économique de la population,schéma directeur de Nyansiongo, Nyamira, KenyaDiscovery and Innovation Volume 15 Number1/2 June (2003) pp. 98-105

A review of agricultural extension in Nigeria: the need for an alternative model

The Nigerian agricultural extension service, which has its root in, the promotion of export crops by the colonial masters has gone through several approaches. These include the special commodity services, farm settlement scheme, River Basin Development Authorities, the National Accelerated Food Production Programme and the Operation Feed the Nation. All these were unable to adequately promote improved technology adoption by farms and in 1986 the Training & Visit (T & V) extension system was introduced. This also has not been as successful as expected. The paper reviewed the past extension approaches used in technology transfer to farmers in Nigeria. It attempted to present the problems experienced with the T & V system. It then proposed an alternative participatory approach, which should be farmer-centered, emphasize farmer participation, cost sharing and the strengthening of community based institutions to support improvement in the standard of living of the farmers. UNISWA Jnl of Agric Vol 10 2001: pp62-70

Soldier Settlement in New Zealand After World War I: Two Case Studies

ABSTRACTHistorians and geographers have variously explored the WWI discharged soldier settlement schemes in New Zealand. The shared orthodoxy has emphasised the widespread failure of many of these soldier settlers and settlements. Recently there have been signs of a revisionist interpretation of the scheme. This paper extends this critique by considering the meanings of failure and success in broader terms through two New Zealand case studies. The discussion suggests that there were subtle graduations of both administrative and settler success and failure.

Development implications of colonial land and human settlement schemes in Cameroon

This article analyses the implications of colonial land-use policies for contemporary development efforts in Cameroon. The discussion draws extensively, but not exclusively, on the experience of five of the country's urban centres, Douala, Yaounde, Bamenda, Buea and Tiko, in which some of the most notorious colonial land acquisition and land-use planning schemes were implemented. It is argued that the residual effects of these schemes significantly impede contemporary development efforts, particularly in the following areas, transportation, urbanization, resource distribution, food self-sufficiency, and tradition/culture. It is concluded that, despite the tendency on the part of the post-colonial leadership to vigorously maintain these policies, they were never designed with post-colonial development endeavours in mind. Rather, they were crafted specifically to promote colonial and imperial development objectives. Therefore, post-colonial authorities will do well to enact more innovative land-use legislation in concert with prevailing socio-economic conditions and development objectives.