Village Territory Research Articles

Effects of cultivation practices on spatial variation of soil fertility and millet yields in the Sahel of Mali

The article provides a quantitative analysis of temporal variation in fallow characteristics, and spatial variation in fallow distribution, pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) yield and soil fertility in three villages in the Bankass area in Sahelian Mali. Plots of 5 m × 5 m along four transects were installed at 10, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 and 2000 m from the edge of the village compounds to the outer boundary of the village territory. We found that currently, fallow is practiced only in ‘bushfields’, which are further than 200 m away from the dwellings. Significant increases in the amount of organic C and soil nutrients (N, P and K) were found with increasing fallow duration. This was due to gradual accumulation of organic matter from fallow vegetation and the presence of leguminous species. Soil nutrients and organic C were higher in homefields (<200 m away from farmer dwellings) than in bushfields. Also, millet grain yields were highly correlated with soil nutrients, and decreased from 1060 kg ha−1 in homefields to 520 kg ha−1 in bushfields. Yields in bushfields ranged from 450 kg ha−1 on fields cultivated for several years to 640 kg ha−1 after 4–7 years of fallow. Regression analysis showed that millet yields were negatively correlated with infestation by the parasitic weed Striga hermonthica. Future research needs to focus on the relationship between Striga infestation and soil factors.

Identification of nutrients limiting cassava yield maintenance on a sedimentary soil in southern Benin, West Africa

Market opportunities will drive intensification of cassava production and fertilizer will play a role in this. A trial was initiated on 15 farmers ’ fields (replications) in one village territory in Benin on a relatively fertile sedimentary soil site to identify nutrients limiting cassava yield using nutrient omission plots over three cropping years. There was no response to fertilizer in the first year when fresh root yields in the unamended control averaged 19.1 t ha−1. In the second year, the control yield was 16 t ha−1 and there were significant reductions from withholding P (3.5 t ha−1) and K (2 t ha−1) from a complete fertilizer regime. Nutrient balance after 1 and 2 years (cumulative) showed substantial P and K deficits in unamended plots. In the third year, the control yield was 12.9 t ha−1 and effects of withholding K (5.3 t ha−1), P (5.0 t ha−1) and N (3.0 t ha−1) were statistically significant. Soil K was a significant source of variation in yield in the third year. In the third year of annual nutrient additions soil P and K in the top 0.3 m were increased by 37 and 40%, respectively. Based on the cumulative nutrient balance calculation, the annual application needed to compensate nutrient depletion was 13 kg N, 10 kg P, and 60 kg K ha−1. Partial budget analysis based on these amounts of fertilizer suggested that investment was clearly justified in the third year of continuous cropping at current low cassava prices.

Livestock related nutrient budgets within village territories in western Niger

Poor cropland fertility and a rapidly rising demand for food force Sahelian farmers to cultivate more land and shorten fallow periods. This mostly leads to a gradual decline in crop yields per hectare, which can be counterbalanced by the systematic use of livestock manure on cropland. To assess the potential and limits of manuring practices, annual nutrient budgets were established for different land-use types, based on forage and crop yields and livestock and cropland management in five village territories in western Niger, which were selected along the Sahelian climatic gradient. Stocking rates per km2 of pasturing area range from 8–22 tropical livestock units (TLU, animal of 250 kg live weight). Faecal excretion during grazing directly returns 18–25% of the consumed forage dry matter, 21–29% of the ingested nitrogen and 44–56% of ingested phosphorus to the grazed land. Corralling animals on fields at night leads to a spatial concentration of nutrients, benefiting at most 9% of the arable village land. Where livestock consume only 15–20% of the total amount of forage produced, there is some scope for increasing village livestock numbers in order to increase the area manured, but eventually manuring must be complemented by additional measures such as the application of inorganic fertilizers to sustain overall productivity of the farming systems.

Organic inputs and farmers' management strategies in millet fields of western Niger

Research on soil fertility management in sub-Saharan Africa was criticized lately for largely ignoring farmers' management strategies and the underlying principles. To fill this gap of knowledge, detailed interviews were conducted with 108 farm households about their rationale in managing the soil fertility of 307 individual fields in the agro-pastoral village territory of Chikal in western Niger. To amplify the farmers' information on manuring and corralling practices, repeated measurements of applied amounts of manure were carried out within six 1-km 2 monitoring areas from February to October 1998. The interviews revealed that only 2% of the fields were completely fallowed for a period of 1–15 years, but 40% of the fields were at least partially fallowed. Mulching of crop residues was mainly practiced to fight wind erosion but was restricted to 36% of the surveyed fields given the alternative use of straw as livestock feed. Manure application and livestock corralling, as most effective tools to enhance soil fertility, were targeted to less than 30% of the surveyed fields. The application of complete fallow and manuring and corralling practices were strongly related to the households' endowment with resources, especially with land and livestock. Within particular fields, measures were mainly applied to spots of poor soil fertility, while the restoration of the productivity of hard pans was of secondary importance. Given the limited spatial coverage of indigenous soil fertility measures and their strong dependence on farmers' wealth, supplementary strategies to restrict the decline of soil fertility in the drought prone areas of Niger with their heavily weathered soils are needed.

A Participatory Simulation to Facilitate Farmers' Adoption of Livestock Feeding Systems Based on Conservation Agriculture in the Uplands of Northern Vietnam

In the mountain areas of northern Vietnam, extensive husbandry of large-ruminants is limited by the lack of natural forage. Since 2000, the Mountain Agrarian System Program has been concerned with this issue and has evaluated technical alternatives aimed at sustainable integration of crop-livestock systems. One alternative consists of feeding systems for largeruminants based on cropping systems with plant cover. Diffusion of information about the new system is supported by a set of interactive communication tools for use between farmers and researchers. A participatory simulation method was developed that combines a compartmental model of the village territory with five technical innovations. Farmers simulate the adoption of the innovations they choose among food-forage cropping systems in rotation or in association, and urea-treated straw. They evaluate the quantity of forage that can be grown for their herd using the chosen set of techniques. Simulations revealed farmers' constraints and objectives in adopting sustainable cropping systems on the hillsides while maintaining a small animal husbandry system. The results obtained by each farmer provide a useful basis for discussion about the implementation of innovation. This participatory simulation method could be more widely used to facilitate the diffusion of innovations such as integrating livestock feeding systems with conservation cropping practices.

Does Decentralisation Serve Everyone? The Struggle for Power in a Malian Village

The case study of a political conflict with several faces and stages in a small village in southern Mali shows how decentralisation works in a community that has emerged as a heterogeneous entity. Decentralisation may have intensified the struggle for power among the autochthonous population by providing room for manoeuvre in order to strengthen or restore local positions of power. As a result of the conflict, the village population has become polarised. The real victims, however, are the migrants who settled on the village territory and who are now finding themselves chased off their borrowed fields for choosing the ‘wrong side’ in conflict.

Spatial carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus budget of a village in the West African savanna—I. Element pools and structure of a mixed-farming system

The viability of mixed farming systems in West African savannas relies largely on the management of endogenous organic resources. Assessment of the organic balance at both plot and village territory scales is needed as an indicator of this viability. Distribution of carbon (C), nitrogen and phosphorus in soil and plant biomass was thus quantified for a village in southern Senegal across the different land use systems (LUS) and farm holdings. The village exhibited ring-like organisation, including a compound ring, a bush ring, and lowland paddy fields, with positive gradients of intensification and food production from the savanna to the dwellings. Marked contrasts were found between holdings, especially in livestock availability. Clear relationships were evidenced between the spatial distribution of C and nutrients and the agricultural functions of LUS and holdings, while multi-scale diversity appeared to be the main factor that ensured the functioning of the system. Intensification schemes at the village level aimed at increasing organic resources and their cycling efficiency must thus take into account their impact on this diversity.

Perspectives and problems in studies on Japanese rural space as text

Over the last few decades, symbolic meanings, knowledge of subsistence, and social orders of Japanese rural space have been the subject of controversy in human geography, folklore studies, cultural anthropology, and rural sociology. In human geography, a text analogy approach was introduced to elucidate the spatial system of these semiotic topics. The characteristics of rural space as text, however, have not been sufficiently examined either theoretically or empirically. This review article, based on a re-examination of the problems encountered in previous studies on Japanese rural space and society, synthesizes the various interdisciplinary traditions in order to gain a new perspective on rural space as text.The four key points of the text analogy approach can be identified as follows. The first is the semantic unit of space and its actors: the functions and range of the rural community or 'basic region', the spatial relations among various cooperative groups within the community, regional integration of communities, and boundaries of the village territory. The second is classificatory and the deep structure within space: folk categories or taxonomies, symbolic and social systems of 'place', and semiotic structure of the total space. The third is the socio-spatial dialectic of the village: relations between spatial structures as well as material resources, such as irrigation, common forests and plains, or fishing grounds, and social structure of the community. The fourth is the diversity of spatial cognition based on social attributes of the village people: people's perceptions and activities in the subsistence space, knowledge of small names over the total space, and social representations of the village.The concluding remarks given in the review on the above four points can be summarized as follows. First, we need to introduce a socio-spatial system perspective which consists of the following four elements: spatial structure and material conditions of the rural settlement, its internal social structure, multi-scales of folk classifications from cultivated strips to the total settlement space, and lastly multi-levels of spatial cognition from subsistence knowledge to social identities of the village people. Second, rural space as text should also be examined through an analysis of the intertwined economic, political, social, and cultural factors of change in the interacting scales between a micro-village and the global society.

Land use driven conditions for habitat structure: A case study from the Ecuadorian Andes

This paper addresses the impact of land use on local conditions for habitat structure in the eastern Ecuadorian Andes. It is recognised that agricultural expansion, by disturbing natural land cover, often negatively affects living conditions for wild organisms. In the chosen study area, a village territory dominated by dairy farming, land use dynamics and spatial habitat structure are illustrated at village and field level. The socioeconomic and biophysical character of the site is described using field cartography, household interviews, aerial photos and a digital terrain model. The effects of agriculture on spatial habitat structure are investigated by relating field specific land cover data to land use and land rights information. Simple landscape indices are used to quantify the effect of changes in spatial habitat structure on local conditions for wild organisms. Results indicate that land use and its negative effects on habitat structure correspond closely with variations in biophysical limitations that result from the mountainous topography. At a finer scale, land use patterns are influenced by land tenure and related household-specific parameters.

Land Use Intensification and Disintensification in the Upper Cañete Valley, Peru

Farmers in the Upper Canete valley have both disintensified and intensified land use. The direction of land use change depends on the production zone in which it takes place. Although land in the distant rainfed agropastoral zone is disintensified through land abandonment and an increase of the fallow period, land in the nearby irrigated agropastoral zone is intensified through more frequent cropping, and the use of high-yielding potato varieties, fertilizers, and pesticides. Simultaneous intensification and disintensification contradicts Boserup's theory of agricultural intensification, which predicts unilinear change for all land use systems within a village territory. Population has decreased in the Upper Cante valley, but this factor alone cannot explain the dynamics of land use. Land use change is also driven by differences and complementarity between production zones, their distance from the villages, and social, economic, and technological change.

Synthesis of Classification Categories of Rural Space

Over the last few decades, theories of the spatial structure of Japanese villages have been the subject of controversy in human geography, folklore, cultural anthropology, history and architecture. The author identifies an important unresolved question concerning these theories. Although many scholars have profoundly discussed each of the categories of space such as land use zones, folk-taxonomy, 'place', social space, and symbolic space, the interrelationships among these categories and the synthesis of them have not been sufficiently examined.With this in mind, this article discusses each of the categories of space for a case study area, an agricultural and forestry village-Hagikura-in Central Japan, to reveal the interrelationships among all spatial categories by introducing a semiotic theory. The author examines the historical changes of space since the mid-Edo era, when Hagikura was settled. To pursue these aims, various methods and materials are used: interviews, landscape observation, participant observation, the analysis of land ledgers, cadastral maps, tax ledgers, local topographies, historical documents and geographical statistics.Hagikura was a shinden settlement which stands on a river terrace near Lake Suwa in Nagano Prefecture, and is now a mixed-settlement in which newcomers from Shimosuwa Town have settled since the era of rapid growth in the Japanese economy. The subsistence farming economy of Hagikura is based on paddy, mulberry and vegetables, sericulture and forestry. In addition, people have been engaged in filature in the Meiji era, agar production in the Taisyo era and dairy farming and flower cultivation in the 1960s. Recently, almost all farmers have become factory or office workers, commuting to the towns along Lake Suwa.The findings of this article can be summarised as follows. The folk-taxonomy of space, which is deduced by an investigation of place names and folk categories of landscape, is composed of five levels: land use zone, subdivision of the zone, koaza (small place name), block name, and strip name. In the residential area, there is another classification system of social space composed of four levels: dual organization, mutual aid organization for funerals, neighborhood group, and household. In each land use zone, the shrine which guards the people working in each zone is located showing the center of meaning. As the center of the total area, the shrine of the settlement is located at the cardinal point of two axes of folk orientations which structure the village territory in concentric circles. These orientations are prescribed by the zofu-tokusui topography of fung-shui tought, whose rear is a hill and front is a river. This spatial structure with these land use zones and folk orientations is found similarly in homesteads and fields owned by each household. The boundaries of each land use zone and village social space are demarcated by objects such as stone statues and isolated trees, and through varied ritual behaviors. The social space of the village community which corresponds to the village territory is divided into nested boxes according to the social group system. All of the boundaries of the village are folk, social, mental, or symbolical, and the outer boundary of the forestry zone is, at the same time, a geographical or administrative one.The social structure of the village social space is composed of three groups-'natives', oldcomers and newcomers. The natives who settled in the Edo era and consist of nine kinship groups were former landowners or independent farmers. The oldcomers who settled in the Meiji era as filature or farming workers were tenants of native landowners in the Taisyo and early Showa eras. The newcomers are factory or office workers who have settled in new housing estates since the rapid growth of the Japanese economy. The main native families occupied the cultivated fields near the residential area.

Integrating farmers' knowledge, attitude and practice in the development of sustainable Striga control interventions in southern Mali

Technologies for Striga control have not been widely adopted because of the mismatch between technologies and farmers' socio-economic conditions. This study used a participatory rural appraisal technique at the village, household and plot levels to diagnose the extent of the Striga problem in two agro-ecological zones in southern Mali. This has resulted in an understanding of farmers' attitudes and constraints to Striga control, and opportunities for the development of sustainable technologies suitable for a wide range of farming conditions. Results show that the degree of Striga infestation, levels of farmer knowledge and control practices vary substantially across village territories and fields, and that the severity of the infestation is clearly linked with soil fertility condition and farming practices. It was concluded that in general, the Striga control interventions that would most likely appeal to farmers would be those that will simultaneously improve soil fertility and suppress the development of Striga.

Field and village nutrient balances in millet cultivation in northern Burkina Faso: a village case study

Millet cultivation in the Sahel may be unsustainable as it contributes to soil degradation, particularly via nutrient depletion. The flow of nitrogen and phosphorus in millet cultivation has been assessed from empirical and literature data in order to construct a simple nutrient balance model. Whereas most nutrient balances refer to single fields, balances for a village territory have also been calculated. The results suggest that nitrogen and phosphorus are lost from fields, the amount depending on soil type and millet yield. With boundaries at the village territory, the balances show a negligible output of nitrogen and an input of phosphorus to the village. The combination of two different spatial scales suggests that millet cultivation is more sustainable than generally believed. Further, the balances serve to identify the important nutrient flows, and can be used as a tool in nutrient management.

Lac host-trees and the balance of agroecosystems in south Yunnan, China

The importance of spontaneous lac host-trees for preserving the fragile agroecosystem of the main lac producing areas of China, located in the tropical part of Yunnan province, is analyzed. In upland fields, the fire-resistant vegetation consists mainly of these trees. Farmers deliberately preserve young sprouts during the cultivation cycle. This benefits both soil fertility and lac production. Host-trees, mainly Dalbergia and Ficus, form a range of multipurpose trees which although limited to some ten species allows maximum use of the heterogeneities of the village territory. Finally, lac host-trees are associated with some environmental values important to farmers. This circumstance contributes to the sustainability of lac host-tree agroforestry in spite of current problems in the lac market.

The Major Soils of a Village in Northern Burkina Faso

Krogh, Lars: The Major Soils of a Village in Northern Burkina Faso. Geografisk Tidsskrift 93:90–100. Copenhagen 1993. In the Oudalan Province of Sahelian Northern Burkina Faso soil investigations have been carried out in order to evaluate the sustainability of millet production with emphasis on the dynamics of soil fertility. Some results of pedological investigations carried out in 1990 are included. Three commonly occurring soil types in a village territory are examined and their genesis and fertility discussed. Analyses show that the soils are inherently low in organic matter. The level of macro-nutrients is low, soil structure is weak or unfavourable: all probably due to a combination of natural and human factors. Crop yields are generally low and cannot be raised without more intensive cultivation.

Farming system research and the quest for a sustainable agriculture

This paper brings together information from four sites in sub-Saharan Africa where FSR&D projects are located (Mali, Benin, Zambia and Tanzania), supported by the Royal Tropical Institute of The Netherlands. Common environmental constraints to agricultural productivity are analyzed, with an emphasis on aspects of soil fertility maintenance. It is shown that when plant nutrients are valued against market prices, annual crop production systems are inefficient due to considerable losses of nutrient resources (e.g., soil erosion) and economically unviable because of unfavourable input and producer price ratios. Technically solutions are available that make agriculture sustainable, but its output is likely to be reduced when accepting the need for environmental protection at various levels of integration (cropping system, field/farm, village territory, etc), since marginal land must be left under natural vegetation, and various forms of buffering elements must be installed on farms. The costs of protective measures (space, labour, energy in community organization) cannot be raised based upon local resources currently available. Making small farmer agriculture in the tropics sustainable and environmentally sound begins by improving economic conditions for farmers, raising producer income and lowering prices for inputs.

Social Change of Suburban Communities

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a framework through which recent social change of suburban communities in Japan might be viewed. For this purpose, the author reviewed the literatures on rural communities studies of some British geographers and Japanese sociologists.As a result, the author emphasizes the neccessity to understand social changes of suburbs from the view of reorganization of the communities brought about by konju-ka and to discuss the issue relative to the current differentiation of rural areas. The konju-ka village is a type of dormitory village unique to Japan which is composed of fram and non-farm households in the suburbs. He also suggests that the following points should be considered in geographical studies on rural communities:1) Rural areas, characterised by low population densities and extensive land uses (H. D. Clout, 1972), are considerably affected by the natural environment and the friction of distance. This fact creates different hardships in rural areas than in urban areas.2) The assimilation of a traditional rural community into the whole society's socio-economic system results in spatial differentiation of the rural area (G. J. Lewis, 1979). The mechanism of national systematization has to be studied and clarified from a geographical point of view.3) The Japanese village community functions not only as a neighbourhood association, but also as a geographical unit of a conserving system with a spatial territory (A. Kawamoto, 1972). Based on this definition, a village community can be viewed from three perspectives-locality, local system and human communion.The konju-ka, the new cleavages and conflicts within the suburban community, is attributed to its geographical nature, accessibility to urban areas, and the socially and spatially complicated structure of community organization caused by a diversifying population in the village territory. Therefore rural social geography needs to conduct quantitative analyses of the differentiation of rural areas and field surveys mainly focusing on investigation of social intraction of each group within the village community located in the suburb.

Traditional Knowledge and Conservation as a Basis for Development in a West Nepal Village

The roles of traditional environmental knowledge and local conservation efforts in slopeland management and village resource development are examined in Phalabang panchayat in western Nepal's Middle Mountains region. The incentives for indigenous conservation development in Phalabang incorporate the following factors: village territory spatial organization, land use, environ- mental perception, social organization, and land tenure. Two contrasting examples, Nigane Ridge and Kalikathan Slope, are discussed in order to identify important motivations for villager involvement in resource conservation. In Phalabang, household level conservation efforts on private lands are generally more effective than community efforts. The scale of conservation development, social organizational modes, and land tenure issues remain problematic in the design of resource development on degraded lands.

La société et la terre à Koto Gadang (Indonésie). Éléments pour l'étude d'un «nagari» minangkabau

Land and Society at Koto Gadang (Indonesia). Material for the Study of a «Nagari » Minangkabau. The Minangkabau are unique in Indonesia, not only because of their matrilineal organization but also because of the exceptional fervor with which they practice meranlau (temporary or permanent emigration). Koto Gadang was chosen for this study because, according to Professor P. E. de Josselin de Jong, "it is known as the nagari which shows the traits and problems typical of Minangkabau society in their most characteristic and extreme form. "As a matter of fact, it is here that the dissensions, conflicts and contradictions of Minangkabau life have reached a point of drastic exacerbation. Although the population has remained stable for the last forty-five years (2,500 inhabitants), its composition has radically changed, full-fledged members of the nagari, in overhelming numbers, permanently abandoning their ancestor's land and being replaced by immigrants. Under these conditions, how can it remain a nagari or territorial community, when community and territory have been dissociated, and how can the ruling diaspora maintain its political and economic domination ? Since the beginning of Dutch rule, the "citizens" of Koto Gadang repudiated agricultural labor and, by means of Western education and professional activities, strove for modern economic success. Koto Gadang adat (common law) defines two groups : a vertical, political, land-holding group (pajung) and a true or biological lineage (paruik). Village society, however, is actually organized along horizontal class lines : batali darah who control land and political power, batali bodi (recent immigrants), settlers of Subarang. Two fundamental aspects of nagarian autonomy have disappeared : the batali darah's monopoly on land and village endogamy. Moreover, adat regulations preserving the inalienability of pusako (ancestral lands belonging to pajung /paruik) have been insidiously ignored or violated. Therefore, far from being an integrated community in full control of its territory, the Koto Gadang nagari is strife-ridden, convulsed by deep-rooted dissensions and no longer able to present a facade of unity to the outside world. Village territory is divided into sawah (rice-fields), inhabited areas with gardens, open fields of permanent or semi-permanent horticulture, ladang (outlying, hilly zones with long fallows), small holdings, samak (previously cultivated forest zones with a large number of clearings) and hutan (forest).

Some Notes on the Changing Process of Village Territories in the Early Meiji Era

It is usually said that modern administrative towns and villages of Japan were brought into existence by the amalgamation of towns and villages in the 22nd year of Meiji (1889). But, by that time, the local government system had already undergone a great change and the division or amalgamation of towns and villages had been carried out on a large scale, little of which is known to the general public. If we treat this fact lightly, we will be apt to have a wrong opinion that hanseison (feudal village in Tokugawa Era) means oaza. But the fact is, this mistaken idea seems to be widespread among many geographers even now.In this paper, the author trys to clarify this division or amalgamation of towns and villages in the early Meiji period quantitatively. Moreover, he demonstrates the following facts: in Yamanashi and Nagano prefectures (esp. the former Chikuma Prefecture) in which there were many cases where oaza was larger than hanseison, but on the other hand in the Kinki District, there existed a few cases where hanseison was larger than oaza.From the seventh to the nineth year of Meiji, through both Yamanashi and Nagano prefectures, the amalgamation of towns and villages was enforced. After that, each of the former villages was called “Kumi” in Yamanashi Prefecture and “Kochi” in Nagano Prefecture. Though new administrative towns and villages were born in the amalgamation, yet in reality “Kumi” or “Kochi” formed a rural community, and the rural community, as usual, managed irrigation, communal forests, village festivals and so on. In this paper, the author takes up Toyoshina-Gun in Nagano Prefecture and Fujimi-Gun in Yamanashi Prefecture as samples of rural community, and analyze their structure closely.