Seasonally, Labor Scheduling, and Agricultural Intensification in the Nigerian Savanna

Human labor is the primary factor of production in indigenous agricultural systems, yet the organization and scheduling of labor, and effect of agricultural intensification on these processes, remain poorly understood. While most theoretical and empirical studies have emphasized overall labor input and efficiency, this study of the Kofyar of Nigeria analyzes the scheduling and mobilization of labor in ecological context. Detailed labor diaries for a sample of households over an entire agricultural cycle reveal intricate schedules that balance the labor demands of a variable crop complex with a set of complementary mechanisms for mobilizing labor. With rising population density and market impetus, the Kofyar have increased gross labor inputs, adjusted crop mixes to reduce weekly fluctuations in labor, and extended the agricultural season. Labor demands are met by three social mechanisms of labor mobilization, which offer varying sizes of labor pool, degree of flexibility, and type of compensation.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Brief Communication</Emphasis>: Does Integration to the Market Threaten Agricultural Diversity? Panel and Cross-Sectional Data From a Horticultural-Foraging Society in the Bolivian Amazon

Trade theory predicts that the expansion of markets induces households to specialize and intensify production. We use plot-level data (n = 64) from a panel study of 2 village and cross-sectional data from 511 households in 59 villages of Tsimane Amerindians (Bolivia) to test the predictions. Results of bivariate analyses using both data sets suggest that as households integrate into the market economy they: (1) deforest more, (2) expand the area under rice cultivation, the principal cash crop, (3) sell more rice, and (4) intensify production by replanting more and by replanting newly cleared plots with maize, another cash crop. Results mesh with predictions about production specialization and intensification of trade theory. The analysis also produced results running counter to predictions from trade theory. For example, households and villages more integrated into the market planted more cassava and rice varieties, intercropped more, and put more crops in new fields than more autarkic households. Although the expansion of markets induces specialization and intensification in selected cash crops, it does not erase completely agricultural diversity. We hypothesize that despite the expansion of markets, households retain agricultural diversity because the market does not yet provide modern forms of self-insurance or well-functioning labor, credit, and product markets that would allow households to protect food consumption when faced with shocks. Without better insurance mechanisms, some agricultural diversity might still allow households to smooth consumption.     

Agricultural intensification in a Philippine frontier community: Impact on labor efficiency and farm diversity

There continues to be much debate in anthropology concerning the mechanism by which agricultural intensification takes place and its impact on labor efficiency, farm diversity, and quality of diet. A major reason for this lack of consensus is the paucity of data from case studies that focus on specific agricultural systems at the point of transition from extensive to intensive methods of cultivation. Research in a frontier community in the Philippines, where farmers are making the shift from swidden cultivation to small-scale irrigated rice production, indicates that intensification does not necessarily result in lower efficiency or a decline in dietary standards. Rather, farmers faced with growing population pressure and an unproductive short fallow swidden system have been motivated to adopt irrigation because it increases the efficiency of their labor while maintaining a reliable and diverse farming system.     

Population and agricultural intensity in the humid tropics

A review of models of agricultural intensification and their application to the agricultural systems of the humid tropics is presented. Taken into account are the distributions of these systems at various population densities, available data on labor efficiencies, the costs of establishing continuous cropping, and data regarding soils under cultivation and various types of fallow. The findings that fallows much longer than 10 or 15 years serve no known agronomic function, that given preindustrial technology, grass fallows are disadvantageous, even environmentally destructive, and that continuous cropping usually entails a considerable amount of environmental modification support the interpretations that agricultural intensification in the humid tropics is best understood in terms of ecologically optimal strategies at different population densities. Points needing further investigation are highlighted: the reasons for very long fallows, and the comparative labor efficiencies of fallow and continuous cropping systems where crops and environments are similar.     

Labor Productivity and Agricultural Development: Boserup Revisited

Labor productivity is a major component of agricultural development. Boserup is the scholar most associated with the view that labor productivity declines with intensification of agriculture. This paper reviews the theoretical argument and empirical support for the decline thesis. An empirical test is conducted by means of a comparative study of traditional rice agriculture in Southeast Asia. The decline thesis is rejected. The implications for agricultural development are discussed.     

Nontimber forest product gathering in Ritigala forest (Sri Lanka): Household strategies and community differentiation

Sri Lanka has a long tradition of forest product use. The relationship of people with a dry zone forest was studied using a sample of 48 households in two villages that varied in distance to the forest and access to the market. All households interviewed collected subsistence forest products and a majority of them also collected commercial products. The daily peak-season income from commercial gathering was 4.5 to 7.7 times the daily labor wage. There is a strong gender specialization, with commercial gathering dominated by men whereas subsistence gathering is almost exclusively the task of women. The average forest-derived household income in the village closer to the forest and with better market access was nearly double that of the other village. Family size as a proxy of labor availability was the main discriminating factor between those households who did and those who did not gather commercial products. A small inverse relationship between forest gathering and size of household agricultural land (particularly paddy rice) was observed. No clear relationship was found between total household income and forest derived income, contradicting the view that commercial forest gathering is an exclusive activity of the poorest households.     

Rural-to-Urban Labor Migration,Household Livelihoods,and the Rural Environment in Chongqing Municipality,Southwest China

Rural migration and its relationship to the rural environment have attracted increasing research interest in recent decades. Rural migration constitutes a key component of human population movement, while rural areas contain most of the world’s natural resources such as land and forests. This study empirically evaluates a conceptual framework incorporating rural household livelihoods as an integrative mediating factor between rural migration and the rural environment in the context of rural-to-urban labor migration in Chongqing Municipality, Southwest China. The analysis draws on data collected through household surveys and key informant interviews from four villages. Results confirm the hypothesis that labor-migrant and non-labor-migrant households differ significantly in livelihood activities including agricultural production, agricultural technology use, income and consumption, and resource use and management. Implications for the subsequent environmental outcomes of rural labor out-migration and corresponding natural resource management and policy in rural origin areas are discussed.     

Characterizing Rural Household Differentiation from the Perspective of Farmland Transfer in Eastern China Using an Agent Based Model

Over the past several decades in China there has been a large amount of rural labor flow to non-farm industries as well as an increase in farmland transfers that have resulted in significant differentiation of farmer households and changes in agricultural land use pattern. For this study we developed an agent-based model to explore this process and the resulting concentration of agricultural production by characterizing the households’ decision-making behavior with respect to farmland transfer in Jinze Town, located in the developed eastern region in China. The model simulated the household agents’ farmland transfer behavior, reproduced the evolution and differentiation of household agents, and explored changes of farm area distribution across household types from 2005 to 2020. Small households, the dominant demographic as well the main agricultural producers at the beginning of the simulation, decreased radically and cultivated the smallest area of farmland by the end. In contrast, large-scale farming households increased rapidly and became the main agricultural producers. The majority of households entirely exited farming in favor of urban employment. We examine how farm households’ attributes influence their farmland transfer behavior and subsequent livelihood choices in the specific socioeconomic and political context in the research region. We conclude with policy suggestions for the provision of a favorable environment for both large-scale farm households and those who leave farming altogether. Our findings can provide references for land use policies in other transitional rural areas.     

Agricultural diversification as an important strategy for achieving food security in Africa

Farmers in Africa have long adapted to climatic and other risks by diversifying their farming activities. Using a multi‐scale approach, we explore the relationship between farming diversity and food security and the diversification potential of African agriculture and its limits on the household and continental scale. On the household scale, we use agricultural surveys from more than 28,000 households located in 18 African countries. In a next step, we use the relationship between rainfall, rainfall variability, and farming diversity to determine the available diversification options for farmers on the continental scale. On the household scale, we show that households with greater farming diversity are more successful in meeting their consumption needs, but only up to a certain level of diversity per ha cropland and more often if food can be purchased from off‐farm income or income from farm sales. More diverse farming systems can contribute to household food security; however, the relationship is influenced by other factors, for example, the market orientation of a household, livestock ownership, nonagricultural employment opportunities, and available land resources. On the continental scale, the greatest opportunities for diversification of food crops, cash crops, and livestock are located in areas with 500–1,000 mm annual rainfall and 17%–22% rainfall variability. Forty‐three percent of the African cropland lacks these opportunities at present which may hamper the ability of agricultural systems to respond to climate change. While sustainable intensification practices that increase yields have received most attention to date, our study suggests that a shift in the research and policy paradigm toward agricultural diversification options may be necessary.     

The Ecology of Wealth-in-People: Agriculture, Settlement, and Society on the Perpetual Frontier

For the Susu of northwestern Sierra Leone, rural settlement dynamics reflect a frontier culture history and the perpetuation of frontier sociopolitical arrangements in village life. Under frontier conditions people are wealth. The competition among male elders for wealth-in-people is a major determinant of village movements and the organization and deployment of agricultural labor. In this article, I explore the implications of frontier social arrangements, as illustrated in the careers and lives of individual elder men, for the ecology of swidden agriculture. One significant result is a competitive scramble for labor, which both hinders crop production and leads to problems of intensification and resource degradation. I conclude that local problems of resource management are the result of individual efforts to achieve and maintain social position in the context of established systems of hierarchy.     

Strategies for improving water use efficiency of livestock production in rain-fed systems

Livestock production is a major consumer of fresh water, and the influence of livestock production on global fresh water resources is increasing because of the growing demand for livestock products. Increasing water use efficiency of livestock production, therefore, can contribute to the overall water use efficiency of agriculture. Previous studies have reported significant variation in livestock water productivity (LWP) within and among farming systems. Underlying causes of this variation in LWP require further investigation. The objective of this paper was to identify the factors that explain the variation in LWP within and among farming systems in Ethiopia. We quantified LWP for various farms in mixed-crop livestock systems and explored the effect of household demographic characteristics and farm assets on LWP using ANOVA and multilevel mixed-effect linear regression. We focused on water used to cultivate feeds on privately owned agricultural lands. There was a difference in LWP among farming systems and wealth categories. Better-off households followed by medium households had the highest LWP, whereas poor households had the lowest LWP. The variation in LWP among wealth categories could be explained by the differences in the ownership of livestock and availability of family labor. Regression results showed that the age of the household head, the size of the livestock holding and availability of family labor affected LWP positively. The results suggest that water use efficiency could be improved by alleviating resource constraints such as access to farm labor and livestock assets, oxen in particular.     

Identifying Pathways for Improving Household Food Self-Sufficiency Outcomes in the Hills of Nepal

Maintaining and improving household food self-sufficiency (FSS) in mountain regions is an ongoing challenge. There are many facets to the issue, including comparatively high levels of land fragmentation, challenging terrain and transportation bottlenecks, declining labor availability due to out-migration, and low technical knowledge, among others. Using a nonparametric multivariate approach, we quantified primary associations underlying current levels of FSS in the mid-hills of Nepal. A needs assessment survey was administered to 77 households in Lungaun (Baglung District), Pang (Parbat District), and Pathlekhet (Myagdi District), with a total of 80 variables covering five performance areas; resulting data were analyzed using Classification and Regression Trees. The most parsimonious statistical model for household FSS highlighted associations with agronomic management, including yields of maize and fingermillet within a relay cropping system and adoption of improved crop cultivars. Secondary analyses of the variables retained in the first model again focused primarily on crop and livestock management. It thus appears that continued emphasis on technical agricultural improvements is warranted, independent of factors such as land holding size that, in any case, are very difficult to change through development interventions. Initiatives to increase household FSS in the mid-hills of Nepal will benefit from placing a primary focus on methods of agricultural intensification to improve crop yields and effective technology transfer to increase adoption of these methods.     

Domestic Transitions, Desiccation, Agricultural Intensification, and Livelihood Diversification among Rural Households on the Central Plateau, Burkina Faso

ABSTRACT   Understanding how and why domestic groups alter their function and form has long been a theme within anthropology. Numerous accounts have detailed the processes that drive household transformations and their underlying mechanisms. Mostly, these studies describe how domestic groups fission and fuse between extended and nuclear forms. In recent years, scholars have emphasized that these transformations should be understood within larger contexts of social and environmental change. Mossi communities on the Central Plateau of Burkina Faso provide an excellent opportunity to explore such processes because the large extended households documented 30 years ago were predicted to decline and eventually disappear. In this study, I examine dynamics of household transformations and test the validity of this prediction. I use perspectives from sustainability science and computer-simulation modeling to understand how regional desiccation, agricultural intensification, and livelihood diversification articulate with domestic transitions.     

基于参与式方法的农牧户生计现状评估——以内蒙古太仆寺旗为例

运用参与式方法调查了内蒙古农牧交错区太仆寺旗不同类型农牧户的生计现状,分析了不同类型农牧户的生计策略、制约因素和提高途径.结果表明:纯农型家庭规模小,年龄结构偏大,整体文化水平低,生计策略单一,脆弱性和风险较大,引入非农生产活动是降低生计风险和提高生活水平的重要途径;纯牧型家庭以放牧为主要谋生方式,草场脆弱性对其生产活动影响很大,发展环境友好型高产农牧业是解决生计问题和环境问题的有效途径;农业兼业型和牧业兼业型家庭规模大,年龄结构轻,劳动力分工多样化,从事非农活动的比例较大,生活水平较好,尤以牧业兼业型家庭收入更高.     

Towards a marxist demography: A comparison of Puerto Rican landowners, peasants and rural proletarians

Conclusion The basic axis of the analysis presented in this inquiry has been the comparison of three barrios and three social classes. The following generalizations can be made:The landowning class was older and not rapidly replacing itself; the heads were united with their spouses in legal unions within simple family households that were larger than the households of the other social classes. Landowners were primarily whites. When they reached old age, most had mature children living with them to provide support and continuity.The rural proletarians, who were most rapidly reproducing themselves, as an apparent function of lower life-expectancy, typically lived in simple family households united by legal or consensual unions, or headed by widowers. They tended to be mulattos. Fewer proletarian households headed by elderly persons had their own mature male children at home. The peasantry was the class most rapidly reproducing itself, and had the largest average number of children in the household, as well as the largest proportion of households with agregados present. The flexibility of social organization among peasants is indicated by the incidence of consensual unions and of extended family households. Landless peasants tended to live in legal unions and in simple family households, similar to the rural proletarians. Only half of the peasant households headed by older persons had resolved the social security problem through family structures that included mature male children; agregados may have served the function of providing support and continuity.The fourth group discussed here, although not properly speaking a social class, is the significant number of households headed by women-domestics. A few were widows, but most had not married, or perhaps had not maintained consensual unions. These households appear to have existed in a more or less direct proportion to rural proletarian households It is not clear whether they were consensual unions in transition, obscured polygyny, represented a stable adaptation of women heads, or some other, unrecognized adaptation. The characteristics of the households headed by women-domestics indicate that if they stood by themselves without direct links to employment or to subsistence; life for them must have been very difficult.The demographic and agrarian patterns analyzed, clearly establish that the three barrios represent various degrees of articulation to the evolving plantation system, ranging from the peasant-proletarian community of Sabana Eneas, through the proletarian community of Maresúa, to the landowner community of Rosario Alto. Stated in different terms, these barrios reveal the differential effects of proletarianization, which probably affected Maresúa more than the other two barrios, because of its linkage with the plantation system.The significance of this interpretation is that the differing circumstances presented contrasting bases for change and stability in preinvasion Puerto Rico. Rosario Alto's lack of articulation with the plantation system probably meant that its characteristics would persist longer than those of the other two barrios, while the demographic and agrarian structures of Maresúa would change most rapidly. The peasant orientation of Sabana Eneas provided some elasticity in response to the demands of the plantation system.Some summary remarks may be added about the problems cited by Mintz for the materialist historiography of rural populations. While basic characteristics, including the hierarchy of social relationships, are discernible from historical documents, the most important aspect of peasant and rural proletariat society is not. I refer to the dialectical movement of persons between peasant and proletarian adaptations throughout their life cycles. There were instances of peasants with proletarian sons, as well as of landowners with peasant and proletarian sons, but not a sufficient number in either case to establish a generalization. In order to understand this process, the anthropologist must be prepared to dissect the stages of individual and family life cycles, just as the economist deploys marxist economic theory in order to disaggregate the circuits of capital, and thus come to understand the generation of surplus value . This in turn requires a familiarity with, and willingness to use, appropriate quantitative techniques. In future analyses of these Puerto Rican census materials and related sources, I hope to demonstrate the utility of such an approach in a marxist framework.James Wessman teaches in the Department of Sociology, Saint Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota.

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农户生计策略转型及对环境的影响研究综述

随着我国经济形势的不断变化,越来越多的农户从传统的"单一生计"转向"生计多样化"和"优势生计"的发展方向。农户作为农村地区最基本的社会经济单元和行为决策主体,处于人口、经济与资源环境矛盾的核心,其生计策略与生计活动的动态变化势必对所处的自然-社会-经济复合生态系统带来一定的影响。在回顾农户生计研究的历史与现状的基础上,分别从农户生计策略的内涵与类型、农户生计策略转型及其驱动因素、生计策略转型对环境的影响3个方面,系统梳理了国内外学者对农户生计策略转型及对环境的影响的研究进展,尝试性地构建了农户生计策略转型及对环境的影响的基本研究框架,提出未来研究应当体现生计问题本身的动态性和复杂性,并注重可持续生计策略的界定与实现。     

Property,Power, and the Political Economy of Farming Households in Costa Rica

The relationship between size of landholdings and household economic status is fairly clear, particularly in societies where agricultural exports dominate the economy. Less clear is the effect of differential access to and control of productive property within households and the ways in which it affects the economic opportunities of individual household members. This paper examines property holdings and inheritance patterns among coffeeproducing households in Costa Rica. I show that while cultural norms regulatin g labor contributions do affect the balance of authority within households, de facto property rights can significantly enhance an individual's decision-making power both within households and between generationally-related households. Unless new opportunities arise, as population increases, coffee production expands, and lands become increasingly scarce, we shall likely see increased stratification both within households—as women inherit less land—and among households, as some sons inherit at the expense of other sons and daughters.     

Arranging the bones: culture,time, and in/equality in Berber labor organization

This paper examines the organization of collective labor for irrigation canal maintenance in a High Atlas village, an organization that compensates for the fluctuation of available labor over the domestic cycle of individual households. Such labor transactions between households are accomplished by employing several different, and seemingly incompatible, cultural logics: a tradition of division by five, an emphasis on the importance of agnatic kin, a belief in the natural authority of elder over younger men, and an ideal equality among all men. Empirically the groups forged by villagers are fair and unfair according to different specific types of equality under consideration and, especially, the temporal framework employed. This integration of different forms of inequality and the importance of timeframes to their operation bears on anthropological and economic theory, and the practical aims of development.