Role of non-timber forest products in the economy of peripheral communities of knuckles national wilderness area of Sri Lanka: A farming systems approach

The Knuckles range of forests has been identified as a unique biological resource in Sri Lanka with much biodiversity. It is also important as a watershed which feeds the Mahaweli reservoir system. Having considered the present hazardous land-use practices such as cardamum production and shifting cultivation, the Knuckles range has been declared a national wilderness area. The Forest Department is in the process of preparing the management plan for the area. There are about 48 villages in the vicinity of the forest. This study attempts to estimate the composition of income in the peripheral communities, ticularly the extraction of non-timber forest products (NTFP) from this range of forests. Data were collected using structured questionnaires from 60 households in three villages in the vicinity of the forest. The rural economy is described using a farming systems approach and the net income contributed by each activity in the farming system was estimated. Results show that nine components of the farming system use resources from the village and the forest, with at least 47 plant species used by the villagers for different purposes. Cardamum production and shifting cultivation contribute significantly to the total income of the household, but the majority of households in the study depend upon forest resources to supply some portion of their income. Nevertheless, the monetary value of the annual income generated by NTFP is much lower than income from either cardamum production or shifting cultivation. If cardamum production and shifting cultivation are to be restricted under the conservation program, there could be additional pressure put on NTFP. Therefore, we suggest a study of the natural regen-eration capacity of selected NTFP; such information should be used in finalizing the management plan in the Knuckles range of forests.     

Cross-Location Analysis of the Impact of Household Socioeconomic Status on Participation in Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture in West Africa

This study explores the relation between household socioeconomic status (SES) and participation in urban and periurban agriculture (UPA) in three West African cities. We used a structured questionnaire to survey 700 randomly selected households: 250 in Kano, Nigeria, 250 in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, and 200 in Sikasso, Mali. Multiple correspondence analysis was applied on household asset variables to create an index of assets which was used as a proxy for household SES. The results showed no significant differences in households’ rate of participation in UPA across socioeconomic groups. Participation in UPA was rather significantly (P < 0.001) and positively related to household size. Interestingly, the analysis revealed that field crop cultivation and gardening were more common among households in the low and medium SES groups while those in the high SES group were more likely to keep livestock.     

Distribution of Agrobiodiversity in Home Gardens along the Corrientes River,Peruvian Amazon

Distribution of Agrobiodiversity in Home Gardens along the Corrientes River, Peruvian Amazon. This paper examines crop species diversity in home gardens of traditional communities along a remote tributary in northeastern Peru. A large-scale survey was conducted of 300 gardens in 15 villages along a 150 km reach of the Corrientes River. Study villages vary notably in community size, ethnicity of residents (Achuar, Urarina, mestizo), and proximity to the regional town (Trompeteros) as well as to oil wells. Gardens were inventoried and interviews conducted with garden tenders to provide data on socioeconomic characteristics of the household and contextual conditions. Multiple regression analyses identified the determinants of species diversity. Results indicate high crop diversity—the highest yet reported for sites in the Amazon basin—particularly among the Achuar people. Garden species diversity is greatest in larger villages and, surprisingly, in those villages located nearer to the oil company. Within villages, households with larger land holdings (and gardens), more in-house labor, and garden tenders who are older and female tend to have more diverse gardens. A small number of households (15/300) were found to hold exceptional diversity, often older and land-wealthier households located on the outskirts of villages. These farmers held, on average, three times the number of species as a typical village garden and 60% of all species encountered in the study.     

Homegardens in Smallholder Farming Systems: Examples From Bangladesh

Homegardens are integral part of rural households in Bangladesh. The present study examines some physical, biological, and socioeconomic characteristics of 32 homegardens randomly selected from four villages representing different agro-ecological conditions, variable population densities, and market opportunities. The study results suggest that large numbers of plant and animal species occupy homegardens, and their composition and intensity of cultivation vary directly with the household physiologic density and access to urban markets, and inversely with environmental constraints to agriculture. Homegardens form the activity space for household women and children, who perform most homegarden farming tasks. Uses of home generated inputs at no or low cost make homegardens economically more efficient and sustainable compared to non-homegarden rice farming. In the context of the intensive subsistence agriculture patterns that dominate Bangladesh, homegardens contribute significantly to smallholder household income.     

Keeping the Home Fires Burning: The Changed Nature of Householding in the Kofyar Homeland

In the early 1960s, Robert Netting described households in the Kofyar homeland in Nigeria and explained their size, composition, and other characteristics as adjustments to agrarian ecology. Household changes attending movement to a frontier were analyzed in the same framework. By the 1980s, the economic rationale for homeland farming had all but disappeared, and some villages seemed on the verge of abandonment. Yet deliberate strategies for preserving homeland settlements had prevented abandonment. The demographic characteristics and household composition in the homeland now provide a window into a wholly different set of processes than what Netting described 30 years ago. Home settlement is kept viable as a facility to support ethnic identity and to attract government resources. Beneath superficial similarities are profound changes in the nature of the household and factors shaping it, reflecting the changed rationale for keeping the home fires burning.     

Relocating plants from swidden fallows to gardens in Southwestern China

As upland farmers in Southeast Asia change from shifting cultivation to permanent agriculture and lose access to swidden-fallow forests and their resources, they are introducing economically important forest and fallow plants into their house gardens. We describe this process in Daka, a village of Hani ethnicity in Yunnan Province, China. Daka smallholders collect both seeds and seedlings from fallow forests and transfer the plants to house gardens, initiating the transformation of wild species to a cultivated or semi-domesticated one. Two kinds of species are commonly transferred from swidden fallows to house gardens. Some are particularly rare, others are plants in great demand. Between 1998 and 2000 Daka households earned an average of US$68.20 annually from the products of fallow forests. We also found that villagers harvest and use 76 plant species from fallow forests and 126 species from house gardens. Twenty-two species found in house gardens that had been transferred from fallow forests. Households vary widely in the frequency with which they engage in this pattern. We believe that local knowledge of these practices is a potentially important resource in the development of other areas of smallholder farming.     

Household factors influencing participation in bird feeding activity: a national scale analysis

Ameliorating pressures on the ecological condition of the wider landscape outside of protected areas is a key focus of conservation initiatives in the developed world. In highly urbanized nations, domestic gardens can play a significant role in maintaining biodiversity and facilitating human-wildlife interactions, which benefit personal and societal health and well-being. The extent to which sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors are associated with engagement in wildlife gardening activities remain largely unresolved. Using two household-level survey datasets gathered from across Britain, we determine whether and how the socioeconomic background of a household influences participation in food provision for wild birds, the most popular and widespread form of human-wildlife interaction. A majority of households feed birds (64% across rural and urban areas in England, and 53% within five British study cities). House type, household size and the age of the head of the household were all important predictors of bird feeding, whereas gross annual household income, the occupation of the head of the household, and whether the house is owned or rented were not. In both surveys, the prevalence of bird feeding rose as house type became more detached and as the age of the head of the household increased. A clear, consistent pattern between households of varying size was less evident. When regularity of food provision was examined in the study cities, just 29% of households provided food at least once a week. The proportion of households regularly feeding birds was positively related to the age of the head of the household, but declined with gross annual income. As concerns grow about the lack of engagement between people and the natural environment, such findings are important if conservation organizations are successfully to promote public participation in wildlife gardening specifically and environmentally beneficial behaviour in society more generally.     

Rice and Remittances: Crop Intensification Versus Labour Migration in Southern Laos

Despite being a low-income, agriculture-based country with a subsistence orientation, Laos is in the early stages of a major economic transformation whereby rural households have been experiencing rapid change in their farming and livelihood systems. Some households have begun to engage in semi-commercial farming while others have adopted labour-oriented or migration-oriented livelihood strategies. This paper explores how rural households in six villages in the lowlands of Champasak Province in southern Laos make a living. These villages vary in their access to irrigation and to markets. Nevertheless, in all villages, long-term migration of younger household members to neighbouring Thailand has come to play a large role in household livelihood strategies. In some cases this is necessary to meet the household’s consumption requirements; in most, it is part of a diversified strategy in which rice farming still plays a significant role, though still largely for subsistence. The paper examines some of the issues involved in attempting to promote intensive, market-oriented rice farming in a context of an emerging on-farm labour shortage combined with an increasing flow of remittances from migrant family members.     

Cultivated plant species diversity in home gardens of an Amazonian peasant village in Northeastern Peru

Research on agrobiodiversity points to the importance of home gardens in situ conservation, yet few studies to date explicate the origins and dynamics of plant species diversity. In this paper, we examine inter-household variations in cultivated plant species diversity among house gardens in a traditional peasant community, near Iquitos, Peru. In-depth household interviews (n = 24) and garden/field surveys reveal that home gardens are clearly the site of highest plant diversity in farmers’ field portfolios, and that substantial differences exist in garden composition, plant diversity, and the sources of garden planting material across households. Statistical analyses indicate that home garden diversity is related strongly to specific garden characteristics, household socioeconomic features, and access to planting material including seeds, cuttings, and suckers. The role and implications of differential access to planting material in the development and maintenance of crop species diversity is signaled as an important theme for future study in economic botany.     

Assessing the Impacts of Agrobiodiversity Maintenance on Food Security Among Farming Households in Sri Lanka’s Dry Zone

Farmers’ maintenance of agrobiodiversity is fundamental to global food security, particularly in a world increasingly affected by climate change. Biodiversity helps to buffer agroecosystems from stresses like climatic variability, and the crop genetic diversity conserved with biodiverse agroecosystems is critical for plant breeding both locally and globally. Yet, despite these benefits, few studies have directly assessed the implications of household–level agrobiodiversity maintenance on household food security. Drawing on survey data collected in Sri Lanka’s Hambantota District, we evaluated the plant diversity maintained by small–scale farming households in both homegardens and crop fields and determined the relationships between this diversity and their households’ food security. We also considered how a suite of additional demographic, household, community, and farm characteristics relate to both the plant diversity maintained by a household and their food security. Similar to previous studies, the age of the agricultural decision-maker and the age and size of households’ homegardens positively correlated with the overall species richness of farming systems. Older homegardens were also identified to be more evenly distributed in their species abundance, and market–oriented households had significantly higher species richness but lower Shannon Indices. Most notably, household socioeconomic status and material wealth were important to both agrobiodiversity maintenance and household food security, while no significant relationships between species richness and food security measures were detected. These findings suggest that effort aiming to increase the food security of small–scale farming households in Sri Lanka, and elsewhere, should target those farming households with a paucity of socioeconomic assets, as these households lack both agroecological and economic resources to overcome shocks, such as those associated with climate change.     

Agricultural practices and household organization in a Japanese pioneer community of lowland Bolivia

This article describes the colonization process of the Japanese pioneer farmers in the Bolivian subtropical lowlands. Quantitative data for each of the farm households that can be matched for comparison between the initial phase of colonization and a later phase provide the basis for an examination of a reciprocal relationship between household organization and successively introduced agricultural practices. Two hypotheses are tested: (a) pioneer agriculture stimulates the formation of large family households to cope with an assumed labor shortage; and (b) existing variation in household organization produces variation in agricultural practices. The analysis reveals that the size of swidden farming in the initial phase and the size of permanent field cultivation in the latter phase both relate positively to the size of the male labor force. Despite the significant advantage of a large family household for providing free labor during rapid agricultural growth, a diachronic analysis does not support the hypothesis that the pioneer condition stimulates adaptive social change toward the formation of large families. Rather, the data indicate that changes in household composition have major effects on the size of cropland and the transformation from swidden farming to mechanized cultivation. Underlying mechanisms of agricultural change are further explored, and the implications for a colonization project are discussed.     

Conservation and human livelihoods at the crossroads: Local needs and knowledge in the management of Arabuko Sokoke Forest

Arabuko Sokoke Forest is the largest remaining single block of indigenous dry coastal tropical forest in Eastern Africa. Households within a 5 km buffer zone depend heavily on the forest for their livelihood needs, and the pressure on forest resources is on the increase. In May 2015, 109 households were interviewed on resources they obtain from the forest, in terms of the self‐reported level of monthly income. We found household income and farm size significantly positively correlated with benefits from the forest, highlighting the possible influence of household wealth in exploiting forest resources. A large proportion of households (32%) had limited knowledge of local birds, while human–bird conflict was reported by 44% of the households. While many households were keen to participate in conservation projects that maintain the forest, 44% had no knowledge of the forest management plan, and 60% of those interviewed had no idea of how forest zones were designated for particular activities. Drivers for local community participation in conservation projects appear to be sustainable income and fulfilment of basic household needs.     

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.     

A predictive model to locate ancient forests in the Cross Timbers of Osage County, Oklahoma

The Cross Timbers are a mosaic of upland deciduous forest, savanna, and glade that typifies the broad ecotone between the eastern deciduous forest and the grasslands of the southern Great Plains. The pre-settlement Cross Timbers may have covered some 7,909,700 ha from central Texas, across Oklahama into eastern Kansas, and today may represent the least disturbed forest ecosystem of comparable size still left in the eastern United States. Extensive tree-ring research indicates that ancient forests dominated by 200 to 400 year old post-oaks ( Quercus stellata Wang) survive throughout the Cross Timbers, particularly in Oklahoma. These ancient forests persist largely because the Cross Timbers formation is non-commercial for timber production, and has not experienced large-scale industrial logging. Because ancient forest relics are often found on stressful non-commercial sites in the Cross Timbers and elsewhere, it is possible to design predictive models to locate the specific terrain where undisturbed forests are likely to survive. A predictive model for southern Osage County, Oklahoma, was developed based on the steep, infertile soils of the Niotaze-Darnell complex. We tested the model with field inspection and tree-ring analysis of fifty randomly selected belt transects, and 74% of the sampled terrain is still old-growth Cross Timbers woodland. This translates into 8200 ha of ancient Cross Timbers on this single site type in southern Osage County. The abundance of ancient forest in the Cross Timbers is not widely appreciated. However, large contiguous tracts of ancient Cross Timbers up to 700 ha were identified with this predictive model, strongly supporting inferences concerning the relatively undisturbed nature of this ecosystem.     

Bearing the Burden: Portage Labor as an Adaptive Response to Predictable Food Deficits in Eastern Nepal

Wage work such as portage labor is one of several adaptive strategies by which rural households in Nepal supplement their subsistence agriculture. This study, conducted in the hills of eastern Nepal in 1997, surveyed the landholdings and household subsistence base of 50 commercial porters hired to transport loads from Jiri to various destinations in Solu Khumbu. A major goal was to test the hypothesis that porter households tend to have smaller landholdings than the average household in this region. An unexpected result was that porter households in this study owned nearly as much arable land (1.07 ha) as the mean of 1.15 ha for all hill families in eastern Nepal. Household grain sufficiency correlated significantly (P < 0.01) with farm size (r = 0.53). The majority of the porters lived in villages located at either the origin or the endpoint of their portage work. The study also examined several variables that might explain why portage labor is a full-time occupation for some Nepalis, but a part-time “casual” occupation for others. The most significant difference between households of full-time and part-time porters was the availability of workers at home for managing the household’s land and livestock resources. Households of full-time porters were better able to spare a family member for full-time wage labor because they had significantly more adult workers of either gender (P < 0.05) than households of part-time porters. Full-time and part-time porter households did not differ significantly with regard to family size, land ownership, or number of food-deficit months.     

Current distribution,breeding population and habitat use of the globally threatened Grey-necked Picathartes Picathartes oreas in south-eastern Nigeria: a call for conservation action

The Grey-necked Picathartes Picathartes oreas is a globally threatened bird species in Africa with a wild population of less than 10,000 individuals. The Nigerian population, which has been poorly studied, is restricted to the forest of Cross River. This study re-assessed the distribution, breeding population, habitat use and current threats of the Grey-necked Picathartes by revisiting the 91 breeding sites identified during the first and only survey of the species in 1987. We estimated a breeding population of 164 individuals across 82 breeding sites. Only 72 breeding sites were found in the localities where 91 had been registered in 1987. Thirteen (18%) of these 72 sites were no longer active and showed evidence of human disturbance. The occurrence of Grey-necked Picathartes’ nest sites was positively predicted by higher number of emergent trees, larger rocks and negatively related to disturbance matrices. Similarly, larger colony sizes were associated with high canopy cover and rock height. Also, the probability of finding an active nest within a breeding colony was significantly predicted by increased canopy, tree density and ground cover. Human threats included farming, wire snares, egg and juvenile removal, bush burning, and hunter’s camps. These threats, though specific to the Grey-necked Picathartes, threaten the integrity of the Cross River forest habitats.     

Ethnobotanical Knowledge and Crop Diversity in Swidden Fields: A Study in a Native Amazonian Society

Crop diversity protects food consumption in poor households within developing nations. Here we estimate the association between crop diversity on swidden fields and ethnobotanical knowledge. We conducted research among 215 male household heads from a native Amazonian society. Using multivariate regressions, we found higher crop diversity among households that depend on agricultural production for household consumption. We also found a statistically significant and positive, but low, association between the ethnobotanical knowledge of the male household head and crop diversity. Doubling the stock of ethnobotanical knowledge of the male household head is associated with a 9% increase in the number of crops sown by a household. The association remained after we controlled for the household level of market exposure, but vanished after we controlled for the social capital of the male household head. Future research should compare the association between ethnobotanical knowledge and crop diversity across different agricultural systems (i.e., home gardens, fallow fields).     

Changing Realities—Perspectives on Balinese Rice Cultivation

This paper discusses issues of agrarian change in south-central Bali. The proximity to urban areas, especially the tourist centers along the southern coast, provides many off-farm employment opportunities for small-scale farming households. Although rice farming continues, for many households it has become a side business. The flexible nature of rice farming in terms of labor input and available casual off-farm work allows farming households to allocate their available labor to a variety of on-farm and off-farm income generating activities. The subak which unites farmers in the irrigation and cultivation of the rice crop plays an important role in supporting this flexibility. Still, the future of rice farming and the organization behind it looks rather dim with a younger generation unwilling to work in the “mud” and little appreciation of the many benefits the subak provides not only to the farming but to the wider community.     

不同生计方式农户的环境感知——以甘南高原为例

准确的环境感知是合理环境行为的前提,利用参与式农村评估方法,研究了甘南高原不同生计方式农户的环境感知。结果发现:(1)甘南高原农户生计方式较单一,生计多样化指数仅为1.76,纯牧区、半农半牧区、农区农户的非农化水平依次提高,但非农活动均以外出打工为主;(2)随着非农化水平的提高,农户的生态关注度、生态保护认知度以及生态变化感知度发生有规律变化,纯农户、兼业户、非农户的生态关注度、生态恶化感知度依次降低,但生态保护认知度依次增强; 3) 非农户、兼业户的环保活动参与度强于纯农户。     

Is Poverty Driving Borana Herders in Southern Ethiopia to Crop Cultivation?

This study addresses whether or not crop cultivation by Borana herders in southern Ethiopia is motivated by poverty since 80% of the households belong to poor wealth classes (i.e., poor, very poor and destitute). Yet our findings showed little evidence that Borana communities have become self-sufficient in grain production. Compared to wealthy households, poor households generally cultivated the least land and sampled households, producing yields only 31% of the Ethiopian national average. Grain per capita met only 26% of the annual requirement per person, equivalent to three to four months of self-sufficiency per household. The livelihood response model (LRM) developed for testing the relationship between extent of croplands and household wealth showed that poverty alone cannot be motivating herders to cultivate crops. Factors such as shortage of labor, lack of sufficient traction animals, and unreliable rainfall also need to be considered. Crop cultivation has not enabled self-sufficiency, but it has resulted in fragmented grazing lands. Future policies address changes in land use, including improving soil fertility through manure-nutrient transfers, by promoting better integration of crop cultivation and pastoralism. Research is needed to (a) understand household time allocation between crop cultivation and livestock management, (b) improve the LRM by considering temporal variability in the wealth of households and extent of cultivated lands, and (c) understand the role of poverty in motivating the adoption of alternative livelihood coping strategies.