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Adjustment of Resource Exploitation in European Cooperative Pastoral Systems: Impact of External Changes on the Efficiency of Implemented Institutions and Utilisation Rights
(2004) Gueydon, Anne; Roeder, Norbert; Hoffmann, Helmut
"European biodiversity significantly depends on large scale livestock systems with low input levels. In most countries such forms of grazing are organised in permanent or seasonal cooperations (land-owner/land- user agents) and covers different landscape such as forests, pastures, mires and even arable land. The reason for the emergence of cooperative structures was to limit the access of individuals to the resource in order to prevent over-exploitation. Its aim was also to provide large-scale areas facilitating the grazing of big flocks with low costs. Today, the existence of these structures is threatened due to changes in agricultural land-use practices and inappropriate governmental policies. "At first some basic characteristics and the trends of development of the systems are presented. The present paper investigates five livestock systems with varying degrees of cooperation in different European countries and landscapes. These systems are reindeer husbandry in Northern Fennoscandia, sedentary sheep grazing in Central Spain, cattle grazing in the German and Swiss Alps and sheep grazing in the Polish Tatra Mountains. These systems show very heterogeneous organisational patterns in their way of exploiting the pastoral resources and different degree of resource exploitation. "A comparative analysis of the organisation and structural form of the grazing systems presents the role different groups of actors play in these systems and their inter-relationships. Further, the economic implications of the legal definitions of the forage resources and the institutions dealing with the resource exploitation are presented. This leads to an analysis of the way the resource is managed and exploited. "The investigated systems range from ones with a relatively rigid internal structure and rule system, like in Entlebuch and Upper Bavaria, ones with a high degree of governmental involvement, like in Central Spain and in Northern Fennoscandia, and ones which are relatively unbounded by any formal regulations, Poland. "The last section the analysis shows how the systems react to constantly changing economical, environmental, social, technical or legal settings. Adjustment to these external changes entails a modification of the type of good of the resource under management and consequently of the way of managing the resource. For the efficiency of the system the balance between property rights, internal structures, public regulations and institutions has to be maintained."
Agent-based Analysis of Agricultural Policies: an Illustration of the Agricultural Policy Simulator AgriPoliS, its Adaptation and Behavior
(2006) Happe, Kathrin; Kellerman, Konrad; Balmann, Alfons
"This paper combines agent-based modeling of structural change with agricultural policy analysis. Using the agent-based model AgriPoliS, we investigate the impact of a regime switch in agricultural policy on structural change under various framework conditions. Instead of first doing a sensitivity analysis to analyze the properties of our model and then examining the introduced policy in an isolated manner, we use a meta-modeling approach in combination with the statistical technique of Design of Experiments to systematically analyze the relationship between policy change and model assumptions regarding key determinants of structural change such as interest rates, managerial abilities, and technical change. As a result, we observe that the effects of policies are quite sensitive to the mentioned properties. We conclude that an isolated analysis of a policy regime switch would be of only minor value for policy advice given the ability of simulation models to examine various potential futures."
Assessment of the Economic Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture in Zimbabwe: A Ricardian Approach
(2007) Mano, Reneth; Nhemachena, Charles
"This study uses the Ricardian approach to examine the economic impact of climate change on agriculture in Zimbabwe. Net farm revenue is regressed against various climate, soil, hydrological and socio-economic variables to help determine the factors that influence variability in net farm revenues. The study is based on data from a survey of 700 smallholder farming households interviewed across the country. The empirical results show that climatic variables (temperature and precipitation) have significant effects on net farm revenues in Zimbabwe. In addition to the analysis of all farms, the study also analyzes the effects on dryland farms and farms with irrigation. The analysis indicates that net farm revenues are affected negatively by increases in temperature and positively by increases in precipitation. The results from sensitivity analysis suggest that agricultural production in Zimbabwe's smallholder farming system is significantly constrained by climatic factors (high temperature and low rainfall). The elasticity results show that the changes in net revenue are high for dryland farming compared to farms with irrigation. The results show that farms with irrigation are more resistant to changes in climate, indicating that irrigation is an important adaptation option to help reduce the impact of further changes in climate. An overview of farmer adaptation to changing climate indicates that farmers are already using some adaptation strategies-such as dry and early planting, growing drought resistant crops, changing planting dates, and using irrigation-to cushion themselves against further anticipated adverse climatic conditions. An important policy message from the empirical findings is that there is a need to provide adequate extension information services to ensure that farmers receive up-to-date information about rainfall patterns in the forthcoming season so that they make well-informed decisions on their planting dates. Policies that increase farmer training and access to credit and aid facilities and help farmers acquire livestock and other important farm assets can help improve net farm performance. Ensuring the availability and accessibility of fertilizers and crop seeds before the onset of the next cropping season can also significantly improve net farm performance across households."
Cambodian Peasant's Contribution to Rural Development: Perspective from Kampong Thom Province
(2010) Diepart, J.C.
"The paper aims to identify the rationality of peasant communities and their contribution to rural development in Kampong Thom province. To do so, an interdisciplinary analytical framework addresses the dynamics of land use and land tenure, the strategies of labor force allocation as well as the determinants of land and labor agricultural productivities amongst peasant communities. It rests on details field surveys in two communes located in very distinct agro-ecological settings of Kampong Thom province. A land use change analysis based on time-series aerial photos is conducted with participatory inventories of natural resources. It shows that endogenous management of forest and fisheries resources generate significant incomes and, at the same time, contribute to maintaining biodiversity. The paper analyses how this contribution is challenged by the non-peasant actors involved in massive State land privatization. Aiming to full employment, peasant households enjoy a great flexibility in the way they allocate labor force, especially in line with the age of active labor and the fluctuation of labor opportunity costs. Principally due to an unequal land holding distribution, agricultural income is unfairly distributed but this inequality is actually balanced by the access to common-pool resources of crucial importance for the poorest and by the recourse to non farming activities, which is an important factor of socio-economic differentiation amongst households. The main economic indicators of rice production confirm that peasant households always try to maximize their income in step with the production factor they have in relatively less amount. A land market simulation stresses that, contrarily to theoretical assumptions, land access through sale (and purchase) does not result in a fairer land distribution. Nevertheless, land leases amongst peasant households seem more promising to ensure equitable access to land as they are embedded in collective security mechanisms activated by peasantry. The paper argues that peasant communities in the studied area constitute a solid basis for rural development as they offer a very good articulation between economic efficiency, social justice and environmental sustainability. Finally, recommendations are formulated to properly address peasant contribution to rural development in the new national agrarian policies."
The Impact of Regime Transition on the Environmental Protection of Common Property: Lessons Learned from Rapid Transition to Democracy and Market Economy in the Baltics
(2000) Pedersen, Karin Hilmer
"The proposed paper will first demonstrate how policy choices in regime transformation (development of democracy and market institutions) have had a spill over effect on policy choices in the environmental sphere indicating the importance of different policy cultures and standard operating procedures. Secondly, it discusses the effectiveness of environmental policy choice in the context of regime transformation with unstable property rights and rapid administrative and legal changes. Thirdly, it suggests possible impacts on future environmental policy of a more general nature. "The outset will be a theoretical discussion on the efficiency of different policy instruments with regard to governmental arrangements (administration), market institutions and civic values. The hypothesis being that policy instruments effecting civic values in the form of information and economic support in unstable political environments will have a more positive impact on environmental behaviour, although not neglecting the importance of strict environmental regulation. "The empirical background is a comparison of agri-environmental policies in the three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The environmental problem being nutrient leaching from diffuse sources into common property: ground and surface waters. The three countries being part of the same regime thus facing a similar transition from authoritarian soviet style regulation and planned economy to a liberal and democratic market style have chosen very different ways to solve the problem of diffuse leaching from agricultural production. This similarity in the outset and differences in the outcome make the three cases interesting for more general considerations on the influence of regime transformation on environmental protection. The impact of foreign donors, especially Denmark, will be taken into consideration in the discussion on future development in the region. "The paper is written on the background of research conducted in the period 1994-1999. It builds on studies of the relevant theoretical literature together with studies of written documents and personal fieldwork including interviews in the Baltic countries."
An Integrated Social and Ecological Modeling Framework: Impacts of Agricultural Conservation Practices on Water Quality
(2014) Daloğlu, Irem; Nassauer, Joan Iverson; Riolo, Rick; Scavia, Donald
"We present a modeling framework that synthesizes social, economic, and ecological aspects of landscape change to evaluate how different agricultural policy and land tenure scenarios and land management preferences affect landscape pattern and downstream water quality. We linked a stylized agent-based model (ABM) of farmers’ conservation practice adoption decisions with a water quality model, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), to simulate the water quality effects of changing land tenure dynamics and different policies for crop revenue insurance in lieu of commodity payments over 41 years (1970–2010) for a predominantly agricultural watershed of Lake Erie. Results show that non-operator owner involvement in land management decisions yields the highest reduction in sediment and nutrient loads, and crop revenue insurance leads to more homogeneous farmer decisions and a slight increase in sediment and nutrient loads unless cross compliance with expanded conservation requirements is implemented."
L'Agriculture en Asie du Sud-Est: L'Expérience Vietnamienne
(1997) Thông, Trân Thê
"Agricultural in South-East Asia: The Vietnamese experience."
La Problematique du Controle des Organismes Genetiquement Modifies (OGM) et l'Accord sur les Droits de Propriete Intellectuels qui Touchent au Commerce (ADPIC): Quels Enjeux pour les Pays en Developpement?
(2002) Gadji, Abraham
From Page 1: "La question de la modification génétique des organismes et la reconnaissance des droits de propriétés sur le vivant cristallise de nos jours les débats entre les Etats, les organisations internationales, les ONGs et les groupes sociaux. Les mouvements de protestation qui ont eu lieu lors de la Réunion lOMC à Seattle en 1999 témoignent de lampleur des frictions entre les enjeux commerciaux et les considérations écologiques. Ces questions qui ont pris de lampleur face aux affaires telles que la vache folle, les poulets à la dioxine, la fièvre aphteuse, l'introduction des organismes génétiquement modifiés dans lalimentation et la brevetabilité du vivant méritent dêtre traitées."
Multifunctional Agricultural Policy, Reduced Domestic Support, and Liberalized Trade: An Empirical Assessment for Taiwanese Rice
(2006) Boisvert, Ronald; Chang, H. H.
"To meet the requirements of membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) as specified in 2001, Taiwan must rely less on price supports and other traditional policies to support its agricultural sector. In addition, it must open its agricultural markets to increased imports. Central to this reexamination of agricultural policy is the potential conflict between domestic and international policy goals. For many, these so-called 'non-trade' concerns (NTCs) are captured in the concept of 'multifunctionality', which characterizes agriculture as a multi-output activity, generating both agricultural commodities and non-commodity outputs that are valued by society."
Pastoral Commons Use in Romania and the Role of the Common Agricultural Policy
(2013) Sutcliffe, Laura; Paulini, Inge; Jones, Gwyn; Marggraf, Rainer; Page, Nathaniel
"In comparison to many Western European countries, in Romania the use of common pastures remains widespread and is strongly linked to the predominance of subsistence and semi-subsistence farming in much of the country. The majority of permanent pasture in the country is under state or community ownership, and these areas are of high natural and cultural, as well as economic importance for Romania. Whilst traditional governance systems of the commons are still partly intact, or at least within living memory here, new institutions are forming in response to substantial changes in agriculture and rural life that have been occurring, particularly since Romanias accession to the EU in 2007. We describe the changing role of common pastures for local communities in the case study region of Tarnava Mare in Southern Transylvania, Romania. The number of active users here is decreasing, and those who have more animals are increasingly grazing their animals on long-term leased or private land, thus effectively no longer participating in the commons. This is encouraged by the current system of relatively low prices for agricultural products and EU agricultural support payments, which for smallholders and larger farmers alike are now a major factor in the financial viability of farming in Romania. The future of the commons in the study region will hinge on the success of the communities to self-organise and take advantage of the opportunities presented by the changing rural context of pastoral commons use."
Policies Drain the North China Plain: Agricultural Policy and Groundwater Depletion in Luancheng County, 1949-2000
(2003) Kendy, Eloise; Molden, David; Steenhuis, Tammo S.; Liu, Changming; Wang, Jinxia
"The North China Plain, 3200,000 km in extent, is China's most important center of agricultural production and home to more than 200 million people. Through extensive irrigation, the region produces more than 50 percent of the nation's wheat and 33 percent of its maize, making it critical to national food self-sufficiency. Yet, on the North China Plain, water is the most vital and limiting resource. Natural streamflow has almost completely ceased because of diversions to urban, industrial and agricultural uses. Groundwater levels are declining steadily, salt water is intruding into previously freshwater aquifers and in some places the land surface is subsiding. Even the largest cities, which receive highest priority for water distribution, endure repeated 'crises' set off by water shortages. "The report examines the relationships between agricultural policies in the North China Plain, the approaches to water management that evolved from them, the quantity of water than was actually used, and the consequent groundwater depletion beneath Luancheng County, Hebei Province, from 1949 to 2000. To systematically address these relationships, we use a comprehensive water-balance approach. Our results indicate that a single, longstanding policy-that of using groundwater to meet the crop-water requirements not supplied by precipitation-is responsible fro the steady rate of groundwater decline. "Attempts to make water use sustainable have centered on improving irrigation efficiency to reduce groundwater pumping. Indeed, pumping rates for irrigation in Luancheng County have decreased more than 50 percent since the 1970s. However, water-table declines have continued unabated. This is because the only significant inflows and outflows to and from this hydrologic system are precipitation and crop evapotranspiration, respectively. As long as the irrigated area remains unchanged, crop evapotranspiration remains constant. In Luancheng County, irrigated areas overlie the shallow aquifer, so any excess irrigation water supplied by groundwater pumping passes through the soil profile and replenishes the water supply. Thus, decreased pumping causes a corresponding decrease in groundwater recharge from excess irrigation, while precipitation and crop evapotranspiration remain unchanged. In this physical configuration, irrigation efficiency improvements save no water. "We explore various proposals to stabilize water levels, including crop changes, water-saving technology, and urbanization. Integrating these proposals, we present a quantitative framework for collaborative land-use planning and long-term, sustainable water management, again using a water-balance approach. The inevitable conclusion of this analysis is that withdrawing some land from irrigation is an essential requisite for achieving sustainable water use in the North China Plain. This finding counters China's longstanding and successfully implemented policy of continually increasing the irrigated area in order to achieve the key societal objective of food self-sufficiency. The report is based on data, maps, reports, and interview obtained in Shijiazhuang City and Luancheng County, Hebei Province, People Republic of China in 2001."
Responding to HIV/AIDS in Agriculture and Related Activities
(2005) Slater, Rachel; Wiggins, Steve
"HIV/AIDS has multiple impacts on agriculture and the livelihoods of rural households which are only slowly being understood. This will gradually help in identifying the kinds of agricultural policy instrument that could offer appropriate support to HIV/AIDS-affected households. At the same time, responses are also urgently required to ensure that hard-won gains in poverty reduction are not eroded by the pandemics effect on agricultural growth. This NRP explores the challenges posed for agriculture by the pandemic and considers a range of policy options."
Rising Food Prices: Cause for Concern
(2008) Wiggins, Steve; Levy, Stephanie
"The current spike in food prices needs prompt reaction through various forms of social protection to avert poverty and hunger. Prices are soon likely to fall somewhat, but not to their previous levels. Higher prices mean problems for three groups: poor households struggling to cope with higher costs of food; governments of low income food-importing countries facing higher import bills and higher energy prices; and agencies such as the World Food Programme (WFP) that use food aid to combat food emergencies."

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