The Impact of Animal Production in Mountainous Farming Systems Development in Northwest of Vietnam

The Impact of Animal Production in Mountainous Farming Systems Development in Northwest of Vietnam
Author: Thi-Thanh-Huyen Nguyen
Publisher:
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2004
Genre: Agricultural systems
ISBN:

This book presents an analysis of the impact of animal production in mountainous farming systems development in Northwest of Vietnam. The research areas are located in a typical transect in the mountainous zones. This transect represents a gradient from urban to remote areas, with changes in production condition (livestock types and breeds), degree of market orientation (feed stuffs), and socio-economics conditions (knowledge and production habit) due to different ethnic groups of the families. Information used came from interviews in panel survey, collected twice over two years. The descriptive analysis, historical analysis and comparative analysis show that family resources become increasingly scarce along the gradient from the market proximity to remote areas. The economic success follows the same trend with increasing remoteness, and the farm, off-farm and family income decrease. The study also found a relation between resource availability for crop and livestock and the size of the land. The livestock contribution to income is important for the bigger farms with a low production potential as well as for the small farms with high production potential. Fluctuations of resource availability and use over two years show that the resources are over-used. There is increasing utilisation of land in order to increase income while land quality seems to decrease. Results of regression models show that a small change in the animal sector impacts greatly the income and living standard of the families, offering an opportunity for the development of mixed farming systems, and hinting at its high potential for their future development. The impact analyses of potential future strategies were made using linear programming models at family level. Increasing the capacity of stables in order to increase herd size as well as comprehensive veterinary care could improve income. Improving income for families in remote areas is usually very hard to achieve.

The Contribution of GIS and Remote Sensing to Farming Systems Research on Micro- and Regional Scale in North West Vietnam

The Contribution of GIS and Remote Sensing to Farming Systems Research on Micro- and Regional Scale in North West Vietnam
Author: Peter Lentes
Publisher:
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2003
Genre: Agricultural systems
ISBN:

On the example of a mountain region in the northwest of Vietnam, the study investigates, how the strengths of GIS and remote sensing can be transferred to farming systems research. Such an integration of both disciplines allows the consideration of spatial information that goes beyond the usual use of transportation cost in economics. In this way, the holistic farming systems approach can be based on a broader database that includes space in a different way as in the past. The spatial analysis of the physical and socio-economic environment enables the comparison of characteristics for spatially closed areas. Data from geo-informatics assess the spatial reference system of farming systems by means of their physical site conditions. The socio-economic site conditions for these framing systems are assessed through the classical farming systems research methodology based on family level surveys. Thus the spatial integration of socio-economic development allows to unify the strengths of both research areas. In doing so, GIS and remote sensing contribute to farming systems research by assessing the site conditions of the farming systems on a spatially explicit and on a regional basis. This can be achieved by means of instruments like 1. the spatial representation of gradients, 2. the classification of zones according to socio-economic criteria, 3. the regional assessment and valuation of the endowment of agricultural land and 4. the modelling of socio economic parameters, like income, on the basis of spatial data on regional scale.

Agricultural Projects and Sustainable Development of Rural Areas in Benin

Agricultural Projects and Sustainable Development of Rural Areas in Benin
Author: Jacob Afouda Yabi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2004
Genre: Agricultural development projects
ISBN:

The most criticisms of agricultural projects are that their design, management and monitoring are little efficient and consider little development needs of stakeholders. These weaknesses induce low impacts on sustainable development of beneficiaries, as well as low participation and adoption of modern technologies, which make the projects little sustainable. This book investigates therefore the impacts of the projects on sustainable development of stakeholders and the factors affecting their participation and adoption decisions, using a with-without approach and a structural modelling. The results show the impacts were positive, but depended closely on the area where the projects were implemented. As feedback, overall satisfactions that the stakeholders view from the impacts, human capital and access to production inputs were key factors of participation and adoption. Therefore, the solution for more sustainable impacts of agricultural projects lies on designing and implementing small-scale projects that target real development problems of stakeholders, improvement on human capital and access to production input.

Socio Economic Development in Indigenous and Non-indigenous Systems in Brazil

Socio Economic Development in Indigenous and Non-indigenous Systems in Brazil
Author: Herta Avalos Viegas
Publisher:
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2004
Genre: Agricultural systems
ISBN:

The rainforest zone in Brazil is under pressure through encroachment of farming and other sectors, which lead to ecologically unbalanced development, reducing the living potential of indigenous communities. The Bananal Island wetland is located in the transition zone between the Amazon and Cerrado (Savannah) ecosystems. The conflicting interest of the rural actors on using the natural resources lead to the demarcation of most of its territory as Indigenous Lands. This book attempts to analyze the socio-economic potentials of indigenous and non-indigenous systems presented in the adjacent zone of Bananal Island, along the Javae River. Special emphasis is given to the relationship of the indigenous communities with smallholders expelled out of the island and large-scale farm and ranch systems; and how this relationship may affect the living standard of the two less economically favorable groups. The results show that for indigenous communities some of the actions of the government had improved a few components of their living standard raising them up to the level of smallholders and the fishermen found in the region. The smallholders were allocated in settlements. The poor infrastructure of the settlement studied and the absence of financial incentives for agricultural activities push these smallholders to establish small enterprises in order to guarantee their living standard. The large-scale farms and ranches are mainly market oriented and are dependent mostly on the national economic fluctuation. They are high dependent of external labour to run their production activities. There is a concern about the scarcity of specialized technical labour in the region. The training of the smallholders could fill this gap and avoid future encroachments into Bananal Island as occurred in the past.