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2. Assessing the effectiveness of Nigerian agricultural promotion policy thrusts in achieving a sustainable food system
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Ike, Chinweoke Uzoamaka (author), Tranter, Richard (author), and Gadanakis, Yiorgos (author)
- Format:
- Conference paper
- Publication Date:
- 2021-03-29
- Published:
- UK: Agricultural Economics Society, The
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 207 Document Number: D13166
- Notes:
- 14 pages, To diversify the Nigerian economy and reduce dependency on food import, the Agricultural promotion policy (APP) was developed and implemented in 2016. This policy aims to move Nigerian agriculture to a commercial sector to ensure the creation of sustainable jobs and wealth. However, little is known about the effects of the policy on biodiversity, dietary diversity, and employment and income of the small-scale farmers who form the greater proportion of the food producers. The study aims to assess the effectiveness of APP in achieving social justice particularly for small-scale farmers, environmental sustainability and economic viability through sustainable agriculture. To assess the effectiveness of APP, focus groups discussions were held in six local governments in the North East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. APP food security thrusts of strategic national food reserve, proper use of agrochemicals and tractors, focus on forest food harvest and government support for large scale and specialised farms are very effective for securing food price stability. Moreover, food crop fortification is very effective in providing income support for households as it is the focus on forest food harvest, and access to credit and labour subsidies for small farmers. Encouraging organic farming is very effective in securing access to and availability of diversity of food, biodiversity and employment. Food diversity, soil fertility, biodiversity and employment also benefited from the provision of credit and labour subsidies. The outcome of this discussion is important for shaping the Nigerian food system. Though the APP thrusts are geared towards achieving sustainable development, Nigerian policy authorities should focus more on encouraging organic farming, credit and labour subsidies for the smallholder farmers, creating balance diet awareness, and forest preservation and food harvest to achieve food security, environmental sustainability and employment.
3. Automated pastures and the digital divide: How agricultural technologies are shaping labour and rural communities
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Rotz, Sarah (author), Gravely, Evan (author), Mosby, Ian (author), Duncan, Emily (author), Finnis, Elizabeth (author), Horgan, Mervyn (author), LeBlanc, Joseph (author), Martin, Ralph (author), Tait Neufeld, Hannah (author), Nixon, Andrew (author), Pant, Laxmi (author), Shalla, Vivian (author), and Fraser, Evan (author)
- Format:
- Online article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-02-13
- Published:
- Canada: Science Direct
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 7 Document Number: D10251
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Rural Studies
- Notes:
- 11 pages., Via online article, A “digital revolution” in agriculture is underway. Advanced technologies like sensors, artificial intelligence, and robotics are increasingly being promoted as a means to increase food production efficiency while minimizing resource use. In the process, agricultural digitalization raises critical social questions about the implications for diverse agricultural labourers and rural spaces as digitalization evolves. In this paper, we use literature and field data to outline some key trends being observed at the nexus of agricultural production, technology, and labour in North America, with a particular focus on the Canadian context. Using the data, we highlight three key tensions observed: rising land costs and automation; the development of a high-skill/low-skilled bifurcated labour market; and issues around the control of digital data. With these tensions in mind, we use a social justice lens to consider the potential implications of digital agricultural technologies for farm labour and rural communities, which directs our attention to racial exploitation in agricultural labour specifically. In exploring these tensions, we argue that policy and research must further examine how to shift the trajectory of digitalization in ways that support food production as well as marginalized agricultural labourers, while pointing to key areas for future research—which is lacking to date. We emphasize that the current enthusiasm for digital agriculture should not blind us to the specific ways that new technologies intensify exploitation and deepen both labour and spatial marginalization.
4. Definitions of “rural” and “urban” and understandings of economic transformation: Evidence from Tanzania
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Wineman, Ayala (author), Yélognissè Alia, Didier (author), and Anderson, C. Leigh (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-10-01
- Published:
- International: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 201 Document Number: D11859
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Rural Studies
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 79
- Notes:
- 14 pages, via online journal, Designing effective policies for economic development often entails categorizing populations by their rural or urban status. Yet there exists no universal definition of what constitutes an “urban” area, and countries alternately apply criteria related to settlement size, population density, or economic advancement. In this study, we explore the implications of applying different urban definitions, focusing on Tanzania for illustrative purposes. Toward this end, we refer to nationally representative household survey data from Tanzania, collected in 2008 and 2014, and categorize households as urban or rural using seven distinct definitions. These are based on official administrative categorizations, population densities, daytime and nighttime satellite imagery, local economic characteristics, and subjective assessments of Google Earth images. These definitions are then applied in some common analyses of demographic and economic change. We find that these urban definitions produce different levels of urbanization. Thus, Tanzania's urban population share based on administrative designations was 28% in 2014, though this varies from 12% to 39% with alternative urban definitions. Some indicators of economic development, such as the level of rural poverty or the rate of rural electrification, also shift markedly when measured with different urban definitions. The periodic (official) recategorization of places as rural or urban, as occurs with the decennial census, results in a slower rate of rural poverty decline than would be measured with time-constant boundaries delimiting rural Tanzania. Because the outcomes of analysis are sensitive to the urban definitions used, policy makers should give attention to the definitions that underpin any statistics used in their decision making.
5. On the acceptance of animal production in rural communities
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Stefan Mann (author) and Hans Kogl (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- unknown
- Published:
- USA: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 4 Document Number: D10182
- Journal Title:
- Land Use Policy
- Journal Title Details:
- 20(3): 243-252
- Notes:
- 10 pages., Via online journal., In 18 East German municipalities, nine of them with a planned pig production site and the other nine with an existing pig production site, a survey was carried out on the factors influencing the acceptance of pig production. The influencing factors examined were the personal attitude on particular aspects of pig production, socio-demographic characteristics, the personal involvement in local decision-making, the size of livestock and the production technology. As a result, existing production sites are perceived more positively than planned sites, without any influence of size and production technology. The difference may be explained by the fact that planned sites are evaluated in respect to economic arguments as jobs and income (market goods), while existing sites are rather evaluated in respect to environmental factors (public goods). For new investments the results lead to the recommendation to emphasize its economic aspects, to integrate the investor socially in the rural community and to apply technology that prevents pollution for the neighborhood. More importantly, the results show the shortcomings of a “top down” approach and the indispensability of endogenous resources in regional development.