Author: Anderson Borges Serra Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
Abstract: Background: Family farming is a means of organizing agricultural, forestry, fisheries, pastoral and aquaculture production that is managed and operated by a family and predominantly reliant on family capital and labor, and that includes labor from both men and women. The family and the farm property are linked, co-evolve and combine economic, environmental, social and cultural functions. Family farmers have the potential to contribute to rural development through food production and job creation, socio-environmental stabilization of rural landscapes, endogenous local development and rural poverty reduction. However, global transformation processes such as modernization of productive technologies, demand for increased productivity, the need to comply with new standards of agricultural markets, competition for land and water, land speculation, and rising prices of fuels and fertilizers directly affect family farmers and impose challenges to the continuation of agricultural activities and permanence of these families in the rural landscape. Against this background, there are doubts about the capability of family farmers to develop successful trajectories amid the transformations of the rural world, and about their ability to remain in the rural landscape in the future. Furthermore, it is unclear if these family farmers are the best option to solve society's current and future challenges. Aims: Initial aim of this research was to generate knowledge to promote an eventually existing potential of family farmers to contribute to sustainable rural development for the benefit of local and global societies. To that end, the types of farmers were identified, and the socioeconomic reproduction trajectories of the farmers present in the rural landscape were described and analyzed as factors of the rural context and as characteristics of the farmers' influence on their respective trajectories. The socioeconomic and environmental impacts of different types of farmers in the rural landscape were assessed, and the requirements of how to promote trajectories of small-scale farmers that contribute to a sustainable rural development were identified. Study area and methodology approach: The research was conducted in the Brazilian Amazon, in the southwest of the state of Pará, in a region known as the Trans-Amazon highway. The methodological approach was mixed, with qualitative and quantitative procedures for data collection, processing and analysis. Interviews were conducted with key informants, including farmers, social leaders and public agents. Secondary sources were consulted through literature reviews, official documents and statistics, and field trips were made to collect quantitative and qualitative primary data. The field data were collected in five municipalities, with one representative sampling area in each municipality. In each sampling area, a survey was carried out about the history of the farmers' occupation of the communities, from the beginning of the occupation of the rural landscape in the 1970s until 2014. Overall, the research considered a total of777 rural properties on 148,000 hectares of occupied area, and 1,458 farmers. A typology of farmers was done based on five criteria: (i.) family labor; (ii.) poverty; (iii.) origin of income; (iv.) income composition; and (v.) composition of the production system. Trajectories of the farmer families were elaborated concerning the following criteria: (i.) mobility in the landscape; (ii.) size of rural property; (iii.) composition of the production system; (iv.) socioeconomic status; and (v.) origin of family income. Aspects that influenced farmers' trajectories were(i.) accessibility; (ii.) soil fertility; (iii.) land tenure; (iv.) rural credit; and (v.) agricultural markets; as well as, from a family sphere perspective, (vi.) family labor. To assess the farmers' role regarding sustainable rural development, the following aspects were considered: (i.) food security, (ii.) generation of employment, and (iii.) social inclusion, from asocial perspective; (iv.) growth of the economy, (v.) generation of taxes, and (vi.) stimulation of local economy, from an economic perspective; and, from an environmental perspective, (vii.) forest conservation. Results: The farmers along the Transamazon highway show a large diversity regarding their socioeconomic, productive and environmental characteristics, reflecting the ecological, institutional and infrastructural diversity of the region as well as their individual histories. This large and ever-14 changing universe of farmers can be grouped into 11 types based on the criteria of labor, family income, income origin, production system and share of non-agricultural and urban activity to the family income. This categorization includes the eight small-scale farmer types: Subsistence; Vegetable; Commodities; Cattle; Cattle & Agriculture; Diversified; Off-farm Dependent; and Urban Residence; and the three types of medium and large-scale farmers: Cattle; Diversified; and Urban Investors. Each farmer type relates to specific social, economic and environmental features with relevance to the issue of sustainable rural development. Small-scale farmers and farmers with more diversified production systems show a more positive contribution than farmers exclusively engaged in cattle, particularly at a large-scale, as well as subsistence farmers. In accordance with this result, the Diversification, as well as, to a lesser degree, the Crop Specialization trajectories positively contribute to sustainable rural development considering all analysed aspects, whereas the trajectories Cattle Specialization and Stagnation demonstrate very negative impacts. In general, small-scale farmers, with the exception of subsistence and specialized cattle farmers, from a societal perspective, show a better performance than medium and large-scale farmers, with the exception of strongly diversified farmers. However, over time, the vast majority of the settled land have been occupied by only some few types of farmers, namely those engaged in cattle specialization (Small Cattle, Small Cattle & Agriculture and Large Cattle), and Urban Investors. In the future, this land concentration trend is expected to continue. Accordingly, it is an expansive and standardized model of agriculture showing the least favourable performance with regard to the aspect of sustainable rural development that increasingly dominates the region. Simultaneously however, alternative modes of farming show a positive performance of consolidation, whenever on small portions of the rural landscape. This includes mainly farmers engaged in the trajectories of Crop Specialization and Diversification, particularly the latter also including medium and large-scale farmers. In addition, there is a trend of Urbanization where farmers manage their fields from their urban residences and in which they increasingly depend on off-farm sources of income. In this sense, the study also shows that a significant share of family famers has the capacity to adapt to emerging opportunities, so that family farming will continue being a central component of the rural Amazon. But the degree of success of family farmers in the highly competitive contexts of the Amazon depends on favourable conditions. The probability of success of family farming increases with good accessibility of the farms, the availability of fertile soils, and titled rural properties. Additionally, attractive agricultural markets and effective logistics are needed as well as access to adequate finance. Conclusions: The findings suggest that family farming could play an essential role for the future of the region. The promotion of diversification and specialization trajectories of small-scale farmers is an excellent option to foster sustainable rural development in the post-frontier areas of the Amazon. However, in view of the continuous expansion of cattle ranching and large-scale agriculture, more accentuated policies are needed to support family farmers. This may include: (i.) limit agrarian reform settlement projects to favourable contexts regarding accessibility and soil fertility providing small properties manageable with family labor; (ii.) concentrate support to small-scale farmers engaged in diversification and specialization trajectories; (iii.) allow and foster non-agricultural activities of beneficiaries of agrarian reform actions as a means to diversify and stabilize their livelihood basis; (iv.) adjust rural credit programs to better respond to the existing diversity of farmer's activities; (v.) improve the accessibility and quality of public services provided in rural settings regarding markets, finance, administration, but also in the area of education and health; (vi.) effectively protect rural spaces from cattle ranchers and urban investors
Author: Jean-Michel Sourisseau Publisher: Springer ISBN: 9401793581 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 357
Book Description
What is family farming? How can it help meet the challenges confronting the world? How can it contribute to a sustainable and more equitable development? Not only is family farming the predominant form of agriculture around the world, especially so in developing countries, it is also the agriculture of the future. By declaring 2014 the “International Year of Family Farming,” the United Nations has placed this form of production at the center of debates on agricultural development. These debates are often reduced to two opposing positions. The first advocates the development of industrial or company agriculture, supposedly efficient because it follows industrial processes for market-oriented mass production. The second promotes the preservation of family farming with its close links between family and farm. The authors of this book wish to enrich the debates by helping overcome stereotypes – which often manifest through the use of terms such as “small-scale farming, subsistence farming, peasant, etc.” Research work has emphatically demonstrated the great adaptability of family farming systems and their ability to meet the major challenges of tomorrow but it has also not overlooked their limitations. The authors explore the choices facing society and possible development trajectories at national and international levels, and the contribution that agriculture will have to make. They call for a recommitment of public policies in favor of family farming in developing countries and stress the importance of planning actions targeted at and tailored to the family character of agricultural models. But, above all, they highlight the need to overcome strictly sectoral rationales, by placing family farming at the core of a broader economic and social project. This book is the result of a collaborative effort led by CIRAD and encapsulates three decades of research on family farming. It will interest researchers, teachers and students, and all those involved in national and international efforts for the development of countries in the South.
Author: Antonio Augusto Rossotto Ioris Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 3030385248 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 233
Book Description
This book discusses the outcomes of more than ten years of research in the southern tracts of the Amazon region, and addresses the expansion of the agricultural frontier, consolidation of the agribusiness-based economy, and expansion of regional infrastructure (roads, dams, urban centres, etc). It combines extensive empirical evidence with the international literature on frontier-making and regional Amazonian development, and adopts a critical politico-geographical perspective that will benefit scholars in various other disciplines. This book is intended to push the current theoretical and methodological boundaries regarding the controversies and impacts of agribusiness in the region. A new international scientific network, led by the author, is investigating the broader context of the themes analysed here.
Author: Antonio Augusto Rossotto Ioris Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 3030385248 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 233
Book Description
This book discusses the outcomes of more than ten years of research in the southern tracts of the Amazon region, and addresses the expansion of the agricultural frontier, consolidation of the agribusiness-based economy, and expansion of regional infrastructure (roads, dams, urban centres, etc). It combines extensive empirical evidence with the international literature on frontier-making and regional Amazonian development, and adopts a critical politico-geographical perspective that will benefit scholars in various other disciplines. This book is intended to push the current theoretical and methodological boundaries regarding the controversies and impacts of agribusiness in the region. A new international scientific network, led by the author, is investigating the broader context of the themes analysed here.
Author: Rajendra K. Pachauri Publisher: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) ISBN: 8179935752 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 253
Book Description
The 2015 edition of A Planet for Life reaches bookshelves in a landmark year for the world. A new development cooperation framework is being crafted while sustainable development goals (SDGs) are being laid out to address the 21st centurys most urgent sustainable development issues. A Planet for Life provides first hand analysis and narrative of ongoing transformation and sustainable development challenges in key countries. It tours five continents to shed light on what countries and regions are actually doing to achieve sustainable development, tackling their own local and global problems, and exploring different pathways towards sustainability. It explores implementation issues and financing for development options more specifically, with an overview of key propositions for making sustainable development financing a lever to transform economies and societies. Cities: steering towards sustainability (ISBN: 9788179931318) Innovation for Sustainable Development (ISBN: 9788179935569) Reducing Inequalities: a sustainable development challenge (ISBN: 9788179935309) Towards Agricultural Change? (ISBN: 9788179934432) Oceans: the new frontier (ISBN: 9788179934029)
Author: Anna Luiza Ozorio de Almeida Publisher: University of Texas Press ISBN: 0292789556 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 398
Book Description
Deforestation in the Amazon, one of today's top environmental concerns, began during a period of rapid colonization in the 1970s. Throughout that decade, Anna Luiza Ozorio de Almeida, a Stanford-trained economist, conducted a complex and massive economic study of what was going on in the Amazon, who was investing what, what was gained, and what it cost in all its aspects. The Colonization of the Amazon, the resulting work, brings together information on the physical, demographic, institutional, and economic dimensions of directed settlement in the Amazon Basin and raises significant questions about the gains and losses of the settlers, the reasons for these outcomes, and the economic rationale behind the devastation of the rainforest. Particularly illuminating is Almeida's exploration of the role of the frontier in Brazil and her distinction between types of migrants and migrations. She concludes that the political costs avoided by not undertaking agrarian reform are being paid by devastating the Amazon, with the conflict between distribution and conservation steadily worsening. Today, it can no longer be circumvented.
Author: João S. Campari Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing ISBN: 1845425510 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 254
Book Description
This provocative new book presents the results of twenty years of research on deforestation in the Amazon. By carefully observing the changing character of human settlements and their association with deforestation over such a prolonged period, the author is able to reject much of the 'perceived wisdom'.
Author: Eve Z. Bratman Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0190949392 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 304
Book Description
Sustainable development is often thought of as a product that can be obtained by following a prescribed course of interventions. Rather than conceptualizing it as a sweet spot of economic, ecological, and social balance, sustainable development is an ongoing process of embroilments requiring constant negotiation of often-competing aims. Sustainable development politics yield highly uneven results among different members of society and different geographic areas. As this book argues, such imbalances mean that sustainable development processes often prioritize economic over environmental goals, perpetuating and reinforcing economic and political inequalities. Governing the Rainforest looks at development and conservation efforts in the Brazilian Amazon, where the government and corporate interests bump up against those of environmentalists and local populations. This book asks why sustainable development continues to be such a powerful and influential idea in the region, and what impact it has had on various political and economic interests and geographic areas. In other words, as Eve Z. Bratman argues, sustainable development is a political practice in itself. This book offers detailed case study analysis, including of the creation of vast conservation corridors, the construction of one of the largest hydroelectric plants in the world, and new forms of land settlement projects. Based on a decade of Bratman's ethnographic fieldwork throughout Brazil, and particularly along the Trans-Amazonian Highway, Governing the Rainforest offers a fresh take on sustainable development within a multi-level analysis of actors, discourses, and practices.
Author: David Mas Masumoto Publisher: Heyday.ORIM ISBN: 159714374X Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 170
Book Description
In a series of personal essays, the organic farmer and author of Epitaph for a Peach prepares to hand his family’s eighty-acre farm to his daughter. How do you become a farmer? The real questions are: What kind of person do you want to be? Are you willing to change? How do you learn? What is your vision for the future? In this poignant collection of essays, David Mas Masumoto prepares for one of life’s greatest transitions. After four decades of working the land, he will pass down his beloved peach farm to his daughter, Nikiko. Echoing Nikiko’s words that “all of the gifts I have received from this life are not only worthy of sharing, but must be shared,” Mas reflects on topics as far ranging as the art of pruning, climate change, and the prejudice his family faced during and after World War II: essays that, whether humorous or heartbreaking, explore what it means to pass something on. Nikiko’s voice is present too, as she relates the myriad lessons she has learned from her father in preparation for running the farm as a queer mixed-race woman. Both farmers feel less than totally set for the future that lies ahead; indeed, Changing Season addresses the uncertain future of small-scale agriculture in California. What is unquestionable, though, is the family’s love for their vocation—and for each other.
Author: Ieda Mendes Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 089118743X Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 437
Book Description
Soil Health and Sustainable Agriculture in Brazil A far-reaching survey showcasing the improvements made to soil health in Brazil The maintenance of healthy soil resources provides the foundations for an array of global efforts and initiatives that affect humanity. Researchers, consultants, and farmers must be able to correctly examine and understand the complex nature of this essential, fragile resource. Soil Health and Sustainable Agriculture in Brazil provides a highly readable overview of the major cropping systems and management practices adopted in Brazil to improve soil health and sustain agricultural/forest production systems. Key Features Evolution of soil health concepts applied to modern agricultural systems in Brazil. Overview of the major cropping systems and management practices adopted in Brazil to improve soil health (SH) and sustainability of agricultural production. Challenges to manage soil health in new agricultural frontiers. Presentation of SoilBio Technology: inclusion of soil enzymes as part of routine soil analyses (SoilBio Technology) and calculation of Soil Quality Indexes (SQI) Public policies and initiatives to promote SH and carbon sequestration in Brazil. Soil Health and Sustainable Agriculture in Brazil is ideal for soil scientists, agronomists, and any other researchers in both academia and industry interested in building a sustainable future.
Author: Anderson Borges Serra
Author: Jean-Michel Sourisseau
Author: Antonio Augusto Rossotto Ioris
Author: Rajendra K. Pachauri
Author: Anna Luiza Ozorio de Almeida
Author: João S. Campari
Author: Eve Z. Bratman
Author: David Mas Masumoto
Author: Ieda Mendes