Does Diversification Improve Livelihoods? Pastoral Households in Xinjiang,China

Diversification is routinely promoted to improve poor rural peoples’ livelihoods. However, policy recommendations for livelihood diversification based on evidence from crop‐cultivating sedentary rural societies may not work for mobile pastoral communities, where socio‐ecological conditions predetermine livestock herding as the preferred livelihood strategy. Using survey and semi‐structured interview data collected from 159 households in the Altay and Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang, China, this study applies cluster analysis to identify six distinct groups based on livelihood strategies: pastoralists, agropastoralists, crop farmers, wage labourers, hired herders and mixed smallholders. Although pastoralism is the least diverse of these in terms of sources of income, it is significantly more diverse in ecological dimensions such as spatial movement, land use pattern and livestock portfolio. Patterns of livelihood diversification and their relationship with household incomes indicate that pastoralism, although preferred, is unattainable for 55 per cent of households given their meagre asset endowments and the pressure of government policies toward sedentarization. The results strongly suggest that livelihood diversification does not improve welfare for pastoral households. Future development interventions should promote policies that enable households to regain flexible access to pastures and should aim to correct the imbalance of opportunities that exists in northern Xinjiang.     

西部地区农户经济的空间差异及其发展对策

西部不同地带生态条件的优劣差异决定了西部地区农户经济的空间差异,劣等、中等、优等三类生态条件相应地发育出贫困、温饱、富裕三类群落的农户经济。西部各类农户经济的发展有着不同困难,贫困群落农户脱贫面临人口压力大与生态环境脆弱矛盾突出,及农户人均财政负担重,财政支农能力差的困难,已得温饱的农户面临收入与文化素质低、可带动农户从事产业化经营的企业少的困难,富裕农户面临生产要素流失严重,制度创新滞后的困难。由政府主导,以多种手段、方式带动贫困农户脱贫致富;扶持建立农业合作经营组织,促进已得温饱农户发展农业产业化经营;以制度创新推动富裕农户经济的进一步发展,是应采取的针对性对策。     

The political economy of maize production and poverty reduction in Zambia: analysis of the last 50 years

Poverty and food security are endemic issues in much of sub-Saharan Africa. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger in the region remains a key Millennium Development Goal. Many African governments have pursued economic reforms and agricultural policy interventions in order to accelerate economic growth that reduces poverty faster. Agricultural policy regimes in Zambia in the last 50 years (1964–2008) are examined here to better understand their likely impact on food security and poverty, with an emphasis on the political economy of maize subsidy policies. The empirical work draws on secondary sources and an evaluation of farm household data from three villages in the Kasama District of Zambia from 1986/87 and 1992/93 to estimate a two-period econometric model to examine the impact on household welfare in a pre- and post-reform period. The analysis shows that past interventions had mixed effects on enhancing the production of food crops such as maize. While such reforms were politically popular, it did not necessarily translate into household-level productivity or welfare gains in the short term. The political economy of reforms needs to respond to the inherent diversity among the poor rural and urban households. The potential of agriculture to generate a more pro-poor growth process depends on the creation of new market opportunities that most benefit the rural poor. The state should encourage private sector investments for addressing infrastructure constraints to improve market access and accelerate more pro-poor growth through renewed investments in agriculture, rural infrastructure, gender inclusion, smarter subsidies and regional food trade. However, the financing of such investments poses significant challenges. There is a need to address impediments to the effective participation of public private investors to generate more effective poverty reduction and hunger eradication programmes. This article also explores the opportunities for new public–private investments through South–South cooperation and Asia-driven growth for reducing poverty in Zambia.     

乡村旅游对贫困山区农户多维贫困的影响研究

在分析乡村旅游对农户多维贫困影响机理的基础上,利用陕西4市22个乡村旅游扶贫村农户调查数据,采用内生转换回归模型,定量分析了乡村旅游对贫困山区农户多维贫困的影响。研究发现：多维贫困程度越深,农户参与旅游比例越低,乡村旅游不具有天然益贫性;参与旅游能够显著减缓农户的多维贫困。从单维贫困看,乡村旅游对调查地农户的经济、教育、生活水平和权利维度具有显著的减贫效应,其中对生活水平的减贫效应最大,健康维度效应不显著;参与和未参与乡村旅游的农户在多维贫困以及经济、生活水平维度的减贫影响因素存在着显著差异,而在教育、健康、权利维度的减贫影响因素差异不大。据此,从乡村旅游经营、精准帮扶、权益保障等方面提出对策建议。     

西南连片特困地区乡村旅游的减贫效应分析——基于广西235个村庄的调查

基于精准识别的一手调查数据，运用最小二乘法的多元线性回归模型，评估西南连片特困地区235个村庄乡村旅游的整体减贫效果，并进一步考察交通设施建设、旅游产业项目建设和旅游就业参与等不同开发环节对减贫效果的具体影响。结果发现：乡村旅游开发的整体减贫效应明显，但是交通设施建设、旅游产业项目建设以及旅游就业参与等不同开发环节的减贫效应存在显著差异；乡村旅游扶贫开发有助于贫困户脱贫增收，针对不同开发环节的具体问题要精准滴灌、靶向治疗，实现乡村旅游扶贫开发的精准发力、精准施策和精准帮扶。     

Engendering the New Enclosures: Development,Involuntary Resettlement and the Struggles for Social Reproduction in Coastal Tanzania

This article engages with the feminist concept of ‘social reproduction’ to arrive at a richer understanding of the gendered processes and outcomes of contemporary large‐scale land acquisitions, or the ‘new enclosures’. It focuses on the case of a recent land deal for industrial sugarcane production in the Coast Region of Tanzania and the resultant process of involuntary resettlement. It critically analyses people's struggles for land in the face of imminent displacement, and the gendered ways they experience the erosion of their pre‐existing modes of social reproduction. It argues that enclosure of rural landscapes does more than immediately strip peasants and pastoralists of their means of production and turn them into wage labourers. It gradually uproots them from their socio‐ecological knowledges, cultural practices and historical memories, which are rooted on the land and articulated through gender. The highly uncertain processes of enclosure and displacement also force rural women and men to renegotiate their livelihood strategies and intra‐household gender relations.     

Challenging Orthodoxies: Understanding Poverty in Pastoral Areas of East Africa

Understanding and alleviating poverty in Africa continues to receive considerable attention from a range of diverse actors, including politicians, international celebrities, academics, activists and practitioners. Despite the onslaught of interest, there is surprisingly little agreement on what constitutes poverty in rural Africa, how it should be assessed, and what should be done to alleviate it. Based on data from an interdisciplinary study of pastoralism in northern Kenya, this article examines issues of poverty among one of the continent's most vulnerable groups, pastoralists, and challenges the application of such orthodox proxies as incomes/expenditures, geographic remoteness, and market integration. It argues that current poverty debates ‘homogenize’ the concept of ‘pastoralist’ by failing to acknowledge the diverse livelihoods and wealth differentiation that fall under the term. The article concludes that what is not needed is another development label (stereotype) that equates pastoralism with poverty, thereby empowering outside interests to transform rather than strengthen pastoral livelihoods.     

Sexual trafficking in Nepal: constructing citizenship and livelihoods

Sexual trafficking is a priority issue for many governments and has increasingly become a focus for debate within the academy. Despite this, many aspects of sexual trafficking remain poorly understood. In this article we focus on an area that has received scant attention in the literature: the situation of trafficked women when they return home and, specifically, the livelihood opportunities available to them as they experience differing notions of citizenship. In addition to the fact that there has been very little attempt to document poverty alleviation strategies post-trafficking, within the mainstream development literature little attention has also been given to questions of sexuality and how they relate to development and poverty reduction strategies. The aim of this article, therefore, is to seek to highlight a new research agenda and to develop an interdisciplinary framework to understand what we have termed ‘the sexual politics of poverty’. Bringing together distinct literatures on sexual citizenship and sustainable livelihoods we develop our analysis of these themes through a focus on the livelihood opportunities and strategies of returnee trafficked women in South Asia, drawing on policy analysis at national and regional levels and qualitative research carried out in Nepal. In particular, the Nepal case study highlights problems with skills training for returnee women and examines the relationship between marriage and sustainable livelihood opportunities.     

国家精准扶贫政策对贫困农户脱贫增收的效果评价——基于双重差分模型的检验

基于重庆市武陵山区和秦巴山区贫困农户与非贫困农户的调研数据，运用双重差分模型检验精准扶贫政策对贫困农户收入增长的影响。结果表明，贫困农户在精准扶贫政策的支持下，家庭人均纯收入增长显著，与非贫困农户相比差距进一步缩小；家庭主要收入来源，由单一渠道向多渠道转变，人均种植业收入和人均养殖业收入增长最明显，二者贡献率合计达到61.87%；农户的年龄、家庭人口数量、老人小孩数量、耕地面积、耕作半径、是否发展特色产业等因素对贫困农户家庭人均纯收入影响显著。因此，发展特色产业，解决贫困农户的教育、医疗、住房和土地撂荒问题是保障贫困农户脱贫后稳定增收的关键。     

Land Privatization and Pastoralist Well‐being in Kenya

East African pastoralists have well‐developed systems of communal land management that have been challenged by recent demands from some pastoralists for land privatization. This article analyses the impact on household well‐being of privatizing land among a community of Samburu pastoralists in northern Kenya. Using longitudinal data from household surveys conducted in 2000 and 2005, trends in wealth, income, stratification and livelihood strategies are analysed comparing the privatized community and a community where land remains communally managed. Results indicate few significant differences in wealth and income between the privatized and communal areas, although cultivation has become an important additional strategy in the privatized community. Significant levels of wealth stratification are present in both communities but are mitigated to some extent by mobility across wealth quintiles over time. Wealthy and poor groups exhibit different livelihood strategies with wealthier groups relying more on livestock trade and home consumption while poorer groups depend on wage labour and trade for their income. Policy implications of this analysis include the need for development strategies specific to different wealth groups, greater investment in education and infrastructure, and more attention to employment creation in pastoral areas.     

中国集中连片特困地区贫困户致贫原因诊断及其帮扶需求分析

基于问卷调查和GIS空间分析,深入剖析贫困户的致贫原因与帮扶需求,识别不同地区的主要致贫原因与帮扶需求类型,探明二者的空间分布特征及其内在关联,并提出相应减贫对策。结果显示：①贫困具有多维性和多重内涵,贫困户的致贫原因类型多样、程度不等,但总体上收入和社会保障不足是其最普遍的致贫原因。贫困地区的主要致贫原因差别显著,同一致贫原因的致贫程度呈现明显地域特征。②贫困户帮扶需求类型多样化,但加大资金帮扶力度、提高基本公共服务水平是其最迫切的需求。贫困地区最主要的帮扶类型差别明显,对同一帮扶类型的需求程度不尽相同。③致贫原因在较大程度上影响着帮扶需求的类型及其空间分布,但不起决定性作用,二者存在错位现象。     

Public Intervention and Poverty Alleviation: A Study of the Declining Incidence of Rural Poverty in Kerala,India

In the context of the continuing and lively debate on the estimates, trends and determinants of rural poverty in India, this article examines the sharp decline, since the late 1970s, in the incidence of rural poverty in the state of Kerala, well known for its record of social development. It is argued that, given the slow rate of growth of the Kerala economy in general and agriculture in particular since the mid-1970s, the ‘trickle down’ theory cannot explain the decline in poverty. Similarly, the fact that rural wages have increased faster than the consumer price index does not constitute a sufficient condition for crossing the poverty line. Expansion of state-directed programmes is seen to be the single most important determinant in reducing rural poverty. The effect of public intervention programmes is roughly estimated to be equal to one fifth of the consumption of rural labour households. The lesson of Kerala for poverty alleviation is that social protection expressed in terms of meeting the basic consumption requirements of the poor, especially the vulnerable among the poor, should be a necessary component of development policy. However, this is not a sufficient condition: there should also be a growth strategy which would provide adequate employment to all members of the labour force from the poorer sections of the population. The current line of official thinking in India, in the context of economic liberalization, is hardly conducive to such a strategy.     

The Changing Accessibility of Educational Opportunities in Southern Sri Lanka

To handle the double challenge of economic competitiveness and poverty alleviation, there are increasing calls for dual education strategies designed to handle both these issues simultaneously. Based on field research in rural Sri Lanka, this article aims to contribute to the understanding of how educational opportunities of different groups in different areas are shifting in the context of a changing world of work and new skill requirements in the global economy. An ongoing stratification of educational opportunities is identified, based on the growth of private tuition and English‐medium education, as well as a rationalization of the education system. The article shows that future attempts to reform the education system in Sri Lanka must be better rooted in the preferences and aspirations of poor groups in rural areas, and that educational opportunities must be seen as relative, relational and contextual.     

怒江大峡谷旅游扶贫研究

旅游扶贫是解决旅游资源丰富型地区贫困问题的有效途径。怒江峡谷区是个区域性的特困少数民族地区,山高坡陡、生态环境脆弱的地理环境决定传统的农业难以改变其贫困面貌。而其丰富的民族文化资源、生物多样性资源和独特的峡谷自然景观等旅游资源,使怒江旅游扶贫成为可能。文章分析了怒江峡谷旅游扶贫的优势、劣势资源和机遇,提出怒江旅游发展应以乡村生态旅游为目标,开发特色旅游扶贫产品,发挥政府引导和扶持作用。     

Political Aspects of Poverty,Income Distribution and their Measurement: Some Examples from Rural Java

… with a rule and a pair of scales, and the multiplication table always in his pocket, Sir, ready to weigh and measure any parcel of human nature, and tell you exactly what it comes to. It is a mere question of figures, a case of simple arithmetic. Mr Gradgrind in Dickens's Hard Times. Research has indicated that in rural areas, the income of the poor has increased faster than that of the rich … in 1967, 9 out of 10 Indonesians lived below the poverty line; in 1970, 8 out of 10, and in 1976 only 3 out of 10. This means the benefits of development are being distributed … How do we react to these figures? One may still suggest various reservations concerning the indicators of increasing equality. For example, it should be made clear to the layman to what extent the poverty line standard based on the World Bank research is sufficiently valid and objective to be used as a measure and a guide for Indonesian society. We also need further clarification of the more rapid income increases among the poor compared to the rich in rural society. For according to other research, they say that the gap between land-owners and labourers is also increasing. Kompas editorial, 18 August, 1977, Jakarta (translated).     

Is Land‐based Resettlement Still Appropriate for Rural People in China? A Longitudinal Study of Displacement at the Three Gorges Dam

Now complete, the effects of the Three Gorges Dam on rural livelihoods can be observed. This article presents the first longitudinal analysis of the livelihoods of two groups of rural households that were first surveyed in 2003, just after inundation, and again in 2011. It finds remarkable gains in income and social well‐being along with moderate improvements in food security and income equality. This study explores the livelihood strategies associated with these outcomes, namely land consolidation, agricultural specialization, livelihood diversification and migration. These strategies are discussed in the context of the dramatic changes that have taken place in the Three Gorges Resettlement Area over the last decade and across China more broadly. The article concludes that while non‐farm jobs are increasingly important, land remains an essential resource in the reconstruction of rural livelihoods, allowing rural households to respond to their drastically altered environment more effectively and at a pace of their own choosing.     

The Importance of Household Size and Composition in Constructing Poverty Profiles: An Illustration from Vietnam

The calculation of income–poverty profiles should allow for household size and composition, but rarely does so. Failure to do this means that the poverty profile will be distorted. The appropriate adjustments are straightforward, requiring simple assumptions which, whilst arbitrary, are better than ignoring the problem. Not making these adjustments distorts not only the relationship between household size and poverty, but all aspects of the poverty profile correlated to household size. For the case of Vietnam, this article shows that, if the adjustments are not made, rural poverty is under–stated as is poverty amongst those with little education, minority ethnic groups and female–headed households. Far fewer children live in poverty than is suggested when the appropriate data adjustments are not made.     

Does Agricultural Growth Matter in Poverty Alleviation?

This article uses a panel survey of households in the Indian state of Maharashtra to demonstrate that agricultural growth takes too long to trickle down to the rural poor. Unanticipated inflation, on the other hand, aggravates rural poverty, as does domination of the agricultural growth process by large landholders. This affects the poor through the oligopsonistic influence of the landholders in rural labour markets, dampening employment and wages (as compared with the outcome in a competitive market). In the context of structural adjustment, while the emphasis on allocative efficiency through withdrawal of input subsidies and remunerative prices for output is justified, acceleration in agricultural growth by itself is unlikely to make a dent in rural poverty. Measures designed to accelerate agricultural growth must therefore be supplemented by direct anti-poverty interventions. Consumer price stabilization is particularly important, and would be assisted by an overhaul of the Public Distribution System. Major reforms would include improved flexibility in the scale of the PDS, better targeting through alternative distribution networks when private trade channels are weak or non-existent, and simplification of registration procedures. The oligopsonistic role of large landholders could be curbed through market-mediated land redistribution, scrapping of all tenancy regulations when tenancy markets function efficiently, and through large-scale intervention in rural labour markets along the lines of the Employment Guarantee Scheme.     

基于农户视角的农区发展研究

基于河南省11村的1251农户调查数据的分析表明:①农村发展的主要障碍是资金缺乏以及农区发展环境约束,农民自身素能(如缺乏技术、文化水平低等)也有一定影响。②农区发展中最希望得到的外部支持是给项目建厂或提供资金支持,还有一些农户期望政府提供其他发展生产上的帮助。③农户对未来的期望以改善生活条件为主,且随着未来时间段的变长,他们的总体期望变得更加模糊。④多数农户(占样本71.58%)对其生活现状"基本满意"或"满意"。⑤农户对其发展的考虑,受多种因素的影响。其中家庭收入状况、受教育水平、地理环境等的作用更为明显。基于农户视角对农区发展的分析,对有关农区发展政策的设计有借鉴意义。     

Debt‐Bonded Brick Kiln Workers and Their Intent to Return: Towards a Labour Geography of Smallholder Farming Persistence in Cambodia

Despite the increasing preponderance of non‐farm work in Cambodia, labour migrants across a range of working conditions remain linked to their rural homesteads through durable financial and social arrangements. This article explores this phenomenon through the case of debt‐bonded brick kiln workers in Phnom Penh, formerly smallholder farmers in villages. Drawing on the field of labour geography, the article first examines the process by which labourers became debt‐bonded, thus situating them within the country’s broader agrarian transition and recasting peasants as rural labour. It then explores workers’ perceptions of rural life, suggesting that the unfreedom of kiln work, contrasted with the fixedness and potential for mobility in rural life, makes workers aspire to return to their land. The article ultimately highlights how the persistence of smallholder farmers can be understood as an issue of poor work under neoliberalism in Cambodia, and draws light on the agency of labour in understanding this.