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1 – 10 of 117Anindita Mukherjee, Ashish Gupta, Piyush Tiwari and Baisakhi Sarkar Dhar
Achieving tenure security is a global challenge impacting cities of the global south. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the role of technology-enabled solutions as an…
Abstract
Purpose
Achieving tenure security is a global challenge impacting cities of the global south. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the role of technology-enabled solutions as an enabler for the tenure rights of slum dwellers.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, we adopted a case study approach to analyze the use cases for technologies aiding India’s securitization of land tenure. The flagship state mission of Odisha, named the Jaga Mission, and that of Punjab, named BASERA – the Chief Minister’s Slum Development Program – were used as cases for this paper.
Findings
It was found that technologies like drone imagery and digital surveys fast-tracked the data collection and helped in mapping the slums with accuracy, mitigating human errors arising during measurement – a necessary condition for ensuring de jure tenure security. The adoption of a technology-based solution, along with a suitable policy and legal framework, has helped in the distribution of secure land titles to the slum dwellers in these states.
Originality/value
Odisha’s and Punjab’s journey in using technology to enable tenure security for its urban poor residents can serve as a model for the cities of the global south, dealing with the challenges of providing secure tenure and property rights.
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This study investigates how income from non-farm activities affects households' consumption in two land holders' groups: households with insecure land holding and households with…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates how income from non-farm activities affects households' consumption in two land holders' groups: households with insecure land holding and households with secure land holding.
Design/methodology/approach
Following an instrumental variable approach, this study analyzes data collected on a nationwide sample of 1,800 households in rural Burkina Faso.
Findings
For insecure land holders' group, this study finds that income from non-farm activities has a positive effect on household consumption per capita. Moreover, the share of household food consumption is negatively associated with non-farm income in this group. For secure land holders' group, the results show that non-farm income has only a negative effect on the share of their food consumption.
Originality/value
The study highlights the livelihood sustaining role of non-farm activities for rural households. Unlike previous studies, the results show that non-farm income is particularly important for land tenure insecure households facing risk of losing agricultural income.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2023-0423
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Sayamol Charoenratana and Samridhi Kharel
As climate change increasingly affects rural food production, there is an urgent need to adopt agricultural adaptation strategies. Because the agricultural sector in Nepal is one…
Abstract
Purpose
As climate change increasingly affects rural food production, there is an urgent need to adopt agricultural adaptation strategies. Because the agricultural sector in Nepal is one of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, the adaptation strategies of household farmers in rural areas are crucial. This study aims to address the impacts of agricultural climate change adaptation strategies in Nepal. The research empirically analyzed climate hazards, adaptation strategies and local adaptation plans in Mangalsen Municipality, Achham District, Sudurpashchim Province, Nepal.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a purposive sampling of household lists, categorized as resource-rich, resource-poor and intermediate households. The analysis used primary data from 110 household surveys conducted among six focus groups and 30 informants were selected for interviews through purposive random sampling.
Findings
Climate change significantly impacts rainfall patterns and temperature, decreasing agriculture productivity and increasing household vulnerability. To overcome these negative impacts, it is crucial to implement measures such as efficient management of farms and livestock. A comprehensive analysis of Nepalese farmers' adaptation strategies to climate change has been conducted, revealing important insights into their coping mechanisms. By examining the correlation between farmers' strategies and the role of the local government, practical policies can be developed for farmers at the local level.
Originality/value
This study represents a significant breakthrough in the authors' understanding of this issue within the context of Nepal. It has been conclusively demonstrated that securing land tenure or land security and adopting appropriate agricultural methods, such as agroforestry, can be instrumental in enabling Nepalese households to cope with the effects of climate change effectively.
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Yueming Cao, Dongjie Zhou and Yunli Bai
This paper aims to examine the impacts of unstable off-farm employment on the probability and stability of farmland rent-out and explore its mechanisms.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the impacts of unstable off-farm employment on the probability and stability of farmland rent-out and explore its mechanisms.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Probit, Tobit, Order probit models with two-way fixed effects to conduct empirical analysis based on the balanced panel data collected in 2016 and 2023 with a national representativeness sample of 1,206 rural households in 100 villages across 5 provinces in China.
Findings
The empirical results showed that unstable off-farm employment had negative effects on the probability of farmland rent-out, but it had no effects on the stability of farmland rent-out. The mechanism analysis showed that unstable off-farm employment affected the probability of farmland rent-out by decreasing the probability of purchasing houses in city and endowment insurance with high pension. Heterogeneity analysis indicated that the negative effect of unstable off-farm employment was much larger for the households with higher share of labor engaging in off-farm employment outside home county, elder members in the households and those located in the villages of mountain areas.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to define the unstable off-farm employment from the perspective of incontiguous off-farm employment for several years, which could capture the normality rather than particular case in a certain year of off-farm employment among rural labors. Using these new measurements of unstable off-farmland, this paper examined the impacts and mechanisms of share of unstable off-farm employment on the probability and stability of farmland rent-out.
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This study aims to analyze the policies and strategies used by governmental organizations to address the impacts of climate change in informal neighborhoods, kampungs, such as…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyze the policies and strategies used by governmental organizations to address the impacts of climate change in informal neighborhoods, kampungs, such as Bukit Duri and Melayu in Jakarta, Indonesia, focusing on canal and river flooding mitigation and infrastructure development. The research examines the displacement of residents due to the demolition of informal settlements along riverbanks, the role of different governmental organizations and the implications of these policies on affected communities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses the theoretical framework of environmental injustice to evaluate the strategies used by the Indonesian Government to address climate change adaptation in Jakarta, with a specific focus on the problem of flooding and its impact on displacement. By analyzing the history and outcomes of flood mitigation policies, this paper assesses the government’s strategies related to infrastructure, evacuation and socialization. In doing so, the study examines the social impact of these policies on affected communities. Furthermore, social listening and media analysis of Twitter data and various news outlets are conducted to gain insights into the living conditions and experiences of displaced residents in two public housing projects.
Findings
The study revealed the challenges faced by the government in implementing policies for climate change adaptation and flood mitigation in Jakarta, including a lack of community engagement with residents of the Kampungs in the decision-making process for relocation. Despite government efforts and providing low-cost apartments (rusuwana), the analysis sheds light on the various forms of injustice that result from the government’s approach to climate change adaptation in Jakarta.
Originality/value
This study examines social justice issues in Jakarta’s informal neighborhoods and explores locally driven efforts vs government-mandated policies for managing natural hazards and adapting to climate change.
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Embial Asmamaw Aschale and Habtamu Bishaw Asres
The purpose of this paper is to examine expropriation, valuation, compensation and rehabilitation practices and their impacts on expropriated households.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine expropriation, valuation, compensation and rehabilitation practices and their impacts on expropriated households.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a mixed research approach. The target populations of the study were expropriated households in Debre Markos City from 2019 to 2022. The study uses purposive and systematic random sampling techniques. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, narration and thematic clustering.
Findings
The findings of this study revealed that the expropriation process was not participatory and the right holders were not treated as what is expected. It is further found that economic losses, moral damage and social disturbance payments were not considered in the compensation package. The displacement compensation given was also inadequate and sometimes delayed and the time value of money was not taken into account for delayed payments. This creates social and economic problems. The rehabilitation and resettlement program was inadequate and ineffective. The expropriation, valuation, compensation and rehabilitation practice in general lack transparency and accountability.
Practical implications
To ensure efficient and effective expropriation, valuation and compensation, there should be a well-organized government system that provides an accurate valuation on the one hand and restores the livelihood of the displaced on the other.
Originality/value
This paper is the first on expropriation, valuation, compensation and rehabilitation within the framework of transparency, accountability, effective rehabilitation and resettlement and institutional arrangements to ensure the sustainable livelihoods of affected households.
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The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of market-based approach to provision of housing to low-income households in urban Malawi.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of market-based approach to provision of housing to low-income households in urban Malawi.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted in Blantyre, Malawi, between 2019 and 2022 and used both quantitative (household survey) and qualitative (in-depth interviews and document study) methods of data collection. Interviews were conducted with key players and investors in the housing sector. Household survey data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, which allowed the generation of descriptive housing valuables, whereas qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis.
Findings
This paper demonstrates that, rather than ameliorating the housing problems facing low-income households, the market approach to provision of housing in Malawi has worsened the housing situation in the country. This is so because the market approach to the provision of housing in Malawi is not only enforcing the logic of capitalistic accumulation in the housing sector but also supporting mechanisms of exclusion based on economic stratification within the community.
Research limitations/implications
Completeness of data over time as there is no market data bank available in the country.
Practical implications
The findings from this study suggest that some degree of state intervention in addressing the housing problem in Malawi is required.
Social implications
The study findings suggest that a market approach to the provision of housing can increase social inequality as low-income households face challenges in accessing housing.
Originality/value
There is a paucity of research on the effects of the market approach on the provision of affordable housing to low-income households in Malawi. This paper assesses this important policy gap and provides significant policy directions.
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Yared Deribe Tefera and Bisrat Getnet Awoke
Agriculture in Ethiopia relies heavily on traditional farm power sources and is designated by the lowest farm machinery access, in contrast to other Sub-Sahara African (SSA…
Abstract
Purpose
Agriculture in Ethiopia relies heavily on traditional farm power sources and is designated by the lowest farm machinery access, in contrast to other Sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries. The purpose of this research is to analyze the heterogeneity of mechanization service transactions and factors determining farmers' cooperation in mechanization clusters and willingness to accept land consolidation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a cross-sectional survey of producer households in major crop production areas in the Oromia, SNNPR, Amhara and Tigray regions. The sampling design involved three stages: districts were selected using a stratified sampling approach accompanied by simple random samples of kebele units and producer households in the second and final stages, respectively.
Findings
This study’s results show that mechanization service costs, service relationships, clustering and land consolidation exhibit significant heterogeneity across the study areas. Cluster farming was found to be advantageous against diseconomies, rationalized by upgrading the mechanization scale. The probit model parameterization of the probability distributions reveals that household, land, crop, mechanization service, remoteness and location-related factors determine participation in mechanization clusters and willingness to accept land consolidation.
Research limitations/implications
Fostering cooperation by focusing on constraints and demand of users is suggested to reduce transaction costs and expand hired mechanization services to unaddressed areas. The findings are relevant to most SSA countries where mechanization development is hampered by land fragmentation.
Originality/value
Limited information is available on agricultural mechanization development for smallholder farmers, particularly in Ethiopia, and this study adds empirical evidence about the synergy between cluster farming and mechanization, horizontal coordination and alternative supply models.
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Nusrat Akber and Kirtti Ranjan Paltasingh
This paper finds the returns from soil conservation practices and examines whether the welfare implications of adopting the conservation practices are heterogeneous across the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper finds the returns from soil conservation practices and examines whether the welfare implications of adopting the conservation practices are heterogeneous across the farming groups in Indian agriculture.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses an endogenous switching regression (ESR) method on the data collected from the 77th round of National Sample Survey (2019–21) to quantify the returns from adopting soil conservation practices.
Findings
It finds that farmers adopting soil health conservation practices would have reduced their crop yield by 13% if they did not implement them. Similarly, smallholders who have not adopted soil health management practices would have increased crop yield by 16% if they had adopted the practices. The authors also observed that the returns from adopting soil health management practices vary across farming groups, where marginal and large farms tend to gain higher yields. Finally, the authors find that regardless of farm size, smallholders who did not adopt soil health management practices would benefit from adopting these with increased crop yields of 29%–31%.
Research limitations/implications
More data could have been better for drawing policy implications, since the number of soil card users are relatively less.
Originality/value
This research work uses nationally representative data, which is first in nature on this very aspect.
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Anthony Alexander, Maneesh Kumar, Helen Walker and Jon Gosling
Food sector supply chains have significant negative environmental impacts, including the expansion of global food commodity production, which is driving tropical deforestation – a…
Abstract
Purpose
Food sector supply chains have significant negative environmental impacts, including the expansion of global food commodity production, which is driving tropical deforestation – a major climate and biodiversity problem. Innovative supply chain monitoring services promise to address such impacts. Legislation also designates “forest-risk commodities”, demanding supply chain due diligence of their provenance. But such data alone does not produce change. This study investigates how theory in performance measurement and management (PMM) can combine with sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) and decision theory (DT) via case study research that addresses paradoxes of simplicity and complexity.
Design/methodology/approach
Given existing relevant theory but the nascent nature of the topic, theory elaboration via abductive case study research is conducted. Data collection involves interviews and participatory design workshops with supply chain actors across two supply chains (coffee and soy), exploring the potential opportunities and challenges of new deforestation monitoring services for food supply chains.
Findings
Two archetypal food supply chain structures (short food supply chains with high transparency and direct links between farmer and consumer and complex food supply chains with highly disaggregated and opaque links) provide a dichotomy akin to the known/unknown, structured/unstructured contexts in DT, enabling novel theoretical elaboration of the performance alignment matrix model in PMM, resulting in implications for practice and a future research agenda.
Originality/value
The novel conceptual synthesis of PMM, SSCM and DT highlights the importance of context specificity in developing PMM tools for SSCM and the challenge of achieving the general solutions needed to ensure that PMM, paradoxically, is both flexible to client needs and capable of replicable application to deliver economies of scale. To advance understanding of these paradoxes to develop network-level PMM systems to address deforestation impacts of food supply chains and respond to legislation, a future research agenda is presented.
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