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Accounting historians have long recognised accounting’s international scope but have typically concentrated their research endeavours on region‐ or country‐specific studies, or on investigating the diffusion of accounting ideas, techniques and institutions from one country to others. Much potential exists to study the development of accounting from a comparative international perspective, mirroring the attention paid over the past two decades to the comparative study of international accounting practices and standards. This paper proposes a definition of comparative international accounting history (CIAH) and examines the nature and scope of studies within this genre. The CIAH approach is exemplified through an exploratory comparative study of agrarian accounting in Britain and Australia in the latter half of the nineteenth century. In the light of this study, the paper evaluates the potential of CIAH to contribute to an understanding of accounting’s past and provide insights into accounting’s present and future.

Purpose – This study compares the arrival of large-scale dairy farming in two New Zealand regions since 1984 with a particular focus on the competition between sheep farming and dairy farming.

Design/methodology/approach – The case study draws on qualitative interviews with 58 farmers in two regions.

Findings – We identify and compare the changing economic, social and cultural hierarchies in and between the two regions.

Originality/value – This study extends a typical political economic comparison by emphasising the changes in social and cultural capital as a result of the changing economic conditions in the country and the regions.

The purpose of this systematic review was to assess the determinant factors of climate change adaptation (CCA) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Studies that focused on determinant factors of CCA by crop–livestock farmers and pastoralists in SSA and written in English were reviewed from five major databases using the applications of Endnote and NVivo. The review process followed a sequence of steps to reach into the final selection.

A total of 3,028 papers were recovered from the databases and screened for duplicates (777) and publications before 2000 (218). The titles and abstracts of 2,033 papers were reviewed, and 1,903 of them were excluded owing to preliminary exclusion criteria. Finally, 130 papers were selected for full-text review and more detailed assessment, where 36 papers qualified for the final review. The most important determinant factors of CCA by pastoralists were household income, access to information, access to extension services, government support and access to market. In the case of agro-pastoralists, access to information, household income, age and land/livestock ownership were found as the major determinant factors. Household income, land ownership, access to information, farm size, household size and access to extension services were the determinant factors found for CCA by smallholder farmers.

This systematic review identified the major determinant factors according to production systems and highlights the importance of considering specific factors in designing CCA strategies.

After clearly stating the research question, a literature search was conducted from the major databases for climate-related research, and a comprehensive search was performed by two independent researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors influencing adoption of African indigenous vegetables (AIVs) into the agro-pastoral farming systems aiming at improving livelihoods.

The paper is based upon the diffusion theory which is linked to the random utility theory. A survey of 205 agro-pastoral households obtained through multistage sampling technique was used. Factors influencing adoption of AIVs were estimated using a logit model.

Findings indicate that the acreage under AIVs was still very low compared to other crop enterprises with the most common types of AIVs grown being Solanum nigrum, Amaranthus spp., Cucurbita maxima, Vigna unguiculata, Basella alba and Cleome gynandra. Factors influencing adoption were found to be gender, age, farm size, education level, off-farm income and number of visits to extension officer.

Limitations include reliance on respondents’ willingness to provide correct information.

This paper adds value in its contribution to literature on diversifying agro-pastoral livelihoods through production of AIVs for income and food security.

Pinpoints how economic and social development in the strategically important pastoral region of China poses many unique problems, in particular the future livelihood of the minorities who have inhabited the vast pastoral expanses of north and north‐west China for millennia, which is being threatened by degradation of the rangelands. Outlines the development issues confronting the pastoral region, and examines the impact on the region of two specific nationwide reforms ‐ the introduction of the household production responsibility system and the fiscal reforms of the early 1980s. Shows that both these generally beneficial reforms have created major “second generation” problems in pastoral areas. Identifies the principal reason for these undesirable outcomes as the divergence between national and local policy objectives.

Purpose – This chapter examines the evolution of new audit and traceability systems in New Zealand horticultural export industries. Identified as one trajectory in New Zealand agriculture partly resulting from neoliberal reform, the arrival of audit culture in food export industries has significantly repositioned these export sectors, particularly in relation to how they might respond to new energy and climate change challenges.

Design/methodology/approach – The chapter reviews the neoliberalisation of New Zealand agriculture in the 1980s and then examines the emergence of specific industry, audit and regulatory responses to new challenges around energy and climate change. Horticultural export sectors are used to demonstrate these responses and then compared with other, more productivist-oriented sectors in New Zealand.

Findings – The argument presented at the end of this chapter is that those food export sectors that have embraced the new audit approaches rather than taking a more productivist pathway will be better positioned to cope with the shocks of new energy costs and climate change requirements.

Originality/value – This chapter demonstrates the variable outcomes of neoliberal reform in agriculture. It identifies new audit and governance technologies as both an essential contributor to understanding the nature of global food chains and a potentially important contributor to achieving greater agri-food resilience in the face of future shocks like climate change.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the feasibility of risk-contingent credit (RCC) by presenting an experimental and participatory game designed to explain the concept of RCC to Kenyan pastoralists and dairy farmers. The paper investigates the uptake potential of RCC through qualitative assessment of field experiments and focus groups.

The paper presents a method of community engagement through a participatory game played in a series of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). The paper also presents theoretical justification of RCC in credit market structure.

The game effectively explains the concept and mechanism of RCC by reflecting local situation and production potential. Participatory exercises within focus group discussions indicate that there exists a strong interest and support for RCC.

The methodology described in this paper can be used in extension programs for promoting innovative rural microcredit in developing countries but should be modified according to the local production and associated weather and market risks.

Micro-insurance and credit program delivery can be improved by the innovative approach of community engagement for explaining financial products.

This paper aims to examine the planning and policy processes in relation to the pollution in Lake Taupo. This paper describes and explains the manifestation of the tenets of deliberative democracy and the impediments of mobilising the tenets in the planning and policy-making processes.

This interpretive case study makes sense of interview transcripts, minutes of meetings, media reports and public documents and adopts deliberative democratic theory as the theoretical framework for the interpretive analysis.

Some factors fostered and others challenged the mobilization of the tenets of deliberative democracy. Local government processes facilitated the expression of multiple views in relation to the impacts of human activities on the Lake. Confrontations and tensions were inevitable elements of the deliberative processes. Pre-determined outcomes and domination of local authorities, aiming for environmental sustainability of Lake Taupo, posed as challenges to the operation of deliberative democracy. Some stakeholders need to sacrifice more than others, but recognition of pluralism, conflicts and differences is an essential part of deliberative democracy.

There is scarcity of research that empirically examines local government processes in light of deliberative democratic principles. The study also extends environmental and social studies that have explored the arena approach to accountability and decision-making.

This study aims to examine contemporary factors underlying farmers and pastoralists’ conflict in Nasarawa state. These two communities had rosy and symbiotic relationships which have transmogrified into sour tales of mutual suspicion, destruction, deaths and violence.

Exploratory research design was used. Data was collected using qualitative tools of data collection such as in-depth interview (IDI) and key informant (KII) guides to extract responses from farmers and pastoralists.

In a bid to end the conflicts between these two groups, Benue State Government enacted the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law also known as anti-open grazing law in 2018. Although the law altered the conflict landscape in Benue, it recorded trans-territorial backlashes in the neighbouring Nasarawa State where herdsmen relocated. The relocation of herders to Nasarawa State, setting up of livestock guards to check open grazing by pastoralists, rumour and politics triggered contemporary violent conflicts between these groups.

As against existing studies, this study examines contemporary trigger of the conflict.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how people practicing natural resource-based livelihoods in arid Kenya perceive that their livelihoods are being affected by floods and droughts and how to integrate these local perceptions of impacts into larger-scale climate change adaptation initiatives and policy.

In Isiolo County, Kenya, 270 households were surveyed in seven communities, six focus group discussions were held and a document review was conducted.

The major livelihood practiced in Isiolo is pastoralism (71 per cent), but agriculture and non-agro-pastoral activities also play an important role, with 53 per cent of the respondents practicing more than one type of livelihood. In Isiolo, floods have a large impact on agriculture (193 respondents out of 270), while droughts impact both agriculture (104 respondents) and livestock (120 respondents), and more specifically, cattle-keeping (70 respondents).

The research may have implications for the importance of using local perceptions of the effects of climate change on livelihoods for larger-scale interventions. It also provides a case study of local perceptions of the effects of floods and droughts on livelihoods in an arid area with natural resource-dependent livelihoods.

To understand local perceptions and use local perceptions for larger-scale adaptation interventions and policy.

This paper provides a specific example of a climate change adaptation initiative integrating local perceptions of the impacts of floods and droughts into livelihood-focused interventions.