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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1987

Labor migration in Southern Africa and agricultural development: some lessons from Lesotho.

The authors examine policy issues with regard to attempts by Lesotho to develop agriculture as a viable alternative to out-migration for employment and income. They argue that "an appropriate agricultural development strategy for Lesotho would emphasize relatively labor- and land-intensive agricultural enterprises, such as horticultural operations and closely managed livestock activities. The suggestion is that only agriculture of this kind will generate sufficient returns on a limited land base to dissuade men from going to the mines. Our paper develops a more complete theoretical and empirical foundation for examining this as well as other agricultural strategies."

Africa↗
PubMed1976

[Effect of urbanization on the future of agricultural development in Costa Rica].

The future agricultural development of Central America must be based of studies of land capacity in order to assure a sustained yield of the environment. The industrial development of the region, as well as the construction of the highways and rural roads must be carefully planned as a means of environmental conservation. New towns, housing developments, recreational facilities and highways should be planned to the effect that they occupy non-productive lands and thus minimize the modern trend of covering the best agricultural soils with concrete jungles. In recent years the price of agricultural lands has shown a tremendous rise, due mainly to the demand of land for urbanization. This situation has induced many farmers to abandon their lands, therefore, a selective land taxation system is suggested to encourage the cultivation of these suburban areas.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1986

Agricultural development, migrant labor and the resurgence of malaria in Swaziland.

Much of the research on the recent resurgence of malaria in Third World areas has focused on the problem of vector resistance arising out of the widespread use of pesticides in conjunction with the development of large-scale agricultural projects. Evidence from southern Africa, and particularly from Swaziland, where a resurgence of malaria has occurred in the absence of pesticide-resistant strains of Anopheles mosquitoes, suggests that changes in agroecosystems, labor utilization and settlement patterns, which are also associated with large-scale agricultural development, may play an equally important role in the resurgence of malaria. Renewed efforts to control malaria must, therefore, take account of the social and economic, as well as the biological determinants of this disease.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2003

African land ecology: opportunities and constraints for agricultural development.

Compared to other continents, the economic growth performance of Sub-Saharan Africa has been poor over the last four decades. Likewise, progress in agricultural development has been limited and the Green Revolution left Africa almost untouched. The question raised in the literature is whether the poor performance is a question of poor policies or of an unfavorable biophysical environment (policy versus destiny). This paper, with a broad perspective, analyzes adaptation of current land use to environmental conditions in Africa and compares the physical resource base of Africa with Asia. In doing so, we search for unifying principles that can have operational consequences for agricultural development. We argue that some specificities of the natural resource base, namely local homogeneity and spatial diversity of the predominant Basement Complex soils, imply that simple fertilizer strategies may not produce the yield increases obtained elsewhere.

Africa↗
PubMed1989

Agricultural development and nutritional status in Malawi.

A comparative anthropometric assessment involving 2175 measurements of 1533 children under the age of 5 was carried out in Malawi, both before and after the harvest seasons (February and May, 1985). Subjects were randomly drawn from socioeconomically similar rural environments within and outside a large-scale agricultural development project. Chronic malnutrition (height for age less than 90 per cent of the median) was found to be 36 per cent in February and 41 per cent in May. The prevalence of acute malnutrition (weight for height less than 80 per cent of the median) was 4 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively. Tests of significance found no statistical difference between the project and non-project children for a variety of nutritional status indices. It is postulated that such factors as increased female access to extension services and male access to nutrition education may have greater impact on morbidity than income increases alone, and should be part of agricultural development planning.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2004

Impacts on wetlands of large-scale land-use changes by agricultural development: the Small Sanjiang Plain, China.

The Small Sanjiang Plain (SSP), was formerly the largest wetland complex in China, located in the Northeastern part of Heilongjiang Province, China. Home to vast numbers of waterfowls, fish, and plants, the SSP is globally significant for biodiversity conservation. The loss and fragmentation of wetlands as a result agricultural development over 50 years has impacted wetland communities and their biodiversity. We used GIS to inventory large-scale land-use changes from 1950 to 2000, together with other statistical data. We found that 73.6% of the wetlands were lost due to agricultural development. Consequences of these land-use changes included: i) a rapid decline in waterfowl and plant species with the loss and fragmentation of natural wetlands and wetland ecosystem degradation; ii) greater variation in wetland water levels as the result of land-use changes over the years; iii) disruption of the dynamic river-floodplain connection by construction of drainage ditches and levees; and iv) a decrease in floodplain area that caused increased flooding peak flows and runoff. Here we show how these changes affect wetland biodiversity and impact important wetland species.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1993

Agricultural development paths and pest management: a pragmatic view of sustainability.

Historical profiles can be used to portray past pathways of agricultural development, the factors that affected pest status and the responses made by farmers in the form of pest management. Understanding the key factors affecting these historical developments is thought to be crucial for identifying likely future scenarios and associated opportunities and constraints for improving pest management. Evidence for this view is provided by four case studies: brassica pests in the United Kingdom; tsetse fly and trypanosomiasis management in The Gambia; rice pest management in the Lop-Buri area of Thailand; and pest management in dryland cotton in north-east Australia.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1991

Rural health and labour supplies: empirical evidence from the World Bank Assisted Agricultural Development Project in the Kwara State of Nigeria.

The efforts made in this study are in two areas. First, an effort has been made to determine whether there are any health or labour supply differences between ADP and non-ADP households. Second, an effort has also been made to determine whether differences in health, housing and nutrition, if any, have an effect on labour supply. All the efforts are attempts to focus research attention on the Nigeria's resource endowment factor and at the same time assess the impact of rural infrastructure capital and thus the World Bank Assisted Agricultural Development Projects (ADP) on the rural Nigerian residents and their industry. Using 175 households, 50 from the ADP and 125 from the non-ADP areas, the discriptive statistic indicates strong mean significant differences for the descriptors of nutrition, housing and state of health among the two sample categories. The discriminant function strongly discriminates between the two sample groups while the multiple regression analysis establishes a causal relationship between the discriptors of rural healthy days and labour supply for the two sample data sets. The policy implication of the study is that the implementation of the ADP particularly the Ilorin, leads to the improvement of quality of life and greater infusion of high quality labour into the rural agricultural industry. Higher productivity and increased farm family income and enhanced rural life which results is a useful virile circle necessary for laying the bedrock for the rural development.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1991

Agricultural development and arthropod-borne diseases: a review.

A review is presented of the interrelationships between arthropod vectors, the diseases they transmit and agricultural development. Particular attention is given to the effects of deforestation, livestock development and irrigation on the abundance of vectors and changing patterns of diseases such as malaria, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas' and some arboviral infections. The question as whether keeping livestock diverts biting away from people and reduces diseases such as malaria--that is zooprophylaxis, or whether the presence of cattle actually increases biting populations is discussed.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2002

Environmental sustainability in an agricultural development project: a system dynamics approach.

Regional agricultural projects based on water resource development have many potential impacts on social and natural environments. In this research, potential long-term environmental problems of the Southeastern Anatolian Project (GAP) related to water resources, land use, land degradation, agricultural pollution and demography are analysed from a systems perspective. The analysis focuses on the totality of environmental, social and economic issues. For this purpose, a system dynamics simulation model (GAPSIM) has been developed as an experimental platform for policy analysis. GAPSIM was validated, first 'structurally', using the tests suggested by the literature and then the model 'behaviour' was tested and calibrated with respect to available data. The reference behaviour of GAPSIM reveals that, as the irrigated lands are developed, GAP faces significant water scarcity because of the increased intensity of cotton, the crop with the highest demands for water. Simulation results also indicate that two key environmental factors, pesticide and fertilizer consumption may reach undesirable levels. Alternative irrigation water release strategies, development rates of irrigated fields and farm rotation practices appear as important policy tools in achieving long-term environmental sustainability. GAPSIM promises to be not only a useful laboratory for policy makers of GAP, but also a useful generic structure applicable to other similar regional development projects.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1990

Effects of agricultural development policies on migration in peninsular Malaysia.

State planning plays a central role in Malaysia's social and economic development. The government's rural development policies are designed to promote agricultural incomes and help counterbalance ethnic inequalities. The Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) implements one of the internationally most successful land development and resettlement programs. In this article, we quantify the impact of FELDA settlements on local out-migration rates, linking macro and micro approaches and using data from the Malaysian Family Life Survey, national censuses, and other sources. A model of instantaneous migration rates specifies an individual's migration rate as a function of individual-level sociodemographic characteristics, the level of urbanization of the origin and destination, and the extent of rural development at the district of current residence. Our results show that in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the existence of rural development centers in a district reduced the levels of out-migration to pre-1965 levels.

Agriculture↗