AJAD Volume 5 Issue No. 2 December 2008

This paper provides a comparative perspective on the performance of smallholder rubber farm livelihood systems based on case studies of two regions in India and Thailand. The analysis of the emerging farming systems in the two countries' rubber farms reveals that the rubber monocrop system is viable, provided prices remain remunerative and primary markets efficient. Findings further indicate the dominant contribution of rubber production to the gross household income of the rubber growers in the integrated farming systems. Nevertheless, from a sustainable livelihoods perspective, the socioeconomic significance of the rubber integrated farming systems assumes greater prominence, given the fact that small producers are highly vulnerable to market uncertainties. It has been found that rubber integrated livelihood systems provide the smallholders with ample capability for resilience during crises and ensure a sustained flow of income. The two case studies demonstrate the need to promote and scale up rubber integrated farm livelihood systems in the smallholder-dominated rubber producing countries in the Asian region. The paper also recommends enhancing the capabilities of the smallholders by strengthening their access to the five forms of capital that sustain their livelihood.

A standard optimal investment model is used to analyze farmers' decision to accumulate social capital in terms of participating in collective activities for irrigation management. Several predictions borne out by the data are presented in this study. Social capital investment in small irrigation groups (1) decreases when the farmer's field is located at the downstream area where water is scarce; (2) increases when farmers have larger ricefields; (3) decreases when farmers pay the irrigation service dues; and (4) increases when the farmer belongs to a heterogeneous group which facilitates collective action when pooling resources to reduce the risks involved in rice farming. Moreover, the farmers' social capital investment in other small irrigation groups in the irrigation system 1) increases when farmers have larger rice-growing areas; 2) increases when there is a high level of trust among the farmers; but 3) declines as the opportunity cost of time increases due to coordination and participation in collective activities with farmers from other areas of the system.

This paper is a systematic review of the facts and figures related to the issues of food security in Vietnam. Based on a comprehensive definition of food security as "access by all people at all times to enough, nutritionally adequate, and safe food for an active and health life" (Kennedy 2002), it describes and analyzes food security in connection with poverty or macro policies, in order to identify and understand thoroughly the problems related to food security. It shows that poor households are, per se, food-insecure, and that policies which target rapid economic growth using a socioeconomic approach help alleviate poverty and food insecurity. Its findings mainly confirm that household food security–specifically issues concerning food safety, availability, access, adequacy, and vulnerability – is still a vital concern in Vietnam.

Indonesia is a country where small ruminants are important in religious festivities. This study analyzes small ruminant marketing opportunities on account of the Moslem feast of sacrifice, Idul Adha, in three agroecological zones in Central Java. Small ruminant marketing is classified into three categories, namely: 1) good – the market situation associated with the religious feast of Idul Adha; 2) risky –usually occurring in August and September when farmers need cash to prepare the paddy fields and to pay school fees; and 3) normal – which is how the market situation may be described in the other parts of the year. A total of 150 farmers are visited monthly, over a period of one year, to observe their marketing strategies and the economic benefits gained from keeping small ruminants. Sheep fattening on the basis of rice bran supplementation is explored as a feasible innovation for the lowlands. Ten small ruminant markets are monitored two times corresponding to each of the three market situations. Added to this, 42 roadside sellers and 44 mosques are visited. The supply, demand, price, and weight of animals offered at the markets show a peak during Idul Adha. In the lowlands and middle zone, sheep are preferred over goats as sacrificial offerings during Idul Adha. In the uplands, goats dominate the farming system and the small ruminants' markets. The Idul Adha market requires male ruminants of one year of age with a bodyweight of above 25 kilograms. The majority of the farmers are not able to adjust the raising of their small ruminants in time for Idul Adha, because of their small flock sizes and the fact that they have to sell their animals to meet urgent cash needs, in particular at the end of the dry season and the start of the school year. Farmers possess minimal marketing information and usually complain about the prices they receive for their merchandise. The raising of these animals is only a secondary activity on these mixed farms. Value added estimates from small ruminants per hour of family labor input are 33–38 percent below the minimum wage labor rate. The proposed innovation to introduce sheep fattening in the lowlands for Idul Adha proves to be economically viable; however, the number of sheep that households can fatten is limited.

Using the import data compiled by the Philippines and comparing these with data as reported by the exporting countries, this study aims to determine the disparity of the statistics from the two sources on the quantity and value of selected agricultural commodities for the years 2000 to 2005. The products covered by this study consist of wholly or semi-milled rice, maize (corn), live poultry, domestic fowls, ducks, geese, frozen meat of bovine animals, apples, oranges, onions and shallots, and garlic. The differences in statistics on the bilateral transactions (in terms of FOB values, quantities, and derived unit prices) are examined by using percentage differences, the implicit minimal measurement error (IMME), and the Wilcoxon Matched-Pair Signed-Ranks (Wilcoxon-MPSR) test. Results show that considerable discrepancies between import and export statistics do exist. The discrepancy may reflect both legitimate conceptual differences between Philippine imports and exports statistics of the exporting countries, as well as errors in reporting. The discrepancy is further substantiated by the results of the Wilcoxon-MPSR test, which show that these differences are significant.

Voices from the Forest provides a robust defense against the largely undeserved bad reputation associated with shifting cultivation that has persisted for almost a century. Bringing together the best of science and farmer experimentation, the book illustrates the enormous diversity and dynamism of this highly resilient long-established agricultural system. It provides a striking testimony of human ingenuity, chronicling how an ancient agricultural technology remains adaptable until the present despite intense pressures from the burgeoning population, state interventions, and an increasingly globalized market economy.