Capabilities Under Telecoupling: Human Well-Being Between Cash Crops and Protected Areas in North-Eastern Madagascar

Llopis, Jorge C.; Diebold, Clara Léonie; Schneider, Flurina; Harimalala, Paul C.; Patrick, Laby; Messerli, Peter; Zaehringer, Julie G.

doi:10.3389/fsufs.2019.00126

Cited by 23 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 106 publications

(114 reference statements)

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“…Since the SAVA region is isolated from other parts of Madagascar, food transportation is expensive and risky. In addition, the continuously high vanilla prices lead to regional inflation, which impacted living costs and local food prices, in particular of nutritious foods (Hänke and Fairtrade International 2019;Llopis et al 2020). In consequence, the population predominately relied on starchy staple foods of lower nutritional value, which cost less per calorie but put humans at risk of micronutrient deficiencies (Darmon and Drewnowski 2015).…”

Section: Nutritional Status and Diet Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Subsistence agriculture is often discussed as an important factor for HH food security as it helps to mitigate high food price inflation and other shocks (Sibhatu and Qaim 2017). While most of the surveyed HHs spent a great share of their total food expenses on rice, those who were able to produce and sell surplus rice were significantly more food secure (FSI), particularly when considering that the SAVA region currently faces a high inflation of food costs through the vanilla boom (Llopis et al 2020). In a recent survey in Madagascar's vanilla triangle, about 90% of vanilla farmers listed rice as an important subsistence crop and only around 40% as a cash crop (Hänke et al 2018, in review).…”

Section: Factors Influencing Food Security and Consumption Of Asfmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As explained earlier, contracted vanilla HHs that own moreand larger -vanilla plots than non-contracted farmers (Hänke et al 2018, in review) may not dispose of the necessary time, labor or knowledge to diversify their income. Also, given the current high prices, vanilla theft has increased dramatically in the SAVA region (Hänke et al 2018, in review;Neimark et al 2019) and many farmers reallocate agricultural labor and substantial amounts of money to protect their harvest (Llopis et al 2020). In this way, vanilla farmers become increasingly dependent on vanilla and are more vulnerable to shocks such as theft or vanilla price drops.…”

Section: Factors Influencing Food Security and Consumption Of Asfmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Estimations show that 40 to 60% of the children suffer from anemia, underweight and stunting, due to deficient diets and low food quality ( USAID Madagascar 2018;WFP 2016). Recent studies also indicate that not all vanilla farming HHs have equally benefitted from the vanilla boom, partly due to high inflation of local food and living costs (Hänke and Fairtrade International 2019;Llopis et al 2020). Also, many vanilla farming HHs reallocate labor to secure vanilla fields as there is high theft pressure (Hänke et al 2018, in review;Neimark et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Food security and food quality among vanilla farmers in Madagascar: the role of contract farming and livestock keeping

2021

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The northeastern SAVA region of Madagascar is the largest vanilla producing area in the world and is flourishing due to a large global demand for natural vanilla. Although the general socio-economic situation has regionally improved because of high vanilla prices, little is known about the nutritional status of local vanilla farmers. We used a 12-month longitudinal food survey to analyze food security, food consumption and nutrient intake of local vanilla farming households (n = 140). Food consumption data was complemented with baseline, agro-economic, longitudinal and field-plot information to determine factors influencing food security, and the contribution of protein from Animal Source Food (ASF_protein) to household nutrition using a stepwise generalized linear model. Results show a high level (74%) of food insecurity and micronutrient deficiency but an acceptable level of protein intake among surveyed households. Consumption of rice, the principal source of carbohydrates, is stable across the year. Compared to other regions in Madagascar, local diets are moderately diversified with an acceptable share of ASF_protein (about 50%). Household size (P < 0.001) and cash income from rice sales (P < 0.001) were the most important factors influencing the food security index (FSI), while cash crop income (P < 0.01) and number of income sources (P < 0.01) were more important in the explanation of the dietary share of ASF_protein. Yet, neither livestock ownership nor contracting with vanilla buyers/exporters did improve food security of the surveyed households. Households who concluded contracts were significantly less food secure than non-contracting households (P = 0.01) with seasonal fluctuations across the year. Policy implications of our findings are that, although many actors of the vanilla value chain run social and environmental programs in the SAVA region, more needs to be done to improve diet quality at household level and strengthen farmers’ resilience to food insecurity.

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Section: Nutritional Status and Diet Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Factors Influencing Food Security and Consumption Of Asfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Factors Influencing Food Security and Consumption Of Asfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Food security and food quality among vanilla farmers in Madagascar: the role of contract farming and livestock keeping

2021

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“…The globalized agricultural commodity trade, including that of cocoa, is widely recognized as a major telecoupling process (da Silva et al, 2017;Andriamihaja et al, 2019;Llopis et al, 2020). The increased and intense connectedness of cocoa's supply and demand sites can result in land-use change and social injustices where economic, political, and sustainability agendas overlap, leading to conflicting claims over land (Gasparri et al, 2016;Friis and Nielsen, 2017;Zimmerer et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate-Smart Cocoa in Ghana: How Ecological Modernisation Discourse Risks Side-Lining Cocoa Smallholders

Nasser

Maguire‐Rajpaul

Dumenu

et al. 2020

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) aims to transform and reorient farming systems to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, boost adaptive capacity, and improve productivity while supporting incomes and, ostensibly, food security. In Ghana-the world's second biggest cocoa producer-the cocoa sector is challenged by increasing global cocoa demand, climate change impacts, as well as mounting consumer pressure over cocoa's deforestation. Climate-smart cocoa (CSC) has emerged to address these challenges as well as to improve smallholder incomes. As with CSA more widely, there are concerns that CSC discourses will override the interests of cocoa smallholders, and lead to inequitable outcomes. To better understand if and how the implementation of CSC in Ghana can meet its lofty ambitions, we examine (1) the dominant CSC discourses as perceived by stakeholders, and their reflection in policy and practice, and (2) subsequent implications for cocoa smallholders through an equity lens. Through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders in Ghana's cocoa sector, we find overwhelming consensus for an ecological modernisation discourse with the promise of a "triple win" narrative that simultaneously stops deforestation, supports climate mitigation and adaptation, and increases smallholder livelihoods. Moreover, we find that implementing CSC on the ground has generally converged around "sustainable intensification" and private-sectorled partnerships that aspire to generate a "win-win" for environment and productivity objectives, but potentially at the expense of delivering equitable outcomes that serve smallholders' interests. We find that the success of CSC and the overly-simplistic sustainable intensification narrative is constrained by the lack of clear tree tenure rights, complexities around optimal shade trees levels, potential rebound effects regarding deforestation, and the risks of agrochemical-dependence. More positively, local governance mechanisms such as Ghana's Community Resource Management Area Nasser et al. Climate-Smart Cocoa Discourses in Ghana Mechanisms (CREMAs) may give cocoa smallholders a stronger voice to shape policy. However, we caution that the discursive power of dominant private sector actors may risk side-lining equity which could prove detrimental to the long-term wellbeing of Ghana's ∼800,000 cocoa smallholders.

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A habitat stronghold on the precipice: A call‐to‐action for supporting lemur conservation in northeast Madagascar

Eppley

Borgerson

Patel³

et al. 2023

American J Primatol

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The northeast of Madagascar is as diverse as it is threatened. The area bordering the Analanjirofo and SAVA regions contains six protected areas and at least 22 lemur species. Many applied research and conservation programs have been established in the region with the aim of ensuring both wildlife and people thrive in the long term. While most of the remaining humid evergreen forest of northeast Madagascar is formally protected, the local human population depends heavily on the land, and unsustainable natural resource use threatens this biodiversity hotspot. Drawing from our collective experiences managing conservation activities and research programs in northeast Madagascar, we discuss the major threats to the region and advocate for eight conservation activities that help reduce threats and protect the environment, providing specific examples from our own programs. These include (1) empowering local conservation actors, (2) ensuring effectively protected habitat, (3) expanding reforestation, (4) establishing and continuing long‐term research and monitoring, (5) reducing food insecurity, (6) supporting environmental education, (7) promoting sustainable livelihoods, and (8) expanding community health initiatives. Lastly, we provide a list of actions that individuals can take to join us in supporting and promoting lemur conservation.

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Capabilities Under Telecoupling: Human Well-Being Between Cash Crops and Protected Areas in North-Eastern Madagascar

Cited by 23 publications

References 106 publications

Food security and food quality among vanilla farmers in Madagascar: the role of contract farming and livestock keeping

Food security and food quality among vanilla farmers in Madagascar: the role of contract farming and livestock keeping

Climate-Smart Cocoa in Ghana: How Ecological Modernisation Discourse Risks Side-Lining Cocoa Smallholders

A habitat stronghold on the precipice: A call‐to‐action for supporting lemur conservation in northeast Madagascar

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