Farm Size, Land Ownership, and Fertility in Rural Egypt

Schutjer, Wayne A.; Stokes, C. Shannon; Poindexter, John R.

doi:10.2307/3145654

Cited by 26 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…They postulate that a larger farm size creates a demand for children as labor to keep land in production (and to retain use rights). This positive relationship has been observed in studies in Rwanda, Egypt, the Philippines, Iran, Peru and Ecuador (Hiday, 1978;Schutjer et al, 1983;Easterlin and Crimmins, 1985;Good et al, 1989;Clay and Johnson, 1992;Coomes et al, 2001;Carr et al, 2006). Alternatively, it has also been proposed that the effects of land tenure can counteract the relationship between farm size and family size.…”

Section: A) Fertility Environment and Natural Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 76%

Rural household demographics, livelihoods and the environment

Sherbinin¹,

VanWey²,

McSweeney³

et al. 2008

Global Environmental Change

346

217

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This paper reviews and synthesizes findings from scholarly work on linkages among rural household demographics, livelihoods and the environment. Using the livelihood approach as an organizing framework, we examine evidence on the multiple pathways linking environmental variables and the following demographic variables: fertility, migration, morbidity and mortality, and lifecycles. Although the review draws on studies from the entire developing world, we find the majority of micro-level studies have been conducted in either marginal (mountainous or arid) or frontier environments, especially Amazonia. Though the linkages are mediated by many complex and often context-specific factors, there is strong evidence that dependence on natural resources intensifies when households lose human and social capital through adult morbidity and mortality, and qualified evidence for the influence of environmental factors on household decision-making regarding fertility and migration. Two decades of research on lifecycles and land-cover change at the farm level have yielded a number of insights about how households make use of different land-use and natural resource management strategies at different stages. A thread running throughout the review is the Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access

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Section: A) Fertility Environment and Natural Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 76%

Rural household demographics, livelihoods and the environment

Sherbinin¹,

VanWey²,

McSweeney³

et al. 2008

Global Environmental Change

346

217

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…First, a larger farm may lead to high fertility not because more children help to fill an increased labor demand but rather because a large farm allows for greater resource security and thus, for more surviving children (Clay & Johnson, 1992). Thus, the effect of resource access on fertility is hypothesized by some to be reversed when secure tenure of resources is established (Schutjer et al, 1981(Schutjer et al, ,1983). …”

Section: Fertility and Frontier Farm Luccmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proximate Population Factors and Deforestation in Tropical Agricultural Frontiers

Carr

2003

Population and Environment

160

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Forest conversion for agriculture expansion is the most salient signature of human occupation of the earth's land surface. Although population growth and deforestation are significantly associated at the global and regional scales, evidence for population links to deforestation at micro-scales-where people are actually clearing0020forests-is scant. Much of the planet's forest elimination is proceeding along tropical agricultural frontiers. This article examines the evolution of thought on population-environment theories relevant to deforestation in tropical agricultural frontiers. Four primary ways by which population dynamics interact with frontier forest conversion are examined: population density, fertility, and household demographic composition, and in-migration.

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“…With regard to the second point above, the effect of resource access on fertility is hypothesized to be reversed with secure tenure of resources, as the economic security provided by children is replaced by the security of land ownership (Schutjer, Stokes, & Cornwell, 1981;Schutjer, Stokes, & Poindexter, 1983) 3 However, owning only small amounts of land can lead to concerns about how much land will be available for children following future farm subdivision among adult children, which encourages having fewer children (Carr, 2003;Desai & Alva, 1998). The effect of land security on fertility is thought to be stronger than that of land availability itself (Thomas, 1991).…”

Section: Fertility Determinants At the Agricultural Frontiermentioning

confidence: 99%

Declining fertility on the frontier: the Ecuadorian Amazon

Carr

Pan

Bilsborrow³

2007

Popul Environ

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This paper examines farm and household characteristics associated with a rapid fertility decline in a forest frontier of the Ecuadorian Amazon. The Amazon basin and other rainforests in the tropics are among the last frontiers in the ongoing global fertility transition. The pace of this transition along agricultural frontiers will likely have major implications for future forest transitions, rural development, and ultimately urbanization in frontier areas. The study here is based upon data from a probability sample of 172 women who lived on the same farm in 1990 and 1999. These data are from perhaps the first region-wide longitudinal survey of fertility in an agricultural frontier. Descriptive analyses indicate that fertility has plummeted in the region, which is surprising since it had remained high and unchanging among migrant colonists up to 1990. Thus only half of the women in our sample reported having a birth during the 1990-1999 time period, and most women report in 1999 that they do not want to have any more children. Analyses, controlling for women's age, corroborate hypotheses about land-fertility relations. For example, women from households with a legal land title had fewer than half as many children as those from households without a title. Large cattle (pasture) holdings and hiring laborers to work on the farm (which may replace household labor) are both related to socio-economic status that is traditionally associated with lower fertility. Similarly, distance to the nearest community center is positively related to fertility. Factors negatively related to fertility include increasing temporary out-migration of adult men or women from the household, asset accumulation, and access to electricity.

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Farm Size, Land Ownership, and Fertility in Rural Egypt

Cited by 26 publications

References 18 publications

Rural household demographics, livelihoods and the environment

Rural household demographics, livelihoods and the environment

Proximate Population Factors and Deforestation in Tropical Agricultural Frontiers

Declining fertility on the frontier: the Ecuadorian Amazon

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