Is rainfed agriculture really a pathway from poverty?

Harris, D.; Orr, Alastair

doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2013.09.005

Cited by 152 publications

(166 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(44 reference statements)

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“…The poor households, in contrast, do not manage to produce marketable surpluses from which to derive income that could be used to borrow or buy assets and thus to step out of poverty (Barrett 2008). Also the often low prices for food crops (Harris and Orr 2014) and large investment barriers for closing the yield gap (e.g. Tittonell and Giller 2013) may be reasons why commercialisation of most food crops was not observed as a key strategy for food availability in our data.…”

Section: Targeting Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 43%

“…This is perhaps partly due to low productivity resulting from the low and variable rainfall. Harris and Orr (2014) identified three potential pathways out of poverty: Extensification by increasing land area, diversification and commercialisation of crop production, and diversification of income. The smaller proportion of food self-sufficient households on relatively large farms in the north suggests that extensification seemed not to be a strategy towards food security and poverty reduction in that area.…”

Section: How Do Contributing Activities Differ With Food Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cash crops as a strategy for rural households Crop commercialisation can lift households out of poverty (Harris and Orr 2014) and has positive effects on food security (Kristjanson et al 2010). In addition, cash crops have beneficial effects on the overall farm, as they generate money for households to reinvest in their food crops.…”

Section: How Do Contributing Activities Differ With Food Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Food availability and livelihood strategies among rural households across Uganda

et al. 2017

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Despite continuing economic growth, Uganda faces persistent challenges to achieve food security. The effectiveness of policy and development strategies to help rural households achieve food security must improve. We present a novel approach to relate spatial patterns of food security to livelihood strategies, including the contribution of on-and offfarm activities to household food availability. Data from 1927 households from the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study were used to estimate the calorific contribution of livelihood activities to food availability. Consumption of crops produced on-farm contributed most to food availability for households with limited food availability, yet the majority of these households were not food self-sufficient. Off-farm and market-oriented on-farm activities were more important for households with greater food availability. Overall, off-farm income was important in the north, while market-oriented on-farm activities were important in western and central Uganda. Food availability patterns largely matched patterns of agroecological conditions and market access, with households doing worst in Uganda's drier and remote northeast. Less food-secure households depended more on short-cycle food crops as compared with better-off households, who focused more on plantation (cash) crops, although this varied among regions. Targeting interventions to improve food security should consider such differences in enterprise choice and include options to improve household market access and off-farm income opportunities.

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Section: Targeting Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 43%

Section: How Do Contributing Activities Differ With Food Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: How Do Contributing Activities Differ With Food Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Food availability and livelihood strategies among rural households across Uganda

et al. 2017

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“…Yet at the farm level-the level at which households make decisions-the effects on food security, income or livelihoods are often small. In many African regions, small farm sizes prevent investments in improved technologies or practices to be economically viable (Harris and Orr 2014). With continued population growth and further shrinkage of farms (van Vliet et al 2015), an increasing proportion of the farm population will fall below the food self-sufficiency line.…”

Section: Farm Size Risk and Livestock Multi-functionalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change adaptation and mitigation in smallholder crop–livestock systems in sub-Saharan Africa: a call for integrated impact assessments

et al. 2016

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African mixed crop-livestock systems are vulnerable to climate change and need to adapt in order to improve productivity and sustain people's livelihoods. These smallholder systems are characterized by high greenhouse gas emission rates, but could play a role in their mitigation. Although the impact of climate change is projected to be large, many uncertainties persist, in particular with respect to impacts on livestock and grazing components, whole-farm dynamics and heterogeneous farm populations. We summarize the current understanding on impacts and vulnerability and highlight key knowledge gaps for the separate system components and the mixed farming systems as a whole. Numerous adaptation and mitigation options exist for crop-livestock systems. We provide an overview by distinguishing risk management, diversification and sustainable intensification strategies, and by focusing on the contribution to the three pillars of climate-smart agriculture. Despite the potential solutions, smallholders face major constraints at various scales, including small farm sizes, the lack of response to the proposed measures and the multi-functionality of the livestock herd. Major institutional barriers include poor access to markets and relevant knowledge, land tenure insecurity and the common property status of most grazing resources. These limit the adoption potential and hence the potential impact on resilience and mitigation. In order to effectively inform decision-making, we therefore call for integrated, system-oriented impact assessments and a realistic consideration of the adoption constraints in smallholder systems. Building on agricultural system model development, integrated impact assessments and scenario analyses can inform the co-design and implementation of adaptation and mitigation strategies.F

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“…An assessment of more than 60 economic studies of various management practices ranging from alley cropping to tillage and fertilizer indicates that water management strategies increase net returns and purchasing power parity of households much more than any other and perhaps presents the only viable pathway to help transition smallholder farmers out of poverty (Harris and Orr 2014). Without a doubt, the ability to supply water, mitigate the impacts of variable rainfall on crops, pasture and animals, and extend growing seasons has significant impacts on smallholder livelihoods, increasing yields and economic returns (Burney and Naylor 2012;Kurwakumire et al 2014;Thierfelder and Wall 2009;Gebrehiwot et al 2015).…”

Section: Water Use Efficiency and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Qualitative Evaluation of CSA Options in Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems in Developing Countries

Thornton

Rosenstock

Förch³

et al. 2017

Natural Resource Management and Policy

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The mixed crop-livestock systems of the developing world will become increasingly important for meeting the food security challenges of the coming decades. The synergies and trade-offs between food security, adaptation, and mitigation objectives are not well studied, however. Comprehensive evaluations of the costs and benefits, and the synergies and trade-offs, of different options in developing-country mixed systems do not exist as yet.Here we summarise what we know about the climate smartness of different alternatives in the mixed croplivestock systems in developing countries, based on published literature supplemented by a survey of experts. We discuss constraints to the uptake of different interventions and the potential for their adoption, and highlight some of the technical and policy implications of current knowledge and knowledge gaps.

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Is rainfed agriculture really a pathway from poverty?

Cited by 152 publications

References 48 publications

Food availability and livelihood strategies among rural households across Uganda

Food availability and livelihood strategies among rural households across Uganda

Climate change adaptation and mitigation in smallholder crop–livestock systems in sub-Saharan Africa: a call for integrated impact assessments

A Qualitative Evaluation of CSA Options in Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems in Developing Countries

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