scholarly journals Accessibility and development in rural Sarawak. A case study of the Baleh river basin, Kapit District, Sarawak, Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Regina Garai Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Market Values ◽  
Heads Of Household ◽  
Working Age

<p>To what degree does accessibility to markets correlate with levels of development? This is an important question for those living in remote, underdeveloped parts of Southeast Asia during the final phases of de-agrarianisation.  My study recounts the experience of rural-based Iban households living in the Baleh river basin of the Kapit District (population of 54,200) within a day or less travel by river to the small market town of Kapit (with a population of 18,000). With no connecting roads to the rest of Sarawak and reliant almost entirely on river transport, the local economy remains underdeveloped and is losing population.  My field work among 20 villages in three accessibility zones of the Baleh river basin was undertaken over the three month period of May-July 2014. Structured interviews were conducted with 20 village headmen (tuai rumah), 82 heads of household, and 82 individuals within the households. Data was also systematically collected on 153 other individuals, including both residents and non-resident members of these bilik-families.  My conceptual framework draws on von Thünen’s model of agricultural land use in order to generate expectations about the possible effects of market accessibility. While the sale of vegetables and other commodities accords with expected patterns, most rural households are in fact dependent on other, largely non-agricultural sources of income. As a result there has emerged a disjuncture between the nominal and actual residence as those working age family members with residential rights to the bilik undertake paid work well beyond the agricultural margin.  Unable to achieve desired standards of living by accessing local markets and services in a division with no cities or roads, the working age members of the bilik sustain their families by dividing their residence between two or more locations in what I call multi-local living. The income of nominally rural households is being increasingly determined by the human capital that individuals now apply to non-agricultural labour markets. This, in turn, is leading to a widening distribution of levels of ‘development’, across individuals, their multi-generational families and their rural communities. Multi-local living is unsustainable beyond the transitional phase of de-agrarianisation and as labour shifts out of agriculture and people move to towns, connections with rural residence are likely to diminish, notwithstanding the cultural ties, and disputes over realising market values of largely untitled land will continue to complicate the transition.</p>

scholarly journals Accessibility and development in rural Sarawak. A case study of the Baleh river basin, Kapit District, Sarawak, Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Regina Garai Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Market Values ◽  
Heads Of Household ◽  
Working Age

<p>To what degree does accessibility to markets correlate with levels of development? This is an important question for those living in remote, underdeveloped parts of Southeast Asia during the final phases of de-agrarianisation.  My study recounts the experience of rural-based Iban households living in the Baleh river basin of the Kapit District (population of 54,200) within a day or less travel by river to the small market town of Kapit (with a population of 18,000). With no connecting roads to the rest of Sarawak and reliant almost entirely on river transport, the local economy remains underdeveloped and is losing population.  My field work among 20 villages in three accessibility zones of the Baleh river basin was undertaken over the three month period of May-July 2014. Structured interviews were conducted with 20 village headmen (tuai rumah), 82 heads of household, and 82 individuals within the households. Data was also systematically collected on 153 other individuals, including both residents and non-resident members of these bilik-families.  My conceptual framework draws on von Thünen’s model of agricultural land use in order to generate expectations about the possible effects of market accessibility. While the sale of vegetables and other commodities accords with expected patterns, most rural households are in fact dependent on other, largely non-agricultural sources of income. As a result there has emerged a disjuncture between the nominal and actual residence as those working age family members with residential rights to the bilik undertake paid work well beyond the agricultural margin.  Unable to achieve desired standards of living by accessing local markets and services in a division with no cities or roads, the working age members of the bilik sustain their families by dividing their residence between two or more locations in what I call multi-local living. The income of nominally rural households is being increasingly determined by the human capital that individuals now apply to non-agricultural labour markets. This, in turn, is leading to a widening distribution of levels of ‘development’, across individuals, their multi-generational families and their rural communities. Multi-local living is unsustainable beyond the transitional phase of de-agrarianisation and as labour shifts out of agriculture and people move to towns, connections with rural residence are likely to diminish, notwithstanding the cultural ties, and disputes over realising market values of largely untitled land will continue to complicate the transition.</p>

scholarly journals The implications of remittances for agricultural land use and fuelwood collection: Evidence from the remaining forested landscapes in the Philippines

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliza Zhunusova ◽  
Melvin Lippe ◽  
Anastasia Lucy Yang ◽  
Sven Günter
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Variable Approach ◽  
Forested Landscapes ◽  
Environmental Goals ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Despite the projected sharpest decline in remittances in history due to the global economic crisis induced by the Covid-19 pandemic, remittances are expected to remain an important source of external financing for many developing countries. The Philippines is among the top five recipients of remittances worldwide, while outmigration is an important livelihood strategy for rural communities in the country due to rapid population growth, poor employment opportunities, and scarce agricultural land. Migration and remittances can influence smallholder land use with potential implications on forest resource use through an impact on household income and household decisions on local activities. However, little attention has been paid in previous research to how remittances relate to changes in rural households’ land use and their implications for forests. The goal of this study is to investigate the linkages between the inflow of both international and internal remittances and rural households’ land use in forested landscapes in the Philippines. In order to do that, we use the data from 1,024 household surveys and an instrumental variable approach to investigate the impact of remittances on fuelwood use and on the area cultivated by perennials and cereals. The findings of this study show that remittances positively influence the size of land planted by perennials and reduce households’ reliance on fuelwood use. Our findings provide an improved understanding of the links between migration - remittances - natural resource management, which will become especially relevant as countries struggle to deal with the economic fallout associated with Covid-19. We argue that demographic policy measures should play a bigger role in Land Use, Land-use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) negotiations than before. Moreover, global sustainability agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should recognize the impacts of migration on natural resources to help bridge the gap between developmental and environmental goals.

scholarly journals Sustainable Livelihood Strategies Rural Household in Sanden District Bantul Regency

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 711-714
Author(s):  
Liana Fatma Leslie Pratiwi ◽  
Ali Hasyim Al Rosyid ◽  
Maftuh Kafiya
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Income Distribution ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Sustainable Livelihoods ◽  
Rural Household ◽  
Livelihood Strategies ◽  
Sustainable Livelihood ◽  
Household Livelihood ◽  
Household Strategy

People living in the countryside mostly have a profession as a farmer. Farming is one of the largest sources of income for rural households. In the district of Sanden, rural communities utilize a variety of land agroecosystems for agriculture. Utilization of various types of agricultural land agroecosystem is one of the household livelihood strategies. Livelihood strategies undertaken by rural communities aim to reduce poverty and improve household welfare. This research aims to (1) describe strategy of rural households to support the achievement of sustainable livelihoods (2) Knowing the inequality of farmers ' income distribution based on livelihood strategies used by rural households. The basic method used is a descriptive analytical method. The research site in Sanden district, Bantul regency was then taken by random farmer owners of 30 people as respondents. Rural household strategy to support sustainable livelihood achievement is calculated using descriptive statistics, and the inequality of farmer's income distribution based on livelihood strategies used by rural households is calculated using the Gini index and the Lorentz curve. The results showed that farmers ' household strategy to support the greatest sustainable livelihoods achievement in the form of consolidated strategies, and inequality of revenue distribution based on households livelihood strategies is moderate distribution inequality.

scholarly journals Interaction between Rural People’s Basic Needs and Forest Products: A Case Study of the Katha District of Myanmar

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zar Chi Hlaing ◽  
Chiho Kamiyama ◽  
Osamu Saito
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Fuel Wood ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Tree Inventory ◽  
Baseline Information

The understanding of interaction between rural people and forest products is one of the challenges faced while balancing forest product utilization with forest conservation in Myanmar. This study aims to contribute an effort to such challenges by analyzing the interaction of rural households with forest products in Myanmar. Data were collected using face-to-face questionnaire interviews with 218 households and conducting a rapid tree inventory across 132 circular random plots in selected rural communities around four townships of the Katha District. The empirical results indicate that the 95% of rural households were entirely dependent on forest products. The survey documented 13 main forest products and 54 tree species, which were primarily used for household consumption. Low-income households compared with medium- and high-income households with low educational level (p<0.05) and a small agricultural land area (p<0.05) were found to be more forest-dependent households. Illegal logging, mining, fuel-wood collection, slash-and-burn agriculture, and the establishment of forest plantations were reported as the main causes of forest products depletion. Findings from this study, although at a microlevel, can be used by the Myanmar Forestry Department as baseline information to improve community-based forest management activities.

Climate Change and Land Use Change of Rural Households in The Red River Delta, Vietnam

2013 ◽  
pp. 79-94
Author(s):  
Ngoc Luu Bich
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Red River ◽  
Red River Delta ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Main Production ◽  
Farming Households

Climate change (CC) and its impacts on the socio-economy and the development of communities has become an issue causing very special concern. The rise in global temperatures, in sea levels, extreme weather phenomena, and salinization have occurred more and more and have directly influenced the livelihoods of rural households in the Red River Delta – one of the two regions projected to suffer strongly from climate change in Vietnam. For farming households in this region, the major and traditional livelihoods are based on main production materials as agricultural land, or aquacultural water surface Changes in the land use of rural households in the Red River Delta during recent times was influenced strongly by the Renovation policy in agriculture as well as the process of industrialization and modernization in the country. Climate change over the past 5 years (2005-2011) has started influencing household land use with the concrete manifestations being the reduction of the area cultivated and the changing of the purpose of land use.

scholarly journals AB1323-HPR A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION OF THE PERSONAL FINANCIAL TOLL OF ARTHRITIS

2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 1951.1-1951
Author(s):  
D. Berkovic ◽  
D. Ayton ◽  
A. M. Briggs ◽  
I. Ackerman
Keyword(s):  
Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽  
Financial Distress ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Entire Family ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Financial Impacts

Background:The financial experience faced by working-age people with arthritis includes living below the poverty line for many (1). Financial distress amongst people with arthritis is known to contribute to poorer health outcomes, including high psychological distress and more severe pain (2). Despite the demonstrated societal cost of arthritis care and management, the personal costs borne by the individual are not well understood in different health systems (3).Objectives:To explore the perceived financial impacts of living with arthritis amongst working-age individuals aged 18 – 50 years in Australia.Methods:A qualitative descriptive study design was used. Participants with inflammatory arthritis or osteoarthritis were recruited from the community, including urban and rural settings. An interview schedule was developed, informed by existing literature (4), which was piloted prior to data collection. Deductive and inductive coding techniques were used to identify financial-related themes arising from the data.Results:Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 younger people (90% female) with a mix of arthritis conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, osteoarthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis. Four themes were identified: direct arthritis-attributable medical costs, indirect arthritis-attributable costs, insurance and pension costs, and broader financial impacts on the family. Non-subsidised costs were frequently referenced by participants as burdensome, and existed even within the publically-funded healthcare system. Financial distress was characterised by participants as chronic, onerous for the entire family, and associated with exacerbation of physical symptoms.Conclusion:People with arthritis and of working age experience significant arthritis-attributable financial burden and related distress. Financial concerns should be actively identified and considered within shared clinical decision making, in order to provide more patient-centred care for these individuals.References:[1]Rios R, Zautra AJ. (2011). Socioeconomic Disparities in Pain: The Role of Economic Hardship and Daily Financial Worry. Health Psychol. 30(1) 58-66.[2]Yilmaz V, Umay E, Gundogdu I, Kaaahmet ZO, Ozturk AE. (2017). Rheumatoid Arthritis: Are psychological factors effective in disease flare? Eur J Rheumatol. 4(2) 127-132.[3]Schofield D, Rupendra S, Cunich C. Counting the Cost Part 2: Economic Costs: The current and future burden of arthritis. The University of Sydney: Arthritis Australia; 2016.[4]Ackerman IN, Kemp JL, Crossley KM, Culvenor AG, Hinman RS. (2017). Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis Affects Younger People, Too. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 47(2) 67-79.Disclosure of Interests:None declared

scholarly journals “My coupons are like gold”: experiences and perceived outcomes of low-income adults participating in the British Columbia Farmers’ Market Nutrition Coupon Program

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Stéphanie Caron-Roy ◽  
Sayeeda Amber Sayed ◽  
Katrina Milaney ◽  
Bonnie Lashewicz ◽  
Sharlette Dunn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Qualitative Description ◽  
Farmers Markets ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Program Outcomes ◽  
Farmers Market

ABSTRACT Objective: The British Columbia Farmers’ Market Nutrition Coupon Program (FMNCP) provides low-income households with coupons valued at $21/week for 16 weeks to purchase healthy foods in farmers’ markets. Our objective was to explore FMNCP participants’ experiences of accessing nutritious foods, and perceived program outcomes. Design: This study used qualitative description methodology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with FMNCP participants during the 2019 farmers’ market season. Directed content analysis was used to analyse the data whereby the five domains of Freedman et al’s framework of nutritious food access provided the basis for an initial coding scheme. Data that did not fit within the framework’s domains were coded inductively. Setting: One urban and two rural communities in British Columbia, Canada. Participants: 28 adults who were participating in the FMNCP. Results: Three themes emerged: Autonomy and Dignity; Social Connections and Community Building; and Environmental and Programmatic Constraints. Firstly, the program promoted a sense of autonomy and dignity through financial support, increased access to high-quality produce, food-related education and skill development, and mitigating stigma and shame. Secondly, shopping in farmers’ markets increased social connections and fostered a sense of community. Finally, participants experienced limited food variety in rural farmers’ markets, lack of transportation, and challenges with redeeming coupons. Conclusions: Participation in the FMNCP facilitated access to nutritious foods and enhanced participants’ diet quality, well-being and health. Strategies such as increasing the amount and duration of subsidies, and expanding programs may help improve participants’ experiences and outcomes of farmers’ market food subsidy programs.

scholarly journals Educational Intervention to Improve Citizen’s Healthcare Participation Perception in Rural Japanese Communities: A Pilot Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1782
Author(s):  
Ryuichi Ohta ◽  
Yoshinori Ryu ◽  
Jun Kitayuguchi ◽  
Chiaki Sano ◽  
Karen D. Könings
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Educational Interventions ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Japanese Elderly

In this mixed-methods study, we hypothesized that social cognitive theory (SCT)-based educational interventions for healthcare participation can improve the self-efficacy of older rural citizens in participating in their health management without any difficulties. Quasi-experimental study before and after SCT-based educational interventions and semi-structured interviews were conducted. Participants were Japanese elderly (>65 years) from rural communities. Propensity score matching was performed to estimate the effectiveness of educational interventions on participants’ perception (intervention: n = 156; control: n = 121). Interview contents were transcribed verbatim and analyzed based on thematic analysis. The intervention group scored significantly higher than the control group for participation in planning and managing self-care. Interviews revealed three themes: ability to manage health conditions, relationship with medical professionals, and relationship among citizens. Participants reported difficulties in judging symptoms and communicating with medical professionals. Hierarchy and low motivation to participate in healthcare hindered collaboration. The findings suggest that SCT-based educational interventions can positively impact rural citizens’ self-efficacy in healthcare participation.

scholarly journals Zambian farm blocks: A vehicle for increased private sector investments

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 817-825
Author(s):  
Susanna L. Middelberg ◽  
Pieter van der Zwan ◽  
Cobus Oberholster
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Policy Uncertainty ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Private Sector Investment

AbstractThe Zambian government has introduced the farm block development programme (FBDP) to facilitate agricultural land and rural development and encourage private sector investment. This study assessed whether the FBDP achieves these goals. Key obstacles and possible opportunities were also identified and, where appropriate, specific corrective actions were recommended. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted in Lusaka with various stakeholders of the FBDP. The FBDP is designed to facilitate agricultural land development and encourage private sector investment. However, the programme falls far short in terms of implementation, amidst policy uncertainty and lack of support. This is evident by the insecurity of land tenure which negatively affects small- and medium-scale producers’ access to financing, lack of infrastructure development of these farm blocks, and constraints in the agricultural sector such as low labour productivity and poor access to service expertise. It is recommended that innovative policy interventions should be created to support agricultural development. This can be achieved by following a multistakeholder approach through involving private, public and non-profit sectors such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and donors.

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