scholarly journals Changing Pattern of Rural Life and Livelihood: An Ethnographic Investigation

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 52-62
Author(s):  
Megh Vilas Bhatta ◽  
Suman Kharel

The changing livelihood is an unstoppable phenomenon of the contemporary world at the present era. In the due course of social development, changes have been noticed and the social transformation has become an inevitable process. In the study upon the Aarukharka village, various external interventions like modernity, urbanization and globalization have been found to be the causative factors of ongoing changes in the pattern of people’s life and livelihood strategies in the studied community. A qualitative approach backed up by the ethnographic method was applied while various tools and techniques such as elongated stay with the community people followed by key informant interview (KII) and interaction with the participants, observation and discussion were used to gather data. Although change is a dynamic and a common phenomenon, this study implies that the change in the livelihood pattern of the target community is because of the increasing influence of the above mentioned interventions. The finding indicates that livelihood strategies are changing rapidly in the rural areas of Nepal. Despite the fact that the agriculture with livestock farming was an important traditional source of livelihood in the past, the roles of non-agricultural sectors have become significant for livelihood sustaining in the rural communities of Nepal in the present days.

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 21-36
Author(s):  
Dhyanendra Bahadur Rai

 Different patterns of livelihood are found in different places within same community or different communities over the generation. Therefore livelihood strategy is a changing process of an individual or a household level of economic and social activities in order to fulfill daily livelihood needs. This paper seeks to explore the changing rural livelihood strategies of a community in mountain region of Nepal. The study is mainly based on primary data collected from field survey, focus group discussion (FGD) and key informant interview (KII). Questionnaire survey was conducted within 52 households by applying random sampling method. Likewise five KII and three FGDs were conducted and participants belonged to different field i.e. ward chairperson, ward women member, businessmen, wage labor, farmer and social worker. The finding indicates that livelihood strategies are changing rapidly in the rural areas. Similarly, multiple sources of income of a household have resulted into secured livelihood system in Goljung. Despite the fact that the agriculture with livestock farming was an important traditional source of livelihood in the past, the roles of non-agricultural sectors have become significant for livelihood sustaining in the rural community in Goljung, Rasuwa in the present days. After a decade, development of the hydro-electricity projects and trade route between Nepal and China has played the catalyst role for changing rural livelihoods of local people in this village. The Third Pole: Journal of GeographyVol. 17: 20-36, 2017


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 113-126
Author(s):  
Madhu Krishna Neupane ◽  
Dhyanendra Bahadur Rai

 Livelihood strategy varies from place to place. People living in certain place have a diverse strategy over time. This study attempts to analyze the sources of livelihood, livelihood strategies of different communities and their adaptive strategies in Melamchi Valley. The livelihood patterns and the strategies have been dealt on the basis of community. This study is based on primary data that are collected using household questionnaire, focus group discussion and key informant interview. A set of standardized questionnaire, observation sheet, and checklist were used for information collection. The finding of the study portrays that paddy is the major crop cultivated by Brahmin/Kshetri communities whereas millet and maize are the principal crops cultivated by Tamang community. People of this area are attracted towards cash generating activities than the subsistence agriculture farming in the present days. The people of market center are motivated towards trade and business whereas the people of remote area have dependence on remittance. The trend of foreign migration for earning livelihood is high among the rural settlements. Similarly, earning from wage labor in the informal sectors has become important source of livelihood in Melamchi Valley.The Geographical Journal of NepalVol. 11: 113-126, 2018


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 385
Author(s):  
Osakue Stevenson Omoera, Ph.D. ◽  
Casmir E Onyemuchara ◽  
Charles Okwuowulu

This article examined the impact of participatory video (PV) technique in (re)educating rural dwellers on Corona virus (COVID-19) at Iva-Valley Forestry Hill Camp 1, Southeast Nigeria, with a view to generating data that could be tested or extrapolated elsewhere. It used historical-analytic, key informant interview (KII) and direct observation methods to argue that the COVID-19 pandemic/period has exposed weaknesses immanent in human institutions globally. One of such exposed interstitial gaps is the seeming weak media-link in the rural areas. This situation results from lack of electricity, non-access to reliable locally-generated news by resident community members and the lack of know-how to use mobile phones to generate media contents. Rural dwellers constitute 49.66 percent of the total Nigerian population (National Population Commission [NPC], 2018), yet media focus in Nigeria is mostly urban-driven. Having interacted and co-created a video script in Igbo with the community members through PV to determine the level of (mis)information that has permeated the community and (re)educated the rural dwellers on Corona virus and strategies to prevent its spread, the study canvassed the use of indigenous languages, diversification of media and PV techniques in the dissemination of credible information on COVID-19 in Nigeria, particularly at the grassroots


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-155
Author(s):  
Andrzej Kaleta

AbstractThe aim of the present study is to attempt to evaluate the Polish rural sociology of development during the period referred to as a political and social transformation (1989–2019). The time of this transformation had brought up new and difficult challenges for the rural sociology, urging it to examine the social effects of the transition process in the rural society, moving from a totalitarian system to a democratic one, from centrally managed economy to market economy. Theoretical and methodological orientations, which prevailed throughout the entire period of changes, have been analyzed here by taking into consideration the most important publications, which appeared in Poland after 1989 under the banner of social research on countryside and agriculture. Moreover, attention was given to problem areas particularly intensely penetrated through empirical research such as: transformations in the agriculture as well as within the social and professional group of farmers, standard of living of rural residents, changes of the local rural communities. In the final part of the article, our attention was focused on the outlook and possibilities to confront the challenges of the future with regard to rural areas in the situation of constant weakening of the institutional base of the Polish rural sociology.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sit Tsui ◽  
Erebus Wong ◽  
Lau Kin Chi ◽  
Wen Tiejun

The recurrent crises of financial capitalism that has erupted within core countries have resulted in a double cost-transfer to countries in the Global South in conditions where the South suffers from political upheaval, economic down turns and social unrest. Encountering the challenges of global financialization and de-industrialization, the Global South needs to strengthen national sovereignty over common resources and enhance its capability of reorganizing the labour force, in order to protect the livelihood of the majority. Other than the usual approach of providing more urban jobs, an alternative more socially and culturally beneficial to society in the long term is to enhance local resilience against globalization and reactivate rural communities to promote jobs as well as reincorporate young people. Though the Chinese government’s central policy of ‘New Socialist Countryside’ attempts to absorb the crises of overproduction and unemployment through large scale domestic investment in basic infrastructure and social welfare in rural areas, it does not necessarily strengthen local resilience. Local resilience evolves through initiatives from below for social transformation through self-organization, popular participation, reciprocity and ecological practices.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. e04942784
Author(s):  
Andrea Aline Mombach ◽  
Carla Grasiele Zanin Hegel ◽  
Rogério Luis Cansian ◽  
Sônia Beatris Balvedi Zakrzevski

The perception of a basic education of the importance of agroecological agricultural systems for human and environmental health is fundamental for changes in consumption habits, the conservation of local biodiversity and long-term social transformation. We analyzed, by utilizing a questionnaire consisting of open and closed questions, the perceptions about agroecological and conventional agricultural production systems in 360 final students of basic education residing in nine Functional Planning Regions of southern Brazil. We used classification categories for answers within thematic axes, expressed in percentages and analyzed by means of Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests. In general, students recognize agroecological systems as healthier for their families and for soil and water conservation, largely because they do not use agrochemicals. However, they demonstrated difficulties when arguing their importance for the conservation of biodiversity, ecosystems and for ensuring the food security of populations. Television was the main source of information related to agroecology, mainly for students residing in rural areas, thus pointing out shortcomings in basic education regarding the approach of the theme in schools. Our results show the need to build a complex network of knowledge and discussions on agroecological agricultural systems in basic education, involving changes in student perceptions, behaviors and sustainable choices.


Author(s):  
Remus Runcan

According to Romania’s National Rural Development Programme, the socio-economic situation of the rural environment has a large number of weaknesses – among which low access to financial resources for small entrepreneurs and new business initiatives in rural areas and poorly developed entrepreneurial culture, characterized by a lack of basic managerial knowledge – but also a large number of opportunities – among which access of the rural population to lifelong learning and entrepreneurial skills development programmes and entrepreneurs’ access to financial instruments. The population in rural areas depends mainly on agricultural activities which give them subsistence living conditions. The gap between rural and urban areas is due to low income levels and employment rates, hence the need to obtain additional income for the population employed in subsistence and semi-subsistence farming, especially in the context of the depopulation trend. At the same time, the need to stimulate entrepreneurship in rural areas is high and is at a resonance with the need to increase the potential of rural communities from the perspective of landscape, culture, traditional activities and local resources. A solution could be to turn vegetal and / or animal farms into social farms – farms on which people with disabilities (but also adolescents and young people with anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide, and alexithymia issues) might find a “foster” family, bed and meals in a natural, healthy environment, and share the farm’s activities with the farmer and the farmer’s family: “committing to a regular day / days and times for a mutually agreed period involves complying with any required health and safety practices (including use of protective clothing and equipment), engaging socially with the farm family members and other people working on and around the farm, and taking on tasks which would include working on the land, taking care of animals, or helping out with maintenance and other physical work”


Challenges ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Farshad Amiraslani

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has revealed flaws in rural settings where most people live without the necessary tools, income, and knowledge to tackle such unprecedented global challenges. Here, I argue that despite the research studies conducted on rural areas, these have not solved rising rural issues, notably poverty and illiteracy. I propound a global institute to be formed by governments that provides a platform for empowering rural communities through better training, skills, and competencies. Such global endeavour will ensure the remaining rural communities withstand future pandemics if they occur.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3398
Author(s):  
Mariusz Jerzy Stolarski ◽  
Paweł Dudziec ◽  
Michał Krzyżaniak ◽  
Ewelina Olba-Zięty

Conventional energy sources often do not fully satisfy the needs of a modern economy, especially given the climate changes associated with them. These issues should be addressed by diversification of energy generation, including the development of renewable energy sources (RES). Solid biomass will play a major part in the process in Poland. The function of rural areas, along with a well-developed agricultural and forest economy sector, will be a key aspect in this as these areas are suitable for solid biomass acquisition in various ways. This study aimed to determine the solid biomass energy potential in the commune of Goworowo to illustrate the potential in the smallest administrative units of Poland. This research determined the environmental and natural conditions in the commune, which helped to identify the crucial usable solid biomass resources. The total energy potential of solid biomass resources in the commune of Goworowo amounted to 97,672 GJ y−1. The highest potential was accumulated in straw surplus (37,288 GJ y−1) and the lowest was in wood from roadside maintenance (113 GJ y−1). This study showed that rural areas could soon play a significant role in obtaining solid biomass, and individual communes could become spaces for the diversification of energy feedstock.


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