Multifunctional Rural Transition Along China’s Yangtze River Transect: Spatial differentiation and Economic Relevance

To understand rural sustainability, it is necessary to scrutinize the relationship between rural transition and economic growth. The article uses rural multifunctionality as an analytical lens through which to view the processes of the development of rural occupancy. There is a pressing need to ascertain how to quantify rural multifunctionality and reveal its spatial differentiation, as well as garner and investigate how multifunctional rural transition (MRT) responds to economic growth. This paper employed the concept of Transect to compensate for data deficiencies in a long temporal series and established the indicator system from three different aspects- “living function, production function, and ecological function”, to measure MRT along China’s Yangtze River Transect. Our analysis showed that living function and production function display an increasing trend from underdeveloped western regions to eastern economically prosperous regions, and represent a high degree surrounding urban agglomerations, while economic growth only leads to a statistically insignificant decreasing trend in ecological function. The MRT resulting from multiple factors is much diverse, complex, sophisticated, therefore, it should be understood within a framework incorporating both endogenous and exogenous factors. According to the results, it is thus important to formulate differentiated managerial countermeasures corresponding to the economic development level rather than the uniform regulations.

Detecting the Dynamics of Urban Growth in Africa Using DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Data

Africa has been experiencing a rapid urbanization process, which may lead to an increase in unsustainable land use and urban poverty. Assessing the spatiotemporal characteristics of urbanization dynamics is especially important and needed for the sustainable development of Africa. Satellite-based nighttime light (NTL) data are widely used to monitor the dynamics of urban growth from global to local scales. In this study, urban growth patterns across Africa were analyzed and discussed using stable nighttime light datasets obtained from DMSP/OLS (the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Line-scan System) spanning from 1992 to 2013. We partitioned the nighttime lighting areas into three types (low, medium, and high) using thresholds derived from the Brightness Gradient (BG) method. Our results indicated that built-up areas in Africa have increased rapidly, particularly those areas with low nighttime lighting types. Countries with higher urbanization levels in Africa, like South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, and Libya, were leading the brightening trend. The distribution of nighttime lighting types was consistent with the characteristics of urban development, with high nighttime lighting types showed up at the urban center, whereas medium and low nighttime lighting types appeared in the urban-rural transition zone and rural areas respectively. The impacts of these findings on the future of African cities will be further proposed.

Urbanization and its Impact on Production Diversity and Income of Farm Households: An Economic Analysis Across Rural-Urban Interface of Bengaluru

The study was conducted in North of Bengaluru with an aim to analyze effect of urbanization on production diversity, farm income and factors influencing the same across the rural-urban interface. The required data was collected randomly from 80 farmers each under rural, transition and urban gradients. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the drivers of farm income. Herfindahl index was employed to capture the extent of production diversification. Results revealed that the rural farmers diversified from food crops to vegetable and flower crops over the years. Whereas, farmers of transition and urban gradients chose to grow high value horticulture crops instead of food crops. During 2019, the extent of diversification was more in transition (0.21) and rural (0.25) gradients compared to urban (0.29) gradient. In rural gradients, the major share of farm income was from cereals (31.79 %) followed by vegetables (28.65 %) and perennials (17.88 %) in 2014 but the major share was replaced by vegetables (28.69 %) and flower crops (19.98) in 2019. In transition and urban gradients, the major source of farm income was from vegetables in 2014 which was later substituted by fruit crops in 2019. Over the period of five years, the percentage increase in average farm income of households was highest in urban gradient (143.07 %) followed by rural (140.15 %) and transition (110.50 %) gradients. Land holding size, education, borrowed capital and investment in farming emerged as the principal determinants of farm income. As a whole, the study concludes that, urbanization led investment on high value crops through crop diversification which played a significant role in augmenting the farm income.

Investment and Crop Diversity: An Empirical Evidence from Rural-Urban Interface of Bengaluru

The study was undertaken in North of Bengaluru to analyse the investment pattern, crop diversification and farm household’s income across rural-urban interface. The required data was collected from randomly selected 80 farmers each under rural, transition and urban gradients. Tobit regression was used to determine the drivers of investment and Herfindahl index was used to capture the extent of crop diversification across rural urban interface. The per farm investment was relatively higher on water resource and irrigation structure across all the gradients. Around 56, 51 and 45 percent of farmers have invested on water resource and irrigation structures in transition, urban and rural gradient, respectively followed by animal husbandry (40% in rural gradient) and plantation and horticulture (25% in transition and urban gradients). There has been an investment led crop diversification from food crops to vegetables, flower and fruit crops in rural gradient between 2014 and 2019. Whereas, in transition and urban gradients, diversification was from food and vegetable crops to high value fruit crops during the same period. During 2019, the extent of diversification was more in transition (0.21) and rural (0.25) gradients compared to urban (0.29) gradient. Age of head of family, farm income and borrowed capital were the chief drivers which significantly affected the investment in agriculture. The study concludes that, investment led high value crops cultivation and crop diversification played significant role in augmenting the farm income leading to improvement in farmer’s welfare assuring food and livelihood security.