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Begin New Search Topic Agriculture Content Type Journal Article Publication Year within 10 Years

1. Impact of economic sanctions on net commodity-producing and net commodity-consuming countries

Author:
Sergio R. Vale and Eduardo Viola
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional (RBPI)
Institution:
Instituto Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (IBRI)
Abstract:
The war in Ukraine has had a marked economic impact. However, since Russia is a net producer of important commodities, the impact of sanctions on its economy was less than expected. But what would happen if there was a war involving a country that was a net importer of commodities? In the case of a possible China-US conflict over Taiwan, the impact on the world economy would be different, with a deeper recession around the world, but the impact on the Brazilian economy would still be positive on account of the possibility that would remain of agricultural exports to China.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Sanctions, Commodities, and Exports
Political Geography:
Russia, China, Europe, Ukraine, Taiwan, Asia, North America, and United States of America

2. Innovation and Economic Value: A Prospective Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Fab Bhutan Challenge

Author:
Milan Thomas
Publication Date:
10-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
National governments and international donors fund challenge competitions to foster innovation, but there is little evidence on the economic return to such investments. This paper conducts an ex-ante benefit-cost analysis to project the economic return on the 2023 Fab Bhutan Challenge, which was part of FAB23 Bhutan (the 19th annual international Fab Lab Conference). For the Challenge benefits side of the analysis, studies covering five topics were drawn from: crop yield improvements from climate adaptation (for Challenge 1 in Sarpang), cost and time savings from improved water supply (for Challenge 2 in Pangbisa), livelihood savings from human-wildlife conflict prevention (Challenge 3 in Limbukha Chiwog), revenue generation from cultural exports (Challenge 4 in Thimphu), and economic returns from special needs education (Challenge 5 in Rinchending). For the Challenge costs side, budget data were collected and interviews with challenge participants were conducted. Conservative estimates that account for the probability of some challenge solutions ultimately being nonviable place the economic return to Bhutan between $5 and $12 per dollar invested. The paper concludes by discussing opportunities for scaling solutions from the structured innovation challenge based on the global evidence, and implications of the study for Bhutan’s economic aspirations.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, Labor Issues, Water, Innovation, Productivity, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Human-Wildlife Conflict, and Special Education
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

3. Mission Strategic Plans: A Neglected Developmental Tool

Author:
Mark Wentling
Publication Date:
08-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
American Diplomacy
Institution:
American Diplomacy
Abstract:
US missions are required to prepare Integrated Country Strategies (ICS) every three years. In addition, missions with USAID programs are required to prepare Country Development Cooperation Strategies (CDSS) every five years. In developing countries, the strategies usually focus on increasing food crops and nutritional levels. I found during fifty years of work in a dozen missions that few read these strategies and even fewer apply them in their work. Missions go through a stressful period of completing these documents, but once Washington approves them they are often forgotten in a flurry of competing action requirements. Missions are usually engaged with applying the latest U.S. policy or assistance directives. And work priorities and budgetary allocations can shift dramatically with the installation of a new US administration.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Agriculture, Development, International Cooperation, and Food Security
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

4. China’s Role in the Modernization of Malawi’s Agriculture Sector

Author:
Raphael Mweninguwe
Publication Date:
06-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
China Brief
Institution:
The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
China has assumed a key role in the modernization of Malawi’s agriculture sector, which has made recent progress in enabling smallholder farmers to produce higher crop yields. The introduction of agricultural technologies used in vegetable, fruit, maize and rice production through the China Aid Project for Agricultural Technical Cooperation has not only created employment opportunities for the local population, but has also strengthened the economic situation of small farmers in Malawi. In February, at the opening of a training for senior agricultural workers, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Malawi pledged increased support for the development of the country’s agricultural sector “under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), and the Global Development Initiative” (Xinhua, February 17). The creation of the FOCAC coincided with the new strategy of the Chinese government in the 2000s, when Beijing sought to utilize development assistance, particularly in the agricultural sector, in order to strengthen overall Sino-African relations. At that time, many African countries were desperately looking for technical assistance in order to achieve a high level of agricultural growth and to solve their persistent food insecurity problems. [1] Malawi is one of the countries on the continent that has suffered longtime food insecurity, where PRC agricultural aid and training has benefited many smallholder farmers, who have expressed their appreciation for the assistance rendered. While some farmers and extension workers express satisfaction with China’s support for Malawi’s agricultural modernization efforts, others are worried about the impacts of climate change, which threaten the full adoption of the technologies offered by the PRC. Already an estimated 3.8 million people, about 20 percent of the country’s population, are facing a food crisis due to drought and floods that hit the country during the last growing season (World Bank, April 7). But China’s technologies aim to mitigate climate change impacts through simple, low-cost, and innovative farming technologies, such as furrow and bucket irrigation.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Development, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and Modernization
Political Geography:
Africa, China, and Malawi

5. U.S.-China Agricultural Dialogue in Des Moines Shows Potential for Improving Relations During a Critical Period

Author:
Kenneth M. Quinn
Publication Date:
11-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
American Diplomacy
Institution:
American Diplomacy
Abstract:
Iowa’s connections with China—highlighted by a 1985 visit by a young Xi Jinping, now 37 years later General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of the People’s Republic of China—make for an unusual and much-needed bright spot in today’s dismal U.S.–PRC relations. What better place than the leading agricultural state to look for collaboration in agricultural research and global development needed to face the global challenges of our time? In April 2022, Sino-American diplomatic relations took center stage in Iowa’s capital city, as three ambassadors—Nicholas Burns, the new Biden Administration envoy in Beijing, Qin Gang, the PRC ambassador to the U.S., and former U.S. ambassador to the PRC Terry Branstad—all participated in the U.S.-China Agricultural Dialogue that I co-organized and moderated.
Topic:
Agriculture, Diplomacy, and Dialogue
Political Geography:
China and United States of America

6. “One Single Agriculture”: Dismantling Policies and Silencing Peasant Family Farmers in Brazilian Foreign Policy (2016-2022)

Author:
Thiago Lima, Laura Trajber Waisbich, and Lizandra Serafim
Publication Date:
10-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional (RBPI)
Institution:
Instituto Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (IBRI)
Abstract:
Brazil experienced the opening-up and democratization of its foreign policymaking in the last decades, but since 2016 a wave of bureaucratic reforms sought to reverse that process. This paper contributes to understanding this phenomenon by looking at the agri-food dimension of Brazilian foreign policy. Through the analysis of official documental and discursive data, we discuss successive symbolic-discursive, as well as policy-institutional governmental efforts to close-off foreign policymaking to peasant family farmers and their interests. The study reveals changing patterns in state-society interfaces, and contributes to bridging the fields of Foreign Policy Analysis, Policy Dismantling and Social Participation.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Agriculture, Farming, and Social Order
Political Geography:
Brazil and South America

7. In Malawi, the battle to save mangoes

Author:
Charles Mkoka
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
Malawi, like other African fruit producers, is drawing on local and global resources to combat a pest which threatens vital fruit exports.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, Exports, Farming, and Crops
Political Geography:
Africa and Malawi

8. The Economic Policies of Lord Liverpool

Author:
Martin Hutchinson and Kevin Dowd
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (“Liverpool,” 1770–1828) was UK prime minister over the period 1812–1827. His achievements were remarkable. He designed the financial attrition strategy that defeated Napoleon; led the United Kingdom through the turbulence of the takeoff stage of the industrial revolution; inherited a daunting fiscal situation that included a debt/​GDP ratio of well over 200 percent, and implanted the austerity measures needed to put this ratio onto the path that led to later Victorian levels; reformed the currency; pushed through the return to the gold standard; promoted both the Corn Laws and free trade; successfully managed the 1825 financial crisis, the worst in over a century; and pushed through subsequent reforms that put the UK banking system onto a stable trajectory that lasted into the late 20th century.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, Fiscal Policy, and Trade
Political Geography:
Global Focus

9. Tea Farming Industry in Turkey and Social Economic History 1920-1960

Author:
Rahsan Inal
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Alternative Politics
Institution:
Department of International Relations, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey
Abstract:
This study aims to present the economic and social history of the tea farming industry in Turkey between 1920-1960. In Turkey, the “domestic tea” farming industry was initiated and continued under an initiative led by the nation-state at all stages. The present study investigates the historical process between 1920 and 1960 based on news reports from the central and local press, agricultural journals of the time, and parliamentary records, using also local, and regional historical resources. The state-led initiative is considered both an intervention that regulated social and economic structure in rural areas and a policy to encourage “domestic” tea consumption. The reasons underlying this intervention are addressed in two periods. In the first period, the primary goal was to overcome social and economic problems specific to Rize, the central city of tea cultivation, and the Eastern Black Sea Region, of which Rize is a part. In the second period of the state-led tea farming initiative, the goal was to complete the goals of the preceding period, and to satisfy the domestic demand for tea consumption through “national self-sufficiency” policies, and to start tea exports in the years to come. As a consequence of these efforts, not only tea has become a drink easily accessible by all social classes in Turkey today, but also the social structure in the tea-producing rural areas has been transformed.
Topic:
Agriculture, Nation-State, Industry, Farming, and Socioeconomics
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Asia

10. Land governance and displacement in Zimbabwe: The case of Chilonga Communal Area, Chiredzi District

Author:
Malvern Kudakwashe Marewo, Senzeni Ncube, and Horman Chitonge
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Africa Governance Papers (TAGP)
Institution:
Good Governance Africa (GGA)
Abstract:
This article investigates the effect on rural livelihoods of the displacement of people in Chilonga communal area in Zimbabwe. Various studies in Africa, including Zimbabwe, have shown that land displacements happen where the political elite, in collusion with multinational companies and powerful individuals, take advantage of weak land governance systems particularly in communal areas to displace people. Lack of title over land, which is mostly vested in the state, makes communal areas most vulnerable to displacement. This is evident in the current case study of Chilonga, where various statutory instruments have been enforced to evict people. The Chilonga displacement, enforced by the state to accommodate large-scale lucerne farming, ignores that land is a source of livelihoods and identity for communal area dwellers. It has also shown that people from communal areas have limited freedom to resist displacement that curtails access and use of land. We argue that the Chilonga case study illustrates our contention that, where African land governance is weak, political elites and their connections use it to achieve narrow interests regardless of the impact on communal area dwellers through displacement and loss of livelihoods.
Topic:
Agriculture, Governance, Displacement, Rural, Elites, Land Reform, Livelihoods, and Communal Areas
Political Geography:
Africa and Zimbabwe

11. An Overview of Agricultural Support Policies in Turkey: A Comparative Regional Analysis

Author:
Hakan Uslu
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
The agricultural sector is seriously affected by changes in many economic, social, or environmental factors. Hence, the necessity of supporting the sector by governments in various ways has become an indisputable reality. However, regional characteristics must be taken into account in order for these supports to reach their goals. Using a dataset spanning from 2002 to 2020, the current study comparatively analyses the changes in the agricultural support and agricultural production, income, and the value of products in two agricultural regions of Turkey, Central Anatolia and Southeast Anatolia regions. The results highlight that the increase in agricultural income is very low in both regions compared to the substantial changes in agricultural support policies. Additionally, the increase in the values of agricultural products in both regions is much higher than the increase in agricultural income, suggesting that the costs in agricultural activities are too high in the analysed regions.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, Environment, Governance, and Rural
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Asia

12. Seeds of Gulf-Africa Agribusiness

Author:
Sarah Townsend
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
When Gulf nations face food, security, and water scarcity issues, one response is to seek lucrative agricultural investments in fertile African lands. Yet, while such deals can bring benefits to the countries involved, there are also sizeable risks.
Topic:
Agriculture, Water, Food, Food Security, and Business
Political Geography:
Middle East and North Africa

13. The Politics of Pineapple: Examining the Inequitable Impacts of Southern Costa Rica's Pineapple Industry

Author:
Jennifer Brown, Tara Flint, and Jessca LaMay
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:
School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:
The Global North’s growing demand for fresh pineapple has created a system that is disproportionately profitable for companies and consumers in those countries to the detriment of people living and working in the Global South. Since the mid-1980s the Pineapple Development Corporation (PINDECO), a subsidiary of U.S.-based Del Monte, has established a monopoly over fresh pineapple exports in southern Costa Rica. We conducted pilot research in the municipalities of Buenos Aires and San Isidro del General in 2019, where the majority of PINDECO’s production takes place. PINDECO and the Costa Rican state claim pineapple production is beneficial to national development through its contribution to Costa Rican gross domestic product and employment opportunities, but our research and recent data reveal that in pineapple producing areas in the southwest, poverty levels remain high with worsening water and food security despite PINDECO’s large profit margins. There are numerous human and environmental health concerns linked to pineapple monocropping. Intensive pesticide use often utilizes chemicals that are banned or restricted in the countries they are imported from. PINDECO has been able to evade responsibility for environmental damages and social welfare obligations to employees while maintaining a largely positive public image through a lax regulatory environment and extensive subcontracting structure. This article connects regional socioeconomic issues to the intricate power dynamics and collusion between industry and state. The findings suggest that Costa Rica is not as environmentally conscious and sustainable as its public image portrays, with pockets of profit-driven industries taking precedence over community well-being and environmental sustainability.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and International Development
Political Geography:
South America, Central America, and Costa Rica

14. Debating land in Africa: an analysis of the impacts of colonialism and neoliberalism in Guinea-Bissau's agrarian transition

Author:
Rubilson Velho Delcano
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
This study examines que agrarian question in the African continent in general – relating it to Guinea-Bissau’s specific experience since the neoliberal period. The main objective is to provide the underlying historical panorama of land debate in the continent by using authors from several African regions and confronting them with Cabral’s perspectives (Cabral 1966) on how agriculture and industry should mutually stimulate each other, in a balanced and harmonized way, while considering the question of gender/ labour, in order to promote African farmers. In its first part, the article shortly investigates, without losing density, the academic debate among social scientists on agrarian transition in Africa. Special attention will be given to the farmers-land relation in colonial, post-independence and neoliberal times. In the second part of the study, we shall thoroughly approach current contradictions emerging from the African agrarian issue (gender and labour, food security and monoculture), articulating them with a closer look into Guinea-Bissau (our main object).
Topic:
Agriculture, Neoimperialism, Neoliberalism, Colonialism, Economic Development, Land, and Independence
Political Geography:
Africa and Guinea-Bissau

15. Reaching Georgia's Occupied Territories through Exchanges

Author:
Julius Tsal
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Ambassadors Review
Institution:
Council of American Ambassadors
Abstract:
In 2018, the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi initiated people-to-people (P2P) exchanges to the United States for agricultural scientists and university leaders from the Russian-occupied Georgian territory of Abkhazia. An initial study tour in the spring of 2018 focused on mitigating the devastating agricultural damage from the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB), and a second tour in the fall of 2018 focused on higher education leadership. Despite political sensitivities and logistical hurdles, such people-to-people programs increase participants’ understanding of the United States and give them an unbiased, first-hand experience of American civil society, its culture of innovation and democratic values. For otherwise isolated Abkhaz thought leaders, these experiences directly counter Russian anti-Western propaganda and demonstrate the benefits of Georgia’s pro-Western choice.
Topic:
Agriculture, Civil Society, Imperialism, and Propaganda
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Eastern Europe, Georgia, and North America

16. The Georgian Herald Samizdat Journal

Author:
Aleksandra Gryzlak
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Warsaw East European Review (WEER)
Institution:
Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:
From the very beginnings of Soviet rule in Georgia, the communists were not very popular throughout Georgian society and treated as occupants. Almost all active forms of resistance ceased to exist after the bloody suppression of the August Uprising of 19241. The massive purge of the Georgian intelligentsia that followed deprived the nation of its patriotic elites. Only after the death of Stalin and in the wake of Nikita Khrushchev’s famous speech in 1956, did the situation change. Khrushchev’s words of accusation and criticism, leveled at Stalin for his cult of personality and other mistakes, were treated in Georgia as an attack on their nation and an element of Russian chauvinism. It gave rise to a series of mass protests in Tbilisi in March 1956, that were brutally dispersed by the army. Approxi- mately 150 people died as a result2. During the 1950s and 60s, Vasilii Mzhavanadze was the leader of the Georgian Com- munist Party. In keeping with Khrushchev’s strategy of somewhat reduced control over the national republics, one could observe a consolidation of power by the ruling elite in Geor- gia3. This led to the spread of corruption, bribery and other illegal economic operations. Despite a weak economy, according to official statistics, the average Georgian’s savings in the 1970s were nearly twice that of the average Russian. Also, during this time, a very high number of educated specialists – who while graduating, did not take job assignments were still able to live reasonably well. Another phenomenon characteristic for the 1950s and 60s was a growing sense of nationalism. Symptoms of this included a relatively small number of national minority representatives able to gain access to higher education in the Georgian Republic, as well as clear-cut Georgian control over local and national party structures. The situation did not change after the fall of Khrushchev.4 Only in the early 1970s, did things start to change. In 1972, the key position of the First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party was passed to the former Minister of the Inte- rior – Eduard Shevardnadze, who began his rule with a broad campaign against corruption, overgrown bureaucracy, nepotism, and the so-called “second economy” (black market). Harsh administrative methods used in this campaign brought some positive effects – especially in the agricultural sector – but also resulted in a negative reaction from Georgian society5. Shevardnadze was also supposed to fight against growing Georgian nationalism. Campaigns, that condemned such things as reluctance to learn Russian lan- guage and promotion of national chauvinism in culture, were initiated. The teaching cur- riculum of the subject of history was also put under siege by the new authorities.
Topic:
Agriculture, Communism, Corruption, Human Rights, Nationalism, and Culture
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, Soviet Union, and Georgia

17. Demographic Factors Affecting the Level of Financial Literacy in Rural Areas: The Case of Vietnam

Author:
Phùng Thanh Quang and Khuc The Anh
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
This article measures the level of financial literacy in the rural areas of Vietnam. The financial literacy is usually concerned by financial institutions and government organizations. This is considered to be an indicator that contributes to the assessment of the quality and potential growth of the financial system. In the article the determinants of financial literacy in Vietnam are identified. In result the authors propose a designed financial literacy enhancement programme for implementation.
Topic:
Agriculture, Demographics, Finance, Rural, and Literacy
Political Geography:
Asia and Vietnam

18. An Examination of Wage and Income Inequality within the American Farmworker Community

Author:
Marianne L Bowers and Daniel Chand
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on Migration and Human Security
Institution:
Center for Migration Studies of New York
Abstract:
This article explores the reasons for earning inequalities among farmworkers. Using national data from the US Department of Labor’s National Agricultural Worker Survey (NAWS), we detail and examine differences in earnings among farmworkers based on certain characteristics identified in prior literature. We find that gender and youth are the most reliable predictors of farmworker earnings, with females and workers under 21 consistently earning less than other categories of farmworkers. In addition, we find that workers who seasonally follow crops are among the lowest earning farmworkers. We also confirm that, as expected, workers lacking authorized status earn less than those who have legal status. Surprisingly, however, foreign-born US citizens actually earn more than their US-born counterparts. These findings have substantial implications for policymakers and labor advocates who seek to improve the plight of US farmworkers.
Topic:
Agriculture, Gender Issues, Labor Issues, Youth, and Economic Inequality
Political Geography:
United States

19. Implications of Climate Change for Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Increased Conflict and Fragmentation

Author:
Carmel Davis
Publication Date:
09-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
What are the implications of climate change for security in low-income countries? As global warming approaches and passes 1.5°C, climate change will reduce income, disrupt social relations, and fragment authority. I focus on Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) because its large agricultural sector is sensitive to climate change and will likely see effects earlier than in other regions. The first section discusses climate change, particularly on the large agricultural sector in SSA. The next two sections analyze two channels by which climate change will affect SSA. First, a survey of quantitative analyses demonstrates a correlation between the level and growth of income and the outbreak of civil wars; climate change will likely decease income in the agricultural sector so the frequency of civil war outbreak will likely increase. Second, climate change will reduce the salience of then-current qualitative strategies of survival and increase the salience of new ones, which will likely increase social disruption and reduce government authority. The last sections discuss adaptation and conclude that a major effect of climate change will be fragmented authority and increased disorder in low-income areas.
Topic:
Security, Agriculture, Civil War, Climate Change, and Conflict
Political Geography:
Africa

20. Twenty Years of Morocco’s Development

Author:
Edward M. Gabriel
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Ambassadors Review
Institution:
Council of American Ambassadors
Abstract:
Twenty years ago, I arrived in Morocco as the new U.S. Ambassador. It was the beginning of a close-up view of the changes going on in Morocco for the next two decades. During my first meeting with King Hassan II, shortly after my arrival, he wasted no time in addressing Morocco’s agenda with the United States, challenging me on our nation’s positions, especially in regard to his Kingdom’s existential issue regarding sovereignty over the Sahara. This unexpected candid and warm exchange set the tone for regular meetings throughout my tenure during which concerns and grievances were voiced in private, rather than aired publicly. King Mohammed VI would continue this practice with me after his father’s death. My first few months in the country also coincided with the beginning of the first government of Alternance, led by opposition leader Abderrahmane El Youssoufi—a watershed moment for Morocco that many political analysts mark as the beginning of significant democratic reform and economic liberalization in Morocco after years of a strong-armed approach to governing and limited civil rights. Abderrahmane El Youssoufi, whose political activities had previously resulted in two years in jail and then 15 years of exile, became Prime Minister after his party, the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), won the most seats in the November 1997 elections. Since then, the international community has confirmed Moroccan elections as occurring in a fair and transparent manner. In 1998, the unemployment rate in the country was 17 percent and growing, with youths making up a disproportionate percentage of the population. Women lacked equal rights with men. The percentage of the population living at or below the poverty line for lower middle-income countries was around 28 percent, and more than half of the entire adult population was illiterate, with rates among rural women much higher. Electricity in the country reached only around 60 percent of the population, and almost a quarter did not have access to potable water. Infant mortality rates were 23 percent higher than the regional average, and maternal mortality ratios were nearly double the regional average. Overall, the micro-economic picture was in dire shape. The economy was too dependent on agriculture, accounting for 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and heavily reliant on rainfall. Infrastructure was lacking throughout the country, and environmental degradation was widely apparent throughout the cities and the countryside, presenting a challenge to the growth of tourism. Of particular note, the northern part of Morocco was completely neglected after a series of militant actions created an irreparable rift between King Hassan and his citizens there. In contrast to the micro-economic indicators, by 1998 King Hassan had established a strong macro-economic climate: a low ratio of debt to GDP, a low budget deficit and an open, competitive economic system. He adopted International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank reforms that, had Morocco been a member of the European Union, would have qualified it for inclusion in the Monetary Union. Upon his death in 1999, King Hassan left the country unified, with a very strong nationalistic belief in country and King, a reasonably performing economy and, most important, with a solid commitment in its support for U.S. objectives regarding counterterrorism and economic openness, and in promoting peace in the Middle East. Twenty years later, where is Morocco today? Where is it headed tomorrow?
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Diplomacy, Education, Democracy, Decentralization, and IMF
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, North Africa, and Morocco

21. Seasonal Migrants, Poverty Alleviation and Contract Sex in the Cocoa Producing Centers in the Littoral Quadrant of Cameroon: A Diagnostic Socio-Anthropological Study in the Post Colonial Era

Author:
Martin Sango Ndeh
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
Cocoa production forms a very important part of Cameroon’s agroindustrial enterprise particularly along the coastal forest zones along the Littoral Quadrant. There are several communities in the South West region of Cameroon, which economies rely heavily on the cocoa industry. These communities that include areas like Munyenge, Bafia, Bai Bikum, Ekata and many others operate seasonal economies that depend on the fluctuating harvest of the cocoa farmers. The peak periods of harvest in these cocoa producing communities are usually periods of boom that have a serious ripple effect on these communities’ economy. The cocoa industry in these areas is well organized and it has attracted migrant labor from far and near. There are migrants from far off places in the North West and Western regions of Cameroon who come and settle in cocoa producing areas in the South West Region2 . In these areas, there are different categories of cocoa plantation operators: those who own cocoa farms as sole proprietors, while others work as paid labor and others as Two-party operators.3 In these producing areas, there are other categories of workers like the cocoa buyers who act as intermediaries between the farmers and the exporting companies like TELCA. Cocoa buyers are agents who buy cocoa directly from the farmers and intend to sell to exporting companies. Some of the cocoa buyers are independent operators while others act as agents to cocoa exporting companies. These companies alongside the Cameroonian’s government have contributed enormously to develop the cocoa sector, which is an important export exchange earner. The government of Cameroon through regional bodies like South West Development Authority (SOWEDA) and the Rumpi Participatory Development Project4 have taken interest in enhancing the cocoa industry because of the role that it plays in the development of these particular areas and the nation as a whole. The growth and expansion of the cocoa sector in these areas has attracted a huge influx of migrants and it is against this backdrop that this paper establishes a link between cocoa production, seasonal migration and some of the social ills associated with these seasonal movements.
Topic:
Agriculture, Migration, Post Colonialism, Poverty, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
Africa and Cameroon

22. Creating a National Identity through Agricultural Education in Mandatory Palestine

Author:
Esther Yankelevitch
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
Formation of agricultural education in high schools was a milestone in the early 20th century history of Zionist education, and in the Jewish society in Mandatory Palestine in general. Agricultural education was a means of changing the character of the Jewish peo- ple by imparting agricultural knowledge and training. Candidates came from agricultural settlements, but mainly – and this was its uniqueness – they also came from the towns. In addition, agricultural education provided a framework for absorbing immigrant youth. This educational framework was, among other things, ideological because those who joined it were usually motivated by a desire to change the character of the Jewish society, return to the land and work it. The cost of funding agricultural schools was high for the local Jewish community, and therefore these schools remained dependent on private initiative and phi- lanthropy. In spite of the widespread ideological support, not many students actually took part in agricultural education due to the high cost of tuition on the one hand, and the need to help support their own families on the other. It can also be said that during this period, parents who had the means to provide their children with higher education, favored the “Gymnasium” high school model, which could lead to them engaging in other professions.
Topic:
Agriculture, Nationalism, Culture, and Identity
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

23. ‘Land Bandits’ or ‘Land Grabbers’: Fulani Herdsmen and Local Farmers Incessant Bloody Clashes in Nigeria

Author:
Seun Bamidele
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
Incessant bloody clashes between the Fulani herdsmen and local farmers in Africa have resulted in deaths and displacement. Different parts of Africa including Nigeria have experienced clashes between the Fulani herdsmen and local farmers throughout the colonial periods in Africa and even beyond (Abubakar 2012). The dire need for Fulani herdsmen to increase the productivity of their livestock farming in the midst of unfavourable climatic conditions have necessitated the search for adequate pasture for cattle grazing. In Africa, the Fulanis are about twenty million in number; they are one of the most widely dispersed and culturally diverse people scattered across Nigeria, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Sudan. The Fulanis, also known as the “Fula people or Fulbe” are the largest pastoral nomadic group in the world with root in West Africa, Northern part of Central Africa and Egypt (Adisa and Adekunke 2010). The common business of Fulanis is livestock production, they move from one region to another for grazing purposes. Livestock account for one third of Nigeria’s agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and contributes 16% of agricultural GDP; it is an important component of general agriculture and a key contributor to economic growth and development of any nation (Ojiako and Olayode 2008, 114). [...] The failure of the government policy on grazing reserve has left Fulani herdsmen to their fates, in determining where and how to raise their livestock. Amidst this situation, some medium and large corporate livestock farms have emerged, while many other Fulani herdsmen maintain their nomadic lifestyles. The latter live a sort of jungle life, characterized by selfhelp, in the search of grazing fields across the states, trying to protect their lives and properties from wild animals and cattle rustlers. These, among other things, have led to Fulani herdsmen being armed with dangerous military weapons like AK 47 and other dangerous ammunitions, which in turn have led to series of incessant bloody killings involving the Fulani herdsmen and local farmers in different rural communities across the country
Topic:
Agriculture, Conflict, and Land Rights
Political Geography:
Africa and Nigeria

24. Political Development and Modernisation in Bangladesh

Author:
Qamar Fatima and Khadeeja Imran
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
Political development, since very long, has been the subject of debate among the arenas of political analysts and philosophers whose list is wide ranging. It includes from classical to 20th Century‟s modern analysts. Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Karl Marx and so many others , due to their discontentment over the political conditions around them, presented their philosophies with a wishful thinking of progress and development of the respective civic cultures. The concern for political progress under the expression of political development became more pervasive after the Second World War. During this intellectual fermentation, a host of scholars offered a wide variety of definitional explication of the concept of political development. They all soon realised the ambiguity of the offered definition of the concept of political development. L.W. Pye defined it by using at least ten sub- concepts.This article will analyse the political development and modernisation in Bangladesh after explicating the concept of political development and modernisation which have been widely and generally accepted by the political scientists. This study will be confined to the areas: the organisation of the political system and its structural coherence, the democratic experience of the nation, and socio- economic development.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Health, Politics, and History
Political Geography:
Bangladesh and South Asia

25. Brăila at the End of the Nineteenth Century: The Report of Vice-Consul William J. Norcop on the Year 1899

Author:
Cristian Constantin
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
The text proper is preceded by a short historical comment on the activity of the International Trade in the Lower Danube region. The exports and imports of Romania, and her commercial relations with the different European countries had been, from their very beginning, organised on a highly individual basis owing to the initiative and according to the interests of private citizens. The report is an extremely important source for all social aspects related to the Brăila harbour, from statistic dates about export and import, agriculture, navigation, and economic realities in the towns. This document is an alternative to the statistical sources published by the European Commission of the Danube and by the Romanian authorities.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, History, Exports, Trade, and Imports
Political Geography:
Europe and Romania

26. North Korean Agriculture: Recent Changes and Prospects after Unification

Author:
Randall Ireson
Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
Modern farming in Korea has followed two divergent paths since the partition of the peninsula. Both countries substantially raised agricultural production in the 1970s, but policy decisions in North Korea created a situation in which the farm sector stagnated and ultimately failed when faced with changes in the 1990s. In addition to reviewing the technical and policy changes since the start of the food crisis, this paper examines the likely consequences of reunification on the North Korean farm sector. Structural changes would include the dominance of a market economy, dissolution of cooperative and state farms, and the need to recapitalize the entire farm economy. Organizational changes regarding land tenure, operation and management of formerly collective resources, and new roles for former North Korean agricultural guidance and research organizations would be challenging. Rural residents would face personal challenges of adapting to the requirements and thinking patterns of a market economy, coupled with the loss of close technical direction by the North Korean planning system. Although there are opportunities for enhanced farm productivity and economic well being at the household level, smoothly adapting to reunification would greatly depend on planning, policies and resources set in place for such an event.
Topic:
Agriculture, History, Famine, and Economy
Political Geography:
Asia, South Korea, and North Korea

27. Sustainability Issues in the Cameroon Banana Supply Chain

Author:
Kingsly Awang Ollong
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
Banana cultivation has long been a key aspect of agricultural development in Cameroon, actually taking advantage of this incentive impetus created for agricultural development. In the late 1970s, the Office Camerounaise de Banane (OCB), a state parastatal was put in place to regulate the banana industry in Cameroon. It received the mandate to organize the marketing chain of Cameroonian bananas (UNECA 1981). To better realize this mission assigned to her by the State, OCB was endowed with financial autonomy guaranteed through the allocation of public subsidies, ensuring the channeling of production, supervision of producers and access to credit and agricultural inputs to operators in the banana sector in Cameroon. The attractive and enticing prospects of a booming banana market and opportunities for land acquisition in a banana field that was seen as terra nullius aroused the interest of many international operators for the Cameroon banana sector. Until 1988 the banana sector in Cameroon was organized around coexistence between food crops and industrial cultivation. Since 1988, the organization of the productive system changed with the dissolution of the OCB in 1993—effectively signaling the end of small banana farms (Anania 2014, 173). Consequently, the field was left free to banana agribusiness consisting of giant multinational corporations. Under the impetus of these large industrial groups, Cameroon’s banana industry experienced tremendous growth. Thus, the industry pointed to the first largest export crops in Cameroon, imposing itself as a crucial economic activity (Atanga 2006)
Topic:
Agriculture, Natural Resources, Economic Development, and Supply Chains
Political Geography:
Africa and Cameroon

28. Enhancing Bhutanese Rice in the Domestic Market through increased Production and Favorable Pricing Regime

Author:
Ngawang Chhogyel, Mahesh Ghimiray, Kencho Wangdue, and Yadunath Bajgai
Publication Date:
02-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
Rice (Oriza sativa L.) is one the most important food crops in Bhutan. Due to its national importance the Department of Agriculture (DoA) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests initiated technical interventions in the major rice growing dzongkhags (districts) to improve rice yield and production from 2008-2009. The aim of the program was to commercialize domestically produced rice through enhanced yield, production and rice value chain. The program involved increased investment for intensified promotion of higher yielding varieties of rice, farm mechanization, post harvest and marketing, capacity building, nutrient management and crop protection as the software component. The hardware part saw the constructions and renovations of many irrigation schemes and construction of rice processing units. As a result of the intensified interventions the productivity of rice yield has increased to 3.88 t/ha in 2013 from about 2.81 t/ha in 2009. Favourable pricing mechanism is essential for both farmers and the consumers although farmers want higher prices and the consumers the lower. To facilitate smooth trade the DoA has recommended prices for different varieties of paddy for farmers by maintaining reasonable margins besides associated costs. Therefore, adjusted farm-gate prices have been worked out so as to serve as the recommended paddy procurement prices or basis for calculation. The formal domestic rice trade has come to mainstream markets by involving the Food Corporation of Bhutan Limited. Due to the strategic interventions the domestically produced rice in circulation is estimated to be 255 t currently (as of June 2015) and it is expected to increase further with the prioritized investments, good pricing mechanism and policy support. In conclusion, the commercialization program brought about the increase in yield and overall production and has successfully main streamed trade of domestically produced rice in Bhutan.
Topic:
Agriculture, Markets, Food, Trade, Production, and Rice
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

29. Brazilian Foreign Policy and Investments in Angola

Author:
Pietro Carlos De Souza Rodrigues and Sonia Delindro Goncalces
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:
Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:
The literature has given increasing attention to the role played by Brazilian transnational companies in its international insertion. In this context, special attention has been given to Brazilian private activities in Africa and, in particular, in Angola. Some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are understood as potential markets for investments, especially given the similarities of the challenges for development and expertise of some of the Brazilian firms in sectors as agriculture, mining and civil construction. The objective of this paper is to try to capture possible relations between Brazil-Angola bilateral relations over the international operations of Brazilian firms. Our argument is that the business environment to investments has been favoured by a simultaneous international political alignment, as a consequence of the changes in the Brazilian foreign policy orientation.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Agriculture, International Cooperation, Foreign Direct Investment, Mining, and transnationalism
Political Geography:
Africa, Brazil, South America, and Angola

30. Brazil and the United States: Renewed Momentum in a Natural Partnership

Author:
Liliana Ayalde
Publication Date:
09-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Ambassadors Review
Abstract:
It is impossible to comprehend Brazil without understanding the dimensions of this continent-sized country, which occupies a land mass larger than that of the lower 48 of the United States. Brazil’s land border, which it shares with ten South American neighbors, is five times larger than the border between the United States and Mexico. Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world in terms of population. (For context, Indonesia is fourth.) It has abundant natural resources of every kind, including the world’s largest reserves of fresh water. It is home to two-thirds of the iconic Amazon, the globe’s largest tropical rainforest. It is the second largest economy in the Western Hemisphere and, depending on one’s calculus, the seventh or eighth largest economy in the world. The State of Sao Paulo alone has an economy larger than that of Argentina. Brazil has more cities with a population of over one million people than the United States. It is the world’s second largest exporter of agricultural goods after the United States. It derives 75 percent of its energy needs from hydro-electric sources—some of the cleanest energy platforms among large nations—and its current production of oil and gas make it among the top ten energy producers in the world. Brazil could become an even larger global producer with the development of its pre-salt oil reserves. With Embraer, Brazil has the world’s third largest aviation company after Boeing and Airbus, and in Gerdau, the top producer of long steel in the Americas. And this is just an illustrative sampling. One needs to keep in mind these basic facts about Brazil to help put surface events, including today’s headlines, in perspective.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, Energy Policy, Oil, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States and Brazil

31. Michael Fakhri. Sugar and the Making of International Trade Law

Author:
Anna Chadwick
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Michael Fakhri in his book Sugar and the Making of International Law takes inspiration from Antony Anghie, a scholar who famously disrupted prevalent conceptions of public international law. Using sugar as a ‘trace element’, Fakhri follows Anghie’s lead in retracing the historical origins of international trade law in order to challenge pervasive perceptions about this legal regime. What he is keen to demonstrate is that free trade, like state sovereignty, is not something that international institutions are merely officiating. Rather, the meaning of this concept has shifted over time as it has been applied by different institutions and actors within the international legal order to differential effect. It has been both conditioned by, and received the conditioning of, broader political, economic and social forces. Critically, it is as much the product of international institutions governing trade as it is their purpose.
Topic:
Agriculture, Imperialism, International Law, International Trade and Finance, History, World Trade Organization, and Economy
Political Geography:
Britain, Europe, and Global Focus

32. Some Contradictions in Contemporary Cuban Economic Development

Author:
Ricardo Torres Pérez
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Americas Quarterly
Institution:
Council of the Americas
Abstract:
In an August 2010 address to the Cuban National Assembly, President Raúl Castro unveiled a plan that would irrevocably alter the Caribbean nation's trajectory. As part of a broader package of economic changes to increase productivity and exports in a number of sectors, the government planned to lay off 1 million state workers over the next five years, half of those in just six months. The announcement was based on the basic principle that the state could no longer afford to keep unproductive companies afloat and provide the public services—like universal education and health care—that are key to Cuba's socialist model. While Cuba is no stranger to economic crises, this time the proposal appeared to be well grounded and more in line with contemporary economic trends. To pick up the slack shed by the public sector, the Cuban government introduced a number of economic "updates," known as lineamientos (guidelines), to the Cuban economy. The idea was to create space for private-sector growth by granting more licenses for Cubans to employ themselves—an incremental first step grudgingly taken toward a more market-friendly system.
Topic:
Agriculture
Political Geography:
Russia and Cuba

33. Celebrating Chinese New Year in Cuba — 10 Things to Do in Valparaíso — Mezcal goes upscale in Mexico—Graphicanos.

Author:
Richard André
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Americas Quarterly
Institution:
Council of the Americas
Abstract:
Graphicanos View a slideshow of Graphicanos prints below. Indiana is better known for the Indy 500 and sports teams than for a thriving art culture, so most art lovers would be surprised to stumble upon the cutting-edge exhibit of serigraphic prints—a contemporary art form that uses block-size ink stencils to print images onto canvas—on display this winter at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. Charles Shepard, the museum's executive director and curator of the groundbreaking exhibit—Graphicanos: Contemporary Latino Prints from the Serie Project—likes to point out that there is a thriving art world beyond the traditional centers of New York and San Francisco. And he believes presenting often-ignored contributions of Latino artists in the American “heartland”—not usually seen as a center of Latino culture—reflects the rich diversity of U.S. society today. “Every part of our diverse culture is making art in some form,” Shepard says. “And as a museum, we should be looking at that.” The museum hosts an annual Día de los Muertos celebration every November, which attracts about 2,000 visitors from a variety of cultural backgrounds. The event became so popular that it inspired him to collaborate with the late Sam Coronado, a Mexican-American serigraphic print artist, for the Graphicanos exhibit.
Topic:
Agriculture
Political Geography:
New York, Cuba, and Mexico

34. Country Study: Colombia

Author:
Sebastian Agudelo and Diana María Ocampo
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Americas Quarterly
Institution:
Council of the Americas
Abstract:
In Colombia's 2010–2014 National Development Plan, President Juan Manuel Santos listed the mining sector as one of the five engines of the country's economic growth, alongside infrastructure, housing, agriculture, and innovation. At the same time, the government recognized the need for regulatory, legal and policy instruments to make Colombia a regional powerhouse for mining and infrastructure.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
Colombia

35. Journal of Advanced Military Studies: Fall 2014

Author:
David Zvijac, Jason J. Morrissette, Douglas A. Borer, and Brian J. Ellison
Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Advanced Military Studies
Institution:
Marine Corps University Press, National Defense University
Abstract:
In Marine Corps Vision & Strategy 2025, the 34th Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James T. Conway, laid out his vision of the Corps: “Marines must be agile, capable of transitioning seamlessly between fighting, training, advising, and assisting—or performing all of these tasks simultaneously. . . . Future operational environments will place a premium on agile expeditionary forces, able to act with unprecedented speed and versatility in austere conditions against a wide range of adversaries.” Just as the nature of warfare has changed over time, so too has our need to assess future operations and the ever-evolving environment in which our forces must act.
Topic:
Security, Agriculture, Water, and Military Affairs
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, China, South Asia, Korea, and United States of America

36. Impact of Microcredit Scheme on Socio-economic Status of Farmers (A case study of PRSP in District Gujranwala)

Author:
Muhammad Alam, Raza Ullah, Ali Iqtidar Mirza, Waqar Saleem, Mehboob Elahi, and Hamid Sultan
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
Pakistan is an agricultural country and the majority of the population belongs to rural areas, therefore rural sector is the main source of economic development and manpower in the country. The development of rural areas is essential for the enhancement of agriculture sector and for the betterment of rural communities. The aim of the present study was to find the impact of microcredit on socio- economic status and living standards of the farmers in rural areas of district Gujranwala. The universe for the present study was all farmers who got loan from the Punjab Rural Support Program in district Gujranwala for agricultural purpose. The Sample of 185 respondents was selected from the targeted population using the simple random sampling technique. A survey was conducted to carry out the study in which a close ended structured questionnaire was developed to collect data from the farmers. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to draw the results from the study. Through descriptive analysis, the study clearly demonstrated that microcredit has played a positive role in improving the socioeconomic status of farmers after getting the loan. In this regard the study observed that microcredit played the positive role in changing and improving the living standards, diet patterns, health status and childrens education of the respondents. Chi square test was used to test the proposed hypothesis of the study and to verify the association between variables. The results of the Chi square test revealed that there was a significant impact of microcredit in improving socioeconomic status and household living standard of the farmers.
Topic:
Agriculture, Health, Microcredit, Dietary Habits, Farmers, and Standard of Living
Political Geography:
Pakistan and South Asia