Hirotaka Matsuda

Weather Shocks and Urban Livelihood Strategies: The Gender Dimension of Household Vulnerability in the Kumi District Of Uganda

ABSTRACT The Teso sub-region of Uganda suffered numerous weather shocks in the past, with devastating food security consequences. Using household fixed effects and propensity score matching methods, we analyse the impact of exposure to drought, flood and severe incidence of pests and diseases on household consumption expenditure per adult equivalent for a random sample of households from Kumi Town Council. We find that weather shocks reduce consumption by 17 per cent and that the consumption decline is significantly larger among female-headed households. We also find a higher likelihood of non-farm employment, borrowing and receiving remittances in order to cope with the shocks.

Why do rural communities do what they do in the context of livelihood activities? Exploring the livelihood priority and viability nexus

Abstract This study seeks to empirically understand why rural households do what they do in the context of livelihood activities, even though most of the activities are not economically viable. Mixed methods, including interviews and questionnaire survey (n = 200), were used to collect primary data. Findings showed that livelihood priority is not the same as economic viability. We argued that most livelihood related projects in rural communities tend to be either nonstarter or counterproductive because of the failure of development agents to separate priority from viability. A gender perspective is applied to understand the differences in livelihood participation as well as preferences among households. While female-headed households tend to favor livelihood activities with stable income, their male counterparts prefer activities with higher income, suggesting that the former tend to be more risk averse. Results suggest that policy aimed at improving livelihood activities in rural communities should focus on viable projects.

Assessing local-scale inclusive wealth: a case study of Sado Island, Japan

Present trends of urbanization are accompanied by increasing demographic and economic shrinkage of rural regions. In countries such as Japan, these rural regions trail behind metropolitan counterparts according to GDP, the conventional measure used to guide governmental policies. Yet, past research suggests that these regions may be undervalued. Further, the Inclusive Wealth Index (IWI), largely only used at the national level, may be able to capture aspects previously missed. As such, our study attempts to highlight the wealth of rural regions by comparing the inclusive wealth of Sado Island and Japan between 1990 and 2014. Minor methodological modifications were made according to data availability at the local level and to improve the accuracy of human capital estimations. Results captured the ongoing shrinkage of Sado and demonstrate the distinct potential of the IWI as a stock measure. Sado’s per capita wealth was about 10% lower than the national averages, but its natural capital was about threefold national averages. Supplementary estimations of the natural capital of fisheries and cultivated forests suggest that inclusion of additional factors in the evaluation would further increase the relative valuation of rural regions. We discuss implications of our estimations for wellbeing, and conclude with a critical appraisal of the IWI calculation towards policy implementation of the index.

Development and Validation of a Data-Based Food Frequency Questionnaire for Adults in Eastern Rural Area of Rwanda:

This study aimed to develop and evaluate the validity of a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for rural Rwandans. Since our FFQ was developed to assess malnutrition, it measured energy, protein, vitamin A, and iron intakes only. We collected 260 weighed food records (WFRs) from a total of 162 Rwandans. Based on the WFR data, we developed a tentative FFQ and examined the food list by percent contribution to energy and nutrient intakes. To assess the validity, nutrient intakes estimated from the FFQ were compared with those calculated from three-day WFRs by correlation coefficient and cross-classification for 17 adults. Cumulative contributions of the 18-item FFQ to the total intakes of energy and nutrients reached nearly 100%. Crude and energy-adjusted correlation coefficients ranged from -0.09 (vitamin A) to 0.58 (protein) and from -0.19 (vitamin A) to 0.68 (iron), respectively. About 50%-60% of the participants were classified into the same tertile. Our FFQ provided acceptable validity for energy and iron intakes and could rank Rwandan adults in eastern rural area correctly according to their energy and iron intakes.

Conclusion: Synthesis, Recommendations, and Future Directions

This chapter summarizes 3 years of widespread research conducted under Climate and Ecosystems Change Adaptation Research in Asia (CECAR-Asia). The main aim of this study was to build agroecological bioproduction systems that adapt to climate change and to propose measures to enhance the resilience of rural production systems in three countries in rural Asia. A mosaic system was proposed to sustain these systems such that a fusion of traditional and modern systems results in a more resilient Asia now and into the future. Some of the key findings suggest that an integration of efficient large-scale modern systems with resilient localized ancient systems is a key intervention and a unique opportunity to promote a harmonious relationship with nature, whereas, extension services, timely information, and knowledge sharing are highly relevant for communities, especially those in rural areas.

Introduction: Enhancing Resilience Against Climate and Ecosystem Changes in Rural Asia

This chapter introduces the influence of climatic and ecosystem changes in agricultural communities across rural Asia including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Across various case studies in three major themes, this chapter outlines the structure and approach to lead the potential solutions to the problems that arise in the development of adaptation of bioproduction systems to climatic, social, and ecological changes. The solutions include methods to improve potential adaptive capacity and agroforestry systems, and an integrated irrigation water management to increase natural and livelihood resources. Following chapters represent a synthesis of sustainable traditional and modern systems and the methods operative in rural Asia, which identifies the advantages of mosaic systems to enhance resilience and promote sustainable development.

Farmers’ Behavior for Introducing Livestock to Respond to External Shocks

The purpose of this chapter is to reveal factors to introduce or raise livestock by farmers to respond to external shocks such as rapid economic growth with globalization and extreme weather events. Risk behaviors of farmers, social networks, and credit constraints are considered the main factors in this chapter. The target research area is the northern part of Vietnam around the Red River Delta. The villagers have a traditional home garden system, the so-called VAC, comprising trees for fruit, ponds for aquaculture, and livestock with high resilience. Because of the intrusion of the market economy, the traditional system is collapsing, although livestock can be considered a method to make smooth consumption in response to shocks. This chapter indicates that farmers in the targeted communities are coping with the intrusion of the market economy as an external shock. Raising livestock to generate a profit in the market has gained greater focus. Larger inputs for livestock may have caused environmental degradation and must be examined. Raising livestock is one of the major methods to enhance the resilience of households through smoothing consumption. However, it is probably causing other unexpected problems in the area because of the loss of the stability of the traditional VAC system.

Approach to Biofuel Issues from the Perspective of Sustainability Science Studies

Biofuels have been increasing in popularity, since they are promising substitutes for fossil fuels and are expected to contribute to reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Moreover, the production of biofuels is a means of alleviating poverty and developing both rural and agricultural areas. However, many researchers and institutions, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), voice scientific scepticism about the expected contributions of biofuel use. They also stress that the production and use of biofuels will lead to deforestation, water supply contamination and water depletion. The production and use of biofuels will have enormous impacts on the environment, the economy and the society. Clearly, these impacts are multitiered and complex. Therefore, strategies for biofuel use must be established through comprehensive analyses and scientific evaluations, with consideration given to complex socioeconomic issues, in order to achieve global sustainability. It is also important to consider that optimum solutions among boundary levels, such as global, regional and national levels, may vary and that these strategies must be coordinated in order to meet the demands of different optimum solutions. From this perspective, an interdisciplinary and integrated approach is best. However, many studies on biofuel, including those in the natural and social science fields, fail to use this type of approach. The aim of the present research is to comprehensively analyse the use of biofuels at global, regional and national levels using the sustainability science approach and attempt to assess biofuel use strategies from an interdisciplinary perspective. Sustainability science is a new academic area that addresses complicated issues, such as biofuel production and use, by restructuring problems and then proposing policy options.

Key Strategies for Policymakers

Biofuels have been identified as having diverse environmental, social, and economic impacts, as discussed in Chap. 2. For this reason, the use of biofuels to realize a sustainable society requires study that takes into account the respective characteristics of biofuel deployment on a global, regional, national, and local scale. In this chapter, we examine deployment strategies for sustainable biofuels on a global scale by surveying the current and future issues that need to be considered. These issues include environmental impacts starting with the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from biofuels and including other issues such as energy security, food security, rural development, agriculture and industrial policy, trade, and north-south issues. We then examine ways that biofuel deployment strategies can address these issues to realize a sustainable society.

The Impact of the Bio-Ethanol Production to the World Grain Market: A Case Study of World Maize Market

The world food supply has been expected to undergo a serious shortage because of the extremely rapid development of a number of countries, especially BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China). In addition, it has also been predicted that an expansion in production of biofuels will not only intensify that shortage but also increase the price of food. However, the price effects on farming activity and the contribution of technological progress to increase the yield are issues that have not been considered in current papers. The aim of this study is to simulate the impact of productions on the international grain market, including the effect of price and the contribution of technological progress to agricultural production, mainly focusing on the international maize market from 2005 to 2020, by establishing a simultaneous equation model. It is shown in this study that the international price of maize has not been increasing, although it fluctuates every year. The reason is that the time trend variable as the proxy variable of technological progress, indicates that technological progress increases production even though the harvested area of maize remains at its usual level or decreases. The results indicate that the food crisis that was widely anticipated has not occurred and that the technological progress is an important reason.