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ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF |
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RURAL
DEVELOPMENT |
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol.1, July 1991,
No. 1
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Agriculture and
Rural Development in the Asia-Pacific Region:
Present Scenario and Future Outlook
By
AZM Obaidullah
Khan
Abstract:
The paper very succinctly describes the
positive aspects of agricultural development
in the Asia-Pacific region, urges not to be
complacent with the better performance
achieved in the 1980s, particularly with
respect to record production of cereal
harvest, high production of livestock and
building of a reasonably good food stocks, and
finally proposes a set of actions for
maintaining the prosperity in the 1990s and
distributions of its benefit to the poor and
the disadvantaged.
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South Asian: Those
who are Left Behind-Issues and Perspectives
By
Nurul Islam
Abstract:
South-Asia contains 46.4 percent of the poor
of the developing world and the large majority
of them live in rural areas. The rural poor
are predominantly small and landless farmers,
the extreme poor amongst often them do mot
have access to food providing minimum
nutritional requirements. The mainstream
thinking, regarding appropriate development
strategy for alleviating poverty in these
areas, seems to be veering around to the
position that both economic growth and
increasing social expenditures to deal
directly with certain aspects of poverty are
needed. This present paper concerns not so
much with reducing inequality as with
alleviating poverty. The paper with this end
in view examines the income distribution in
South-Asian countries. It suggests three
inter-related sets of measures to alleviate
poverty in South Asia: (1) necessity to
stimulate the economic growth and at the same
time to ensure that the poor participate in
the benefits from the process of growth; (2)
necessity to expand the social expenditure of
the government on the broad-based improvement
of the health, education, sanitation and
nutrition of the entire-population; and (3)
necessity to ensure direct measures either to
transfer income or food (the most basic of the
minimum human needs) or to undertake
employment programmes, designed for the very
poor to provide them access to minimum income.
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Gender and Rural
Poverty in Asia: Implications for Agricultural
Project Design and Implementation
By
Constantina
Safilios-Rothschild
Abstract:
In Asia, gender and rural poverty are
inter-linked in different ways. Gender appears
to be a principal criterion for the allocation
of scarce resources in communities and
households. The effects of intra-household and
societal gender inequities leading to women’s
lesser access to food, health care, education
and skills for productive employment are
significant with regard to poverty creation
and its perpetuation. Gender inequities are
also exhibited in the process of development
thinking.
In Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, the trends
in respect of continuing intra-household
gender inequities are reflected in the
allocation of scarce resources. Women are less
endowed in respect productive assets that
could enhance the returns to their labour.
Women constitute the central agents to the
success of poverty alleviation efforts since
their income meets the basic domestic needs.
There is a lack of data regarding women’s
contribution in agriculture. The government
and donor organizations are not mainstreaming
women in agricultural and other rural
development programme. In most countries,
women farmers are bypassed by agricultural
extension.
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Poverty and Gender
Issues
By
Alexandra Stephens
Abstract:
Rural women have often been the victims of
development processes and outcomes, as evident
from the increasing duration of their
work-day, the widening gap between male and
female incomes and gradual trend towards their
greater responsibility in the management of
household affairs. In Asia and the South
Pacific, they hardly get recognition as
farmers or are paid as such, although half of
their working hours is involved in food
production. Their health is affected by
working longer than men. Lack of medical care,
food and social services results in higher
mortality rates for women.
Women become the principal victims to
environmental degradation. Women farmers
seldom get the opportunity of farm management
training. In South Asia, schooling for girls
is very limited. They are highly constrained
in upward mobility due to their low education
and access to information. Hence, their
contribution in decision-making is vitally
hampered.
Women get very negligible access to the
economic means, when compared to men. Their
participation in rural organization is poor.
In the developing world, women farmers are
almost outside the ambit of high-tech
agricultural scenario.
A women farmer is, generally, in darkness
about land-use planning. Women are not
adequately involved in the recent efforts
towards post-harvest loss reduction at the
farm and village levels. The concepts of food
standards and quality control are beyond the
reach of rural women.
FAO’s Action Plan centres round four spheres
of life, namely, civil status, economic,
social and decision-making. Each sphere
contains its individual strategy for enhancing
women’s status at each level of the society.
The author concludes that women-themselves
should rise to the occasion and take necessary
steps to redress the problem of gender
imbalance.
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Food Policy and Rural Poverty Alleviation in
India
By
R. Thamarajakshi
Abstract:
Food policies determine the ‘exchange
entitlement mappings’ of rural labour, the
most deprived categories of the population,
and thus the state of nutrition and poverty in
an economy. The effectiveness of food policies
can be traced through the nature of their
implications for the rural labour market. This
paper attempts to examine the effect of food
policies in India on the rural poor with
special reference to agricultural labour in
the post-seventy period when technological
change got established in two important
cereals viz., wheat and paddy. India has a
long experience of Government intervention in
foodgrain market and has been supporting
farmers and providing food security to the
poor. She has also been successfully
implementing wage employment programmes for
rural labour besides income generation
programmes for the poor. It is observed that
totality of factors, such as the introduction
of high yielding varieties, expansion of
irrigation, investments in infrastructure,
delivery of credit and critical inputs on easy
terms and a good extension service, along with
a supportive price policy have made possible a
sustained growth in the production and
productivity of agriculture in general and of
wheat and paddy in particular with
consequential decline in cereal barter terms
of trade in the last two decades. Growth in
agricultural production has been accompanied
by growth in employment in agriculture
although employment elasticity in that sector
has been less than unity and is declining.
Further, the rural employment programmes of
the Government have not only been generating
substantial quantum of additional employment
but also improving the bargaining power of the
rural labour. As a result, real wages have
risen, The Public Food Distribution System has
been making special efforts to cover remote
and for-flung areas and distributing
foodgrains to tribal population and the target
groups of rural wage employment programmes at
subsidised rates Cereal prices have been
moderately stable. The dally status
unemployment rate in rural areas has shown a
decline in this period. Government’s
agricultural production and price policies,
rural employment policies, public distribution
policies and most importantly the overall
growth of the economy have all combined to
bring down rural poverty in a significant
measure.
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Monitoring and
Evaluation Mechanism of Agrarian Reform and
Rural Development in Selected Asian Countries
By
Durga Prasad
Paudyal
Abstract:
Agrarian Reform and Rural Development
programmes play a key role in the countries of
Asia-Pacific region. The present sectoral
approach to assess the impact of these
programmes, give inadequate and often partial
pictures, because a number of
ministries/departments and their field level
agencies are involved in the implementation.
Therefore, there is a need to design a
comprehensive M&E mechanism at the national
level with proper linkages with the concerned
agencies at national, sub-national and project
levels. This article explains the existing M&E
mechanism of four Asian countries and argues
that the M&E mechanism development by CIRDAP,
may generate a better data-base.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol.II, July 1992,
No. 1
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How Poor are Women
in Rural India?
By
A.K.Rajuladevi
Abstract:
Women constitute and increasing percentage of
the poor and households headed by women suffer
severe deprivation, and lack access to
resources necessary to improve their lot. The
process of proletarianisation and
pauperization, caste structure etc, play
important roles in determining female
participation in work; female work
participation rate is highest not only amongst
the poorest households but also among the
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
This paper, through review of relevant
literature shows how poverty focused
strategies mostly provide channels through
which new ties of dependence and exploitation
are established. It discusses further, that as
the economic status of poor women’s households
decreases, they combine domestic work with
wage work. It analyses those regional factors
which act as powerful determinants o rural
household strategies for the deployment of
female labour other than caste and household
economic status. This paper also examines
whether the increase in rural women’s labour
force participation is a sign of deepening
poverty which has forced them into the labour
market for survival or an indication of new
economic opportunities which are forcing
households to move against the cultural milieu
and send them out to work. Finally, the paper
focuses on gender based inequalities in access
to employment opportunities and explores the
intra-household gender discriminatory
practices in the distribution of food, health
care and education within poor households.
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Participatory
Planning for Rural Development and Disaster
Management in Bangladesh
By
Hiroyuki Nishimura
Abstract:
Based on empirical studies conducted in
several villages in Bangladesh, the paper
attempts to identify the types of disasters
that occurred in the past and the effects of
such disasters, especially floods on
agricultural activities, It them goes on to
examine how disaster management could be
incorporated into rural planning focusing on
the need to adopt a participatory approach to
make such planning effective.
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Managing
Development Through Institution Building
By
Salehuddin Ahmed
Abstract:
Impact of various efforts for improving the
socio-economic conditions of the poor in the
developing countries can be maximized through
proper management and implementation of
development programmes/projects. Effective
project management and implementation are also
crucial for sustainable development.
Institutions, which encompass entities at the
local level, community level, regional level,
national level and in parastatals, project
management units and so on are integral parts
of project management and implementation.
However, despite strong statements about the
essential role of institutional development,
and the realization of its potential
contribution to development efforts, the issue
of institutional development has received
relatively little attention by policy makers,
planners and implementators of programme.
This paper presents some issues on
institutional development which are currently
being focused on. In the context of developing
countries, institutional development should
not be looked at merely from a technical point
of view and should not be taken merely with a
distinct project entity. An interdisciplinary
approach to institutional development, not a
partial and iterative approach, is required
for efficient management of development
programmes/projects.
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Mining
Resettlement and rural Development in Malaysia
By
Hassan Naziri
Khalid
Abstract:
This article focuses on the formation of
mining resettlements in tin-rich Kinta Valley
Malaysia, comparing this type of resettlement
with other types of resettlement schemes under
the rural development programmes in that
country. Mining resettlements are set up as
compensation from mining companies to
villagers whose lands are acquired for mining
of tin. As these mining resettlements are
under taken by private ventures, they are set
up in an adhoc manner with little
consideration for humanitarian needs, in
contrast to the government sponsored
resettlement schemes. Mining resettlement
could be improved by coordinating the efforts
of the mining companies and government
agencies carrying out rural development
programmes.
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Farmers’ Use of
Communication Media in Adopting Agricultural
Technologies-a farm level study in Bangladesh
By
M.A.Kashem, A.
Halim and M. Qulfikar Rahman
Abstract:
The present study was designed to analyze the
relative contribution of various communication
media in the transfer of modern agricultural
technologies to farmer. Data were collected
from a sample of 150 farmers from two villages
under Sadar upazila of Mymensingh district
from 23 April to 25 May 1991. A weighed score
was used in order to compute the relative use
of different communication media. The
frequently used media were Block Supervisors,
neighbour, veterinary hospital, on-farm trial,
radio etc. in adopting different agricultural
technologies. However, individual contact
media were also used. Agricultural knowledge,
competence as farmer and age were
significantly related to the adoption of rice
technologies; innovativeness and behaviour
intent were significantly related to livestock
production; behaviour intent was significantly
related to fish culture; and agricultural
knowledge, competence as farmer and age were
significantly related to overall agricultural
technology adoption.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol.II, December
1992, No. 2
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Can and Should
Social Science Disaster Research Knowledge and
Findings from Developed Societies be Applied
in Developing Societies?
By
E.L.Quarantelli
Abstract:
The paper considers the extent to which social
science research findings about disasters
primarily derived from developed countries can
and should be applied in developing societies.
It is first noted that the conceptual
distinction made between developed and
developing social systems may lead to an
underestimation of the existing capabilities
for preparing for and responding to disasters
in developing nations. The general differences
between organizational structures in developed
and developing societies are then noted
because organizations everywhere are the prime
actors in disaster preparedness and response.
However, most of the paper discusses six major
observations with respect to the extent to
which empirically based research findings
about the behaviour of organizations in highly
urbanized and industrialized societies can be
extrapolated to or applied in developing
social systems. The paper concludes that it is
not a matter of either/or, and that there are
certain social features in developing
societies which might lessen the necessity of
importing disaster social technology from
developed countries.
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Community-Based
Resource Management as a Strategy for
Sustainable Development
By
Francisco P.
Fellizar, JR
Abstract:
Community-Based Resource Management (CBRM), a
strategy aimed at achieving sustainable
development, has been conceived as a process
by which the people are given the opportunity
and/or responsibility to manage and utilize
resources with a concern for future needs.
CBRM is practiced in many countries including
the Philippines. Through a presentation of
CBRM undertakings in the Philippines, the
paper attempts to identify the features of
CBRM, focusing on the experience of such
projects. The paper concludes by identifying
the elements of CBMB and factors critical to
its adoption and implementation.
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Subsistence
farming in Asia: Income and Resource
Allocation
By
Salehuddin Ahmed
and Shafiqur Rahman
Abstract:
Most of the households in the rural area of
the Asia-Pacific region operate at a
subsistence level. In as much as the basic
decision making unit in the rural sectors of
these countries is the household, an
understanding of its resource and income
allocation pattern is a necessary prerequisite
for the formulation of policies and strategies
of rural development. The policies and
programmes of agricultural development pursued
so far not have been directed towards the
receiving and delivery mechanisms of the
agricultural sector as well as the small and
marginal farmers. Empirical evidence has
indicated that the subsistence farmers have
derived less benefits from agricultural
development programmes compared to the medium
and the large farmers. The study of rural
subsistence farm households therefore becomes
necessary to ensure that government programmes
for agricultural transformation, including
programmes for the creation of non-farm
employment are based on empirical evidence.
This has been attempted in this paper through
the analysis of income and expenditure
behaviour of farm households and a discussion
of the allocative efficiency of production
inputs.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol.III, July
1993, No. 1
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Development of
Rural Industries and Transformation of China’s
Rural Economy
By
Momtaz Uddin Ahmed
Abstract:
The paper examines the contributions of rural
industries in the process of modernizing
transformation of the Chinese rural economy.
Rural industries in China experienced
phenomenal growth, ranging between 20-25
percent in the post-reform period and played a
crucially important role in absorbing surplus
rural labour, raising employment and income
status of rural households and in facilitating
the development of a modern industrial base in
rural townships. The economic dynamism
displayed by rural industries in China has
been a consequence of the encouragement
provided by the government to the development
of market economy and private enterprise
systems in the post-reform years. The Chinese
experience of rural industrial development
seems instructive for the agriculture
dominated developing Asian countries which are
grappling with problems of surplus labour
absorption, raising income and living
standards of the rural poor, and keeping
rural-urban migration within reasonable
limits.
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A Framework for
Analysis of Macro-Micro Transmission
Mechanisms in Bangladesh: some preliminary
considerations
By
Mustafa K. Mujeri,
Quazi Shahabuddin, Salehuddin Ahmed
Abstract:
Since independence, Bangladesh has been
subjected to policy interventions and shocks
that profoundly influenced its macro-economy
and future growth prospects. During recent
years, the pursuit of structural adjustments
(SA) as an integral component of
macro-economic policy has raised a number of
issues relating particularly to consideration
of equity and alleviation of poverty. The
assessment and analysis of the impact of SA on
poverty requires the establishment of links
between such policies and the welfare of
households involving analytical framework of
macro-micro transmission mechanisms. This
article examines the major conduits of
macro-economic transmissions in Bangladesh
and presents the preliminary outline of a
general equilibrium model to analyze the
issues and indicates the data and information
requirements for its empirical implementation.
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Questions of
Gender in Development Planning: Women’s
Experiences in a New Settlement of the
Mahaweli Project in Sri Lanka
By
Joke Schrijvers
Abstract:
Women settlers in a new settlement of the
prestigious Mahaweli River Development Scheme
in Sri Lanka felt that they were living “like
wild animals in a jungle.” Deprived of the
support of their relatives and without direct
access to the means of production, they became
dependent upon their husbands. Violence in the
scheme increased considerably. Yet these
women should not be seen as helpless victims
of a development planning based on biased
gender conceptions. The thoughts and actions
of female settlers, however restricted and
invisible from the outside, to some degree
co-determined the actual outcome of the
planning. What was their impact, and what were
the limitations of their activities behind the
screens? How to support women as active
participants in their own right, from the very
start of a development intervention? In order
to answer such questions new research
methodologies are needed, which combine
gender-awareness with a bottom-up, dynamic,
actor-oriented perspective.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. III, December
1993, No. 2
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People’s
Participation: Some Methods for Measuring
Intensities Across the Development sectors
By
Lokendra Prasad
Poudyal, Karl E. Weber
Abstract:
Participation encompasses assorted features of
work. Some of these ate intensive, while
others are moderate or peripheral in terms of
their conduciveness to the achievement of set
goals. They pertain to specific stages of the
planning process, namely, decision making,
implementation benefit sharing, or evaluation.
These distinct features of work influence
participation differently. Some works are
induced by family pressure, while others are
backed by community needs. Works also differ
according to their occurrence; some relate to
singular activities, while others are related
to recurrent activities. Examining the
intensity of participation under these diverse
conditions is methodically difficult. As great
as the difficulties are, as strong is the
necessity of measuring intensity as it could
provide a basis for planning participatory
development.
This paper discusses a few methods of
measuring participation. These methods are
empirically appraised to see their
applicability across different sectors of
development. The results obtained from such
appraisal are verified with qualitative
conditions that prevailed at the field. Those
verifications revealed that for participation
to become more operational, specific
approaches commensurate with the nature of
work are required. In this vein, adoption of a
sectoral approach to participation appears
sensible.
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Integrated Rural
Development-Problems in Methodology and
Institutional Environment
By
Dirk Van
Dusseldorp
Abstract:
The concept of Integrated Rural Development (IRD)
has remained on the stage of development
fashions for a long period of time. Its
success is difficult to measure due to the
ambiguous way in which IRD is defined, the
numerous and often conflicting objectives it
has to realize and the lack of conceptual
clarity in its preparation and implementation.
The main purpose of this paper is to highlight
some of the basic problems encountered in IRD
and draw some lessons from past experiences.
The paper begins with an overview of the
historical background of IRD. Then the
intellectual basis on which every planned
development effort has to be based, namely the
dynamic and integrated analysis of the
situation that has to be changed purposefully
and directionally is discussed. As this
analysis has to give an insight into the
causalities (the processes) that led to the
present situation (the theories in planning),
the problems of multi-and inter disciplinary
research that should provide such an analysis
are identified. A discussion of the
institutional environment in which the IRD
programmes have to operate follows focusing on
coordination, decentralization and
participation.
The view that the results of planned
development activities, such as the
preparation of plans, are only administrative
devices for a legitimate allocation of scarce
resources and to organize action that is
accepted by all involved is compared with
another view where planned development is seen
as an arena for the struggle for scarce
resources. Finally, the paper indicates some
lessons that can be learnt from past
experiences in the field of IRD.
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The North-South
Economic Interaction and the Environment
By
S. Mansoob Murshed
Abstract:
The global nature of environmental problems
requires the cooperation of many countries and
national governments to find solutions that
are acceptable to both the North and the
South. International environmental policies
suggested include, among others, the payment
of natural debt, debt for nature swaps,
globally trade able permit schemes in green
house gas emissions, and the use of trade
policy to promote environmental goals. This
article analyses North-South interaction
within this context, cautioning that the
concern for the environment could become an
additional weapon for protectionism and for
further penalizing the South. The South is
effectively decoupled from meaningful
participation in the international economic
system. The environment is an exception. The
cooperation of the South in solving
environmental problems will be forthcoming
only if other areas of interest to the South,
such as trade and transfers, are also
addressed.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. IV, July &
December 1994, No. 1 & 2
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Land Tenure and
Production Organization of Agriculture in
China, Vietnam and Lao PDR
By
S.A. Subramani
Abstract:
This article is based on studies commissioned
by FAO in 1991-92, to examine the patterns of
land tenure and production organization in the
former centrally planned economies of China,
Vietnam and Lao PDR, and on the proceedings of
the FAO-CIRDAP workshop on land tenure and
production organization of agriculture in
China, Lao PDR, Vietnam and some selected
countries of Asia, held in Bangkok, Thailand
from 20-22 April 1993. Arranged in four
sections, the first section of the article
provides an overview of the tenurial system
and production organization of China, Vietnam
and Lao PDR, and the other three sections
present the country specific studies.
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Development from
Within-A Rethinking on an Alternative
Development Path
By
K.V.Sundaram
Abstract:
The article presents the view that in the
context of current macro economic policies,
the role of the state in local and regional
development is being reduced and the domain of
responsibility of the people and the local
institutions is being increased. The regional
and local communities therefore must find
their own development centres of gravity to
respond to the new policy changes.The concept
of Integrated Rural Development (IRD) has
remained on the stage of development fashions
for a long period of time. Its success is
difficult to measure due to the ambiguous way
in which IRD is defined, the numerous and
often conflicting objectives it has to realize
and the lack of conceptual clarity in its
preparation and implementation. The main
purpose of this paper is to highlight some of
the basic problems encountered in IRD and draw
some lessons from past experiences.
The paper begins with an overview of the
historical background of IRD. Then the
intellectual basis on which every planned
development effort has to be based, namely the
dynamic and integrated analysis of the
situation that has to be changed purposefully
and directionally is discussed. As this
analysis has to give an insight into the
causalities (the processes) that led to the
present situation (the theories in planning),
the problems of multi-and inter disciplinary
research that should provide such an analysis
are identified. A discussion of the
institutional environment in which the IRD
programmes have to operate follows focusing on
coordination, decentralization and
participation.
The view that the results of planned
development activities, such as the
preparation of plans, are only administrative
devices for a legitimate allocation of scarce
resources and to organize action that is
accepted by all involved is compared with
another view where planned development is seen
as an arena for the struggle for scarce
resources. Finally, the paper indicates some
lessons that can be learnt from past
experiences in the field of IRD.
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Participatory
Development-The Community Information and
Planning System (CIPS) Management Experience
of CIRDAP
By
S. Narayan
Abstract:
Beneficiary participation in project design,
execution and monitoring is considered to be a
crucial factor in project sustainability. The
methodologies adopted for involving
beneficiaries in project activities vary
widely across countries, sectors and projects.
A methodology for participatory development
pioneered by CIRDAP, the Community Information
and Planning System (CIPS), focused on
generating participation of the rural poor in
the development process through a wide
spectrum of interrelated activities which
include participatory data collection,
planning and implementation of productive
activities. The initial testing of this model
by CIRDAP in all its eleven member countries
has been followed by its application in the
action research projects initiated to achieve
socio-economic development in target villages.
This article reviews the CIPS methodology with
reference to the CIRDAP action research
projects. Focusing on implementation aspects.
It seeks to identify the extent of adherence
to the CIPS methodology and the possible
reasons for country specific variations in
project management and implementation, and to
draw conclusions relevant for future
participatory projects.
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Local Orientation
of Rural Small Scale Industries: an empirical
study from Ciomas Subdistrict West Java,
Indonesia
By
Tulus Tambunan
Abstract:
Based on a sample survey of nine village in
Ciomas subdistrict West Java province,
Indonesia, the article examines the degree of
local orientation of rural small scale
industries (RSSIs) in terms of consumption and
production linkages with the local (rural)
economy. It addresses two hypotheses: (1)
RSSIs in a less developed rural area or in a
village further away from a city have a higher
degree of local linkages than those in a more
developed rural area or in a village closer to
a city; and (2) agriculture is the most
important local source of raw material and
demand for RSSIs.
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Impact of the
Integrated Rural Development Programme on the
Rural Poor-A Case Study of the Cuttack
District in India
By
Krishna Chandra
Rath and Jayant Kumar Routray
Abstract:
The Integrated Rural Development Programme is
one of the major programmes implemented by the
Government of India to alleviate rural
poverty. This study is an attempt to analyze
the impact of the IRDP on the rural poor in a
coastal district (Cuttack) of Eastern India
and to bring out some of the important issues
related to the success and failure of the
programme. Some remedial measures are also
suggested to make the programme more
effective. The study reveals that the subsidy
component of the IRDP package is a strong and
possibly the only motivating factor for both
beneficiaries and (IRDP) officials in
implementing the programme. The target
population is neither made aware of nor
actively involved in, the process for
delivering inputs and services. In view of
this, the recommendations proposed to
strengthen the IRDP include building awareness
and information dissemination, sanctioning
capital directly to the beneficiaries to
enable them to purchase the required inputs
and invest appropriately, withdrawing the
subsidy component from all the projects,
strengthening the monitoring system, and
taking into account the viability of the
project and entrepreneurship quality of the
target groups for extending financial support.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. V, July 1995,
No. 1
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Gender Aspects of
Irrigation Management: the Chhattis Mauja
Irrigation System in Nepal
By
Margreet
Zwarteveen & Nita Neupane
Abstract:
Although irrigated farming in the head end of
the Chhattis Mauja irrigation system in Nepal
is increasingly the responsibility of women,
female farmers do not formally participate in
the schemes organization. However, women’s
non-involvement as formal members in meetings,
and the lack of female representation in the
organization does not seem to negatively
affect their access to irrigation services. On
the contrary, women succeed extremely well in
getting their irrigation needs accommodated.
This is due partly to the very fact that they
are not formally participating in the scheme’s
management; this allows them to take more
water than they are entitled to and to
contribute less labour to maintenance than
they should without being punished. Because
women are not recognized as members, the
organization faces difficulties in enforcing
its rules on women. At the same time, female
farmers cunningly make use of the prevailing
gender ideology, although it does not reflect
realities as perceived by women themselves,
does strengthen them in their negotiations for
more water and in their attempts to minimize
their contributions to the scheme’s
maintenance.
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Gender in
Agriculture: an Asian Perspective
By
B Bhattacharya and
G Jhansi Rani
Abstract:
The increasing number of women who are joining
the agricultural work force in Asia has
underscored the urgency of making agricultural
policy research and extension more gender
sensitive. This article attempts to present
the realities of women’s involvement in, and
contribution to, the agricultural sector by an
analysis of the gender roles in Asian
agriculture and by building a profile of
farming women by highlighting their
agricultural workload, task range, wage
disparity and role intricacies. Through a
review of agricultural policies and programmes
it attempts to bring out the inherent gender
blindness and male orientation in policy
development, research and extension
undertakings, tracing the roots of such gender
biases to attitudinal, conceptual, and
methodological limitations. It is suggested
that both macro and micro level information be
synthesized into a database to sensitize
policy makers and programmes to gender issues
in agriculture.
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Women Farmers’
Worsening World: can Gender Analysis Help?
By
Alexandra Stephens
Abstract:
A death of data and misleading information,
when data are available, mask the
disadvantaged position of women farmers and
the reality of their lives. While the database
has to be improved to reflect the reality of
their lives ad to justify fundamental changes
in the way resources are assigned, used and
distributed, of equal importance is to see
women in relation to men through gender
analysis. In general, the Women in Development
(WID) approach of implementing women specific
projects often approved by ‘soft’ criteria
ignoring market values and prices further
marginalized women and left male dominance
intact. The Gender and Development (GAD)
approach attempts to “mainstream” women by an
analysis of gender specific issues including
the division of labour, decision making,
access to and control over resources which are
factors of production, and the constraints
around production (and reproduction) by men
and women. This article elaborates these
issues.
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Twenty Years of
WID and Rural Women of Nepal
By
Meena Acharya
Abstract:
Empowerment is a process which enables women
to meet both their practical and strategic
needs. The process of empowerment must
increase women’s access to economic
opportunities and resources; increase women’s
political power; raise women’s consciousness
about the symptoms and causes of oppression;
and strengthen women’s self confidence. Based
on two major sources of information, this
article reviews the extent of empowerment of
Nepalese women, with reference to the four
dimensions of empowerment identified above.
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Rural Women,
Poverty and Development in Pakistan
By
Shahnaz Kazi
Abstract:
Despite gender specific problems of access to
social and productive resources, the concern
with poverty has mainly focused on the extent
and incidence of poverty and has implicitly
assumed that all members of a poor family are
equally disadvantaged. However, there is
increasing evidence that women and girls in
poor households bear a disproportionately high
share of the burden of poverty. Their
deprivation is due to their lower endowment of
land and productive assets, discrimination in
the labour market, and limited access to
social services. Government plans and
policies, which have incorporated a special
focus on women since the late seventies, have
been limited in scope and have failed to
address the critical constraints to raising
their productivity and improving their access
to education and health services. This article
reviews the available information on gender
differences in intra- household distribution
of resources including nutrition and health
care, differential access of rural women to
education and employment. In concludes with an
assessment of recent initiatives that have
been taken to extend productive and social
resources to women.
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Rural Women and
the National Renovation Process in Vietnam
By
Le Thi
Abstract:
The “Doi Moi” or “ economic renovation”
introduced in Vietnam at the end of 1986 has
had a strong impact on economic production, as
well as on the lives of the people of all
strata in the country. The change to a market
economy resulted, among others, in the
households becoming independent economic
units. Rural areas have witnessed many
positive changes; living standards of many
have improved. These developments have also
had an impact on rural women. This article
attempts to describe the repercussions of the
economic reforms on their status, ability to
cope with a new system of production
organization health, education and training.
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Is Women’s Loan
Repayment Behavior Different than Men’s? An
Analysis of Gender Differentials in Loan
Repayment in Four CIRDAP Member Countries
By
Fahmeeda Rahman
Wahab
Abstract:
Although credit is considered to be an
important catalyst in poverty alleviation, the
majority of the rural poor have limited access
to institutional credit. Most disadvantaged in
this request are women. In order to design
viable credit programmes for rural women, it
is necessary to ascertain the critical factors
which are likely to contribute to ensuring
adequate access to credit and timely
repayment. This article attempts to identify
these critical factors focusing specifically
on whether, and to what extent, factors
determining loan repayment behaviour of women
differ from those of men. The article provides
empirical evidence from four countries of
South and Southeast Asia, that considerable
differences in loan repayment behaviour exist
between men and women as well as between
people belonging to different sub-classes
within the poor. The article then suggests
directions in policy reform which could
accommodate these differences in order to
facilitate the access to institutional credit
by rural poor women.
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Integrated
Approach Towards Small Family Norm, Income
Generation and Empowerment of Rural Women-A
Case Study
By
G.N.Reddy, A.
Rizwana and C.K.Gariyali
Abstract:
Empowerment of women, especially in
traditional societies is a slow process
requiring simultaneous action on many fronts.
Activities aimed at overcoming physical
isolation of women and encouraging their
participation in community based projects as
well as increasing their awareness can have
positive impacts on their status. At the same
time, attitudinal changes in the community to
wards women through a process of consultation
and conscientization is also important to this
process. This article presents a case study
based on an action research project titled
Comprehensive Population and Family Planning
Activities in Integrated Rural Development
initiated by CIRDAP, where project activities
had the effect of bringing about major changes
in the status of women through a process of
empowerment.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. V, December
1995, No. 2
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Institutional
Development for Managing a Rice Processing
Complex in the Philippines
By
Letecia N. Damole
& Ebel Wickramanayake
Abstract:
One of the most important issues in integrated
rural development projects which contain
physical infrastructures is sustainability.
Hence, the Integrated Jalajala Rural
Development Project in the Philippines
incorporated an institutional development
component in the project, jointly undertaken
by a government and two non-government
organizations, to form a local level
organization and strengthen its capability to
manage a rice processing complex. This paper
assesses the immediate effects of the
institutional development activities on
building organizational capability and shows
that the achievements are below the expected
level.
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The Applications
of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in
the Management of Rubber Smallholdings: a case
study of Malaysia
By
Ruslan Rainis and
Abdul Halim Hashim
Abstract:
The planning and management of rubber
smallholdings require a vast amount of spatial
as well as attribute data The existing manual
methods of data handling can no longer cope
with these requirements. The recent advances
in geographical information systems (GIS)
provide an efficient tool for data input.,
management, analysis, and display of spatially
related data suitable for the planning and
management of rubber smallholdings, In this
paper, three examples of GIS applications in
the planning and management of rubber small
holdings are described: smallholder
information retrieval/ query, the management
of replantation programme applications
evaluation, and monitoring the potential
impacts of future urbanization on
smallholdings, Problems encountered during the
project are also described
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Participatory
Process and Watershed Management-A Study of
the Shiwalik Foothill villages in Northern
India
By
Swarn Lata Arya
and J.S. Samra
Abstract:
The present paper aimed at critically
reviewing and analyzing four selected
community based watershed development projects
in the foothill villages of Shiwaliks in
Northern India with a vie to identifying
people’s participation in them and drawing
lessons useful for securing their involvement.
The linkages between common resources (CPR),
private property resources (PPR), and quality
of life (income levels) were analyzed using
the statistical clustering technique. The
characterization of village economies and
their present status revealed the differences
between actively participated watersheds,
planned and managed by the communities (Sukhomairiand
Bunga) and the others under a bureaucratic
setup (Chowki and Tibbi). In Sukhomajri and
Bunga, the cropping pattern changed in favour
of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) barseem (Trifolium
planning and management of rubber
smallholdings require a vast amount of spatial
as well as attribute data The existing manual
methods of data handling can no longer cope
with these requirements. The recent advances
in geographical information systems (GIS)
provide an efficient tool for data input.,
management, analysis, and display of spatially
related data suitable for the planning and
management of rubber smallholdings, In this
paper, three examples of GIS applications in
the planning and management of rubber small
holdings are described: smallholder
information retrieval/ query, the management
of replantation programme applications
evaluation, and monitoring the potential
impacts of future urbanization on
smallholdings, Problems encountered during the
project are also described.
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An Assessment of
the Training and Visit Model of Agricultural
Extension Work in Bangladesh
By
Mohammad
Hassanullah and Muzaffer Ahmad
Abstract:
The Training and Visit Model (TVM) was
introduced in 1976 in Rajshahi, Bangladesh as
a part of the worldwide effort to increase the
effectiveness of agricultural extension
services in the developing countries. Due to
high operational cost, the TVM became a
controversial issue and one recent evaluation
found it far less efficient in trasferring
technologies than what was expected earlier.
In this article the TVM of agricultural
extension work was assessed in terms of its
manifestations over environmental and
organizational variables which exhibited
significant influences on the performance of
an agricultural extension organization (AEO)
as compared to the Advisory Service Model (ASM)
and the integrated Extension Model (IEM) of
extension work. The sample of the study
constituted 887 farmers and 437 service
personnel. Findings revealed that the TVM was
introduced in an ecologically disadvantaged
but socio-politically advantaged environment.
Implementation of the TVM in its first phase
failed to increase or decrease the magnitudes
of those variables which influence performance
of an AEO either positively of negatively as
compared to the other two models. As a result,
performance of an AEO under both the TVM and
the ASM was similar inspite of the fact that
the TVM had a better theoretical construct as
compared to the ASM and was introduced with
international support. Performance of AEOs
under both of these pure models was
significantly lower than that of an AEO
adopting an IEM of extension work. Similar
performance of AEOs under the TVM and ASM was,
therefore, due to the failure of the model to
manifest environmental factors and management
practices which exhibited significant
contributions to performance. In designing and
implementing a model, factors contributing to
performance need to be taken into account.
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Some Recent
Strategies on women in Development and Poverty
in the Philippines
By
Florentina A. Tan
Abstract:
Poverty and economic marginalization are
issues that are of paramount importance for
women in the Philippines. Lack of access to
productive inputs such as credit and land are
linked to women’s poverty while inequality
between men and women in the economy is also
linked to poverty. In this context, the two
strategies adopted by the government to
address poverty is to provide assistance,
mostly through credit, in establishing income
generating projects, and to protect the
natural resources from which the poor derive
their income. However, while a strategy of
poverty reduction is inefficient without an
accompanying WID strategy, WID is not entirely
a poverty issue. This article reviews the
impact of two projects, the Second Micro
Credit Project and the Fishery Sector
Programme, on Women.
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Effects of
Irrigation on Household Income and Food
Security in a Deeply Flooded Area in
Bangladesh
By
Mustafizur Rahman,
Soumendra Nath Saha and Rezaul Karim
Abstract:
The effects of irrigation on household income
and food security were examined by a study of
200 households in five villages in a deeply
flooded area in Bangladesh. The average
household head was an illiterate owner cum
tenant farmer, having a secondary source of
income, a household of 7.65 members, a farm of
2.65 acres, indebted to money lenders or
institutions, and in deficit in household food
production. The findings indicate that
although irrigation increased the total
cropped area and cropping intensity the
increments were small. Irrigation replaced
less productive local variety crops by more
productive high yielding varieties and low
value corps by high value crops. The
adjustments were large in the dry rabi season
but small in the wet kharif season and
resulted in more specialization of cropping in
the irrigated condition. The small effect of
irrigation on cropping was due to the deep
flooding nature of the area which prevents
triple cropping and restricts cultivation of
high yielding variety rice in the summer even
with irrigation. Irrigation, however,
increased net annual income and access to
rice, and increased substantially food grain
production and calorie production of the
households. The average household did not
fulfill the recommended dietary allowances of
calories of its members and small farm
households fulfilled only one half of the
allowances in the non-irrigated condition.
They fulfilled 293 per cent and 173 per cent
of the allowances respectively in the
irrigated condition. Irrigation reduced the
small farm households’ share of net income,
access to rice, food grain production and
calorie production but the reductions were not
that large.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. VI, July
1996, No. 1
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Sustaining Food
Security for Rainfed Ecosystems in Asia
By
Mahabub Hossain
Abstract:
Since 1966 when the release of IR-8 triggered
the green revolution in humid and subhumid
tropics in Asia, rice production has increased
at 2.4 per cent per year, faster than the rate
of population growth. The increase in
production has come mostly from investment in
water resource development that converted the
variable monsoon-dependent rice growing
environment into an irrigated ecosystem
suitable for the modern varieties developed by
rice scientists. The rice yield has remained
low in rainfed lowlands and uplands, at 2.0
ton per hectare compared to 5.0 ton for the
irrigated ecosystem. Although mist Asian
countries have declared themselves as
self-sufficient in rice production, food
insecurity and poverty are widely prevalent in
regions with unfavourable rice growing
environments. Increase in supplies from the
existing irrigated land may not help these
people in rainfed systems to meet their food
needs because of the lack of purchasing
capacity and alternative opportunities for
productive employment. Further expansion of
irrigation is constrained by rising costs and
growing environmental concerns. Scientists
must take up the difficult challenge of
developing resistance to various abiotic
stresses in high-yielding rice cultivars, and
improving farming practices that increase
productivity of the rice-based systems, to
help people in rainfed environments achieve
and sustain food security.
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A Model for
Analyzing Gender Relations in Two Tribal
Communities in Orissa, India
By
Smita Mishra and
Reidar Dale
Abstract:
Gender relations among tribal communities in
India have not been much studied so far
because of the assumption that these
communities are fairly homogeneous and
egalitarian. This article provides a rationale
for studying gender relations in two tribal
communities in Orissa, India. A modal is
developed to address gender relations at the
household level and a Gender Relations Index
is computed. This index illustrates the nature
and complexities of gender relations among the
tribal communities and the power each gender
enjoys not only at the household level but
also in relation with the State and the
market. Additionally the labour contribution
of each is measured by a time use index which
is linked to the Gender Relations Index. The
differences in gender relations and time use
are further analyzed and explained in the
text.
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Village Livestock
and Disease Control in Northern Thailand: A
Survey Examining Socio-economic Factors
By
T. Murphy and
C.A.Tisdell
Abstract:
The article report the results of a survey of
135 village households in Northern Thailand
owning livestock. The general socio-economic
characteristics of the households are
specified, including the nature of employment
of household member, the types of land use,
and the incomes of households. Data were
obtained about who villagers ask for help when
their livestock are sick, and the sources of
their information about diseases in livestock.
Particular attention is given to bovines
(cattle and buffalo), pigs and poultry.
Information is provided about ownership of
livestock in the villages, husbandry of
livestock, the occurrence and control of
livestock diseases, and the results are
analyzed to enable some general relationships
to be reported. These should be taken into
account when formulating public policies to
control livestock diseases in rural areas.
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Rethinking Food
Security in the Context of Development
Paradigms
By
Kamal Nayan Kabra
Abstract:
The article attempts to identify some major
limitations of the prevalent concept of food
security which arises, the author contends,
basically owing to the impact of the presently
dominant techno-economic growth paradigm and
the resulting policy package. This concept of
food security preserves and fosters inequity,
dependence, isolated sectoral approach and
makes the exercise a prisoner of more of the
same syndrome, may be better planned, and
delivered with larger allocations in the light
of the observed shortcomings. Based on the
premise that as basic a need as secure access
to food can neither be separated from nor
pitted against the other needs and spheres of
human-social existence, it outlines an
alternative concept and policy based on an
alternative development paradigm.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. VI, December
1996, No. 2
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Disaster Reduction
and Preparedness
G.N.Ritchie
Abstract:
The author in this article seeks to move the
focus of responsibility and action for
disaster reduction and management away from
those in the fields of scientific prediction
and humanitarian relief, and on to those with
responsibility for development planning and
administration in government.
He argues that disaster reduction and
effective management when disaster strikes,
demands: comprehensive analysis of development
plans, the disaster threats to them and the
probable affects of development projects on
the environment and society; thoroughly co-ordinated
disaster preparedness and contingency plans;
extensive management information systems
relevant to development and to disaster
response and recovery. The importance of
education, administrative staff training and
public information programmes, as essential of
effective disaster preparedness, whether
against natural or technological hazards and
threats, firmly into the domain of development
planning, whether rural or industrial. It also
stresses these matters as being sovereign
national responsibilities not those of the UN
or other aid donors.
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Disaster
Mitigation through People’s Participation:
Role of Local Self-government Institutions
AVS Reddy, B K
Thapliyal , K R Sastry
Abstract:
The article argues for the integration of
disaster management with long term development
planning, and for the adoption of a holistic
rather than a segmented approach to disaster
mitigation. An important component of this
approach is popular participation. As popular
participation does not occur spontaneously,
local government institutions, together with
non-government and voluntary organizations can
be given a greater role in mobilizing people
and local resources to complement government
efforts at disaster mitigation and relief.
Taking the example of panchayati raj
institutions in the South Indian state of
Andhra Pradesh, the article deals with the
mechanics of involving people in relief and
mitigation planning before, during, and after
the occurrence of natural disasters like
cyclones and floods.
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Politicizing Rural
Development: Lessons from India’s West Bengal
By
Prabhat Datta
Abstract:
This article seeks to present the different
aspects of the rural development programme
being implemented by the Left Front government
in West Bengal against the backdrop of India’s
rural development experience. It has been
argued that politicization or rural
development is characterized by strong
political will, radical ideological back up,
dismantling of the traditional power structure
and continuous monitoring and supervision by
well-knit cadre based parties constituting the
Left Front. While the core of this model is
land reform, the key to the success of the
programme is grassroots mobilization through
political panchayats and peasant
organizations. It has also been emphasized
that the power of the bureancracy need to be
curtailed as far as possible to practice any
pro-poor rural development model.
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Stagnating
Productivity in Crop Agriculture: The Quest
for Sources of Growth
By
Indrajit Roy
Abstract:
The article reviews growth in productivity of
basic food cereals in Bangladesh during the
period from 1970/71 to 1993/94. The major
source of rice production growth came from the
shift of area from local rice varieties to
modern varieties (MVs) or expansion of MV rice
into newer areas. The yield of rice MVs
declined or stagnated during this period which
was most notable for Boro rice. Yield of wheat
almost entirely planted with MVs also
decreased during the 1981/82-1993/94 period.
The major factors identified as responsible
for decelerating growth in yield frontier are
declining soil fertility, decline in
efficiency in use of fertilizer and other
inputs, increasing intensity of pest
outbreaks, seed quality and varietal
replacement at the farm level. The study
suggests several options to reverse the
declining trend of productivity growth in
those crops.
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Loan Repayment
Behaviour Among the Rural Poor
By
Lao PDR and
Malaysia
Abstract:
Availability of and access to credit by the
poor are critical elements in enhancing their
productivity and income. However, despite the
universal acknowledgement of the significance
of rural credit, the institutional coverage,
compared to its demand remains sparse.
In order to help improve the access to
institutional credit for the rural poor and
make credit programmes for them viable, CIRDAP
initiated the research project titled Loan
Repayment Behaviour Among the Rural Poor in
five countries, namely Lao PDR, Malaysia,
Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines with
financial support from the Government of
Japan. The major objectives of the project
were to review selected rural credit
programmes to ascertain the accessibility of
the rural poor to credit to identify factors
that contribute or constrain the recovery of
loans, and to suggest essential elements of
viable credit programmes for the rural poor.
The project comprised a research and an action
research component. Action programmes at the
field level were to test, validate and /or
modify the proposed credit model involving
seed money-disbursements, use, monitoring,
supervision for repayment of loans, while the
research component focused on the general
socio-economic characteristics of the country
concerned, its poverty situation, policy
framework for rural development in general and
poverty reduction in particular, the credit
delivery system/programmes and the loan
repayment behaviour of the rural poor carried
out under different credit programmes of
government and non-government organizations
and with respect to different categories of
borrowers.
Based on the coutry findings, the study
re-examined the policy assumptions vis-à-vis
rural credit and suggested rational and
sustainable policy alternatives.
In this issue the highlights of the country
reports of Lao PDR and Malaysia are presented.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. VII, July
1997, No. 1
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Development
Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory
By
Uma Kothari
Abstract:
This paper begins with an examination of the
colonial nature of the development discourse
focusing on examples of the masculinist and
Eurocentric narratives that are articulated
within it and goes on to present post-colonial
critiques in order to explore the process of
the decolonisation of Development Studies.
Development Studies have remained largely
untouched by recent contributions made in
other disciplines (Geography, Social
anthropology, Literary Criticism) which
challenge the centrality of Western knowledge
and forms of representation. In this paper it
has been suggested that these debates offer
Development Studies an opportunity to move
beyond its colonial narratives and practices.
For the poor in many countries of the ‘Third
Word’, the 1980s has been described as a lost
decade. The poor have got poorer and
inequalities persist and have often become
exacerbated. There has also been in the last
10 years some debate on what has been termed
the ‘impasse’ in development theory. This
recent questioning of processes of development
has been brought about by the recognition of
the failure of much development planning to
reduce in qualities and alleviate poverty, and
by post-modern, post-colonial and feminist
critiques which have leveled challenges at the
masculinist, Eurocentric discourse articulated
in much development theory and practice.
This has led some people to (re-)consider what
meanings we can realistically attribute to
development in the 1990s and beyond.
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Participation:
Connotations and Content
By
K. R. Sastry
Abstract:
This paper is the result of a close look at
the nuances of people’s participation in
development. Since it has become a dominant
theme of our times, its salience in all
developmental efforts has to be reiterated.
Various aspects—economic, social, political
and administrative—would influence the policy
makers in enlisting people’s participation. In
the Indian model of micro-level planning,
participation of people in the development
process has been a bit hazy. An attempt is
made here to juxtapose several different kinds
of dimensions to facilitate a comprehensive
understanding of the phenomenon. An
operationally serviceable definition might be
encapsuled thus: ‘Participation encompasses
institutional and psycho-social processes of
development, oriented to maintaining and
sustaining an atmosphere conducive to higher
levels of sharing and involvement in
socio-political, economic and administrative
spheres on the part of citizens, particularly
those belonging to the lower or weaker
socio-economic strata.’
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Macro-economic
Reforms and Poverty Alleviation in Sri Lanka
By
Gamini
Wickramasinghe and T A Dharmarathne
Abstract:
The article aims at reviewing the
socio-economic development trends in Sri Lanka
that have taken place following the economic
reforms introduced in 1977 in terms of poverty
alleviation considerable Literature is already
available which compares the economic
performance in the pre-1977 period with that
of that of the subsequent period.’ However,
the package remains to be studied from the
perspective of poverty alleviation.
Furthermore, hardly any studies have been done
which specifically focus on the past decade.
This article attempts-
ü To identify the trens in the
socioeconomic developments following SAP;
ü To analyses the macro-economic policies
and its impact on poverty;
ü To review the poverty alleviation
strategies and programmes;
ü To assess the adequacy of policy
framework for poverty alleviation; and
ü To suggest suitable recommendations for
improving the policy framework on alleviation
of poverty.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. VII, December 1997, No. 2
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Loan Contracts in
Agrarian Credit Markets under Rationing,
Spillover and Tied Situations
By
K. N. Selvaraj and
N. Srinivasan
Abstract:
The article analyses the nature of loan
contracts in agrarian credit markets under
rationing, spill-over and tied contract. The
credit market may not operate in equilibrium
due to the existence of credit rationing in
the formal credit market. The standard
disequilibrium econometric model is employed
to examine credit rationing in the formal
credit market using primary survey data. The
spill-over effect is assessed using
demand-supply equations specified with
intercept dummy. Credit rationing is found
pervasive among the small farmers in region I
and substantial among all groups in region II.
Traders play an important role in informal
credit market and a refusal to accept a tied
contract creates adverse effect on production.
The interest rate elasticity for private
credit demand is found positive and inelastic.
The cost of borrowing indicates that farmers
incur larger extra costs in the process of
obtaining a formal loan as compared to
informal loans. However, the effective rate of
formal credit is less due to subsidized
interest rate.
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Decentralized
Planning Framework for Public Interventions:
Lessons from Kerala’s Untied Funds Programme
By
K. R. Sastry and
K. H. Rao
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to critically
examine the design deficiencies and
operational problems of the state sponsored
Untied Funds Programme (UFP) essentially
aiming at need-based local level planning in
Kerala. Since, it is expected to both generate
as well as to sustain a participatory
development, an attempt is also made: a) to
assess the potential to UFP to hasten the
decentralization process by increasing the
demand for it (decentralization) at the
grassroots level in as much as equipping the
local people and institutions with
management/professional skills; and b) to
suggest and analytical framework with Grama
Panchayats as fulcrums of (local) development
initiatives with convergence of services as a
key area of consolidation and sustainability,
among others.
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Poverty in Sri
Lanka: nature, incidence and measurement
issues
By
D. Gamage
Abstract:
This paper examines the incidence and trends
in poverty in Sri Lanka. It also highlights
some issues related to poverty assessment and
availability of data for poverty analysis in
the country. Some correlates of poverty such
as employment and unemployment are also
examined in the paper. The paper is organized
into five sections including the introductory
section. In section 2, conceptual and
measurement issues in poverty are examined as
a prelude to a discussion of a much more
pragmatic and methodological issue involved
with measuring poverty in Sri Lanka. The third
section is devoted to examining such issues
along with a set of identified correlates.
Poverty measurement issues with special
reference to Sri Lanka are examined in the
fourth section. Subjects dealt in the fourth
section include the comparability of existing
data and their adequacy in understanding
poverty. The final section is devoted to
drawing the implications of the analysis.
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Urbanization,
Migration and Poverty: some recent debates and
their policy implications
By
K. N. Kabra
Abstract:
Urbanization, migration and informal sector
issues are prominently related to both rural
and urban poverty. An examination 9of the
basic logic, inter-connections and
implications of theses issues suggests that
the wisdom rooted in the hypothesis of
inevitability and desirability of modern
industrialization, urbanization and growth
without a trickle-down paradigm postulates a
symbiotic relationship between
industrialization-urbanization on the one
hand, and the rural sector and poverty on the
other,. The analysis tends to suggest that
these views are grossly oversimplified and
mis-interprete some of the critical dimensions
of the crisis of hitherto followed growth-centred
policies, particularly in the rural sector,
especially owing to their urban-industrial
bias. The tendency to give higher inter se
priority to urban poverty vis-à-vis rural
poverty is basically flawed, more so when it
is treated as a pro-rural step. They spring
from a misreading of the nature, process and
impact of the policies concerning
urbanization, rural to urban migration and
informal sector. Indirect and round about
methods of dealing with underdevelopment and
poverty are rarely adequate and are often
counter-productive. A study case for primacy
of rural development along with that of the
needs and interests of rural poor is made as a
part of an integrated development strategy;
which is also desirable form the point of
alternating urban poverty
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. VIII, July
1998, No. 1
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Spatial Patterns
of Agricultural Development and Their
Investment Priorities in India
By
T. Haque, S.R.
Hashim and Shanggen Fan
Abstract:
The article examines the spatial patterns of
agricultural development in the background of
significant progress achieved in terms of both
output and productivity growth during the past
few decades in India. In order to adopt the
available new technology for ensuring food and
nutritional security for the growing
population and to remove regional imbalances
in agriculture, the potential for the
development of rainfed areas are highlighted
along with the need for location specific
strategies for development. The measures
required to bridge the productivity gaps
between irrigated and rainfed areas are also
identified. In this context, the article deals
with issues of productivity potentials of
different regions and suggests specific
investment priorities for various
agro-economic zones keeping in view the
spatial patterns of agriculture production and
their requirements.
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Malnutrition and
Development: a case study of Sri Lanka
By
Mohottige U. Sedere
Abstract:
The article discusses malnutrition, a
prevalent problem in South Asia, in the light
of a household survey of nutritional status of
children in Sri Lanka. The discussion brings
out a new wave of thinking to explain
malnutrition in a country like Sri Lanka where
social sector indicators relation to literacy,
mortality, life expectancy etc, are at an
exemplary level, closer to the levels recorded
in the developed countries, The article,
giving reference to a new development
phenomena described as First and Second Cycles
of Development, interprets the household
survey data to support and demonstrate that
malnutrition in Sri Lanka is not caused by the
conventional factors often cited in the
literature. A range of new factors relating to
the characteristics of the Second Cycle of
Development such as middle class mentality,
development drives, housing etc, and new
demands and situations created by the open
market economy are discussed to explain the
prevalence of malnutrition.
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An Appraisal of
the Adarsha Gram Project in Bangladesh
By
Syed Marghub
Murshed and Syed Mansoob Murshed
Abstract:
The Adarsha Gram project, a rural resettlement
and poverty alleviation programme, has been in
existence since 1988; initially set up and
funded by the Government of Bangladesh, it has
since 1991 received assistance from the
European Commission. There appears to be an
under valuation of the contribution of the
Government of Bangladesh, as the land provided
does not enter into the measured project
expenditure. The results of the evaluation are
based on responses to a questionnaire,
obtained from a representative sample of the
total Adarsha Gram population. As far as the
measurable targets of the project are
concerned success has been achieved in terms
of access to loans, savings formation,
education and skill acquisition. The lessons
learnt from the AG-1 phase of the project
point to a serious re-appraisal of the
principles behind the financial assistance to
NGOs. There could be a sharper focus on
service provision, with greater concentration
on fewer, but more important aspects of each
service category. The emphasis should be on
quality. Education is, perhaps, the most
important service, due to its contribution to
the long-term growth of the economy.
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Alternative
Agriculture in Thailand and Japan
By
Sununtar
Setboonsarng and Jonathan Gilman
Abstract:
The paper examines the current state of
alternative agriculture, and their future
potential in Thailand and Japan. Six of the
most widespread and/ or influential
alternative agricultural systems in the two
countries are documented, each one in terms of
the systems practices, theme (whether the
emphasis is on spiritual or
technical/marketing aspects of farming); and
present status where applicable. Also included
are discussions, applicable to the Asian
region of the costs involved in converting to
alternative agriculture and of the future
potential. A literature review is presented to
document other studies on alternative
agriculture in the two countries and to help
establish a definition of the term
‘alternative agriculture.’
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Minor Irrigation,
Input Response and Crop Output: the study of a
block in a North Bengal District, India
By
Sudip Chakraborty
Abstract:
The Government of West Bengal began installing
minor irrigation equipment during the eighties
through Central as well as World Bank’s
assistance in specific locations. The present
study seeks to find the impact of such
projects on crop output, input use and their
productivities on a particular crop, namely,
pre-monsoon paddy of traditional variety in a
selected irrigated area. The study finds that
per acre output of the crop at farm gate
prices are Rs 2946 in the irrigated area. The
study finds that per acre output of the crop
at farm gate prices are Rs 2946 in the
irrigated area as compared to Rs 2225 in the
non-irrigated area. The study concludes that
India’s rural development policy should be
reoriented to lay high priority to rural
infrastructural development with assured
irrigation network.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. VIII,
December 1998, No. 2
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Access to credit
and the Effects of Credit on Resource
allocation Decisions and Productivity in
Indian Agriculture
By
K. N. Selvaraj, K.
Chandran and K. R. Sundaravaradarajan
Abstract:
The article presents the findings of research
conducted in two regions of Tamil Nadu in
India on credit access and its effects on
resource allocation decisions and
productivity. Both the regions depend on
farming and allied activities. The results
indicate that both small and large farmers
borrow from formal credit institutions and the
growth of formal credit does not necessarily
lead to a decline in informal credit despite
high interest rates. The study reports that
access to both formal and informal credit is
crucial for adoption of improved variety and
wage payments. The access to formal credit
also plays an important role in decisions
leading to pesticides and farm yard manure
use. The study suggests the need for revision
of the existing scale of finance taking into
consideration the increased cost of inputs to
help the farmers to use optimal levels of
inputs and increase the productivity of crops.
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Rural Poverty and
Importance of Small-Scale Industries: the case
of Indonesia
By
Tulus Tambunan
Abstract:
Small-scale industries (SSIs) in Indonesia are
considered highly important, particularly is
terms of their contribution to creation of
employment opportunities and income generation
for the rural poor and the development of the
rural economy in general.
The Indonesian government, in recognition of
such importance, has designed special policies
and assistance has been provided to support
the SSIs in the country. The paper reviews the
Indonesian experience of the development of
SSIs in the rural areas and associated
policies. The paper suggests that successful
development SSIs requires not only special
policies and good institutions. A proper
combination of such policies and institutions
may have a greater and sustainable long-term
impact than the specially designed policies on
the development of SSIs, through the creation
of a conducive business environment
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Food Security and
Sustainability under Internationalization of
Agriculture: some reflections and scope for
action with reference to India
By
Sukhpal Singh
Abstract:
Food security refers to both physical and
economic access to adequate, safe, nutritious
and relevant food at all times for all people
to lead an active and healthy life. The food
security at the national level does not
necessarily ensure household food security,
which, in turn, is no guarantee for individual
food security. The concern for food security
has been heightened in the presence of policy
environment of liberalization, privatization
and globalization (LPG) which directly of
indirectly affect food security issues.
In the context of internationalization of
agriculture, the paper examines the food
security issues in India its various
dimensions, and the likely implications of the
new economic regime on food security. It is
argued that though there has been improvements
in food security situation over the past
decades in physical terms (food availability),
the trend is not very encouraging as
significant sections of the population still
suffer from malnutrition and under-nutrition.
The GATT and SAP are likely to further weaken
the food security situation, especially
through their impact on the farm sector and
people’s incomes and employment. The
unsustainable farming systems are not capable
of providing nutritious and sustainable supply
of food in terms of both relevance as well as
purchasing power. The paper suggests both
national as well as local level initiatives to
strengthen the food security situation.
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Farmers’
Organizations in Malaysia: perspective, role
and outlook
By
Abdul Aziz Abdul
Rahman
Abstract:
The article traces the historical development
of cooperatives and farmers’ organizations (FOs)
im Malaysia and examines the role of FOs in
agricultural and rural development. While the
FOs are observed to perform a number of
important functions e.g. marketing of
agricultural produce, service delivery and
inputs supply, contract works and special
projects, the average volume of business and
amount of profit generated per member are
relatively small compared to some private
sector organizations e.g. plantation
companies. This, however, should be viewed in
terms of salient differences in objectives and
operations of FOs as compared to such
organizations. The article points out the
important role that FOs can play in sustaining
agricultural and rural employment, and as
catalysts in generating backward and forward
linkages that could create new employment
opportunities in the rural areas. The role of
the FOs is vital not only in ensuring
livelihoods to a large proportion of the rural
population but also in dampening the
rural-urban migration in the country.
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Rural Small and
Micro-Enterprises in Pakistan: issues and
options
By
Rana Nasir Ali
Khan
Abstract:
The paper discusses the role of rural small
and micro enterprises in Pakistan in terms of
employment generation, poverty alleviation and
creation of linkages to accelerate the process
of rural development. Considering the
importance of the sector, the government has
created several channels of finance and other
support organizations. Besides, the Investment
Policy 1997 allows for foreign investment in
agriculture and includes agro-based industries
as priority manufacturing activities. The
paper highlights the constraints and suggest
policy options for promotion of rural small
and micro-enterprises in Pakistan. In this
context, the need of reorientation in four key
areas e.g. skill, credit, marketing and
government policies are emphasized.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. IX, July
1999, No. 1
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Development of
Rainwater Harvesting for Domestic Water Use in
Rural Sri Lanka
By
R. de. S.
Ariyabandu
Abstract:
Adequate good quality water is a scarce
commodity to most parts of rural Sri Lanka.
Often, rural water supply options have failed
to achieve its potential due to technical,
financial or management reasons. Rainwater
harvesting as a rural water supply option was
introduced in 1995 under the community water
supply and sanitation project in Badulla
district. Subsequently, rainwater as a source
of domestic water was successfully accepted in
areas where other water supply options hae
failed due to various reasons. Since
introducing rainwater harvesting, water
security assurance of the beneficiary
communities in many parts of the country have
improved quality, time with family members and
given them the opportunity for entertaining
friends and relations, which was restricted
prior to utilization of rainwater. Thus, the
concept of using rainwater for domestic use is
increasingly being accepted in rural Sri Lanka
where the livelihood of user communities have
improved with respect to quality, time and
adequacy of demestic water.
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Functioning of
Informal Credit Market and Its
Linkages:Evidences from Rural Credit Markets
of South India
By
K.N.Selvaraj and
K.R.Sundaravaradarajan
Abstract:
The study is directed towards functioning of
informal credit market and its relation with
other markets. Explicit and implicit costs of
various linkages were estimated to examine the
nature of linkage. Demand-supply model for
private credit under equilibrium condition was
specified with intercept dummy to assess the
effect of tied transaction. Probit regression
was employed to analyze the factors
determining the acceptance or rejection of
tied contract. There was large-scale expansion
of credit in the informal credit market and
trades dominated it. Among the output linked
transactions, cash to output linkage was found
beneficial. A refusal to accept a tied
contract had adverse effect on production. The
interest rate elasticity of demand for private
credit was found positive and inelastic.
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Participation of
Rural Poor in Government and NGO Programmes: a
comparative study
By
Dr. Muhammad Samad
Abstract:
In recent times. Governments and NGOs are
providing continued support for ensuring
people’s participation in the development
process. Like many developing countries,
participation of the rural poor as target
groups in development progrmmes initiated by
various government agencies (GAs) and NGOs is
being encouraged in Bangladesh since
mid-seventies, in particular. This paper is an
attempt to examine the participation of the
target people in terms of their involvement in
planning, decision-making implementation,
benefit sharing and evaluation relating to the
development programmes of GAs and NGOs from a
comparative point of view. It deals
particularly with the different aspects of
participation of the rural poor in the credit
operation and social development activities of
BRDB and BRAC as a GA and as an NGO
respectively working in Bangladesh. It is
observed that the target people of both the GA
and NGO programmes are aware of their needs
and problems, and themselves prepared to
participate for improvements of their
socio-economic life. Both GAs and NGOs are
playing stimulating roles in making their
participation systematic, effective and more
beneficial to them. The rural poor are facing
several problems in their participation in
decision-making, implementation, benefit
sharing and evaluation of the development
activities. Many of the problems identified by
the present study are redressable. However,
the research suggests that more improvements
are needed in strategy of GA compared to that
of NGO for increased and meaningful
participation of the rural poor in the
development activities
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Corporate
Participation in Rural Development A New Model
Suggested
By
B. Yerram Raju
Abstract:
Several studies have been conducted on the
impact of rural development projects and all
of them have directed their attention only to
the role of government sponsored programmes.
Poverty alleviation programmes had made the
heavily dependent on government and the
bureaucracy. The Government of India
accordingly took the initiative through a
fiscal policy measure to entice the corporate
entities both in the public and private
sectors to take up rural development projects.
This paper intends to set out a model for
partnership between the government and
corporate entities that are engaged in the
pursuit of rural development.
In a few organizations, the corporates promote
a non-governmental organization involving
people to manage the designed activities,
sometimes, by compulsion. Compulsion-because
they have displaced the people for setting up
their projects (NTPC). Non-governmental
organizations assisted by private donor
agencies or even the government also implement
rural development projects. The government and
the corporate entities have a common goal. If
the people involved, the government and the
banks formulate well designed projects and the
companies provide the scheme specific and
general infrastructure, would it not lead to
better synergies? These are the issues that
are sought to be resolved in the new model
that is suggested. The author cites a few
examples of successful collaboration between
the Indian corporates and the government.
The model suggested does not, however,
envisage any structural dis-entanglement of
the companies from the present pattern of
their association with rural development
projects.
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Impact of
Irrigation Management Policy on Environment:
Lessons from Sri Lanka
By
M.M.Mohamed
Aheeyar
Abstract:
What is likely to e a most critical resource
in the near future for agricultural
development in Sri Lanka. Sustainable
management of water resources is imperative to
avoid the envisaged water crisis . Although
agriculture sector is main water user of the
country, water has many alternative uses and
water shortage in increasingly experienced in
many locations. In the meantime, 35 percent of
rural population are deprived of safe water
for drinking purposes. Thus, a sustainable
policy for irrigation management seems to be
an indispensable component of the national
water policy.
Participatory irrigation system management
policy has been the major irrigation policy in
Sri Lanka since 1988. The major objective of
the objective of the policy was to reduce the
public sector involvement in the irrigation
management and irrigation management and
irrigation management turnover. The paper
examines the effect of reduced government
involvement in sustainability of irrigation
infrastructure and the policy’s impact on
environment.
The results of the study reveal that the
current level of resource mobilization for
system maintenance raise the question of
sustainability of the infrastructure and the
policy has not properly sustainability some
important environmental issues such as
maintenance of drainage canals and physical
sustainability of infrastructure. The
challenge thus faced at present institutional
that could be solved with a planned
intervention providing special attention to
the environment.
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Microfinance in
the Selected Asian Countries: an overview
By
Shabbir Hussain
Abstract:
Access to financial resources by the poorer
sections of the population has been and is
being considered a major problem. In 1950s and
60s, a number of financial institutions proved
unable to meet the challenges of institutional
and financial sustainability and their
outreach to people at the grassroots level. In
this scenario, a variety of initiatives of
micro-finance combining financial and social
intermediation have emerged during the recent
decades. Analysis of such initiatives
undertaken in Africa, Asia, and Latin America
suggest that there is no single model that can
be prescribed for all circumstances. Rather,
adjusting financial institutions and their
operations to local conditions implies
diversity and innovation.
With the exemplary success of Grameen Bank in
Bangladesh, and programmes like
Self-Employment Women Association (SEWA) in
India, Bank Rakyat (BRI) IN Indonesia,
micro-credit has been recognized as a
poor-friendly development intervention for
poverty alleviation. It has become
increasingly popular among various government
and non-government organizations (NGOs) in the
region. There have been a lot of discussions
on this topic, which is particularly relevant
to today’s economic context when most of the
Asian countries are suffering from economic
crisis.
This paper presents an overview of various
initiatives of microfinance particularly in
some selected Asian Countries. Some successful
models of microfinance have been identified
and analysed in terms of their approach, and
lessons learnt. Major programme of
microfinance in the selected countries have
been listed as an annex to the paper. These
include the approach and output in terms of
coverage and outreach in their respective
countries. Certain issues have also been
identified concerning sustainability, scaling
up, access to funding sources, internal and
external governance. The paper highlights some
factors contribution towards the success of
microfinance in the region and the increasing
role of NGOs microfinance.
The paper suggests some critical features and
measures in the last section under future
directions. These include: availability and
accessibility of credit, institutional
development, GO-NGO collaboration, NGO Bank
linkages, implementation and the need of
regional cooperation in microfinance through
the regional organizations like Centre on
Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the
Pacific (CIRDAP)
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. IX, December
1999, No. 2
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Foodgrain
Production in Bangladesh as Influenced by
Trends in Use of Inputs and their Management
at the farm Level
By
Indrajit Roy
Abstract:
This paper investigates the trends of
foodgrain production in Bangladesh over the
period 1990/71-1997/98 as influenced by
availability and management of inputs at the
farm level. Usage of inputs was influenced by
gradual reduction of the public sector
dominance since the 1980s in the provision of
agricultural support services. Compared with
1981/82-1989/90, growth rates of foodgrain
production and input use decelerated during
1990/91-1997/98. When growth scenario of the
use of inputs for the two time periods is
compared with that of production, it becomes
evident that deceleration in the growth of
foodgrain production in 1990/91-1997/98 was
much more pronounced than deceleration in the
use of inputs during the same period. In other
words, the response to deceleration in the
growth of input usage in terms of a downturn
in the growth of foodgrain production was much
deeper than is often apprehended.
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Production
structure and Technical Efficiency Analsis of
Sericulture in Pakistani Punjab
By
Munir Ahmad and
Tanvir Khaliq Shami
Abstract:
The objectives of this paper are to study the
sericulture production structure and the
analysis of farm-level technical efficiency
measures. The results show that most of the
farmers involved in this enterprise are
illiterate. This industry is further
characterized by: inappropriate rearing sheds,
complete lack of extension service, dependence
on government forest for mulberry
leaves-facing peak season shortage, supply of
poor quality silkworm seed and improper
processing and marketing facilities. Labour
shares more than 70 percent of the total cost
of production and, however, promises
reasonably high return on investment.
Stochastic production frontier analysis
indicates that the sericulture enterprise
faces increasing returns to scale. Average
technical efficiency is found to be 0.88 with
a minimum of 0.3 and a maximum of 0.98 leaving
significant scope for improvement in
productivity and thus profitability. The
results further show that technical efficiency
is positively associated with the size of the
acitivity.
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People’s
Participation and Forest Management in India:
few emerging issues
By
V. Reddappa Reddy
Abstract:
Forest protection and management have
undergone a metamorphosis over the years in
India. Forest protection practice gave way to
forest management. And People’s participation
in forest management has emerged as the latest
development paradigm, with a robust
christening., namely, Joint Forest Management
(JFM). The track record of this practice,
however, did not show the expected results at
macro level. Due to people’s participation in
forest management few issues have prominently
emerged that need to be addressed immediately.
The dearth of literature explaining the impact
of people’s participation in forest management
calls for a detailed discussion on these
issues. The paper is primarily based on the
experience in participatory rural appraisal,
field observations and evaluation of the
programme. The paper traces back the history
and mechanism of people’s participation in
forest management. The issues that have
already found place in related literature are
delineated here. The participation of women
and weaker sections in JFM, alternative
sources of income and employment for forest
displaced people, transfer of burden ton non-JFM
areas, practice of usurping usufructs by few
powerful sections and sustainability component
in JFM practice are some of the issues
considered here.
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The Mystery of Mis-Targeting
in Micro Credit
By
P. Subrahmanyam
Abstract:
The potency of micro credit as anti-poverty
programme is now widely recognized.
Considering the past trials and tribulations
of micro credit programme, the paper scans the
emerging models for the effective delivery of
micro credit. It also presents different
methods employed for identification,
screening, segregation and selection of
eligible clientele under micro credit
programme. It then raises two fundamental
issues: i) why is it that micro credit is
unable to reach the hardcore poor? And ii) why
is it that the implementing agencies are
unable to prevent the ‘encroachment’ of
non-target groups into the areas earmarked for
the poor? It presents some evidence on the mis-targeting
in Grameen Bank and BRAC micro credit
programmes. While describing the ‘tense
balance’ between the target group and the
no-target group on the one hand, and between
the government and the NGO/micro finance
institutions on the other, the paper suggests
that there is a need for future research to
find satisfactory solutions to these issues.
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Measuring Women’s
Empowerment: some methodological issues
By
Tapash Kumar
Biswas
Abstract:
The major aim of this article is to develop
comprehensive indictors for measuring women’s
empowerment and to formulate a suitable index
for measuring the level of women’s
empowerment. In order to develop indicators of
women’s empowerment. Different journals, books
an reports have been consulted. In this
article eleven indicators of women’s
empowerment with different issues under each
indicator have been discussed. These
indicators are: mobility decision making
power, autonomy, economic security and freedom
from domination awareness, participation in
public protests and political compaign,
contribution to family income, reproductive
right, exposure to information and
participation in development programmes.
Considering all these indicators, and issues
under each indicator the empowerment index has
been developed to measure he level of
empowerment of women in the context of
Bangladesh.
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Asia- Pacific Journal of Rural Development (
APJORD)
Vol. X, July 2000, No. 1
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Assessment of
factors Influencing Agricultural
Transformation Process.: evidence from
Midhills Region of Nepal
By
Surendra B. Thapa
and Ganesh P. Shivakoti
Abstract:
In the mid-hills of Nepal, as in many
developing countries, the gradually developing
urban centre and increasing food demand for
agricultural produce due to population growth
and to early development activities have
induced farmers to re-orient their subsistence
farming to systems of growing crops for
markets. Based on household survey and group
discussion, the results indicate that in areas
where rapid changes in farming systems is
occurring, farmers are expanding their private
landholdings and increasing their market
participation through replacing local rice and
maize varieties by improved one with improved
livestock management practices, irrespective
of caste, which is often considered a social
barrier to development. Off-farm wage labour
has also increased to the point where it
contributes up to one-half of total household
income. Multiple regression identified income
from different farm enterprises and the ratio
of improved to loc determining the level of
commercialization.
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Determinants of
Household Earnings in rural Economy of
Thailand
By
Rajendra P.
Shrestha and Apisit Eiumnoh
Abstract:
A study was carried out in the Sakae Krang
watershed, a fragile watershed of Thailand,
with the objectives of documenting the nature
of agricultural production systems in lowland
and upland areas and to examine the
determinants of gross earnings of rural
households. A household survey was conducted
to collect primary data by administering a
structured questionnaire to sampled households
from lowland and upland. The upland production
system, in general, is mire vulnerable than
the one of lowland in terms of agricultural
production. Factors affecting the gross
earnings of lowland and upland households are
different in nature and magnitude. Besides
crop and livestock-based earnings, which were
common for both lowland and upland households,
more factors appeared to have contributed to
the gross earnings of upland households. The
significant determinants of gross earnings of
upland households were sources of farm and
non-farm income, education and environment
awareness, irrigation, land tenure status, and
an accessibility, fertilizer application,
non-farm earning, expenditure on livestock
were found to be significant.
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Economic Analysis
of Peri-Urban Milk Production System Based on
Findings from a Survey of Small Dairy Herds
Located Around Islamabad City
By
Muzaffar Iqbal and
R. H. Usmani
Abstract:
Data regarding various economic parameters of
small dairy herds/ farms located in the pari-urban
areas of Islamabad city were collected through
a survey. A total of 88 farms located in 7
peri-urban pockets were included. Majority
(74%) of the farmers interviewed in the survey
kept buffaloes for milk production and, almost
all of them sold milk mainly in the Islamabad
City. Farmers purchased freshly calved
buffaloes brought from distant areas,
maintained them for one lactation, and sold
them on body weight basis as they got dry.
The main purpose of this study is to analyse
whether it is economical to sell dry buffaloes
at prices based upon their body weight or to
maintain them for future lactations. Through
gross margin analysis, it has been found that
farmers are profitably operating their dairy
business and it is economical for them to
replace their dry stock with freshly calved
buffaloes.
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Institutions for
Efficient and Equitable Use of Groundwater:
Irrigation Management Institution and Water
Market in Gujarat, Western India
By
M. Dinesh Kumar
Abstract:
Groundwater irrigation organization and water
markets have been in existence in north
Gujarat for many decades. This paper is based
on a study carried out in a village called
Manund in Patan district of North Gujarat,
where a large number of Groundwater Irrigation
Organistions are functioning. The study shoes
that these organistions display the
characteristics of strong and effective
institutions for managing shared resources, in
terms of the rules and regulations, members
awareness, transparency in dexision making,
conflict resolution mechanisms, degree of
equity in access and efficiency in the use of
resources.
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Development
Strategy of Rural Small-Scale Industries with
a Cluster Approach: a case of Indonesia
By
Tulus Tambunan
Abstract:
Small-scale industries (SSSIs) in Indonesia
are very important, especially as viewed from
their contribution to the creation of
employment opportunities and the development
of rural economy. The most significant aspect
aspect of industrial organization of SSIs in
Indonesia is the prominence of SSI clusters;
most of them are located in rural areas. As
the development of the cluster is one of
Indonesian government’s strategies to develop
SSIs, there are many clusters across the
country which develop with the support from
the government. The paper examines the
development if SSIs’ clusters in Indonesia and
discusses main factors determining the dynamic
performance of a cluster. The paper concludes
that the performance of a cluster is not
mainly determined by government support
facilities, but by other factors such as
technology used and existing networks,
external as well as internal, amongst the
entrepreneurs in the cluster.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. X, December
2000, No. 2
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Additionality,
Fungibility, Convergence and Income and
Substitution Effects of Micre-credit: Findings
of an empirical study in Andhra Pradesh, India
By
P. Dayachari, P.
Subrahmanyam and G.R. Reddy
Abstract:
Additionality of credit, especially from
formal agencies (priority sector lending
programmes, as they are called in India).
Tends to reduce the credit gap depressing the
prevailing rates of interest in the informal
segment of the credit market. This process
leades to a reduction in the segmentation of
the credit market often leading to extensity
and purity. Fungibility buttresses this
tendency. This phenomenon is described as
convergence culminating in substitution and
income effects, the benefits of which are
harvested by borrowers. These effects are
analysed by the method of comparative statics
based on an inductive investigation of 166
sample households from Nellore district of
Andhra Pradesh in India. The indifference
curve technique innovated by JR Hicks is also
used to demonstrate these effects. Though the
income and substitution effects are considered
position-and size-neutral, their magnitudes
show a marginal variation across groups. Our
analysis showed that the substitution effect
has a built-in bias towards the richer strata,
whereas the income effect shows a stronger
effect in the non-delta village and among the
weaker strata of society. There is a need for
future research on these areas.
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Market Analysis
and Development of Strategies: a case study
from Samal Municipality of the Philippines
By
Lin Zhen and J.K.
Routray
Abstract:
There is a need to develop marketing
facilities and services in the market town
like Samal in the Philippines. However, market
development is influenced by a number of
factors, such as inefficient market operation
, poor management, financial instability, and
insufficient mode of transport. Thus, the
local markets in Samal are not so attractive
to vendors and consumers as markets in other
towns. The inter-linkages among local markets
are very weak in terms of the consumer and
commodity flows. The contribution of market to
local economy is very low. The benefits from
market operation were not as much as expected.
The study recommended the strict
implementation of government policies, the
preparation of an improved Municipal Market
Code, etc. The local government should
coordinate and work together with private
sector on the one hand, and market vendors and
consumers on the other in solving the
aforementioned problems.
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What did they need
and what did we bring? An analysis of the
impact of giving tenurial rights to encroached
land on rural development: an example of Sri
Lanka
By
S. Gamlath
Abstract:
The popular view that providing land titles
could motivate small farmers to increase their
agricultural production through increased
capital investment has been examined in this
study using a project in southern Sri Lanka.
Applying both quantitative and qualitative
methods, it was attempted to examine whether
the anticipated benefits were achieved in this
project. The findings suggest that though
uncertainty of land security has been a
problem for farmers, without addressing other
related issues, expected benefits form the
project could not be reached just by providing
land titles.
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Community
Management and Water Quality in Rural Water
Supply System in Nepal
By
B. S. Bhandari and
B. W. Wickramanayake
Abstract:
This paper critically examines the issues
related to the implementation and functioning
of community managed rural drinking water
schemes in Kavre and Bahlung Districts of
Nepal. The results are based on studies of
drinking water projects of non-government
organization (NGO), international
non-government organization (INGO) and
government organization (GO) implemented in
Nepal during 1986 to 1997. The data used in
the study were based on review of reports and
field survey in the year 2000. The discussions
focused more on assessing the water quality
and effectiveness of Water User Committees (WUC)
of 179 Drinking Water Supply (DWS) schemes.
The awareness of existing inequalities and
their social and economic consequences have
intensified in the project interventions for
improving the general welfare of rural
population, as well as for a more efficient
use of drinking water. This paper concludes
that awareness of safe drinking water and
preparing communities before planning and
construction of water systems is a
prerequisite for the long-term effectiveness
and sustainability of drinking water systems.
The management of the user group committee is
like wise crucial in DWS project.
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Institutional
Opportunities and Constraints in the
Performance of Farmer-Managed Irrigation
Systems in Nepal
By
N.N. Joshi, E.
Ostrom, G.P. Shivakoti and W.F. Lam
Abstract:
In this paper, we briefly overview the
institutions involved with the interventions
in the irrigation sector development along
with the process of intervention in Asia in
general and Nepal in particular. The we
discuss methodological procedures employed in
the study. We then describe the context of
irrigation management and examine the social
and institutional factor affecting performance
of farmer and agency-managed irrigation
systems. Based on the analysis of 231
farmer-and-agency managed irrigation systems
in Nepal, the important result of the study is
that farmer-managed irrigation systems with
stronger institutional bases such as effective
imposition of fine, social sanctions and
employment of local monitors created conducive
environment for rule following and mutual
trust among the users and yielded higher
irrigation performance. The policy implication
of the study is that the social and
institutional support are important aspects of
irrigation management; and thus, improving
irrigation management suggests a
socio-technical approach emphasizing
variations in both physical structure and
human dimensions of user activities which can
produce productive, equitable, cost-effective
and ecologically sound irrigation performance.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. XI, July
2001, No. 1
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Non-Timber Forest
Products on Shifting Cultivation Plots (Khoriya):
A Means of Improving Livelihood of Chepang
Rural Hill Tribe of Nepal
By
Bishnu Hari Pandit
Abstract:
In view of the possible contribution of
Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) to enhance
economic condition in areas unsuitable for
field crop cultivation, this article examines
the contribution of NTFPs domesticated on
shifting cultivation Plots (called Khoriya in
Nepali) to household economy of Chepang
Communities. The study is based on the survey
of 120 “ Chepang” households and group
discussion held in a small mountain watershed
of Nepal divided into two elevational zones.
The analysis begins with the examination of
variation in the socio-economic condition of
Chepang communities in upper and lower
elevational zones then, extends into exploring
relationship between several socio-economic
variables and income from NTFPs grown on
shifting cultivated lands. The results
indicate increasing NTFP cultivation and
income from lower to higher altitudes. There
is a good prospect for alleviating pressure on
forest resources through the promotion of NTFP
on degraded watersheds of the mountains of
Nepal.
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Technical
Efficiency Analysis of Pakistan Agriculture
with Special Reference to Chemical Fertilizer
Use
By
Ghulam Mustafa
Chaudhry
Abstract:
The study uses farm level input-output data
for 1997-1998 and analyses the technical
efficiency of Pakistani farmer with special
reference to fertilizer use. The Cobb Douglas
frontier production function incorporating
technical inefficiency components model was
estimated using information regarding 2315
sample farm households from the selected
districts of Punjab, Sindh and Northwest
Frontier Province of Pakistan. Education of
the farm operator and irrigation source has a
more pronounced effect on technical
efficiency. The tenant operated farms are more
efficient than those operated by owners or
owner-cum-tenants. Total fertilizer nutrients
applied as well as the balanced mix of
nutrients affect technical efficiency
positively. The contact of farmers with
extension agents and/or agricultural
scientists has a positive effect on
efficiency. Application o farmyard manure also
affected technical efficiency positively. The
results imply that the investment in human
capital in rural areas should be encouraged.
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Analysis of
Changes in the Cropping Pattern of Assam
During 1965/66-1994/95:An Econometric Study
By
Mercydi Maibangsa
and S. Maibangsa
Abstract:
Assam has experienced considerable changes in
area, production and productivity of various
crops since 1964-65. An attempt has therefore
been made to analyze the growth rates of area,
production and production and productivity of
various crops and the cropping pattern changes
in terms of substitution and expansion
effects. The relative contribution of various
components to the growth of crop output was
worked out by seven factor additive model
suggested by Minhas (1966). Results indicated
that cropping pattern changes were in favour
of food crops and the greater contribution was
due to expansion effect.
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The Personal and
Professional Problems of Field Workers of NGOs
in Bangladesh
By
Mokbul Morshed
Ahmad
Abstract:
Field workers should be the movers and shakers
of their NGOs and it is they who implement the
policies of their NGOs. Yet it seems that
nobody (neither the policy) makers of NGOs,
nor donors, nor academics) is concerned to
improve their performance by better
management. There has been very limited
research on NGOs field workers outside the
North. This article makes an effort to
highlight the personal and professional
problems of the field workers of NGOs in
Bangladesh, where there may be more and bigger
NGOs than in any other country of comparable
population. The paper draws on a field
research with the front-line workers of four
NGOs, their clients, immediate superiors and
senior management. Field workers face personal
problems such as job insecurity, financial
difficulties, problems with accommodation, and
family dislocation. These personal problems
differ according to gender, marital status and
age. Their professional problems include
training workload, promotion, transfer,
treatment by superiors and status at work.
Apart from these job issues, field worker face
problems in their external relationships such
as suspicion, resistance or lack of
co-operation from religious leaders and local
bosses, time and resource constraints, lack of
availability of suitable clients and eagerness
of the clients to get financial or material
benefits. It is argued that the strengths of
the field workers of Southern NGOs have been
largely unexplored and undervalued. This paper
seeks to make recommendations for NGOs in
solving these problems to make their work more
effective.
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Agricultural
Sustainability through Empowerment of Rubber
Smallholders in Thailand
By
B. Somboonsuke,
Ganesh P. Shivakoti and H. Demaine
Abstract:
Following the economic crisis of 1997 in
Thailand, rubber-smallholders along with many
other farmers were forced to adjust their
farming strategies and systems to maintain
viability and remain sustainable into the
future. One important aspect of change was
empowering such smallholders to have more
control over their farm, which had been until
that time largely under the influence of their
leaseholders and the rubber marketing system.
Such empowerment involved several factors,
including increased self-sufficiency, better
understanding of the causal agents of their
expenses and incomes, development of skills,
increased participation in the decision-making
processes which affected them, and increased
participation in community organizations.
Based on criteria of farm production and
incomes, energy used, clarity of objectives,
sufficient capital for necessary investment,
and undertaking new initiatives to deal with
problems, smallhokder empowerment has
increased markedly. This paper describes the
process and outcome of increased empowerment
of rubber smallholders in Thailand since the
economic crisis of 1997, focusing particularly
on the psychological aspects of the farmers’
changing attitudes.
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Contribution of
Beneficiary Participation in Project
Effectiveness in Watershed Management
Projects: A Case Study in Shivalik Foothill
Region in Northern India
By
Swarn Lata Arya,
J.S. Samra and R.K.Aggarwal
Abstract:
Alternative, participatory or community driven
institutions of integrated watershed
management are being considered to realize
sustainability of natural resource use in
India. This unique process of gathering
livelihood and environmental externalities
synergises social capital and biophysical
technologies being generated by the scientists
and technocrats. People’s participation and
empowerment in the joint management of
community and private resources harmonize
relative strengths of indigenous technical
knowledge and degradation and equitable
sharing of goods and services by all
stakeholders ensure continued consolidation of
the development process. An attempt has been
made in the present paper to analyse and
evaluate the contribution of beneficiary
participation in 53 water harvesting projects
in 27 villages covering 2070 families situated
in the foothills of shivalik in Northern
India. An input output framework was used to
identify the role of participation during
various stages of the project i.e. origin,
planning, designing, implementation,
redesigning and maintenance. The value scores
and confidence scores assigned to different
variables indicated that beneficiary
participation increased as the project
progressed chronologically from planning to
implementation and maintenance stages. In
other words, participation became much more
necessary for project effectiveness as the
activities progressed through various stages,
Communication and commitment were highly
correlated with project success, which calls
upon good understanding between the service
providers (implementing agency) and public.
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Asia- Pacific
Journal of Rural Development ( APJORD)
Vol. XI, December
2001, No. 2
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HRD Interventions
for Rural Development: Analysis of Asian
Experiences
By
P. Durgaprasad
Abstract:
The vicious cycle of rural poverty
necessitates formulation of a set of distinct
but related strategies to combat the
inextricably linked socio-political and
economic factors that cause poverty and stunt
development. Critical public policy
formulation accompanied by appropriate
instruments and institutions can alone usher
in rural and human development on a
sustainable basis. Capacity building and
empowerment of the poor through imaginative
Rural Development (RD) and HRD interventions
in the key sectors of development such as
health, literacy, education, employment, food
nutrition and income generating activities
hold promise for people-centred and
community-based development. Of course,
supplementary state support in legislations,
empowerment and institution building would be
a necessary corollary to the partnership mode
of development and a shift towards the human
development paradigms. Much of the recent
developments in the West and the south-east
Asia are attributable to this growing shift of
p9licies, strategies and programmes in tune
with the global changes in socio-political and
economic reforms and their consequences. The
paper outlines the problems of poverty and
development in Asia even while highlighting
the need for RD, HRD and Human Development,
and critically analyses the related policies,
strategies, programmes and results of
development interventions. It summarises the
past efforts and presents pointers for future
development. Alternative approaches to and
innovative practices in RD and HD are
highlighted and the instrumentalities are
elaborated with focus on poverty alleviation
and RD, HRD and HD services. Greater
availability of and access to basic minimum
services and safety nets is emphasized.
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Local
Organizational Capability for Land Management:
A SWOT Analysis of Organizations in the Hills
of Nepal
By
Giridhari Sharma
Paudel and Gopal B. Thapa
Abstract:
This paper analyzes the capacity of local
organizations associated with land management
in the hills of Nepal based on information
obtained through a survey of 120 local
organizations and 300 farm households.
Government organizations (GOs) can help
farmers to adopt suitable land management
practices, but are impaired due to political
interference. NGOs have made relatively better
contribution to land management. However, they
have not been able to provide effective
services due to close-organizational
structure. User groups have strong commitment
and greater enthusiasm for land management.
They have not been able to take advantage of
these qualities due to their weak technical
capabilities. Concerned policymakers should
pay attention to the de-politicization of GOs
democratization of NGOs, and capacity building
of the user groups.
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Community Based
Resource Management through Social Forestry
Programme of India: A Micro Level Study of
Hindol Block in Orissa State
By
Dolagobinda
Pradhan and Jayant K. Routray
Abstract:
After 1980, the social forestry programme was
introduced in India to regenerate forest
resource, rehabilitate wasteland and meet
local needs of peoples for fuel wood demand
and other minor forest produce by involving
local community for social forestry project
management and help sharing expected benefits.
The joint management practice of social
forestry by the Forest Department of the State
Government and local community is seen as a
positive experience although they are often
shadowed with some weaknesses. This study
conducted in Orissa State in India clearly
demonstrates a higher degree of awareness
among the communities and participation of
people in the project with partial success.
The study also recommends for providing a
well-defined operational framework for
managing social forestry activities and
ensuring sharing of benefits by the people to
further enhance the degree of success.
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Promotion of
Integrated Agriculture-Aquacultur Farming
Systems in Northeast Thailand: Need for
Judicious Considerations
By
Jharendu Pant,
Harvey Demaine and Peter Edwards
Abstract:
Northeast Thai farming systems have undergone
major changes over the last four decades.
Agricultural development has been constrained
by mismatch of agricultural interventions with
rapidly changing social and economic contexts.
Integrated agriculture-aquaculture systems (IAAS)
have been promoted in the small-scale,
resource poor farming sector in the belief
that they provide both employment and restore
the environment. However, promotion of IAAS is
rather challenging due to the costly and
lengthy transformation process and emergence
of additional problems beyond the transition
phase. A survey of IAAS households with
varying lengths of experience in IAA was
conducted in four different agro-ecological
zones to identify major constraints faced by
them. The survey found that biophysical
constraints to IAAS farming varied with
resource base, however, in all areas disease
and pests were common problems in fruit and
vegetable production. Households in the
transitional phase (with up to four years
experience) regarded biophysical and
technological constraints as the major ones,
while households beyond the transitional phase
(with five or more years of experience)
increasingly faced problems of marketing and
fluctuating demand for farm products,
particularly fruit and vegetables, in the
local market. None of the respondents reported
a problem in selling fish, indicating an
inadequate supply of fish to meet the demand
in local markets. Harnessing location
specific, agro-based potential and linking IAA
systems with small-scale agro-industries may
be needed to make the increasing number of
small scale IAAS viable in the long run.
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Regional
Variations in Health status: the Indian Case
of Health Care and Economic Reforms
By
K. Hanumantha Rao
Abstract:
The development of health sector has become
the prime concern of the state under the new
economic policy regime. Any impact assessment
of the economic reforms should gauge he
changes in the health status in the transition
phase vis-à-vis pre-reform situation. The
present paper attempts to delineate the
changes in health scenario across the major
states with rural-urban break up. To examine
the efforts of the state, the trends in public
outlays/expenditure on social services and
health services in per capita terms (at
constant prices) were examined. A comparative
static framework for analysis was adopted (3
time period analysis-1981-83, 1988-90 and
1995-97) to trace the changes taking place in
respect of six key indicators of health viz,
CBR, CDR, IMR, TFR, Female (effective) age at
marriage (FAM) and expectancy of life. Issues
like emergence of Rural-urban differentials (RUD)
and deceleration in the annual growth rate(s)
in regard to these indicators in the wake o
new reforms were analyses have been
identified. The inter-correlation analysis was
attempted to identify the crucial health
parameters for emphasis in the future
interventions. A Composite Development Index
of Health status (CDIH) was calculated and
the inter-state and rural-urban disparities in
CDIH values have been examined over time. The
relationship between health status and welfare
(poverty) was analysed using regression. These
analytical findings verify the proposition
that investments in health will help achieve
improvements in the human well being.
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Managing System
within a Non-systemic Vicious Circle:
Institutional Linkage Analysis to Identify the
Constraints of Technology Transfer and
Adoption under crop Diversification Programme
in Bangladesh
By
Jiban Ranjan
Majumder and Ganesh P. Shivakoti
Abstract:
Crop Diversification Programme is a relatively
large planned public intervention in
Bangladesh, which is being implemented
throughout the country for the last 12 years
jointly by Bangladesh Agricultural Research
Institute, Directorate of Agricultural
Extension. Bangladesh Agricultural Development
Corporation and Department of Agricultural
Marketing. The main objective of the programme
is to promote the production of nutritional
minor crops, such as pulses, oilseeds and
tubers, through transfer and adoption of
improved crop varieties and production
technologies. Routine field evaluations show
that the programme has hardly been able to
achieve its objective, as majority of target
crop varieties were not found to be adopted at
the field. Level. By employing a multilevel
investigation, the present study revealed that
the unsatisfactory performance of the
programme has been rooted primarily into
institutional constraints, because the
implementing agencies could not establish and
maintain functional coordination among them in
planning, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of technology transfer and adoption
programme. On the other hand isolation of the
programme from the local knowledge networks
resulted in mismatching of the offered
technologies with the practical field
situation. Based on field findings, and
alternative policy model has been suggested to
improve the innovative performance of CDP in a
systemic pattern.
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