Agroforestry is widely promoted in the mountainous regions of Southeast Asia as a means to enhance smallholder farmers’ livelihoods and mitigate land degradation. However, studies assessing its impact on farmers often focus on field-scale evaluations and landscape-level potential rather than direct livelihood outcomes. This paper examines differences in farming system performance between agroforestry adopters and non-adopters in northwest Vietnam using propensity score matching (PSM) to quantify the average effect of agroforestry adoption on economic, environmental, and social indicators. Results show that households adopting agroforestry experience an average revenue increase of approximately 8 million VND per hectare per year (~$325). However, erosion outcomes appear counterintuitive, likely due to control groups being located on less erosion-prone land and the presence of immature trees in agroforestry systems, whose canopies have yet to reduce erosion effectively. A typology of adopters highlights a broad range of adoption pathways, potentially influencing PSM results. Six farming household types emerged, from “Off-farm income-dependent farmers” with minimal agroforestry integration to “Specialists mixed agroforesters” with high agroforestry adoption and varying input intensity levels. The study underscores the importance of contextual awareness in agroforestry research, advocating for improved control of agroforestry type, adoption proportions, and system maturity to better capture real-life farm-scale impacts.
Tag: household income
Environmental Income and Rural Livelihoods: A Global-Comparative Analysis
This paper presents results from a comparative analysis of environmental income from approximately 8000 households in 24 developing countries collected by research partners in CIFOR’s Poverty Environment Network (PEN). Environmental income accounts for 28% of total household income, 77% of which comes from natural forests. Environmental income shares are higher for low-income households, but di erences across income quintiles are less pronounced than previously thought. The poor rely more heavily on subsistence products such as wood fuels and wild foods, and on products harvested from natural areas other than forests. In absolute terms environmental income is approximately ve times higher in the highest income quintile, compared to the two lowest quintiles.
Safety nets, gap filling and forests: a global-comparative perspective
In the forest-livelihoods literature, forests are widely perceived to provide both common safety nets to shocks and resources for seasonal gap-filling. We use a large global-comparative dataset to test these responses. We find households rank forest-extraction responses to shocks lower than most common alternatives. For seasonal gap-filling, forest extraction also has limited importance. The minority of households using forests for coping is asset-poor and lives in villages specialized on forests, in particular timber extraction. Overall, forest resources may be less important as a buffer between agricultural harvests and in times of unforeseen hardship than has been found in many case studies
Does communal forest intervention management enhance forest benefits of smallholder farmers? Evidence from Hugumbirda forest, Tigray, Ethiopia
Forest rehabilitation activities within centrally controlled state-owned forests in Ethiopia could not deliver communities with increased income. A study aiming to assess the benefits of forests for smallholder farmers whose land falls close to the state forest was conducted in Hugumbirda and Endedo kebele, two villages located adjacent to the Hugumbirda forest. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 251 randomly selected households living near or adjacent to the state forest. A logit model was used to analyze factors affecting household’s willingness to scale up forests at the communal level. Most of the respondents living near or adjacent to the national forest were found to be dependent on the forest for fuelwood and therefore energy, timber products, and farming equipment. Furthermore, households were found to perceive that communal intervention management is a significant factor in attempts to further scale up forests. Scale-up of forests at the community was one option to enhance the vegetation cover and therefore increase primary production by promoting infiltration and decrease evaporation and runoff water. Finally farmers have suggested the state forest should be devolved to the community to improve the current level of forest contributions to the livelihood of smallholder farmers.
Quantifying the economic contribution of wild food harvests to rural livelihoods: A global-comparative analysis
This paper empirically quantifies and analyses (i) the economic contribution of wild foods to rural households, (ii) the household socio-economic, demographic, and geographical correlates of wild food income, and (iii) how wild foods can be better incorporated into integrative food security policies. We used household income data from 7975 households in 24 developing countries across three continents collected by the Poverty Environment Network (PEN). We found 77% of households to be engaged in wild food collection from forest and non-forest environments even though the share of wild food income in total household income was on average only 4%. Poorer households and households experiencing shocks derived higher income shares from wild foods. State land is the main source of forest-derived wild food income while private lands are most important for non-forest wild food income. Considerable regional variation in determinants and the direction of significant relationships indicate there is no one-size-fits-all approach to integrating wild foods into food and forest policies. However, our results reveal potential to increase household food security by integrating wild foods into national food policies in more customized ways.
Making the most of imperfect data: A critical evaluation of standard information collected in farm household surveys
Household surveys are one of the most commonly used tools for generating insight into rural communities. Despite their prevalence, few studies comprehensively evaluate the quality of data derived from farm household surveys. We critically evaluated a series of standard reported values and indicators that are captured in multiple farm household surveys, and then quantified their credibility, consistency and, thus, their reliability. Surprisingly, even variables which might be considered ‘easy to estimate’ had instances of non-credible observations. In addition, measurements of maize yields and land owned were found to be less reliable than other stationary variables. This lack of reliability has implications for monitoring food security status, poverty status and the land productivity of households. Despite this rather bleak picture, our analysis also shows that if the same farm households are followed over time, the sample sizes needed to detect substantial changes are in the order of hundreds of surveys, and not in the thousands. Our research highlights the value of targeted and systematised household surveys and the importance of ongoing efforts to improve data quality. Improvements must be based on the foundations of robust survey design, transparency of experimental design and effective training. The quality and usability of such data can be further enhanced by improving coordination between agencies, incorporating mixed modes of data collection and continuing systematic validation programmes.
Household Welfare Effects of Stress-Tolerant Varieties in Northern Uganda
This study assessed the adoption of stress-tolerant varieties and their effect on household welfare, measured by net crop income per capita in Nwoya District, Uganda. The stress-tolerant varieties were considered to be climate-smart because they stabilise and increase crop income in the presence of climatic shocks. However, the uptake of the stress-tolerant varieties was still low in northern Uganda, due to bad past experience in terms of the performance of other improved varieties. Using data from a random sample of 585 households, a logistic model was estimated to assess the drivers for adoption of stress-tolerant varieties. In addition, a propensity score matching model was employed to assess causal effects. The second model was estimated because it controls for unobserved heterogeneity caused by self-selection bias. Results showed that adoption of stress-tolerant varieties was positively influenced by household size, access to information from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the perception of future climate change, the number of years an individual had lived in the village, and the number and type of assets owned as an indicator of household well-being. Average treatment effect from results showed that stress-tolerant varieties can increase crop income within a range of United States Dollars (USD) 500–864 per hectare per year, representing an 18–32% increase in crop income. The findings offer justification for scaling up stress tolerant varieties among smallholder farmers in northern Uganda to improve their welfare.
Maximizing the production, marketing, and returns form local chicken
The livestock sector—which includes cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, and poultry—contributes to approximately 42% of Zambia’s national agricultural output. The sector has potential to grow, especially among smallholder farmers.
Improving household incomes and reducing deforestation using rotational woodlots in Tabora District, Tanzania
Increasing smallholder incomes and improving the environment are often viewed as conflicting objectives. Rotational woodlots in Tanzania appear to help farmers generate substantial income while at the same time conserving forest area. In the rotational woodlot system, farmers intercrop food crops with leguminous trees during the first 2–3 years, leave the trees to grow, harvest the trees in the 5th year, and replant food crops. Of three species planted in an on-farm trial involving 60 farmers, Acacia crassicarpa (A. Cunn. ex Benth.) performed best, attaining a height 96% higher and a root collar diameter 76% higher, than the second ranked species, Acacia jurifera (Benth.). In spite of higher costs and a longer payoff period, the crassicarpa woodlot achieved returns to land 6.3 times greater, and returns to labor 2.0 times greater, than the maize (Zea mays L.)-fallow system. Farmers use fuelwood to cure tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and they greatly appreciate substituting relatively abundant land and slack season labor for scarce cash required for purchasing fuelwood that is harvested in the forest. Adoption of rotational woodlots in Tabora District alone can conserve 8675 ha forest per year, or 0.8% of total wooded area in the district. Farmers’ interest is high and 87% of those involved in the trial have expanded their area under woodlots. Research and development projects can benefit individual farmers and society by helping them to make the transition from depleting forest resources to planting trees on their own farms.
Household Fuel Consumption Based on Multiple Fuel Use Strategies: A Case Study in Kibera Slums
Recently, it has been argued that, contrary to earlier energy ladder thinking, households in developing countries do not switch to modern energy sources but instead tend to consume a combination of fuels. This article aimed to gather a better understanding of the relative importance of fuel substitution and fuel complementation, especially among charcoal, fuel briquettes and kerosene, and the factors associated with these choices. In this paper we present results of a household survey conducted during October 2010 in Kibera slums in Nairobi, Kenya. The results revealed that widely various household characteristics influence demand for charcoal and briquettes for cooking. In addition to these factors, the household income level affects the use of kerosene for cooking. At the same time, we found the fact households tend to switch to multiple fuels strategy as their increasing in income instead of completely switching from the consumption of traditional fuels to modern energy sources