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Understanding local food systems in South Asia: An assessment approach and design
Home to one-quarter of humanity—one-fifth of whom are youth—South Asia has the world’s largest concentration of poverty and malnutrition (1–3). Despite producing one-quarter of the world’s consumed food, the region’s agrifood systems face formidable challenges in producing an adequate and affordable supply of the diverse foods needed for sustainable healthy diets (4,5). Unhealthy food consumption is rising, and farming systems are threatened by unsustainable groundwater withdrawal due to poorly developed food and energy policies. In addition, South Asia’s farmers are both contributors and victims of climate change and extreme weather, which contributes to rural out-migration—...
Cultivating Knowledge
A single seed is more than just the promise of a plant. In rural south India, seeds represent diverging paths toward a sustainable livelihood. Development programs and global agribusiness promote genetically modified seeds and organic certification as a path toward more sustainable cotton production, but these solutions mask a complex web of economic, social, political, and ecological issues that may have consequences as dire as death. In Cultivating Knowledge anthropologist Andrew Flachs shows how rural farmers come to plant genetically modified or certified organic cotton, sometimes during moments of agrarian crisis. Interweaving ethnographic detail, discussions of ecological knowledge, an...
Genetically Modified Crops and Agricultural Development
This book analyzes the impacts of current and possible future GM crop applications and shows that these technologies can contribute substantially to sustainable agricultural development and food security.
Gender, Agriculture and Agrarian Transformations
This book presents research from across the globe on how gender relationships in agriculture are changing. In many regions of the world, agricultural transformations are occurring through increased commodification, new value-chains, technological innovations introduced by CGIAR and other development interventions, declining viability of small-holder agriculture livelihoods, male out-migration from rural areas, and climate change. This book addresses how these changes involve fluctuations in gendered labour and decision making on farms and in agriculture and, in many places, have resulted in the feminization of agriculture at a time of unprecedented climate change. Chapters uncover both how w...
In the Dark
Electricity shortages are among the biggest barriers to South Asia’s development. Some 255 million people—more than a quarter of the world’s off-grid population—live in South Asia, and millions of households and firms that are connected experience frequent and long hours of blackouts. Inefficiencies originating in every link of the electricity supply chain contribute significantly to the power deficit. Three types of distortions lead to most of the inefficiencies: institutional distortions caused by state ownership and weak governance; regulatory distortions resulting from price regulation, subsidies, and cross-subsidies; and social distortions (externalities) causing excessive envir...
Crop Variety Improvement and Its Effect on Productivity
This volume reports the findings of a study of the productivity impact of varietal improvement research conducted at a number of international centers affiliated with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Such centers have been at the forefront of the "Green Revolution" that resulted in the breeding of new crop varieties of the world's staple food crops. Econometric models are used to evaluate the investment in these cases of agricultural research and to analyze impact in selected countries.
Rise of the Plebeians?
For decades, India has been a conservative democracy governed by the upper caste notables coming from the urban bourgeoisie, the landowning aristocracy and the intelligentsia. The democratisation of the ‘world’s largest democracy’ started with the rise of peasants’ parties and the politicisation of the lower castes who voted their own representatives to power as soon as they emancipated themselves from the elite’s domination. In Indian state politics, caste plays a major role and this book successfully studies how this caste-based social diversity gets translated into politics. This is the first comprehensive study of the sociological profile of Indian political personnel at the state level. It examines the individual trajectory of 16 states, from the 1950s to 2000s, according to one dominant parameter—the evolution of the caste background of their elected representatives known as Members of the Legislative Assembly, or MLAs. The study also takes into account other variables like occupation, gender, age and education.
Transforming Food Systems for a Rising India
This open access book examines the interactions between India’s economic development, agricultural production, and nutrition through the lens of a “Food Systems Approach (FSA).” The Indian growth story is a paradoxical one. Despite economic progress over the past two decades, regional inequality, food insecurity and malnutrition problems persist. Simultaneously, recent trends in obesity along with micro-nutrient deficiency portend to a future public health crisis. This book explores various challenges and opportunities to achieve a nutrition-secure future through diversified production systems, improved health and hygiene environment and greater individual capability to access a balanc...
Managing Biodiversity in Agricultural Ecosystems
Describes how farmers manage, maintain, and benefit from biodiversity in agricultural production systems. Includes the most recent research and developments in the maintenance of local diversity at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels.
Organic Agriculture, Environment and Food Security
Organic agriculture is defined as an environmentally and socially sensitive food supply system. This publication considers the contribution of organic agriculture to ecological health, international markets and local food security. It contains a number of case studies of the practical experiences of small farmers throughout the world (including India, Iran, Thailand, Uganda and Brazil) who have adopted fully integrated food systems, and analyses the prospects for a wider adoption of organic agriculture. The book also discusses the weakness of institutional support for nurturing existing knowledge and exchange in organic agriculture.
