1. How can sustainable agroecological
livelihoods be an economically and culturally viable alternative to migration?
(Here is a reminder of what you should do now:
Please post a comment at least two paragraphs
long with your thoughts on the research question as it is, addressing the
following questions:
a.
What kind of research are you doing related to
this question (CAN-related or independent)?
b.
What are the lessons learned from your research
on this question?
c.
What kinds of specific questions are necessary
to answer the broad question?
d.
How can this question better reflect the work
you are doing? What are your
future plans for work related to this question?
All comments will be recorded in a discussion
thread, which means that you should respond to others’ postings with more comments and develop the
discussion!
Thanks, and good luck!!! H.)
Thanks, Heather. Here is a general suggestion for what to do with these questions. One methodological challenge is how to turn such big questions into more bounded (and therefore more answerable) questions. This also involves specifying measurable indicators (whether qualitative or quantitative - and with a large N, qualitative indicators become quantifiable). At least in my field, the terrible-sounding word that sums up these two processes is the "operationalization" of the big question... with regards - JF
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jonny! Yes, hopefully people will post comments about the "more bounded" questions and indicators they are using as well...we'll see how far we get! In the diagnostic being done at the UCA San Ramon we have gone through a process of taking the big research questions in the diagnostic study and making lists of indicators for each question, and then matching them to instruments to gather data on the indicators. But it will be interesting to learn what specific/bounded questions people are using and indicators, and really come up with a set of dependable ones that CAN can use standardly in all of its studies on this research question and the others.
ReplyDeleteMy research is conducted within the program of CIESAS Sureste “Soberanía alimentaria, agroecología y movimientos sociales”. The Project is called “Parcelas, Paisajes y Políticas: La agricultura ecológica y la gestión de los recursos naturales en el Sureste de México.” Here I refer to the subproject on local food systems in the highlands of Chiapas.
ReplyDeleteCAN question 1
How can sustainable agroecological livelihoods be an economically and culturally viable alternative to migration?
a. This is the central question of my current research in the Highland of Chiapas. I am focused on indigenous farmers who are working towards food sovereignty by transformation through agroecological practices, fortifying their own community and family food security and supplying the regional market with fresh produce, animal products and grains, produced organically. Our main concern is rural youth, the most vulnerable group and the most likely to immigrate in search of work. Agroecology and local markets by responsible consumers has opened up new possibilities for these young people for a dignified livelihood in their own communities.
b. A major lesson I have been taught by being involved in this research is that rural youth in Chiapas and I imagine everywhere else truly live in new world very different from that of their parents. Their expectations, desires, temptations and fears were unimaginable just a few decades ago. If we are to reach them we must show that agroecology is a positive part of this new world, that it is of the future and not of the past—of marginality and poverty—they wish to leave behind. A key point is that the roots of agroecology in traditional agricultural practices emphasizes the relevance of cultural traditions while the scientific side of agroecology looks ahead.
c. I think the greatest challenge for research is to anticipate the future of rural societies and small farmers over the next couple of decades. We cannot assume the things will continue along as they are or as they have been for the last couple of decades. Will agroecology be a major component of the transformations that are underway? What will the economic and social environments be like, globally and locally? How will increasing costs of fossil fuels impact industrial agriculture and corporate food distribution? What will be the impact on smallholders of new international regulatory agreements such as Codex Alimentarius? What are the obstacles and opportunities for a revival of smallholder agriculture? What will be the role of smallholders and agroecology in assuring food security, local, regional and global? These are broad questions but they bear reflecting on as we think about framing CAN’s research agenda. On a community scale, we need to evaluate the current situation with local, “short circuit” markets, as well as other market opportunities. What is the status ‘soil health’ in the region? How resilient are the local economies and societies we deal with to a financial crisis or natural disaster? What is the status of preparedness for famine or epidemic in each region? These are things we could compare among the regions we work in; that would be a nice joint project.
d. My plans are to continue researching these issues in the context of Chiapas and Central America.
Below are answers to the questions on emigration, for my research experience in Tzucacab, Yucatan.
ReplyDelete(A) I am investigating the role of biodiversity in sustainable livelihoods and food security. Emigration can be seen ether as a coping mechanism for dealing with the failure of farm-based livelihoods, or as a household level livelihood diversification strategy. It probably functions as both in Tzucacab. Specific questions regarding immigration I want to address are:
•What is the importance immigration, especially remittances, to household livelihoods, relative to other resources?
•What is the cost of immigration in terms of loss of specialized labor, and how does that play out in agroecosystems? (I hypothesize that there is a labor shortage in Tzucacab that results in less diverse and less resilient agroecosystems, at least in the Milpa)
•What is the vulnerability / resilience of wage labor outside of the community as a livelihood strategy? (is Cancun labor reliable compared to farming?)
•What are the cultural aspects of young people’s decision to leave or stay in the community? This last question is addressed mostly through the FotoVoces activity.
(B) lessons learned-- too soon to tell for me
(C) see A.
(D) The question does imply a value judgement that farming should be preferred above emigration, and I think we should be careful with that, or at least, decide what we really mean by that. In Tzucacab, emigration often pays for investments in agroecosystems, houses, land.. Some people work for a few years to make ag a viable livelihood strategy, and return. Others never come back- they make a reasonable decision that they can be happier somewhere else. I agree that sustainable ag should be a viable option, but it’s not necessarily an alternative to migration.
Re DEvon?
ReplyDelete"What is the cost of immigration in terms of loss of specialized labor, and how does that play out in agroecosystems? (I hypothesize that there is a labor shortage in Tzucacab that results in less diverse and less resilient agroecosystems, at least in the Milpa)"
This is a key issue in my research. This is what is behind the deterioration of milpa productivity and the degradation of many milpa environments. Part of this is a process of monetization of labor. As the need for money increases the family dedicates less and less time to the 'free labor' that was devoted to investments in 'sustainability' that don't give immediate cash returns.
a.What kind of research are you doing related to this question (CAN-related or independent)?
ReplyDeleteMy research is focused most generally on understanding the character and magnitude of changes visited upon a small coffee growing community in a small coffee growing country following the coffee crisis and evaluating the economic and environmental struggle strategies of a smallholder coop. To that end I evaluated through a 100+ community household survey demography, education, migration, income, land-use, labor allocation, household conditions, social networks, food security, coffee management and yields.
I was especially interested in evaluating the impact of alternative markets, including CAN and FT, as well as understanding the role of coffee shade-tree and livelihood diversification on sustaining farm-family livelihoods. This I accomplished through a separate comparative case study of coop vs. non coop farm-households.
b. What are the lessons learned from your research on this question?
My research shows that between 2000 and 2009 31% of the households located in the district of Agua Buena sold or abandoned their farms. Of the remaining households, 45% contained at least one member who has left the county for good in search of work. This is reflected in farm land-use: Coffee went from 52% to 23% of the farm and pasture from 32 to 50%. A full 70% of respondents do not want their children to be involved in agriculture.
You all know the story with the coop- it feels like useless info but I can tell you that there was a (too) small monetary advantage for the coop farmers each year between 2004 and 2008. The tree and crop biodiversity is another thing, interesting stuff but with no partner org to use it, to build upon it...
c.What kinds of specific questions are necessary to answer the broad question?
see above
d.How can this question better reflect the work you are doing? What are your future plans for work related to this question?
I think that better understanding the agroecological, political, economic and cultural factors that contribute to whether Costa Rican peasants either persist or migrate is important. I also think I need to evaluate the goals, ideas, projects etc. on a community level- NOT just with the smallholder farmers-they are actually a huge minority in AB. Instead seek out the landless, the landrich, the youth, the institutions besides the coop, etc. The country has been de-agrarianizing for years now, the community level data is depressing but yet many households and indoviduals are inventing new livelihood forms...
I am involved in two research programs related with this issue.
ReplyDeleteThe first program “Effective Adaptation Strategies and Risk Reduction towards Economic and Climatic Shocks: Lessons from the Coffee Crisis in Mesoamerica” was conducted in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team from Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Chiapas. In focus groups, households mentioned the combination of social unrest and climatic disturbances as a motivation for migration, and many households also mentioned the coffee crisis of the late 1990s as an important stimulus for migration. Since then, migration has converted into a rite of passage for many of the region’s youth. Migration does not appear to come at the expense of coffee: while some members migrate, typically other household members remain to care for the harvest and crop. We did not find a correlation between households with agroecological coffee production and migration, and maybe we should ask if migration allows to maintain agroecological livelihoods.
The second program “The effect of migration and remittances on land use change in rural Guatemala and Mexico” is conducted in collaboration with another multidisciplinary team from Guatemala and Norway. Through a survey we are studying how remittances affect biodiversity in agroecosystems and if migrants bring new perspectives for agricultural management and germoplasm. In late November we will have the data analyzed.
Personally, once that I´m done with these 2 projects I don´t have any plans to keep working on the question.
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteSo glad to see this dialogue deepening and to see some very interesting and comparable research results from my colleagues involved with CAN....I don't have any research projects that specifically foreground these questions (could be a good idea), but a substantial quantities of data from past and ongoing research that is relevant to these findings.
The hypothesis that a fully diversified farm of sufficient size relative to household population can slow and possibly stop both seasonal and certainly permanent migration is worth more research….in fact Don Silvestre López the Campesino-a-Campesino promoter who led the field based exchange that kicked off international food security and sovereignty exchange we organized in Nicaragua this summer stated it this way: Si me va mal en un rubro por plaga, por poca o mucha lluvia, tengo otros que me meten el hombro. Yo ya tengo cuatro años de no trabajarle a nadie. La poquita tierra aprovecho al máximo sin destruirla.”
We have the results from the participatory diagnostic conducted as part of the food security and sovereignty in the Segovias project and this includes a statistically representative sample of 260 smallholder households drawn from a population of 760. There is also interesting focus group and some personal interviews that address coping mechanisms to mitigate food insecurity. But we need more time for analysis and writing this up….
• There is also data from 2008 research in San Ramon that gets at these questions….
• In general, when I look back at the reported levels of migration from this research they are well below the high average rates in Nicaragua… (seasonal migration is also common in coffee growing regions and there are many place specific dynamics, for example people in the Segovias migrate to El Salvador and Spain more than those in Matagalpa). If I returned to the 105 farmers that were involved in the San Ramon research in 2003 and again in 2008 (today) in 2012, which will likely happen through collaboration with one of Ernesto ‘s graduate students… I know that most of these farmers have stopped their organic production practices and several have sold their land and moved to cities and elsewhere….
• One simple way to analyze existing data is to test the hypothesis that more diversified farms (as measured by the number of crops produced and/or land uses) have lower migration rates. Data could be compared within our own population, to national rural averages, and to what is happening in other countries….