| 1. |
- Andersson, Karolin, et al.
(author)
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Window dressing inequalities and constructing women farmers as problematic—gender in Rwanda’s agriculture policy
- 2022
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In: Agriculture and Human Values. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0889-048X .- 1572-8366. ; 39, s. 1245-1261
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Rwanda is often depicted as a success story by policy makers when it comes to issues of gender. In this paper, we show how the problem of gendered inequality in agriculture nevertheless is both marginalized and instrumentalized in Rwanda’s agriculture policy. Our in-depth analysis of 12 national policies is informed by Bacchi’s What’s the problem represented to be? approach. It attests that gendered inequality is largely left unproblematized as well as reduced to a problem of women’s low agricultural productivity. The policy focuses on framing the symptoms and effects of gendered inequality and turns gender mainstreaming into an instrument for national economic growth. We argue that by insufficiently addressing the socio-political underlying causes of gendered inequality, Rwanda’s agriculture policy risks reproducing and exacerbating inequalities by reinforcing dominant gender relations and constructing women farmers as problematic and men as normative farmers. We call for the policy to approach gendered inequality in alternative ways. Drawing on perspectives in feminist political ecology, we discuss how such alternatives could allow policy to more profoundly challenge underlying structural constraints such as unequal gender relations of power, gender norms, and gender divisions of work. This would shift policy’s problematizing lens from economic growth to social justice, and from women’s shortcomings and disadvantages in agriculture to the practices and relations that perpetuate inequality. In the long term, this could lead to transformed gender norms and power relations, and a more just and equal future beyond what the dominant agricultural development discourse currently permits.
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| 2. |
- Dubois, Alexandre
(author)
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Translocal practices and proximities in short quality food chains at the periphery: the case of North Swedish farmers
- 2019
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In: Agriculture and Human Values. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0889-048X .- 1572-8366. ; 36, s. 763-778
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper examines the social and organizational innovation processes undertaken by small-scale producers engaged in short food supply chains in the North Swedish region of Vasterbotten. The study uses the notion of proximity to empirically analyse and conceptually explore these phenomena. The paper illustrates the 'new associationalism' mobilized by producers in order to promote knowledge exchange and learning and highlights the role of translocal practices in sustaining this transition. The study found that open and trusted interactions with consumers are central to the development of 'quasi-organic' practices, and that producers belong to numerous motley associations of food professionals facilitating the creation of collective meanings about near-produced quality food. The paper contributes to the rapprochement between agri-food studies and human geography to understand the formation of local food systems from an evolutionary and relational perspective.
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| 3. |
- Krafft, Jannica, et al.
(author)
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Delivering too much, too little or off target-possible consequences of differences in perceptions on agricultural advisory services
- 2021
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In: Agriculture and Human Values. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0889-048X .- 1572-8366. ; 39, s. 185-199
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Advisory services are considered to play an important role in the development of competitiveness and sustainability in agriculture. Advisory services have been studied at policy level, structural level and within case studies, but there is still restricted knowledge about advisors' and farmers' view on advisory services in general. This paper presents the views of Swedish advisors and farmers on advisory services. In a survey-based study, perceptions of farm advisors and full-time farmers in commercial Swedish agriculture on advisory services were identified and statistically analysed, comparing differences between and within the groups. The results are structured around three main themes; motives for a farmer using or not using advisory services, preferred approach by the advisor and future demands on advisory services and their importance today. Possible consequences of differences in perceptions for on-farm service delivery were assessed. Similarities in perceptions on advisory services among advisors and farmers, were found in areas characterised by well-defined questions or production-related issues. Significant differences in perceptions of advisors and farmers emerged in less concrete areas and on topics connected to change, management and strategy. Consequences of discrepancies in perceptions are that advisors may deliver too much, too little or off target, especially when expectations on advisory services are not clearly expressed. A strong and proactive back-office supporting the advisors is needed to prevent these possible consequences.
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| 4. |
- Marquardt, Kristina, et al.
(author)
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Improved fallows : A case study of an adaptive response in Amazonian swidden farming systems
- 2013
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In: Agriculture and Human Values. - : Springer. - 0889-048X .- 1572-8366. ; 30:3, s. 417-428
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Many smallholders in the Amazon employ swidden (slash-and-burn) farming systems in which forest or forest fallows are the primary source of natural soil enrichment. With decreasing opportunities to claim natural forests for agriculture and shrinking landholdings, rotational agriculture on smaller holdings allows insufficient time for fallow to regenerate naturally into secondary forest. This case study examines how Peruvian farmers use "improved fallows" as an adaptive response to a situation of decreasing soil fertility and how the farmers describe the rationale underlying the various actions taken in these modified fallow systems. The results indicate that farmers establish improved fallows using contextual ecological knowledge and various techniques to introduce a large diversity of tree species. This practice is also used to restore degraded land to agricultural production. The tasks of maintaining productivity on agricultural land and reforesting degraded areas is becoming increasingly urgent in the Amazon, making agricultural practices that involve reforestation and tree management highly relevant. Since swidden farming systems are the basis for the livelihoods of most Amazon smallholders, good farming practices elaborated by swidden farmers are important for sustainable small-scale family farming systems in the Amazon.
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