This paper examines the effect commercialization (sale ratio, market transaction, co-operative sale), and diversification (crop, animal husbandry, and non-farm diversification) may have on farmers’ income. In investigating so, this paper takes into account the structural factors which could also affect farmers' income. The results show that increasing diversification (crop and …
Small farmers need credit and other supporting services for diverse activities which comprise a family’s livelihood strategy. Self Help Affinity Groups (SAGs) are the most appropriate institutions which provide the necessary space, resources and skills required by a poor family to develop a livelihood strategy. http://www.agriculturesnetwork.org/magazines/india/2-finance-for-farming/marginal-and-small-farmers-require-freedom-and/at_download/article_pdf
In Nepal, lost in the chaos of political upheavals, a silent revolution is afoot. In remote villages of this mountainous and energy-starved country people are demanding their right to electricity. They say electricity is a national good; everyone must have a right to it. This is not to say Nepal …
Across Nepal, close to 420 electricity user groups, cooperatives and committees are working to extend the grid into villages. They are taking charge of electricity distribution, maintenance and ‘customer service’. Together they have electrified 176,000 rural households according to nea; another 90,000 are in the pipeline. These numbers are significant …
Away from the grid, villages have been generating their own electricity for decades in Nepal. The country is the developing world’s petri dish for experiments on small-scale renewables. Generous international donors have supported biomass (biogas, improved cooking stoves and biofuels); mini- and micro-hydro power; improved water mills; solar (photovoltaic and …
Meticulously planned off-grid systems of power generation face the greatest threat from haphazard extension of the grid. “The subsidy is disbursed, plants are built, and then mothballed as soon as the grid reaches,” Ratna Sansar Shrestha, water and energy policy analyst, said. Despite the long and frequent power cuts, many …
Coffee is a major international commodity, and because of this, coffee production has the potential for considerable global impacts on the environment. These impacts can include the consumption of energy, water, land and the loss of native forest. Here we quantify these costs using Costa Rica as a case study, …
Food prices in the immediate future can be controlled only through large imports. Wheat stocks are adequate but rice stocks are not. There will be a fiscal cost because global prices are above domestic prices, but this will not be above 1 per cent of central government expenditure. This may …
Small-scale farmers depend largely on their animals and need to feed them well. Technology based innovations have been the mainstream solution to improve the fodder problem. But making farmers find relevant information and networks appears to be as much effective for innovation.
Olivier De Schutter is the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food. He aims to inform people at the highest political levels about the role that smallholders play in the world
In the face of persistent rural poverty, an incomplete agrarian transition, the predominance of small and marginal farms and a growing feminisation of agriculture, this paper argues for a new institutional approach to poverty reduction, agricultural revival and social empowerment. It makes a strong case for a group approach to …
The electricity sectors of many developing countries underwent substantial reforms during the 1980s and 1990s, driven by global agendas of privatization and liberalization. However, rural electrification offered little by way of market incentives for profit-seeking private companies and was often neglected. As a consequence, delivery models for rural electrification need …
Jyoti Mhapsekar has ideas on low-cost ways to reduce the world's carbon burden. As president of the Parisar Vikas women's waste-pickers cooperative in Mumbai, India, and a climate activist, she has first-hand experience in an industry that is not only one of the cheapest ways to reduce emissions. Recycling is …
This Report of the Committee deals with the action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Twenty-Seventh Report (Fourteenth Lok Sabha) of the Standing Committee on Chemicals & Fertilizers (2008-09) on
A cooperative of landless women in Gujarat are making a successful living through collective farming. By converting their village into an eco tourism centre, they are conserving and promoting local cultures and cuisine.
PIL filed in the High Court of Gujarat in the matter of Swashrayi Mahila Seva Sangh (SEWA) Vs Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation & Others. SEWA files Public Interest Litigation to appoint a High Powered Committee to frame a policy and mandatory rules for preserving and enhancing employment of waste pickers all …
With more than 3.5 million animals, Ethiopia has the largest cattle population in Africa. Milk production, however, is very low, and its per capita consumption is lower than the African or the world
Beneficial and cost effective, says cooperative that introduced feed a milk cooperative in Kolhapur district, Maharashtra, has bagged a patent on one of its products that cuts the cost of calf rearing by half. The cooperative, popularly called Gokul, after its brand of milk products, has launched two calf-rearing products: …
