The Changing Social Production and Consequences of Land Quality Variation in Rural Africa

非洲农村社会生产的变化和土地质量变化的后果

• 批准号: 0648075
• 负责人: Matthew Turner
• 金额: $ 18.38万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-06-01 至 2012-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0648075&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Changing; Social; Production; Consequences; Land

Inherently low soil fertility and land degradation are seen as major impediments for improving food security and rural development in semi-arid Africa. Soil fertility parameters vary significantly at multiple scales (field, farm, village, watershed, district, region), not only inherently but because of deliberate nutrient harvesting and transfer strategies by African farmers. Analyses of soil fertility management have been dominated by nutrient balance approaches, which generally highlight the futility of sustained production without inorganic fertilizers, and by social historical approaches that argue for the long-term persistence of cropping systems despite fertility constraints. This research project will address the limitations of both approaches. Political ecological research on land quality variation and its changing influence on the social role played by land as evidenced in social transfers, resource conflicts, and livelihood strategies will be conducted in two contrasting study areas that have each been described as "endpoints" of serious soil impoverishment. One case study will occur in the Fakara region of Niger; the other will be conducted in Western Province of Kenya. This will be a spatially explicit study of soil fertility variation that considers the social boundaries that affect human management's effects on and reaction to soil fertility variation, with careful consideration of spatial and temporal scales of analysis. The investigators will employ multiple methods, including GIS, systematic quantitative and qualitative surveys, ethnographic interviews, field histories, soil analyses, and participant observation to explore the implications of soil quality variation on (1) agricultural strategies practiced by farmers; (2) the ways in which different social groups value land; and (3) land transfers and ownership differentiation among rural households.This political ecological study will investigate environmental change at finer spatial and temporal scales than has commonly been performed previously. By documenting the changing sociospatial distribution of fields and fertility investments, the investigators will evaluate the scale sensitivity of standard "sustainability" assessments and address the changing social role of land quality variation at the level of the community and household. Of particular interest are the social implications of land quality variation for persistence of social differentiation at the village level, the nature of land conflicts, the social investments for securing rights to land, and decisions related to transfers of land (inheritance, loaning, pledging, etc.). By seriously engaging with soil quality variation, this study will contribute new understandings to the land-use intensification, soil-fertility transition, and land tenure literatures. It also will contribute to a rethinking of the role of land quality in rural development in tropical Africa. The study will promote the participation of marginalized communities in advancing the scientific research agenda relating to land degradation and poverty and will be conducted in close cooperation with two international agricultural research centers (the International Livestock Research Institute in Niger and the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute in Kenya) with strong connections to decision makers in West and East Africa. Periodic seminars, presentations, and feedback sessions will promote the research findings as they unfold to the international, national (Kenyan and Nigerien), and North American research partner organizations. Research results will also be presented and validated with the participating communities in appropriate formats at the end of the project. Scientific papers will promote the research findings to the academic audience and natural resource management policy makers in the United States and Africa in order to improve the quality of science in the on-going discussions of land degradation and poverty in African agriculture.

固有地，低土壤的生育能力和土地降解被视为改善半干旱非洲粮食安全和农村发展的主要障碍。 土壤肥力参数在多个尺度（田间，农场，村庄，分水岭，地区，地区）上有很大差异，不仅是固有的，而且是由于非洲农民故意收获和转移策略。 土壤生育能力管理的分析已由营养平衡方法主导，这些方法通常强调了没有无机肥料的持续生产的徒劳，并且通过社会历史方法来指示尽管有生育力限制，但仍涉及种植系统的长期持久性。 该研究项目将解决两种方法的局限性。 关于土地质量变化及其对土地扮演的社会作用的影响的不断变化的政治生态研究将在社会转移，资源冲突和生计策略中所证明的，将在两个对比的研究领域进行，这些研究领域都被描述为严重土壤贫困的“终点”。 尼日尔的法卡拉地区将发生一个案例研究。另一个将在肯尼亚西部进行。 这将是对土壤肥力变异的空间显式研究，该研究考虑了影响人类管理对土壤生育能力变异的影响和反应的社会边界，并仔细考虑了空间和时间范围的分析。 研究人员将采用多种方法，包括GIS，系统的定量和定性调查，人种学访谈，现场历史，土壤分析以及参与者观察，以探索土壤质量变化对（1）农民实践的农业策略的影响； （2）不同社会群体重视土地的方式； （3）农村家庭之间的土地转移和所有权差异。本政治生态研究将调查比以前通常进行的更精细的空间和时间尺度上的环境变化。通过记录田野和生育投资的社会居民分布的变化，研究人员将评估标准“可持续性”评估的规模敏感性，并解决社区和家庭水平上土地质量变化的不断变化的社会作用。 特别感兴趣的是土地质量变化对乡村层面上社会差异的持久性的社会影响，土地冲突的性质，确保土地权利的社会投资以及与土地转移有关的决定（继承，贷款，贷款，承诺等）。 通过认真处理土壤质量的变化，这项研究将为土地利用强化，土壤肥沃的过渡和土地权限文献做出新的理解。 它还将有助于重新思考土地质量在热带非洲农村发展中的作用。 该研究将促进边缘化社区参与与土地退化和贫困有关的科学研究议程，并将与两个国际农业研究中心（尼日尔国际牲畜研究所以及肯尼亚的热带土壤生物学和肯尼亚的热带土壤生物学和生育研究所）密切合作，与西部和东部非洲的决策型建立了牢固的联系。 定期研讨会，演讲和反馈会议将随着国际，国家（肯尼亚和尼日利亚）和北美研究合作伙伴组织的展开而促进研究结果。 研究结果还将在项目结束时以适当格式的参与社区进行介绍和验证。 科学论文将向美国和非洲的学术受众和自然资源管理政策制定者促进研究结果，以提高非洲农业土地退化和贫困的持续讨论中的科学质量。