Sustainable land use and food security in developing countries: DLV's approach to policy support

During the past decades, major changes have taken place with regard to the available policy instruments for food security and rural development. These changes are reviewed against the background of the structural adjustment programmes carried out in the agricultural sector. The linkages between agricultural policy and farmers' supply response are discussed, emphasizing the influence of macro-policy for decision-making at the micro-level of a farm household. An integrated bio-economic modelling framework is presented that allows a better understanding of the effects of macro and sectoral policy interventions for food security and sustainable land use at the farm and (sub)regional level. Critical areas where the understanding of macro–micro linkages is still weak are identified. Major conclusions regarding a suitable analytical framework for policy analysis and support are presented.

[1]  A. Janvry,et al.  Quantitative development policy analysis , 1994 .

[2]  Bas A. M. Bouman,et al.  Eco-regional approaches for sustainable land use and food production , 1995, Systems Approaches for Sustainable Agricultural Development.

[3]  C. T. de Wit,et al.  Resource use efficiency in agriculture , 1992 .

[4]  J. Stiglitz.  Some theoretical aspects of agricultural policies , 1987 .

[5]  R. Bosma,et al.  The promising impact of ley introduction and herd expansion on soil organic matter content in southern Mali , 1999 .

[6]  Eco-regional approaches, why, what and how. , 1995 .

[7]  S. Barrett.  Optimal soil conservation and the reform of agricultural pricing policies , 1991 .

[8]  J. Gunning,et al.  Peasant supply response in rationed economies , 1987 .

[9]  Hans Mundlak Yair Yang Maw-Cheng Bowers Alan Binswanger.  On the determinants of cross-country aggregate agricultural supply , 1987 .

[10]  Ian Malcolm David Little.  Economic Development: Theory, Policy, and International Relations , 1982 .

[11]  Frank Ellis,et al.  Agricultural Policies in Developing Countries , 1992 .

[12]  Ruerd Ruben,et al.  Options for sustainable agricultural systems and policy instruments to reach them , 1995 .

[13]  Joseph E. Stiglitz,et al.  Introduction: imperfect information and rural credit markets - puzzles and policy perspectives. , 1990 .

[14]  J. J. Stoorvogel,et al.  Sustainable land use planning in Costa Rica: a methodological case study on farm and regional level. , 1994 .

[15]  Ruerd Ruben,et al.  Analytical framework for disentangling the concept of sustainable land use , 1996 .

[16]  John M. Antle,et al.  Infrastructure and Aggregate Agricultural Productivity: International Evidence , 1983, Economic Development and Cultural Change.

[17]  H. van Keulen,et al.  Land use system evaluation: concepts and methodology. , 1994 .

[18]  T. Reardon.  Sustainability issues for agricultural research strategies in the semi-arid tropics: Focus on the Sahel , 1995 .

[19]  Gideon Kruseman,et al.  Agrarian policies for sustainable land use: bio-economic modelling to assess the effectiveness of policy instruments , 1998 .

[20]  R. A. Schipper,et al.  Farming in a fragile future : economics of land use with applications in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica , 1996 .

[21]  D. M. Jansen,et al.  A static, descriptive approach to quantify land use systems , 1995 .

[22]  G. Kruseman,et al.  The impact of agrarian policies on sustainable landuse. , 1997 .

[23]  K. J. Beek.  Land evaluation for agricultural development , 1978 .

[24]  Y. Hayami,et al.  Agricultural Development: An International Perspective. , 1972 .

[25]  Leo Stroosnijder,et al.  The future of the land. Mobilising and integrating knowledge for land use options. , 1994 .

[26]  Louise O. Fresco,et al.  Time and spatial scales in ecological sustainability , 1992 .

[27]  R. Lensink.  Structural adjustment in sub-Saharan Africa , 1996 .

[28]  Hans P. Binswanger,et al.  The policy response of agriculture. , 1989 .

[29]  H. van Keulen,et al.  Land evaluation and farming systems analysis for land use planning. (3rd ed.) , 1988 .

[30]  C. Timmer.  The agricultural transformation , 1986 .

[31]  Peter Dale,et al.  The future of the land: Mobilising and Integrating Knowledge for Land Use Options edited by Louise O Frasco, Leo Stroosnijder, Johan Bouma and Herman van Keulen John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK, 1994, 404 pp , 1995 .

[32]  M. Lipton,et al.  Why poor people stay poor , 1976 .

[33]  J. J. Stoorvogel,et al.  Geographical information systems as a tool to explore land characteristics and land use : with reference to Costa Rica , 1995 .

[34]  Trevor Young,et al.  Principles of Agricultural Economics: Markets and Prices in Less Developed Countries , 1989 .

[35]  H. van Keulen,et al.  Land Evaluation: From Intuition to Quantification , 1991 .

[36]  D. W. Adams,et al.  Undermining Rural Development With Cheap Credit , 1984 .

[37]  R. Ruben,et al.  Integrating agricultural research and policy analysis: analytical framework and policy applications for bio-economic modelling , 1998 .

[38]  J. Stoorvogel,et al.  Sub-regional linear programming models in land use analysis: a case study of the Neguev settlement, Costa Rica. , 1995 .

[39]  H. Askari,et al.  Estimating Agricultural Supply Response with the Nerlove Model: A Survey , 1977 .

[40]  Marc Nerlove,et al.  The dynamics of supply : estimation of farmers' response to price , 1959 .

[41]  Huib Hengsdijk,et al.  A technical coefficient generator for land use activities in the Koutiala region of South Mali , 1996 .