IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agisys/v135y2015icp133-140.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainable intensification in drylands: What resilience and vulnerability can tell us

Author

Listed:
  • Robinson, Lance W.
  • Ericksen, Polly J.
  • Chesterman, Sabrina
  • Worden, Jeffrey S.

Abstract

•We apply concepts from vulnerability and resilience to sustainable intensification in drylands.•We challenge the predominant “security-versus-intensification hypothesis”.•Some forms of intensification can increase vulnerability and are therefore unsustainable.•Agricultural intensity is not the inverse of extensivity.•Sustainable intensification intensifies the most extensive systems, as extensive systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Robinson, Lance W. & Ericksen, Polly J. & Chesterman, Sabrina & Worden, Jeffrey S., 2015. "Sustainable intensification in drylands: What resilience and vulnerability can tell us," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 133-140.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:135:y:2015:i:c:p:133-140
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2015.01.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X15000062
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agsy.2015.01.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jayne, T. S. & Yamano, Takashi & Weber, Michael T. & Tschirley, David & Benfica, Rui & Chapoto, Antony & Zulu, Ballard, 2003. "Smallholder income and land distribution in Africa: implications for poverty reduction strategies," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 253-275, June.
    2. Frank Ellis & H Ade Freeman, 2004. "Rural Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction Strategies in Four African Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 1-30.
    3. Shively, Gerald & Pagiola, Stefano, 2004. "Agricultural intensification, local labor markets, and deforestation in the Philippines," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 241-266, May.
    4. Michael Carter & Christopher Barrett, 2006. "The economics of poverty traps and persistent poverty: An asset-based approach," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 178-199.
    5. John L. Dillon & J. R. Anderson, 1971. "Allocative Efficiency, Traditional Agriculture, and Risk," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 53(1), pages 26-32.
    6. Tittonell, Pablo, 2014. "Livelihood strategies, resilience and transformability in African agroecosystems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 3-14.
    7. Kinsey, Bill & Burger, Kees & Gunning, Jan Willem, 1998. "Coping with drought in Zimbabwe: Survey evidence on responses of rural households to risk," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 89-110, January.
    8. Frank Ellis, 2000. "The Determinants of Rural Livelihood Diversification in Developing Countries," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 289-302, May.
    9. DeWalt, Kathleen M., 1993. "Nutrition and the commercialization of agriculture: Ten years later," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 1407-1416, June.
    10. Jayne, T.S. & Mather, David & Mghenyi, Elliot, 2010. "Principal Challenges Confronting Smallholder Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1384-1398, October.
    11. Rosenzweig, Mark R & Binswanger, Hans P, 1993. "Wealth, Weather Risk and the Composition and Profitability of Agricultural Investments," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 103(416), pages 56-78, January.
    12. Travis J. Lybbert & Christopher B. Barrett & Solomon Desta & D. Layne Coppock, 2004. "Stochastic wealth dynamics and risk management among a poor population," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(498), pages 750-777, October.
    13. Feder, Gershon & Just, Richard E & Zilberman, David, 1985. "Adoption of Agricultural Innovations in Developing Countries: A Survey," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(2), pages 255-298, January.
    14. Derek Byerlee & Alain de Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2009. "Agriculture for Development: Toward a New Paradigm," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 15-31, September.
    15. Christopher Barrett & Paswel Phiri Marenya & John Mcpeak & Bart Minten & Festus Murithi & Willis Oluoch-Kosura & Frank Place & Jean Claude Randrianarisoa & Jhon Rasambainarivo & Justine Wangila, 2006. "Welfare dynamics in rural Kenya and Madagascar," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 248-277.
    16. ., 2006. "Vulnerability and Coping," Chapters, in: David Alexander Clark (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Development Studies, chapter 127, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. John G. McPeak & Christopher B. Barrett, 2001. "Differential Risk Exposure and Stochastic Poverty Traps Among East African Pastoralists," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(3), pages 674-679.
    18. W. Neil Adger, 2003. "Social Capital, Collective Action, and Adaptation to Climate Change," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 79(4), pages 387-404, October.
    19. Patti Kristjanson & Nelson Mango & Anirudh Krishna & Maren Radeny & Nancy Johnson, 2010. "Understanding poverty dynamics in Kenya," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(7), pages 978-996.
    20. Palmer-Jones, Richard & Jackson, Cecile, 1997. "Work intensity, gender and sustainable development," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 39-62, February.
    21. Edgardo Moscardi & Alain de Janvry, 1977. "Attitudes Toward Risk Among Peasants: An Econometric Approach," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 59(4), pages 710-716.
    22. Peter D. Little & Kevin Smith & Barbara A. Cellarius & D. Layne Coppock & Christopher Barrett, 2001. "Avoiding Disaster: Diversification and Risk Management among East African Herders," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 32(3), pages 401-433, June.
    23. Author-Name: Jeffrey D. Sachs & John W. McArthur & Guido Schmidt-Traub & Margaret Kruk & Chandrika Bahadur & Michael Faye & Gordon McCord, 2004. "Ending Africa's Poverty Trap," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 35(1), pages 117-240.
    24. Ellis, Frank, 2000. "Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198296966.
    25. Ian Burton & Saleemul Huq & Bo Lim & Olga Pilifosova & Emma Lisa Schipper, 2002. "From impacts assessment to adaptation priorities: the shaping of adaptation policy," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(2-3), pages 145-159, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ochoa. M, W. Santiago & Härtl, Fabian H. & Paul, Carola & Knoke, Thomas, 2019. "Cropping systems are homogenized by off-farm income – Empirical evidence from small-scale farming systems in dry forests of southern Ecuador," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 204-219.
    2. Mutyasira, Vine & Hoag, Dana & Pendell, Dustin & Manning, Dale T. & Berhe, Melaku, 2018. "Assessing the relative sustainability of smallholder farming systems in Ethiopian highlands," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 83-91.
    3. Cao, Jianjun & Li, Mengtian & Deo, Ravinesh C. & Adamowski, Jan F. & Cerdà, Artemi & Feng, Qi & Liu, Minxia & Zhang, Jian & Zhu, Guofeng & Zhang, Xuebin & Xu, Xueyun & Yang, Shurong & Gong, Yifan, 2018. "Comparison of social-ecological resilience between two grassland management patterns driven by grassland land contract policy in the Maqu, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 88-96.
    4. Schut, Marc & van Asten, Piet & Okafor, Chris & Hicintuka, Cyrille & Mapatano, Sylvain & Nabahungu, Nsharwasi Léon & Kagabo, Desire & Muchunguzi, Perez & Njukwe, Emmanuel & Dontsop-Nguezet, Paul M. & , 2016. "Sustainable intensification of agricultural systems in the Central African Highlands: The need for institutional innovation," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 165-176.
    5. Bosire, Caroline K. & Krol, Maarten S. & Mekonnen, Mesfin M. & Ogutu, Joseph O. & de Leeuw, Jan & Lannerstad, Mats & Hoekstra, Arjen Y., 2016. "Meat and milk production scenarios and the associated land footprint in Kenya," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 64-75.
    6. Adam M. Komarek, 2018. "Conservation agriculture in western China increases productivity and profits without decreasing resilience," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(5), pages 1251-1262, October.
    7. Fabrice Dossa & Yann Miassi & Kémal Banzou, 2018. "Onion (Allium Cepa) Production in Urban and Peri-Urban Areas: Financial Performance and Importance of This Activity for Market Gardeners in Southern Benin," Current Investigations in Agriculture and Current Research, Lupine Publishers, LLC, vol. 3(2), pages 334-346, June.
    8. Lisa Maggioli & Sonia Chamizo & Raúl Román & Carlos Asensio-Grima & Yolanda Cantón, 2022. "Coupling Sewage Sludge Amendment with Cyanobacterial Inoculation to Enhance Stability and Carbon Gain in Dryland Degraded Soils," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-19, November.
    9. Vine Mutyasira & Dana Hoag & Dustin L. Pendell & Dale T. Manning, 2018. "Is Sustainable Intensification Possible? Evidence from Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-13, November.
    10. Bouba Traore & Birhanu Zemadim Birhanu & Seydou Sangaré & Murali Krishna Gumma & Ramadjita Tabo & Anthony Michael Whitbread, 2021. "Contribution of Climate-Smart Agriculture Technologies to Food Self-Sufficiency of Smallholder Households in Mali," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-17, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Barrett, Christopher B. & Swallow, Brent M., 2006. "Fractal poverty traps," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-15, January.
    2. Barnett, Barry J. & Barrett, Christopher B. & Skees, Jerry R., 2008. "Poverty Traps and Index-Based Risk Transfer Products," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 1766-1785, October.
    3. Michler, Jeffrey D. & Josephson, Anna L., 2017. "To Specialize or Diversify: Agricultural Diversity and Poverty Dynamics in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 214-226.
    4. H.M. Tuihedur Rahman & Gordon M. Hickey, 2020. "An Analytical Framework for Assessing Context-Specific Rural Livelihood Vulnerability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-26, July.
    5. Aniseh S. Bro, 2020. "Climate Change Adaptation, Food Security, and Attitudes toward Risk among Smallholder Coffee Farmers in Nicaragua," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-17, August.
    6. Estifanos, Tafesse Kefyalew & Polyakov, Maksym & Pandit, Ram & Hailu, Atakelty & Burton, Michael, 2020. "The impact of protected areas on the rural households’ incomes in Ethiopia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    7. Christopher B. Barrett, 2005. "Rural poverty dynamics: development policy implications," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 32(s1), pages 45-60, January.
    8. Mausumi Mahapatro & Deborah Johnston, 2020. "Imperfection Measures and the Production of Poverty: A Case Study of the Use of the Asset Index in Bangladesh," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 513-531, November.
    9. Josephson, Anna Leigh & Michler, Jeffrey D., 2015. "To Specialize or Diversify: Agricultural Diversity and Poverty Persistence in Ethiopia," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212459, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. Solomon Zena Walelign & Mariève Pouliot & Helle Overgaard Larsen & Carsten Smith-Hall, 2015. "A novel approach to dynamic livelihood clustering: Empirical evidence from Nepal," IFRO Working Paper 2015/09, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    11. Asfaw, Solomon & McCarthy, Nancy & Paolantonio, Adriana & Cavatassi, Romina & Amare, Mulubrhan & Lipper, Leslie, 2015. "Diversification, Climate Risk and Vulnerability to Poverty: Evidence from Rural Malawi," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 230216, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. You, Jing, 2014. "Risk, under-investment in agricultural assets and dynamic asset poverty in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 27-45.
    13. Russell Toth, 2015. "Traps and Thresholds in Pastoralist Mobility," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 97(1), pages 315-332.
    14. Gamel Abdul-Nasser Salifu, 2019. "The Political Economy Dynamics of Rural Household Income Diversification: A Review of the International Literature," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(3), pages 273-290, December.
    15. Jensen, Nathaniel D. & Barrett, Christopher B. & Mude, Andrew G., 2017. "Cash transfers and index insurance: A comparative impact analysis from northern Kenya," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 14-28.
    16. Andy McKay & Emilie Perge, 2013. "How Strong is the Evidence for the Existence of Poverty Traps? A Multicountry Assessment," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(7), pages 877-897, July.
    17. Harris, David & Orr, Alastair, 2014. "Is rainfed agriculture really a pathway from poverty?," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 84-96.
    18. Barrett, Christopher B. & Bezuneh, Mesfin & Aboud, Abdillahi, 2001. "Income diversification, poverty traps and policy shocks in Cote d'Ivoire and Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 367-384, August.
    19. Sommarat Chantarat & Andrew G. Mude & Christopher B. Barrett & Michael R. Carter, 2013. "Designing Index-Based Livestock Insurance for Managing Asset Risk in Northern Kenya," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 80(1), pages 205-237, March.
    20. Shaffer, Paul, 2013. "Ten Years of “Q-Squared”: Implications for Understanding and Explaining Poverty," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 269-285.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:135:y:2015:i:c:p:133-140. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agsy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.