IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v154y2018icp88-98.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Eat Your Fish and Sell It, Too – Livelihood Choices of Small-Scale Fishers in Rural Cambodia

Author

Listed:
  • Hartje, Rebecca
  • Bühler, Dorothee
  • Grote, Ulrike

Abstract

Our paper assesses the effects of environmental income deriving from small-scale capture fishery on household food security in Cambodia. We extend the sustainable livelihood framework to depict the complex relationship between rural livelihood portfolios and food security by (i) distinguishing between in-kind income and cash income from all important household activities, and (ii) considering protein and calorie intake along with anthropometric data to shed light on all four dimensions of food security. The analysis is based on survey data from 600 households in rural Cambodia. Our results underline the importance of fishing for food security across all income quartiles. Furthermore, we establish a positive connection between small-scale capture fishery and child anthropometrics. Against the background of potentially declining fish stocks we find that there are currently hardly any alternatives to fishing for poorer households, who are most dependent on capture fishery. We hence urge policy makers to support livelihood activities that supplement fishing income. This would help to enhance sustainable fish stock management, conserve natural resources and simultaneously prevent growing food insecurity.

Suggested Citation

  • Hartje, Rebecca & Bühler, Dorothee & Grote, Ulrike, 2018. "Eat Your Fish and Sell It, Too – Livelihood Choices of Small-Scale Fishers in Rural Cambodia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 88-98.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:154:y:2018:i:c:p:88-98
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.07.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800917308388
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.07.002?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. Esther Duflo, 2003. "Grandmothers and Granddaughters: Old-Age Pensions and Intrahousehold Allocation in South Africa," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 17(1), pages 1-25, June.
    2. Reardon, Thomas, 1997. "Using evidence of household income diversification to inform study of the rural nonfarm labor market in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 735-747, May.
    3. Cissé, A.A. & Doyen, L. & Blanchard, F. & Béné, C. & Péreau, J.-C., 2015. "Ecoviability for small-scale fisheries in the context of food security constraints," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 39-52.
    4. Tibesigwa, Byela & Visser, Martine, 2016. "Assessing Gender Inequality in Food Security among Small-holder Farm Households in urban and rural South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 33-49.
    5. Ahmed, M. & Navy, H. & Vuthy, L. & Santos, R.A.V., 1999. "Fish consumption pattern in major freshwater fisheries provinces of Cambodia," Naga, The WorldFish Center, vol. 22(2), pages 27-31.
    6. Baran, E. & Jantunen, T. & Chong, C.K., 2007. "Values of inland fisheries in the Mekong river basin," Monographs, The WorldFish Center, number 37641, April.
    7. Haggblade, Steven & Hazell, Peter & Reardon, Thomas, 2010. "The Rural Non-farm Economy: Prospects for Growth and Poverty Reduction," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1429-1441, October.
    8. Hübler, Michael & Hartje, Rebecca, 2016. "Are smartphones smart for economic development?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 130-133.
    9. Hardy, P.-Y. & Béné, C. & Doyen, L. & Pereau, J.C. & Mills, D., 2016. "Viability and resilience of small-scale fisheries through cooperative arrangements," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(6), pages 713-741, December.
    10. Allison, Edward H. & Ellis, Frank, 2001. "The livelihoods approach and management of small-scale fisheries," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 377-388, September.
    11. Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Do, Truong Lam & Bühler, Dorothee & Hartje, Rebecca & Grote, Ulrike, 2015. "Rural livelihoods and environmental resource dependence in Cambodia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 282-295.
    12. Béné, Christophe & Arthur, Robert & Norbury, Hannah & Allison, Edward H. & Beveridge, Malcolm & Bush, Simon & Campling, Liam & Leschen, Will & Little, David & Squires, Dale & Thilsted, Shakuntala H. &, 2016. "Contribution of Fisheries and Aquaculture to Food Security and Poverty Reduction: Assessing the Current Evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 177-196.
    13. Svedberg, Peter, 2002. "Undernutrition Overestimated," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(1), pages 5-36, October.
    14. Allison, Edward H. & Horemans, Benoit, 2006. "Putting the principles of the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach into fisheries development policy and practice," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 757-766, November.
    15. Bühler, Dorothee & Grote, Ulrike & Hartje, Rebecca & Ker, Bopha & Lam, Do Truong & Nguyen, Loc Duc & Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Tong, Kimsun, 2015. "Rural Livelihood Strategies in Cambodia: Evidence from a household survey in Stung Treng," Working Papers 200207, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    16. Béné, Christophe & Steel, Elisabeth & Luadia, Billy Kambala & Gordon, Ann, 2009. "Fish as the "bank in the water" - Evidence from chronic-poor communities in Congo," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 108-118, February.
    17. Akpaniteaku, R.C. & Weimin, M. & Xinhua, Y., 2005. "Evaluation of the contribution of fisheries and aquaculture to food security in developing countries," Naga, The WorldFish Center, vol. 28(1/2), pages 28-32.
    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. Vasilii Erokhin & Gao Tianming & Anna Ivolga, 2021. "Cross-Country Potentials and Advantages in Trade in Fish and Seafood Products in the RCEP Member States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-40, March.
    2. Nguyen, Thanh-Tung & Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Grote, Ulrike, 2020. "Multiple shocks and households' choice of coping strategies in rural Cambodia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    3. Hermann Waibel & Ulrike Grote & Shi Min & Trung Thanh Nguyen & Suwanna Praneetvatakul, 2020. "COVID-19 in the Greater Mekong Subregion: how resilient are rural households?," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(4), pages 779-782, August.

    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. Dorothee Bühler & Rebecca Hartje & Ulrike Grote, 2018. "Matching food security and malnutrition indicators: evidence from Southeast Asia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(4), pages 481-495, July.
    2. Bühler, Dorothee & Hartje, Rebecca & Ulrike Grote, 2017. "Can household food security predict individual undernutrition? Evidence from Cambodia and Lao PDR," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-594, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    3. Schuhbauer, Anna & Sumaila, U. Rashid, 2016. "Economic viability and small-scale fisheries — A review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 69-75.
    4. Jan Fałkowski & Maciej Jakubowski & Paweł Strawiński, 2014. "Returns from income strategies in rural Poland," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 22(1), pages 139-178, January.
    5. Kamaldeen Mohammed & Evans Batung & Moses Kansanga & Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong & Isaac Luginaah, 2021. "Livelihood diversification strategies and resilience to climate change in semi-arid northern Ghana," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 1-23, February.
    6. Felkner, John S. & Lee, Hyun & Shaikh, Sabina & Kolata, Alan & Binford, Michael, 2022. "The interrelated impacts of credit access, market access and forest proximity on livelihood strategies in Cambodia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    7. Sheila M W Reddy & Theodore Groves & Sriniketh Nagavarapu, 2014. "Consequences of a Government-Controlled Agricultural Price Increase on Fishing and the Coral Reef Ecosystem in the Republic of Kiribati," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(5), pages 1-11, May.
    8. Kiros Tsegay & Hongzhong Fan & AM Priyangani Adikari & Hailay Shifare, 2021. "Does gender matter for household livelihood diversification in Ethiopia rural areas?," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 10(6), pages 221-232, September.
    9. Shimpei Iwasaki & Bam Razafindrabe & Rajib Shaw, 2009. "Fishery livelihoods and adaptation to climate change: a case study of Chilika lagoon, India," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 339-355, April.
    10. Hatim Albasri & Jesmond Sammut, 2021. "A Comparison of Vulnerability Risks and Conservation Perceptions between Mariculture, Fishery and Ecotourism Livelihood Groups in a Multi-Use MPA in Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-17, November.
    11. Baumgartner, Philipp & von Braun, Joachim & Abebaw, Degnet & Müller, Marc, 2015. "Impacts of Large-scale Land Investments on Income, Prices, and Employment: Empirical Analyses in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 175-190.
    12. Marwan Benali & Bernhard Brümmer & Victor Afari‐Sefa, 2018. "Smallholder participation in vegetable exports and age‐disaggregated labor allocation in Northern Tanzania," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(5), pages 549-562, September.
    13. Barbara Ntombi Ngwenya & Ketlhatlogile Keta Mosepele & Lapologang Magole, 2012. "A case for gender equity in governance of the Okavango Delta fisheries in Botswana," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 36(2), pages 109-122, May.
    14. Bethuel Kinuthia & Abdelkrim Araar & Laura Barasa & Stephene Maende & Faith Mariera, 2019. "Off-Farm Participation, Agricultural Production and Farmers’ Welfare in Tanzania and Uganda," Working Papers PMMA 2019-01, PEP-PMMA.
    15. Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Do, Truong Lam & Halkos, George & Wilson, Clevo, 2020. "Health shocks and natural resource extraction: A Cambodian case study," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    16. Rieger, Matthias & Wagner, Natascha, 2015. "Child health, its dynamic interaction with nutrition and health memory – Evidence from Senegal," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 135-145.
    17. Christophe Béné & Richard M. Friend, 2011. "Poverty in small-scale fisheries," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 11(2), pages 119-144, April.
    18. Muhammad Masud & Fatimah Kari & Siti Yahaya & Abul Al-Amin, 2016. "Livelihood Assets and Vulnerability Context of Marine Park Community Development in Malaysia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 771-792, February.
    19. Dalton Belmudes & Fernanda S. David & Fernando H. Gonçalves & Wagner C. Valenti, 2021. "Sustainability Analysis of the Production of Early Stages of the Atlantic Forest Lambari ( Deuterodon iguape ) in a Public Hatchery at a Rainforest Conservation Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-12, May.
    20. Cuilleret, Mathieu & Doyen, Luc & Gomes, Hélène & Blanchard, Fabian, 2022. "Resilience management for coastal fisheries facing with global changes and uncertainties," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 634-656.

    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:ecolec:v:154:y:2018:i:c:p:88-98. 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/ecolecon .

    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.