Browsing by Author "Gironde C"
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- ItemAgricultural commercialization in the Mekong region: A meta-narrative review and policy implications(Taylor and Francis Group, 2023-03-23) Nguyen A-T; Oya C; Beban A; Gironde C; Cole R; Ehrensperger AAgricultural commercialization has been a development focus in the Mekong region for several decades, resulting in varying outcomes. In response to competing claims and policy advice, this meta-narrative review not only examines the literature on the impacts of agricultural commercialization in the Mekong on local livelihoods, but also investigates the research traditions that shape the conceptualization of the research topics, study design, and recommended solutions. We explore narratives from three research traditions, namely the neoclassical, Marxian political economy, and neopopulist approaches. On the whole, the neoclassical literature finds positive impacts on household incomes and thus contributes to reducing poverty; the Marxian political economy tradition finds that capitalist development in agriculture creates and deepens social differentiation through which certain groups may benefit while others are negatively impacted; lastly, the neopopulist perspective finds negative impacts compared to previous, traditional livelihoods. The ideological premises informing these studies and implications for policy are discussed.
- ItemAgroecological initiatives in the Mekong Region: a systematic literature review and mapping reveals their implications for transitioning to sustainable food systems(Taylor and Francis Group, 2023-01) Hett C; Aye ZC; Gironde C; Beban A; Castella J-C; Bernhard R; Ehrensperger AIn the Mekong Region, agroecological approaches provide a niche alternative to the dominant traditional or intensive farming systems. We conducted a synthesis of current evidence on agroecological interventions by means of a systematic literature review and mapping of case studies in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. The majority of the 271 identified cases focussed on practical and technical support. Interventions using holistic approaches, and such that focused on improving food systems through innovative territorial governance, value chain arrangements, and policy frameworks were scarce. Most cases targeted the agroecological optimization and the modernization of traditional farming systems. A mere 18 of our cases addressed gender in relation to agroecology. To scale agroecological transitions, sectoral barriers have to be overcome. There is an urgent need to put a pronounced focus on the diversification of ecosystem services in commercial agriculture and degraded areas and on women’s contributions to sustainable farming.
- ItemSurviving cassava: smallholder farmer strategies for coping with market volatility in Cambodia(Taylor and Francis Group, 2023-03-15) Beban A; Gironde CCassava has become a ‘must have’ crop for many Cambodian smallholders; yet, the market is volatile and yields are uneven. Drawing on long-term fieldwork in Kampong Thom and Ratanakiri provinces, we analyse how farmers cope with volatility. We argue that multiple pathways have emerged: some farmers have ceased producing cassava; some have expanded production; while most farmers engage in ‘ambivalent repeasantisation’, striving to gain autonomy from market fluctuations through the survival work of everyday gendered labour, including investing family and community labour into cassava, shifting back to food crops, managing debt, and creating relationships with traders, while also imagining a life beyond cassava. Uneven fortunes with cassava contribute to land redistribution, deepening class, gender and ethnic divides. The case of smallholder cassava pathways in Cambodia shows us that agrarian transition is neither linear nor unidimensional, and dynamics of ‘depeasantisation’, ‘repeasantisation’, and ‘intensification’ through crop booms cannot be assumed a priori.
- ItemThe agrarian transition in the Mekong Region: pathways towards sustainable land systems(Taylor and Francis Group, 2024-01-01) Ehrensperger A; Nanhthavong V; Beban A; Gironde C; Diepart J-C; Scurrah N; Nguyen A-T; Cole R; Hett C; Ingalls MThe agrarian transition, with its rapid growth in land-based investments, has radically altered agrarian and forest landscapes across the Mekong Region. These processes were enabled and accelerated by choices of actors in the public and private sectors with the aim of alleviating poverty and boosting socioeconomic development. We examine to what extent these goals were achieved and for whom, with a focus on poverty alleviation, gender equality, and forest conservation. Our descriptive assessment shows that the sustainability outcomes of the agrarian transition offer a highly variegated picture that is often not reflected in national level statistics used for monitoring the distance to target towards achieving the 2030 Agenda. Based on our findings, we sketch pathways for a more sustainable agrarian transition in the region. These pathways are explored in greater detail in three framing papers of the special issue “Agrarian Change in the Mekong Region: Pathways towards Sustainable Land Systems’.
- ItemThe recognition and formalization of customary tenure in the forest landscapes of the Mekong region: a Polanyian perspective(Taylor and Francis Group, 2023-05-04) Diepart J-C; Scurrah N; Beban A; Gironde C; Campbell NYCommodity-driven deforestation and forest conservation efforts in the Mekong region have placed multiple pressures on community-based resource systems, undermining tenure security and livelihoods. In response, several initiatives have been mobilized by states, communities, and civil society organizations which aim to recognize and formalize customary forest tenure rights. We draw on insights from Polanyi’s dialectical movement of market expansion and social protection to examine these protective measures as counter-movements that combine forms of state-controlled recognition, community pushback contestations, and more emancipatory movements. We show the omnipresence and contradictions of the state in shaping these counter-movements and the multiple ways in which communities construct new forest tenure arrangements. While there have been important forest tenure reforms and the setup of state-sanctioned mechanisms to give communities greater rights and responsibilities over forests, the process and outcomes of community rights formalization are found to be highly uneven and contingent.