28.01.2015 Views

The Future of Smallholder Farming in Eastern Africa - Uganda ...

The Future of Smallholder Farming in Eastern Africa - Uganda ...

The Future of Smallholder Farming in Eastern Africa - Uganda ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

cultural context. It is this imprecise mean<strong>in</strong>g, which makes measurement difficult, that has<br />

caused economists to be wary <strong>of</strong> us<strong>in</strong>g the concept.<br />

<strong>The</strong> soil conservation model described below is adopted from the susta<strong>in</strong>able<br />

livelihood framework, which <strong>of</strong>fers a holistic approach for assess<strong>in</strong>g resources and assets that<br />

are available to households. It analyzes how these are l<strong>in</strong>ked to the strategies that are used to<br />

reach desired household welfare outcomes, and it summarizes the pathways by which<br />

household resources are manipulated to achieve atta<strong>in</strong>ment <strong>of</strong> welfare needs. Social capital is<br />

one <strong>of</strong> the most important resources available to the household. Here we restrict ourselves to<br />

two dimensions <strong>of</strong> social capital—structural and cognitive—to exam<strong>in</strong>e the social capital<br />

manifestations <strong>in</strong> membership density, diversity, participation <strong>in</strong> decisionmak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the<br />

groups, and the perception <strong>of</strong> trust, solidarity, and cooperation <strong>in</strong> groups or organizations.<br />

2.2 Perception <strong>of</strong> the soil erosion problem and <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> terraces as a two-stage<br />

process<br />

<strong>The</strong> effects <strong>of</strong> social capital as def<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong>fluence decisionmak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> a soil conservation model<br />

illustrated <strong>in</strong> Figure 1. In this model, we attempt to capture the ma<strong>in</strong> factors that motivate<br />

households to adopt soil conservation measures. <strong>The</strong> model illustrates how social capital and<br />

other factors directly or <strong>in</strong>directly <strong>in</strong>fluence the soil erosion problem and terrace <strong>in</strong>vestments.<br />

It thus <strong>in</strong>forms the discussion on how farmers convert social capital <strong>in</strong>to physical/natural<br />

capital, which <strong>in</strong> this research is <strong>in</strong>dicated by the terrace <strong>in</strong>vestments. In this model, the<br />

decision to <strong>in</strong>vest <strong>in</strong> soil conservation practices may be conditioned by the <strong>in</strong>dividual<br />

household’s perception <strong>of</strong> the soil erosion problem and possibly the level <strong>of</strong> social capital.<br />

<strong>The</strong> perception <strong>of</strong> the soil erosion problem may <strong>in</strong> turn depend on social capital, exist<strong>in</strong>g<br />

<strong>in</strong>stitutional and policy factors—particularly at the macro level—household characteristics,<br />

location or area-based factors, and farm characteristics.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!