A quantitative model for understanding and exploring land use decisions by smallholder agrowetland households in rural areas of East Africa

Land use change in rural areas often result from the decision-making of individual farming households.It is a complex process that operates at different temporal and spatial scales through the interactions between diverse drivers. Main drivers of wetland conversion for agricultural production in Sub...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Sakane, N., Wijk, Mark T. van, Langensiepen, M., Becker, M.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/42253
_version_ 1855513254031261696
author Sakane, N.
Wijk, Mark T. van
Langensiepen, M.
Becker, M.
author_browse Becker, M.
Langensiepen, M.
Sakane, N.
Wijk, Mark T. van
author_facet Sakane, N.
Wijk, Mark T. van
Langensiepen, M.
Becker, M.
author_sort Sakane, N.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Land use change in rural areas often result from the decision-making of individual farming households.It is a complex process that operates at different temporal and spatial scales through the interactions between diverse drivers. Main drivers of wetland conversion for agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and those influencing its land use change have been explored in the past. But often the factors have not been explicitly considered in these studies. Tools and concepts that consider the decision-making processes of farmers have become common approaches used in studies to understand and explore changes in land use. This paper describes an empirical model framework to analyse land development and use processes as a result of individual farmer’s decision-making in small wetlands in SSA. The model framework uses information on the drivers of land use change, landscape classification, and household typologies. Processes of land conversion, as well as of probabilistic and heuristic decision-making were integrated in the framework. The model framework was applied to a case study on a sub-humid lowland floodplain in Tanzania, where land conversion, fallow, and use change processes are shaping the structure of the wetland. The scenario of increasing land scarcity on upland was simulated to explore how defined processes will respond to the rising pressure exerted on the wetland. Land conversion increased by 10 percent, fallow practices decreased by one-third to half. Wetland fields were defragmented due to increasing demand for crop production in the wetland. Shifts in relative distributions of farm types were simulated within and between wetland cluster groups, where all upland dependent crop-based farmers disappeared. The application revealed the potential of including individual decision-making in understanding the heterogeneity and functioning of such systems. The application possibilities and limitations of the model as well as challenges to model complex interactions in land use systems are discussed. The study raised the need to improve the means by which socio-environmental systems are anticipated and managed in the face of likely or projected changes in demography, economics, and resources at different scales
format Journal Article
id CGSpace42253
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Elsevier
publisherStr Elsevier
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace422532024-01-09T09:53:47Z A quantitative model for understanding and exploring land use decisions by smallholder agrowetland households in rural areas of East Africa Sakane, N. Wijk, Mark T. van Langensiepen, M. Becker, M. land management farming systems ecology Land use change in rural areas often result from the decision-making of individual farming households.It is a complex process that operates at different temporal and spatial scales through the interactions between diverse drivers. Main drivers of wetland conversion for agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and those influencing its land use change have been explored in the past. But often the factors have not been explicitly considered in these studies. Tools and concepts that consider the decision-making processes of farmers have become common approaches used in studies to understand and explore changes in land use. This paper describes an empirical model framework to analyse land development and use processes as a result of individual farmer’s decision-making in small wetlands in SSA. The model framework uses information on the drivers of land use change, landscape classification, and household typologies. Processes of land conversion, as well as of probabilistic and heuristic decision-making were integrated in the framework. The model framework was applied to a case study on a sub-humid lowland floodplain in Tanzania, where land conversion, fallow, and use change processes are shaping the structure of the wetland. The scenario of increasing land scarcity on upland was simulated to explore how defined processes will respond to the rising pressure exerted on the wetland. Land conversion increased by 10 percent, fallow practices decreased by one-third to half. Wetland fields were defragmented due to increasing demand for crop production in the wetland. Shifts in relative distributions of farm types were simulated within and between wetland cluster groups, where all upland dependent crop-based farmers disappeared. The application revealed the potential of including individual decision-making in understanding the heterogeneity and functioning of such systems. The application possibilities and limitations of the model as well as challenges to model complex interactions in land use systems are discussed. The study raised the need to improve the means by which socio-environmental systems are anticipated and managed in the face of likely or projected changes in demography, economics, and resources at different scales 2014-12 2014-09-08T10:22:15Z 2014-09-08T10:22:15Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/42253 en Limited Access Elsevier Sakane, N., Wijk, M.T. van, Langensiepen, M. and Becker, M. 2014. A quantitative model for understanding and exploring land use decisions by smallholder agrowetland households in rural areas of East Africa. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 197:159-173
spellingShingle land management
farming systems
ecology
Sakane, N.
Wijk, Mark T. van
Langensiepen, M.
Becker, M.
A quantitative model for understanding and exploring land use decisions by smallholder agrowetland households in rural areas of East Africa
title A quantitative model for understanding and exploring land use decisions by smallholder agrowetland households in rural areas of East Africa
title_full A quantitative model for understanding and exploring land use decisions by smallholder agrowetland households in rural areas of East Africa
title_fullStr A quantitative model for understanding and exploring land use decisions by smallholder agrowetland households in rural areas of East Africa
title_full_unstemmed A quantitative model for understanding and exploring land use decisions by smallholder agrowetland households in rural areas of East Africa
title_short A quantitative model for understanding and exploring land use decisions by smallholder agrowetland households in rural areas of East Africa
title_sort quantitative model for understanding and exploring land use decisions by smallholder agrowetland households in rural areas of east africa
topic land management
farming systems
ecology
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/42253
work_keys_str_mv AT sakanen aquantitativemodelforunderstandingandexploringlandusedecisionsbysmallholderagrowetlandhouseholdsinruralareasofeastafrica
AT wijkmarktvan aquantitativemodelforunderstandingandexploringlandusedecisionsbysmallholderagrowetlandhouseholdsinruralareasofeastafrica
AT langensiepenm aquantitativemodelforunderstandingandexploringlandusedecisionsbysmallholderagrowetlandhouseholdsinruralareasofeastafrica
AT beckerm aquantitativemodelforunderstandingandexploringlandusedecisionsbysmallholderagrowetlandhouseholdsinruralareasofeastafrica
AT sakanen quantitativemodelforunderstandingandexploringlandusedecisionsbysmallholderagrowetlandhouseholdsinruralareasofeastafrica
AT wijkmarktvan quantitativemodelforunderstandingandexploringlandusedecisionsbysmallholderagrowetlandhouseholdsinruralareasofeastafrica
AT langensiepenm quantitativemodelforunderstandingandexploringlandusedecisionsbysmallholderagrowetlandhouseholdsinruralareasofeastafrica
AT beckerm quantitativemodelforunderstandingandexploringlandusedecisionsbysmallholderagrowetlandhouseholdsinruralareasofeastafrica