• Energy Research
• 2016-2025close

These days, one of the global challenges is the growing demand for food. To be more specific, seafood bases play a key role in filling the nutritional requirements of human beings. In Africa (Ethiopia) the public expenses to improve productive capacity in aquatic food are increasing. Additionally, the expenses in dams and in fishers’ capacity building have increased households’ engagement in the fishery sector in Ethiopia. Cooperatives’ productive capacity has been strengthened by the government and other non-government organizations with the supply of fishing boats, refrigerators, fish nets and other office supplies. However, the effect of such public expenses in bringing changes in the households’ livelihood and welfare has never been assessed in this study area. This paper aims to investigate what motivates the households to fish and assess the effect of fisheries on the households’ livelihood and welfare. A structured survey consisting of 313 rural households was administered using trained enumerators in two kebeles located close to the Tekeze dam, Northern Ethiopia. The result indicates that socioeconomic characteristics, such as age (young), sex, education, and active family size were driving the households to fishing. Access to market and access to support are driving farmers to fisheries. There is a significant difference in fishing households’ income which is higher than non-fishing households. The results also indicate that there are lesser income inequalities among fishery households operating in cooperatives compared to private fishery households.

These days, one of the global challenges is the growing demand for food. To be more specific, seafood bases play a key role in filling the nutritional requirements of human beings. In Africa (Ethiopia) the public expenses to improve productive capacity in aquatic food are increasing. Additionally, the expenses in dams and in fishers’ capacity building have increased households’ engagement in the fishery sector in Ethiopia. Cooperatives’ productive capacity has been strengthened by the government and other non-government organizations with the supply of fishing boats, refrigerators, fish nets and other office supplies. However, the effect of such public expenses in bringing changes in the households’ livelihood and welfare has never been assessed in this study area. This paper aims to investigate what motivates the households to fish and assess the effect of fisheries on the households’ livelihood and welfare. A structured survey consisting of 313 rural households was administered using trained enumerators in two kebeles located close to the Tekeze dam, Northern Ethiopia. The result indicates that socioeconomic characteristics, such as age (young), sex, education, and active family size were driving the households to fishing. Access to market and access to support are driving farmers to fisheries. There is a significant difference in fishing households’ income which is higher than non-fishing households. The results also indicate that there are lesser income inequalities among fishery households operating in cooperatives compared to private fishery households.

Drought is regarded as a slow-onset natural disaster that causes inevitable damage to water resources and to farm life. Currently, crisis management is the basis of drought mitigation plans, however, thus far studies indicate that effective drought management strategies are based on risk management. As a primary tool in mitigating the impact of drought, vulnerability assessment can be used as a benchmark in drought mitigation plans and to enhance farmers’ ability to cope with drought. Moreover, literature pertaining to drought has focused extensively on its impact, only awarding limited attention to vulnerability assessment as a tool. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for designing a vulnerability model in order to assess farmers’ level of vulnerability before, during and after the onset of drought. Use of this developed drought vulnerability model would aid disaster relief workers by enhancing the adaptive capacity of farmers when facing the impacts of drought. The paper starts with the definition of vulnerability and outlines different frameworks on vulnerability developed thus far. It then identifies various approaches of vulnerability assessment and finally offers the most appropriate model. The paper concludes that the introduced model can guide drought mitigation programs in countries that are impacted the most by drought.

Drought is regarded as a slow-onset natural disaster that causes inevitable damage to water resources and to farm life. Currently, crisis management is the basis of drought mitigation plans, however, thus far studies indicate that effective drought management strategies are based on risk management. As a primary tool in mitigating the impact of drought, vulnerability assessment can be used as a benchmark in drought mitigation plans and to enhance farmers’ ability to cope with drought. Moreover, literature pertaining to drought has focused extensively on its impact, only awarding limited attention to vulnerability assessment as a tool. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for designing a vulnerability model in order to assess farmers’ level of vulnerability before, during and after the onset of drought. Use of this developed drought vulnerability model would aid disaster relief workers by enhancing the adaptive capacity of farmers when facing the impacts of drought. The paper starts with the definition of vulnerability and outlines different frameworks on vulnerability developed thus far. It then identifies various approaches of vulnerability assessment and finally offers the most appropriate model. The paper concludes that the introduced model can guide drought mitigation programs in countries that are impacted the most by drought.

One of the most important environmental problems in Iran is the destruction and drying of Urmia Lake (UL). UL is one of the main causes of suitable weather for agricultural boom and tourist attraction and it should be considered that the villagers exposed to UL drying have a strong dependence on vulnerable resources such as water, air, soil and plants for their livelihoods and have low adaptive capacity with this crisis for reasons such as poverty, lack of awareness and lack of infrastructure. This study was designed to evaluate the vulnerability of rural households to UL drying in the Shabestar region. The vulnerability was calculated based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) definition and using vulnerability index (VI). Research population included rural households of Shabestar region (N = 19,249) and about 347 households were selected as the research sample using multistage cluster sampling technique. Results showed that the average score of respondents was 0.455 (moderate) in exposure, 0.359 (moderate to low) in sensitivity, 0.404 (moderate to low) in adaptive capacity and finally, the vulnerability index (VI) was 0.470 (range of 0 to 1). 12.8% of households had low, 70.5% had medium and 16.7% had high vulnerability towards UL drying.

One of the most important environmental problems in Iran is the destruction and drying of Urmia Lake (UL). UL is one of the main causes of suitable weather for agricultural boom and tourist attraction and it should be considered that the villagers exposed to UL drying have a strong dependence on vulnerable resources such as water, air, soil and plants for their livelihoods and have low adaptive capacity with this crisis for reasons such as poverty, lack of awareness and lack of infrastructure. This study was designed to evaluate the vulnerability of rural households to UL drying in the Shabestar region. The vulnerability was calculated based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) definition and using vulnerability index (VI). Research population included rural households of Shabestar region (N = 19,249) and about 347 households were selected as the research sample using multistage cluster sampling technique. Results showed that the average score of respondents was 0.455 (moderate) in exposure, 0.359 (moderate to low) in sensitivity, 0.404 (moderate to low) in adaptive capacity and finally, the vulnerability index (VI) was 0.470 (range of 0 to 1). 12.8% of households had low, 70.5% had medium and 16.7% had high vulnerability towards UL drying.

This paper analyzes the impacts of financial management and farming practices on the technical efficiency of Sengcu rice growers in Laocai, a mountainous province of Vietnam. The stratified random sampling method was employed to select 170 households representing two typical ecologies, lowland and upland. The structured questionnaire was applied to collect primary data through face-to-face interviews regarding current farming practices in the 2016–2017 growing seasons and farm-specific characteristics. The importantly, the study makes recommendations for policy-makers regarding how to manage provision extension, irrigation, and credit services more effectively and for producers regarding how to better manage cash-flows and receive more benefits from public support in order to improve the effectiveness of rice production and make a livelihood while working towards sustainability.