Diffusion of Sustainable Agriculture in the Amazon: A Time Series Analysis

亚马逊可持续农业的扩散：时间序列分析

• 批准号: 0076549
• 负责人: Jill Caviglia-Harris
• 金额: $ 7.3万
• 依托单位: Salisbury University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-08-01 至 2003-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0076549&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Diffusion; Sustainable; Agriculture; Amazon; Time

The objective of this project is to gather farm-level time-series data in Ouro Preto do Oeste, Rondonia, Brazil. These data will be used to investigate the land-use choices of small-scale farmers in the Brazilian Amazon and to assess how these choices impact tropical deforestation in the region. This project is designed to be the second stage of in situ data collection initiated in September 1996. During the first stage 196 farmers were interviewed. The survey questions were designed to assess past and current government policy concerning agricultural practices in the Amazon as well as to investigate individual land-use decisions in Rondonia and their implications on deforestation. Further, the survey sought to determine if sustainable farming techniques were adopted, which farmers adopted them, and the determinants of adoption. In the second stage of the project, a panel data set will be initiated through continuing interviews with these same Rondonia farmers. The project is designed to examine how deforestation is influenced by farmers who live in the region and the impact of choosing between sustainable and nonsustainable agricultural techniques.It is necessary to collect time-series panel data to properly examine deforestation trends comprehensively and to evaluate current and future policy options. This research is important and unique because microeconomic time-series panel data are rarely found in the literature concerning developing countries, especially those data collected at individual households. The collection and analysis of these data will therefore make a considerable contribution to the economic and environmental literature on deforestation (and related environmental issues) that face developing nations and may serve to guide future policy adoption in these tropical environments.The major source of deforestation in Rondonia, Brazil is the use of slash-and-burn agriculture by small-scale farmers. It is well documented that the adoption of sustainable methods of agriculture can reduce deforestation drastically if utilized by a majority of the farmers. Unfortunately, results from the first stage of the analysis found that only a few farmers used sustainable agriculture in 1996-1997 in Ouro Preto do Oeste (as well as many other settlements in the Brazilian Amazon). However, the first stage of the analysis also indicated that, it is expected that more farmers are likely to adopt sustainable agriculture as the benefits of the farming method are shown. Imperfect information appeared to be one of the main deterrents to the adoption of sustainable agriculture in Ouro Preto do Oeste. On the positive side, local farmer organizations and cooperatives were found to play an important role in the decision to adopt sustainable techniques. These results suggest that national and regional policies, that provide information about sustainable agriculture and support local farm organizations, can greatly increase the diffusion of sustainable agriculture in Ouro Preto do Oeste and similar settlements in the Amazon. To examine the continued adoption of sustainable agriculture and the relation between farming techniques and deforestation over time, further data are required. Time-series panel data will provide a framework to trace national and regional policies impacting farmers' land-use decisions and therefore offer insight into the rate of and reasons for deforestation in this region.

该项目的目标是在巴西朗多尼亚的欧罗普雷托do Oeste收集农场一级的时间序列数据。这些数据将用于调查巴西亚马逊地区小农的土地使用选择，并评估这些选择如何影响该地区的热带森林砍伐。该项目旨在成为1996年9月开始的实地数据收集的第二阶段。在第一阶段，对196名农民进行了访谈。调查问题的目的是评估过去和目前政府关于亚马逊地区农业做法的政策，并调查Rondonia的个人土地使用决定及其对森林砍伐的影响。此外，调查还试图确定是否采用了可持续耕作技术，哪些农民采用了这些技术，以及采用这些技术的决定因素。在项目的第二阶段，将通过对这些朗多尼亚农民的持续采访来启动一个小组数据集。该项目的目的是研究森林砍伐如何受到该地区农民的影响，以及在可持续和非可持续农业技术之间进行选择的影响，有必要收集时间序列面板数据，以全面适当地研究森林砍伐趋势，并评估当前和未来的政策选择。这项研究是重要的和独特的，因为微观经济时间序列面板数据很少发现在有关发展中国家的文献中，特别是那些在个别家庭收集的数据。因此，收集和分析这些数据将对发展中国家面临的森林砍伐（及相关环境问题）的经济和环境文献做出相当大的贡献，并可能有助于指导未来在这些热带环境中采取政策。有充分证据表明，如果大多数农民采用可持续农业方法，就可以大大减少毁林。不幸的是，第一阶段的分析结果发现，1996-1997年在欧罗普雷托（以及巴西亚马逊河流域的许多其他定居点），只有少数农民采用可持续农业。然而，分析的第一阶段也表明，随着耕作方法的效益得到显示，预计更多的农民可能会采用可持续农业。不完善的信息似乎是阻碍欧罗普雷托采用可持续农业的主要因素之一。从积极的方面来看，当地农民组织和合作社在决定采用可持续技术方面发挥了重要作用。这些结果表明，国家和区域政策，提供有关可持续农业的信息和支持当地的农业组织，可以大大增加可持续农业在欧罗普雷托做西和类似的定居点在亚马逊地区的传播。为了审查持续采用可持续农业的情况以及耕作技术与森林砍伐之间的长期关系，还需要进一步的数据。时间序列面板数据将为追踪影响农民土地使用决定的国家和区域政策提供一个框架，从而使人们能够深入了解该区域毁林的速度和原因。