Dissertation Research: Does Off-Farm Work Encourage or Discourage Soil-Fertility Enhancement Practices throughout Western Kenya?

长期以来，土壤保持一直是可持续生计系统的一个基本组成部分。然而，最近由于贸易自由化、权力下放、取消公共补贴和减少对农业的服务所带来的经济变化使非农就业成为农村生计的关键战略，往往阻碍土壤保持做法。在肯尼亚，大多数农场面积不到3公顷，为了维持生计，大多数家庭必须以非农工作来补充农业生产。然而，非农工作减少了从事农业活动（如土壤保持）的家庭劳动力。除非农民有充足的家庭劳动力或有能力雇佣额外的劳动力，否则他们会越来越多地从事非农工作，从而忽视自己的土地。在整个肯尼亚西部，只有男性倾向于从事非农业工作，而女性承担了额外的农业责任，因此土壤保持做法进一步受到家庭构成的影响。然而，如果农场外产生的额外收入足够多，并用于农场内的改善，非农工作可以增加土壤保持实践。本论文研究项目由佛罗里达大学的文化人类学家在整个肯尼亚西部高地进行，研究了家庭构成、资源获取和非农工作对农场土壤保持实践的影响。该研究检验了一个假设，即由从事高薪、工业或服务业非农业工作的成员组成的农户，比那些从事低收入、农业非农业工作的成员组成的农户，更注重土壤保护。本文通过对两个农村的参与性观察、对120个农户的人种学访谈、决策建模和统计分析来了解促使西肯尼亚农民实施或不实施土壤保护的机会、制约因素和理由。除了为培养一名年轻的社会科学家做出贡献外，该项目更广泛的影响还在于它对当地农业发展计划的贡献。该项目的成果对有意将稀缺资金和服务用于最有希望减轻贫困和保护资源的部门和活动的肯尼亚决策者也具有重要意义。

Soil conservation has long been a fundamental component of sustainable livelihood systems. Yet recent economic changes brought on by trade liberalization, decentralization, elimination of public subsidies and reduction of services to agriculture have rendered off-farm employment a critical rural livelihood strategy that often discourages soil conservation practice. In Kenya, where most farms are less than 3 hectares, the majority of households must supplement farm production with off-farm work in order to subsist. Off-farm work, however, reduces the availability of household labor for on-farm activities, such as soil conservation. Unless farmers have abundant household labor or can afford to hire additional labor, they neglect their land as they increasingly pursue off-farm work. Throughout Western Kenya, where only men tend to work off-farm and women have taken on additional farming responsibilities, soil conservation practice is further affected by household composition. Yet if the added income generated off the farm is sufficient and applied towards on-farm improvements, off-farm work can lead to increased soil conservation practice.This dissertation research project, conducted throughout the highlands of western Kenya by a cultural anthropologist from the University of Florida, examines the effects of household composition, resource access, and off-farm work on the practice of on-farm soil conservation. The research tests the hypothesis that farming households comprised of members employed in higher paying, industrial or service sector off-farm jobs practice more soil conservation than those comprised of members employed in lower paying, agricultural off-farm jobs. Participant observation in two rural villages, ethnographic interviews of 120 farming households, decision-modeling, and statistical analysis are used to understand the opportunities, constraints, and rationale motivating West Kenyan farmers to practice or not practice soil conservation.The broader impacts of the project, in addition to the contribution to the education of a young social scientist, rest on its contribution to local agricultural development programs. The results of the project are also significant to Kenyan policymakers interested in directing scarce funds and services towards the sectors and activities that hold the most promise for both poverty alleviation and resource conservation.