Doctoral Dissertation Research: Livelihood Strategies and Landscape Diversity Related to Agricultural Development

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Changes in the ways that people construct their livelihoods transform the landscape, and landscape changes have implications for livelihoods. The often complex relationships between people and the natural landscapes they inhabit are the focus of scientific research designed to enhance more general knowledge, but such research can have practical implications for decision making about development endeavors. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine how agricultural development programs are transforming livelihood diversity and landscape pattern in rural communities. Understanding interactions among changes in landscape and livelihoods of rural populations is particularly important in those locales where development programs and investors have turned their attention to agricultural growth in this area. In this context, information about the broader effects of agricultural growth can inform development agencies as they seek to balance the tradeoffs among food production, poverty alleviation, and environmental conservation. This is the case in the Morogoro Region in Tanzania, where this project will take place, because interactions in this region have posed challenges for the ongoing efforts of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Feed the Future program and for the Tanzanian government's Kilimo Kwanza [Agriculture First] strategy. This project will contribute to these development efforts by gathering information about the economic activities and needs of rural populations and by performing empirical analysis of environmental data. Through close work with rural populations and groups engaged in development activities, the doctoral student will identify new opportunities for enhancing the resilience of rural communities in Tanzania and in many other developing nations. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.While extensive research has been dedicated to examining livelihoods and land use, little research has specifically addressed this reciprocal relationship between space and livelihoods. Recent research has suggested that space is central to livelihoods analyses and is essential to understanding the processes that give rise to rural livelihood strategies. The doctoral student whose dissertation research will be supported by this award will examine an area where extensive agricultural change spurred by development initiatives and foreign investment is underway. He will integrate research methods from landscape ecology, land-change science, and sustainable livelihoods research to examine the changes in spatial patterns of landscapes over the past two decades as well as the changes in livelihood strategies related to these development activities. Using satellite imagery, he will identify changes in the spatial pattern of land use and land cover over time. He will conduct interviews and gather survey data from smallholder famers to complement this analysis and explain how agricultural programs have altered livelihood strategies and resource use in the area. He also will interview representatives from development agencies and other stakeholder groups to ascertain their perceptions of the changes in the environment and the needs of rural populations. Through this mixed-methods approach, the student will provide new understandings about the complex relationship between changes in livelihood strategies and landscape pattern as well as new insights into how development programs shape this relationship.