Communities and Livelihood Strategies in Developing Countries [Hardcover]

Sustainability of rural communities is threatened by a plethora of factors including climate change and disasters which interact in an intricate manner in making rural people vulnerable and poor. This book is the output of empirical research on communities and livelihood strategies in developing countries. It reveals how rural communities are functioning and earning their livelihoods by making the best use of the resources, local/internal or external/new and the combination of the two to counteract the various challenges they face, with the ultimate goal of becoming resilient to local or global shocks and sustaining that resilience. Local governance is identified as crucial in ensuring sustainable livelihoods as it ensures healthy collaboration between communities, on the one hand and civil society and those communities, on the other hand, in promoting self-sustaining development trajectories. Similarly, the role of social capital is not ignored as it brings in community drive and a sense of purpose, direction and solidarity among community members which facilitates problem solving in periods of crises and disasters.

This book examines innovative livelihood and agricultural innovation adoption by rural farmers. It shows the impact of changing climate on crop yields, short and long term revenues with adequate incorporation of adaptive responses in Ghana and Nepal.Communities and Livelihood Strategies: An Overview.- Climate Change Impact on Revenue of Major Food Crops in Ghana: Structural Ricardian Cross-Sectional Analysis.- Climate Variables and their Impacts on Yield of Food Crops in Makwanpur and Ilam District of Nepal.- Adoption of Improved Rice Varieties in the Tarai Region of Nepal.- Effects of Environmental Factors on Cattle Milk Production among Smallholder Households in Ala-Buka, Kyrgyzstan.- Farmers Perception on Impact of Organic Farming on Yield and Income of Vegetables: A Case Study in Kathmandu Valley and Chitwan District of Nepal.- Rilc)