Because of an increasing demand for animal-source foods, an increasing desire to reduce poverty and an increasing need to reduce the environmental impact of livestock production, tropical farming systems with livestock must increase their productivity. An important share of the global human and livestock populations are found within smallholder mixed-crop-livestock systems, which should, theref...

BACKGROUND Farming communities have continuous interactions with their environment. Subsistence farmers are particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of weather. These are pre-requisites for increased wild edible plant consumption. This study mainly focused on indigenous knowledge regarding identity and use of wild edible plant species by the subsistence farmers of Obalanga. METHODS A multistag...

Millions of people living in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa supplement earnings from subsistence farming by operating microenterprises or by working as day laborers. However, little is known about how people choose which of these additional incomegenerating activities to do, and, in particular, to what extent market imperfections affect this choice and contribute to inefficiencies in product...

BACKGROUND On-farm crop species richness (CSR) may be important for maintaining the diversity and quality of diets of smallholder farming households. OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study were to 1) determine the association of CSR with the diversity and quality of household diets in Malawi and 2) assess hypothesized mechanisms for this association via both subsistence- and market-oriented ...

The process of Near Eastern neolithization and its westward expansion from the core zone in the Levant and upper Mesopotamia has been broadly discussed in recent decades, and many models have been developed to describe the spread of early farming in terms of its timing, structure, geography and sociocultural impact. Until now, based on recent intensive investigations in northwestern and western...

The impacts of Wasmannia auropunctata (the little fire ant) on the native biota and subsistence agriculture in the Solomon Islands are poorly understood. This species was originally introduced as a biological control against nut-fall bugs (Amblypelta sp.) around 30 years ago and in the intervening time has spread throughout the Solomon Islands, aided movement of produce and planting material. I...

This paper provides a review of the profiles of the subsistence entrepreneurs and their constraints, and the landscape of current entrepreneurship programs and the evidence on impacts, and discusses the potential role of public policies for the livelihoods of subsistence entrepreneurs. Worldwide over a half of workers are self-employed, but a significant fraction of these self-employed jobs are...

This paper presents recommendations from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to the Boards of Fisheries and Game for the implementation of the subsistence law. Recommendations include: 1. The examination of existing subsistence use and regulations (p. 2 ) 2. The characterization of subsistence use in Alaska (p. 3. The implementation of statutory language (p. 4. The inclusion of subsistence c...

a r t i c l e i n f o The typical characteristics of subsistence markets challenge not only the generalizability of marketing theories but also the applicability and validity of the field research methods generally practiced by marketing researchers. This article discusses challenges inherent to field research in subsistence markets that may influence bias and equivalence. Moreover, it illustra...

Background: Studying the influence of geographical factors on child growth is important, especially given the increasing interest in climate change and health in resource-poor settings and the recognized importance of growth faltering as a general marker of population health. We describe patterns in children’s weight and length velocity and relate them to seasonal and spatial factors in rural D...