Differentiation among farm households is increasingly recognized as an important dimension of rur... more Differentiation among farm households is increasingly recognized as an important dimension of rural development process. Prospects for technological change and rural organization strongly depend on the dynamic interactions with markets and institutional environments. Farmer responses to agricultural policies demonstrate, however, a wide variety, thus reinforcing rural diversity. Consequently, attention should be focused on the appraisal of agricultural policy instruments that recognize the biases of intervention at farm household level.
This last chapter presents the results of expert prioritisation of policy recommendations that em... more This last chapter presents the results of expert prioritisation of policy recommendations that emerged from the ICCD programme. Experts gave the highest priority to developing an adequate early warning system with an efficient strategy to communicate with households and institutions. It is necessary for a better understanding of climate change and its effects and for the development of technologies adapted to location and sector specific conditions. In addition, high priority was given to maintaining social security mechanisms, understanding migration strategies and regulating land and water entitlements. Careful attention is needed for potential conflicts when resources become scarce. Local government and non-government organisations need support to monitor economic changes and to implement local policies. Agricultural research plays an important role in developing technologies that perform well under drought conditions. International agreements on climate change implications may be exploited for example by redefining subsidy practices. Finally there is plenty of scope for improving scientific research on climate change by extending research networks, by fine-tuning the ICCD models, and by expanding the geographic area of research.
... Fair Trade impact of banana production in El Guabo Association, Ecudaor: a production functio... more ... Fair Trade impact of banana production in El Guabo Association, Ecudaor: a production function analysis. by Ruerd Ruben, Luud Clercx, Dario Cepeda, Thomas De Hoop. ...
Exploratory analysis of flexible workday policies in a job shop
International Journal of Production Research, 2003
ABSTRACT The degree to which simple policies for varying the length of each workday can affect jo... more ABSTRACT The degree to which simple policies for varying the length of each workday can affect job shop performance was investigated. The performance of a job shop operating on a fixed 8-hour day schedule was compared with a job shop that had some flexibility to vary an employee's workday by compensating hours in excess of an 8-hour day with an equivalent amount of time off. Thus, each flexible workday policy maintains an average workday of 8 hours/day for each employee. We simulated a hypothetical job shop to assess the effects of various environmental factors and workday policies on measures of interest to management and labour. We found significant improvement in job flow time with overtime (and time off) as little as an average of 24 min for every 8 hours of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
This paper, which follows the emergence of the salmon industry in the 1990s in Chiloé, Chile, dem... more This paper, which follows the emergence of the salmon industry in the 1990s in Chiloé, Chile, demonstrates that factors restricting women's participation in labor force and wage differences between women and men are related to the gender systems operating in Chiloe. Results indicate that these systems reflect the territory's demographic and agrarian history and that local gender systems have a positive influence on women's participation in the labor market, though this is not accompanied by decreased salary discrimination in the salmon industry. The implication is that territory-specific and gender factors must be considered in national employment policies.
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