Abstract:Non-technical summary
Until the past half-century, all agriculture and land management was framed by local institutions strong in social capital. But neoliberal forms of development came to undermine existing structures, thus reducing sustainability and equity. The past 20 years, though, have seen the deliberate establishment of more than 8 million new social groups across the world. This restructuring and growth of rural social capital within specific territories is leading to increased productivity of agr… Show more
“…The economic contractions also led to a great loss of jobs by youth, especially in agriculture (ILO-ADB, 2020). Enhanced local social capital, along with needed rural institutional reforms, would foster inclusive strategies for women, youth and marginal groups in sustainable development (Sharma et al, 2016;Pretty et al, 2020;UNESCAP, 2021).…”
Section: Salient Implications For the Regionmentioning
This regional synthesis addresses a major gap in knowledge about the effects of COVID-19 on agriculture and food across Asia • Key informants from 20 Asian countries assessed early direct and indirect effects on each of four major regional farming and food systems • The analysis showed Asian farming and food systems were moderately resilient to the pandemic, especially the hill mixed system • System resilience, food and labour markets, and farm and food chain economic benefits are key priorities for recovery policies and programmes • This study highlights COVID-19 effects and informs recovery policies and precautionary strategies against future pandemics in Asia and globally
“…The economic contractions also led to a great loss of jobs by youth, especially in agriculture (ILO-ADB, 2020). Enhanced local social capital, along with needed rural institutional reforms, would foster inclusive strategies for women, youth and marginal groups in sustainable development (Sharma et al, 2016;Pretty et al, 2020;UNESCAP, 2021).…”
Section: Salient Implications For the Regionmentioning
This regional synthesis addresses a major gap in knowledge about the effects of COVID-19 on agriculture and food across Asia • Key informants from 20 Asian countries assessed early direct and indirect effects on each of four major regional farming and food systems • The analysis showed Asian farming and food systems were moderately resilient to the pandemic, especially the hill mixed system • System resilience, food and labour markets, and farm and food chain economic benefits are key priorities for recovery policies and programmes • This study highlights COVID-19 effects and informs recovery policies and precautionary strategies against future pandemics in Asia and globally
“…(Janker et al, 2019). At the same time, there is broad agreement that in particular the formation and safeguarding of social capital can be important for the implementation and maintenance of ecologically sustainable production systems (Pretty et al, 2020). The extent to which the inherent social impacts of agriculture itself, even independent of ecological goals, are valued by society and, thus, can be understood as social functions, is a normative and a socio-political issue.…”
Section: Discussion and Concluding Remarksmentioning
Agriculture is embedded in and interacts with both its ecological and social environments. Under the concept of 'Multifunctional Agriculture', these interactions receive attention from scientific and political communities in terms of societal functions that can be fulfilled by farms. The discourse has focused on ecological functions, while agriculture's social contributions are frequently mentioned but not systematically addressed. Accordingly, respective empirical results remain fragmented and applied conceptual approaches barely integrated.To address this research gap, we conducted a systematic literature review on the social functions of European agriculture. Our analysis (a) disentangles different definitions and categorizations of social functions found in the literature; (b) proposes an interdisciplinary framework and categorization that eases the linkage of relevant insights from different conceptual viewpoints; and (c) paves the way for the differentiated recognition and governance of the diverse social functions potentially delivered by farms and their activities in the European context.
“…M e s s a g e 3 . 3 : S u p p o r t i n g t h e institutionalisation and strengthening of farmers' organisations and networks can enhance inclusive local governance, and promote links between consumers and producers (Pretty et al, 2020;Sperenza, 2013;Roco et al, 2014;Coordination Sud, 2013;Loconto et al, 2018).…”
Section: Methodology: a Consultative Processmentioning
This consultation process has been implemented on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), whom we would both like to thank for making this publication possible.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.