ABSTRACTIn a riverbank area, a sustainable rural development is closely related to the success of a water user association (WUAs), which largely depends on the satisfaction of its members. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the satisfaction level of the members towards the service quality provided by a WUAs. This study was conducted at WUAs Subur Makmur, Indonesia. This WUAs was awarded the best WUAs at national level in 2012, and it has managed to maintain high income. This study aims at determining the satisfaction level of WUAs members in relation to its service quality. The data were collected from 88 respondents who live in five dusun (hamlets). They were selected purposively by considering the demographic characteristics, acquired land areas, and farmer types. The Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the relation between the WUAs services and the customer satisfaction. From the seven satisfaction indicators, the Product indicator has the highest correlation coefficient (0.585). Meanwhile, among the five service quality indicators, the Assurance indicator has the highest correlation coefficient (0.495) with the level of satisfaction of WUAs members. The results of this study will be beneficial as a reference for other WUAs in order to support sustainable rural development.

ABSTRACTEncroachers on dam, canal and stream reservations in Sri Lanka have a long history, although largely neglected and sparsely investigated by academics and policy makers alike. They have been observed to degrade water resources at an alarming rate and have proven resistant to attempts of eviction. The present work attempts to employ a discourse analytical viewpoint to open up and explore the ideas, perspectives and justifications held by various social groups regarding the legality of encroachers, thus moving beyond the simplistic legal/illegal binary that has characterized previous academic inquiries on the matter. In doing so, the present work has found three competing discourses or ‘storylines’, each of which characterize encroachers in a different way. Together, these different discourses provide a platform to better understand the social practices, behaviors and motivations of the encroachers, and provide more complex and nuanced answers to the questions of ‘who they are’ and ‘what can be done about them’.

ABSTRACTDiversifying the sources of livelihood for subsistence farmers beyond agriculture plays a significant role in reducing poverty as well as withstanding the adverse impacts of climate change. A cross-sectional survey research design has been employed to examine the factors which determine the participation of rainfed-dependent smallholder farmers in non-farm activities using a mixed methods approach. Data were obtained from 384 randomly selected households in the Woleka sub-basin of Ethiopia. Data were collected using survey questionnaires and interviews were analyzed using mean, percentage, chi-square test, t-test, one-way ANOVA, binary logistic regression model and thematic analysis. Access to adequate capital, poor infrastructure and lack of training are the major constraints which hindered farmers from undertaking non-farm activities. The regression model result revealed that several factors determine the propensity of smallholder farmers’ participation to non-farm activities. Better-off households, households led by literate and younger heads, having access to microfinance, having extension services, and having social responsibilities create engagement in non-farm economic activities. We argue that strengthening agricultural extension services, providing microfinance, entrepreneurial training and skill development, and infrastructure development would enhance the participation of smallholder farmers in non-farm activities. To achieve this, policy makers and other stakeholders need to integrate non-farm livelihood strategies into rural farming economies.

ABSTRACTThe Russian import ban on Western food products has stimulated a discussion about whether and how countries in Central Asia and Caucasus might benefit from this political decision by expanding their agrifood exports to Russia. Given this background, our study compares farmers’ willingness to participate in export markets in Armenia and Uzbekistan. Discussions are based on the analysis of surveys of 400 farmers from each country conducted in the spring of 2015. The results show that farmers already participating in local markets have a higher motivation to engage in the production of exportable commodities when a sudden export opportunity emerges. Beyond this general finding, the relative importance of farm and infrastructure characteristics were identified under different commercialization levels. Although both types of factors have been identified as important determinants in the existing literature, our analysis provides further evidence. We demonstrate that variables related to farm characteristics play a rather crucial role in more subsistence-oriented small-scale farming systems as found in the case of Armenia. In contrast, infrastructure may become more important than farm endowments in more commercially oriented farming systems such as observed in Uzbekistan.