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Testing a two-phased approach to integrated social impacts analysis for smallholders’ sustainable development: modeling milk production efficiency and children’s educational outcomes on crop-livestock family farms in central Madagascar
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A promoção do desenvolvimento sustentável para os pequenos agricultores africanos exige que fatores agronómicos e económicos sejam considerados, assim como fatores sociais relevantes que moldam a produção dos agricultores e afetam o bem-estar das respetivas famílias. Análises holísticas que integram indicadores sociais com dados agronómicos e económicos permitem políticas e intervenções mais eficazes nas explorações de pequenos agricultores nos países em desenvolvimento. Este estudo concebeu uma abordagem transdisciplinar, em duas fases, para a análise quantitativa dos impactos sociais no contexto de pequenos agricultores. Considerando a educação como um indicador ligado ao desenvolvimento sustentável, a abordagem foi testada utilizando uma amostra de explorações familiares com produção agropecuária no centro de Madagáscar. Na Fase I, a análise de fronteira estocástica foi utilizada para confirmar a educação como um indicador social relacionado com a eficiência da produção. Na Fase II, foi utilizada uma regressão linear para modelar os resultados educativos das crianças. As conclusões do caso malgaxe sublinham a influência das infraestruturas rurais, da educação dos pais, da pobreza crónica, do planeamento familiar, e da diversificação da agropecuária nos resultados escolares das crianças dos agricultores da região. Os resultados do estudo revelam que muitos dos mesmos fatores que afetam a eficiência da produção também influenciam os resultados escolares das crianças, reforçando a necessidade de integrar indicadores sociais em análises mais abrangentes. Para promover simultaneamente o desenvolvimento agrícola e o bem-estar das famílias, as conclusões sugerem que os decisores políticos de Madagáscar devem considerar uma política territorial que inclua serviços de planeamento familiar e investimento em infraestruturas. No futuro, deve-se também explorar as melhores combinações de culturas e pecuária para o desenvolvimento sustentável da região. Este estudo ilustra como uma abordagem transdisciplinar à análise dos impactos sociais pode integrar dinâmicas agronómicas, económicas, e sociais e apoiar ao desenvolvimento sustentável dos pequenos agricultores.
Promoting sustainable development for African smallholders undoubtedly necessitates addressing agronomic and economic factors. However, it also demands attending to highly relevant social influences shaping farmers’ production and affecting farming households’ well-being. Holistic analyses that integrate social indicators alongside agronomic and economic data can inform more effective policies and improve interventions for smallholder farming systems in developing countries. This study designed a transdisciplinary, two-phased approach to quantitative social impacts analysis for smallholder contexts. Taking education as an evidenced indicator linked to farmers’ sustainable development, the approach was tested using a farm-level survey dataset collected from a sample of milk-producing crop-livestock family farms in the central highlands of Madagascar. In Phase I, stochastic frontier analysis was leveraged to confirm education as a social indicator related to production efficiency. Then in Phase II, linear regression was used for exploratory modeling of children’s educational outcomes. Findings from the Malagasy case emphasize the influence of rural infrastructure, parental education, chronic poverty, family planning, and crop-livestock diversification on children’s educational outcomes among the region’s farming households. Taken as a whole, the study’s results reveal that many of the same factors affecting production efficiency also influence children’s educational attainment, reinforcing the need to integrate social indicators in more comprehensive analytical approaches. To simultaneously promote agricultural development and household well-being, the study’s findings suggest that Madagascar’s policymakers should consider comprehensive territorial policy that includes family planning services and investment in infrastructure like roads and electrification. Future research should also explore optimal crop-livestock mixes for the region’s sustainable development. This study illustrates how a transdisciplinary approach to social impacts analysis can integrate agronomic, economic, and social dynamics and help anticipate potential outcomes in support of smallholders’ sustainable development.
Promoting sustainable development for African smallholders undoubtedly necessitates addressing agronomic and economic factors. However, it also demands attending to highly relevant social influences shaping farmers’ production and affecting farming households’ well-being. Holistic analyses that integrate social indicators alongside agronomic and economic data can inform more effective policies and improve interventions for smallholder farming systems in developing countries. This study designed a transdisciplinary, two-phased approach to quantitative social impacts analysis for smallholder contexts. Taking education as an evidenced indicator linked to farmers’ sustainable development, the approach was tested using a farm-level survey dataset collected from a sample of milk-producing crop-livestock family farms in the central highlands of Madagascar. In Phase I, stochastic frontier analysis was leveraged to confirm education as a social indicator related to production efficiency. Then in Phase II, linear regression was used for exploratory modeling of children’s educational outcomes. Findings from the Malagasy case emphasize the influence of rural infrastructure, parental education, chronic poverty, family planning, and crop-livestock diversification on children’s educational outcomes among the region’s farming households. Taken as a whole, the study’s results reveal that many of the same factors affecting production efficiency also influence children’s educational attainment, reinforcing the need to integrate social indicators in more comprehensive analytical approaches. To simultaneously promote agricultural development and household well-being, the study’s findings suggest that Madagascar’s policymakers should consider comprehensive territorial policy that includes family planning services and investment in infrastructure like roads and electrification. Future research should also explore optimal crop-livestock mixes for the region’s sustainable development. This study illustrates how a transdisciplinary approach to social impacts analysis can integrate agronomic, economic, and social dynamics and help anticipate potential outcomes in support of smallholders’ sustainable development.
Descrição
Tese de doutoramento, Engenharia Agronómica, 2025, Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto Superior de Agronomia.
Palavras-chave
rural development smallholders agri-food systems policy guidance social impacts analysis desenvolvimento rural pequenos agricultores sistemas agro-alimentares orientação política análise de impactos sociais