The Institute of Development Studies and Partner Organisations
Browse

Safety in small numbers : local strategies for survival and growth in Romania and the Kyrgyz Republic

Download (195.39 kB)
report
posted on 2024-09-05, 23:14 authored by Rachel Sabates-Wheeler
Using a comparative study of farm households from poor rural communities in Kyrgyzstan and north-east Romania this paper explores the intricacies of a variety of forms of cooperation in agriculture. The findings highlight the safety net, labour specialisation, asset-pooling and service delivery functions of different groups that enable rural livelihoods to at times cope and at times improve in situations of imperfect information, sluggish labour and land markets and constrained capital markets. The research presented here indicates that small to medium forms of cooperation provide the rural poor with predictable livelihood strategies under conditions of uncertainty. Specifically, cooperative action, in the form of groups, substitutes for imperfect markets. Despite the push for decollectivisation and privatisation across transition countries there remains a place for encouraging group initiatives, at least for the medium term, on grounds of both poverty alleviation and agricultural growth. Keywords: land, productivity, efficiency, assets, Central Asia, institutions

History

Publisher

IDS

Citation

Sabates-Wheeler, R. (2006) Safety in small numbers : local strategies for survival and growth in Romania and the Kyrgyz Republic. Working paper series, 265. Brighton: IDS.

Series

IDS working papers 265

IDS Item Types

IDS Working Paper

Copyright holder

Institute of Development Studies

Country

Kyrgyzstan; Romania; Kyrgyz Republic

Language

en

Usage metrics

    @ IDS Research

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Licence

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC