IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v93y2017icp136-152.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Vulnerability to Cumulative Hazards: Coping with the Coffee Leaf Rust Outbreak, Drought, and Food Insecurity in Nicaragua

Author

Listed:
  • Bacon, Christopher M.
  • Sundstrom, William A.
  • Stewart, Iris T.
  • Beezer, David

Abstract

Recurrent food insecurity in the highlands of Central America has been exacerbated by the recent convergence of a coffee leaf rust outbreak that began defoliating crops in 2011 and a drought that started in 2014. In the context of these multiple challenges, this paper explores how seasonal hunger is related to smallholder organizational affiliation, farm and farmer characteristics, and post-hazard household-level coping strategies. The study integrates qualitative research, hydro-climatic data analysis, and a survey of 368 households completed in 2014. A number of household capacities correlate significantly with shorter periods of seasonal hunger: households with larger farms, with off-farm employment, and that produce more than half of their food, maintain more fruit trees, and harvest more coffee reported fewer lean months. We find evidence consistent with path dependence in how households cope with a sequence of environmental hazards, as the reported use of less preferred coping responses to past events (e.g., Hurricane Mitch and the 2009 drought) tended to correlate with their continued use after subsequent hazards. A comparison of coping responses of households affiliated with a farmer-to-farmer institution promoting subsistence-oriented production with those affiliated with cooperatives prioritizing sustainable coffee exports shows that farmer institutions were not strongly correlated with the number of lean months or coping mechanisms.

Suggested Citation

  • Bacon, Christopher M. & Sundstrom, William A. & Stewart, Iris T. & Beezer, David, 2017. "Vulnerability to Cumulative Hazards: Coping with the Coffee Leaf Rust Outbreak, Drought, and Food Insecurity in Nicaragua," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 136-152.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:93:y:2017:i:c:p:136-152
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.12.025
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15303582
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.12.025?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reed, M.S. & Podesta, G. & Fazey, I. & Geeson, N. & Hessel, R. & Hubacek, K. & Letson, D. & Nainggolan, D. & Prell, C. & Rickenbach, M.G. & Ritsema, C. & Schwilch, G. & Stringer, L.C. & Thomas, A.D., 2013. "Combining analytical frameworks to assess livelihood vulnerability to climate change and analyse adaptation options," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 66-77.
    2. Ecker, Olivier & Breisinger, Clemens & Pauw, Karl, 2011. "Growth is good, but is not enough to improve nutrition:," 2020 conference papers 7, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Aeberhard, Andrea & Rist, Stephan, 2009. "Transdisciplinary co-production of knowledge in the development of organic agriculture in Switzerland," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 1171-1181, February.
    4. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, 2009. "Food security: definition and measurement," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 1(1), pages 5-7, February.
    5. ., 2006. "Vulnerability and Coping," Chapters, in: David Alexander Clark (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Development Studies, chapter 127, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Gloede, Oliver & Menkhoff, Lukas & Waibel, Hermann, 2015. "Shocks, Individual Risk Attitude, and Vulnerability to Poverty among Rural Households in Thailand and Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 54-78.
    7. V. Kharin & F. Zwiers & X. Zhang & M. Wehner, 2013. "Changes in temperature and precipitation extremes in the CMIP5 ensemble," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 119(2), pages 345-357, July.
    8. Noah Diffenbaugh & Filippo Giorgi, 2012. "Climate change hotspots in the CMIP5 global climate model ensemble," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 813-822, October.
    9. Lowder, Sarah K. & Skoet, Jakob & Raney, Terri, 2016. "The Number, Size, and Distribution of Farms, Smallholder Farms, and Family Farms Worldwide," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 16-29.
    10. Jones, Andrew D. & Shrinivas, Aditya & Bezner-Kerr, Rachel, 2014. "Farm production diversity is associated with greater household dietary diversity in Malawi: Findings from nationally representative data," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-12.
    11. Maxwell, Daniel & Caldwell, Richard & Langworthy, Mark, 2008. "Measuring food insecurity: Can an indicator based on localized coping behaviors be used to compare across contexts?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 533-540, December.
    12. Bacon, Christopher, 2005. "Confronting the Coffee Crisis: Can Fair Trade, Organic, and Specialty Coffees Reduce Small-Scale Farmer Vulnerability in Northern Nicaragua?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 497-511, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sirdey, Ninon & Lemeilleur, Sylvaine, 2021. "Can fair trade resolve the “hungry farmer paradox”?," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 102(1), March.
    2. Bacon, Christopher M. & Sundstrom, William A. & Stewart, Iris T. & Maurer, Ed & Kelley, Lisa C., 2021. "Towards smallholder food and water security: Climate variability in the context of multiple livelihood hazards in Nicaragua," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    3. Theocharidis, Dimitris & Karanikolas, Pavlos & Tsiboukas, Konstantinos, 2018. "Farmers' responses to stressors of an agri-food system: a Greek case study," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 0(Issue 2).
    4. Dupre, Samuel I. & Harvey, Celia A. & Holland, Margaret B., 2022. "The impact of coffee leaf rust on migration by smallholder coffee farmers in Guatemala," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    5. Yen Pham & Kathryn Reardon-Smith & Shahbaz Mushtaq & Geoff Cockfield, 2019. "The impact of climate change and variability on coffee production: a systematic review," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 609-630, October.
    6. Ray-Bennett, Nibedita S., 2018. "Disasters, Deaths, and the Sendai Goal One: Lessons from Odisha, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 27-39.
    7. Federico Davila, 2020. "Human ecology and food discourses in a smallholder agricultural system in Leyte, The Philippines," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 719-741, September.
    8. Valencia, Vivian & García-Barrios, Luis & Sterling, Eleanor J. & West, Paige & Meza-Jiménez, Amayrani & Naeem, Shahid, 2018. "Smallholder response to environmental change: Impacts of coffee leaf rust in a forest frontier in Mexico," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 463-474.
    9. Aniseh S. Bro, 2020. "Climate Change Adaptation, Food Security, and Attitudes toward Risk among Smallholder Coffee Farmers in Nicaragua," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-17, August.
    10. Guido, Zack & Knudson, Chris & Finan, Tim & Madajewicz, Malgosia & Rhiney, Kevon, 2020. "Shocks and cherries: The production of vulnerability among smallholder coffee farmers in Jamaica," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    11. Jeannine H. Richards & Ingrid M. Torrez Luna & Alberto Vargas, 2021. "“A Very Noble Crop”: Financial Stability, Agronomic Expertise, and Personal Values Support Conservation in Shade-Grown Coffee Farms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-21, June.
    12. Lisa C. Kelley & Agung Prabowo, 2019. "Flooding and Land Use Change in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-19, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Benita Y. Tam & Leanne Findlay & Dafna Kohen, 2014. "Social Networks as a Coping Strategy for Food Insecurity and Hunger for Young Aboriginal and Canadian Children," Societies, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-14, September.
    2. Azeem, Muhammad Masood & Mugera, Amin W. & Schilizzi, Steven, 2016. "Poverty and vulnerability in the Punjab, Pakistan: A multilevel analysis," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 57-72.
    3. Keenan, Michael & Karanja, Stanley & Pamuk, Haki & Ruben, Ruerd, 2021. "Smallholder Farming Households' Make-or-Buy Decisions: Linking Market Access, Production Risks, and Production Diversity to Dietary Diversity," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315349, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Marenya, P. & Kassie, M. & Teklewold, H. & Erenstein, O. & Qaim, M. & Rahut, D., 2018. "Does the adoption of maize-legume cropping diversification and modern seeds affect nutritional security in Ethiopia? Evidence from panel data analysis," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277170, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Chenjia Zhang & Yiping Fang & Xiujuan Chen & Tian Congshan, 2019. "Bibliometric Analysis of Trends in Global Sustainable Livelihood Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-28, February.
    6. Arulingam, Indika & Brady, G. & Chaya, M. & Conti, M. & Kgomotso, P. K. & Korzenszky, A. & Njie, D. & Schroth, G. & Suhardiman, Diana, 2022. "Small-scale producers in sustainable agrifood systems transformation," IWMI Reports 329171, International Water Management Institute.
    7. Tesfaye, Wondimagegn & Tirivayi, Nyasha, 2018. "The impacts of postharvest storage innovations on food security and welfare in Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 52-67.
    8. Brander, Michael & Bernauer, Thomas & Huss, Matthias, 2021. "Improved on-farm storage reduces seasonal food insecurity of smallholder farmer households – Evidence from a randomized control trial in Tanzania," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    9. Arulingam, Indika & Brady, G. & Chaya, M. & Conti, M. & Kgomotso, P. K. & Korzenszky, A. & Njie, D. & Schroth, G. & Suhardiman, Diana, 2022. "Small-scale producers in sustainable agrifood systems transformation," IWMI Books, Reports H051435, International Water Management Institute.
    10. Lilian Korir & Marian Rizov & Eric Ruto & Patrick Paul Walsh, 2021. "Household Vulnerability to Food Insecurity and the Regional Food Insecurity Gap in Kenya," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-18, August.
    11. Sophie Bruin & Just Dengerink & Jasper Vliet, 2021. "Urbanisation as driver of food system transformation and opportunities for rural livelihoods," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(4), pages 781-798, August.
    12. Federico Davila, 2020. "Human ecology and food discourses in a smallholder agricultural system in Leyte, The Philippines," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 719-741, September.
    13. Marcin Pawel Jarzebski & Abubakari Ahmed & Yaw Agyeman Boafo & Boubacar Siddighi Balde & Linda Chinangwa & Osamu Saito & Graham Maltitz & Alexandros Gasparatos, 2020. "Food security impacts of industrial crop production in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review of the impact mechanisms," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(1), pages 105-135, February.
    14. Abafita, Jemal & Kim, Kyung-Ryang, 2014. "Determinants of Household Food Security in Rural Ethiopia: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Rural Development/Nongchon-Gyeongje, Korea Rural Economic Institute, vol. 37(2), pages 1-29.
    15. Azeem, Muhammad Masood & Mugera, Amin W. & Schilizzi, Steven, 2016. "Living on the edge: Household vulnerability to food-insecurity in the Punjab, Pakistan," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-13.
    16. Trung X. Hoang & Nga V. T. Le, 2021. "Natural disasters and risk aversion: Evidence from Vietnam," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 45(3), pages 211-229, August.
    17. Patil, Vikram & Ghosh, Ranjan & Kathuria, Vinish & Farrell, Katharine N., 2020. "Money, Land or self-employment? Understanding preference heterogeneity in landowners’ choices for compensation under land acquisition in India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    18. Tambo, Justice A. & Wünscher, Tobias, 2016. "Beyond adoption: welfare effects of farmer innovation behavior in Ghana," Discussion Papers 235297, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    19. Ishak Norziha & Abdullah Rosazlin & Rosli Noor Sharina Mohd & Halim Nur Sa’adah Abdul & Majid Hazreenbdul & Ariffin Fazilah, 2022. "Challenges of Urban Garden Initiatives for Food Security in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia," Quaestiones Geographicae, Sciendo, vol. 41(4), pages 57-72, December.
    20. Alessandro Arrighetti, 2009. "Market Imperfections and Fair Trade," QA - Rivista dell'Associazione Rossi-Doria, Associazione Rossi Doria, issue 1, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:93:y:2017:i:c:p:136-152. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.