Search results

The Rohingyas are forcefully displaced from Myanmar and sheltered in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh. They have outnumbered the local people indicating a critical condition of their living situation after the year 2017 influx. The aim of this paper is to present how coexistence has impacted social cohesion and reconciliation among different groups of Rohingyas and host communities.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 903 households through a multistage stratified random sampling. Social cohesion and reconciliation (SCORE) index was measured as a multifaceted theoretical construct based on the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.

The findings of this study are inclined toward the miracle of social cohesion and reconciliation between the Rohingya and host communities. Also, it is revealed that youth, males and Rohingyas who came before the year 2017 influx are more cohesive. In the host or local community, people having lower income, less education and involvement with the informal sector are revealed as less cohesive.

This study suggests vocational training as a short-term, cash-for-work as a mid-term and repatriation, proper identity, and protection services as long-term strategic plans to make the two communities more cohesive.

This study focuses on the SCORE indexes with a quantitative format, applying a second-order factor model.

Transformation of smallholder agriculture from subsistence to more commercially-oriented production is one of the strategies advocated for improving rural households' food security and general welfare. The purpose of this paper is to assess potential differential effects of smallholder commercialization intensity on the different dimensions of food security.

Using household data from rural Tanzania, the study employed Tobit regression and Generalized Propensity Score (GPS) approaches to analyze smallholder commercialization intensity and associated food security effects.

Results show that smallholder commercialization has heterogeneous effects on the different dimensions of food security. Specifically, lower levels of commercialization are associated with lower food availability, access, utilization and stability. At higher intensities of commercialization, smallholders have higher food availability and access but modest improvements in food utilization and stability. Findings suggests that heterogeneous effects of commercialization on food security and the multi-dimensional nature of food security are important aspects to consider in the design of strategies to improve smallholder agriculture for enhanced food security and welfare.

It is important to point out that while food security is still a complex phenomenon, one that cannot be analyzed easily, so is commercialization. This study has used only one of the many definitions of commercialization.

Most existing literature on smallholder commercialization groups farmers into commercial and subsistence-oriented households. However, smallholders commercialize at various levels of intensity. This paper, conversely, analyzes the potential effects of different levels of commercialization on the various aspects of food security. Further, unlike extensive literature that focus on a narrow definition of food security, this paper expands the evidence of the implications of smallholder commercialization on the different dimensions of food security namely, food availability, access, utilization and stability.