Ostrom Workshop, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America.
Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Jan 29;15(1):e0228021. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228021. eCollection 2020.
Smallholder farmers undertake a number of strategies to cope with climate shocks in a community. The sharing of resources across households constitutes one coping mechanism when environmental shocks differentially impact households. This paper investigates commodity sharing dynamics among households in eight communities in an environmentally heterogeneous highland-lowland area in central Kenya. We use survey data and meteorological data to test whether commodity sharing, measured at the household level by net inflow of commodities, varies across a regional precipitation gradient, and we reveal how sharing fluctuates with rainfall over the course of a year. We find both precipitation and income to be significant predictors of households' net value of shared commodities. Specifically, farmers who live in drier areas with less income are more likely to receive more commodities than they give. We also find that the length of time a household has been established in the area is significantly related to commodity sharing. Further, commodity sharing follows the pattern of harvest and food storage over the course of the year, with households giving the most commodities at times when food storage levels are higher, that is, post-harvest. The study sheds light on the relationship between commodity sharing as a coping mechanism and environmental heterogeneity in a region prone to seasonal food insecurity.
小农在社区中采取了许多策略来应对气候冲击。当环境冲击对家庭产生不同影响时，家庭之间资源的共享构成了一种应对机制。本文调查了肯尼亚中部一个环境异质的高地-低地地区的八个社区中家庭之间的商品共享动态。我们使用调查数据和气象数据来检验商品共享是否在区域降水梯度上有所不同，并用它来揭示共享如何随一年中的降水而波动。我们发现降水和收入都是家庭共享商品净价值的重要预测指标。具体来说，生活在降水较少、收入较低地区的农民更有可能收到比送出的商品多。我们还发现，家庭在该地区的建立时间长短与商品共享显著相关。此外，商品共享与一年中收获和粮食储存的模式一致，即在粮食储存水平较高的时候，也就是收获后，家庭会送出最多的商品。该研究揭示了作为应对机制的商品共享与易发生季节性粮食不安全地区环境异质性之间的关系。
