Indicators in the study sites

Table of Contents

1. Compilers and contributors
2. Introduction
3. Climate indicators
4. Water indicators
5. Soil indicators
6. Vegetation indicators
7. Water runoff indicators
8. Forest fires indicators
9. Agriculture indicators
   1. Farm ownership
   2. Farm size
   3. Land fragmentation
   4. Net farm income
   5. Parallel employment
10. Cultivation indicators
11. Animal husbandry indicators
12. Land management indicators
13. Land use indicators
14. Water use indicators
15. Tourism indicators
16. Human characteristics indicators
17. Institutional indicators
18. Conclusions
19. References

Parallel employment

As it was shown in the previous indicator, farmers income in the study sites is low to moderate pushing them in parallel employment in other economic sectors such as tourism, industry, etc. Under such economic conditions, farming becomes a second activity with limited actions for protection of the environment from desertification. In some cases low productivity lands are abandoned with positive or negative consequences depending on the soil and climatic conditions of the area (Fig. 55).

Parallel employment in this project has been identified by contacting the land user. It has been defined as the percentage of off-farm income as a percentage of the total family income (Family Farm Income plus Off-Farm Income) or simply as parallel employment in other sectors except agricultural such as industry, municipality, state, etc.

Fig. 55. Examples of negative (left) and positive effects of land abandoned due to parallel employment in other economic sectors outside of agriculture

Data for this indicator have been collected in 897 field sites, corresponding to 13 study sites (Table 7). As Fig. 56 shows, the majority of the farmers (52.0% of the total field's sites) do not work parallel in other economic sectors except agriculture. Such conditions of exclusively work in agriculture were found in all field sites of Secano Interior-Chile, Konya Karapinar plain-Turkey, Novij Saratov-Russia, Djanybek-Russia, and Crete-Greece, and in some field sites of Boteti Area-Botswana, Santiago Island-Cape Verde, and Mamora Sehoul-Morocco study sites. The most important parallel employment was found in industry for 19.0% of the study field sites, corresponding mainly to the study sites of Santiago Island-Cape Verde, Mamora Sehoul-Morocco, and Guadalentin Basin Murcia-Spain. Parallel employment in state, municipality, and other economic sectors were found in some cases, covering 7.4%, 5.4%, and 16.2% of the study fields, respectively. Such field sites where identified in Santiago Island-Cape Verde, Mamora Sehoul-Morocco, Eskisehir-Turkey, Cointzio Catchment-Mexico, and Zeuss Koutine-Tunisia study sites.

Fig. 56. Distribution of parallel employment of farmers in other sectors except agriculture defined in the study field sites