Abstract
On average, environmental income accounts for more than a quarter of rural household income in tropical and
sub-tropical countries. One way to increase incomes from wild-harvested products is cultivation. In a landmark
paper, Homma (1992) identified four phases describing the economic dynamics of environmental product
cultivation, emphasising product scarcity. We reviewed literature that applied and/or discussed Homma’s model. This suggested that additional factors, beyond resource scarcity, induce the transition to cultivation. We propose
an alternative model of the dynamics of environmental product cultivation pathways, emphasising stock size,
contextual, harvester, and mediating factors. The model has four possible product-level outcomes: scarcity
induced cultivation, economic extinction, abundance with cultivation, and continued sole wild harvesting. We
investigated this model empirically through the case of commercial medicinal plant harvesting in Nepal, using harvester interviews (n = 362) and published monthly price data for the most commonly traded products (n =
12) during a nine-year period. We found evidence of all four possible product-level outcomes, with “abundance
with cultivation” being the most common. This supports that scarcity is not sufficient to explain cultivation
processes; harvester decision-making processes and contextual and mediating factors must also be assessed.
sub-tropical countries. One way to increase incomes from wild-harvested products is cultivation. In a landmark
paper, Homma (1992) identified four phases describing the economic dynamics of environmental product
cultivation, emphasising product scarcity. We reviewed literature that applied and/or discussed Homma’s model. This suggested that additional factors, beyond resource scarcity, induce the transition to cultivation. We propose
an alternative model of the dynamics of environmental product cultivation pathways, emphasising stock size,
contextual, harvester, and mediating factors. The model has four possible product-level outcomes: scarcity
induced cultivation, economic extinction, abundance with cultivation, and continued sole wild harvesting. We
investigated this model empirically through the case of commercial medicinal plant harvesting in Nepal, using harvester interviews (n = 362) and published monthly price data for the most commonly traded products (n =
12) during a nine-year period. We found evidence of all four possible product-level outcomes, with “abundance
with cultivation” being the most common. This supports that scarcity is not sufficient to explain cultivation
processes; harvester decision-making processes and contextual and mediating factors must also be assessed.
Originalsprog | Engelsk |
---|---|
Artikelnummer | 107701 |
Tidsskrift | Ecological Economics |
Vol/bind | 205 |
Antal sider | 12 |
ISSN | 0921-8009 |
DOI | |
Status | Udgivet - mar. 2023 |
Emneord
- Domestication
- Economic dynamics
- Extraction
- Nepal
- Non-timber forest products
- Price development