Paper short abstract:

The social cadets’ work considered as the corner stone of rural dynamics through their livelihoods which reveal agency in the rice farming context. From socio-economical perspectives we focus on their “freedom” and capabilities despite various constraints of large scale farming project.

Paper long abstract:

In the post-structural adjustment context, characterized by crises (withdrawal of state subsidies, farming taxes increasing etc.), rice farmers are struggling to make a living solely from their main activity as well as developing livelihoods (Chambers & Conway1991). How do social cadets, despite socio-economic considerations, position themselves in the local dynamic to become “agents” of their own well-being through political and economic resistance?

In this study, we emphasize on the activities farmers are conducting to earn their living and contribute to their family needs. Moreover we question the way they are developing “capabilities” as “non passive agent” in reference to Amartya Sen approach, through “assets” like protestation, community work, local entrepreneurship, petty commodities, “tontines” etc in a context where large scale agro industrie own the major farming lands. However, these forms of agency are not without constraints, it often involves “capitalization” and “de-capitalization” in the social cadet trajectories.

To conduct this study, we are using ethnographic survey with households, intra-households and local associations by using the livelihoods perspective as ‘an integrated, holistic, bottom-up perspective centred on the understanding of what people do to make a living in diverse social contexts and circumstances’ (Scoones 2015: 1).

Bibliography

Chambers R., Conway G.R. (1991), Sustainable rural livelihoods: practical concepts for the 21st century, IDS Discussion. Paper 296, December.

Scoones I., (2015), Sustainable Livelihoods and Rural Development. UK: Practical Action and Winnipeg, CA: Fernwood Publishing.

Sen A., (1999), Development as freedom. Oxford University Press.