Resources, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Technology and Work in Production and Distribution Systems: Rice in India
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Area Studies
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
Publications
BARBARA HARRISS-WHITE
(2016)
Urban Poverty and Climate Change: Life in the slums of Asia, Africa and Latin America
Barbara Harriss-White (Conference Organiser)
(2013)
TECHNOLOGY, JOBS AND A LOWER CARBON FUTURE: Methods, Substance and Ideas for the Informal Economy (The case of rice in India)
GATHORNE-HARDY A
(2013)
Fusing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Value Chain Analysis (VCA) in the Informal Economy
GATHORNE-HARDY A
(2015)
A Newcomer's Guide to Life Cycle Assessment - Baselines and Boundaries
Gathorne-Hardy A
(2016)
System of Rice Intensification provides environmental and economic gains but at the expense of social sustainability - A multidisciplinary analysis in India
in Agricultural Systems
GATHORNE-HARDY A
The environmental, economic and social impacts of organic rice compared to conventional rice in South India
in Ecological Economics
GATHORNE-HARDY A
(2017)
The environmental, economic and social impacts of organic rice compared to conventional rice in South India'
in ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS
| Description | Climate change is on course significantly to reduce human wellbeing at a global level, yet mitigation and adaptation to climate change happens locally. Not only do the politics of global deals need research but so also does the micro-economic activity that produces and mitigates emissions. Our project is India-based, yet two-thirds of India's economy is unregistered, 'informal' and out of direct policy control. Very little is known about the informal economy as a polluter, yet a low-carbon transition would have to involve it. An holistic and transdisciplinary approach to measurement and trade-offs between material, social and economic aspects of the informal economy is therefore needed both analytically (to understand) and normatively (for policy). This project successfully developed and piloted a new methodology to measure materiality (gaseous waste), economic returns and livelihoods in the informal economy. Using rice as a case study industry it combined Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with Value Chain Analysis (VCA) and Multi-Criteria Mapping (MCM) so that trade-offs between different indicators can be quantified and potentially mitigated. The MCM application is also novel in using two languages and involving highly and poorly educated, urban and rural subsets of expert stake-holders. The case of rice was studied systemically (through production and distribution) and extensively (through four production systems (intensive-HYV; systems of rice intensification(SRI); organic and rainfed) and through three marketing-cum-distribution systems (small retail, large retail and the state's Public Distribution System(PDS)). Over 2012-13, four regions were studied in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Samples were selected to match local landholding structures from the Agricultural Censuses. Selected results: Our field research has generated rich and unique substantive results. For instance simulating a shallow water-table (7m), all four production-methods generated approx. 1 kg of GHG per kg of paddy; though the composition of GHGs differed considerably between production-methods. HYV and organic rice use 5 tonnes of irrigation water per kg paddy; SRI halved this. GHG emissions from rice are dominated by production not processing or distribution. Production dominates ground water use, energy use and demand for labour. The quality of jobs is highest for men in transport and women in large retail. Rates of return were maximised in organic rice production and in large mills. The core research is unique in evaluating trade-offs. For example SRI had the lowest emissions per unit of grain, but also reduced total labour demand, and skewed the remaining labour demand towards men, reducing employment for female landless labourers. Per kg of rice, large retail firms had far higher energy and GHG costs compared to the PDS or small retail, paid similar wages as the PDS, and required only 1/60 of the labour compared to the PDS. Multicriteria evaluation of four mitigation options emerging from the measurement research confirmed SRI as a win-win-win option. Demand for further applications: the new method is already being applied and developed in other sectors (livestock intensification; looms; inland fisheries; marine fishing; the materiality of schools and of sewerage). The MCM method has been demanded by local NGOs. The second dimension of our research examined informality through: i)field studies of the politics across formal-informal 'frontiers' of policy (landuse, transport and rice milling) and modes of informal regulation; ii) a field-based 'labourist ' approach to the supply chain and iii) a field-study of innovation in the informal economy. Demand for further applications: i)VCA labour studies have benefitted the New Trade Union Initiative which has trained fieldworkers for further applications; ii) there's interest worldwide in 'innovation in the informal economy' (see below); iii) a doctoral project (Amsterdam/Bangalore) on the informalisation of policy in land use planning and construction directly results from this project; iv) results on policy informalisation have been discussed in international fora and applied in policy training at Jindal Global University,Sonipat and Tata Institute of Social Science, Hyderabad. |
| Exploitation Route | We defined impact clearly through learning: short-term dissemination and further medium-term applications. This research has been engaged in the process of impact from the start (a detailed Impact Diary is available (5k word document)). Three sets of potential users were identified in the proposal:P (policy process); R (rice supply chain/innovation technology) AE (advocacy, activists, research and education). We planned/ have used/are using the following 'pathways to impact/exploitation routes' to exploit the methods and results: a)from start of project and into future development of expert P,R,AE network(s) (with Institute of Human Development New Delhi ); journalists and media; politicians; research scientists; meetings and correspondence (with innovators/technologists); website. b)short-term during project: learning workshops; learning by doing; dissemination / feedback / training workshops; international symposium (IHD) all involving P,R and AE; other conference presentations; special invited lectures; integration of results into higher education; engagement with civil society; high visibility publications. c) medium term during and after project (though no project funds available for afterwards): conference presentations and lectures; interactive collaboration; networking and workshops; successful new proposals / research initiatives; academic publications in high quality outlets. We abandoned the planned bulletins, blogs and local-language publications for lack of appropriateness and time. Our proposed link with SciDevNet was severed by David Dickson's death and policy changes in Scidevnet. It is replaced by a set of hierarchized 100 and 500 word summaries/policy briefings linked to website reports (in hand through IHD, NewDelhi) Our Impact Diary gives full details of the project's achievements. see link at the foot of this page: http://www.southasia.ox.ac.uk/policy-engagement-and-likely-impact-resources-greenhouse-gases-technology-and-jobs-indias-informal There is no single 'user' 'community' for this research. We have defined three types of user in the original proposal (see 2, above). For P: interest in the informal economy, innovation, informalisation of policy, and the implications of the results for agricultural policy and climate change mitigation. In addition further research groups' use of this method for applications in other industries/contexts will generate useful results for decision-making in a wide range of scenarios For R: interest in low C technologies and in multicriteria evaluations For AE: aspects of the entire project Economic impact (NB: our research would be one input among many) Strengthening SRI, organic and rain-fed rice; expanding subsidies for solar irrigation pump technology; support for transmission and distribution loss-reduction from the electricity grid. Social impact (NB: unlikely, due to lack of political backing) Results fed into a low carbon transition in India or elsewhere |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Construction,Education,Energy,Environment,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Retail,Transport,Other |
| URL | http://www.southasia.ox.ac.uk/resources-greenhouse-gases-technology-and-jobs-indias-informal-economy-case-rice |
| Description | In our proposal to ESRC-DFID, this Indo-British project had defined impact collectively as: - short term impact - on learning (through feedback/dissemination workshops; website; correspondence and networking; conference presentations; publications) - longer term impact - on new applications and collaborations ( through interactive collaboration ; networking and workshops; successful new proposals and research initiatives). Our Impact Diary 2011-2015 gives comprehensive details of all our impact activity from 2011. http://www.southasia.ox.ac.uk/policy-engagement-and-likely-impact-resources-greenhouse-gases-technology-and-jobs-indias-informal A different definition of impact from the one funded is requested by the ESRC: how the findings of the research grant are being, or have been, used beyond academia in the public, private, third/voluntary sectors and elsewhere to show 'the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy'. In the narrative immediately below we attempt this second exercise. Apart from our impact diary, we will then make a narrative summary of the impact this research has had in its own original terms. Impact -1: ESRC's objectives: 1. fostering global economic performance, and specifically the economic competitiveness of the UK; 2. increasing the effectiveness of public services and policy; 3. enhancing quality of life, health and creative output. The research has been used in the following institutions in the following ways: 1. Public Sector 1.1.Indian Public Higher Education: Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad Campus - course development - an entire Policy Area Concentration 'Regulation and Institutions' consisting of three courses has been developed from this project's theoretical and empirical work on informalisation of policy. National Institute of Rural Development - research on SRI and labour has been used in developing the research agenda of the new Sankaran Chair in Labour Studies. 2. Private Sector 2.1 Public-private spin-off 2012: The 'learning workshop' formula was adopted for a learning workshop involving the British Council / Solvay Business School Brussels / Micro finance practitioners. http://www.southasia.ox.ac.uk/learning-workshop-materiality-rice-world-institute-sustainable-energy-pune-and-contemporary-south 2.2. EGIS-India Consulting Engineers Pvt. Ltd : a Principal in Urban Development in the Team responsible for the bid for the Delhi-Mumbai, Bangalore -Mumbai and Bangalore-Chennai industrial/ economic corridors (freight, expressways and industrial estates) is developing the framework for the study of policy informalisation in these corridors. This Principal has also enrolled for a PhD at Amsterdam University to develop applications of our project's methods to the Indian construction industry and the informal practices of city and regional planning. 2.3. Jindal Global University - a private university - course development incorporating work on the informalisation of policy done for this project. 2.4. Madras School of Economics -a private university - course development incorporating comparative social cost benefit analyses using data from this project. 3. Civil society / Third sector 3.1 Indian Trades Unions Research Organisation - the Centre for Workers' Management (CWM) - uses the research on informal labour to build capacity for labour mobilisation. Chennai Women Workers' Union - facilitated fieldwork on rice retail and gained experience useful for labour organisation. 3.2 Indian research-development organisations / think tanks World Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE) : hosted a multidisciplinary capacity building exercise through a learning workshop. Anthra (livestock and livelihoods): hosted a learning workshop / developing an application of the LCA-VCA methods to livestock intensification; Council for Social Development (CSD) publishes a booklet on project's research into innovation in the informal economy. Clean-up and Recycle for the Environment (CURE) initiated a conversation with a view to developing an application of our project's methods to E-waste relevant to Govt of India's Swachch Bharat 'Clean up India' programme and campaign. 3.3.NGOs: Gandhian Unit for Integrated Development Education (GUIDE): intends to develop applications of Multi-Criteria Mapping (MCM) method among dalit women and fishers. Environmental activists / journalists Chennai - express intent to use MCM as a development consultation tool. 3.4. Professional networks (science; expert consultancy services): The Research for Rainfed Agriculture (ResRA) network uses our project evidence on rainfed agriculture in Odisha. The development of SRI in Andhra Pradesh involves hundreds of international and Indian researchers and activists and has incorporated the project's research on SRI Impact - 2: Dissemination, learning/skilling, new applications Three learning workshops (2011-14) attended by total of 37 participants. Two Dissemination Workshops in 2012 attended by over 90 people drawn from policy, technology, research and education. International Conference - 2013- attended by 67 expert participants from policy, technology, research , education and media. Training short course - 2013 - (School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University) - 'Using Life Cycle Assessment and a Systems Approach to Sustainability' - 59 academic participants from science and social science. Dissemination through presentations at international and national conferences: Total 31 Country/Region Pub instns Pvt Instns CivilSocy/Foundatns UK 10 4 INDIA 4 3 CHINA 2 2 USA 1 1 EU 4 Dissemination through individual seminar presentations and special lectures: Total 32. Country/Region Pub Instns Pvt Instns CivilSocy/ Foundations UK 7 INDIA 4 2 9 CHINA 5 USA 2 1 EU 2 Dissemination of briefing papers and reports through an e-network of about 700 experts from policy, technology and education (developed from the Institute of Human Development) Dissemination through website: http://www.southasia.ox.ac.uk/resources-greenhouse-gases-technology-and-jobs-indias-informal-economy-case-rice 1. Public Sector: 1.1.British Government: Small group discussions about rice and the low C transition with about 10 expert DFID bureaucrats. Small group discussions about the inclusion of complexity in policy making with met-office parliament scientists. 1.2.Indian Government: Politicians - Individual discussions about the project with 9 senior Indian politicians; one senior Indian diplomat. Govt. of India Planning commission (now defunct): one to one discussions with 2 expert members 1.3. British Higher Education: Input into the establishment of Oxford-India Centre for Sustainable Development, Somerville College for which £6m has been raised for graduate scholarships in sustainable development for Indian students admitted to Oxford. Oxford University: Postgraduate researcher trained in MCM software Curriculum development in Food Security; LiveFriday May 2015: showcasing Oxford's social science - in Ashmolean Museum - over 3000 visitors. 1.4 Indian Higher Education Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU): curriculum development for new MSc in Labour Studies ; follow up project on rainfed rice in 3 Indian states. 59 young researchers and faculty trained in analytical methods Hyderabad University: 7 graduate assistants trained in field methods One on one discussions with academic experts in 16 public HE institutions in India, China, USA and UK 1.5 UN agencies - one on one discussions with 12 experts from UN agencies including UNDP and the CGIAR. 2. Private Sector One to one discussions with academic experts in 4 private universities One to one discussions with technology / planning executives / senior managers / CEOs / in 16 private Indian/global companies One to one discussions with journalists from 5 major national media outlets 3. Civil society / Third sector 3.1.NGOs: Anthra: learning workshops / Development of application of LCA-VCA method to livestock intensification CWM: 7 women trade union activists trained in field survey methods and practice CURE: application of methods to E-waste GUIDE: Intent to develop applications of MCM among dalits and fishers. Application of LCA-VCA to fishing technologies (and between inland versus coastal fishing) India Climate Justice Network - 30 NGO, trade union and climate change activists Janapada Seva Trust: planning to develop application of LCA-VCA for a comparison of environmental, economic and social variables in handloom and powerloom weaving technologies in rural Karnataka. Centre for Indigenous Knowledge Systems (CIKS) - is developing an in-depth study comparing the economics and resource use patterns of organic rice cultivation with that of intensive HYVs using the LCA-VCA approach. WISE: multidisciplinary capacity building. One on one discussions with experts from 6 civil society organisations and 5 research foundations in India 3.2 Think tanks / Research Foundations: One to one discussions with 13 experts from think tanks and foundations Please see the project's Impact Diary linked at the foot of this page http://www.southasia.ox.ac.uk/policy-engagement-and-likely-impact-resources-greenhouse-gases-technology-and-jobs-indias-informal Challenges overcome to achieve impact There being no funds with which to support impact activity on which RCUK's public reputation depends is a 'challenge', especially when the apex expert fields in India have considerably changed after the May 2014 election which happened at the end of the project's funding. We have overcome this challenge by accepting every invitation to present results, at the expense of other institutions. ESRC might reflect on whether it can supply impact funds routinely for a period of months after the full funding has stopped. Climate change mitigation is an extremely politically sensitive issue in India. Expert public antipathy would have been worse without strong support for the research from Indian members of the team and histories of engagement with climate change in the UK as well as with Indian development on the part of the British researchers. The research team encountered more intractable problems in disseminating research results across the science-social science frontier than it did in acquiring and sharing knowledge while designing the field project. We did not locate life cycle analysts in India interested in social science applications until meeting Dr Vinod Sharma of IGIDR Mumbai in person well after the formal end of the project (who had not responded to our email approaches earlier). We learned from the experience of the dissemination workshops (above) that social scientists become aware of the potential of the new methods we have developed but do not gain confidence to use them without considerable further training. We started to overcome this challenge by using project resources to pilot one such short course and by accepting all invitations to speak about Life Cycle Assessment to social science audiences. The tragically early death in 2013 of David Dickson of SciDevNet who was advising us on scientific dissemination, was another challenge. After this, the Indian team favoured shifting the dissemination strategy from SciDevNet to the Communications Unit of the Institute of Human Development. http://griidglobal.net/?p=42 An unforeseen and very protracted health crisis in the family of the environmental economist was the final challenge to both research and impact. It meant that the calculation of the social and welfare / environmental costs and benefits of the value chains, and the 'labourist' analysis of the value/supply chain have been delayed and are still 'work in progress' planned to be completed by other team members. The study of the informal governance of the value/supply chain was also abandoned by the environmental economist. We think that challenges like these are commoner than reported in complicated partnerships in developing countries and that the ESRC might think of providing health contingency funds. As it is, the ESRC itself helped overcome the challenge by allowing our project a maximum extension for the rest of the team to complete data collection. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Education,Energy,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice,Other |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | IMPACT DIARY |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | http://www.southasia.ox.ac.uk/impact-update-july-2015-march-2016 |
| Description | capacity building, pakistan |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | improved capacity to research informal economy in pakistan |
| Description | conseil national de developpement et solidarite international |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | TRANSFORMATION OF FRENCH DEVELOPMENT AID AFTER COP 21 |
| Description | educational practice |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | skills in sustainable nutrition |
| Description | impact diary |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | PLEASE SEE THE IMPACT DIARY AT THE URL BELOW |
| URL | http://www.southasia.ox.ac.uk/policy-engagement-and-likely-impact-resources-greenhouse-gases-technol... |
| Description | invitation by Indian planning ministry to write in their monthly journal -English circulation 80,000 - 12 Indian languages circn 250k |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | http://yojana.gov.in/ |
| Description | op ed |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| URL | http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/informal-economy/article6214341.ece |
| Description | research advisory group dfid |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | advice to the chief scientific adviser dfid |
| Title | LCA-VCA-MCM |
| Description | THIS RESEARCH PROJECT'S OBJECTIVES WAS METHODOLOGICAL - TO DEVELOP METHODS TO STUDY THE INFORMAL ECONOMY OUT OF REACH OF THE STATE AS A WASTE PRODUCING SYSTEM - FOCUSSING SPECIALLY ON THE RELATION BETWEEN FIRMS, LIVELIHOODS, ECONOMIC ACTIVITY AND (GASEOUS) WASTE THE METHOD WAS SUCCESSFULLY DEVELOPED AND APPLIED IN INDIA TO FOUR COMPLEX SYSTEMS OF RICE PRODUCTION, AND THREE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS. It starts with the science - life cycle assessment - onto which is grafted the methods belonging to value chain or supply chain analysis. Once having used these to identify precise hotspots for GHG emissions and black-spots for employment, multi-criteria mapping can be then bolted onto the method in order to incorporate stakeholders into the evaluation of x alternatives according to y incommensurable criteria - prior to weighting the criteria themselves. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2013 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | THIS IS THE FIRST RESEARCH TO CALCULATE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM FOUR RICE PRODUCTION-DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS IN INDIA AND ALSO FIRST TO RELATE IT TO WORK AND LIVELIHOODS. SEE IMPACT DIARY http://www.southasia.ox.ac.uk/policy-engagement-and-likely-impact-resources-greenhouse-gases-technology-and-jobs-indias-informal FOR DETAILS THE PROJECT HAS ALSO STIMULATED INTENSE INTEREST IN INDIA, EUROPE, CHINA AND THE USA NOT SIMPLY IN THE CASE STUDY OF RICE BUT ALSO IN THE FIELD RESEARCH ON INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOUR IN INDIA'S INFORMAL ECONOMY |
| URL | http://www.southasia.ox.ac.uk/policy-engagement-and-likely-impact-resources-greenhouse-gases-technol... |
| Description | PREPARATION FOR INDIANVILLAGE REVISITS |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | data from this project used to prepare new initiative studying links between agriculture, science and technology and poverty |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | TRAINING SHORT COURSES, |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | INCREASED INTEREST AND SKILLS AT USING THE METHODS WE INVENTED FOR MEASURING GHG IN ACTIVITIES FOR WHICH THERE ARE LITTLE DATA |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.southasia.ox.ac.uk/policy-engagement-and-likely-impact-resources-greenhouse-gases-technol... |
| Description | TWO DAY BRAINSTORMING EVENT |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | STRONG AND MANIFOLD OUTCOMES IN RESEARCH FIELDS LINKING AGRICULTURE , FOOD, NUTRITION AND ENVIRONMENT |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/research/oxford-india-centre/oicsd-conference-report-2016/ |