OverviewPioneering work on seasonality in tropical agriculture was undertaken during the 1970s and 1980s, which identified the cluster of negative factors that converge to make the lives of poor people worse during the pre-harvest months every year. Since then, a number of things have changed – structural adjustment programmes, HIV and AIDS, climate change, the global food and financial crises – which all have seasonal dimensions or implications. However, these seasonal dimensions are under-appreciated, and policy responses in the areas of agricultural investment and social protection programmes rarely pay due attention to seasonality. The Future Agricultures Consortium aims to revive academic and policy interest in seasonality, partly by hosting this conference.
The conference will bring together 50–60 international participants, to include academics and practitioners, as well as policymakers from both governmental and international bodies. The conference will be global in scope but with a strong focus on Africa. The event aims to think through lessons from the past, examine current research, review good practice and consider policy options for the future.
We invite proposals for papers for the conference, focused on the following areas:
- Seasonal Inter-linkages
- Seasonal Blind-spots
- Seasonal Trends
- Methodologies
- Policies and Projects
- Social Protection Responses
Conference organisers:
Robert Chambers, Stephen Devereux, Richard Longhurst, Rachel Sabates-Wheeler.
All enquiries should be addressed to:
Deborah Shenton: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Tel: 01273 915-760.
More information regarding the organisers is available on these websites:
Future Agricultures Consortium:www.future-agricultures.org
Centre for Social Protection: www.ids.ac.uk/go/centreforsocialprotection
