AG-InstitutionsNaturalResources

Institutions and Natural resources

Thematic complex:
Natural resource use
Project duration:
since 01.05.2010
Investigated countries:
Afghanistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

The department-specific research domain Institutions and Natural resources acts as an umbrella for several projects. It encompasses theoretical and empirical empirical research, often interdisciplinary, to better understand farmers’ behavior in agricultural water management and land use while facing institutional constraints. Furthermore, research centers on the effects of policies and institutions on agricultural production.

In a number of transition countries property rights on water are often poorly defined and incentives for collective action designed to maintain irrigation infrastructure are missing. To varying degrees, and depending on the country, this holds similarly for land and forestry management.

Researchers use mainly quantitative methods relying on primary data collected in a number of transition countries, but are in principle also open to qualitative methods. The research focuses on a number of transition countries including China, Central Asia, and EU candidate countries.

Project partners

Qualification works

The following doctoral theses are or have been part of this research domain:

Technology adoption for sustainable agriculture in Central Asia (Carried out by: Abdusame Tadjiev)
Perceived land rights, time preference and investment in productive assets: Evidence from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan (Carried out by: Zafar Kurbanov)
Water governance and peacebuilding in Afghanistan (Carried out by: Moshfeq Timory)
Institutional quality of meat markets in post-Soviet countries (Carried out by: Rustam Rakhmetov)
Institutional change and agricultural land use in transition countries: Understanding institutional constraints of farmers’ decision making (Accomplished by: Zarema Akhmadiyeva)
Role of risk preferences, incentives, and governance structures on pesticide use in vegetable production in China (Accomplished by: Yangyi Zeng)
Responses to agrarian transition in Central Asia (Accomplished by: Nozilakhon Mukhamedova)
Collective action, institutions and the evolution of Central Asian irrigation water governance (Accomplished by: Iroda Amirova)
Tapping two sources: Farmers’ conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water in North West China (Accomplished by: Eefje Aarnoudse)
The land and water nexus in a transition context: The case of Tajikistan (Accomplished by: Frederike Klümper)
Too much but not enough: Issues of water management in Albania (Accomplished by: Klodjan Rama)