Study title

This data collection consists of primary dataset with accompanying documents for ''Agricultural inputs-outputs and off-farm income' and 'Wild-harvested products' segments of the data for work packages 6 and 3 (WP6 and WP3) of the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA)-funded P4ges project (Can Paying for Global Ecosystem Services reduce poverty?). These parts of the work packages are concerned with the socio-economic aspects of the research undertaken within the P4ges project. The survey was conducted with a sub-sample of the households selected after the first round of the surveys, data for which is previously archived (see Related Resources). This phase of the surveys were designed to look more in-depth at the agricultural practices, plot-level productivity, off-farm income, and collection and use of wild harvested products. The data was collected between August 2014 and November 2015 and comprises of 171 households (169 for wild-harvested products survey).Zafy lives in a village on edge of the forest in Madagascar. He wants the best for his family and so uses the resources and options he has open to him and clears a patch of forest to grow hill rice. His hard labour pays off and he is able to sell a small surplus. Rakoto farms rice on the valley floor. In good years, when there is plenty of water, he produces more than his family can eat. However as the forest on the slopes continues to be cut, water in the dry season is reduced, and there are fewer and fewer good years. That tropical deforestation threatens species' survival is well known to the general public. There is also increasing awareness that it contributes to climate change (through the release of carbon stored in trees and soils). Zafy's story demonstrates that although cutting down forest is often presented as wanton destruction, it may well be a perfectly sensible choice for the people directly involved. It also shows that some negative impacts of deforestation may be felt locally as...