Community-based fish culture in seasonal floodplains

During the rainy season in extensive river floodplains and deltaic lowlands, floods render the land unavailable for crop production for several months each year. These waters are considerably underutilized in terms of managed aquatic productivity. This raises the opportunity to enclose parts of these floodwater areas to produce a crop of specifically stocked aquatic organisms aside from the naturally occurring ‘wild’ species that are traditionally fished and are not affected by the culture activity, resulting in more high-quality, nutrient-dense food production and enhanced farm income for all stakeholders, notably the poor. The WorldFish Center and its national partners recently tested the concurrent rice-fish culture in the shallower flooded areas and the alternating rice-fish culture in the deep-flooded areas of Bangladesh and Viet Nam through a community-based management system. Results indicate that community-based fish culture in rice fields can increase fish production by about 600 kg/ha/year in shallow flooded areas and up to 1.5 t/ha/year in deep-flooded areas, without a reduction in the rice yield or wild fish catch.

Adoption, productivity and profitability of rice-fish and fingerling culture in three selected districts of Bangladesh

The study aimed to investigate the productivity and profitability of rice-fish farming. It also determined the factors affecting rice-fish and fingerling production in Bangladesh. Among the total respondents about 55% were involved in rice-fish farming, 37% in pond fish culture and rest 9% in fish nursery. Integrated rice-fish farming contributed about 83% of the annual farm income in Comilla while it was about 20% in both Kishoregonj and Chandpur districts. Among the different farming systems integrated rice-fish culture and rearing fingerlings in the nursery pond were more profitable at the farm level. Farmers earned a net return of Tk. 49,714/ha from integrated fish culture with boro rice while the net return of boro rice-alone was only Tk. 11,179/ha. This indicated that farmer could earn 218% higher net return from integrated rice-fish farming than that of boro rice only farming. Moreover, integrated rice-fish culture also reduced pesticides cost to about 77% and weeding cost to about 51% in boro season. Fingerling nursing earned highest net returns among the three technologies.

Can grass biomethane be an economically viable biofuel for the farmer and the consumer?

Farm incomes in Ireland are in decline and many farmers would operate at a loss in the absence of subsidies. Agriculture is responsible for 27% of Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions and is the largest contributing sector. Penetration of renewable energy in the heat and transport sectors is falling short of targets, and there is no clear plan for achieving them. The anaerobic digestion of grass to produce biogas or biomethane is put forward as a multifaceted solution, which could help meet energy and emissions targets, reduce dependence on imported energy, and provide additional farm income. This paper addresses the economic viability of such a system. Grass biogas/biomethane fares poorly under the current combined heat and power tariff structure, which is geared toward feedstock that attracts a gate fee. Tariff structures similar to those used in other countries are necessary for the industry to develop. Equally, regulation should be implemented to allow injection of biomethane into the gas grid in Ireland. Blends of natural gas and biomethane can be sold, offering a cost-competitive green fuel. Sale as a renewable transport fuel could allow profitability for the farmer and savings for the consumer, but suffers due to the lack of a market. Under current conditions, the most economically viable outlet for grass biomethane is sale as a renewable heating fuel. The key to competitiveness is the existing natural gas infrastructure that enables distribution of grass biomethane, and the renewable energy targets that allow renewable fuels to compete against each other. © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Impact of Extension and Ecosystem Services on Smallholders’ Credit Constraint.

On formal credit markets, access to formal credit and reasonable credit terms of smallholder farmers
in rural sub-Saharan Africa is limited due to adverse selection. Financial institutions operating in
rural areas often cannot distinguish between borrowers (farmers) that are creditworthy and those that
are not, thus, allocate limited resource to agriculture to reduce credit risk. In the presence of limited business quality signaling by smallholder farmers, financial institutions shall demand for collateral and/or offer unfavorable contract terms. Moreover, agricultural productivity of rural sub-Saharan
Africa, dominated by subsistence or small-scale farmers, is also negatively impacted by the adverse
effect of climate change. A strategy that may make the farming practices of smallholder farmer’s
climate resilient and profitable may also improve smallholder farmer's access to formal credit. This
study investigates to what extent participating in ecosystem and extension services (EES) programs
signals business quality of smallholders, thus granting them credit accessibility. We collected data
on 210 smallholder farmers in 2013, comprising farmers that receive payments for ecosystem
services (PES) and farm management training from the International Small Group Tree Planting
Program (TIST) Kenya to test the aforementioned theory empirically. We use game theory,
particularly a screening and sorting model, to illustrate the prospects for farmers with EES to access
formal credit and to improve their credit terms given that they receive PES and banking services
training. Furthermore, the PES’ long term duration (10 – 30 years) generates stable cash-flow which
may be perceived as collateral substitute. Results suggest that smallholder farmers in the TIST
program were less likely to be credit constraint compared to non-TIST farmers. Distance to market,
education, livestock and farm income are factors that determine access to credit from microfinance
institutions in rural Kenya. Amongst farmers that have obtained loans, those keeping business records
enjoy more favorable formal credit conditions. These farmers were observed to pay ca. 5 percent less
interest rate in microfinance charges. For TIST farmers, this type of farm management practices may
be attributed to the banking services and other training they receive within the program. While the
availability of classical collateral (farmlands) and PES may reduce interest rate, the latter was found
to be statistically insignificant. This research underlines the importance of an effective extension
services in rural areas of developing countries and the need to improve gains from conservation
agriculture and ensuing PES. The benefits associated with EES and PES may encompass agricultural
financing.

Factores que influenciam o peso e crescimento de cabritos da raça Murciana-granadina, em aleitamento artificial

A exploração caprina de leite tem evoluído no sentido de alguma intensificação, com recurso a raças de elevado potencial produtivo, de que é exemplo a raça Murciana- Granadina. O leite constitui a principal fonte de receita destas explorações. Complementarmente, vendem animais para carne e, as de melhor nível genético, animais para reprodutores. Analisaram-se os pesos de 241 cabritos da raça Murciana-Granadina, numa exploração comercial, com o objectivo de quantificar os pesos e crescimento de cabritos, e identificar os factores que os influenciam. Os cabritos foram aleitados artificialmente, em regime ad libitum, com leite de substituição comercial, dispondo ainda de concentrado comercial, feno de luzerna e palha. Os cabritos foram pesados ao nascimento e, posteriormente, semanalmente, até aos 60 dias de idade. Calcularam-se os respetivos pesos ajustados, bem como os ganhos médios diários, a diferentes idades padrão. Procedeu-se a uma análise de variância com um modelo linear que incluiu os efeitos da época de parto, tipo de parto, sexo e idade da cabra. Foram registados pesos superiores nos partos simples e duplos, relativamente aos triplos, e nos machos, relativamente às fêmeas. Os ganhos médios diários, a partir do mês de idade, registaram valores inferiores na época inverno-primavera, comparativamente com a época primavera-verão. Dairy goat farming has evolved towards intensification, with increased use of high milk-yielding breeds, including the Murciano-Granadina breed. Milk is the main source of farm income. Secondary income sources are the sale of animals for meat and, in genetically superior herds, the sale of breeding animals. The weights of 241 commercial farms artificially reared Murciano-Granadina kids were analyzed with the objective of quantifying weight and growth and identifying variation factors. Kids were artificially reared to weaning, on ad libitum commercial milk replacer, commercial concentrate, lucerne hay and straw. Kids were weighed at birth and at weekly intervals until 60 days of age. Age adjusted weights and growth-rates were calculated. A variance analysis was performed with a model including the effects of season of birth, number of kids per kidding, sex and age of dam. Single and twin-born kids had higher weights than triplets, and males had higher weights than females. Average daily gain after one month of age was lower for kids born in winter-spring than for those born in spring-summer

The economic effects of common agricultural policy on Mediterranean montado/dehesa ecosystem

The decoupling of CAP payments leads production decisions and resources allocation to be more dependent on market prices and competitive advantages. The objective of this paper is to assess the effects of CAP trends on the montado/dehesa traditional ecosystem of Mediterranean regions in terms of farm income, land, labour and capital. A positive mathematical supply model disaggregated by the montado agro-forestry production systems of the Alentejo region in southern Portugal is developed. The results show that decoupling payments of CAP have negative economic effects on agricultural activities and resource use. Agricultural income increases with single farm payments but the foreseen increases in prices do not compensate the loss of the Agenda 2000 area payments in terms of competitiveness. These results reinforce the need to promote alternative agricultural and non-agricultural activities and policies in Mediterranean rural European areas and regions. (C) 2011 Society for Policy Modeling. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Changes of traditional farming systems and their effects on land degradation and socio-economic conditions in the Inle Lake region, Myanmar

At many locations in Myanmar, ongoing changes in land use have negative environmental impacts and threaten natural ecosystems at local, regional and national scales. In particular, the watershed area of Inle Lake in eastern Myanmar is strongly affected by the environmental effects of deforestation and soil erosion caused by agricultural intensification and expansion of agricultural land, which are exacerbated by the increasing population pressure and the growing number of tourists. This thesis, therefore, focuses on land use changes in traditional farming systems and their effects on socio-economic and biophysical factors to improve our understanding of sustainable natural resource management of this wetland ecosystem. The main objectives of this research were to: (1) assess the noticeable land transformations in space and time, (2) identify the typical farming systems as well as the divergent livelihood strategies, and finally, (3) estimate soil erosion risk in the different agro-ecological zones surrounding the Inle Lake watershed area. GIS and remote sensing techniques allowed to identify the dynamic land use and land cover changes (LUCC) during the past 40 years based on historical Corona images (1968) and Landsat images (1989, 2000 and 2009). In this study, 12 land cover classes were identified and a supervised classification was used for the Landsat datasets, whereas a visual interpretation approach was conducted for the Corona images. Within the past 40 years, the main landscape transformation processes were deforestation (- 49%), urbanization (+ 203%), agricultural expansion (+ 34%) with a notably increase of floating gardens (+ 390%), land abandonment (+ 167%), and marshlands losses in wetland area (- 83%) and water bodies (- 16%). The main driving forces of LUCC appeared to be high population growth, urbanization and settlements, a lack of sustainable land use and environmental management policies, wide-spread rural poverty, an open market economy and changes in market prices and access. To identify the diverse livelihood strategies in the Inle Lake watershed area and the diversity of income generating activities, household surveys were conducted (total: 301 households) using a stratified random sampling design in three different agro-ecological zones: floating gardens (FG), lowland cultivation (LL) and upland cultivation (UP). A cluster and discriminant analysis revealed that livelihood strategies and socio-economic situations of local communities differed significantly in the different zones. For all three zones, different livelihood strategies were identified which differed mainly in the amount of on-farm and off-farm income, and the level of income diversification. The gross margin for each household from agricultural production in the floating garden, lowland and upland cultivation was US$ 2108, 892 and 619 ha-1 respectively. Among the typical farming systems in these zones, tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) plantation in the floating gardens yielded the highest net benefits, but caused negative environmental impacts given the overuse of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and spatial analysis within GIS were applied to estimate soil erosion risk in the different agricultural zones and for the main cropping systems of the study region. The results revealed that the average soil losses in year 1989, 2000 and 2009 amounted to 20, 10 and 26 t ha-1, respectively and barren land along the steep slopes had the highest soil erosion risk with 85% of the total soil losses in the study area. Yearly fluctuations were mainly caused by changes in the amount of annual precipitation and the dynamics of LUCC such as deforestation and agriculture extension with inappropriate land use and unsustainable cropping systems. Among the typical cropping systems, upland rainfed rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation had the highest rate of soil erosion (20 t ha-1yr-1) followed by sebesten (Cordia dichotoma) and turmeric (Curcuma longa) plantation in the UP zone. This study indicated that the hotspot region of soil erosion risk were upland mountain areas, especially in the western part of the Inle lake. Soil conservation practices are thus urgently needed to control soil erosion and lake sedimentation and to conserve the wetland ecosystem. Most farmers have not yet implemented soil conservation measures to reduce soil erosion impacts such as land degradation, sedimentation and water pollution in Inle Lake, which is partly due to the low economic development and poverty in the region. Key challenges of agriculture in the hilly landscapes can be summarized as follows: fostering the sustainable land use of farming systems for the maintenance of ecosystem services and functions while improving the social and economic well-being of the population, integrated natural resources management policies and increasing the diversification of income opportunities to reduce pressure on forest and natural resources.

Determinants of technical efficiency of freshwater prawn farming in southwestern Bangladesh

This paper estimates a translog stochastic production function to examine the determinants of technical efficiency of freshwater prawn farming in Bangladesh. Primary data has been collected using random sampling from 90 farmers of three villages in southwestern Bangladesh. Prawn farming displayed much variability in technical efficiency ranging from 9.50 to 99.94% with mean technical efficiency of 65%, which suggested a substantial 35% of potential output can be recovered by removing inefficiency. For a land scarce country like Bangladesh this gain could help increase income and ensure better livelihood for the farmers. Based on the translog production function specification, farmers could be made scale efficient by providing more input to produce more output. The results suggest that farmers’ education and non-farm income significantly improve efficiency whilst farmers’ training, farm distance from the water canal and involvement in fish farm associations reduces efficiency. Hence, the study proposes strategies such as less involvement in farming-related associations and raising the effective training facilities of the farmers as beneficial adjustments for reducing inefficiency. Moreover, the key policy implication of the analysis is that investment in primary education would greatly improve technical efficiency.

Organic dairy production: A review

Organic farming aims to create an integrated, humane, environmentally and economically sustainable agricultural system. For organic dairy systems, the fulfilment of these aims requires the understanding and integration of a number of systems components including land use (mixed or dairy only) and stocking rate; grassland and forage production, including quantity and quality; potential milk yield and milk quality; animal nutrition (largely farm based) and health; environmental sustainability such as farm nutrient balance; the financial status of the farm, including enterprise performance, fixed costs and labour use, and farm income and profit; and finally the policy environment in which organic dairy systems operate. This review discusses worldwide research undertaken into each of these key components of organic dairy production systems. As converting organic dairy systems are often considerably different to established organic systems, both the converting and developed organic dairy system are discussed in this paper.

Who adopts Green Revolution (GR) technology in Ghana?

Sub-Saharan Africa in general and Ghana in particular, missed out on the Green revolution. Efforts are being made to re-introduce the revolution, and this calls for more socio-economic research into the factors influencing the adoption of new technologies, hence, this study. The study sought to find out how socio-economic factors contribute to adoption of Green revolution technology in Ghana. The method of analysis involved a maximum likelihood estimation of a probit model. The proportion of Green revolution inputs was found to be greater for the following: households whose heads had formal education, households with higher levels of non-farm income, credit and labor supply as well as those living in urban centers. It is recommended that levels of complementary inputs such as credit, extension services and infrastructure are increased. Also, households must be encouraged to form farmer-groups as an important source of farm labor. Furthermore, the fundamental problems of illiteracy must be addressed through increasing the levels of formal and non-formal education; and the gap between the rural and urban centers must be bridged through infrastructural and rural development. However, care must be taken to ensure that small-scale farmers are not marginalized, in terms of access to these complementary inputs that go with effective adoption of new technology. With these policies well implemented, Ghana can catch up with her Asian counterparts in this re-introduction of the revolution.

Adoption of green revolution services and poverty reduction in Ghana

In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) the technological advances of the Green Revolution (GR) have not been very successful. However, the efforts being made to re-introduce the revolution call for more socio-economic research into the adoption and the effects of the new technologies. The paper discusses an investigation on the effects of GR technology adoption on poverty among households in Ghana. Maximum likelihood estimation of a poverty model within the framework of Heckman's two stage method of correcting for sample selection was employed. Technology adoption was found to have positive effects in reducing poverty. Other factors that reduce poverty include education, credit, durable assets, living in the forest belt and in the south of the country. Technology adoption itself was also facilitated by education, credit, non-farm income and household labour supply as well as living in urban centres. Inarguably, technology adoption can be taken seriously by increasing the levels of complementary inputs such as credit, extension services and infrastructure. Above all, the fundamental problems of illiteracy, inequality and lack of effective markets must be addressed through increasing the levels of formal and non-formal education, equitable distribution of the 'national cake' and a more pragmatic management of the ongoing Structural Adjustment Programme.

Does The Risk Of Groundwater Depletion Drive Tube-Well Technology Adoption: A Case Of Pakistan

We employ a moment-based approach to empirically analyse farmer’s decisions about adoption of tube-well technology under depleting groundwater resources using a farm level data from 200 farming households in the Punjab province, Pakistan. The results indicate that the higher the expected profit the greater the probability of adoption. Similarly, with increasing variance the probability of adopting tube-well increases significantly indicating that farmers choose to adopt tube-well technology in order to hedge against production risks. Statistical non-significant the third moment i.e., skewness indicates that farmer generally do not consider downside yield risk when decide to adopt tube-well technology whereas highly significant fourth moment (kurtosis) employ that probability of adoption decreases as a result of extreme events in profit distribution. In addition, we show that land tenureship and three other exogenous variables, i.e., extension services, access to different sources of information and off-farm income play a significant role in the adoption process.

Avaliação econômica do cultivo da soja em Rotação e sucessão de culturas: um estudo de Caso no município de Ourinhos-SP

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Energia na Agricultura) - FCA

RB34-71 Effects of Inflation and Deflation Upon Nebraska Agriculture, 1914 to 1932

Nebraska farmers prospered during the period which followed the depression of the nineties and preceded the beginning of the World War. To be sure the prosperity was not uniformly distributed either by years or by areas. The corn crop was unusually short in a large portion of the state in 1901 and an almost total failure in many of the southern counties in 1913. Chinch bugs did considerable injury in 1901 and the Hessian fly in 1905 and 1914. There was noticeable damage from insects in some areas in other years. No part of the state, however, suffered from long-continued drouth or repeated ravages of insect pests. The depression of 1907 affected credit and prices very severly for a few months, but recovery was rapid and within less than a year business was again moving forward. This 1934 research bulletin covers the problems of inflation and deflation; changes in the prices of various commodities during inflation and deflation; prices and purchasing power of Nebraska farm products, 1914 to 1932; adjustments during inflation and deflation; the effect of wages on Nebraska agriculture; taxes; Nebraska farm income; changes in types of farming in Nebraska, 1914 to 1932; the banking situation; Nebraska farm land prices; and the effects of inflation and deflation upon Nebraska businesses.

Analyzing ACRE: Results for 2009 and Decisions for 2010

In 2009, agricultural producers participating in federal farm programs had to decide between staying in the existing Direct and Counter-Cyclical Program (DCP), and the new Average Crop Revenue Election Program (ACRE). If producers chose to keep the DCP, their farm income safety net is strictly tied to crop prices, with a combination of marketing loans, counter-cyclical payments and direct payments. If producers chose the new ACRE program, they changed their farm income safety net to a combination of price and revenue. The new ACRE component is based on revenue and replaces the counter-cyclical payment. The other parts of the safety net for ACRE participants remain tied to price, albeit at lower levels (direct payments reduced 20 percent, marketing loan rates reduced 30 percent).