Suchergebnisse

This research was prompted by increasing cases of damage by elephants reported in media and frequent public demonstrations by small scale farmers adjacent to Mt. Kenya forest. A sociological survey was conducted in Mbuvori a sub-location in Embu District to examine types and extent of damage; effectiveness of conflict management strategies and people's attitudes towards elephants. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The conflicts have a great negative impact on the community's welfare. Management strategies are ineffective and are not dictated by people's attitudes. Legislation that considers the interest of locals and goals of sustainable conservation should be enacted.

This paper assesses the existence of both greater profitability for large-scale farms and economies of scale in the French viticulture sector, thereby confirming or invalidating the argument put forward by the European Commission to justify the abolition of vine planting rights. According to this argument (1) economic efficiency increases with the extension of the vine area in vineyards, and (2) vine planting rights prevent the expansion of farms. This article discusses the issue of economies of scale in agriculture and focuses on specific matters related to viticulture. The key issue of our demonstration lies in the impossibility of defining economies of scale by comparing the profits of farms producing different types of product at different prices. By using an assessment of these variables through FADN, it proposes and justifies the interest of using a measurement of output which is the net value added per unit of labor. The report prepared on behalf of the European Parliament is criticized as it demonstrates a positive correlation between size and efficiency, without taking account of the broad farm gate price dispersion for wine. This article demonstrates that in the case of France, over the period 2005-2007, farm size has little impact on performance. The significant differences observed are the result of differences in the selling price of wine.

This paper assesses the existence of both greater profitability for large-scale farms and economies of scale in the French viticulture sector, thereby confirming or invalidating the argument put forward by the European Commission to justify the abolition of vine planting rights. According to this argument (1) economic efficiency increases with the extension of the vine area in vineyards, and (2) vine planting rights prevent the expansion of farms. This article discusses the issue of economies of scale in agriculture and focuses on specific matters related to viticulture. The key issue of our demonstration lies in the impossibility of defining economies of scale by comparing the profits of farms producing different types of product at different prices. By using an assessment of these variables through FADN, it proposes and justifies the interest of using a measurement of output which is the net value added per unit of labor. The report prepared on behalf of the European Parliament is criticized as it demonstrates a positive correlation between size and efficiency, without taking account of the broad farm gate price dispersion for wine. This article demonstrates that in the case of France, over the period 2005-2007, farm size has little impact on performance. The significant differences observed are the result of differences in the selling price of wine.

The Farmer Field School-PalayCheck® (FFSP) is a knowledge and learning-based approach that aims to improve yield and income of farmers through the adoption of PalayCheck® platform, a dynamic rice crop management system that presents the best key technology and management practices as key checks. It was implemented in 2010 by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in support to the 100% rice self-sufficiency target of the government. The FFSP was operationalized through the deployment of Rice Self-Sufficiency Officers (RSOs) in 24 provinces with yields below 4 t haˉ¹ in irrigated areas. This study assessed the impacts of the FFSP using the 2009 two season baseline and 2010 seasonal monitoring survey data. Impacts of the project were measured using descriptive statistics, costs and returns analysis, and frontier production function adopting the before and after project evaluation approach. Results showed positive impacts of the project in 2010 relative to 2009. More farmers adopted different combinations of the 8 key checks with 18% completely adopting, resulting in an improved technology adoption, management practices and technical efficiency scores of farmers. Adoption of key checks increased yield by 9% (0.33 t haˉ¹), and reduced per unit production cost by 2.82% (PhP0.23 kgˉ¹), which translate to a notable increase in net income by 25% (PhP3,907 haˉ¹) and returns to investment by 18%. Total rice areas covered by the project generated an incremental palay output of 3,457 t with 0.022% share to domestic total production in 2010. The FFSP is a good extension approach for capacitating farmers and has the potential to shift the yield from low to high level. The following are recommended to achieve significant impact: enhance TE level of farmers; establish more field demonstrations to facilities PalayCheck® dissemination and diffusion; expansion of areas to cover more farmers; and periodic monitoring and feedback for its sustainability and improve implementation.

The Farmer Field School-PalayCheck sup R (FFSP) is a knowledge and learning-based approach that aims to improve yield and income of farmers through the adoption of PalayCheck sup R platform, a dynamic rice crop management system that presents the best key technology and management practices as key checks. It was implemented in 2010 by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in support to the 100% rice self-sufficiency target of the government. The FFSP was operationalized through the deployment of Rice Self-Sufficiency Officers (RSOs) in 24 provinces with yields below 4 t/ha in irrigated areas. This study assessed the impacts of the FFSP using the 2009 two season baseline and 2010 seasonal monitoring survey data. Impacts of the project were measured using descriptive statistics, costs and returns analysis, and frontier production function adopting the before and after project evaluation approach. Results showed positive impacts of the project in 2010 relative to 2009. More farmers adopted different combinations of the 8 key checks with 18% completely adopting, resulting in an improved technology adoption, management practices and technical efficiency scores of farmers. Adoption of key checks increased yield by 9% (0.33 t/ha), and reduced per unit production cost by 2.82% (PhP0.23/kg), which translates to a notable increase in net income by 25% (PhP3,907/ha) and returns to investment by 18%. Total rice areas covered by the project generated an incremental palay output of 3,457 t with 0.022% share to domestic total production in 2010. The FFSP is a good extension approach for capacitating farmers and has the potential to shift the yield from low to high level. The following are recommended to achieve significant impact: enhance TE level of farmers; establish more field demonstrations to facilitate PalayCheck sup R dissemination and diffusion; expansion of areas to cover more farmers; and periodic monitoring and feedback for its sustainability and improve implementation.

This paper assesses the existence of both greater profitability for large-scale farms and economies of scale in the French viticulture sector, thereby confirming or invalidating the argument put forward by the European Commission to justify the abolition of vine planting rights. According to this argument (1) economic efficiency increases with the extension of the vine area in vineyards, and (2) vine planting rights prevent the expansion of farms. This article discusses the issue of economies of scale in agriculture and focuses on specific matters related to viticulture. The key issue of our demonstration lies in the impossibility of defining economies of scale by comparing the profits of farms producing different types of product at different prices. By using an assessment of these variables through FADN, it proposes and justifies the interest of using a measurement of output which is the net value added per unit of labor. The report prepared on behalf of the European Parliament is criticized as it demonstrates a positive correlation between size and efficiency, without taking account of the broad farm gate price dispersion for wine. This article demonstrates that in the case of France, over the period 2005-2007, farm size has little impact on performance. The significant differences observed are the result of differences in the selling price of wine.

This paper assesses the existence of both greater profitability for large-scale farms and economies of scale in the French viticulture sector, thereby confirming or invalidating the argument put forward by the European Commission to justify the abolition of vine planting rights. According to this argument (1) economic efficiency increases with the extension of the vine area in vineyards, and (2) vine planting rights prevent the expansion of farms. This article discusses the issue of economies of scale in agriculture and focuses on specific matters related to viticulture. The key issue of our demonstration lies in the impossibility of defining economies of scale by comparing the profits of farms producing different types of product at different prices. By using an assessment of these variables through FADN, it proposes and justifies the interest of using a measurement of output which is the net value added per unit of labor. The report prepared on behalf of the European Parliament is criticized as it demonstrates a positive correlation between size and efficiency, without taking account of the broad farm gate price dispersion for wine. This article demonstrates that in the case of France, over the period 2005-2007, farm size has little impact on performance. The significant differences observed are the result of differences in the selling price of wine. In summary, the main argument put forward by the European Commission to justify canceling vine planting rights is not adapted to the case of France because it considers wine as a single product sold at a single price.

Published online: 28 Aug 2008 ; Next to drought, poor soil fertility is the single biggest cause of hunger in Africa. ICRISAT-Zimbabwe has been working for the past 10 years to encourage small-scale farmers to increase inorganic fertiliser use as the first step towards Africa's own Green Revolution. The program of work is founded on promoting small quantities of inorganic nitrogen (N) fertiliser (micro-dosing) in drought-prone cropping regions. Results from initial on-farm trials showed that smallholder farmers could increase their yields by 30–100% through application of micro doses, as little as 10 kg Nitrogen ha−1. The question remained whether these results could be replicated across much larger numbers of farmers. Wide scale testing of the micro-dosing (17 kg Nitrogen ha−1) concept was initiated in 2003/2004, across multiple locations in southern Zimbabwe through relief and recovery programs. Each year more than 160,000 low resourced households received at least 25 kg of nitrogen fertiliser and a simple flyer in the vernacular explaining how to apply the fertiliser to a cereal crop. This distribution was accompanied by a series of simple paired plot demonstration with or without fertiliser, hosted by farmers selected by the community, where trainings were carried out and detailed labour and crop records were kept. Over a 3 year period more than 2,000 paired-plot trials were established and quality data collected from more than 1,200. In addition, experimentation to derive N response curves of maize (Zea mays L.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br.) in these environments under farmer management was conducted. The results consistently showed that micro-dosing (17 kg Nitrogen ha−1) with nitrogen fertiliser can increase grain yields by 30–50% across a broad spectrum of soil, farmer management and seasonal climate conditions. In order for a household to make a profit, farmers needed to obtain between 4 and 7 kg of grain for every kg of N applied depending on season. In fact farmers commonly obtained 15–45 kg of grain per kg of N input. The result provides strong evidence that lack of N, rather than lack of rainfall, is the primary constraint to cereal crop yields and that micro-dosing has the potential for broad-scale impact on improving food security in these drought prone regions. ; European Union ; Department for International Development, United Kingdom ; Peer Review

The Success of food house Lestari Area Program in the farmer women Group in Aceh Jaya District. Research that discusses the conditions and success of food houseLesatari Area (KRPL) program and how the influence of internal and external factors on the success of the KRPL program in Aceh Jaya District. The method used in the sampling technique is a simple random sampling method with a sample number of 45 people. The analysis tool is a questionnaire given to a group of farm women. From the results obtained KRPL Program conditions in Aceh Jaya district has already been good with the achievement of the percentage of performance by 95%, for the achievement of the 100% Seed garden program, 100% demonstration plot, and 75% of member's yard. However, the success of the KRPL Program in the Women Farmers Group in Aceh Jaya District based on the PPH score indicator and the Food Expenditure Share obtained the success rate of the KRPL program with a percentage of 86.67% with the number of KWT respondents included in the low success rate category of 39 people. For KWT who are already in the high success rate category with a percentage of 13.33% with the number of KWT respondents as many as 6 people. The results of the Logistic Regression conducted to see the influence between variables obtained the results that the variables of Internal factors that have an influence on the success of the KRPL program are KWT Education (X1), while the number of KWT Family Members (X2) does not have a significant influence on the success of KRPL, and External Factors of the success of the Program that has an influence on the success of the program is the variable (X3) The Role of instructor, while (X4) Institution does not have a significant influence on the success of the KRPL program in the group of women farmers in Aceh Jaya District.

Sub-Saharan Africa urgently needs to accelerate the pace of agricultural growth to improve livelihoods, ensure food security, and keep droughts from turning into famines. However, this requires the region to increase smallholder irrigation faster than its current sluggish pace. In this respect, explosive growth since the 1970s in distributed farmer-led smallholder irrigation (FLSI) in China, South Asia, and elsewhere may offer Sub-Saharan Africa better guidance than state-led centralized large irrigation projects. Proactive policy support, prominence of market players, economies of scale and scope, village-level irrigation service markets, government incentives, and subsidies on motor pumps and boreholes have all triggered and fueled rapid expansion of motor pump–driven FLSI that made famines history and countries food-secure in Asia in a short span of a decade or two. With its ample shallow groundwater resources and sparse farming areas, Sub-Saharan Africa has immense potential to grow pump-driven FLSI quickly, cost-effectively, and without risking the environmental ill effects observed in Asia and elsewhere. A "big push" to FLSI will work better than an incremental trickle because high-volume-low-margin FLSI growth generates economies of scale and scope, which are essential. Interventions by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are useful for demonstration and piloting innovations, but market players are best placed to achieve scale. Finally, Sub-Saharan Africa can and needs to leapfrog and build its FLSI economy around solar irrigation pumps, which are destined to disrupt FLSI globally in the years to come.

Bawasalo Village, Sigeri Subdistrict, South Sulawesi Province is geographically located on the coast with themain livelihoods of its people as freshwater fish aquaculture fishermen or catching and selling fish. The mainproblem faced by fishermen and fish entrepreneurs, because fish are a commodity that is rapidly decliningquality or rot that can only last a maximum of 5 hours and even faster at room temperature. The lack ofknowledge about the use of fish waste and the absence of application of technology in fish wastemanagement. This is why fish waste is only disposed of at sea or sold to collectors at a low price. Even thoughfish waste can be processed into fish flour which is very good as additional nutrition for livestock and fishfeed. Based on the analysis of the situation, some of the problems faced by the business group can bedescribed, namely: Utilization of fish is still limited as a product to be marketed directly (fresh fish), there isno knowledge of how to use leftover fish so that it is only disposed of and becomes a disturbing waste, there isno adequate tools for processing fish waste into useful processed products, especially for fish meal and fishfeed, the need for business development to increase their income besides fishing for fish. Especially when seaconditions are not possible, fishermen cannot go to sea and do not earn income, do not understand businessmanagement and bookkeeping. Besides, fishermen and fish entrepreneurs are still dependent on factory-madefeed, so farmers / fishermen must provide sufficient funds to animal feed costs. As we know that the price offactory production feed is increasingly expensive. The purpose of this PKM activity is the application of a fishwaste grinding machine into fish meal at UKM Partners. The method of solving the problem offered is tointroduce and demonstrate the fish meal grinding machine that drives an electric motor with the followingsteps. Conduct cooperation with related institutions of the Regional Government of Pangkep Regencyespecially the Industry and Trade Office of Pangkep Regency and the Head of Bawasalo Village, SigeriDistrict in the framework of family development fish farmers / fishermen. Conduct extension activities byintroducing appropriate technology to fish meal grinding machines that are driven by electric motors. Holddemonstrations / demonstrations and train partners to make and assemble high-quality, high-quality fish mealgrinding machines.

In 2010, the UK government launched the Demonstration Test Catchments (DTC) platform to evaluate the extent to which on-farm mitigation measures can cost-effectively reduce the impacts of agricultural water pollution on river ecology whilst maintaining food production capacity. In this paper, we compare the impacts on soil health of two types of conservation tillage (direct drill and shallow non-inversion) against conventional mouldboard ploughing after five years (2013–2018) of adoption within the River Wensum DTC. Across the 143 ha conservation tillage trial area, temporal changes in the physical, chemical and biological condition of the soils were examined through the analysis of 324 soil samples, whilst the impacts on soil water chemistry were assessed through the analysis of 1176 samples of subsurface field drainage. Riverine water pollution was also explored through high-resolution (30 min) hydrochemistry measurements generated by an automated, in-situ bankside monitoring station located 650 m downstream of the trial area. Results revealed that conservation tillage did not significantly alter the soil physical, chemical or biological condition relative to conventional ploughing during the first five years. In addition, conservation tillage did not reduce nutrient leaching losses into field drainage and did not significantly impact upon river water quality, despite the trial area covering 20% of the catchment. Economically, however, conservation tillage yielded net profit margins 13% higher than conventional ploughing after five years of practice due to a combination of operational efficiency savings and improved yields. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate that conservation tillage alone is ineffective at improving the short-term environmental sustainability of farming practices in this lowland intensive arable setting and indicates that a broader, integrated approach to conservation agriculture is required incorporating aspects of cover cropping, crop rotations and precision farming techniques. ...

In 2010, the UK government launched the Demonstration Test Catchments (DTC) platform to evaluate the extent to which on-farm mitigation measures can cost-effectively reduce the impacts of agricultural water pollution on river ecology whilst maintaining food production capacity. In this paper, we compare the impacts on soil health of two types of conservation tillage (direct drill and shallow non-inversion) against conventional mouldboard ploughing after five years (2013–2018) of adoption within the River Wensum DTC. Across the 143 ha conservation tillage trial area, temporal changes in the physical, chemical and biological condition of the soils were examined through the analysis of 324 soil samples, whilst the impacts on soil water chemistry were assessed through the analysis of 1176 samples of subsurface field drainage. Riverine water pollution was also explored through high-resolution (30 min) hydrochemistry measurements generated by an automated, in-situ bankside monitoring station located 650 m downstream of the trial area. Results revealed that conservation tillage did not significantly alter the soil physical, chemical or biological condition relative to conventional ploughing during the first five years. In addition, conservation tillage did not reduce nutrient leaching losses into field drainage and did not significantly impact upon river water quality, despite the trial area covering 20% of the catchment. Economically, however, conservation tillage yielded net profit margins 13% higher than conventional ploughing after five years of practice due to a combination of operational efficiency savings and improved yields. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate that conservation tillage alone is ineffective at improving the short-term environmental sustainability of farming practices in this lowland intensive arable setting and indicates that a broader, integrated approach to conservation agriculture is required incorporating aspects of cover cropping, crop rotations and precision farming techniques. ...

Not Available ; A study was undertaken in collaboration with eight Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) of Rajasthan state. For data generation five Learning & Experience based Advisor (LEAD) farmers were selected by each KVK, employing socio-metric technique. Hence, data were solicited from 40 LEAD farmers from eight districts who were trained by KVKs. Role of KVKs were determined based on their Index Value (IV). Study reveals that KVKs played an important role in skill development of LEAD farmers through organisation of need based and skilloriented trainings (IV=62) followed by frontline demonstrations on location specific agricultural technologies at farmers' fields (IV=59.42), and developing linkages between LEAD and fellow farmers (IV=58.33). Key determinants accountable for enhancing effectiveness of this model were enhanced technology adoption ( I V = 6 0 . 1 3 ) f o l l o we d b y e n h a n c e d agricultural production (IV=57.48) and productivity (IV=57.10). Study reveals that one LEAD farmer adopted 5 agricultural technologies from KVKs. Further, fellow farmers adopted 2 agricultural technologies from LEAD farmers. Hence, it was concluded that this approach may play a significant role in complementing Indian public extension system through reducing cost and coverage of more farm families. This model needs community as well as government support for sustainability and its scalability. ; Not Available

The lead farmer (LF) approach has been implemented and heavily promoted nationwide in Malawi since 2009 to support government extension workers and accelerate technology dissemination. Earlier reports have shown that donor-funded projects in Malawi widely adopted the LF approach, indicating positive roles and contributions of LFs. However, national data show persistently low rates of adoption of management practices being promoted by the LFs, prompting this study to look closely at the nationwide implementation and effectiveness of the LF approach. Specifically, we model the effects of farmers' interaction with and exposure to LFs and farmers' access to LFs' advice on farmers' awareness of and adoption of several promoted technologies and management practices. We use data from 531 randomly selected LFs linked to panel data from 2,800 farming households and, using correlated random effects, model the effectiveness of the LF approach on technology awareness and adoption. This is complemented by 55 focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with agricultural extension development officers (AEDOs) and service providers. Our results point to two major conclusions. First, LFs support and assist AEDOs in their work, especially in organizing community meetings and farm demonstrations, and are also an important bridge between farmers and AEDOs. But LFs complement AEDOs' work rather than substitute for it. In communities without strong AEDOs and community leaders to work with and monitor them, LFs were not active or performed at a substandard level. Second, results show limited coverage and weak implementation and effectiveness of the LF approach at the national level. Only 13 percent of farmers reported receiving agricultural advice from an LF in the last two years, and only 20 percent reported having interacted with an LF. Our econometric models also consistently show neither the farmers' exposure or interaction with LFs nor farmers' access to LFs' advice had an effect on awareness of and adoption of the major ...