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Since the beginning of life on earth, mankind has always used animals and plants for its nutrition and has continuously trained and developed them for their benefits and social, cultural, and economic needs. In the past, livestock and crop breeding were done by traditional farmers and ranchers. It improves the performance of livestock and crops, they performed the selection, which is one of the principles of plant breeding and livestock breeding. They made this choice with the help of information that was passed down to them from successive generations. It is a participatory plant breeding and production of crops with the help of researchers alongside farmers. Farmers work with researchers, scientists, and other stakeholders -even consumers- to improve crops and develop resilient plant varieties. Farmers are aware of their needs and have a conscious understanding of their agricultural land in terms of soil type, seed type, weather conditions, surface water, underground water conditions, etc. Therefore, they can play an important role in making decisions about the implementation of plant breeding and the type of planting pattern in the cultivated microclimates. In other words, farmers determine their cultivation goals based on their environments, conditions, tastes, and local cultures. The seed that is obtained in this way by the breed researchers with the help of the leading farmers, actually contributes significantly to the food governance of the people of that region and that country.

Direct sales by farmers gained acceptance in Hungary following the incursion of healthy eating and the enhancement of local economic development efforts. Conducting questionnaire surveys and interviews, our research investigated the means through which locally produced goods reach consumers, e.g., short food supply chains, as well as the farmers’ motivations and the necessary developments. According to the main results, personal direct consumer relations are vital for local farmers; however, advanced sales channels are not popular nor fully developed in Hungary. Only the capital city shows some development here, catalysing and stimulating the domestic market and consumer behaviour. On the other hand, the age structure of local farmers or the lack of knowledge hinder the advent of advanced sales channels. Nevertheless, there is a continuous and immanent need for development in this sector; although, the recent conditions of subsidies unfortunately do not support small scale local farmers.

Soil is an important natural resource which when effectively managed, could increase the livelihoods of households in sedentary agricultural communities. Soil erosion is however an emerging challenge as a cause of environmental degradation and this paper sought to ascertain the nature of soil erosion on maize farms, the effects of soil erosion on maize crop farmers and the effectiveness of local control measures on output levels and the livelihoods of the farmers. A cross-section of the community was taken and participants were selected non-probabilistically by snow-balling for questionnaire administration and focus group discussions. The study revealed that the local farmers perceived soil erosion as the wearing away of the top soil and nutrients, under the influence of running water during rainy periods and the slope of the land. The major effects of soil erosion were found to be the loss of fertile soils, reduction in the cultivable land area, the reduction in the crop yield and a fall in the living standards of farmers’ households. The findings also indicated that some of the adaptive strategies to reduce the effects of soil erosion include shifting cultivation, ridging across slopes, planting on raised mounds and avoidance of deep ploughing. It was further revealed that farmers who successfully applied the traditional methods improved upon their output levels per land area and the standards of living of their families It was recommended that modern agricultural extension services were needed, not to replace, but to complement the local knowledge systems in order to ensure sustainability.