Search

The value chain approach is a heuristic, analytical, and strategic tool that provides a framework for identifying and examining different actors of a value chain, the dynamics of processing and value creation, reward and distribution. Present study was carried out to develop a suitable value chain mechanism for “Chakoda” (Cassia tora L.). The study was carried out in Ghughri block of Mandla district and Chakoda species have been identified for value chain development through a series of assessment and analysis. Market linkage was developed between traders, processing companies (FPC) and seller for Chakoda to promote sustainably harvested organic products of the C. tora in local and international markets. This would enable large scale aggregation and processing of Chakoda for trading. Due to its multiple uses and benefits, Chakoda was found to be a viable business model for Mandla district where large number of farmers are involved in collection, consumption and sale of Chakoda seeds. Chakoda value chain development and establishing market linkage is ensuring better economic return for the farmers and rural poor involved in collection, processing and marketing.&nbsp

Sea urchins act as a keystone herbivore in marine coastal ecosystems, regulating macrophyte density, which offers refuge for multiple species. In the Mediterranean Sea, both the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus and fish preying on it are highly valuable target species for artisanal fisheries. As a consequence of the interactions between fish, sea urchins and macrophyte, fishing leads to trophic disorders with detrimental consequences for biodiversity and fisheries. In Sardinia (Western Mediterranean Sea), regulations for sea urchin harvesting have been in place since the mid 90s. However, given the important ecological role of P. lividus, the single-species fishery management may fail to take into account important ecosystem interactions. Hence, a deeper understanding of population dynamics, their dependance on environmental constraints and multispecies interactions may help to achieve long-term sustainable use of this resource. This work aims to highlight how sea urchin population structure varies spatially in relation to local environmental constraints and species interactions, with implications for their management. The study area (Sinis Peninsula, West Sardinia, Italy) that includes a Marine Reserve was divided into five sectors. These display combinations of the environmental constraints influencing sea urchin population dynamics, namely type of habitat (calcareous rock, granite, basalt, patchy and continuous meadows of Posidonia oceanica), average bottom current speed and predatory fish abundance. Size-frequency distribution of sea urchins under commercial size (P. oceanica meadows. The density of middle-sized sea urchins was more abundant in calcareous rock than in basalt, granite or P. oceanica. High densities of recruits resulted significantly correlated to low values of average bottom current speed, while a negative trend between the abundance of middle-sized sea urchins and predatory fish was found. Our results point out the need to account for the environmental constraints influencing local sea urchin density in fisheries management.

PubMed ID: 30329061, Carposina sasakii Matsumura is one of the most destructive fruit-boring pests of pome and stone fruit trees in eastern Asia. Because larvae complete their development inside a single fruit, larval density per fruit is a critical factor in their survival, development, and fecundity. The effect of larval density was examined to determine the ideal density for devising an economic and sustainable mass-rearing system for harvesting of C. sasakii. Mass production of insects of the same age of a specific stage is not only important in biological control, but also in pheromone extraction, culturing of entomopathogenic nematodes and fungi, etc. Life history data for six larval densities (1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-30, and 31-40 larvae/apple) were collected at 25.5 ± 0.5°C, 75.0 ± 5.0% RH, and a photoperiod of 15:9 (L: D) h. Data were analyzed using the age-stage, two-sex life table. The results showed that the highest preadult survival rate (42.00%), fecundity (104.70 eggs), and population parameters (intrinsic rate of increase r = 0.0718 d-1, net reproductive rate R0 = 23.03 eggs, and finite rate of increase = 1.0744 d-1) were observed at a density of 1-5 larvae/apple. However, when the rearing costs and production rate were considered, the density of 16-20 larvae/apple was the most economical for mass-rearing C. sasakii in order to achieve a daily harvest rate of 1,000 pupae (from 273 apples per day). To ensure the sustainability of the mass-rearing system, we included the life table variability in the harvesting strategy. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved., Shanxi University National Natural Science Foundation of China, We thank Dr. Cecil Smith (University of Georgia, USA) for language editing of this manuscript. We are grateful for the assistance of Dr. Chunsen Ma (Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences), Professor Hongping Wang (College of Plant Protection, Shenyang Agricultural University), Miss Ruiqing Ma (College of Agriculture, Shanxi Agricultural University), and Yajiao Zhang and Mr. Longfei Zhang (College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University) for their help with the laboratory rearing of PFM.We thank Drs. Jianwei Fu and Mengzhu Shi (Institute of Plant Protection, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou, China) for their assistance with implementing the age-stage, two-sex life table theory. Financial support for this study was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31402007), Funding Program for the Scientific Activities of Selected Returned Overseas Professionals in Shanxi Province, grants TYIT201402 and SXAU-BJRC-201201 of Shanxi Agricultural University, and the Student’s Platform for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program of Shanxi Province (2015095) and Shanxi Agricultural University (13-006).

Cinnamomum burmannii (Nees & T. Nees) Blume is an endemic tree of up to 20 meters tall that grows in the surrounding forest in the Kerinci regency. Cinnamon is one of the most valuable non-timber forest products (NTFP) harvested from Kerinci. The tree is classified as an NTFP based on criteria set out by a regulation of the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry in 2007. As a result, it must be harvested sustainably. Its massive cultivation has caused deforestation in several areas in Kerinci. The objective of this paper is to assess the environmental impacts of continuous C. burmannii harvesting of the bark by clearcutting the whole tree. Intensive clearcutting, slash, and burn posed a significant threat for (wildlife) biodiversity in the habitat of C. burmannii. The study was performed in collaboration with the Institute for Agricultural Technology of Jambi (BPTP) from October 2018–January 2019. A harvester group in Lempur Mudik village was surveyed through a semi-structured questionnaire, focus group discussions, interviews and direct observations on C. burmannii production methods and their impact on forest conservation. We discuss how young farmers can contribute to forest conservation through sustainable harvesting of cinnamon. We conclude by suggesting leverages for forest conservation and by proposing actions from the local and national governments that should be urgently taken to safeguard wildlife biodiversity in the surrounding forest.

This research established the time consumption, work time structure, and productivity for primary processing in felling areas of coniferous trees felled with a chainsaw. Delimbing and partial cross-cutting were taken into consideration. The research was conducted in a mixed spruce and fir tree stand situated in the Carpathian Mountains. The team of workers consisted of a chainsaw operator and assistant with over 10 years of experience. The results indicated a total time of 536.32 s·m−3 (1145.26 s·tree−1), work performance (including delays) of 6.716 m3·h−1 (3.14 tree·h−1), and work productivity (without delays) of 35.459 m3·h−1 (16.58 tree·h−1). The chainsaw productivity during tree cross-cutting was 82.29 cm2·s−1. Delimbing accounted for 96.18% of the real work time, while cross-cutting accounted for 3.82%. The time consumption for delimbing and cross-cutting, as well as the work productivity and performance in the primary processing of coniferous trees in the felling area, were influenced by the breast height diameter, stem length, and tree volume, while the chainsaw productivity was influenced by the diameter of the cross-cut sections. The relationships between the aforementioned dependent and independent variables were determined by simple and linear multiple regression equations.

Hunting in tropical forests is typically most intense near human settlements, and this creates gradients of decreasing animal densities toward those settlements. Within the context of this spatial pattern, we evaluated the status of game in the hunting grounds of an indigenous community in eastern Ecuador. We constructed a spatially explicit model of hunter-prey interactions that mimicked the hunting in the village and included realistic animal-dispersal rules. We compared predictions from the model with distributions of animal harvest rates and catch per unit effort of 12 game species. Six species were overharvested in part or all of the area, and two other species were probably being overharvested, although high dispersal rates complicated the interpretation. We then compared our method with methods that have been used previously. We argue that because our method provides information about the spatial extent of overharvesting, it could be particularly useful in informing decision makers about where to establish no-take areas and could therefore aid in improving the sustainability of hunting in tropical forests. Resumen: Tipicamente, la caceria en bosques tropicales es mas intensa cerca de asentamientos humanos, y esto crea gradientes de densidades animales decrecientes hacia esos asentamientos. En el contexto de este patron espacial evaluamos el estatus de animales en los terrenos de caceria de una comunidad indigena en el este de Ecuador. Construimos un modelo espacialmente explicito de interacciones cazador-presa que imitaba la caceria en el poblado e incluia reglas reales de dispersion de animales. Comparamos las predicciones del modelo con las distribuciones de tasas de cosecha y de captura por unidad de esfuerzo de 12 especies cinegeticas. Seis especies eran sobre explotadas en parte de o toda el area, y probablemente dos especies mas eran sobre explotadas, aunque altas tasas de dispersion complicaron la interpretacion. Luego comparamos nuestro metodo con metodos utilizados previamente. Debido a que nuestro metodo proporciona informacion sobre la extension espacial de la sobre explotacion, sostenemos que puede ser particularmente util para informar a tomadores de decisiones sobre donde establecer areas sin captura y por tanto ayudar al mejoramiento de la sustentabilidad de la caceria en bosques tropicales.

Summary Natural forests and woodlands of the Eastern Arc Mountains (EAM) in Tanzania are under threat from deforestation and degradation. The estimated annual revenues from EAM hardwood for domestic use are USD 10 million in terms of planks, and twice as much when processed into furniture. Timber profits are largely captured by people whose livelihoods do not directly depend on other EAM ecosystem services. Market data, such as declining plank sizes and shifts to low-quality timber species, contain possible early warning signals of unsustainable hardwood harvesting. Policy recommendations include simplifying regulations for legal trade, developing sustainable financing, and increasing softwood supply.

The growth rates of Venus verrucosa collected from five locations in the eastern Adriatic Sea, were studied using shell-sectioning techniques. At each sampling site, mean shell lengths at ring formation were asseessed and von Bertalanffy growth curves fitted. Asymptotic length (Linf) values ranged between 48.2 mm (Istria) to 57.9 mm (Pag Bay) and the growth coefficient (k) from 0.2 year-1 (Pag Bay) to 0.3 year-1 (Istria). Values of phi-prime index (ø') ranged from 6.4 (Starigrad-Paklenica) to 6.7 (Kaštela Bay). Marginal growth increments analysed for individuals collected monthly inform Kaštela Bay showed an annual periodicity. That is, translucent (slow growth) increments were added during summer, while opaque (fast growth) increments were deposited during other seasons. Individuals older than ten years were poorly represented in the samples. The obtained data indicate possible differences in levels of exploitation and illustrate the need to establish long-term strategies for the sustainable exploitation of V. verrucosa in the eastern Adriatic.