Search

Millions of small scale legume farmers lack access to rhizobia bacterial inoculants that improve crop protein and yield, and minimize fossil-fuel based nitrogen fertilizers, through biological nitrogen fixation (BNF). BNF converts atmospheric nitrogen gas into ammonia, required to synthesize chlorophyll and amino acids. BNF is catalyzed by rhizobia that inhabit nodule organs in legume roots (e.g., soybean, cowpea, chickpeas, lentil, fava, peas, beans). Rhizobia inoculant access in remote communities is limited by centralized facilities to grow bacteria, inadequate transportation networks and refrigeration. Recently, we proposed that rhizobia inoculants can be diffused by farmers themselves, simply, by crushing nodules onto seeds, and demonstrated its efficacy under field conditions. A concern was whether nodules remain viable between growing seasons. Here we provide preliminary evidence that bean nodules, dried and stored at room temperature after 6 months, retain nodulation potential. We discuss: (1) the feasibility, constraints and risks of nodule crushing; (2) scaling up strategies; (3) entrepreneurship that benefits women farmers (e.g., noduleselling microenterprises); and (4) empowering farmers to directly select, evolve and indigenize rhizobia for the first time. Finally, we prioritize research questions and encourage the formation of a global participatory research network, with the goal of decentralizing and democratizing rhizobia inoculants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global demand for protein in the form of red meat is growing, especially in Southeast Asia, with income and population growth driving an increase in global beef consumption projected to continue from 2023 to 2032. This provides incentive for smallholder large-ruminant producers to build on production improvements obtained over the past decade to ensure long-term profitability and sustainability. This review aims to provide an update on advances in smallholder large-ruminant production and profitability in Southeast Asia over the past decade, as well as highlight ongoing challenges that require further investment from governments and the private sector to meet the growing regional and global demand for protein that is safe for human consumption. Improvements are discussed in detail across the areas of health, production and welfare, using outputs from research for development projects across Southeast Asia, specifically Cambodia and Laos which have high proportions of population living below the national poverty line. Areas covered include nutrition, disease control, diversification and farmer engagement. Ongoing challenges and opportunities are also considered. Key improvements in smallholder large-ruminant production, health and welfare in Southeast Asia over the past decade include the introduction of strategies to improve nutrition through forage utilisation and disease control through vaccination and biosecurity as well as farmer engagement and diversification. However, major challenges continue in the areas of disease control and eradication, training, climate variability, gender empowerment and policy. Increasing global demand for red meat places smallholder large-ruminant producers throughout Cambodia and Laos in an ideal position to capitalise. To do this and gain improved regional food security requires ongoing investment in stakeholder training and adoption of appropriate strategies to ensure greater productivity from existing numbers and resisting increasing numbers in an environment with limited resources. Although the challenges for large-ruminant smallholders are substantial, the rewards for continual investment to improve health and production include increased household incomes and profitability as well as greater regional food security. Global demand for protein in the form of red meat is growing, especially in Southeast Asia, with income and population growth driving an increase in beef consumption. To meet this demand advances in smallholder large-ruminant production and profitability have been achieved. However, to achieve regional food security ongoing challenges and opportunities need to be addressed. This article belongs to the Collection Sustainable Animal Agriculture for Developing Countries 2023. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and timely information on farmland size is crucial for agricultural development, resource management, and other related fields. However, there is currently no mature method for estimating farmland size in smallholder farming areas. This is due to the small size of farmland plots in these areas, which have unclear boundaries in medium and high-resolution satellite imagery, and irregular shapes that make it difficult to extract complete boundaries using morphological rules. Automatic farmland mapping algorithms using remote sensing data also perform poorly in small-scale farming areas. To address this issue, this study proposes a farmland size evaluation index based on edge frequency (ECR). The algorithm utilizes the high temporal resolution of Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to compensate for its spatial resolution limitations. First, all Sentinel-2 images from one year are used to calculate edge frequencies, which can divide farmland areas into low-value farmland interior regions, medium-value non-permanent edges, and high-value permanent edges (PE). Next, the Otsu's thresholding algorithm is iteratively applied twice to the edge frequencies to first extract edges and then permanent edges. The ratio of PE to cropland (ECR) is then calculated. Using the North China Plain and Northeast China Plain as study areas, and comparing with existing farmland size datasets, the appropriate estimation radius for ECR was determined to be 1600 m. The study found that the peak ECR value for the Northeast China Plain was 0.085, and the peak value for the North China Plain was 0.105. The overall distribution was consistent with the reference dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural research for development agencies in sub-Saharan Africa increasingly implements innovation platforms (IPs) to address institutional barriers to innovation in smallholder agriculture. This research aims to understand the activities, actions or arrangements that were mediated by a multilevel set of IPs to sustain the use of livestock feeding practices in the Ethiopian Highlands. Data was collected two years after the multilevel IPs had been phased out to ascertain if innovation outcomes had been sustained beyond the life of the project. The study identified specific IP interventions that constrained or enabled sustained use of the livestock innovations among two groups of smallholders based on their livestock production objective, i.e., commercially oriented or subsistence. Where the feed innovations had been tailored to specific enterprises and aligned to farmers' production goals, such as improved dairy farming, they were sustained. Transitioning to a livestock feed system was enabled in the case of commercially oriented smallholders and remained a challenge for subsistence-oriented smallholders, especially where access to forage seeds and affordable input services is limited. Finally mechanisms and strategies to inform similar future interventions to support the development of different groups of farmers along the value chain to achieve impact beyond project period are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is the world's largest user of groundwater for irrigation, with approximately 32 million pumps running on diesel, electric, and solar power. Subsidized electricity has led to an increase in the adoption of electric pumps by farmers, with increasing electrification rates and rising diesel costs contributing to the trend. Government subsidies have been instrumental in enhancing smallholder irrigation pump access. However, subsidies on irrigation pumps may exacerbate undesirable groundwater depletion. In smallholder settings where the capital needed to purchase irrigation equipment exceeds farmers' means, "irrigation-asa-service" and "rental pumps" with organized and affordable volumetric pricing could offer viable solutions. This policy brief provides key learnings on the Indian irrigation pump market and its policy and environmental implications, based on semi-structured interviews and secondary data collected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smallholder, indigenous farmers play a key role in the food system in Ecuador, applying traditional farming practices that ensure the sustainability of their food production and meeting the dietary demands of many urban consumers, especially for organic vegetables and dairy products. This study examines the position of six women's associations in the central Ecuadorian Andes, discussing their evolution from rights-based to market-oriented organizations producing and selling agroecological products. We discuss how the history of these associations has led them to play a role in local politics and national policies around agriculture and highlight how these organizations have succeeded both economically and socially, while also noting the challenges they face, as observed by themselves and outsiders. While the history of women's agroecological production organizations in Ecuador may be unique, as it is entrenched in indigenous rights movements, our results also point to opportunities and obstacles that are more common across small scale farmers and deserve attention from both policymakers and agricultural organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive assessment of climate change vulnerability is imperative for formulating effective adaptation strategies and advancing sustainable development goals. As one of the most climate-vulnerable regions globally, the Pan-Third Pole area lacks transnational vulnerability assessments, which poses a significant obstacle to efficient climate adaptation. This study conducted transnational comparisons based on primary micro-survey data collected uniformly across Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar, which are all located in the Pan-Third Pole region. Evaluating and comparing the vulnerabilities employed an extended framework of climate change indicators. The findings reveal substantial variations in vulnerability among the countries, with Cambodia exhibiting the highest vulnerability, followed by Thailand, Myanmar, and Nepal in descending order, primarily due to differences in exposure. Household exposure to climate change also varied significantly. Sensitivity scores decreased in the order of Nepal > Cambodia > Thailand > Myanmar, with demographic factors, tap water accessibility, and land being the major contributors and sources of differentiation among the countries. Regarding adaptability, Thailand demonstrated the highest adaptability, with human and financial capital as the key differentiators. The outcomes underscore the need for tailored policy measures addressing the diverse vulnerabilities, including enhancing household disaster prevention and capital protection. Furthermore, targeted international investments are crucial for improving adaptability among smallholders in this unique region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Nutrition-sensitive agriculture is an approach that aims to ensure the production of affordable, safe, culturally appropriate, and nutritious foods in sufficient quantity and quality to meet dietary needs. This study aims to examine the production pathway by which smallholder farmers adopt nutrition-sensitive agriculture in northwest Ethiopia. Data were collected from 478 randomly sampled households through a structured questionnaire-based survey, observations, and group discussions. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed for analysis. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the influences of demographic, socioeconomic, and institutional explanatory variables on the production of various food groups in households. Arable land owned by households, the use of irrigation, access to the nearest markets, contacts with agricultural extension workers, and management practices affect plant-sourced food production. On the other hand, the number of livestock owned, the total crop produced, and contacts with extension workers affected animal-sourced food production. However, different factors, such as technological, institutional, and managerial challenges, that include dependency on rain-fed and free-grazing-based traditional herding systems adversely affect the production pathway to nutrition-sensitive agriculture. The study concludes that improving agricultural extension services, promoting small-scale irrigation schemes, and introducing improved animal feeding with improved crop and livestock management techniques could significantly contribute to increased household availability of diversified foods.

This study examines the sustainability of livestock farming in Jordan’s arid regions, focusing on smallholder Awassi sheep and Baladi goat farming. It assesses breeders, economic factors, herd productivity, and sustainability, evaluating the vitality of these breeds by examining reproductive success through birth and survival rates. In 2021–2022, a total of 53 traditional Awassi sheep and Baladi goat farms in Northern Jordan’s Mafraq Governorate were surveyed using a comprehensive questionnaire to gather data on breeders’ information, farm economics, and herd indicators. Dry seasons in arid lands are tough on sheep and goats, with limited fodder and water availability harming their health and reproductive capacity. While wet seasons bring relief, they can also introduce diseases. Special care for these animals throughout the year is crucial to maintain healthy herds in arid regions. Linear models were employed to analyze sample data, with variance and correlation tests used to explore relationships among variables. Additionally, chi-squared analysis was utilized to assess the impact of male replacement plans on these herds. The main outcomes of this study reveal that breeder indicators pose challenges to the sustainability and growth of Awassi sheep and Baladi goat farming. Conversely, economic indicators suggest a blend of financial stability alongside obstacles related to profitability and resource ownership. Breeder age emerges as a significant factor in livestock herd management, influenced by elements such as experience, resource availability, and adherence to traditional practices. Experience notably influences breeders’ decisions regarding male insemination replacements, likely due to acquired skills. Crop cultivation is shown to reduce fodder costs, thereby enhancing profitability for each young animal sold and consequently increasing the breeders’ returns. Winter conditions elevate animal mortality rates due to cold stress, while other animals within herds contribute to increased kid mortality by facilitating disease transmission. Breeder experience significantly impacts lamb survival, underscoring its importance in ensuring proper care. Increasing ewe proportions within herds enhances lamb production and lowers lamb mortality rates. Effective ram management and yearling lamb sales further contribute to herd health and productivity. A higher proportion of goats within a herd positively correlates with the number of young yearlings sold but inversely affects breeding males and overall kid numbers, indicating a delicate balance that influences herd productivity and mortality rates. Sheep (92.5%) and goat herds (90.6%) demonstrate reproductive success, indicative of superior long-term vitality. While sheep excel in birth rates, survival, and sales, they exhibit lower ewe and lambing percentages. Goat farming demonstrates high birth rates, sales, and overall success but requires particular attention to ensuring kid survival, especially during the winter months. Improving the characteristics of the Awassi sheep and Baladi goat flocks is crucial for ensuring sustainability, achievable through proper care practices in dry lands. In conclusion, despite the challenges, there are promising opportunities to enhance sheep and goat farming in Jordan. Effective management, informed by the breeders’ experience and economics, is crucial. Empowering small-scale herders and implementing targeted interventions, like winter mortality solutions and selective breeding, is vital for sustainable growth.

Pig production is one of the viable enterprises of the livestock sub-sector of agriculture. It contributes significantly to the economy and animal protein supply to enhance food security in Africa and globally. This article explored the present status of pig production in Africa, the challenges, prospects and potentials. The pig population of Africa represents 4.6% of the global pig population. They are widely distributed across Africa except in Northern Africa where pig production is not popular due to religio-cultural reasons. They are mostly reared in rural parts of Africa by smallholder farmers, informing why majority of the pig population in most parts of Africa are indigenous breeds and their crosses. Pig plays important roles in the sustenance of livelihood in the rural communities and have cultural and social significance. The pig production system in Africa is predominantly traditional, but rapidly growing and transforming into the modern system. The annual pork production in Africa has grown from less than a million tonnes in year 2000 to over 2 million tonnes in 2021. Incidence of disease outbreak, especially African swine fever is one of the main constraints affecting pig production in Africa. Others are lack of skills and technical know-how, high ambient temperature, limited access to high-quality breeds, high cost of feed ingredients and veterinary inputs, unfriendly government policies, religious and cultural bias, inadequate processing facilities as well as under-developed value-chain. The projected human population of 2.5 billion in Africa by 2050, increasing urbanization and decreasing farming population are pointers to the need for increased food production. The production systems of pigs in Africa requires developmental research, improvements in housing, feed production and manufacturing, animal health, processing, capacity building and pig friendly policies for improved productivity and facilitation of export.

Nutrition-sensitive agriculture is an approach that aims to ensure the production of affordable, safe, culturally appropriate, and nutritious foods in sufficient quantity and quality to meet dietary needs. This study aims to examine the production pathway by which smallholder farmers adopt nutrition-sensitive agriculture in northwest Ethiopia. Data were collected from 478 randomly sampled households through a structured questionnaire-based survey, observations, and group discussions. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed for analysis. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the influences of demographic, socioeconomic, and institutional explanatory variables on the production of various food groups in households. Arable land owned by households, the use of irrigation, access to the nearest markets, contacts with agricultural extension workers, and management practices affect plant-sourced food production. On the other hand, the number of livestock owned, the total crop produced, and contacts with extension workers affected animal-sourced food production. However, different factors, such as technological, institutional, and managerial challenges, that include dependency on rain-fed and free-grazing-based traditional herding systems adversely affect the production pathway to nutrition-sensitive agriculture. The study concludes that improving agricultural extension services, promoting small-scale irrigation schemes, and introducing improved animal feeding with improved crop and livestock management techniques could significantly contribute to increased household availability of diversified foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the climate-development interface, research for development gained a strong interest in climate-smart agriculture and sustainable forms of intensification. Moreover, the urgency to respond to climate change stimulates a strong and sometimes exclusive focus on mitigation, driven by research-based agricultural practices. In the livestock sector, this materialises in strategies to lower emissions from livestock, which centralises the adoption question: what can we do to stimulate the use of best practices by smallholder farmers? This paper flags the risk that this outlook may overlooksmallholder farmers' capacities to navigate sub-optimal conditions of drought or scarcity. The paper applies an alternative lens for understanding 'agriculture-as-performance' and highlights smallholder cattle owners' agency and resourcefulness. It aims to create a conceptual space to examine how adaptive capacities are grounded in the rhythms of agriculture under suboptimal conditions. Empirically, the study focuses on the cattle-feeding practices of five farming households evolving through seasons and lifetimes in a sedentary agricultural system in Kenya. Our frame identifies diverse affordances, conceptualised as opportunities for actions, emerging and disappearing in the immediate material environment, and we portray cattle feeding as a networked response anchored in practices of giving, sharing, and receiving. We use our insights into the dynamics and performance of entangled socio-technical practices to sketch the contours of an alternative pathway for agriculture for development. We argue in favour of a shift from an exclusive focus on the adoption of predefined optimal solutions to a diagnostic and catalytic approach integrating situated adaptive performances through which farming households respond to action opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timely and accurate extraction of crop planting units plays a critical role in crop yield estimation, soil management, food supplies, and disaster warnings. However, precisely mapping crop types is challenging in smallholder farming systems due to heterogeneous and mixed pixels, where field sizes are small, and crop types are very diverse. In this paper, the crop type system of Huocheng County in northwest China as an example area, crop classification feature variables are constructed using Sentinel-2 remote sensing images, and combining the ReliefF algorithm, three feature selection classification models are established by 3092 crop type sampling points data. The crop planting units are extracted using pixel-based and object-based classification methods, respectively, and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) data assess the accuracy as ground truth. The Sentinel-2 image based smallholder crops classification results indicate that: The effective combination of optimal input feature variables selection and classification models significantly improves crop classification accuracy. This is particularly evident when integrating this approach into pixel-based classification, addressing challenges such as low pixel classification accuracy in regions of this type. The validation results from UAV data also confirm these findings. At validation points 2, 3, and 4, pixel-based classification demonstrates significantly higher accuracy compared to object-based classification, with pixel-based classification accuracy improving by 9.16%, 7.83%, and 31.83%, respectively. Although the UAV validation accuracy does not reach a high level, pixel-based classification remains the optimal choice for smallholder crop classification. This method offers new insights and references for research related to the classification of smallholder crops with complex planting structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This study explores the challenges faced by small farmers in Jordan's dry areas when raising sheep and goats, focusing on limited fodder and water, to find solutions to help farmers maintain healthy and sustainable herds. Despite the obstacles, sheep and goat farming could thrive with factors like breeder experience and economic stability. Crop cultivation and proper winter care are vital to reducing costs and preventing animal mortality. Effective management and support offer opportunities for rearing enhancement. The conclusions provide crucial guidance for supporting small-scale farmers, presenting actionable strategies to address resource limitations. Implementing these recommendations could empower farmers, improve practices, and contribute to economic stability. This study is valuable for policymakers and agricultural organizations promoting sustainable rural development and livelihood enhancement in drylands. This study examines the sustainability of livestock farming in Jordan's arid regions, focusing on smallholder Awassi sheep and Baladi goat farming. It assesses breeders, economic factors, herd productivity, and sustainability, evaluating the vitality of these breeds by examining reproductive success through birth and survival rates. In 2021–2022, a total of 53 traditional Awassi sheep and Baladi goat farms in Northern Jordan's Mafraq Governorate were surveyed using a comprehensive questionnaire to gather data on breeders' information, farm economics, and herd indicators. Dry seasons in arid lands are tough on sheep and goats, with limited fodder and water availability harming their health and reproductive capacity. While wet seasons bring relief, they can also introduce diseases. Special care for these animals throughout the year is crucial to maintain healthy herds in arid regions. Linear models were employed to analyze sample data, with variance and correlation tests used to explore relationships among variables. Additionally, chi-squared analysis was utilized to assess the impact of male replacement plans on these herds. The main outcomes of this study reveal that breeder indicators pose challenges to the sustainability and growth of Awassi sheep and Baladi goat farming. Conversely, economic indicators suggest a blend of financial stability alongside obstacles related to profitability and resource ownership. Breeder age emerges as a significant factor in livestock herd management, influenced by elements such as experience, resource availability, and adherence to traditional practices. Experience notably influences breeders' decisions regarding male insemination replacements, likely due to acquired skills. Crop cultivation is shown to reduce fodder costs, thereby enhancing profitability for each young animal sold and consequently increasing the breeders' returns. Winter conditions elevate animal mortality rates due to cold stress, while other animals within herds contribute to increased kid mortality by facilitating disease transmission. Breeder experience significantly impacts lamb survival, underscoring its importance in ensuring proper care. Increasing ewe proportions within herds enhances lamb production and lowers lamb mortality rates. Effective ram management and yearling lamb sales further contribute to herd health and productivity. A higher proportion of goats within a herd positively correlates with the number of young yearlings sold but inversely affects breeding males and overall kid numbers, indicating a delicate balance that influences herd productivity and mortality rates. Sheep (92.5%) and goat herds (90.6%) demonstrate reproductive success, indicative of superior long-term vitality. While sheep excel in birth rates, survival, and sales, they exhibit lower ewe and lambing percentages. Goat farming demonstrates high birth rates, sales, and overall success but requires particular attention to ensuring kid survival, especially during the winter months. Improving the characteristics of the Awassi sheep and Baladi goat flocks is crucial for ensuring sustainability, achievable through proper care practices in dry lands. In conclusion, despite the challenges, there are promising opportunities to enhance sheep and goat farming in Jordan. Effective management, informed by the breeders' experience and economics, is crucial. Empowering small-scale herders and implementing targeted interventions, like winter mortality solutions and selective breeding, is vital for sustainable growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goats fulfil a central role in food and nutritional security across Africa with over half of households owning or rearing goats in rural areas. However, goat performance is poor and mortality high. This study assessed the nutritional quality of commonly used feeds and proposes feed-baskets to enhance goat nutrition and health. Feeds were collected from 11 areas within the Central District of Botswana, and macronutrient analyses were conducted, including crude protein, fibre fractions, ash, and metabolizable energy (ME). Forage nutrition was compared across seasons and soil types. Additionally, seasonal supplementation trials were conducted to evaluate consumption rates of various supplements, including crop residues, pellets, Lablab purpureus, and Dichrostachys cinerea. Each supplement was provided ad libitum for a 24-h period, and consumption rates determined. Findings revealed significant differences in nutrition among various feed sources, across seasons, and in relation to soil types (p < 0.001). Consumption rates of supplements were higher during the dry season, possibly due to reduced forage availability. Supplement consumption rates varied across supplement type, with crop residues accounting for approximately 1% of dry matter intake, compared to up to 45% for pellets, 13% for L. purpureus, and 15% for D. cinerea. While wet season feed baskets exhibited higher ME values compared to dry-season feed-baskets, the relative impact of supplementation was more pronounced during the dry season. These results highlight the potential for optimizing goat diets through improved grazing and browsing management, especially during the reduced nutritional availability in the dry season in Botswana. Such diet optimisation may improve goat health and productivity, which may positively impact the food and financial security of smallholders by providing both increased yields and increased resilience. Importantly, rural communities can experience some of the lowest food security levels in the region. The interventions explored in this study utilise natural capital, often freely available, which can be deployed through existing husbandry systems, potentially making them accessible and practical to smallholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smallholder banana farmers in Kenya face declining farm productivity and low market prices due to a fragmented, broker-dominated market. While the Kenya National Banana Development Strategy promotes contract farming as a potential solution, farmer participation remains surprisingly low. This study investigates the factors influencing smallholder participation in banana contract farming in Kenya. Employing a heteroskedastic probit model with robust standard errors to assess the drivers of participation in smallholder banana contract farming in Kenya, we identify key drivers such as household head education, credit access, cooperative membership, irrigation, and banana farm size. Based on these findings, we recommend policy interventions focusing on: Enhanced farmer extension services and technical assistance, facilitated credit access, cooperative development, investment in irrigation, and incentives for contract farming companies. By addressing these critical factors, policymakers can encourage wider smallholder participation in banana contract farming, unlocking its potential to improve livelihoods and contribute to sustainable agricultural development in Kenya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementing an appropriate breeding program is crucial to control fluctuation in performance, enhance adaptation, and further improve the crossbred population of dairy cattle. Five alternative breeding programs (BPs) were modeled considering available breeding units in the study area, the existing crossbreeding practices, and the future prospects of dairy research and development in Ethiopia. The study targeted 143,576 crossbred cows of 54,822 smallholder households in the Arsi, West Shewa, and North Shewa zones of the Oromia Region, as well as the North Shewa zone of the Amhara Region. The alternative BPs include conventional on-station progeny testing (SPT), conventional on-farm progeny testing (FPT), conventional on-station and on-farm progeny testing (SFPT), genomic selection (GS), and genomic progeny testing (GPT). Input parameters for modeling the BPs were taken from the analysis of long-term data obtained from the Holetta Agricultural Research Center and a survey conducted in the study area. ZPLAN+ software was used to predict estimates of genetic gain (GG) and discounted profit for goal traits. The predicted genetic gains (GGs) for milk yield (MY) per year were 34.52 kg, 49.63 kg, 29.35 kg, 76.16 kg, and 77.51 kg for SPT, FPT, SFPT, GS, and GPT, respectively. The GGs of the other goal traits range from 0.69 to 1.19 days per year for age at first calving, from 1.20 to 2.35 days per year for calving interval, and from 0.06 to 0.12 days per year for herd life. Compared to conventional BPs, genomic systems (GPT and GS) enhanced the GG of MY by 53%-164%, reduced generation interval by up to 21%, and improved the accuracy of test bull selection from 0.33 to 0.43. The discounted profit of the BPs varied from 249.58 Ethiopian Birr (ETB, 1 USD = 39.55696 ETB) per year in SPT to 689.79 ETB per year in GS. Genomic selection outperforms SPT, SFPT, and FPT by 266, 227%, and 138% of discounted profit, respectively. Community-based crossbreeding accompanied by GS and gradual support with progeny testing (GPT) is recommended as the main way forward to attain better genetic progress in dairy farms in Ethiopia and similar scenarios in other tropical countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local climate change impacts hit hard at smallholder farmers in developing countries due to their overreliance on rain-fed farming. Whilst ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) to climate change holds an answer to smallholder farmers' adaptation needs, there are inadequate empirical results from the field to support formulation of effective adaptation strategies. Hence, this paper aimed at investigating EbA practices adopted by farmers, in North-Western Ghana to ameliorate local climate change impacts, with emphasis on benefits and associated challenges. The study methods were cross-sectional survey, mixed methods, and case study approach, with all data collected in the Wa West District of Ghana. Data were gathered using questionnaire, focus group discussion (FGD) and interviews. Data from the questionnaire were entered into SPSS version 20 to analyze associations between the variables using cross-tabulation. Descriptive statistics, in the form of percentages and frequencies, were then generated from the survey data and integrated with the qualitative information in the presentation of results. Also, statistical significance of the relationships was analyzed using chi-square test. Chi-squared tests were done to determine associations between socio-economic and environmental factors, and challenges and benefits associated with the adoption of EbA practices. This was necessary to give further insights to inform policy-related decisions aimed at addressing EbA adoption challenges. The results revealed that farmers use a combination of practices rather than single practice. Farmers integrated crops and trees and keep local breed of farm animals. Benefits of EbA included improvements in soil fertility leading to high crop yield and availability of food and income. Challenges of adopting EbA were the long timespan for benefits of most EbA practices to begin to accrue, lack of extension information and increasing cost of hired labour. It is recommended that tree integration should emphasis trees with multiple benefits and compatible with food crops. For the achievement of food security policy objectives, agroforestry promotion should focus on the integration of fruit tree crops and food crops to address hunger and increase farmers' incomes. Mobile extension technology should be exploited by government for the provision of EbA-specific information to farmers to bridge the extension services gap. Climate change policy of government should include the planting of non-fruit trees as windbreaks to provide multi-purpose benefits including provision of stakes for yam farmers, live-fencing and firewood for women. There is the need for government policy objectives to include EbA by farmers under the flagship 'planting for food and jobs' programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In sub-Saharan Africa, 80% of poultry production is on smallholder village farms, where chickens are typically reared outdoors in free-ranging conditions. There is limited knowledge on chickens' phenotypic characteristics and genetics under these conditions. Objective: The present is a large-scale study set out to phenotypically characterise the performance of tropically adapted commercial chickens in typical smallholder farm conditions, and to examine the genetic profile of chicken phenotypes associated with growth, meat production, immunity, and survival. Methods: A total of 2,573 T451A dual-purpose Sasso chickens kept outdoors in emulated free-ranging conditions at the poultry facility of the International Livestock Research Institute in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, were included in the study. The chickens were raised in five equally sized batches and were individually monitored and phenotyped from the age of 56 days for 8 weeks. Individual chicken data collected included weekly body weight, growth rate, body and breast meat weight at slaughter, Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) titres and intestinal Immunoglobulin A (IgA) levels recorded at the beginning and the end of the period of study, and survival rate during the same period. Genotyping by sequencing was performed on all chickens using a low-coverage and imputation approach. Chicken phenotypes and genotypes were combined in genomic association analyses. Results: We discovered that the chickens were phenotypically diverse, with extensive variance levels observed in all traits. Batch number and sex of the chicken significantly affected the studied phenotypes. Following quality assurance, genotypes consisted of 2.9 million Single Nucleotide Polymorphism markers that were used in the genomic analyses. Results revealed a largely polygenic mode of genetic control of all phenotypic traits. Nevertheless, 15 distinct markers were identified that were significantly associated with growth, carcass traits, NDV titres, IgA levels, and chicken survival. These markers were located in regions harbouring relevant annotated genes. Conclusion: Results suggest that performance of chickens raised under smallholder farm conditions is amenable to genetic improvement and may inform selective breeding programmes for enhanced chicken productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many developing countries, organic agriculture is increasingly recognized as a key strategy for promoting rural economic development and improving farmer welfare. It is primarily smallholders who form the foundation of organic production in these areas. However, these farmers face significant challenges in adopting organic farming methods. The aim of this paper is to investigate solutions to the challenges encountered by smallholders. This research utilizes an integrated approach and includes a case study of the organic sorghum sector in Zunyi, China. The findings indicate that (1) a robust partnership has been established between enterprises, government, and farmers in the organic sorghum industry in Zunyi. Enterprises purchase the sorghum, cover organic certification costs, and partially fund material inputs, while local government facilitates organization, coordination, and technical support, with farmers responsible for production. (2) This collaboration has catalyzed high-quality development in the industry, benefiting all stakeholders. (3) Through this collaborative model, common challenges faced by smallholders, such as obstacles in obtaining certification, income fluctuations, and unfair market conditions, have been mitigated. Consequently, smallholders secure stable and reliable income as they benefit from favorable contract prices for organic sorghum and the assumption by enterprises of most material input costs. This study offers valuable empirical evidence that can guide the expansion of organic agriculture in similar regions and countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pig production is one of the viable enterprises of the livestock sub-sector of agriculture. It contributes significantly to the economy and animal protein supply to enhance food security in Africa and globally. This article explored the present status of pig production in Africa, the challenges, prospects and potentials. The pig population of Africa represents 4.6% of the global pig population. They are widely distributed across Africa except in Northern Africa where pig production is not popular due to religio-cultural reasons. They are mostly reared in rural parts of Africa by smallholder farmers, informing why majority of the pig population in most parts of Africa are indigenous breeds and their crosses. Pig plays important roles in the sustenance of livelihood in the rural communities and have cultural and social significance. The pig production system in Africa is predominantly traditional, but rapidly growing and transforming into the modern system. The annual pork production in Africa has grown from less than a million tonnes in year 2000 to over 2 million tonnes in 2021. Incidence of disease outbreak, especially African swine fever is one of the main constraints affecting pig production in Africa. Others are lack of skills and technical know-how, high ambient temperature, limited access to high-quality breeds, high cost of feed ingredients and veterinary inputs, unfriendly government policies, religious and cultural bias, inadequate processing facilities as well as under-developed value-chain. The projected human population of 2.5 billion in Africa by 2050, increasing urbanization and decreasing farming population are pointers to the need for increased food production. The production systems of pigs in Africa requires developmental research, improvements in housing, feed production and manufacturing, animal health, processing, capacity building and pig friendly policies for improved productivity and facilitation of export. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient food production system is a panacea for better output among farming households. However, this is not the case for Nigerian farmers who lacked access to resources for optimum food production thereby their productivity potential were undermined. Based on this premise, this study aimed to investigate the production efficiency of rice farming households in Southwest Nigeria using secondary data from the ECOWAS-RAAF-PASANAO Project. The study extracted data from 278 rice farming households sampled across six states in southwestern, Nigeria from the master data set. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and Tobin regression model. The results revealed that the majority of the rice farmers were male in their active and productive age and with low educational level. 62.9% of them had access to extension service and 64.7% had no access to credit. The average land area cultivated and the rice output of the respondents were 1.65 ha and 3123.57 kg, respectively, indicating smallholder and low productivity farm households. The result of the stochastic frontier analysis revealed that farm size, labour, herbicide and fertilizer were the factors that significantly increased the rice output, while the prices of land, tractor, herbicide and rice input significantly increased the production cost. The mean technical, allocative and economic efficiency of rice farmers were 0.62, 0.638 and 0.47 respectively, suggesting a potential for increasing rice production using the current technology, prices and fixed level of resources. Rice farmers’ production efficiency was significantly determined by gender, education, access to credit and extension contacts. The government policy intervention should address the efficiency challenges of the rice farmers in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teff, a versatile crop, serves both as a food source and a cash crop in Ethiopia. It is recognized for its potential to enhance the income of smallholder farmers, improve food security, and contribute to sustainable development goals. This study aims to assess the impact of Teff commercialization by smallholder farmers on food security. Both primary and secondary data were used using the 2020/2021 cropping season. A three-stage sampling procedure was used to draw 352 sample households. Food security was assessed using proxy indicators: household dietary diversity and food consumption score. The descriptive statistical results showed that 182 (51.7%) and 170 (48.3%) sample households were subsistence, and commercialized household heads respectively. Notably, commercial farmers exhibited better household dietary diversity (91.2%), whereas subsistence farmers scored lower in terms of food consumption (29.1%). Male household headship reduced HDDS for commercializing farmers (−1.6); credit usage boosted HDDS for commercialized groups (1.1), and livestock ownership improved HDDS for subsistence groups (0.21) in the second-stage endogenous switching regression. The model result also showed that, Teff commercialization positively impacted HDDS and FCS, with average treatment effects of 3.81 and 4.46, respectively. Transitional heterogeneity results showed that commercialized farmers had lower household dietary diversity (−0.47) and lower food consumption score (−14.19) than subsistence households. In light of these findings, encouraging smallholder farmers to transition from subsistence production to commercialization is crucial for supplementing their overall production. Additionally, government efforts should focus on raising awareness about nutrition-sensitive agricultural practices.

Millions of small scale legume farmers lack access to rhizobia bacterial inoculants that improve crop protein and yield, and minimize fossil-fuel based nitrogen fertilizers, through biological nitrogen fixation (BNF). BNF converts atmospheric nitrogen gas into ammonia, required to synthesize chlorophyll and amino acids. BNF is catalyzed by rhizobia that inhabit nodule organs in legume roots (e.g., soybean, cowpea, chickpeas, lentil, fava, peas, beans). Rhizobia inoculant access in remote communities is limited by centralized facilities to grow bacteria, inadequate transportation networks and refrigeration. Recently, we proposed that rhizobia inoculants can be diffused by farmers themselves, simply, by crushing nodules onto seeds, and demonstrated its efficacy under field conditions. A concern was whether nodules remain viable between growing seasons. Here we provide preliminary evidence that bean nodules, dried and stored at room temperature after 6 months, retain nodulation potential. We discuss: (1) the feasibility, constraints and risks of nodule crushing; (2) scaling up strategies; (3) entrepreneurship that benefits women farmers (e.g., nodule-selling microenterprises); and (4) empowering farmers to directly select, evolve and indigenize rhizobia for the first time. Finally, we prioritize research questions and encourage the formation of a global participatory research network, with the goal of decentralizing and democratizing rhizobia inoculants.

The future of food production in Nigeria where smallholding agriculture is prevalent is threatened by climate change. Despite the threats, Nigeria has no specific plan or policy to combat it. Therefore, understanding how smallholder farmers adjust to the changing climate and the factors that influence their adaptation choices will facilitate developing a policy to tackle climate change. This study therefore evaluates climate change adaptation techniques among smallholder rice farmers in Kebbi state, Nigeria. The study employs a simple random sampling technique to select 345 respondents. The data was analysed using multivariate probit and ordered probit regression.The findings revealed that marital status, literacy, farm size, farming experience, major occupation, extension visits, amount of credit, and access to climate information influenced adaptation strategy choice. Furthermore, marital status, literacy, household size, farm size, extension visits, and access to climate information are crucial drivers of adoption intensity. This study concludes that smallholder rice farmers in the study area adopt several practices to cope with climate change, however, farmers’ intensity of adoption is low. This study recommends that stakeholders in the food systems in the study area should consider literacy, farm size, extension service, credits, and climate information in designing viable policies toward combating the vagaries of climate.

Amidst the ongoing global climate change crisis, characterized by unpredictable weather patterns and increasing environmental shocks, farming communities are among the most vulnerable. This vulnerability is particularly evident in Tigray, Ethiopia. This study, which investigates the incidence of climate change and its variability in relation to risk perception and food security of farming communities in Tigray, has significant implications for future action. It uses climate and the Living Standards Measurement Study panel data. A multi-method analytical procedure is employed to assess changes in temperature and rainfall, understand farmers’ climate change risk perception, and signify the welfare effects of droughts on farmers. The study finds significant warming trends, particularly increasing warming nights, and variable but increasing rainfall trends. Farmers do perceive climate change as a reality (85.53%) and a threat to their welfare (23%). Cooperation, diversification, irrigation, wealth, drought, and access to services were identified as drivers of this risk perception. Similarly, the study found drought is a significant driver of food insecurity. Other variables associated with food security status substantially are wealth, head marital status, and non-farm participation. It concludes that climate change is a reality and a perceived risk in Tigray. It poses a threat to the lives and livelihoods of its farming communities. It is recommended that farm households’ adaptive capacity be enhanced through improved livelihood options, promotion of cooperation, development of irrigation schemes, and increased access to weather and climate information.

AbstractThis study aimed to investigate the extent and determinants of vegetable commercialization among smallholders in the Sebeta Hawas Woreda, Oromia region, Ethiopia. Data were collected through surveys of 385 farm households. The study results indicated that vegetable production in the study area is highly commercialized in terms of vegetable output marketed with an average commercialization extent of 74.2% although vegetable commercialization extent is at a low level (34.82%) in terms of land areas allotted to vegetable production. The results of the truncated Tobit regression model revealed that the extent of vegetable commercialization was significantly and positively influenced by the gender of the household head, year of schooling, family size, access to irrigation facilities, cooperative membership, access to credit services, contact with extension agents, access to improved seeds, access to chemical fertilizers, and access to market information. Conversely, the age of the household head, livestock holdings, and participation in off-farm activities significantly and negatively influenced the extent of vegetable commercialization. The study suggests that vegetable commercialization can be enhanced by supplying farm inputs such as improved seeds, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation equipment. In addition, designing gender-focused intervention programs is essential to promote the equal participation of both men and women in vegetable production and marketing. Moreover, providing adequate and relevant market information and strengthening farmers’ cooperatives can enable smallholder farmers to access the market and increase their market participation so that they can obtain reasonable returns from the vegetable business.

AbstractMaize is the cheapest grain in Ethiopia, which is widely consumed by rural communities and low-income urban residents. As a result, the Ethiopian government has implemented various policy initiatives to increase its productivity. However, these policy initiatives have not contributed enough to improve maize productivity. This study utilized stochastic frontier analysis to investigate and analyze factors contributing to differences in productivity and efficiency among smallholder maize farmers in Ethiopia. The findings showed that the supply of inputs and technology significantly affected maize productivity. We found that women-managed households were more efficient than their male-managed counterparts. We also offered new insights into the non-linear effect of farmers’ education on their efficiency levels. Furthermore, we documented that households would benefit from a 14.40% productivity gain and 13.90% production cost savings if operating at full efficiency level. Land fragmentation and distance from the main market are key factors that have adversely affected the efficiency of smallholder maize farmers. Hence, policies that reduce land fragmentation and enhance rural market infrastructure development will enable Maize farmers to increase their efficiency and productivity.

Agricultural extension in developing countries faces many challenges. The main challenge for public institutions, the implementers of agricultural extension services, is that they have weak implementation systems to support farmers. On the other hand, the main challenge faced by beneficiary farmers is low agricultural productivity and income. Against this backdrop, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) launched an initiative to promote "agriculture as a business" by strengthening the agricultural extension systems of developing country governments, beginning with a technical cooperation project implemented in Kenya from 2006 to 2009. The agricultural extension method developed in this project is the Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment and Promotion (SHEP) approach. The SHEP approach is supported by two theoretical pillars: promoting farming as a business (economics) and empowering and motivating people (psychology). A series of activities fulfilling these two pillars is the innovative originality of the SHEP approach. These activities are practiced according to four steps to promote market-oriented agriculture while motivating smallholders to improve their farming operations. In Kenya, horticultural income of target farmers increased through the practice of "grow to sell." Following this result, the SHEP approach has spread across Africa through the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), benefitting 256,546 small-scale farmers in 30 countries to date. In countries where the SHEP approach was implemented, in addition to the outcomes of increased horticultural productivity and income, many impacts were identified that contributed to improved farmers' livelihoods, including repairing or building houses, purchasing mobile phones and vehicles, installing electricity in homes and funding children's education. Since TICAD VII in 2019, JICA has been working with African governments, development partners, private companies and relevant organizations to promote the transition to profitable agriculture through the SHEP approach with the goal of achieving better lives for one million smallholders by 2030. This has led to the utilization of the SHEP approach in various forms, and its effectiveness and versatility has been recognized. However, inadequate government agricultural extension budgets and farmers' high expectations for the provision of agricultural inputs raise the bar for intervention in the SHEP approach. The SHEP approach, however, is not a "panacea" that can solve all agricultural extension challenges in developing countries. Nevertheless, in order to continue agricultural and rural development programs/projects that promote farmers' selfreliance, it is essential to continue to extract the outcomes and impacts of the SHEP approach at the field level and disseminate the effectiveness of the approach widely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring smallholder agricultural productivity growth, one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals, rests on accurate measures of crop production and land area. Existing methods and protocols for measuring smallholder production and plot size are prone to various sources and forms of mismeasurement. Inaccuracies in production and land area measurement are likely to distort descriptive and predictive inferences. We examine the sensitivity of empirical assessments of the relationship between agricultural productivity and land area to alternative measurement protocols. We implement six production and six land area measurement protocols, and show that most of these protocols differ systematically in their accuracy. We find that an apparent inverse size–productivity relationship in our data is fully explained by measurement error in both production and plot size. Moreover, we show that some of the previously used "gold standard" measures are themselves prone to nonclassical measurement error, and hence can generate spurious inverse size–productivity findings. Our results also show that slight improvements in the precision of objective measures significantly reduce the inferential bias associated with the size–productivity relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutrient depletion is one of the major causes of decreased crop yield, and a threat to food security and sustainable crop production. NutMon-toolbox was used to determine nutrient flows and partial nutrient balances of maize-based smallholders' farming system. Data was collected using structured questionnaire from 15 randomly selected farmers, with five farmers each in three villages. Composite soil samples were also taken from each of the three plots. At crop maturity, samples of crop products and residues were randomly taken from the selected fields. Nitrogen, P and K contents in soil and crop material was used to calculate nutrient flows and partial balances. Results obtained revealed that mineral fertilizer flow, averaged 349.20kg N yr-1 and 81.45kg K yr-1 and were lower than 376.65kg N yr-1 and 431.44kg K yr -1 organic input. However, phosphorus in mineral fertilizer (55.78kg P yr-1) was higher compared to phosphorus (51.06 kg P ha-1 yr-1) in organic input. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium for maize seeds and crop residue were all negative. The partial nutrient balances were positive 53.45kg N ha-1 yr-1 and 79.40kg K ha-1 but negative 1.10kg P ha-1 yr-1. Harvesting of crops for food, without incorporation of crop residue into the soil, were the most important sources of nutrient mining in smallholder production system. Integrated soil fertility management practices that favour the buildup of soil organic matter and use of animal manure should be encouraged through effective extension services at Ikara, Kaduna State, Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Goat smallholdings are common in both rural and urban areas of Malawi, and are kept as a food source and as investments to improve livelihoods. However, goats are known to forage on indigestible items that can negatively impact health and lead to a loss of productive performance. To date, no studies have estimated the prevalence of pollution among Malawi goats despite issues with waste management. To this end, we sought to survey the frequency of plastic and other indigestible foreign bodies among goats slaughtered by informal market butcher stands in five districts spanning Malawi. Most of the butchers surveyed identified plastic during slaughter (80%) while almost half (45.3%) identified other indigestible objects (hardware). Plastic was found by butchers in all districts and across rural and urban settings. While being less common than plastic, the hardware noted by butchers included sharps such as needles and bicycle spokes. When purchasing, butchers do consider animal health important, but 70.7% consider injury status as less or not important. Overall, this study highlights the issues of pollution among smallholder goats and demonstrates the need for further study to address the impacts of pollution on animal health and knock-on impacts on smallholder livelihoods. Smallholder goat production plays a major role in rural livelihoods and food security in Malawi, but suffers from drastic and unpredictable production losses. While goat production is closely linked to small-scale local markets for slaughter and butchering, the perspectives of butchers and their potential as a source of animal health information are largely untapped. Butchers can provide insights into goat health status at slaughter as well as issues that go unseen before slaughter, such as the presence of indigestible foreign bodies (IFBs). IFBs include solid materials such as plastics and hardware (metals, stones, and other hard objects) that cause foreign body syndrome and can lead to impaction, oedema, malnutrition, and death. To estimate the presence of IFBs, 150 market stand butchers were surveyed across five districts in Malawi, focusing on a distinction between hardware and single-use plastics, which are still widely present in Malawi despite bans on production. Most butchers found plastic IFBs (80.7%), with over half (56.7%) reporting plastic IFBs recently among the past five slaughters. Hardware IFBs were less common, reported by 45.3% of butchers. While some butchers commented on the impact of IFBs on meat quality metrics ex-post, the majority observed no differences. While butchers unanimously considered health to be an important characteristic when sourcing goats, 70.7% consider injury status to be less important or not important. Overall, this study highlights the issue of anthropogenic waste pollution on goat production in Malawi and demonstrates the potential for the surveillance of goat health at market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Poor-quality extension service delivery motivated the introduction of the Extension Recovery Plan (ERP) in South Africa. The paper assesses the influence of the ERP on field-level, public extension practitioners' technical farm management knowledge and delivery of farm management information to small-holder farmers in the Thulamela municipality following their qualifications' upgrade. Methods: The study used a mixed-methods approach and employed a cross-sectional survey design. Due to logistical challenges, 80 out of 135 targeted farmers were available, and thus purposely selected for this assessment. Descriptive and inferential analytical methods were used. Findings: The findings showed that extension practitioners' technical farm management knowledge had improved; furthermore, there was a positive relationship between extension practitioners' qualifications' upgrade and the delivery of improved technical farm management information as attested to by respondents. Conclusions: The findings indicate that the ERP has a positive influence on extension practitioners' technical farm management knowledge as well as the delivery of improved management knowledge to producers in Thulamela Municipality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is the world’s largest user of groundwater for irrigation, with approximately 32 million pumps running on diesel, electric, and solar power. Subsidized electricity has led to an increase in the adoption of electric pumps by farmers, with increasing electrification rates and rising diesel costs contributing to the trend. Government subsidies have been instrumental in enhancing smallholder irrigation pump access. However, subsidies on irrigation pumps may exacerbate undesirable groundwater depletion. In smallholder settings where the capital needed to purchase irrigation equipment exceeds farmers’ means, “irrigation-as-a-service” and “rental pumps” with organized and affordable volumetric pricing could offer viable solutions. This policy brief provides key learnings on the Indian irrigation pump market and its policy and environmental implications, based on semi-structured interviews and secondary data collected.

Implementing an appropriate breeding program is crucial to control fluctuation in performance, enhance adaptation, and further improve the crossbred population of dairy cattle. Five alternative breeding programs (BPs) were modeled considering available breeding units in the study area, the existing crossbreeding practices, and the future prospects of dairy research and development in Ethiopia. The study targeted 143,576 crossbred cows of 54,822 smallholder households in the Arsi, West Shewa, and North Shewa zones of the Oromia Region, as well as the North Shewa zone of the Amhara Region. The alternative BPs include conventional on-station progeny testing (SPT), conventional on-farm progeny testing (FPT), conventional on-station and on-farm progeny testing (SFPT), genomic selection (GS), and genomic progeny testing (GPT). Input parameters for modeling the BPs were taken from the analysis of long-term data obtained from the Holetta Agricultural Research Center and a survey conducted in the study area. ZPLAN+ software was used to predict estimates of genetic gain (GG) and discounted profit for goal traits. The predicted genetic gains (GGs) for milk yield (MY) per year were 34.52 kg, 49.63 kg, 29.35 kg, 76.16 kg, and 77.51 kg for SPT, FPT, SFPT, GS, and GPT, respectively. The GGs of the other goal traits range from 0.69 to 1.19 days per year for age at first calving, from 1.20 to 2.35 days per year for calving interval, and from 0.06 to 0.12 days per year for herd life. Compared to conventional BPs, genomic systems (GPT and GS) enhanced the GG of MY by 53%–164%, reduced generation interval by up to 21%, and improved the accuracy of test bull selection from 0.33 to 0.43. The discounted profit of the BPs varied from 249.58 Ethiopian Birr (ETB, 1 USD = 39.55696 ETB) per year in SPT to 689.79 ETB per year in GS. Genomic selection outperforms SPT, SFPT, and FPT by 266, 227%, and 138% of discounted profit, respectively. Community-based crossbreeding accompanied by GS and gradual support with progeny testing (GPT) is recommended as the main way forward to attain better genetic progress in dairy farms in Ethiopia and similar scenarios in other tropical countries.

Background:In sub-Saharan Africa, 80% of poultry production is on smallholder village farms, where chickens are typically reared outdoors in free-ranging conditions. There is limited knowledge on chickens’ phenotypic characteristics and genetics under these conditions.Objective:The present is a large-scale study set out to phenotypically characterise the performance of tropically adapted commercial chickens in typical smallholder farm conditions, and to examine the genetic profile of chicken phenotypes associated with growth, meat production, immunity, and survival.Methods:A total of 2,573 T451A dual-purpose Sasso chickens kept outdoors in emulated free-ranging conditions at the poultry facility of the International Livestock Research Institute in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, were included in the study. The chickens were raised in five equally sized batches and were individually monitored and phenotyped from the age of 56 days for 8 weeks. Individual chicken data collected included weekly body weight, growth rate, body and breast meat weight at slaughter, Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) titres and intestinal Immunoglobulin A (IgA) levels recorded at the beginning and the end of the period of study, and survival rate during the same period. Genotyping by sequencing was performed on all chickens using a low-coverage and imputation approach. Chicken phenotypes and genotypes were combined in genomic association analyses.Results:We discovered that the chickens were phenotypically diverse, with extensive variance levels observed in all traits. Batch number and sex of the chicken significantly affected the studied phenotypes. Following quality assurance, genotypes consisted of 2.9 million Single Nucleotide Polymorphism markers that were used in the genomic analyses. Results revealed a largely polygenic mode of genetic control of all phenotypic traits. Nevertheless, 15 distinct markers were identified that were significantly associated with growth, carcass traits, NDV titres, IgA levels, and chicken survival. These markers were located in regions harbouring relevant annotated genes.Conclusion:Results suggest that performance of chickens raised under smallholder farm conditions is amenable to genetic improvement and may inform selective breeding programmes for enhanced chicken productivity in sub-Saharan Africa.

Diversification of smallholder rice-based cropping systems has the potential to increase cropping system intensity and boost food security. However, impacts on resource use efficiencies (e.g., nutrients, energy, and labor) remain poorly understood, highlighting the need to quantify synergies and trade-offs among different sustainability indicators under on-farm conditions. In southern coastal Bangladesh, aman season rice is characterized by low inputs and low productivity. We evaluated the farm-level impacts of cropping system intensification (adding irrigated boro season rice) and diversification (adding chili, groundnut, mungbean, or lathyrus) on seven performance indicators (rice equivalent yield, energy efficiency, partial nitrogen productivity, partial potassium productivity, partial greenhouse gas footprint, benefit-cost ratio, and hired labor energy productivity) based on a comprehensive survey of 501 households. Indicators were combined into a multi-criteria performance index, and their scope for improvement was calculated by comparing an individual farmer's performance to top-performing farmers (highest 20%). Results indicate that the baseline system (single-crop aman season rice) was the least productive, while double cropped systems increased rice equivalent yield 72-217%. Despite gains in productivity, higher cropping intensity reduced resource use efficiencies due to higher inputs of fertilizer and energy, which also increased production costs, particularly for boro season rice. However, trade-offs were smaller for diversified systems including legumes, largely owing to lower N fertilizer inputs. Aman season rice had the highest multi-criteria performance index, followed by systems with mungbean and lathyrus, indicating the latter are promising options to boost food production and profitability without compromising sustainability. Large gaps between individual and top-performing farmers existed for each indicator, suggesting significant scope for improvement. By targeting indicators contributing most to the multi-criteria performance index (partial nitrogen productivity, energy efficiency, hired labor energy productivity), results suggest further sustainability gains can be achieved through future field research studies focused on optimizing management within diversified systems.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13593-022-00795-3.

South Kalimantan Province is one of the territories that have implemented the Elaeis guineensis Rejuvenation Program. It is noteworthy because South Kalimantan boasts a relatively extensive area of Elaeis guineensis agribusiness, making a Important contribution to domestic palm oil production. In 2021, Elaeis guineensis cultivation in South Kalimantan covered an area of 426,968 hectares, spread across 13 districts and municipalities, with a total production of 5,139,750 tons. The Elaeis guineensis Rejuvenation program (PSR) purposes to enhance and develop agribusiness to the replacement of old or unproductive crops with new ones. The government has set a target for rejuvenating a total of 540,000 hectares by 2024. Nevertheless, as per data provided by the Elaeis guineensis agribusiness Fund Management Agency, the implementation of the Smallholder Elaeis guineensis Rejuvenation program from 2016 to June 30, 2022, has only achieved a total of 256,744 hectares. South Kalimantan has received support covering an area of 5,900 hectares distributed across four districts: Banjar Authority, Tanah Laut Authority, Tanah Bumbu Authority, and Kotabaru Authority. This support includes funding of Rp 25,000,000 per hectare, which is used for land management, fertilizer purchase, and seed procurement. The primary Goal of this research is to analyze the consumption patterns of Elaeis guineensis farmers who are actively participating in the Smallholder Elaeis guineensis Rejuvenation program within the Bati-Bati District of the Tanah Laut Authority, The purpose of this study is to utilize the consumption patterns of Elaeis guineensis farmers who are not Engaged in the Smallholder Elaeis guineensis Rejuvenation program within the Bati-Bati District of the Tanah Laut Authority, and to compare the consumption patterns of Elaeis guineensis farmers who are participants in the Smallholder Elaeis guineensis Rejuvenation program with those who are non-participants in the Bati-Bati District of Tanah Laut Authority. The total sample size used in this research consists of two different samples, which are 40 Elaeis guineensis farmers who are participants in the Smallholder Elaeis guineensis Rejuvenation program and 40 Elaeis guineensis farmers who are non-participants in the Smallholder Elaeis guineensis Rejuvenation Program. This research utilized two methods of data analysis, namely descriptive analysis and the independent sample t-test. The research results reveal that the monthly mean food Disbursement of Elaeis guineensis farmers who are participants in the Smallholder Elaeis guineensis Rejuvenation program is Rp 1,937,218, with a eating habits rate of 50.1%, while the monthly mean non-food Disbursement is Rp 1,928,625, with a non-eating habits rate of 49.8%. The monthly mean food Disbursement of non-participant smallholder Elaeis guineensis rejuvenation program farmers is Rp 3,308,893, with a eating habits rate of 55.7%, while the monthly mean non-food Disbursement is Rp 2,635,263, with a non-eating habits rate of 44.3%. The analysis results indicate that based on the independent sample t-test, there is a difference in household consumption patterns between Elaeis guineensis farmers who are participants in the Smallholder Elaeis guineensis Rejuvenation program and those who are non-participants.

Agricultural farming is a complicated system that involves continuous interactions among its multiple components over a period of time. The series of activities involved in farming practices have enormous contributions to ensure food security for the humanity. With the passage of time, agriculture sector faces diversified challenges like high food demand of rapidly growing population, scarcity of available resources and adverse effect of climate change. In developing countries like Bangladesh, food sufficiency is mostly achieved through intensive farming which has detrimental effects on natural resources, surrounding environment, and the whole ecosystem. The review attempts to discover the potentials of conservation agriculture practices for sustainable crop productivity and economic profitability of smallholder farmers in Bangladesh. This study revealed that conservation farm management practice is a cost-effective modernized technique that has the ability to accelerate crop productivity and farmers income through minimum utilization of agricultural inputs. Although the concept of conservation agriculture is widely practiced in other parts of the world, Bangladesh is experiencing a slow rate of adoption during the last few years. The policy implication of the study suggests that the government should take coordinated and combined initiatives involving both public and private sector organizations to incorporate this concept into the mainstream agricultural system of Bangladesh.

Accurate and timely information on farmland size is crucial for agricultural development, resource management, and other related fields. However, there is currently no mature method for estimating farmland size in smallholder farming areas. This is due to the small size of farmland plots in these areas, which have unclear boundaries in medium and high-resolution satellite imagery, and irregular shapes that make it difficult to extract complete boundaries using morphological rules. Automatic farmland mapping algorithms using remote sensing data also perform poorly in small-scale farming areas. To address this issue, this study proposes a farmland size evaluation index based on edge frequency (ECR). The algorithm utilizes the high temporal resolution of Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to compensate for its spatial resolution limitations. First, all Sentinel-2 images from one year are used to calculate edge frequencies, which can divide farmland areas into low-value farmland interior regions, medium-value non-permanent edges, and high-value permanent edges (PE). Next, the Otsu’s thresholding algorithm is iteratively applied twice to the edge frequencies to first extract edges and then permanent edges. The ratio of PE to cropland (ECR) is then calculated. Using the North China Plain and Northeast China Plain as study areas, and comparing with existing farmland size datasets, the appropriate estimation radius for ECR was determined to be 1600 m. The study found that the peak ECR value for the Northeast China Plain was 0.085, and the peak value for the North China Plain was 0.105. The overall distribution was consistent with the reference dataset.

Food systems around the world are increasingly interwoven into a global network. The dominant productionist paradigm emphasizes aggregate production volumes, a focus on few key products, and the dominant role of large exporting countries and transnational corporations. This article proposes a new conceptualization of food systems that illuminates the unequal structure and the lock-ins of this network. The global network of national food systems manifests as a center-periphery constellation where the resilience of many food systems is fatefully undermined. This article also explores the reasons why the successes of the productionist paradigm are accompanied with severe problems, including the potential of global food crises. Increasing vulnerability to crises is an inherent feature of the tightly networked global food system. As a way forward, we propose a transformation pathway based on the notion of "next best transition steps." A key idea is to afford agency and transformative resilience to those currently in the periphery of the global food system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discourse on knowledge integration persists in research and development practice. The need for traditional and Western knowledge systems to work together to achieve sustainable agricultural development in Ghana's rural areas has become evermore relevant to achieve household food security in the context of changing climate, declining soil fertility, and labour challenges. The authors examined the role of knowledge integration in shaping the food security outcomes of socially differentiated smallholders' households in Kassena-Nankana Municipal District and the Kassena-Nankana West District in the Upper East Region of Ghana, where food insecurity prevalence is very high. Using mixed methods approach, they found that most low resource endowed households that were unable to combine traditional and Western farming methods were more likely to experience food insecurity than were other households. Farmers with higher resource endowments integrated knowledges from both traditional and Western systems leading to better yield outcomes. However, combining both knowledge systems did not guarantee automatic success due to intervening factors. The authors conclude that different categories of smallholders' resource endowment significantly impacts the smallholders' food security status, and recommend that policy and development programming should promote integration of traditional and Western farming knowledge systems to achieve sustainable food crop production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of cultivated forages in smallholder dairy systems offers a cost-effective way to increase the productivity of livestock. The Kenyan and Ethiopian governments have both stated an ambition to increase the use of forages in their dairy sectors; however, policies have failed to produce widespread results. Existing research tends to focus on local barriers to forage adoption and not the wider innovation environment. To fill this literature gap, this study uses a Tobit model to analyse village-level data from Kenya and Ethiopia in 2015. A potentially important relationship between milk buyers and forage intensity in Ethiopia, which has not previously been addressed in the literature, is identified. As the Ethiopian government dominates the forage sector, the results of this study indicate that private milk buyers may offer an alternative source of information. In the Kenyan context, this paper finds that informal institutions and farmer-to-farmer information transmission are important in adoption decisions and should be considered when designing extension strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to land is critical to reducing poverty and ensuring sustained agrarian livelihoods. However, access and security of rights are shaped by land governance regimes. With increased population and urbanization, peri-urban frontiers have become key battlegrounds for control of land rights. Using the Tamale area in Ghana as a case study, we examined the perceptions of smallholder farmers on land governance practices and adaptation strategies. In a multi-stage sampling process, the study interviewed 86 smallholder farmers in five communities. The study revealed that good land governance indicators, ‘Recognition and Enforcement of Rights,’ ‘Efficient and Effective Conflict and Dispute Management,’ ‘Subsidiarity and Inclusiveness,’ as well as ‘Transparency and Accountability’ were generally below the minimum good practices benchmark based on smallholder farmers’ assessment. With the increasing deprivation of their land use rights, farmers switch to non-agricultural businesses, and/or seek refuge in nearby communities to farm either by renting or engaging in sharecropping arrangements. The results of this study underscore the need to improve land governance practices – specifically, compensation payment, transparency and accountability for land revenues, disputes resolution, and consultation on land use conversions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]