Who is resilient in Africa’s Green Revolution? Sustainable intensification and Climate Smart Agriculture in Rwanda

Under the banner of a "New Green Revolution for Africa," agricultural intensification programs aim to make smallholder agriculture more productive as well as "climate smart". As with Green Revolutions in Asia and Mexico, agricultural innovations (hybrid seeds, agronomic engineering, market linkages,and increased use of fertilizer and pesticides) are promoted as essential catalysts of agriculture-led economic growth. Intensification programs are now frequently linked to Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), which attempts to build resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while increasing crop yields. This article considers who and what is resilient in Africa’s Green Revolution. We report on a multi-season study of smallholder food producers' experiences with Rwanda’s Crop Intensification Program (CIP) and related policies that aim to commercialize subsistence agriculture while implementing CSA. . We suggest that there are fundamental limits to the climate resilience afforded by CSA and development efforts rooted in Green Revolution thinking. Our findings illustrate that such efforts foreground technology and management adjustments in ways that have reduced smallholder resilience by inhibiting sovereignty over land use, decreasing livelihood flexibility, and constricting resource access. We put forth that rural development policies could better promote climate-resilient livelihoods through: 1) adaptive governance that enables smallholder land use decision-making; 2) support for smallholder food producers’ existing agro-ecological strategies of intensification; 3) participatory approaches to visualize and correct for inequalities in local processes of social-ecological resilence Such considerations are paramount for meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and building climate-resilient food systems.     

Agriculture as a provider of public goods: a case study for Norway

A valid argument for support is that subsidies are remedies for market failures. Agriculture contributes positively to public goods as food security, landscape preservation and maintenance of population in remote areas. Using a numerical model we simulate what Norwegian agriculture would look like if the only purpose of supporting agriculture was to provide such public goods. This is compared to the consequences of the Uruguay round in GATT and possible future EU membership for Norwegian agriculture. Although the GATT agreement will change agriculture in the desirable direction, the agreement puts no substantial pressure on the current agricultural policy. EU membership on the lines laid down by the accession treaty between EU and Norway prior to the referendum in 1994 would have given a stronger impetus towards the optimal solution.     

利用“绿箱”措施,加快中国林业发展研究综述

《农业协议》是规范成员国农林业补贴政策的国际规则,依据《农业协议》,特别是依据其中的“绿箱”措施来完善我国的林业补贴政策是我国的必然选择。本文回顾了我国农林业方面的研究文献,综述了其中与“绿箱”措施相关的观点,指出了我国财政支农政策的现状、趋势、效率、结构、原则、政策设计,总结了财政政策在我国林业投资、林业税费、生态效益补偿、林业生态工程等领域的运用情况,并在此基础上做了综合评论,提出今后的研究方向。     

石羊河流域绿色农业循环模式研究

该研究针对石羊河流域绿洲灌区环境资源特点、产业优势及生产中存在的问题,通过对当地玉米、小麦两大主栽作物秸秆饲料化利用、肉牛健康养殖、废弃物综合利用、农畜产品生产全程质量监控等技术的组装配套,试验研究总结形成种养结合、资源循环利用、清洁生产的绿色农业发展模式,即种养结合型模式"玉米—牛—沼—肥"、大田设施配套型模式"小麦—菇—肥—果(葡萄)"、小型养殖场型模式"牛—沼/蚯蚓—肥/饲料"。并对模式、特点、技术集成要点及效益进行阐述分析。对该3种模式在石羊河流域典型区域武威市凉州区谢河镇示范验证,农田节水30%,秸秆养殖利用率达到60%,牛羊良种化率提高30%,奶牛母犊牛生产率达88%,减少化肥施用量20%,减少生活能源支出55%,减少农业废弃物排放75%,提高农业综合效益36%。     

A paradigm for persistence: a vital challenge for the agricultural academy

The further economic development of modern, multi-functional and responsible agricultural and food systems must be set within a global context of ecological sustainability and social responsibility. This presents all of those who are concerned with such development, with a much more complex challenge than that posed by the relatively straightforward goals of the Green Revolution to increase production of staple grains in the pursuit of food security on a national scale. It is thus crucial that leaders within institutions of research and higher education in agriculture and related disciplines across the entire world come to terms with the intellectual, moral, practical and political challenges that are fundamental to this systemic change of focus. The situation demands nothing less than a paradigmatic revolution in education, research and extension with implications for the adoption of a very different strategic role for universities with respect to how they critically engage with the multi-stakeholders of entire agri-food systems.     

Agricultural Marketing in Belgium and the Netherlands

Agriculture in Belgium and the Netherlands has a strong export tradition and has been market oriented for a long time. In this article agricultural markeling in Belgium and the Netherlands is analyzed on the basis of the concepts structure, conduct and performance. In our review of market structure attention is paid to the structure of agriculture, the food consumer, food retailing, government policies, competition and marketing channels. Afterwards market conduct with respect to product, price, promotion and distribution is discussed. Finally some qualitative observations are made on marketing performance. It is concluded that agricultural marketing policies in Belgium and the NeIherlands are increasingly focusing on value added to the agricultural product. As a result vertical marketing systems/food chain and marketing management become familiar concepts to agicultural marketing.     

More than energy transformations: a historical transition from organic to industrialized farm systems in a Mediterranean village (Les Oluges,Catalonia, 1860–1959–1999)

The analysis of energy efficiency of agroecosystems from a sociometabolic perspective is a useful way to assess the sustainability of farm systems. In this paper we examine the transition of a Mediterranean agroecosystem from an organic farm system in the mid nineteenth century to an industrialized one at the end of the twentieth century by means of the technologies and ideology of the Green Revolution. Given that many of the world’s agricultural systems have experienced, or are currently experiencing this transformation, our results are relevant for building more sustainable agricultural systems in future. Our results highlight the relevance of livestock density, and the flows of biomass reused and unharvested biomass as key elements affecting the sustainability of the agroecosystem not only from a socioeconomic perspective, but also from an agroecological point of view. Additionally, from a biocultural perspective our investigation sustains the relevance of the study of traditional farm systems for the development of a sustainable agriculture.     

Toward a green revolution in Africa: what would it achieve,and what would it require?

The current global food crisis has reemphasized the costliness of Africa's failure to achieve food security and poverty reduction. The instrument by which other more successful developing countries achieved these outcomes was a “Green Revolution” in agriculture. While previous research has provided largely discursive appraisals of the viability of an African Green Revolution, this article adopts a more rigorous methodology to address that question. First, an economy‐wide multimarket model, augmented with existing poverty–growth elasticities, is developed to assess the likely impacts of a rapid acceleration in food production (of the kind witnessed in previous Green Revolutions) on food prices, consumption and demand, farmer revenue, and poverty. Our results suggest that a rapid growth in staple production, together with more integrated regional markets, would reduce food prices by roughly 20–40% for consumers and 10–20% for producers among the major crops. This translates into a large rise in farm revenues, annual agricultural growth rates of 6.5% or higher, broader income growth and food security, and over 70 million Africans being lifted out of poverty. The article concludes by emphasizing the kinds of fundamental policy actions and resources that would be required for achieving these outcomes.     

Global food demand,productivity growth,and the scarcity of land and water resources: a spatially explicit mathematical programming approach

In the coming decades, an increasing competition for global land and water resources can be expected, due to rising demand for food and bio‐energy production, biodiversity conservation, and changing production conditions due to climate change. The potential of technological change in agriculture to adapt to these trends is subject to considerable uncertainty. In order to simulate these combined effects in a spatially explicit way, we present a model of agricultural production and its impact on the environment (MAgPIE). MAgPIE is a mathematical programming model covering the most important agricultural crop and livestock production types in 10 economic regions worldwide at a spatial resolution of three by three degrees, i.e., approximately 300 by 300 km at the equator. It takes regional economic conditions as well as spatially explicit data on potential crop yields and land and water constraints into account and derives specific land‐use patterns for each grid cell. Shadow prices for binding constraints can be used to valuate resources for which in many places no markets exist, especially irrigation water. In this article, we describe the model structure and validation. We apply the model to possible future scenarios up to 2055 and derive required rates of technological change (i.e., yield increase) in agricultural production in order to meet future food demand.     

Soil and cropping system research in semi-arid West Africa as related to the potential for conservation agriculture

Semi-arid West Africa faces challenges to increase sorghum and pearl millet production to meet food needs for a growing human population while increasing soil carbon (C), nutrient levels, and water holding capacity that are documented benefits of conservation agriculture. This review focuses on the wealth of research on cropping systems, tillage, crop residue, nutrient, and weed management as related to conservation agriculture. It also identifies needs for multidisciplinary, integrative research to assist the transition from current production systems to conservation agriculture. Crop residue use as livestock feed, or fuel are major constraints to adoption of conservation agriculture, which could be reduced by wood production in agroforestry systems, alternate energy sources, and increased forage supply. Crop residue and grain yields are related, thus improved crop, soil, water, nutrient, and weed management to increase grain yield would also increase the supply of crop residue with potential for ‘left over’ crop residue being available for soil mulching. Incorporating indigenous shrubs and/or cover crops could also increase crop residue supply. Species diversity can be increased through crop rotation, agroforestry, cover crops, and intercrops. Higher grain and stover yields and increased profit potential for resource-poor farmers in West Africa will be required before wide-scale adoption of conservation agriculture will be possible.     

Investing in Bulgarian Agriculture Investir dans l’agriculture bulgare Investitionen in die bulgarische Landwirtschaft

Investing in Bulgarian Agriculture The Programme for European Development of Bulgaria has set agricultural development as a basis for economic growth. The first strategic objective of the Programme is to make agriculture an attractive industry and to guarantee a high standard of living for people working in the sector by stabilising and increasing their incomes. The priorities of the Bulgarian government regarding agriculture follow the priorities of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and we strictly adhere to the two pillars of the CAP. A Food Safety Agency is being established to guarantee the safety and increase the quality of food and a legislative base is being created to allow producers to supply directly to consumers thus enhancing market opportunities. Bulgaria is in the middle of the first programming period of the Rural Development Programme (2007–2013) and expectations of the programme are high. It has the largest budget in Bulgaria and the fund absorption rate of about 20 per cent is the highest in the country. Bulgarian government priorities are consistently focused on the goal of increasing the competitiveness of Bulgarian agriculture through technical and technological modernization of the sector and on the sustainable development and stabilization of rural areas under the conditions of EU membership.     

On the economics of agricultural production*

Agriculture is in the business of using ecosystem services to produce food. Examining how agro‐ecosystems function provides useful insights into the economics of agriculture. Of special interest are the presence and nature of scale effects, complementarity effects and convexity effects in ecosystem functioning. Implications for agricultural productivity and the economics of agriculture are evaluated. At the farm level, this helps to better understand the current trend toward greater specialisation. Current challenges for agricultural contracts, markets and policy are explored.     

全球变化背景下气候变暖对中国农业生产的影响

全球变化背景下,气候变暖势必对我国农业生产要素、生产环境、农业生产活动及粮食安全产生重大影响。文章采用文献综述与比较研究的方法,系统分析气候变化对我国光资源、温度、水环境和土壤环境等农业生产要素的影响特征及变化趋势,探讨气候变化对我国作物种植区域和种植制度、农作物病虫害、农业生产能力、农业经济与管理等农业生产活动以及农田生态系统过程、农业生态环境(水环境、土壤环境、耕作环境)的实际影响。在此基础上,明确了我国农业在应对气候变化过程中所面临的主要问题:极端气候事件发生频率加大,自然灾害、气象灾害的风险提高,农业生产的波动性增强;农业病虫害的为害时间延长、危害程度加剧、为害范围增大;农业生态环境日趋恶化,农田土壤的干旱化、盐渍化程度加剧,农业生产能力下降;应对气候变化的农业发展策略及其关键技术亟需解决。     

Landraces as an adaptation strategy to climate change for smallholders in Santa Catarina,Southern Brazil

Adapting to climate change has become a pressing and urgent issue given the alarming rapidity with which climate changes is taking place. Agriculture is strongly conditioned by climatic factors, but subsistence agriculture is particularly vulnerable because smallholders do not have adequate financial resources to adapt to climate change. Agrobiodiversity provides one option for smallholders to adapt to climate change. Landraces developed in the western region of Santa Catarina State, Brazil, are part of a deliberate strategy by smallholders to achieve a state of food sovereignty and independence from commercial sources of hybrid seed. The ability of smallholders to collectively conserve climate-adapted landraces indicates the depth of local knowledge and capability within local communities that can be drawn on to meet the future challenges of climate change.     

Economic Measures of Sustainability

Sustainable Agriculture is a term that has grown out of global call for sustainable development. Unfortunately, the term has been very widely adopted to represent a variety of initiatives. If the term is to retain any meaning it must be refined and defined. In this paper sustainability was defined as: The maintenance of the net benefits agriculture provides to society for present and future generations. This definition is very much a humanist approach, which includes both consumer and producer surplus. The paper identifies the conflict that may occur between consumer surplus, producer surplus and total economic surplus. From a consumer surplus point of view food security, and discounting are major issues. The compensating variation of a famine may be infinite making food security a primary goal of many nations. The maximization of the net returns from agricultural production represents me producer surplus point view. A second, somewhat related concern is the maintenance of minimum level of income in the agricultural sector. Consumer surplus is threatened by food scarcity, and agricultural income is threatened by surpluses. Price is the best measure we have of scarcity. To discuss sufficiency in the absence of price is very misleading. Similarly, describing sustainability in terms of expected output and prices is also misleading. It is unplanned scarcity and abundance that threatens food security and economic viability respectively. It is therefore, the ability of the agricultural system to respond and rule out extreme price that is central to the issue of sustainability. Given the inelastic nature of the demand the ability for sustainable agriculture may largely be a function of the elasticity of supply. The ability of fixed factors such as land to enter and exit a sector may also augment sustainability. A thirdsource, of economic flexibility is alternative technologies that can be applied at very low or high prices. This flexibility has to be valued not at expected prices but rather for the option values at extreme prices. Government has a role in sustainability. Governments should pursue policies which enhance the elasticity of supply. Policies that stabilize income through prices have the opposite effect. These programs should at a minimum be decoupled. Secondly, governments should spend research dollars on technologies that enhance the elasticity of supply. Finally, land set aside programs, add great deal to the elasticity of supply.     

Defining and delivering ‘sustainable’ agriculture in the UK after Brexit: interdisciplinary lessons from experiences of agricultural reform

Defining and achieving sustainability in the context of complex, multi-scale, and constantly changing agricultural systems is a challenge for research and policy. In UK agriculture, the European Union and its Common Agricultural Policy has been a key source of funding for and approaches to sustainability in the agriculture and rural development sectors. The decision to leave the European Union represents a significant moment in UK agriculture and rural development policy, and both an opportunity and responsibility for the UK government to set out and commit towards achieving sustainability goals for the sector. In this study, a combination of ethnographic case study research, focusing on the case of upland farmers in the Yorkshire Dales, policy analysis and national agricultural sector data is referred to in describing experiences of agricultural policy reform over recent decades. From these experiences, lessons for the design and delivery of future agriculture and rural development are drawn out. It is argued that the integrated assessment of multiple sources of knowledge can provide a means to critically reflecting on evidence about sustainability in complex systems, better understanding trade-offs, and creating a more complete and inclusive knowledge base from which to define sustainable agriculture.     

Effects of the Energy Crisis on French Agriculture between 1974 and 1984

The effects that the energy crisis has had on the relatively energy-intensive French agriculture are discussed in this paper for the period 1974–1984. The economic significance of energy in agriculture and the economic effects of higher energy prices are examined. An analysis is made of developments in the use of different sources of energy in the agricultural sector: savings in petroleum products used for heat production, diversification of fuel sources for heating, growing consumption of wood for space heating, and increased use of electricity. The effects of the energy crisis on France's agricultural economy, particularly with regard to farm income, the choice of sites for agricultural production, and trade in agro-food products are discussed. Finally, a detailed breakdown is given of the changes in the use of production factors, caused by the increase in energy prices. Agriculture appears to have become more economical or more efficient.     

Impact and implications of price policy and land degradation on agricultural growth in developing countries

In many developing countries, a high proportion of the population resides and works in rural areas. Agriculture is the dominant sector in rural areas and has the greatest concentration of poverty: landless workers, small tenant farmers, and small farm owners. Thus, any development strategy that is directed towards increasing employment and alleviating a country's hunger must concentrate on sustainable agricultural growth. Historically, economic development in most countries has been based on exploitation of natural resources, particularly land resources. Soil erosion and land degradation have been serious worldwide. Due to reasons such as high population pressure on land and limited fossil energy supplies, land degradation is generally more serious in the developing world. Empirical studies show that soil erosion and degradation of agricultural land not only decrease the land productivity but they can also result in major downstream or off-site damage which may be several times that of on-site damage. In promoting industrialization, governments of many developing countries adopt a package of price and other policies that reduce agricultural production incentives and encourage a flow of resources out of agriculture. Increasing evidence shows that these policies cause a substantial efficiency or social welfare loss, and a great loss in foreign exchange earnings. In addition, a World Bank study on the effect of price distortions on economic growth rates concluded that neither rich resource endowments, nor a high stage of economic development, nor privatization are able to make up the adverse effects caused by high price distortions. This analysis is primarily concerned with identifying the factors that determine the agricultural production growth rate and in testing the effects these factors have on agricultural growth in developing countries. Specifically, this study involves statistical estimation of an aggregate agricultural growth function based on cross-country data for 28 developing countries. Special attention is devoted to land degradation and agricultural pricing policy, and to the policy implications resulting from the effects these variables have on agricultural and food production growth. The overall results of this study show that price distortions in the economy and land degradation had statistically significant negative impacts while the change in arable and permanent land was positively related to the growth of agricultural production and food production in 28 developing countries from 1971 to 1980. These results emphasize the importance of ‘getting prices right’ and implementation of sustainable land and water management practices if future growth in food and agricultural output is to be realized and sustained in developing countries.     

THE AGRICULTURAL POTENTIALS OF CANADA'S RESOURCES AND TECHNOLOGY*

Canada's agricultural potential during the 1980's will be constrained by the availability and prices of productive agricultural land, water, energy, labour, and technology. Resources for further expansion of agricultural production are becoming increasingly scarce. Past expansions were made possible largely by the substitution of cheap fossil energy for expensive labour. Further expansion will necessitate new technology that is both energy saving and labour saving. A multifaceted program involving government, farmers, and other components of the food system is needed to achieve Canada's agricultural potentials. Agricultural expansions in the 1990's will depend first upon the success of the programs designed for the 1980's and second upon new scientific knowledge and technological adaptations. Without a massive and well coordinated effort to meet the needs of agriculture, Canada could become a food deficit nation before the end of this century. Le potentiel de ?Agriculture du Canada durant les 1980's va être contraint par la disponibilité et le pri.x de la terre, ?eau, ?energie, le travail et la technologie productive. Les ressources pour ?avancement de la production agricoie deviennent de plus en plus rare. Les expansions du passé ont été possible par la substitution de ?énergie fossile pour le travail dispendieux. Un autre anvancement va nécessiter une nouvelle technologie qui sauvera ?energie et le travail. Un programme qui comprend le gouvernement les fermiers et touts les autres constituents du système alimentaire est nécessaire si le Canada va achever son potential agricoie. Les expansions agricoles des 1990's vont depéndre premièrement du succès des programmes developpés pour les 1980's et deuxièment de nouvelles connaissances scientifique et de nouvelles adaptations technologigues. Sans un effort massif et sans un grand effort coordonné dans le domaine de ?agriculture, le Canada peut devenir un pays qui manque de la nourriture avant la fin du siècle.     

Increasing agricultural productivity while reducing greenhouse gas emissions in sub‐Saharan Africa: myth or reality?

The motivation for this study stems from two major concerns that are interlinked. The first is the decades long food insecurity crisis faced by sub‐Saharan African (SSA) countries which is still prevalent. The second is the negative impact greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture may have on future food production and which is likely to worsen the food insecurity problem. The conundrum SSA farmers face is how to increase food output through productivity growth while minimizing GHG emissions. To measure changes in productivity growth and GHG emissions, this study evaluates the agricultural performance of 18 SSA countries by utilizing the Malmquist–Luenberger index to incorporate good and bad outputs for the years 1980–2012. The empirical evidence demonstrates that productivity is overestimated when bad outputs are not considered in the production model. The analysis provides a better understanding of the effectiveness of previous mitigation methods and which informs an appropriate course of action needed to achieve the twin objectives of increasing agriculture productivity while reducing GHG emissions.