Agricultural sustainability of fadama farming systems in northern Nigeria: the case of Karshi and Baddeggi

Nigeria is endowed with underground and surface water reserves, rich pastures and favourable agroecological conditions in the country's low-lying plains with alluvial deposits, popularly referred to as fadama lands. The 3,000,000ha of fertile soils with residual moisture offer attractive opportunities for the arable farmers to grow both season and off-season high-value crops. The potential and importance of fadama agriculture for food production and economic development is crucial, given rising food prices, climatic changes, environmental risks associated with ‘modern’ agriculture, modelled farming systems and population growth. Fadama areas are therefore of critical importance to the survival and economic development of millions of rural dwellers. This research surveys and analyses the sustainability of fadama farming systems in semi-arid northern Nigeria. Findings reveal a delicate interaction and negotiation across the formal and informal boundaries where traditional agricultural practices, based on an understanding of the particular physical reality and exploitation of natural synergies, are combined with inputs typical of conventional agriculture. African agriculture thus stands poised at a crossroads: whether to abandon tradition in favour of entirely ‘modern’ methods and export markets as often advocated in certain circles or to depend on time-tested indigenous knowledge systems and grassroots-defined development vision which combines popular livelihoods with respect for nature's systems.     

Farming System Analysis of an Alternative Production System for Peasant Farming in Morogoro,Tanzania

This paper presents an examination and evaluation of traditional and alternative production systems in Morogoro District, Tanzania. The research employed the Farming Systems Research (FSR) framework to identify an alternative production system. The traditional and alternative systems were field tested and evaluated. Cet article examine et évalue deux systèmes agricoles de production, ?un traditionnel, ?autre alternatif, dans la région de Morogoro en Tanzanie. Ce dernier systéme a été identifié en utilisant la méthodologie de recherche appelée “Farming Systems Research”. Une évaluation économique et sur le terrain de ces deux systèmes a été entreprise.     

Polyculture,autonomy, and community: the pursuit of sustainability in a northern Thai farming village

A growing body of literature tracks small farmers worldwide engaging in new, proactive forms of ecologically oriented mobilization in a quest for community sustainability. We present the case of a group of farmers in northern Thailand who have converted from high-input, export-focused commodity crop production to organic vegetable polyculture systems. We analyse their motivations and the effects these changes have had on their households and community and find similarities with other small-scale agrarian communities reclaiming peasant modes of farming. The farmers of Mae Ta are primarily driven by an increased aversion to the cycles of debt, poor health, and restricted autonomy that accompany industrialized production. Those who have transitioned to organic polyculture have largely rid themselves of cyclical debt and persistent health maladies, feel more empowered and satisfied in their farming systems, and speak of broader impacts on the overall community.     

Temporal and spatial modelling of tropical deforestation: a survival analysis linking satellite and household survey data

We estimate a spatially explicit model of the forest clearance process among smallholder farmers in an agricultural frontier of southern Mexico. Our analysis takes as its point of departure a simple utility‐maximising model that suggests many possible determinants of deforestation in an economic environment characterised by missing or thin markets. Hypotheses from the model are tested on a data set that combines a time series of satellite imagery with data collected from a survey of farm households whose agricultural plots were geo‐referenced using a global positioning system (GPS). We implement a survival analysis to identify the effect of household level explanatory variables on the probability of deforestation. This approach allows us to introduce a measure of the time until clearance as a covariate, thereby affording a control for the effect of potentially important explanatory variables that vary through time but are not directly observable. In addition to identifying several variables relevant for policy analysis, including household demographics, proximity to roads, and government provision of agricultural support, model results suggest that the deforestation process is characterised by non‐linear duration dependence, with the probability of forest clearance first decreasing and then increasing with the passage of time.     

The environmental sustainability of national cropping systems: From assessment to policy impact evaluation

The European political framework of the last decade aims to drive agriculture towards economic and environmental sustainability. Thus, European institutions have paid great attention to environmental impact assessment and to the definition of a complex indicator capable of restoring the multidimensional nature of environmental sustainability.In this work, a possible methodology for assessing the environmental sustainability of European national cropping systems by a synthetic indicator is provided. More specifically, the environmental impact of agriculture is assessed through a synthetic indicator, whose definition is based on a methodological improvement of the ecological footprint approach, which quantifies the balance between exploitation and availability of natural resources used in agriculture.The analysis shows how national cropping systems can contribute to Europe’s environmental impact through agriculture. To assess an eventual relationship between agriculture’s environmental performance and the ability to support more sustainable agriculture at the national level, the results are then compared with the subsidies for agro-environmental measures provided by the second pillar of the CAP. In addition, the synthetic indicator chosen for the study, giving the possibility of quantifying the dynamic of the environmental impact of agriculture between two different periods, permits the analysis of the possible causes that may have generated the observed changes.The implications of this approach should stimulate new reflections on the significance of the ecological relationships embodied into agricultural production and the environmental role of farmers.     

Measuring the sustainability and economic viability of tropical farming systems: a model from sub-Saharan Africa

New technologies must be developed in sub-Saharan Africa which are sustainable and economically viable. This paper discusses a methodology for measuring the agricultural sustainability and economic viability of tropical farming systems for new technology evaluation. The approach is based on the concept of interspatial and intertemporal total factor productivity, paying particular attention to valuation of natural resource stock and flows. Agriculture is a sector which utilizes natural resources (e.g. soil nutrients) and the stock and flows of these resources affect the production environment. However, in many cases, the stock of these resources is beyond the control of the farmer and must be accounted for in an agricultural sustainability and economic viability measurement. For example, soil nutrients are removed by crops, erosion or leaching beyond the crop root-zone, or other processes such as volatilization of nitrogen. Agricultural production can also contribute to the stock of some nutrients by leguminous plants such as agroforestry systems. Using a data set available at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, we compute the intertemporal and interspatial total factor productivity indices for four cropping systems in southwestern Nigeria using stock of major soil nutrients as the natural resource stock. Results show that the sustainability and economic viability measures are sensitive to changes in the stock and flow of soil nutrients as well as the material inputs and outputs. Where the contribution of natural resource stock and flows are important (such as in the case of alley cropping), the measures provide markedly different results from conventional TFP approaches. The advantage of this approach is that interspatial and intertemporal total factor productivity measures are computed using only price and quantity data, thus eliminating the need for econometric estimation.     

陕北石油产区生态可持续发展研究--以靖边县为例

陕北石油产区气候敏感,自然环境恶劣,是我国生态建设重点区。近年来化石能源的大力开采导致当地本来脆弱生态环境发生了显著的变化。为准确对石油产区近年来生态环境变化情况进行定量研究,文章选取陕北石油产出重地靖边县为例,运用生态足迹模型对其2001~2008年的生态足迹变化进行了计算分析。结果表明,8年内全县生态承载力下降了0.223hm2,生态足迹增加了15.775hm2,生态赤字增加了16.0hm2,生态压力指数增长近6.5倍。对6种生态生产性土地的生态赤字/盈余的计算表明,除了林地和水域有少量生态盈余之外,耕地、草地、化石能源地和建筑用地均存在不同程度的生态赤字。同时得出,石油开采是造成靖边县生态赤字的最主要影响因素,2008年石油开采生态赤字已占当年总生态赤字32.5%。大量的化石能源开发使得靖边县生态已处于严重不可持续发展状态。     

Modeling household behavior in developing countries: discussion

A large and growing body of literature has examined how agricultural households cope with risk. Much of the work has focused on which types of households are better able to smooth consumption, testing whether households with more resources and greater access to income-smoothing institutions, such as credit markets or well-functioning labor markets exhibit greater consumption smoothing. However, income shocks may have different effects upon different individuals within households, and differences in individual ability to smooth income or consumption may have welfare consequences which go beyond foregone income. The development of collective household models challenges the assumption that individuals within households maximize a single utility function. The assumption of income pooling has also been rejected in a growing body of empirical research on intrahousehold resource allocation. However, research on risk-pooling within households and differences in individual abilities to smooth consumption is relatively new. Selected papers are discussed.     

Agricultural success from Africa: the case of fertilizer tree systems in southern Africa (Malawi,Tanzania, Mozambique,Zambia and Zimbabwe)

In response to the declining soil fertility in southern Africa and the negative effects that this leads to, such as food insecurity besides other developmental challenges, fertilizer tree systems (FTS) were developed as technological innovation to help smallholder farmers to build soil organic matter and fertility in a sustainable manner. In this paper, we trace the historical background and highlight the developmental phases and outcomes of the technology. The synthesis shows that FTS are inexpensive technologies that significantly raise crop yields, reduce food insecurity and enhance environmental services and resilience of agro-ecologies. Many of the achievements recorded with FTS can be traced to some key factors: the availability of a suite of technological options that are appropriate in a range of different household and ecological circumstances, partnership between multiple institutions and disciplines in the development of the technology, active encouragement of farmer innovations in the adaptation process and proactive engagement of several consortia of partner institutions to scale up the technology in farming communities. It is recommended that smallholder farmers would benefit if rural development planners emphasize the merits of different fertility replenishment approaches and taking advantage of the synergy between FTS and mineral fertilizers rather than focusing on ‘organic vs. inorganic’ debates.     

Peasant farmer behavior and cereal technologies: Stochastic programming analysis in Niger

Peasant farmers in Sahelian West Africa adjust to rainfall uncertainties in the agricultural season by making decisions sequentially as a function of the evolving rainfall patterns. Understanding such flexibilities in farmer decision-making is central to technology introduction. This paper determines how sequential decision-making under weather uncertainty affects the adoption and farm-level effects of cereal technologies in Niger. The study also draws policy implications for a price floor to arrest the substantial fall in cereal prices in good rainfall years when farmers have more grains to sell. The methodology used is Discrete Stochastic Programming. This paper shows that the ability of peasant farmers to adapt cropping and resource-management strategies to the rainfall patterns is the basis for their survival in this high-risk environment. Model results show that by (a) carrying a portfolio mix of varieties of varying maturities, and (b) making sequential decisions based upon rainfall expectations, farmers can adapt to the production uncertainties. Breeding programs should therefore be diversified to develop not only early-maturing cultivars, but also improved intermediate and long-season varieties.     

土地流转中农业规模经营组织类型的经济分析——基于农户与规模经营组织双向层面的分析

本文从农户与规模经营组织双向层面分析农业规模经营组织与农户土地流转的供求决策准则,用以解释不同农业规模经营组织存在的原因。研究表明,农户劳动力的机会成本、转出土地的租金决定土地转出;农户劳动力要素的总收益、农村社会的特征决定农户对规模经营组织的有效需求。规模报酬与技术进步所要求的最低规模决定规模经营组织的土地转入需求;规模报酬预期,包括土地租金在内的交易费用小于土地转入的纯收益,以及技术进步的资金充足,决定规模经营组织类型的有效供给。     

电子农务:建设新农村的利刃

信息化是当今世界发展的大趋势，是推动经济社会变革的重要力量。大力推进信息化，是覆盖我国现代化建设全局的战略举措，是新农村建设的迫切需要和必然选择。以电子信息技术引领新农村建设，首要任务是促进电子农务的开展，以电子农务实现”生产发展、生活宽裕、乡风文明、村容整洁、管理民主”的新农村建设目标。     

'Late Mobilization': Transnational Peasant Networks and Grassroots Organizing in Brazil and South Africa

In this paper, we analyze the political dynamics of the contemporary 'transnational peasant network' through a comparison of two movements: the Brazilian Movimento Dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) and the South African Landless People's Movement (LPM). We argue that transnational visions of 'peasants' often obscure relations between or within rural movements. One tangible benefit of the transnational peasant network is the exchange of ideas, experiences and information, but this exchange does not happen in a vacuum, rather it happens in the historically-situated, power-laden context of an uneven world system. Organized in 1984, MST activists from Brazil helped to train, educate and inspire South African activists after the LPM formed in 2001, but key elements of the MST's success were inappropriate or unworkable in the South African context. Ultimately, the transfer of movement knowledge from the MST to the LPM may have worked against the long-term success of the latter.     

Recent evolution of land use systems in the Abruzzi region, Italy

Agriculture in the Abruzzi mountain area of Italy's Mezzogiorno region has been drastically transformed over the past 20 years. This article describes the traditional land-use systems and the processes by which they have changed to modern farming or fallen into decline. Traditional farming still has a strong influence, even where new crops such as grapes and peaches are being grown. A confusion of systems exists, ranging from the most conservative mixed farming to intensive monoculture.     

The spread of Conservation Agriculture: justification,sustainability and uptake

Conservation Agriculture (CA) has been practised for three decades and has spread widely. We estimate that there are now some 106 million ha of arable and permanent crops grown without tillage in CA systems, corresponding to an annual rate of increase globally since 1990 of 5.3 million ha. Wherever CA has been adopted it appears to have had both agricultural and environmental benefits. Yet CA represents a fundamental change in production system thinking. It has counterintuitive and often unrecognized elements that promote soil health, productive capacity and ecosystem services. The practice of CA thus requires a deeper understanding of its ecological underpinnings in order to manage its various elements for sustainable intensification, where the aim is to optimize resource use and protect or enhance ecosystem processes in space and time over the long term. For these reasons CA is knowledge-intensive. CA constitutes principles and practices that can make a major contribution to sustainable production intensification. This, the first of two papers, presents the justification for CA as a system capable of building sustainability into agricultural production systems. It discusses some of CA's major achievable benefits, and presents an overview of the uptake of CA worldwide to 2009. The related paper elaborates the necessary conditions for the spread of CA.     

Back to Market: Polish Family Farming in the 1990s

The economic reform in Poland has changed dramatically both the income and social position of farmers. The competitive structure of the farming sector versus the monopolized-monopsonized economy, liberal agricultural import, and virtual lack o financial assistance from the state are the main features of the new situation. Specipc for the market reorientation of Polish agriculture has been the dramatic pace of the change. The paper highlights the background of the market reform in Polish agriculture, discusses accessible strategies and formulates some expectations for the future. La réforme économique en Pologne a modifié radicalement, à la fois, le revenu et la position sociale des agriculteurs. Le passage d'une économie de monopole-monopsone à une structure concurrentielle du secteur agricole, la libération des importations agricoles et l'absence virtuelle de route aide jinancière de l'État sont les traits principaux de la nouvelle situation. Ce qui est particulier à la réorientation du marché agricole en Pologne c'est le rythme effréné auquel les transformations se sont produites. L'auteur examine les stratégies accessibles et formule quelques attentes pour l'avenir.     

石河子垦区开发与生态环境的变迁

江泽民同志在党的“十六大”报告中谈到全面建设小康社会奋斗目标，分析我国社会矛盾时指出：“生态环境、自然资源和经济社会发展的矛盾日益突出”，要全面建设小康社会，就必须使“可持续发展能力不断增强，生态环境得到改善，资源利用效率显著提高，促进人与自然的合谐，推动整个社会走上生产发展、生活富裕、生态良好的文明发展道路。”把生态环境问题写入党的工作报告中，置于十分显著、十分重要的位置，这在我们党的政治报告中还是少见的。     

Technological change and agricultural household income distribution: theory and evidence from China

This article applies a general equilibrium model to analyse the impact of new rice technology on household income and uses agricultural household survey data from China to test the implications of this model. It is shown that, when a new rice technology becomes available, the adopting household will reallocate resources to increase rice production and reduce the production of other goods. Meanwhile, the non-adopting households will do the opposite. Thus, the income from rice becomes increasingly concentrated in the adopting households and income from non-rice becomes increasingly concentrated in the non-adopting households. If only one source of income is examined, the introduction of new rice technology increases the inequality of income distribution in rural areas. But, if the total household income is examined, the distributional inequality is mitigated.