Classical Swine Fever Changes the Way Farmers Value Pigs in South Africa

Although there is growing demand for animal products in Africa, production is stagnating. Appropriate management of livestock diversity could help reinvigorate production, contribute to food security and improve farmers’ livelihoods, particularly in subsistence‐oriented systems. We assess differences in farmers’ preferences and economic values for pig traits across different production systems and across areas that have been affected and unaffected by classical swine fever (CSF). Not surprisingly, market‐oriented farmers derived higher values from the productive traits such as heavy slaughter weight and large litter size found in exotic pig genotypes. Subsistence‐oriented farmers, particularly in swine fever affected areas, placed high value on tolerance to disease. We found that CSF changed farmers’ preferences for adaptive traits, and less so for productive traits. Therefore, indigenous breeds become more valuable for subsistence farmers and crossbreeds for market‐oriented farmers if CSF is a risk. Our results can have implications for breeding and conservation strategies and for compensation strategies after culling, and will become increasingly relevant if, as predicted, heat waves and disease outbreaks become more frequent in pig production systems in South Africa with climate change.     

中国县级“三生用地”分类体系的理论构建与实证分析

研究目的:"三生用地"分类研究是国土空间规划与管理的基础,而分类的关键在于科学识别及归并土地利用的各项功能。研究方法:以理论分析与实证研究相结合的方法,构建了"三生用地"两级续分分类体系。研究结果:依据土地利用的产业属性、社会属性和管理属性将县域土地划分为17个类型,提出了"三生用地"的数量结构与组合结构两种分类表达范式。以南安市丰州镇为例进行实证分析表明,研究区生产、生活与生态用地面积占土地总面积的比例分别为48.94%、19.07%、77.29%,涵盖了生产用地、生活用地、生态用地、生产—生活用地、生产—生态用地、生产—生活—生态用地6种用地组合模式。生产用地与生活用地具有较明显的空间一致性且主要分布在南部地势平坦的沿江地带,而与生态用地具有较明显的空间互补性且主要分布在北部低山丘陵地区,不同用地组合在空间分布上呈现"局部集聚、全局分散"的特征。研究结论:实证研究与理论分析的吻合度较高,说明所建构的分类体系与表达范式具有较强的实用性和可操作性,可为当前国土空间规划与管理提供参考。     

Traditional Management Systems, Poverty and Change in the Arid Zone Fisheries of Northern Nigeria

This paper, based on fieldwork results, explores traditional management systems (TMS) in the arid zone fisheries of north-eastern Nigeria with particular reference to their impact on rural poverty. The first section provides a historical background by tracing the evolution of the TMS since the nineteenth century, with reference to government policy on fisheries management and poverty alleviation. The second gives an overview of TMS, including definitions, distribution, principal objectives, regulatory mechanisms and the impact of TMS on the performance of the fisheries and on the livelihoods of rural people. The third considers the perceptions and attitudes of the fishing communities with regards to the fisheries and TMS. The paper concludes, paradoxically, that while TMS provide a basis for the sustainable livelihoods of many fishing people, they also reflect and enforce the social positions of the rich and powerful members of society who oversee them, at the expense of the poor. In the future, poverty alleviation in fisheries will need to incorporate both sectoral and non-sectoral strategies – dealing with the existing 'paradox of TMS' by encouraging appropriate institutional changes and community development, and recognizing the importance of employment creation in other sectors of the economy as a source of alternative income.     

Designing and evaluating sustainable development pathways for semi‐subsistence crop–livestock systems: lessons from Kenya

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in African agriculture requires a better understanding why high levels of poverty and resource degradation persist in African agriculture despite decades of policy interventions and development projects. In this article, we hypothesize that policies need to account for the key features of the semi‐subsistence crop–livestock systems (CLS) in the region to become effective. The semi‐subsistence CLS are characterized by a high degree of biophysical and economic heterogeneity and a complex, diversified production system involving a combination of subsistence and cash crops with livestock. We investigated the potential for interventions proposed by the Government of Kenya to meet the SDGs by 2030. The analysis uses an integrated modeling approach designed to deal with the key features of these systems. A strategy that stimulates rural development, increases farm size to a sustainable level, and reduces distortions and inefficiencies in input and output markets could lead to a sustainable development pathway and achieve the SDGs for rural households dependent on CLS.     

A comparative multidimensional evaluation of conservation agriculture systems: A case study from a Mediterranean area of Southern Italy

To avoid the current paradoxes of the global agro-food system it is necessary to define and implement a viable agricultural sustainable model, combining satisfaction of food needs and land preservation. A possible solution can be found in a holistic production system consistent with a sustainable development model, designed to satisfy diverse “local” economies. The conservation agriculture (CA) could be a part of this model, as it includes a set of best practices available to preserve agrarian soil and its biodiversity. Briefly, we cover the CA background in Europe followed by the evaluation of its impact in terms of private/public interest, using the sustainability’s metric.To test the viability of a model based on CA in “local conditions”, we compare economic performance of different conservation practices (i.e. minimum and no tillage) to that of conventional agriculture in a typical Mediterranean environment – Collina Materana – in Southern Italy (Basilicata region). Our findings suggest that: i) CA can actually be a viable alternative to conventional systems; ii) in Mediterranean agricultural areas CA has yield advantages especially during dry years, when conservation techniques increase water supply to crops; iii) public support is needed to direct farming choices in fact without financial incentives these practices would be not widely accepted and diffused; iv) European policy makers have to recognized the positive benefits of CA and pay them as ecosystem services in the framework of Good Agricultural Environmental Conditions and the present CAP subsidies.     

对勘察施工企业经营方式的辩证思考

作者认为经营方式落后于同行业的基准水平是许多勘察施工企业发展不景气的重要因素。文章通过分析勘察施工企业经营方式的基本现状 ,提出应辩证地看待勘察施工企业经营方式 ,在此基础上阐述了集约化经营的目标模式 ,并针对如何推进经营方式的转变提出四项基本措施。     

辽宁东部水源涵养林计量指标体系及其效益评估

对辽东山区水源涵养林产生的各种效益进行计量评价研究,制定了水源涵养林计量效益评价指标体系,包括3级结构、16项指标、49项因子;依各功能因子的重要性并经测算,对各项指标赋予权重和排序,森林的蓄水、减少径流、改善水质功能的权重值较高;采用条件价值法,估算辽东山区水源涵养林的各种功能价值,森林的林副产品和木材收益的功能价值较高。辽东山区水源涵养林按整体处在一般经营状态下计算,年均创造功能价值约为30.2亿元。     

市民农园经营方式及发展策略研究

我国市民农园在经济发展和互联网应用的影响下快速发展。文章通过整理国内外市民农园发展现状,分析了我国市民农园的实用型、社区支持型及观赏型等不同经营方式及其特点,并提出了明确市场定位、发展特色品牌,建立互联网大数据、为市民农园发展提供数据支持,建立专业技术平台、为市民农园提供技术支持,改善农业金融服务、为市民农园提供资金支持等对策措施,以期为我国市民农园的健康快速发展提供理论基础。     

黑龙江省高等农业院校培养学生独立思考能力对策研究

独立思考能力的培养是学习过程中的资源整合,独立思考能力的强弱能够反映出学生学习能力与沟通协作能力的好坏。本科教学的课程中应多设置些能够培养和训练学生独立思考能力的课程及实践,使得学生有机会去思考、发现问题,探索解决问题的多种途径。