Farming System最新文献

Climate change is one of the main challenges facing agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, a region where many rely on rain-fed farming for their livelihoods. Climate-smart agricultural practices (CSAPs) have been identified as a promising solution to combat this problem. This paper reviews the literature on CSAPs in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Specifically, the review describes the existing literature on the adoption of CSAPs in the region, provides a more up-to-date summary of this expanding and important issue and presents an overview of the current evidence of CSAPs as a reliable means for farmers in SSA to address the climate change issues. The existing literature suggests that the rate of adoption of CSAPs in SSA is comparatively low. However, the adoption of CSAPs varies greatly across the region. The studies that constitute this review also provide evidence of the benefits of adopting CSAPs to farmers and the environment, ranging from increased productivity, resilience, and income for farmers, decreased greenhouse gas emissions to improved soil health. The decision to adopt particular CSAPs is influenced by several factors, including personal and social-psychological factors, environmental, physical, and ecological factors, farm and economic factors, as well as institutional, policy, and structural factors. Also, gender-based barriers in agriculture impact the adoption of CSAPs in SSA, placing women at a disadvantage. The review concludes that it is crucial to address the barriers and leverage the drivers to improve the adoption rates of CSAPs in SSA.

The current international context characterized by environment, and socio-political crises, and the related issue of instability of food supply and agricultural inputs, revives the need for agroecological transition of West African smallholders. This study aims to analyze the socio-psychological determinants of the adoption of crop rotation (CR) and cereal-leguminous intercropping (CLI) practices, two popular agroecological practices in Benin and Burkina Faso, in order to provide additional levers for action for the agroecological transition in these two countries. To this end, a stepwise survey involving all the municipalities of Atacora (9) in Benin and Houet (13) in Burkina Faso was conducted among 400 family farmers. The planned behavior model was then used to analyze their intentions and decisions to adopt these practices through structural equation modeling. Findings show that regardless of the practice, farmers' perceived control influences their intention as well as their adoption decision. Similarly, farmers' intention also had a positive and significant effect on their decision to implement these two practices. These results contribute to a better understanding of farmers' decisions process, and therefore offer opportunities to positively influence it.

Meeting the challenge of achieving high yields with less water utilization has raised concerns regarding developing water-saving agricultural practices. Conservation tillage and N fertilization are promising and widely used to improve water use efficiency; however, the mechanisms underlying still need to be addressed. Field experiments were conducted at the Hexi Corridor of northwestern China from 2019 to 2020, where tillage practices, i.e., conventional tillage (CT) and no-till with plastic film mulching (NTP), and N fertilizer rates (135 ​kg ​N ha⁻¹ [N135], 180 ​kg ​N ha⁻¹ [N180], and 225 ​kg ​N ha⁻¹ [N225]) were applied. The results showed that NTP led to a soil water change (i.e., water consumption from the soil) increased by 101.7% during the concurrent growth period in a specific soil layer at 0–30 ​cm compared to CT. It also lowered the total soil evaporation (22.3%) and improved the total transpiration (13.4%). Consequently, no significant difference in evapotranspiration between the NTP and CT groups was observed. N135 decreased the soil water change by 9.0% and 15.2%, and improved the total soil evaporation by 3.4% and 8.4%, respectively, compared with N180 and N225. Tillage practices and N fertilization had an interactive effect on water productivity. Under CT, the grain yield and water use efficiency based on evapotranspiration (WUE_ET) of N180 were reduced by 9.4% and 7.6%, respectively, compared to those of N225. In contrast, under NTP, no significant difference was found. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis showed that the tillage practices improved WUE_ET by reducing soil evaporation and improving transpiration. However, N fertilization improved WUE_ET uniquely by improving transpiration. Consequently, we concluded that no-till combined with 180 ​kg ​N ha⁻¹ could be used as an effective measure to achieve higher water productivity of spring wheat in arid areas.

Climate change and land degradation adversely affect food security in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Smallholder farmers are the most affected. Therefore, it is imperative to identify technologies that boost resilience to climate change, and restore lands. Push-pull technology is among proposed solutions. This technology controls stem borers, fall armyworm, striga, mycotoxins; improves availability of nitrogen and phosphorus, and stores increased carbon in biomass and soils. Though much has been published about push-pull technology, there is a lean in publications about how this technology can help smallholder farmers to cope with climate change and variability. Here, we present perceptions of adopters of push-pull technology in western Kenya with regard to climate change and land degradation, and discuss reasons it should be adopted widely. We compared push-pull and other maize-based cropping systems in western Kenya, through interviews. Push-pull technology produces 0.3–1.1 ​t more maize ha⁻¹ compared to maize-bean intercrop, and maize monocrop when the season is drier than normal. Additionally, push-pull provides 3.6–9.8 ​t more fodder during drought-stricken seasons. Push-pull technology covers 70% of the soil surface compared to 20% cover found in maize-bean intercrop and maize monocrop. In push-pull farms, 150–280 ​kg nitrogen, 13–24 ​kg phosphorus and 370–470 ​kg potassium can be recycled through biomass and this is five times greater than the potential for maize-bean intercrop and maize monocrop. There is need for wide adoption of push-pull technology to increase resilience of farmers to climate change and restore degraded lands.

Poor weed management in direct-seeded rice (DSR) at crop establishment stage has led to the need to explore different pre-emergence herbicides to reduce weed biomass and increase DSR yield in Cambodian lowland ecosystems. This study evaluated weed and yield responses to pre-emergence herbicides (pendimethalin, pretilachlor, butachlor, oxadiazon and no application as the control) under different weed management options during the 2018 and 2019 early wet seasons in farmers’ rice fields. All pre-emergence herbicides reduced weed flora and pendimethalin was most effective in controlling the population of mainly grassy weeds. Pendimethalin significantly reduced weed dry biomass by 36.2% (21.3 ​g ​m⁻²) in 2018 compared with the untreated control. In 2019, weed dry biomass was significantly reduced by 46% (17.9 ​g ​m⁻²) with butachlor compared with the untreated plot. Pendimethalin increased toxicity in rice plants, which decreased SPAD (leaf greenness) by 44.8% and tiller numbers by 39.3% at 7 days after herbicide application (DAPH) compared with butachlor, but plants recovered from pendimethalin toxicity at 14 DAPH. In 2018, oxadiazon herbicide significantly increased grain yield by 61% (4.6 ​t ​ha ⁻¹) compared with the untreated control, but oxadiazon produced similar grain yields as pendimethalin. In 2019, there was no significant effect of pre-emergence herbicides on yield but butachlor produced the highest rice yield (3.2 ​t ​ha⁻¹) followed by pendimethalin (2.8 ​t ​ha⁻¹) and oxadiazon (2.7 ​t ​ha⁻¹). Our study demonstrated that pre-emergent herbicides function differently under varying soil-water conditions in 2018 and 2019, therefore rice growers can use butachlor to control weeds in dryer soil conditions and potentially use pendimethalin to control weeds in good soil moisture conditions. This information is crucial and safe in developing appropriate strategies to manage weeds and enhancing DSR productivity in lowland ecosystems.

Improving rural livelihoods remains a challenge due to subsistence production. This study uses 206 surveys to assess whether smallholders can go commercial. We conducted the surveys in eight villages of the southern highlands of Tanzania, which we prioritized based on market access (low, high) and integration into commercial food systems (low, high). In addition, we included eight focus group discussions and six key informant interviews to supplement the survey data. We analyzed survey data using descriptive statistics and the general linear model with robust standard errors. Significant findings are fivefold. First, men dominate crops perceived as commercial, and women are less likely to be commercial. Second, youth are more likely to be commercial than adults. Third, smallholders are willing to quit farming over employment. Fourth, over half of surveyed smallholders perceived themselves as commercially oriented to a small extent, moderate, or great extent. Fifth, factors such as the sex of smallholders, age, land ownership, access to extension services, household size of the smallholder, and ownership of assets influenced the commercial orientation of smallholders. The study concludes that smallholders can indeed and gradually go commercial, albeit on a small scale and within the existing farming systems.

The social and economic benefits for smallholders cultivating oil palms are usually associated with environmental degradation and high resource consumption inherent to intensive farming systems. Nonetheless, the extensification of agricultural practices by many smallholders due to limited access to funds, agricultural inputs, or knowledge may result in a more environmental-friendly oil palm production. Here, we assessed the trade-offs between production and soil degradation in two oil palm farming systems established on forested land in the Ngwei region (Cameroon) comparing practices with no (smallholder system, SH) and low (elite system, EL) agricultural inputs (fertilizer, herbicides). Soil characteristics, nutrient deficiencies and oil palm production were determined in forty-two plantations of different age covering one full plantation cycle. The rates of soil organic carbon (SOC) loss were similar in both farming systems (−0.029 ​± ​0.012 ​kg ​C m⁻² yr⁻¹), but soil bulk density and pH were not affected by the forest conversion. Soil available potassium (K) decreased sharply during the first 7.3 ​± ​0.9 years before stabilizing. Potassium fertilization limited leaflet K deficiencies during the immature phase in EL, but was not sufficient to prevent K deficiencies during the production phase, reaching similarly low K nutrition index as in SH (0.68 ​± ​0.13). Oil palm growth was similar in both systems, but fresh fruit bunches (FFB) production was enhanced by 38 ​± ​11% in EL. The nitrogen (N) deficiencies were pronounced in both systems. However, the higher biomass export in EL induced phosphorus depletion in soils and reinforced N depletion as compared to SH. Despite limited soil degradation, nutrient depletion in the agroecosystem threatens the sustainability of these two low-input oil palm farming systems. This calls for optimization, such as a targeted intensification in the EL system and a reduced oil palm density in the SH system.

Agriculture and farming have a long history. Agriculture is the main economic structure for many developed and developing countries. The modern agricultural practices affect the environment namely nutrient cycle, soil erosion, carbon sequestration, and many other ecological patterns. Organic farming is influential practice to minimize the environmental and ecological impact of sustainable development. Usage of more organic matters in agricultural practices can reduce the adverse effects on the environment by keep saving its natural cycles on recovery process and organic farming may enhance the food quality too. The organic farming may largely exclude the usage of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, growth hormones and feed additives of livestock activities. A combination of organic farming and new technologies is of utmost importance to reduce the limitations and challenges of organic farming. The innovative methods and new approaches making new trends toward sustainability farming system and enhances the agricultural productivity, and quality of life of many farmers in an environmentally friendly way. In other words, organic farming mirrors the sustainability concepts of Global Agriculture.

Impacts of pest and diseases on crop productivity comprise one of the greatest existential threats to food security in the 21^st century. Despite this, crop models have historically adopted an abiotic lens. Here, we reviewed previous methods aimed at modelling effects of pests on crops and revealed a dearth of integrated approaches that account for pest lifecycles. The few integrated models that do exist tend to be empirical constructs that discount yield, with models of underpinning pest dynamics being extremely rare. Interaction between pests and crops has tended towards pest-induced reductions in plant biomass, leaf area, light interception and/or photosynthetic rates of infected plants, rather than biological modelling of the pest lifecycle per se. The use of process-based models that couple the pest-host interactions and capture the resource competition between the two are more suited to understanding the complexity of the farming system. Given that management interventions – such as crop rotation, intercropping, sowing time, nitrogen fertilisation, planting density and insecticide or fungicide use – underpin host colonisation success, we solicit advances in the modelling of management decisions to mitigate and manage pest and disease populations. Such information will become ever more crucial as global temperatures and extreme weather events increase in frequency and disease infestation proliferates. Harnessing this integrated weather-pest-crop-management continuum within farming systems models will improve farm management decisions. We conceptualise a framework using the lifecycle of blackleg disease (Leptosphaeria maculans) as an example; however, our approach could be generically adapted to other crop-pest interactions.