Author: Jules N. Pretty Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1136529276 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 292
Book Description
Continued population growth, rapidly changing consumption patterns and the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are driving limited resources of food, energy, water and materials towards critical thresholds worldwide. These pressures are likely to be substantial across Africa, where countries will have to find innovative ways to boost crop and livestock production to avoid becoming more reliant on imports and food aid. Sustainable agricultural intensification - producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts - represents a solution for millions of African farmers. This volume presents the lessons learned from 40 sustainable agricultural intensification programmes in 20 countries across Africa, commissioned as part of the UK Government's Foresight project. Through detailed case studies, the authors of each chapter examine how to develop productive and sustainable agricultural systems and how to scale up these systems to reach many more millions of people in the future. Themes covered include crop improvements, agroforestry and soil conservation, conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, horticulture, livestock and fodder crops, aquaculture, and novel policies and partnerships.
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org. ISBN: 9251068712 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 116
Book Description
The book offers a rich toolkit of relevant, adoptable ecosystem-based practices that can help the world's 500 million smallholder farm families achieve higher productivity, profitability and resource-use efficiency while enhancing natural capital.
Author: Paul Weisenfeld Publisher: RTI Press ISBN: Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 8
Book Description
Ensuring a stable and healthful food supply for the world’s growing population has become increasingly urgent, particularly in the face of climate change. In spite of expected increases in food production in developing countries, the number of people at risk of hunger is predicted to grow, especially in the world’s poorest regions. While technology is not a panacea, it is critical to addressing the food production side of the food security equation. The social, economic, and other factors that affect technology adoption are complex and varied, requiring research that combines natural and social sciences to understand how best to influence the uptake and sustained use of effective technologies. Research should focus on four areas where complex combinations of challenges inhibit adoption. Understanding (1) farm-level, (2) economic, and (3) policy barriers would illuminate where promising innovations may be viable. Further, researchers should explore which approaches most effectively drive adoption of (4) combinations of agricultural practices and technologies.
Author: Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org. ISBN: 9789251050675 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 40
Book Description
International commitments were made at the World Food Summits in 1996 and 2002 and in the Millennium Development Goals to cut food hunger levels by half by the year 2015. This objective will require the adoption of sustainable agricultural intensification methods that avoid degradation of the earth's natural resources and take into account the needs and livelihoods of rural populations, particularly in developing countries. This publication explores three approaches to an ethical analysis of agricultural intensification strategies, using arguments based on utilitarian, rights-based and virtue-based models.
Author: Iddrisu Yahaya Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
Essay one evaluates two farmer field schools aimed at promoting conservation agricultural practices. The field schools were conducted and offered to approximately 1/3 of all individuals surveyed in a baseline in 2010. These same farmers were resurveyed in 2012 in order to determine whether their knowledge of conservation agriculture practices had changed using a double-difference approach. The approach was also used to determine whether innate perceptions and biases against conservation agriculture have changed over time due to training in the field schools. These findings are supported with enterprise budgets of conservation practices to determine whether knowledge or on-farm economics limit adoption of conservation practices. The data showed that farmer-to-farmer communications are effective tools for raising knowledge. Essay two examines the interdependence of sustainable agricultural intensification practices (SAIPs) in order to better understand the constraints and incentives for the adoption of components and "packages" of components. The impact of accumulated knowledge score on the adoption of SAIPs was assessed using data from 168 participant and non-participant farm households that completed a survey in 2014 and 2012 from the Upper West region of Ghana. From a three-step regression, our findings show knowledge of participant household improved with evidence of knowledge spillover to non-participant. Participation, age and gender of the head of household and experience were factors impacting farm household knowledge score change on SAIPs. The study found that, knowledge score through the treatment effect impacts adoption of SAIPs which are complementary. Younger household heads and experience in farming are also found to likely impact adoption. Essay three estimates technical efficiency (TE) scores for millet and sorghum and evaluates the impact of soil and water conservation methods on TE scores. The paper also examines the sensitivity of TE scores on the distributional assumptions of the one-sided error using data from 518 and 754 farm households producing millet and sorghum respectively from a random national household survey in Niger. A Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier model was used. The mean TE scores range from 52% to 66% and 35% to 60% respectively for adopters and non-adopters of soil and water conservation methods in millet production based on the distributional assumptions of the one-sided error. For sorghum production, the mean TE scores range from 47% to 63% and 39% to 63% respectively for adopters and non-adopters of soil and water conservation methods based on the distributional assumptions of the one-sided error. This suggests inefficiencies in the production of millet and sorghum and hence, the potential to improve output using existing technology. Adopters are relatively more efficient than non-adopters of soil and water conservation methods. The TE score differences in millet production are explained by location of household (rural), educational level and adoption of soil and water conservation. The efficiency score differences in sorghum can be explained by household size, educational level and soil and water conservation adoption. We also found TE scores are sensitive to the distributional assumptions of the one-sided error using the farm household level data.
Author: Jules Pretty Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317269845 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 200
Book Description
Sustainable intensification (SI) has emerged in recent years as a powerful new conceptualisation of agricultural sustainability and has been widely adopted in policy circles and debates. It is defined as a process or system where yields are increased without adverse environmental impact and without the cultivation of more land. Co-written by Jules Pretty, one of the pioneers of the concept and internationally known and respected authority on sustainable agriculture, this book sets out current thinking and debates around sustainable agriculture and intensification. It recognises that world population is increasing rapidly, so that yields must increase on finite land and other resources to maintain food security. It provides the first widely accessible overview of the concept of SI as an innovative approach to agriculture and as a key element in the transition to a green economy. It presents evidence from around the world to show how various innovations are improving yields, resilience and farm incomes, particularly for ‘resource constrained’ smallholders in developing countries, but also in the developed world. It shows how SI is a fundamental departure from previous models of agricultural intensification. It also highlights the particular role and potential of small-scale farmers and the fundamental importance of social and human capital in designing and spreading effective innovations.
Author: B.A. Babcock Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 9401729158 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 214
Book Description
Risk Management and the Environment: Agriculture in Perspective is a modern academic work that seeks to bring out both to the private and the policy sectors the importance of risk management in relation to the envi ronment in agriculture, as the world moves towards freer markets. Many efforts were pooled together in making this book. Three years ago, an attempt was made by one of the editors to get a project on 'Agri cultural Risk Management and Sustainabilty' (ARMAS) funded by the European Commission. Probably deeming the proposal as prematurely novel for Europe, the Commission's screening experts abandoned its evaluation. Following that experience it became apparent that the literature on the theme ought to be strengthened and emphasized through a book by a well known publishing house. The editorial team was formed relatively quickly and an invitation to known experts in the field for contributions was issued. Subsequently, Kluwer Academic Publishers, evaluated an edited volume proposal package, and final revisions were made prior to submitting the entire manuscript for publication. We are gratefully acknowledging the moral support of several individu als as well as the patience of our publishers.
Author: Stephen R. Gliessman Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 9781575040431 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 420
Book Description
Presents powerful arguments against "Environmental Racism", "Incrementalism" and the "Impotence of Planning." Explores case studies of urban planning, county policies, residential development and more. Submits the authors recommendations for preserving the delicate balance of Floridas ecosystem.
Author: Jules N. Pretty
Author: Beliyou Haile
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 
Author: Paul Weisenfeld
Author: 
Author: Lawrence J. Lau
Author: Iddrisu Yahaya
Author: Jules Pretty
Author: B.A. Babcock
Author: Stephen R. Gliessman