Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world. With a total population of around 165 million, the country has constantly been facing food security challenges and other problems. Therefore, increasing food production is one of the feasible solutions to this challenge, and proper agricultural land use for food production bears critical importance. Adopting sustainable irrigation systems and viable technologies would be vital for ensuring efficient use of agricultural land in Bangladesh to safeguard the country's food security. Solar irrigation pumps (SIPs) can be a reliable option in this regard. However, Bangladesh has experienced a prolonged growth rate of SIP installation in the last decade. The countryhas set a target to install 10000 SIPs by the year 2027, albeit it is a tiny share of the 1.57 million conventional irrigation pumps operating in the country. This study aims to investigate the economic feasibility of the SIPs operating in the northern region of Bangladesh in terms of estimating financial feasibility and environmental benefits. The study is mainly based on primary data collected from the users of SIPs from two Upazilas of Dinajpur and Rangpur districts. A total of 14 SIPs, categorized into large, medium, and small pumps, are selected randomly from the available SIPs in the study areas. The financial analysis reveals that small SIPs are the most profitable option (20% IRR) for investment. Large SIPs are moderately profitable (10% IRR), and their profitability can be improved (10.50% IRR) by introducing additional uses of solar energy. However, medium SIPs are the worst (5% IRR) option for investment. In the study areas, large and medium SIPs are designed for the 'fees for service model', and small SIPs are designed for the 'fees for ownership model'. It is found that the 'fees for ownership model' is more profitable than the 'fees for service model'. Moreover, the net environmental benefit for all SIPs is found almost equal to the given subsidy for installing them. Also, the net environmental benefit per kilowatt peak (kWp) is highest for the small SIPs. This paper recommends that additional use (e.g., husking, grinding, supply excess electricity to grid, and so on) of solar energy can improve the profitability of investmenton SIPs. Further, the government should continue giving grants for installing SIPs and promote 'fees for ownership model' (small SIPs) for personal use. It would speed up the dissemination rate of SIPs and help increase the country's agricultural production and improve the environmental conditions.
The Gnassingbé clan has ruled the country since 1967. The demand for political alternance, initiated by institutional and electoral reforms, constituted the major contentious issue between the government and the challengers of the Gnassingbé regime throughout the survey period. The legislative elections of 20 December 2018, boycotted by the major opposition parties, resulted in an easy victory of the ruling party. The first local elections since more than 30 years took finally place on 30 June 2019 and resulted in the victory of the ruling party. Shortly afterwards, in February 2020, the President won also the disputed presidential elections and even consolidated his power, assisted by the loyal army and security services. The outbreak of the Corona epidemic in Togo in April and the subsequent economic recession may have contributed to limit popular protest against the Gnassingbé regime. The human rights record of the government has improved but remains poor. Despite undeniable improvements to the framework and appearance of the regime's key institutions during the review period, democracy remains far from complete. However, the international community, notably Togo's African peers, the AU and ECOWAS, followed a 'laissez-faire' approach in the interests of regional stability and their national interests in dealing with Togo. Economic growth remained stable at about 5% per annum (before Corona). Public investment in infrastructure and increases in agricultural productivity, notably of export crops, had been the key drivers of economic growth. However, growth remains vulnerable to external shocks and the climate and has not been inclusive. Positive growth was overshadowed by increasing inter-personal and regional inequality as well as an increase in extreme poverty. Moreover, money-laundering, illegal money transfers and trafficking grew alarmingly. The business climate improved considerably nevertheless. ; Author's enhanced version ; RÉSUMÉ: Le clan Gnassingbé dirige le pays depuis 1967. La revendication d'alternance politique, initiée par des réformes institutionnelles et électorales, a constitué le principal litige entre le gouvernement et les challengers du régime Gnassingbé tout au long de la période d'enquête. Les élections législatives du 20 décembre 2018, boycottées par les principaux partis d'opposition, se sont soldées par une victoire facile du parti au pouvoir. Les premières élections locales depuis plus de 30 ans ont finalement eu lieu le 30 juin 2019 et ont abouti à la victoire du parti au pouvoir. Peu de temps après, en février 2020, le président a remporté également les élections présidentielles contestées. Par cela il a même consolidé son pouvoir, aidé par l'armée fidèle et les services de sécurité. Le déclenchement de l'épidémie de Corona au Togo en avril 2020 et la récession économique qui a suivi, ont peut-être contribué à limiter les protestations populaires contre le régime de Gnassingbé. Le bilan du gouvernement en matière de droits humains s'est amélioré, mais reste médiocre. Malgré des améliorations indéniables du cadre et de l'apparence des principales institutions du régime pendant la période à l'examen, la démocratie reste loin d'être achevée. Cependant, la communauté internationale, notamment les pairs africains du Togo, l'UA et la CEDEAO, ont suivi une approche de «laissez-faire» dans l'intérêt de la stabilité régionale et de leurs intérêts nationaux face au Togo. La croissance économique est restée stable à environ 5 % par an (avant Corona). Les investissements publics dans les infrastructures et les augmentations de la productivité agricole, notamment des cultures d'exportation, ont été les principaux moteurs de la croissance économique. Cependant, la croissance reste vulnérable aux chocs externes et au climat, et le développement n'a pas été inclusive. La croissance positive a été éclipsée par l'augmentation des inégalités interpersonnelles et régionales ainsi que par une augmentation de l'extrême pauvreté. En outre, le blanchiment d'argent, les transferts d'argent illégaux et le trafic ont augmenté de façon alarmante. Le climat des affaires s'est néanmoins considérablement amélioré. --- ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Der Gnassingbé-Clan regiert das Land seit 1967. Die Forderung nach politischer Abwechslung, die durch institutionelle Reformen und Wahlreformen ausgelöst wurde, war das Hauptstreitpunkt zwischen der Regierung und den Herausforderern des Gnassingbé-Regimes während des gesamten Untersuchungszeitraums. Die von den großen Oppositionsparteien boykottierten Parlamentswahlen vom 20. Dezember 2018 führten zu einem leichten Sieg der Regierungspartei. Die ersten Kommunalwahlen seit mehr als 30 Jahren fanden schließlich am 30. Juni 2019 statt und führten zum Sieg der Regierungspartei. Kurz darauf, im Februar 2020, gewann der Präsident auch die umstrittenen Präsidentschaftswahlen. Somit festigte er sogar seine Macht, unterstützt von der loyalen Armee und den Sicherheitsdiensten. Der Ausbruch der Corona-Epidemie in Togo im April und die anschließende wirtschaftliche Rezession haben möglicherweise dazu beigetragen, den Protest der Bevölkerung gegen das Gnassingbé-Regime zu begrenzen. Die Menschenrechtsbilanz der Regierung hat sich verbessert, ist aber weiterhin schlecht. Trotz unbestreitbarer Verbesserungen des Rahmens und des Erscheinungsbilds der wichtigsten Institutionen des Regimes im Berichtszeitraum bleibt die Demokratie bei weitem nicht umfassend. Die internationale Gemeinschaft, insbesondere die afrikanischen Kollegen Faure Gnassingbés in der AU und ECOWAS, verfolgten jedoch im Interesse der regionalen Stabilität und in ihren nationalen Interessen im Umgang mit Togo einen "Laissez-Faire"-Ansatz. Das Wirtschaftswachstum blieb stabil bei etwa 5% pro Jahr (vor Corona). Öffentliche Investitionen in die Infrastruktur und die Steigerung der landwirtschaftlichen Produktivität, insbesondere in Exportkulturen, waren die Haupttreiber des Wirtschaftswachstums. Das Wachstum bleibt jedoch anfällig für externe Schocks und das Klima und war nicht inklusiv. Das positive Wachstum wurde durch die zunehmende zwischenmenschliche und regionale Ungleichheit sowie die Zunahme der extremen Armut überschattet. Darüber hinaus nahmen Geldwäsche, illegale Geldtransfers und Menschenhandel alarmierend zu. Das Geschäftsklima hat sich dennoch erheblich verbessert.
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the major staple food in the Nepalese context. Chitwan district of Nepal was purposively selected to analyze the rice production from the socio-economic and environmental perspective. A total of 100 rice growing farmers, 50 organic and 50 inorganic were selected as the sample for the purpose of the study using the simple random method of sampling. Primary data were collected through a pre-tested semi-structure interview schedule and key informant interviews; secondary data were collected reviewing related publications. Descriptive statistics, multiple regression and chi-square test were used for data analysis. The multiple regression revealed that the four explanatory variables included in the model: age of the household head, primary occupation of the household head, number of family members involved in agriculture and subsidy in inputs for rice farming were found to have positive and statistically significant effect on rice yield (P<0.01). Moreover, chi-square test revealed that the farming practices that contributes to climate change mitigation such as: minimum tillage practice (P<0.05), crop diversification (P<0.01), green manuring (P<0.01), agro forestry practice (P<0.05), incorporating crop residues (P<0.1), weed management practice (P<0.01) and pest management practice (P<0.01)were found to be well adopted by the organic rice farmers, in contrast, the farming practices of inorganic rice farmers were statistically and significantly different in this respect. Government should make such policy that could grave the attention of the Nepalese people towards organic agriculture; moreover, encouraging them to make it their primary occupation.
ABSTRATC: In contrast to the increasing aquaculture production of mussels worldwide, production in the European Union (EU) has shown a decreasing trend over the last two decades. Aquaculture production of mussels in the EU peaked in the late 1990s at more than 600 000 tonnes; by 2016, production volume had dropped by 20% to 480 000 tonnes. As mussel production represents more than 1/3 of EU aquaculture production, this decrease is an important contributor to the stagnation of EU aquaculture. Previous studies have suggested diseases, lack of mussel seed (spat), and low profitability as the main causes of the EU mussel production decrease. In this study, we investigate how economic and environmental factors have contributed. Moreover, we examine if the different mussel production techniques (raft, longline, on-bottom, and "bouchot") have been differently affected, by analysing the economic performance and cost structure evolution for the period 2010-2016. We complement these results with a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of the EU mussel sector based on expert knowledge.
This article considers an implementation of a constructive scheme of collective decision-making, which is based on the Bayesian strategy, for the selection of investment projects to solve the socio-economic problem of Kyiv city. The relevance of this study is that in the absence of an objective and transparent system for selecting investment projects and with a limited regional budget, the government should accept only those investment projects that bring the greatest socio-economic benefits. The main ways of state investment in projects aimed at improving socio-economic problems are considered. Among them are the State Fund for Regional Development and the public-private partnership program. It is determined that a significant advantage of public-private partnership over the State Fund for Regional Development is the ability to attract both public funds and private investment. Three projects aimed at solving the problem were selected from the website of the Kyiv Investment Agency, which operates within the framework of a public-private partnership. The financial indicators of their profitability were calculated – NPV (net present value), IRR (internal rate of return) and PI (profitability index). They are based on the concept of incoming and outgoing payments during the period of project execution. It is determined that these indicators do not always give a consistent result, as well as their main drawback – the inability to assess the social component. According to the methodology of collective decision-making by a group of independent experts in terms of the minimum average probability of error, calculations were made to determine the most attractive project. It is noted that all experts make decisions separately and independently of each other. Recommendations were provided for the selection of a specific project. The study identifies the advantages of this method of project acceptance for investment: objectivity, consistency and transparency. In the future, it is planned to incorporate risks into the decision-making model.The main areas that need improvement were considered, and key ones were selected. The most problematic and urgent is the issue of waste recycling in Kyiv. ; This article considers an implementation of a constructive scheme of collective decision-making, which is based on the Bayesian strategy, for the selection of investment projects to solve the socio-economic problem of Kyiv city. The relevance of this study is that in the absence of an objective and transparent system for selecting investment projects and with a limited regional budget, the government should accept only those investment projects that bring the greatest socio-economic benefits. The main ways of state investment in projects aimed at improving socio-economic problems are considered. Among them are the State Fund for Regional Development and the public-private partnership program. It is determined that a significant advantage of public-private partnership over the State Fund for Regional Development is the ability to attract both public funds and private investment. Three projects aimed at solving the problem were selected from the website of the Kyiv Investment Agency, which operates within the framework of a public-private partnership. The financial indicators of their profitability were calculated – NPV (net present value), IRR (internal rate of return) and PI (profitability index). They are based on the concept of incoming and outgoing payments during the period of project execution. It is determined that these indicators do not always give a consistent result, as well as their main drawback – the inability to assess the social component. According to the methodology of collective decision-making by a group of independent experts in terms of the minimum average probability of error, calculations were made to determine the most attractive project. It is noted that all experts make decisions separately and independently of each other. Recommendations were provided for the selection of a specific project. The study identifies the advantages of this method of project acceptance for investment: objectivity, consistency and transparency. In the future, it is planned to incorporate risks into the decision-making model.The main areas that need improvement were considered, and key ones were selected. The most problematic and urgent is the issue of waste recycling in Kyiv.
This article considers an implementation of a constructive scheme of collective decision-making, which is based on the Bayesian strategy, for the selection of investment projects to solve the socio-economic problem of Kyiv city. The relevance of this study is that in the absence of an objective and transparent system for selecting investment projects and with a limited regional budget, the government should accept only those investment projects that bring the greatest socio-economic benefits. The main ways of state investment in projects aimed at improving socio-economic problems are considered. Among them are the State Fund for Regional Development and the public-private partnership program. It is determined that a significant advantage of public-private partnership over the State Fund for Regional Development is the ability to attract both public funds and private investment. Three projects aimed at solving the problem were selected from the website of the Kyiv Investment Agency, which operates within the framework of a public-private partnership. The financial indicators of their profitability were calculated – NPV (net present value), IRR (internal rate of return) and PI (profitability index). They are based on the concept of incoming and outgoing payments during the period of project execution. It is determined that these indicators do not always give a consistent result, as well as their main drawback – the inability to assess the social component. According to the methodology of collective decision-making by a group of independent experts in terms of the minimum average probability of error, calculations were made to determine the most attractive project. It is noted that all experts make decisions separately and independently of each other. Recommendations were provided for the selection of a specific project. The study identifies the advantages of this method of project acceptance for investment: objectivity, consistency and transparency. In the future, it is planned to incorporate risks into the decision-making model.The main areas that need improvement were considered, and key ones were selected. The most problematic and urgent is the issue of waste recycling in Kyiv. ; This article considers an implementation of a constructive scheme of collective decision-making, which is based on the Bayesian strategy, for the selection of investment projects to solve the socio-economic problem of Kyiv city. The relevance of this study is that in the absence of an objective and transparent system for selecting investment projects and with a limited regional budget, the government should accept only those investment projects that bring the greatest socio-economic benefits. The main ways of state investment in projects aimed at improving socio-economic problems are considered. Among them are the State Fund for Regional Development and the public-private partnership program. It is determined that a significant advantage of public-private partnership over the State Fund for Regional Development is the ability to attract both public funds and private investment. Three projects aimed at solving the problem were selected from the website of the Kyiv Investment Agency, which operates within the framework of a public-private partnership. The financial indicators of their profitability were calculated – NPV (net present value), IRR (internal rate of return) and PI (profitability index). They are based on the concept of incoming and outgoing payments during the period of project execution. It is determined that these indicators do not always give a consistent result, as well as their main drawback – the inability to assess the social component. According to the methodology of collective decision-making by a group of independent experts in terms of the minimum average probability of error, calculations were made to determine the most attractive project. It is noted that all experts make decisions separately and independently of each other. Recommendations were provided for the selection of a specific project. The study identifies the advantages of this method of project acceptance for investment: objectivity, consistency and transparency. In the future, it is planned to incorporate risks into the decision-making model.The main areas that need improvement were considered, and key ones were selected. The most problematic and urgent is the issue of waste recycling in Kyiv.
The Indian crested porcupine (Hystrix indica) is a vertebrate pest of agricultural lands and forest. The study was aimed to report the damage to local crops by the Indian crested porcupine (Hystrix indica) in the Muzaffarabad District. A survey was conducted to identify the porcupine-affected areas and assess the crop damage to the local farmers in district Muzaffarabad Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) from May 2017 to October 2017. Around 19 villages were surveyed, and a sum of 191 semi-structured questionnaires was distributed among farmers. Crop damage was found highest in village Dhanni where a porcupine destroyed 175 Kg/Kanal of the crops. Regarding the total magnitude of crop loss, village Danna and Koomi kot were the most affected areas. More than half (51.8%) of the respondents in the study area suffered the economic loss within the range of 101-200$, and (29.8%) of the people suffered losses in the range of 201-300$ annually. Among all crops, maize (Zea mays) was found to be the most damaged crop ranging between 1-300 Kg annually. In the study area, porcupine also inflicted a lot of damages to some important vegetables, including spinach (Spinacia oleracea), potato (Solanum tuberosum) and onion (Allium cepa). It was estimated that, on average, 511Kg of vegetables are destroyed by porcupine every year in the agricultural land of Muzaffarabad. It was concluded that the Indian crested porcupine has a devastating effect on agriculture which is an important source of income and food for the local community. Developing an effective pest control strategy with the help of the local government and the Wildlife department could help the farmers to overcome this problem.
A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. Yan'an is China's "revolutionary holy land," the heart of Mao Zedong's Communist movement from 1937 to 1947. Based on thirty years of archival and documentary research and numerous field trips to the region, Joseph W. Esherick's book examines the origins of the Communist revolution in Northwest China, from the political, social, and demographic changes of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), to the intellectual ferment of the early Republic, the guerrilla movement of the 1930s, and the replacement of the local revolutionary leadership after Mao and the Center arrived in 1935. In Accidental Holy Land, Esherick compels us to consider the Chinese Revolution not as some inevitable peasant response to poverty and oppression, but as the contingent product of local, national, and international events in a constantly changing milieu.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is the top destination for Russian food exports, grains in particular. Focusing on Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, this chapter shows that Russia's food trade with MENA countries is strongly affected by bilateral political relations. Russia banned most food imports from Turkey over a political conflict in 2016. In the same year, improved intergovernmental cooperation with Saudi Arabia resulted in a diversification of Russia's food exports to the Gulf country, and in 2019, Iran's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) led to increasing food trade with Russia. Food imports in MENA countries are usually managed by powerful state trading enterprises (STEs), which recurrently disapprove food products originating from Russia based on non-adherence to food quality standards. Our analysis shows that Russia is successfully working to open additional destination markets, while simultaneously impeding imports of food products that it aims to produce domestically.
[8], 188, 187-590, [14] p. ; E.G. = Edward Grimeston?. ; Translation of: Historia natural y moral de las Indias. ; The first leaf and the last leaf are blank. ; Includes index. ; A variant omits the words "the R.F." on the title page. ; Reproduction of the original in Cambridge University Library.
Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M ; Food self-sufficiency is a relevant political issue in many countries, developed and developing, particularly to satisfy the internal nutritional needs of the population and face situations in which the prices of basic products are unstable or when a country faces an external shock. Improving resilience involves strengthening local rural communities to meet demand with domestic production. The member countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LCN) produce enough food to sustain their population and to be one of the world's largest food exporters. From the theoretical discussion and using data from FAO, the research shows that there is a potential to improve food sovereignty and to define food and agricultural policies through agricultural complementarity among the LCN countries. Diverting part of the current trade with third parties to intraregional trade, for products in which the region has a comparative advantage, would mean that LCN countries could save up to 2.7 billion dollars per year, that is, 6.8%of total imports of food in 2018, avoiding the outflow of foreign currency and promoting greater economic integration between countries.
In this paper we present a simple technique to derive certificates of non-realizability for a combinatorial polytope. Our approach uses a variant of the classical algebraic certificates introduced by Bokowski and Sturmfels (1989), the final polynomials. More specifically we reduce the problem of finding a realization to that of finding a positive point in a variety and try to find a polynomial with positive coefficients in the generating ideal (a positive polynomial), showing that such point does not exist. Many, if not most, of the techniques for proving non-realizability developed in the last three decades can be seen as following this framework, using more or less elaborate ways of constructing such positive polynomials. Our proposal is more straightforward as we simply use linear programming to exhaustively search for such positive polynomials in the ideal restricted to some linear subspace. Somewhat surprisingly, this elementary strategy yields results that are competitive with more elaborate alternatives, and allows us to derive new examples of non-realizable combinatorial polytopes ; Gouveia was partially supported by the Centre for Mathematics of the University of Coimbra - UIDB/00324/2020 , funded by the Portuguese Government through FCT/MCTES . Macchia was supported by the Einstein Foundation Berlin under Francisco Santos grant EVF-2015-230 and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) – project number 454595616 . Wiebe was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) [ PDF - 557980 - 2021 ], and by the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS). The research and findings may not reflect those of the Institute.
ABSTRACT Human life is increasingly developing, making demands for fulfilment of needs are also growing. Likewise with the clothing needs used. Nowadays the use of one's clothing shifts into a lifestyle that cannot be separated from it. This condition can benefit the market to make it an opportunity. This happens in Indonesia, where the country whose population is the largest Moslem religion up to 85% of the total population has a fashion style that is influenced by the beliefs adopted by Islam. This fashion industry has an important role as a contributor to improving the economy. The development of the domestic Muslim fashion industry will be able to answer domestic to international market demand if it can formulate strategies in answering the challenges that exist. In this case the actors who play a role in the Muslim Fashion Industry must have a reliable strategy that can improve the development of the Muslim Fashion Industry. This development has also become the main focus of the Indonesian government where it has a target that makes Indonesia the World Muslim Fashion Qibla in 2020. By utilizing the wealth of Indonesian Human Resources, Nature and Culture, Indonesia will be able to reach its dreams. The impact that will be felt in achieving this target is very large, such as increasing economic productivity, increasing employment opportunities, national income and the role of Indonesia in the development of world Muslim fashion.
