Suchergebnisse

N° ISBN - 978-2-7380-1284-5 ; International audience ; The study area is a former homeland, where land had been historically set aside for african communities and which happens to be today a well balanced ecoagriculture landscape combining farmed and wildlife areas, both protected and unprotected. This informal ecoagriculture landscape, developed under poverty conditions now represents a huge potential because it can support many ecosystem services and lead to the improvement of people's livelihoods. The analysis of past and present farming practices shows that agriculture alone has never been the unique source of income. It thus appears of interest for the further development of the inhabitants to rely on these landscape mosaics for their livelihoods rather than transforming their land into large scale monocultures. This can be achieved provided collective decisions are taken that lead to a formal ecoagriculture landscape.

N° ISBN - 978-2-7380-1284-5 ; International audience ; The study area is a former homeland, where land had been historically set aside for african communities and which happens to be today a well balanced ecoagriculture landscape combining farmed and wildlife areas, both protected and unprotected. This informal ecoagriculture landscape, developed under poverty conditions now represents a huge potential because it can support many ecosystem services and lead to the improvement of people's livelihoods. The analysis of past and present farming practices shows that agriculture alone has never been the unique source of income. It thus appears of interest for the further development of the inhabitants to rely on these landscape mosaics for their livelihoods rather than transforming their land into large scale monocultures. This can be achieved provided collective decisions are taken that lead to a formal ecoagriculture landscape.

Charting a new path to eliminating hunger -- Moving ecoagriculture into the mainstream -- The nutritional and economic potential of vegetables -- Getting more crop per drop -- Farmers take the lead in research and development -- Africa's soil fertility crisis and the coming famine -- Safeguarding local food biodiversity -- Coping with climate change and building resilience -- Post-harvest losses: a neglected field -- Feeding the cities -- Harnessing the knowledge and skills of women farmers -- Investing in Africa's land: crisis and opportunity -- The missing links: going beyond production -- Improving food production from livestock -- A road map for nourishing the planet.

This resource offers an extensive review of Conservation Agriculture (CA) practices in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in an effort to determine future possibilities and applications of these practices in the same region. EcoAgriculture Partners performed a literature review, interviews, field visits to Mozambique and Tanzania, and critical analysis to reveal the current status of CA in SSA, production stages where it may be most relevant, and future extension methodologies. The authors found that despite the many environmental, economic, and social benefits to CA, adoption was sparse. Recommendations for facilitating adoption include intensive education, policy changes, and infrastructure development.

N° ISBN - 978-2-7380-1284-5 ; International audience ; In order to achieve biodiversity conservation and agricultural production goals at the same time and in the same space, there is a need to assess the functioning of rural land at the landscape level. This paper reports on the outcome of a landscape performance assessment in northern KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Performance assessment is a way of keeping track of the status of a particular landscape and is useful for planners and other stakeholders when deciding which goals to pursue for improving the landscape's performance. We facilitated three group meetings for farmers and a fourth one for practitioners from key stakeholder institutions operating in the community. The landscape was rated on four aspects, namely conservation, production, livelihood and institutions goals. The overall mean rating was 2.97 out of a maximum rating of 5 implying that the landscape was generally performing fairly well. For various reasons however, the mean ratings for individual goals and sub-goals varied, both between and within stakeholder groups. We found the area to be an informal ecoagriculture landscape with a good potential for transformation into formal landscape-level management processes involving farmers and other stakeholders to support more ecosystem services and better living standards for its inhabitants.

N° ISBN - 978-2-7380-1284-5 ; International audience ; In order to achieve biodiversity conservation and agricultural production goals at the same time and in the same space, there is a need to assess the functioning of rural land at the landscape level. This paper reports on the outcome of a landscape performance assessment in northern KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Performance assessment is a way of keeping track of the status of a particular landscape and is useful for planners and other stakeholders when deciding which goals to pursue for improving the landscape's performance. We facilitated three group meetings for farmers and a fourth one for practitioners from key stakeholder institutions operating in the community. The landscape was rated on four aspects, namely conservation, production, livelihood and institutions goals. The overall mean rating was 2.97 out of a maximum rating of 5 implying that the landscape was generally performing fairly well. For various reasons however, the mean ratings for individual goals and sub-goals varied, both between and within stakeholder groups. We found the area to be an informal ecoagriculture landscape with a good potential for transformation into formal landscape-level management processes involving farmers and other stakeholders to support more ecosystem services and better living standards for its inhabitants.

Metadata only record ; For many developing countries, agricultural production gains have facilitated rural and urban economic growth. However, African countries in general are viewed as being unsuccessful in increasing productivity. Sustainable intensification is a method of production that incorporates the principles of natural resource conservation and efficient use with intensive agricultural practices. Recently, it is a coming into ideological and practical popularity among agriculturalists, environmentalists, and economists as a means to increase productive capacity sustainably. In this study, forty projects and programs utilizing concepts of sustainable intensification in twenty African states were evaluated the determine the commonalities of success. Increased yields and benefits to farmers and their families were demonstrated, and scaling out now presents significant issues and challenges. Common factors in the success of these forty endeavors include farmer and scientist-generated animal integration technologies, improving social infrastructure, incorporation of the private sector, adoption of modern communication technologies, developing rural banking and microfinance opportunities, garnering support from the public sector, and focusing on impacts and issues related to gender.

Metadata only record ; The project is a research and development collaboration between rural communities in the Altiplano and high valleys of Bolivia and Peru, universities and non governmental organizations in the region and the US, and institutions that formulate policy. It will strengthen the capacity of these communities and institutions to conduct research and to develop strategies to adapt to change, to reduce vulnerability and enhance biodiversity of their agro-ecosystems. Our Goal is to achieve food security and biodiversity in vulnerable rural communities of Andean Agro-ecosystems by building capacities and capabilities to adapt to change. This project develops knowledge, practices and strategies to build resilient livelihoods and ecosystems, in response to changes in climate, markets and socio-political conditions. ; LTRA-4 (Practices and Strategies for Vulnerable Agro-Ecosystems)

Metadata only record ; As an alternative to the negative externalities created by agro-industrialism adopted over the latter half of the twentieth century, the European Union has now adopted a policy of agro-food diversification. While this policy has been viewed as a gateway to a sustainable agriculture development, it presents unique challenges to agricultural business owners as they attempt to switch production ethics. This research follows the transition of farmers in England as they attempt to take advantage personal social assets, contacts incentives and resources offered by the government in this process. Incorporating methodologies from the recent "relational turn" in economic geography, the research follows how individuals utilize personal networks and existing business contacts as they move into more diversified production systems. Agro-food diversification is characterized as a dynamic and challenging process that requires a significant shift in outlook from a specialization and yield maximization to a more substantive investment in social networks to build business economies of scope and synergy for a diversified agribusiness.

"This unique volume is not just an in-depth analysis of Professor Swaminathan's brilliant contributions to basic cytogenetics, radiation biology, mutagenesis and genomic affinities of cultivated potato and its wild derivatives, but also the application of the new knowledge gained to improve the productivity of agricultural crops, as also to enhance their resistance to a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses. No other earlier biographies of Professor Swaminathan bring out these salient dimensions of his scientific achievements made at the Wageningen University, The Netherlands, Cambridge University, UK, and Wisconsin University, USA as well as Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. This biography is also unique for its revelation that Professor Swaminathan's contributions par excellence have been in contemporary areas of crop improvement for productivity and resistance to pests and diseases. This volume is also unique in bringing out that Professor Swaminathan, Father of India's Green Revolution, wanted to use this chemically intensified system only to gain 'breathing space' and went on to propose a 'systems approach' — based evergreen revolution in order to 'achieve productivity in perpetuity' through various pathways of ecoagriculture, and also integrated it with avenues for on-farm and non-farm livelihoods. Towards this goal, he made innovative uses of ecotechnologies in a 'biovillage' paradigm and modern information and communication technology (ICT) in Village Knowledge Centres (VKCs) to provide skill and knowledge empowerment respectively of the resource-poor rural women and men towards sustainable management of the natural resources for creating income-generating on-farm and non-farm livelihoods. This volume also brings out how Professor Swaminathan elegantly combined intellect and labour (hard work), and professional zeal with compassion for the poor. He is always open to new ideas, and new technologies without of course, compromising the values of traditional knowledge and ecological prudence of the rural and tribal people. This volume nicely captures how Professor Swaminathan with a deep and comprehensive understanding of the threats to the ecological foundations of agriculture and sustainable rural development, environmental degradation, social inequities and the climate change risks, has also harnessed science and technology to convert challenges into opportunities. This volume is written in a manner to serve also as a tex ...

Metadata only record ; This paper presents an integrated approach to natural resource management (INRM) that addresses both conservation of biodiversity and development to increase incomes and well-being in impoverished, fragile regions. The new approach suggested by the authors focuses on grass-roots movements to increase sustainable development. In the case study region, which is situated in the buffer zone of the Kitanglad Range Natural Park in the Manupali watershed, central Mindanao, the Philippines, there was successful widespread implementation of tree farming and conservation farming agroforestry techniques. The growth of fruit tree and timber farming increased tree cover in the buffer zone, and the use of buffer strips both decreased soil erosion and runoff and increased crop productivity. Local farmer-led Landcare groups helped to enhance conservation, restoring stream-corridor vegetation and contributing significantly to the 95% decrease of encroachment in the national park over three years. To resolve the overlapping, sometimes conflicting, management roles of the park, the ancestral domain claims of the indigenous people, and the local governments, the involved institutions are now developing a negotiation support system. The INRM applied to this region can serve as a national model for sustainable local natural resource and watershed management. The success of this approach, which worked with a very limited budget, suggests that projects based on high local commitment and involvement with "drip-feed" funding are preferable to large projects with generous external funding.