An analysis of the impact of simulation modelling in three diverse crop-livestock improvement projects in Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) reveals benefits across a range of aspects including identification of objectives, design and implementation of experimental programs, effectiveness of participatory research with smallholder farmers, implementation of system change and scaling-out of results. In planning change, farmers must consider complex interactions within both biophysical and socioeconomic aspects of their crop and animal production activities.
The interaction between the organization and the institutional environment leads to organizational change or innovation. As the basic industry of China’s national economy, agricultural enterprises are transmitted from the institutional environment to the internals of the enterprise and are transformed into innovative behaviors, which ultimately form performance.
In recent years, the international status of agriculture in the BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—has been continuously improved. In 2018, the gross agricultural production of the BRICS countries accounted for more than 50% of the world’s total. Further strengthening the developing cooperation of the BRICS countries is of great significance for ensuring global food security.
In recent years, increasing numbers of smallholders in developing countries such as China have begun to sell agricultural products directly to consumers via online shops using a third-party trade platform. It is increasingly clear that e-commerce has become a new and effective way to help smallholders gain access to the market. The investigation of agricultural e-commerce practices has a significant role in helping to understand the development of the agri-food sector in China.
Boundary-spanning search for knowledge is an effective way for enterprises to acquire heterogeneous knowledge, and is also an important pre-stage to realize effective knowledge reconstruction. Based on the boundary-spanning search for knowledge theory, this paper studies the relationship between boundary-spanning search for knowledge and the sustainable innovation ability of agricultural enterprises considering the influence of organizational knowledge reconstruction, from a Chinese perspective.
The merger of Dow and DuPont, the acquisition of Syngenta by Chem- China, and the acquisition of Monsanto by Bayer have recently reshaped the global seed and biotech industry and caused concern about growing mar- ket concentration. This review documents market concentration in seed and agricultural biotech markets and discusses its causes and impacts. The avail- able evidence suggests that concentration in seed markets varies strongly by crop and by country, while markets for biotech traits are considerably more concentrated.
Although the benefits of genetically modified (GM) crops have been well documented, how do farmers manage the risk of new technology in the early stages of technology adoption has received less attention. We compare the total factor productivity (TFP) of cotton to other major crops (wheat, rice, and corn) in China between 1990 and 2015, showing that the TFP growth of cotton production is significantly different from all other crops. In particular, the TFP of cotton production increased rapidly in the early 1990s then declined slightly around 2000 and rose again.
With 20% of the world's population but just 7% of the arable land, China has invested heavily in crop biotechnology to increase agricultural productivity. We examine research on insect-resistant genetically engineered (IRGE) crops in China, including strategies to promote their sustainable use. IRGE cotton, rice, and corn lines have been developed and proven efficacious for controlling lepidopteran crop pests. Ecological impact studies have demonstrated conservation of natural enemies of crop pests and halo suppression of crop-pest populations on a local scale.
The impact of global warming on crop growth periods and yields has been evaluated by using crop models, which need to provide various kinds of input datasets and estimate numerous parameters before simulation. Direct studies on the changes of climatic factors on the observed crop growth and yield could provide a more simple and intuitive way for assessing the impact of climate change on crop production.
Agenda:
Introduction to CCAFS and CGIAR: Why food loss and waste? - Lini Wollenberg
The Food Loss and Waste Calculator and how it can be used to mitigate climate change - Jan Broeze
Understanding Smallholder Farmers’ Post-Harvest Behaviors: Evidence from Malawi - Tabitha Nindi
Effects of Amending Soil with Organic Matter on Population Change of Aspergillus flavus and Antagonistic Microbiome: and on Aflatoxin Contamination of Groundnut in Malawi - Norah Machinjiri