This book documents a unique series of 19 case studies where agricultural biotechnologies were used to serve the needs of smallholders in developing countries. They cover different regions, production systems, species and underlying socio-economic conditions in the crop (seven case studies), livestock (seven) and aquaculture/fisheries (five) sectors. Most of the case studies involve a single crop, livestock or fish species and a single biotechnology.
Indicator-based tools are widely used for the assessment of farm sustainability, but analysts still face methodological and conceptual issues, including data availability, the complexity of the concept of sustainability and the heterogeneity of agricultural systems. This study contributes to this debate through the illustration of a procedure for farm sustainability assessment focussed on the case study of the South Milan Agricultural Park, Italy. The application is based on a set of environmental, social and economic indicators retrieved from the literature review.
Los cambios acontecidos en la agricultura cubana a finales del siglo XX provocaron la ruptura del paradigma basado en la dependencia de importaciones, por lo que se precisó comenzar a construir un nuevo modelo técnico-económico sobre la base del desarrollo endógeno, asociado al fomento de capacidades innovadoras y de tecnologías sostenibles; ello exigió que los centros de desarrollo de conocimiento se centraran en la aplicación de innovaciones, mediante adecuados procesos de extensión rural.
Este documento describe el Proyecto Internacional BIOMAS-CUBA, enfocado a utilizar la biomasa como fuente renovable de energía, contribuir a mejorar las condiciones de vida, y lograr la coexistencia entre mitigación y adaptación al cambio climático, seguridad alimentaria y sostenibilidad energética en el medio rural. BIOMAS-CUBA abarca la producción y utilización de biodiesel y biogás, la gasificación de biomasa y la producción de bioproductos.
Los objetivos del presente trabajo fueron: implementar actividades participativas con enfoque de género, que permitieran el desarrollo de la mujer dentro de los contextos agrícolas en estudio; generar capacidades y utilizar habilidades ya existentes en estas, que permitieran su incorporación a las labores productivas y con ello a la obtención de nuevas fuentes de ingresos familiares y el mejoramiento de la alimentación, así como potenciar de manera general, una mayor participación e impacto femenino en el funcionamiento de la comunidad.
Organic agriculture has experienced remarkable growth in recent decades as societal interest in environmental protection and healthy eating has increased. Research has shown that relative to conventional agriculture, organic farming is more e cient in its use of non-renewable energy, maintains or improves soil quality, and has less of a detrimental e ect on water quality and biodiversity. Studies have had more mixed findings, however, when examining the impact of organic farming on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change.
Conventional approaches to agricultural extension based on top–down technology transfer and information dissemination models are inadequate to help smallholder farmers tackle increasingly complex agroclimatic adversities. Innovative service delivery alternatives, such as field schools, exist but are mostly implemented in isolationistic silos with little effort to integrate them for cost reduction and greater technical effectiveness.
Providing economic opportunities for youth in agriculture is essential to securing the future of agriculture in Africa, addressing poverty, unemployment, and inequality. However, barriers limit youth participation in agriculture and the broader food system. This scoping review aimed to investigate the opportunities and challenges for youth in participating in agriculture and the food system in Africa. This review conducted a scoping review using the PRISMA guideline. Published studies were retrieved from online databases (Web of Science, Cab Direct, and Science Direct) for 2009 to 2019.
Smallholder farmers in East Africa need information and knowledge on appropriate climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices, technologies, and institutional innovations in order to effectively adapt to changing climatic conditions and cope with climate variability. This paper assesses farmer adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices and innovation after being exposed to Farms of the Future Approach (FotF). First; we explore and assess the various CSA technologies and practices; including institutional innovations farmers are adopting.
En el marco del desarrollo del proyecto internacional Diseminación del Fitomejoramiento Participativo en Cuba, programa para fortalecer la Innovación Agropecuaria Local (PIAL) III Fase, y como parte de las herramientas de monitoreo y evaluación se elaboró una metodología para evaluar la influencia del contexto local sobre los impactos del proyecto. Se presentó la metodología y sus resultados, estimando el desempeño del año 2013, valorado en 42 municipios donde se implementó el proyecto, se evalúo el efecto del contexto socioeconómico y las medidas a delimitar para disminuir al mínimo los e