In eastern Zambia, population growth has reduced per-capita land availability to such an extent that traditional bush fallows can no longer be practiced, and low soil fertility is a major constraint to crop production. Improved fallows (IF) based on leguminous trees are a low cash-input agroforestry practice to restore soil fertility. The objective of the study reported here was to assess the adoption of IF by farmers who tested the technology, including the extent to which the technology is practiced relative to its potential scale.
This paper addresses how co-producing knowledge can assist local farmers in reshaping their territories into sustainable farming systems. We describe the emergence and consolidation of an agroforestry system in an Eastern Amazon forest frontier, unpacking the co-production of a new farming system over recent decades. Instead of assuming pre-defined categories (e.g., traditional/technical, local/external), the analysis focuses on interactions among knowledge holders and how multiple knowledge sources are intercalated.
1. Many coastal communities depend on ecosystems for goods and services that contribute to human well-being. As long-standing interactions between people and nature are modified by global environmental change, dynamic and diversified livelihood strategies that enable seasonal adaptation will be critical for vulnerable coastal communities. However, the success of such strategies depends on a range of poorly understood influences. 2.
Fish is a key source of income, food, and nutrition in Zambia, although unlike in the past, capture fisheries no longer meet the national demand for fish. Supply shortfalls created an opportunity to develop the aquaculture sector in Zambia, which is now one of the largest producers of farmed fish (Tilapia spp.) on the continent. In its present form, the aquaculture sector exhibits a dichotomy.
Undernutrition and low dietary diversity remain big problems in many developing countries. A large proportionof the people affected are smallholder farmers. Hence, it is often assumed that further diversifying small-farmproduction would be a good strategy to improve nutrition, but the evidence is mixed. We systematically reviewstudies that have analyzed associations between production diversity, dietary diversity, and nutrition insmallholder households and provide a meta-analysis of estimated effects.
Dans le cadre du développement durable et des innovations dans les systèmes agroalimentaires, les systèmes mixtes horticoles (vergers et maraîchage) visent à répondre aux enjeux actuels auxquels l’agriculture est confrontée, à savoir une diminution de la pollution des sols, une meilleure gestion des ressources (eau, énergies) et un enrichissement de la biodiversité, tout en continuant d’assurer des fonctions alimentaires. Ils combinent des productions à la fois diversifiées et relativement intensifiées, leur permettant de s’insérer en périphérie urbaine.
The objective of this paper is to explore the extent to which systems approaches to innovation are reflected in the crop protection literature and how such approaches are used. A systematic literature review is conducted to study the relation between crop protection and systems approaches to innovation in 107 publications. The analysis of the crop protection literature demonstrates that only a small fraction is systems-oriented as compared to the bulk of publications with a technology-oriented approach.
The process of adopting innovation, especially with regard to precision farming (PF), is inherently complex and social, and influenced by producers, change agents, social norms and organizational pressure. An empirical analysis was conducted among Italian farmers to measure the drivers and clarify “bottlenecks” in the adoption of agricultural innovation. The purpose of this study was to analyze the socio-structural and complexity factors that affect the probability to adopt innovations and the determinants that drive an individual’s decisions.
Agriculture faces an enormous global challenge of feeding nine billion people by 2050. This means a comprehensive intensification of agriculture is required. Ecological intensification is gaining momentum as a clearly defined vision for increasing agriculture productivity and sustainability. How ecological intensification could be tailored to benefit smallholder farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains the major question. In this study, we develop pathways relying on ecological intensification technologies and suiting different farm types of smallholder agriculture.
This paper synthesizes literature on the relationship between food supply chains and children's and adolescents' diets and food accessibility. A scoping review was used to identify 47 original studies and seven review articles covering an additional 106 original studies. Studies were primarily cross-sectional and case studies, and most focused on younger children.