agriculture development Articles
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European food and agricultural strategy for 21st century
Production ecological analyses reveal great differences in food production potential and food requirement between global regions, which implies the need for redistribution of food between surplus and deficit regions. The surplus production potential, current production and trade volumes of Europe along with the desires of its society for non-food functions from its land, favours a dual ...
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Environmental impact of panela food-processing industry: sustainable agriculture and local agri-food production systems
Environmental valuation "multi-stakeholder" processes, as advocated by ecological economics, often have a strong local character. Critical Natural Capital cannot be defined without referring to a given geographical scale, very often local in terms of the definition of the environmental resource at stake and the relevant stakeholders involved in the evaluation and decision process. In this ...
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Effect of recycled water applied by surface and subsurface irrigation on the growth, photosynthetic indices and nutrient content of young olive trees in central Iran
Water shortage has encouraged the quest for alternative sources of water for food production and agricultural development. Recycled water (RW) is one of the most available water resources with great potential for use in farm irrigation. This experiment was carried out to investigate the use of RW as the irrigation source and its application method, subsurface leaky irrigation (SLI) system or ...
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Regulatory factors affecting the agri-food biotechnology sector in the European Union
In Europe, in addition to public opposition to genetically modified food, the slow pace of development in agricultural and food biotechnology has been attributed to the lack of basic preconditions for commercial and innovative activities. The role and justification of a significant degree of regulation related to crop biotechnology is discussed. We try to clarify the existing broad structures ...
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How to create resilient agriculture
Durable food security and agricultural growth depend on development strategies with resilience built in from the start, says Gordon Conway. Economic growth with resilience to environmental threats will be central to the agenda of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June this year, which aims to map out a pathway of sustainable development for the planet. The 'zero draft', ...
By SciDev.Net
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Why are some French farmers sludge-takers? Some agronomic and socioeconomic explanations
The continued spreading of household wastewater sludge on farmlands is a major economic and environmental issue. This practice is being challenged in France, mainly through pressure from the agrifood business. Here, by means of an agronomic analysis performed on 60 farms, we show the relevance of the following variables: proportion of arable land, technical performance of the farm, and quality ...
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Modern food supply technology `key to affordable food`
The modernisation of farm-to-market supply chains is important for increasing farmers' income, alleviating poverty, cutting food waste and improving the affordability of food staples, according to the authors of a book. The Quiet Revolution in Staple Food Value Chains: Enter the Dragon, the Elephant, and the Tiger is a joint project by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Food ...
By SciDev.Net
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Managing agricultural biotechnology for sustainable development: the case of semi-arid India
Managing agricultural biotechnology for sustainable development demands more than research and intellectual property rights policies. Economic and regulatory institutions conducive to application of intrinsically sustainable technologies are also required. From an interdisciplinary development research perspective, it is argued that sustainability of Indian agriculture and food crop production ...
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It is vital to reinvigorate organic farming research
Organic farming can deliver food sustainably, but only with compelling science to boost its use, argues Ged Buffee. With increased yields and ecological stability becoming critical concerns for agricultural development, there's hope that organic farming can anchor agro-ecological sustainability. The stakes for organic agriculture have never been higher, yet the convincing research that could ...
By SciDev.Net
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Climate change, a storm in the coffee cup
Coffee is the third most consumed beverage in the world after water and tea. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) confirms ‘Coffee is the most widely traded tropical product, with up to 25 million farming households globally accounting for 80 per cent of worlds output’. In 2020, 87% of the global coffee production originated from the top 10 biggest coffee-producing nations, says ...
By Farmsio Ltd.
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Protecting and promoting traditional foods one woman at a time
Women and food-centric interventions through the NATURE+ Initiative aim to increase the resilience of rural women. This years’ International Day of Rural Women puts a spotlight on, “Rural Women Cultivating Good Food for All.” The CGIAR Initiative on Nature-Positive Solutions (NATURE+) aims to re-imagine, co-create and implement nature-positive, solutions-based agri-food systems ...
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U.S.-India: Dealing With Monsoon Failure
The scene plays out in India. At a reception, I met the head of Indian operations for Esso (now ExxonMobil). When I asked him how business was, he said it was great. In particular, diesel sales to fuel irrigation pumps were nearly double the previous year’s level. Why? Because farmers were pumping continuously to try to save their crops. Soon after, I met an embassy staff person, an avid ...
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Top Tips to Save Money, Use Sprayer Efficiently
Using clean water when calibrating a pesticide sprayer and carrying extra nozzles for quick repair of simple problems in the field are just some of the tricks of the trade that can help growers save time, energy and money during spraying season, says a spray technology expert in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University. Because there are so many ...
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Sustainable Management of Large Scale Irrigation Systems: A Decision Support Model for Gediz Basin, Turkey
While water on a global scale is plentiful, 97% of it is saline and 2.25% is trapped in glaciers and ice, leaving only 0.75% available in freshwater aquifers, rivers and lakes. About 70% of this fresh water is used for agricultural production, 22% for industrial purposes and 8% for domestic purposes. Increasing competition for water for domestic and industrial purposes is likely to reduce the ...
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Plant Phenotyping in the Americas, One Year Later
Approximately a year ago, I entered the plant phenotyping arena and in my first blog for our company posed the following ...
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What is the potential of the ecosystem metaphor in agricultural and food industry systems?
The scavengers and decomposers in ecosystems are presented as metaphors for agricultural and food industry systems' sustainability. These organisms of ecosystems can both take in wastes from other organisms as well as produce materials for them to use. We argue that the metaphor is beneficial for considering the physical flows of matter and energy in economic systems as it can yield models with ...
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Understanding the role of disturbance in peri-urban agricultural systems and communities: new concepts and principles to guide strategic intervention
New conceptualisations of peri-urban zones are needed to trigger a deeper understanding within professionals and practitioners of appropriate intervention strategies that build the resilience of sustainable agriculture and food production within peri-urban communities. This paper posits a theoretical construction of the peri-urban zone, derived from applying a biomimicry framework. Biomimicry is ...
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Farmers fine-tune research, spread their own innovations
Smallholder farmers can aid the uptake of research fruits and drive grassroots innovations. Joel Winston reports. The 1960s' Green Revolution demonstrated how technological innovations can transform agriculture. High-yielding crop strains, irrigation, fertilisers and pesticides were brought into developing countries, including India and the Philippines, increasing yields by more than 250 per ...
By SciDev.Net
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Protecting and restoring forests
Protecting the earth’s nearly 4 billion hectares of remaining forests and replanting those already lost are both essential for restoring the earth’s health, an important foundation for the new economy. Reducing rainfall runoff and the associated flooding and soil erosion, recycling rainfall inland, and restoring aquifer recharge depend on simultaneously reducing pressure on forests and on ...
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Science’s role in growing diverse, nutritious food
Can science meet the demand for more diverse and nutritious food? Jan Piotrowski investigates. The riots that swept Africa in 2007 and 2008 in response to the spiralling costs of staple crops brought the effects of food shortages into sharp focus. Images of unrest circled the globe, and the consequent instability brought to the forefront of political debate a question that had long been out of ...
By SciDev.Net
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