A large number of date palms in the world produce average to low quality dates that are used for processing into derivate or as animal feed and constitute an important source of sugar and energy; most of these dates are of the dry or semidry kind, so they can bear the shock of being harvested by shaking and dropping on the ground without losing their value. In order to evaluate the possibility of using hand carried electromechanical harvesters, of the type used for harvesting olives and other fruits, for collecting dates of Mech Degla and Deglet Noor varieties, preliminary field tests have been carried out at Biskra, in Algeria, with the use of two models of Italian olive harvesters, that were able to detach all fruits from a single bunch in a time ranging from 30 to 88 s, with a productivity in the range of 22.8 - 36.4 kg*min-1. These results are encouraging and allow for further investigation, even with a more complex experimental design, including adaptation of the equipment to the specific context.

Most studies on the effects of certification on smallholders’ livelihood emphasize vulnerability while neglecting resilience. This paper assesses the farmer resilience of five different types of palm oil smallholders in Indonesia. We use and apply Speranza’s (2014) framework to assess and understand farmer resilience. We conclude that the correlations between buffer capacity, learning capacity, and resilience are rather weak. Our results further reveal that palm oil smallholders are relatively resilient to price declines, haze from forest fires and El Nino. The differences in resilience between the smallholder groups are small, although certified smallholders collaborating with companies and NGOs seem to be more resilient than uncertified smallholders collaborating with middlemen. The terminated Nucleus Estate Smallholder (NES) system allowed farmers to meet these favourable conditions. A few new initiatives, such as FAIR company-community partnerships may provide similar opportunities for smallholders. We also question the direct link between self-organization and resilience.

Understanding climate change effects on crop production and evaluate the effectiveness of adaptation strategies in both developed and developing countries is of key importance. Crop simulation models can provide useful insight on the effects of increasing temperatures and rising CO2 concentrations [CO2] as well as rainfall variations. In this study, the LINTUL4 model was used to study the sensitivity effect of five temperature (T) levels (-3, 0, 3, 6, and 9oC above/below minimum/maximum temperatures), three precipitation (W) changes (30% decrease, baseline and 30% increase), and CO2 levels (baseline(360), 450, 540, 630 and 720ppm) on nutrient limited yield (Yn), water limited yield (Yw), water and nutrient limited yield (Ynw) and potential yield (Yp) of potato crop in high-input Washington, USA and low-input Gisozi, Burundi. The maximum weight of the tuber yield and aboveground biomass for Yp and Yw in Gisozi, and Yn and Yp in Washington was observed at combinations of lower temperature and elevated [CO2]. For Gisozi, maximum tuber yield for Yn and Ynw was observed at [CO2] of less than 720ppm. The results suggest that nutrient supply will continue to be the major limiting factor for potato production under elevated [CO2] in Gisozi, and water availability will limit Yw and Ynw rain-fed production in Washington. Generally, the LINTUL4 model performs well with few data input, but fails to predict the differential effect of high temperature on assimilate partitioning to aboveground and belowground biomass.

Coffee is an important export commodity for the Ethiopian economy and also used for honey production. This study was aimed to identify the effect of temperature and humidity on nectar volume, the nectar secretion dynamics, honey production potentiality, and the number of bee colonies required to be placed in a hectare of coffee plantation for optimum honey production. The study was conducted in Gera District western Ethiopia. One day before nectar measuring, 5 inflorescences were covered with fine mesh bags on a different part of the tree. From covered inflorescences, twenty flowers per tree were randomly selected and nectar volume was measured using micropipettes. Accordingly, nectar volume and concentration, temperature, and air humidity were measured with an interval of one hour. The average nectar volume (µl) per flower in 24 hours, sugar amount per tree (g), expected honey yield per tree (kg) and honey (kg) production potential per hectare for C. arabica were 3.3 + 0.2, 0.040 + 3, 0.050 + 4 and 125 kg (25-275 kg), respectively. The actual harvestable amount of honey is half of the potential (62.5 kg/ha). If a kilogram of C. arabica honey would be valued at 6.25 USD, the total financial to be expected is $ 390.63 per hectare. The mean nectar volume and concentration have significant differences (p<0.05) at different hours of the day. Nectar volume was positively correlated with humidity while concentration positively correlated with temperature. One hectare of productive trees of C. arabica holds 4 or 3 or 2 honeybee colonies for traditional or transitional or frame hives respectively. From this study, it is concluded that Coffee is not economically valuable only for its seeds, but also for honey production. Therefore, the integration of coffee plantations with beekeeping is recommended.

Smallholder farmers’ adoption of agricultural technologies varies to a great degree with respect to spatial diversity, household related characteristics, access to infrastructure and institutional design. This cross-sectional study was conducted in order to understand the factors affecting the uptake agricultural technologies in the highlands of Ethiopia. Analysis was conducted on data collected in 2014 from a survey of 2,880 households in four major regions of the country covering 30 districts. Econometric method (two-limit Tobit model) was used to analyse determinants of farm-level adoption of crop technology packages promoted by the national agricultural extension service. Findings reveal that 71%, 66%, 60%, 52%, 46% and 29% of the sample households adopted recommended technology packages for potato, wheat, maize, tef, barley, and sorghum respectively. Results demonstrate that agro-ecology and spatial variability, distance from homestead to farm plots, slope index of the farm, access to extension services, access to credit, lagged gross annual income and membership to a cooperatives were all significant factors influencing technology adoption. The study shows there is significant variation in technology adoption between model farmers and non-model farmers. However, the productivity difference is limited to few crops. The findings suggest that investment in infrastructure, promoting access to institutional services and access to credit are instrumental to technology adoption by smallholders. The extension strategy should therefore promote inclusive strategy in which both model and non-model farmers have equal access to technology supply and extension services.

The diversification of agri-food chains has a fundamental role in the economic development of Latin American countries. In Ecuador, the exports of nontraditional crops reached USD4.33 million in 2016. This analysis focused on the Inca berry chain, which is in the Interandean zone and represents a relevant economic expansion. Therefore, the aim was to understand the dynamics across the stages and flows, considering socio-productive and economic aspects, export determinants and policy implications, for which a systematic methodology was used. This study concluded that the diversification of marketing channels, strengthening of associative structures and implementation of agricultural policies are needed to improve performance.

Abstract Appropriate responses to climate change in the agriculture sector are dependent on knowledge of the status and trends of the factors of the climate change impact chain in the sector. The objective of the study was to broadly assess key human, environmental, and biophysical factors in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), mainly within the decade following the launching of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP). This was done through a review of literature and analysis of data mainly from international databases. The status of and changes in these factors were generally unsatisfactory. Population growth rate was high. Average daily maximum temperatures were projected to rise by up to 3.5⁰C by 2050. Up to 35 % of the lands were estimated to be severely to very severely degraded. Internal renewable water resources per capita were below international requirements in many countries of ECOWAS. Renewable water resources per capita were more abundant but decreased over years. The substantial arable land and renewable water resources and carbon stored in soil (23503 Tg t) and forest biomass (6304 Tg t) are attributes of ECOWAS. Agricultural production was higher in the Gulf of Guinea zone compared to the Sudano-Sahelian zone but yields of some crops were higher in the Sudano-Sahelian zone. Food security status was unsatisfactory across ECOWAS although the production of major crops (in most cases), livestock, fisheries and aquaculture increased. The increase for aquaculture was dramatic (847%). Increase in production was mainly due to increased crop area harvested or livestock numbers. Policies should be revisited, institutions strengthened and financial investments made for ECOWAS to realize its potential to significantly contribute to food security and carbon storage.

Understanding the basic relationships between rainfall, runoff and soil loss are crucial task for effective management and utilization of natural resource. Hence, modeling the relationship between rainfall, runoff, and soil loss for climatic conditions prevailing in the Upper Lake Tana basin is a crucial task. The watershed instrumented with raingauge and rectangular weir to measure important parameters. Soil infiltration rate exceeded 9.4% of the time by the rainfall intensity, in which infiltration excess runoff is not a dominant runoff mechanism. A simple sediment model was developed. It predicts sediment with Nash Sutcliffe coefficient (E) and the coefficient of correlation (R2) of observed and simulated runoff is 0.9 to 0.91 and 0.88 to 0.96 for validation. The model predicted event based surface runoff with reasonable accuracy, this noticeable model's performance showed probably due to the applicability of the model to estimate sediment loss despite the smaller data size. Keywords: Modeling, Runoff, Sediment loss, Grazing land

Precision agriculture is a way to manage the crop yield resources like water, fertilizers, soil, seeds in order to increase production, quality, gain and reduce squander products so that the existing system become eco-friendly. The main target of precision agriculture is to match resources and execution according to the crop and climate to ameliorate the effects of Praxis. Global Positioning System, Geographic Information System, Remote sensing technologies and various sensors are used in Precision farming for identifying the variability in field and using different methods to deal with them. Satellite based remote sensing is used to study the variability in crop and ground but suffer from various disadvantageous such as prohibited use, high price, less revisiting them, poor resolution due to great height, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is other alternative option for application in precision farming. UAV overcomes the drawback of the ground based system, i.e. inaccessibility to muddy and very dense regions. Hovering at a peak of 500 meter - 1000 meter is good enough to offer various advantageous in image acquisition such as high spatial and temporal resolution, full flexibility, low cost. Recent studies of application of UAV in precision farming indicate advanced designing of UAV, enhancement in georeferencing and the mosaicking of image, analysis and extraction of information required for supplying a true end product to farmers. This paper also discusses the various platforms of UAV used in farming applications, its technical constraints, seclusion rites, reliability and safety.

The study was designed to assess beekeeping management practices and challenges in eastern zone of Tigray. A semi-structured questionnaire, field observation and focal group discussion were employed to collect primary data. Randomly selected three districts were used for the study. A total of 120 respondents were selected from the zone and 40 beekeepers from each district for the study. Both primary and secondary data were collected. Beekeepers indicated that frame hive technology was most preferred. Even though, some equipments such as casting mold and honey extractor were not durable and available as required. Study reveals frame hive was more productive than tradition in the study area.Trees, shrubs and herbs were major honey bee flora identified in the study area. Accordingly, honey produced specially from Leucas abyssinica is a special white and highly demanded honey in Tigray. Beekeepers indicated large amount of honey was harvested in September and October. However, low amount of honey harvested in July and August of the year. Bee forage and absconding due to pestes are major constraint honey bee production in the study area. Honey bees required feed supplementation during dry season; higher supplements were made during February to March and followed by December to January. The commonly used supplements were sugar, shuro and barely flour (besso). The study suggests that bee forage, absconding and pests and predators were the most constraints in the study area.