Agrarian Technology Research Articles

An in-Depth Study of Smart Agriculture Based on Internet of Things and Wireless Sensor Networks

Most governments monitor and prioritize agriculture. Subsidies and loans to farmers to promote food production are common in many countries. They are pushing farmers to employ modern agrarian technology to boost grain quality and farming. Smart farming relies on Wireless Sensor Networks and the Internet of Things. Using the above technology, farmers may monitor their property remotely and manage their farms at any time sensors nodes installed on fields capture agricultural growth data using GPS. Sensor nodes collect data on soil nutrient levels, temperature, and humidity. The sensor delivers data to a wireless gateway, which sends it to a remote server. Researchers and scientists have been working hard to improve farmers' productivity, quantity, and quality. This study examines the impact of new technologies and sensors used in smart farming on food security and how such devices are transforming agricultural sectors to meet rising population demands.

Interceding role of village saving groups on the welfare impact of agricultural technology adoption in the Upper East Region, Ghana

For most developing countries like Ghana, the adoption of productive agricultural technologies in the quest to achieve food security and improve farmers' welfare cannot be overemphasized. Hence, interventions that have the potential to enhance the impact of the adoption of these technologies are critical for development planning and policy. This study investigates whether or not village saving groups enhance the welfare impact of agricultural technology adoption using farm-level data collected from the Garu and Tempane districts in the Upper East Region, Ghana. We applied an instrumental variable regression model that incorporates an endogenous interaction term to estimate the interceding role of village saving groups on the welfare impact of agricultural technology adoption. The empirical results reveal that participation in village savings groups further enhances the welfare impact of agricultural technology adoption (proxy by Zai technology). The factors that influence farmer's participation in village saving groups include the number of extension contacts, membership of farmer-based organizations (FBOs) and access to farm credit. Other factors such as the age of the farmer, household size and years of education were also found to influence farmers' decisions to adopt Zai technology. The study recommends the promotion of village saving groups as they build rural farmers' capacity to save for farm investment, which further enhances their adoption of agrarian technology in the quest to improve farmers' welfare. Moreover, policy instruments like the revitalization of extension services, the formation of FBOs, and access to farm credits should be strengthened in this pursuit.

Breast ploughing: Appropriation, resistance and disappearance of an indigenous agrarian technology in the Chiloe archipelago (Chile)

espanolEl “volteo a lumas” fue una tecnica agraria utilizada en el sur de Chile, caracterizada como una forma de arado manual. Esta actividad, de origen indigena, se constituyo en la tecnologia de arado dominante en Chiloe hasta inicios del siglo XX, cuando inicia su retroceso en favor del arado de traccion animal. ?Que factores explican la supervivencia de esta tecnologia? y ?Que cambios en el archipielago contribuyen a su desaparicion? A partir de un marco teorico proveniente de los estudios de ciencia, tecnologia y sociedad (CTS), asi como de una revision a fuentes del Estado y de testigos de la epoca, se analiza el cambio de la tecnica agraria de Chiloe como un proceso asociado a factores de conectividad y relaciones economicas, que contribuirian a entender tanto el arraigo cultural generado por las lumas, como la llamativa rapidez de su abandono pocas decadas despues. EnglishThe practice of the “volteo a lumas” was an agrarian technique used in the south of Chile, characterized as a form of breast ploughing. This activity, of indigenous origin, became the dominant plow technology in Chiloe until the beginning of the 20th century, when it started its decline in favour of the animal traction plow. What factors explain the survival of this technology? What changes in the archipelago help explain its disappearance? Based on a theoretical framework from the field of science, technology and society (STS), as well as a review of State sources and accounts of witnesses of the time, the change in the agricultural technique of Chiloe is analysed as a process associated with factors of connectivity and economic relations, which would contribute to understand both the cultural engagement generated by the “lumas”, as the surprising speed of their abandonment a few decades later.

Writing Mexican History, by Eric Van Young

Writing Mexican History, by Eric Van Young. Stanford, California, Stanford University Press, 2012. xii, 338 pp. $85.00 US (cloth), $27.95 US (paper). Historians, unlike anthropologists, are not much given to confessional narratives. Beyond penning the usual how I came to this subject prefaces, they generally eschew deep reflection on their interpretive choices, the goal of objectivity, though theoretically derided, remains a kind of ghostly, hovering presence. However, in this valuable collection of essays, Eric Van Young finds a way to inject autobiography into historiography. Indeed, he sees the two as aligned, suggesting that his own intellectual trajectory--from his first monograph on the agrarian history of Guadalajara, to his magnum opus on popular insurgency during the wars of independence, to his current work on Lucas Alaman--exemplifies larger shifts in the practice of history during the last thirty years or so, at least among Anglophone historians. (p. 13) Van Young of course is among the most productive and influential Mexicanists of his generation, but he is modest about his impact: he presents his career as more illustrative than illustrious. This movement toward cultural history and, in particular, the exploration of subaltern mentalities, is the theme that unites the seven articles presented here (originally published between 1992 and 2010). The book itself follows a similar course, beginning with two bibliographic essays on haciendas and rural Latin America, then shifting to wide-ranging discussions of Mexico's colonial and independence periods, and finally to more theoretical treatments of regionalism, peasant consciousness, and the new cultural history. Throughout, Van Young recurs to what he considers the fruitful tension between economic and cultural paradigms; while evincing a certain nostalgia for the 1970s-80s heyday of hacienda studies, he ultimately recommends that cultural history colonize its materialist counterpart. These contributions are remarkably consistent in quality, sharing the same (abundant) virtues and (minor) flaws. Van Young, not surprisingly, is the ideal guide to the literature on colonial Mexico. He is vastly knowledgeable, so his surveys are sweeping without being superficial, his judgments balanced, perceptive, and comprehensive. He is always sensitive to the overlapping fields of force that constitute a specific intellectual environment. For instance, he attributes declining interest in the hacienda (and the concurrent rise of sexier topics such as resistance) to multiple causes, ranging from the lingering trauma of Vietnam to the stimulating example provided by scholarship on early modern Europe. But be also points out that the growing pile of monographs on rural estates and regions tended to adopt the same methodological and interpretive lenses, and thus lost their freshness. The field went into eclipse, even though fundamental topics, such as agrarian technology, had barely been addressed. Van Young also recognizes that Hispanic and Anglophone authors swim in very different waters. …

System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and Its Implications over Food Security and Farmer Sovereignty

Better is the technology; better is the livelihood of farmers’ community. The correlation between technology and rural development is highly positive. An agrarian technology apart from ensuring better production should also lead to better remuneration. SRI is one such technology that not only augments rice production but also reduces cost of cultivation. In this context, the present study has been undertaken to understand the impact of SRI over resource use efficiency and technical efficiency of rice cultivation. Upper velar basin in Salem district of Tamil Nadu was chosen for study as in this area SRI method of rice cultivation is practiced in great extent. The factors influencing the adoption of SRI are also determined. The cost involved in the adoption of SRI is also studied through partial budgeting analysis to show how far SRI is better than conventional rice cultivation practices. It was found that 98 % of SRI farmers are technically efficient against 54 % of the traditional farmers. The study revealed that per hectare cost of cultivation is around five per cent lower in SRI than the conventional method. Moreover adoption of SRI has led to 84 per cent increase in net income than conventional method. Net gain from adopting SRI technology was Rs.17045. It was also found out that SRI ensures farmers’ sovereignty by low quantum of water usage, improvement in soil health, decreased in cost of production and low seed requirement.

Spatial variation of deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon: A complex theater for agrarian technology, agrarian structure and governance by surveillance

The Amazon continues to lose its natural vegetation, and Brazil, in particular, has a distinct agricultural frontier. We highlight the role of surveillance in reducing deforestation rates in the region. This paper lists the characteristics of the current agrarian structure and the surveillance information from Brazilian Institute of Environment and Natural Resources (IBAMA) with the current deforestation standards in the Amazonian municipalities. In addition, we investigate the relationship between the new areas of deforestation and the low level of agrarian technology in those areas. To do this, we used public deforestation data from the second half of the last decade (2005–2009). We also used agricultural census data to create an index of level of agrarian technology. Based on level of agrarian technology index it was possible to conclude that areas where agriculture and livestock have low level of agrarian technology coincide with the areas of highest deforestation in the Amazon. We found that agrarian structure guided the Amazonian deforestation at the end of this decade, as in previous decades. The maintenance of Agrarian structure in the region over the past 10 years makes us hypothesize that factors such as surveillance may determine decreases in deforestation rates. We showed that embargoed areas due to illegal deforestation occur in the critical areas of deforestation in Amazon, although do not get a clear any decrease in those deforestation rates caused by it. Possibly due to the time lag between recent changes in IBAMA surveillance approach and the society perception of the costs associated to illegal deforestation.

The Famine of the 1590s in Northern Italy. An Analysis of the Greatest “System Shock” of Sixteenth Century

Italy, triggered by several consecutive years of bad weather at a time of particularly acute population pressure on the available resources. Their failure fuelled a general “system shock” for the social, economic and demographic structures of Northern Italy, leading to protest, violence and general social and economic disorder. The article recurs to a large database of demographic time series to identify the areas struck worst by the famine. It then focuses on the region Emilia-Romagna, and lastly provides a case study of the rural town of Nonantola, for which rare data about age at death during the famine are used. The article suggests that the 1590s famine was not solely the result of the combination of climate, agrarian technology and demographic density, but was a complex “human failure” than can be fully understood only by taking into account also institutions, culture, social and economic behaviour, and even psychological factors.

Transaction Costs in Tenancy Relationship, Fragment Level of Land Property Rights and Agricultural Development

This paper analyzes the determinants of fragment level of land property rights in China's agriculture tenancy relationship in light of three dimensions: market, technology and institution. The transaction costs in tenancy relationships are brought by fragment of land property rights which are due to labor division in tenancy relationship, but these costs can be made up by the gains from labor division and specialization. Thus, the tradeoff between the two forces determines the level of fragment. In order to cope with transaction costs, on the one hand, the economic relationship's ability to support higher transaction costs by market size expansion or agrarian technology progress must be strengthened, and on the other hand, contractual arrangements should be used to reduce these costs directly. However, because transaction costs are always positive in real world and keep on increasing during the evolution of agricultural tenancy history due to the persistent fragment of land property rights, as shown in the paper, the agriculture cannot realize economic progress by reducing transaction costs through contractual (here i.e. institutional) adjustment but can by agrarian technology progress and market expansion which are helpful to afford the increasing transaction costs. The above arguments are mainly drawn from China's agricultural tenancy history and can, to a large extent, be deduced to analyze the sources of economic progress to tell that technology and market seem more fundamental than institution.

The role of Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii in spontaneous bovine abortion in Argentina

The aim of the present work was to evaluate the role of Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii infections in spontaneous bovine abortions in Argentina. Based on histopathological results, 70 presumptive cases of apicomplexan protozoal abortion from a total of 666 cases of spontaneous bovine abortion submitted to the National Institute of Agrarian Technology, Balcarce, from 1999 to 2007 were included in this study. N. caninum infection was diagnosed by an indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT), by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and by nested-PCR. T. gondii infection also was diagnosed by nested-PCR. DNA from fetuses was extracted primarily from CNS tissues. Heart, liver, muscle and/or placenta were processed when nervous tissue was not available. Sixty-six (9.9%) fetuses were positive by at least one technique (IFAT, IHC or nested-PCR) for N. caninum infection. Overall, there was poor agreement among results obtained by these diagnostic techniques. In contrast, no Toxoplasma-infection was detected in any aborted bovine fetus.

Land use in the southern Yucatán peninsular region of Mexico: Scenarios of population and institutional change

Land-use and land-cover change, human activity that results in altered land-use systems and surface features, defines the environmental and socioeconomic sustainability of communities around the globe. It is a key response to global environmental change in addition to being both a key cause and medium of this change. This article examines an application of the Southern Yucatán Peninsular Region Integrated Assessment (SYPRIA), a scenario-based spatially explicit model designed to examine and project land use in Mexico. SYPRIA combines Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with agent-based modeling, cellular modeling, and genetic programming. The application examined here explores the effects on land-use and land-cover projections of scenarios that rely on varying assumptions pertaining to population growth, land-use trends, role of agrarian technology, and effects of resource institutions. This work also highlights the importance of understanding the many factors influencing land use, particularly population, different production systems, and the contextual nature of resource institutions in determining the nature of land use.

Paleopaisajes concretos: polen, suelos y arqueología del yacimiento de As Pontes (Abadín, Lugo)

The field work to assess the archaeological impact of the Gas pipeline in Galicia discovered a site with an interesting archaeological and environmental stratigraphy. Its base is dated lo preneolithic times and offers a small set of lithics related to that period. Then the location was used to establish a neolithic camp with complex firing structures. Once abandoned, the site was covered by a paleosoil that was cultivated in early·medieval times. The most complicated example of plough marks in Galician archeology was found here; they give us good information about agrarian technology. Archaeological interpretations were combined with pollen and soil analytics. The research strategy applied in this site allows us to define the landscape sequence for the period, showing not only the nature but also the land uses and patterns of change of this space. This paper is a good example of what could be called intensive micro-landscape archeology.

The Bartered Bride. Goldwork, Inheritance, and Agriculture in the Late Prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula

There are two main periods of agrarian improvement in the Iberian peninsula, the Copper Agel Bronze Age transition and the late Bronze Age/Iron Age transition, associated with the use of the plough, traction, and methods of increasing soil fertility, such as fertilising and the growing of legumes. Both were related to changes in women's inheritance. Improvements in agrarian technology appeared first in south-eastern Spain and their consequences are visible in the grave goods of the Argaric tombs. From the late Bronze Age on, the rest of the peninsula underwent similar changes. At the same time precious metals changed their meaning: from being a gift to becoming a commodity and therefore they were increasingly scarce in graves. Although there is evidence of the exchange of women during the Iron Age, they were high-ranking women, such as those of the El Carpio and Aliseda tombs, who transmitted political rights to their descendants. Yet evidence from archaeology, epigraphy, and Roman chroniclers point to the maintenance of a primitive agriculture and matrilineal practices in some parts of northern Spain until the Roman conquest.

Agrarian Labor Market and Technology Under Different Regimes

Agrarian Labor Market and Technology Under Different Regimes