Agricultural Policy Research Articles

Agricultural land use policies and landscape dynamics: Evidence from rainforest agroecological zone

Agricultural-land use policies play a crucial role in shaping agroecological landscapes globally. The evidence suggests that some of these policies tend to have undesired feedback/trade-offs, particularly about coastal resource use and conservation planning. The present study explores how agricultural policies influence land use/land cover (LULC) transition patterns in Ghana's Rain Forest Agroecological Zone (RFAZ). Landsat satellite images for 1991, 2008, and 2022 were acquired for the LULC mapping. Change detection and Intensity analysis were used to assess the pattern of land change. Also, documentary research processes were used to review and assess agricultural land use policies. The results showed that before rubber-related policy implementation, oil palm plantation was the dominant LULC type in the 1990 s. In the 1990 s and early 2000 s, there was a conscious government drive to leverage oil palm plantation development. This led to the growth in the size of oil palm plantations within the RFAZ landscape, considering the zone’s conducive natural environment. However, between 2008 and 2022, corresponding to the period of the increased promotion of rubber cultivation through the Outgrower project in the RFAZ, rubber plantations became the predominant land use, with an area of 11,763.81 ha in 2008 and 21,611.61 ha in 2022. The results from the LULC mapping and the intensity analysis showed that the Rubber Outgrowers Plantation Project (ROPP) and Norpalm Smallholder Scheme Project (NSSP) have degraded the natural cover through rubber and oil palm cultivation. The authors conclude that landscape dynamics, particularly in rainforest agroecological zones, represent a nexus challenge transforming policy adaptation's discursive context. The study recommends that agriculture and landscape policy/projects must have/take intermediary steps to address the feedback/trade-offs from well-intended initiatives. The study further suggests that management plans and strategies in the RFAZ should be consistent with the strict protection of forest reserves and water bodies.

Interpreting Different Narratives about Land Services and Land Use Economics of Common Agricultural Policy

Since 2023, a new format of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been implemented in Europe. Market forces alone cannot guarantee land services, which can be described as flows of goods and services from ecosystems to human systems as functions of nature. Market forces also cannot ensure food security everywhere and at all times, so deliberate measures should incentivize farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices and maintain necessary skills and resources. This study identifies, quantifies, and interprets four narratives that are typical in the approach to food security and the public debate about the land services in the CAP Strategic Plans: (A) provision of land services within the Pillar 1 economics; (B) small vs. large farms; (C) direct payments in comparison with rural development; and (D) choices by the old and new member states. Participatory processes, descriptive statistics, and partial component analysis were used in terms of the methodology. The key finding is that the importance attached to eco-schemes varies among member states, although a majority dedicate approximately 25% of the Pillar 1 budget to them. We showed that small-scale farming countries move resources from Pillar 2 to strengthen direct payments. In contrast, affluent countries with robust agricultural structures can afford to reinforce Pillar 2 rural development through transfers from direct payments. To support small-scale and medium farms, appropriate support requires a combination of several measures, including the sizable hectare payment in Pillar 1 and farmer-oriented agri-environmental measures.

Correction to: Economics of Informed Antibiotic Management and Judicious Use Policies in Animal Agriculture

Correction to: Economics of Informed Antibiotic Management and Judicious Use Policies in Animal Agriculture

A density map-based method for counting wheat ears.

Field wheat ear counting is an important step in wheat yield estimation, and how to solve the problem of rapid and effective wheat ear counting in a field environment to ensure the stability of food supply and provide more reliable data support for agricultural management and policy making is a key concern in the current agricultural field. There are still some bottlenecks and challenges in solving the dense wheat counting problem with the currently available methods. To address these issues, we propose a new method based on the YOLACT framework that aims to improve the accuracy and efficiency of dense wheat counting. Replacing the pooling layer in the CBAM module with a GeM pooling layer, and then introducing the density map into the FPN, these improvements together make our method better able to cope with the challenges in dense scenarios. Experiments show our model improves wheat ear counting performance in complex backgrounds. The improved attention mechanism reduces the RMSE from 1.75 to 1.57. Based on the improved CBAM, the R2 increases from 0.9615 to 0.9798 through pixel-level density estimation, the density map mechanism accurately discerns overlapping count targets, which can provide more granular information. The findings demonstrate the practical potential of our framework for intelligent agriculture applications.

Agricultural carbon emission efficiency and agricultural practices: Implications for balancing carbon emissions reduction and agricultural productivity increment

The current Ukraine War underlines the importance of grain self-sufficiency. After the adoption of the Paris Agreement, two major challenges developing countries are facing in the coming decades are increasing agricultural production to ensure food security and reducing carbon emissions (CE). The key to such an “environment-development dilemma” is to improve agricultural carbon emission efficiency (CEE). Using China as the study site, we systematically analyze the impacts of agricultural management activities on agricultural CEE from 1997 to 2019. Global and local Moran’s I index tests provide evidence of a positive spatial dependence of agricultural CEE. Using the LISA cluster map, we observe that high CEE regions tend to be distributed together, dominated by environmental conditions. However, with the promotion of agricultural management activities, such a clustering pattern vanished. Our spatial Durbin model (SDM) estimation results indicate that there are significant nonlinear relationships between agricultural practices and agricultural CEE. While the consumption of fertilizers and pesticides has economies of scale effects, the deployment of agricultural machinery and irrigation have diseconomies of scale effects on local CEE. Based on the SDM results, the direct and indirect effect estimation results suggest that the significant direct and spillover effects of many practices on agricultural CEE have opposite nonlinear shapes, implying a more complicated situation in promoting these activities, as the positive regional effect of an agricultural activity might have a negative impact on adjacent regions. All the results indicate that local policymakers should carefully tailor agricultural development policies based on local environmental conditions.

Sustaining altitude pastures in mountain landscapes–a fuzzy cognitive model approach

Similarly to other European mountain areas, in Serra da Estrela the grazing pressure has been reducing due to social and economic drivers that have pushed shepherds and sheep to the foothill, or plainly out of the sector. Shrub encroachment on commons and other previously grazed land is one of the most tangible effects of pastoral abandonment in Serra de Estrela. The impacts of the resulting increase in landscape continuity and biomass availability were made clear in the severe fires of 2017 and 2022. As fire risk is likely to increase with climate change, it becomes urgent to understand what strategies can be deployed to keep fragmentation in these landscapes. Key actors such as shepherds should be involved in this discussion to understand their perceptions, points of view and reasons for abandoning upland pastures. In this study, we use fuzzy cognitive mapping to identify the key variables and mechanisms affecting the pastoral system according to local shepherds. In our study, we developed with local stakeholders a framework outlining the local pastoral system. Based on that, we carried out the fuzzy cognitive mapping collecting 14 questionnaires. We found that shepherds' income is a central issue, but that it is highly dependent on many factors. Increasing the Common Agricultural Policy payments alone is not enough to incentivise the use of upland pastures. More targeted strategies, such as more support for shrub clearing, and direct payments conditional to transhumance are more impactful. Despite a contentious discourse between conservation and shepherding values in Serra da Estrela, we find that shepherd's values are aligned with biodiversity conservation and a potential nature-based solution for minimizing fire risk through woody fuel management. This opens up possibilities for new governance strategies, that put Serra da Estrela's social, environmental and cultural values at its core.

CURRENT PROBLEMS AND TRANSFORMATIVE ASPECTS OF TAXATION: THE CASE OF THE AGRARIAN SECTOR

The agricultural sector has significant significance since it serves as the primary provider of food, which is an essential need for sustenance. Nevertheless, the evaluation of its impact on national revenue, employment, international commerce, and the supply of raw materials to the sector reveals its strategic significance. Hence, nations prioritize the development and execution of accurate and enduring policies for the agriculture industry. The integration studies with the European Union (EU) play a significant role in the formulation and execution of agricultural policy. Hence, the diverse impacts of agricultural policy on the agricultural sector are influenced by the development pattern and outcomes in different nations. This course will focus on agricultural policy and the taxation regulations involved in agriculture policy.

Farmers’ needs, ideas and interests on the adoption of fossil energy free technologies and strategies in the EU

ABSTRACT This study investigates farmers’ needs, ideas and interests on the adoption of Fossil Energy Free Technologies and Strategies (FEFTS). 470 direct farmer surveys and 41 expert interviews were conducted in 8 EU countries to identify the barriers and drivers to the adoption of FEFTS, results were analysed using SPSS. The findings suggest that the adoption of FEFTS is driven primarily by economic factors, with cost reduction emerging as a dominant motivation for adopting renewable energy sources (RES) and energy-saving technologies/practices. Environmental concerns also play a significant role. Farmers indicate that financial support and access to tailored cost benefit models for their farms are important drivers to becoming FEFTS adopters. Based on these results we argue that enhanced financial support as planned in the Common Agricultural Policy 2023–2027 together with national advisory services that support innovation and knowledge transfer are necessary to drive the adoption of FEFTS in the agriculture sector.

FINANCING THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND EXPERIENCE FOR UKRAINE

Current trends in the development of agricultural production necessitate the attraction of additional financial resources to finance the agricultural sector, which are specific to each national economy. The article examines the priority directions of development of the mechanism for financing agricultural production in Ukraine in the context of current trends in the implementation of the common agricultural policy in Europe. A comparative analysis of the mechanism of additional financing of agricultural production in the EU countries was carried out in the implementation of the common agricultural policy. Clustering of European countries was carried out while taking into account the existence of patterns in the agricultural market and it was confirmed that these patterns do not determine the features and volumes of additional financing of agricultural production. The existence of twelve possible types of markets of agricultural products in European countries is determined and the existence in practice of six of them is confirmed. It is determined that there are significant violations in the policy of convergence of financing of the agricultural sector declared by the OAP, which confirms the need to reform the Common Agricultural Policy of European countries in the direction of greater compliance with the national problems of the European agricultural sector.It has been determined that there is a specific list of development problems that is not repeated for any of the European countries for the agricultural sector of Ukraine, and its own type of agricultural market has been formed, which also has no correspondence. The article focuses on the need to form in Ukraine a specific mechanism of additional financing of agricultural production, taking into account the problems of development of the national agricultural sector and in the context of the Common Agrarian Policy of the Economic Community, its priorities and direction of reform.

Optimizing Resource-Use Efficiency of Yam Producers in Ondo State, Nigeria: A Path to Enhanced Food Production

Resource utilization inefficiency poses a significant barrier to enhancing food production in Nigeria. This research assessed the efficiency of resource use among yam cultivators in the Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria, through a study involving 100 yam farmers chosen at random. Information was gathered using interview schedules and a systematically organized questionnaire. The analysis employed descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis, and multiple regression models. Findings indicate that the mean age of the farmers surveyed was 55.35 years, with 60% boasting over 30 years of agricultural experience. A majority (84%) were male heads of households, and 85% were married. Approximately 63% of the participants reported having households of 6 to 10 members, indicating relatively large family sizes. Around 79% had received primary education or had no formal schooling. The average farm size was found to be 0.70 hectares, with 79% managing no more than 1 hectare, categorizing them as small-scale farmers. The research also uncovered that yam cultivation is financially viable, yielding an average gross margin and net income per hectare of N94,636.13 and N83,491.60, respectively. The primary challenges faced by these farmers include insufficient funding, inadequate storage facilities, and the elevated costs of planting materials. Consequently, the study suggests that the government should formulate and implement agricultural policies aimed at ameliorating these challenges to boost yam production in the region

Can Agricultural Insurance Policy Adjustments Promote a ‘Grain-Oriented’ Planting Structure?: Measurement Based on the Expansion of the High-Level Agricultural Insurance in China

Ensuring national food security is a perennial topic, and securing the grain planting area is an essential solution. Cost savings at scale from agricultural insurance policy adjustments could be a powerful incentive for grain production. In this study, 527 data sets from 31 provinces in China from 2006 to 2022 were used as the sample, and the author applied a multi-stage DID model to measure the effects of agricultural insurance policy adjustments on the grain planting area and planting structure, as well as the influence mechanisms behind them. The results can be summarized as follows: Firstly, agricultural insurance policy adjustments can make a significant contribution to increasing the grain planting area, with some positive impact on the ‘grain-oriented’ planting structure. Secondly, agricultural insurance policy adjustments can significantly increase the grain planting area by increasing the application of agricultural machinery, but this mechanism does not affect the ‘grain orientation’ planting structure. Thirdly, agricultural insurance policy adjustments can have a significant positive impact on the grain planting area and ‘grain—oriented’ planting structure in both high- and low-risk areas, with low-risk areas being more affected than high-risk areas.

Cocoa Farmers and Agrochemical Safety Compliance:

This study addresses the lack of empirical insights into the adherence of cocoa farmers to safety protocols. Specifically focused on agrochemical safety compliance, the research employs a quantitative approach and collects data from 385 cocoa farmers in the Nzema East Municipal through a structured questionnaire. The analysis utilizes mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentages, and Tobit regression models. The study finds that cocoa farmers exhibit a high level of knowledge and preparedness in agrochemical handling practices, positive agrochemical usage practices, and proper agrochemical storage practices. Cocoa farmers employ integrated pest management strategies, using diverse fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides to address crop health and productivity challenges. Tobit regression results showed that the extent of use of agrochemicals was significantly influenced by marital status, household size, farming experience, cooperative membership, and access to spraying machines and personal protective equipment. The research highlights the importance of integrating safety considerations into agricultural policies and practices, emphasizing the role of knowledge and awareness in influencing farmers' practices. It suggests the need for targeted interventions and educational programs to enhance agrochemical safety compliance among cocoa farmers.

Determinants of the adoption of fungus-resistant grapevines: Evidence from Switzerland

Abstract The adoption of fungus-resistant grapevines may be a key strategy for substantially reducing fungicide use in pesticide-intensive viticulture. In a representative survey conducted among 436 grapevine growers in Switzerland, we elicited growers’ expected share of land devoted to fungus-resistant varieties in ten years. More specifically, using regression analyses, we explore the main predictors behind the stated adoption intentions. We find that one-third of new plantings in the next decade will be fungus-resistant varieties. As a result, the expected share of land devoted to fungus-resistant varieties in ten years is 27.4% (compared to 10.2% in 2022), thus increasing by 169%. Farmer- and farm characteristics explain most of the adoption dynamics, especially growers’ beneficial health perceptions about fungus-resistant varieties, which correlate positively with their expected land share devoted to these varieties. Moreover, non-organic grapevine growers are particularly likely to increase their land devoted to these varieties. These findings have important implications for agricultural policy and industry in Europe and elsewhere, facilitating the expected plantation increase using a policy mix tailored to farmer- and farm-level characteristics.

Crop Yield Estimation using Improved Salp Swarm Algorithm based Feature Selection

Crop yield estimation is the art of yield prediction before harvest and it is essential for planning and making conclusive agricultural policies. The forecasting of crop yield is essential in optimal nutrient management, crop insurance, crop market planning and harvest management. However, the crop yield estimation is considered as a challenging task because of huge amount of abundant information exists in the crop data. Therefore, an effective feature selection is required to be developed for removing the redundant attributes. In this research, an Improved Salp Swarm Algorithm (ISSA) based feature selection for an effective crop yield estimation. The Opposition Based Learning (OBL) and Local Search Algorithm (LSA) are incorporated in the ISSA’s initialization and exploitation phase for selecting optimum feature subset. The selected features from the ISSA are used to enhance the classification using Modified Long Short Term Memory (MLSTM) classifier. The performance of the ISSA-MLSTM is analyzed using accuracy, precision, recall, F-score, Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency Coefficient (NSEC), Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The existing researches such as Ensemble approach and MLSTM are used to evaluate the ISSA-MLSTM. The accuracy of the ISSA-MLSTM is 99% that is high when compared to the MLSTM.

Shifting Shadows of Uncertainty: The Utilitarian Migration and Intersectional Risks Among Moroccan Women Agricultural Workers in Spain During COVID-19

This article examines the shift of uncertainty and risk to Moroccan female agricultural workers in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically under the GECCO program. It argues that Spain’s agricultural policies enforce a precarious labor environment for these women, trading their well-being for global market competitiveness. The study delves into recruitment, working, and living conditions, utilizing theories of intersectionality, risk, migratory utilitarianism, and coloniality of power to highlight how the pandemic amplifies risks along existing lines of inequality, altering patterns of gendered mobility and immobility. The paper concludes with a call for a profound reassessment of the European agricultural labor model towards fairness and justice. It pushes for a paradigm shift in migration studies to a critical decolonial view that honors the lived experiences of marginalized migrants. This perspective is essential for dismantling oppressive structures and broadening our understanding of migrant experiences.

Enriching Soil Organic Carbon for Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security, and Health

Amidst a growing global population and climate change challenges, this paper examines the vital role of soil organic carbon (SOC) in sustainable agriculture. Enriching SOC enhances soil fertility, crop productivity, and carbon sequestration, mitigating climate impacts. Prioritizing SOC improves soil structure, water retention, and nutrient availability, raising crop quality. Methodologically, the study combines normative juridical analysis with a qualitative literature review. Results highlight SOC's importance in fostering resilient agriculture and food security despite coordination challenges in policy formulation. Recommendations include incentivizing SOC-enhancing practices, investing in awareness, and fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration. Prioritizing SOC enriches agricultural policies, ensuring sustainable practices, food security, and human well-being, offering a pathway to resilient agriculture and a sustainable future.

Exploring the climate change mitigation potential and regional distribution of agrivoltaics with geodata-based farm economic modelling and life cycle assessment

Tackling climate change remains a critical challenge for society. Achieving climate neutrality requires a massive expansion of renewable energies such as wind and photovoltaics (PV). Agriculture plays a key role in this context, especially as the expansion of ground-mounted PV systems often leads to land-use conflicts. Agrivoltaics (AV), which combines agricultural and electricity production, can be a solution, but the synergies are particularly dependent on local agronomic conditions. There is also a knowledge gap in how AV expansion impacts greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the landscape level and how it contributes to regional emission reduction targets. In this study, we analysed the economic and climate change mitigation impacts of AV expansion pathways in the German state Baden-Württemberg using an integrated land use model and life cycle assessment under the assumption of general rentability of electricity production by AV. We found that implementing AV on 1%–5% of the regions's arable and grassland area reduced the total agricultural gross margin by a maximum of approximately 0.5%. Concurrently, AV implementation reduced GHG emissions by about 1.2 million to 5.9 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2-eq). Even if this reduction is almost exclusively accounted for in the energy sector, in absolute terms it amounts to more than the current GHG emissions from Baden-Württemberg's agricultural sector (about 4.4 Mt CO2-eq in 2021). In the 5% expansion scenario, almost 90% of the installations were installed on grassland, but this share dropped to 72% when considering landscape quality constraints. Although we found considerable regional disparity, our findings still suggest that AV is an essential component for regional emission reduction targets. These results are particularly relevant for policymakers in spatial planning, agricultural and energy policy.

Analysis of The Implementation of Sustainable Food Agricultural Land Protection Policy in Bandung District: A Case Study of Rice Field Conversion in Cikancung District

The policy of sustainable protection of agricultural land becomes crucial in addressing land degradation and land use conversion, especially from agriculture to non-agriculture, alongside the increasing demand for land due to population growth and economic development, which can lead to negative impacts such as a decrease in food security, marginalization of agricultural land, and an increase in flood risks. This research aims to analyze the implementation of the Sustainable Protection of Food Agricultural Land Policy, understand the rate of paddy field conversion, and identify trends in land conversion after the policy's enforcement. This study employs a qualitative approach, with data obtained through interviews, observations, and documentary studies. The research is conducted in Bandung Regency, with samples taken from Cikancung Sub-district, Bandung Regency, West Java Province. Informants involved in this research are selected through judgment sampling and are individuals related to the sustainable protection of agricultural land policy and relevant stakeholders. Data analysis is conducted using qualitative and spatial analysis. The research findings indicate that the implementation of sustainable agricultural land protection policy in Bandung Regency is still in the socialization and planning stages. Based on spatial analysis, the implementation of the policy in Cikancung Sub-district has led to the conversion of paddy fields, particularly in non-technical irrigation paddy fields, predominantly converted into industrial land. This conversion covers a total area of 20.3 hectares, with the most significant change occurring in non-technical irrigation paddy fields converted into industries, covering an area of 13.7 hectares. Based on internal, external, and policy analysis, it can be concluded that the policy implementation in Cikancung Sub-district has not been optimal in addressing the conversion of paddy fields.

OPTIMIZING RESOURCE-USE EFFICIENCY OF YAM PRODUCERS IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA: A PATH TO ENHANCED FOOD PRODUCTION

Resource utilization inefficiency poses a significant barrier to enhancing food production in Nigeria. This research assessed the efficiency of resource use among yam cultivators in the Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria, through a study involving 100 yam farmers chosen at random. Information was gathered using interview schedules and a systematically organized questionnaire. The analysis employed descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis, and multiple regression models. Findings indicate that the mean age of the farmers surveyed was 55.35 years, with 60% boasting over 30 years of agricultural experience. A majority (84%) were male heads of households, and 85% were married. Approximately 63% of the participants reported having households of 6 to 10 members, indicating relatively large family sizes. Around 79% had received primary education or had no formal schooling. The average farm size was found to be 0.70 hectares, with 79% managing no more than 1 hectare, categorizing them as small-scale farmers. The research also uncovered that yam cultivation is financially viable, yielding an average gross margin and net income per hectare of N94,636.13 and N83,491.60, respectively. The primary challenges faced by these farmers include insufficient funding, inadequate storage facilities, and the elevated costs of planting materials. Consequently, the study suggests that the government should formulate and implement agricultural policies aimed at ameliorating these challenges to boost yam production in the region. Keywords: Agricultural Policy, Yam Production, Resource Efficiency, Small-Scale Farmers, Nigeria.

Organic vs. Integrated-Production Agriculture Farming: Which Grapevine Stress-Responsive Genes Are Affected by the Application of Resistance Inducers and Elicitors?

With the rising prominence of organic farming systems in European Union countries, motivated by agricultural policies, there is pressure for effective disease management strategies. To address this challenge, the use of plant resistance inducers (PRIs) and elicitors has emerged as a promising approach. In this study, we compared the impact of integrated production with organic agriculture farming practices, specifically applying PRIs and elicitors in the latter, on the expression levels of stress-responsive genes in two grapevine cultivars, ‘Alicante Bouschet’ and ‘Trincadeira’. Our findings revealed that the organic farming system led to upregulation of eight of the 12 studied genes in at least one cultivar, indicating a significant influence of production mode. The upregulated genes were associated with plant stress-responsive genes (PR1, PR2, PR4, and TLP9), sugar metabolism (HT5), phenylpropanoids (STS1), enzymes related to jasmonic acid synthesis and response to biotic stresses, respectively (LOX, PER42). Also, the ‘Alicante Bouschet’ cultivar consistently displayed significantly higher levels of transcript accumulation on most of the stress-related genes compared to the ‘Trincadeira’ cultivar in both production modes. Our study provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of PRIs and elicitors in increasing plant expression levels of stress-responsive genes, leading to greater resilience to pathogen attacks and emphasizing their position in organic agriculture.