Categories Of Farmers Research Articles

Os atores da construção da categoria agricultura familiar no Brasil

O artigo tem por objetivo refletir sobre o processo de construção da categoria agricultura familiar no Brasil contemporâneo. A reflexão aqui sintetizada toma por base a revisita aos principais trabalhos acadêmicos que contribuíram para definir o campo de reflexão da agricultura familiar no Brasil, análise documental e entrevistas com lideranças e assessores do sindicalismo da agricultura familiar. Argumenta-se que existiram três conjuntos de atores que promoveram a construção da categoria agricultura familiar no Brasil: alguns trabalhos acadêmicos que deram base para repensar o lugar teórico desta agricultura na história e no desenvolvimento do país; as políticas do Estado e as normativas legais que deram visibilidade e definiram operacionalmente como se compreende esta categoria; e as organizações de agricultores familiares que têm identificado nesta categoria o seu projeto de agricultura e a utilizam como identidade política.

Development of farms according to the LFA classification

The aim of the paper is to assess the situation and development of Czech agriculture by the production and economic ratios of a sample of farms. The development is evaluated using a database of farms from the Czech Republic since 2000, divided by the share of land included in the LFA. The year 2011 revealed a significant improvement in economic indicators over the previous year. A positive profit appeared in 95% of enterprises and economic results approached the results of 2007. An important trend is the reduction in the number of workers, when in 2011 the number of workers was equal to 70% to that in 2000, while labour productivity is increasing annually by an average of 7%. In the structure of production, the average farm revealed a revenue growth of crop production, the revenue from livestock production was declining, although the opposite trend appeared in mountain areas. In all categories of farms, there is a growing dependence on subsidies. Although the year 2011 was the second most productive since 2000, the profit after deducting subsidies was reached by 13% of farms only.

The carbon footprint of lamb: Sources of variation and opportunities for mitigation

Carbon footprinting can be used to characterise the greenhouse gas emissions profile of agricultural products, providing a baseline against which mitigation targets can be set and progress measured. Farm-level emissions vary in relation to local conditions and management choices. Carbon footprinting models can be used to assess the impact of farm characteristics on emissions; however, the benefits of such models have been underexploited thus far for sheep production. This study estimated the cradle to farm-gate carbon footprints of 64 sheep farms across England and Wales using empirical farm data. This large dataset enabled an assessment of the relationship between farm variables and carbon footprint at a multi-farm level. Mean carbon footprints of 10.85, 12.85 and 17.86kg CO2e/kg live weight finished lamb were recorded for lowland, upland and hill farms respectively, from samples with coefficients of variation of 33%, 23% and 34%. Multiple linear regression models indicated that four farm management variables had a significant impact on the size of the carbon footprint of finished lamb. Irrespective of farm category, these were the number of lambs reared per ewe (head/ewe), lamb growth rate (g/day), the percentage of ewe and replacement ewe lamb flock not mated (%), and concentrate use (kg/livestock unit). Dominance analysis indicated that, of these, the number of lambs reared per ewe mated and lamb growth rate were the most influential. Productivity improvements are arguably most problematic for extensive hill farms; however, the top performing hill farms in this study outperformed the mean lowland and upland farms. The results suggest that, at a national level, the emphasis for reducing the carbon footprint of lamb should be on closing the productivity gap between poor and top performing farms.

Consumption of Antimicrobials in Pigs, Veal Calves, and Broilers in The Netherlands: Quantitative Results of Nationwide Collection of Data in 2011

In 2011, Dutch animal production sectors started recording veterinary antimicrobial consumption. These data are used by the Netherlands Veterinary Medicines Authority to create transparency in and define benchmark indicators for veterinary consumption of antimicrobials. This paper presents the results of sector wide consumption of antimicrobials, in the form of prescriptions or deliveries, for all pig, veal calf, and broiler farms. Data were used to calculate animal defined daily dosages per year (ADDD/Y) per pig or veal calf farm. For broiler farms, number of animal treatment days per year was calculated. Furthermore, data were used to calculate the consumption of specific antimicrobial classes per administration route per pig or veal calf farm. The distribution of antimicrobial consumption per farm varied greatly within and between farm categories. All categories, except for rosé starter farms, showed a highly right skewed distribution with a long tail. Median ADDD/Y values varied from 1.2 ADDD/Y for rosé finisher farms to 83.2 ADDD/Y for rosé starter farms, with 28.6 ADDD/Y for white veal calf farms. Median consumption in pig farms was 9.3 ADDD/Y for production pig farms and 3.0 ADDD/Y for slaughter pig farms. Median consumption in broiler farms was 20.9 ATD/Y. Regarding specific antimicrobial classes, fluoroquinolones were mainly used on veal calf farms, but in low quantities: P75 range was 0 – 0.99 ADDD/Y, and 0 – 0.04 ADDD/Y in pig farms. The P75 range for 3rd/4th-generation cephalosporins was 0 – 0.07 ADDD/Y for veal calf farms, and 0 – 0.1 ADDD/Y for pig farms. The insights obtained from these results, and the full transparency obtained by monitoring antimicrobial consumption per farm, will help reduce antimicrobial consumption and endorse antimicrobial stewardship. The wide and skewed distribution in consumption has important practical and methodological implications for benchmarking, surveillance and future analysis of trends.

A cross-sectional survey on the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella in commercial and backyard chicken farms in Bangladesh

A cross-sectional survey was conducted to find out the prevalence of Salmonella in chicken farms in Chittagong by analyzing the fecal samples from May to November 2009. Isolation and identification of Salmonella from fecal samples were done according to the conventional methods and all the isolates of Salmonella were tested for their sensitivity patterns to 9 antimicrobials. For farm prevalence of Salmonella, three categories of chicken farms were targeted: commercial layer, commercial broiler and backyard. Seroprevalence of Salmonella Pullorum was also done, having retrieved blood serum samples from the serum bank maintained at the Department of Microbiology, Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU). This serum bank was made, having collected serum samples from chickens of the Participatory Livestock Development Project (PLDP) and Smallholder Livestock Development Project-2 (SLDP-2) areas. The results showed that the farmprevalence of Salmonella in backyard and commercial layer farms were almost identical- 28 vs 23% (P=0.517), but a significant lower prevalence of Salmonella was observed in commercial broiler farms compared with backyard (P= 0.008) and layer (P=0.062) farms. Of the 288 serum samples tested 37 (9.5%) were seropositive for Salmonella Pullorum. However, there was no significant difference between seroprevalence of SP in the backyard chickens in two different areas (P=0.980). All the isolates were resistant to 4 antimicrobials tested, namely colistin sulphate, co-trimoxazole, oxytetracycline and penicillin. The antimicrobial sensitivities of the isolates of different production categories varied widely.

Chlorinated pesticides in stream sediments from organic, integrated and conventional farms

To determine if current sheep/beef farming practices affect pesticide residues in streams, current-use and legacy chlorinated pesticides were quantified in 100 sediment samples from 15 streams on the South Island of New Zealand. The study involved five blocks of three neighboring farms, with each block containing farms managed by organic, integrated and conventional farming practices. Significantly higher concentrations of dieldrin, ∑ endosulfans, ∑ current-use pesticides, and ∑ chlorinated pesticides were measured in sediments from conventional farms compared to organic and integrated farms. However, streams in the latter two farming categories were not pesticide-free and sometimes contained relatively high concentrations of legacy pesticides. Comparison of measured pesticide concentrations with sediment quality guidelines showed that, regardless of farming practice, mean pesticide concentrations were below the recommended toxicity thresholds. However, up to 23% of individual samples contained chlorpyrifos, endosulfan sulfate, ∑ DDT, dieldrin, or ∑ chlordane concentrations above these thresholds.

Analysis of farming types’ characteristics in the Boianu Plain (Romania)

The aim of this paper is to analyze the distribution and dimensional structure of the farms depending on their legal status, and the owners' perceptions on the current status. The main research methods used in the study were: direct observation method, digital mapping, statistical analysis, surveying (semi-structured interview) and SWOT analysis. The Boianu Plain is by excellence an agricultural region. Its arable land is worked/operated by three main categories of farms: individual holdings, family farming associations and farming societies. Production obtained within individual holdings is always lower comparative to family farming associations and especially to farming societies. Partnership helps farmers to join their technical and financial means in order to increase the annual production and, implicitly, gain profit. In this respect, the farmers' perception resulted from the semi -structured interviews is a good evaluation instrument. The most critical issue at local level is making individual farmers aware of the benefits of family association and/or farmland leasing. The SWOT analysis reveals the possibility of an efficient management as driven by the way that the existing opportunities are able to mitigate or completely remove the weaknesses. The Boianu Plain has a very good agricultural potential in a highly favourable environment, but poorly capitalized.

Characteristics of organic pig farms in selected European countries and their possible influence on litter size and piglet mortality

Better knowledge of piglet losses around birth and during lactation, and the role of litter size, housing and management characteristics, should help to identify critical points and hence to improve the situation in organic pig farms. For this purpose, a project was initiated in five EU countries collecting interview data, measures of animal and housing characteristics and production records. This paper presents results regarding production characteristics from 82 herds. Among them, 42 farms were included in an analysis based on the production records. Based on sows’ housing system during the first 2 weeks after farrowing, farms were classified as “indoor” (n = 49) or “outdoor” (n = 33). For each group, a multiple correspondence analysis and subsequent hierarchical classification were carried out to identify distinct farm categories. In total, 30 variables from the questionnaires and measured characteristics were used after binary transformation when necessary. Three types of indoor farms and two types of outdoor farms were identified. Regarding litter size at birth and weaning, there was no clear difference between all types of indoor farms and one type of outdoor farms, whereas the second type of outdoor farms, that were more “extensive”, had lower performance. Production records showed a detrimental influence of high farm average litter size at birth on piglet mortality and that high-standard deviation in litter size may exacerbate this problem.

Characterizing farming systems around Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya, for targeting soil fertility–enhancing technologies

AbstractKakamega district in Western Kenya represents the smallholder farming systems typical for much of the densely populated humid highlands in East Africa. A specific feature, however, is the presence of a protected forest reserve (Kakamega Forest National Park), covering some 20% of the district area. Year‐round crop production with little use of external inputs is resulting in declining soil fertility and crop yields. Technologies to counteract fertility constraints are rarely implemented, as they do not consider system diversity or farm‐specific characteristics. We surmised that farm type–specific targeting of technology options to address soil fertility–related production constraints would reduce the anthropogenic pressure on the resources of the adjacent Kakamega rainforest reserve. Based on Kenyan national census data, we selected 168 farms in physical proximity of the Kakamega forest and characterized them regarding production system and soil attributes. Cluster and principal component analyses identified five distinct farm categories. Three representative farms from each cluster group were subsequently selected to establish labor‐use patterns, draw resource‐flow maps, and determine NPK balances.Small subsistence‐oriented farms were most common (> 50%), with maize yields of 0.9 t ha–1 (Cluster 1). Most farmers relied on the forest to provide fire wood, animal feed, and medicinal plants. Mixed farms, combining subsistence maize with industrial crops, were differentiated by soil type, with tea being grown on Ferralsol (Cluster 3), and sugar cane being grown on Acrisol (cluster 4). The dependence on forest resources was limited to animal grazing and the collection of feed stuff (Cluster 3), or the extraction of medicinal plants (Cluster 4). Only few farms showed a high degree of market orientation of the food‐crop production. These comprised either small farms with high investments in fertilizer and maize yields close to 2 t ha–1 (Cluster 2), or larger farms (1.6–3.9 ha) with low fertilizer but high hired‐labor use (Cluster 5). Their reliance on forest resources was generally low. Resource flows showed mainly patterns of nutrient export in subsistence farms, and more complex flow patterns, involving several farm compartments, in the diversified farms. Partial nutrient balances were strongly negative for N and K, irrespective of soil or farm type. Soil‐fertility characteristics reflected the nutrient balances with generally low C and N in all farms on Acrisol, and low P in farms not applying mineral fertilizers or farmyard manure. The proposed typology is expected to improve the targeting of technologies addressing soil fertility–related production constraints, and to reduce the pressure on forest resources. This is of particular importance in the case of small‐scale subsistence and mixed farms close to the forest margin.

Nutritional Status and Food Security of Farm Households under Different Land Use Patterns in Bangladesh

This study was aimed at estimating the impacts of changing land use patterns on food security for the farm households in Bangladesh. It was based on primary data collected from 730 households of different farm categories with direct interview method, which covered 14 existing most important land use patterns. The study revealed that households of alternate shrimp (bagda) and rice farming consumed the highest amounts of food followed by year round shrimp (bagda) farming whereas the highest per capita calorie intake was observed in households of alternate rice and wheat production. But households of year round shrimp (bagda) farming generated the highest amount of income followed by households of alternate shrimp (bagda) and rice farming, year round banana production and year round floriculture, respectively. But there were no systematic and regular patterns of relationships among income, food, protein and calorie intakes in different land use patterns. Large households consumed the highest amount of food and protein followed by medium, small and marginal households, respectively. All the land use patterns were found to increase major food security indicators and reduced poverty. All the 14 land use patterns should be made sustainable to the farmers by properly addressing environmental factors and by easing access of farmers to inputs and outputs markets by the government. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjnut.v24i0.14036 Bangladesh J. Nutr. Vol. 24-25 Dec 2011-2012 pp.49-64

Uma tipologia dos estabelecimentos agropecuários do Brasil a partir do censo de 2006

Baseando-se na composição da mão de obra utilizada, medida a partir do número de pessoas e do tempo de trabalho no ano, os estabelecimentos agropecuários foram agrupados em quatro categorias: assentado, exclusivamente familiar, familiar com contratado, não familiar. Os estabelecimentos de "assentados" são em quase sua totalidade estabelecimentos familiares; os "exclusivamente familiares" são estabelecimentos conduzidos pelo produtor exclusivamente com mão de obra familiar (pessoas com laço de parentesco com o produtor, sem pessoal contratado); os "familiares com contratados" utilizam pessoas da família e pessoal contratado, porém a mão de obra familiar supera a dos contratados; os estabelecimentos "não familiares" incluem os que operam somente com trabalho contratado e aqueles em que a força de trabalho contratada supera a dos membros da família do produtor. Foram analisadas as características de área, valor da produção, produtividade e fontes de receitas. Os estabelecimentos familiares são predominantes (90%) e abrigam 80% das pessoas ocupadas na agricultura, mas geram somente 50% do valor produzido. A concentração fundiária dentro das categorias familiares é tão elevada quanto nos estabelecimentos não familiares. No Brasil, apenas 16% da desigualdade da distribuição da terra se deve à desigualdade entre as categorias analisadas; os 84% restantes devem-se à desigualdade dentro dos grupos.

Eggspectation: organic egg authentication method challenged with produce from ten different countries

Many consumers are willing to pay a higher price for organic eggs. Since these eggs retail at a higher price than conventional eggs and their identity is difficult to verify, they are susceptible to fraud. For the authentication of Dutch eggs RIKILT developed an analytical test method based on carotenoid profiling. In the present study, the method was challenged with eggs from 10 countries. Eggs from 94 farms (65 organic, 29 conventional) were subjected to the carotenoid High Performance Liquid Chromatography - Diode Array Detection profiling combined with k-nearest neighbour classification chemometrics to predict the farming management system category: organic or conventional. The eggs from 39 of the 40 EU organic farms and the eggs of 27 of the 29 EU conventional farms, as well as eggs from 17 of the 25 organic farms from outside the EU were classified correctly. The latter lower rate was mainly due to eggs from Turkey; 78% of which were misclassified. The methodology was successful in farming management prediction of the EU eggs, as well as for eggs from Canada, Israel and Norway. The identity of the eggs from Turkey was consistently incorrectly predicted and needs further research.

Exploring Agrobiodiversity on Farm: A Case from Middle–Hills of Nepal

A survey was conducted to examine agrobiodiversity status of farms in the Pokhare Khola watershed of Dhading district in the Middle-Hills of Nepal. A total of 53 farmland tree and one crop species from 22 families were documented. The most commonly found species were fruit and fodder species (on over 60 % farms) including banana (Musa paradisiaca), khasrato (Ficus hispida) and khanayo (Ficus semicordata). Tree density was highest (226/ha) on marginal farms (farm area ≤0.25 ha) and lowest (165/ha) on small farms (farm area 0.26–0.5 ha). For the study area as a whole, the Shannon-Wiener species diversity index was 3.26 and the species evenness index 1.89. Large farms (farm area >1 ha) had the greatest tree species diversity (4.47 ± 0.52) and marginal farms the lowest (2.18 ± 0.37), indicating the positive relationship between farm size and species diversity. A total of six types of cereals and 18 types of vegetable crops were grown in the study area. The major livestock component of each household was chickens (average 8/household) and goats (6/household). The mean value of livestock in the large farm category was estimated as $2235, significantly higher than that of the other three categories. A significant relationship was found between agrobiodiversity and livelihoods, irrespective of annual production, and the critical role of the farmed landscape in agrobiodiversity conservation was apparent.

A survey of visitors on Swedish livestock farms with reference to the spread of animal diseases

BackgroundIn addition to livestock movements, other between-farm contacts such as visitors may contribute to the spread of contagious animal diseases. Knowledge about such contacts is essential for contingency planning. Preventive measures, risk-based surveillance and contact tracing may be facilitated if the frequency and type of between-farm contacts can be assessed for different types of farms. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency and types of visitors on farms with cloven-hoofed animals in Sweden and to analyse whether there were differences in the number of visitors attributable to region, season, and type of herd. Data were collected from Swedish farmers through contact-logs covering two-week periods during four different seasons.ResultsIn total, 482 (32%) farmers filled in the contact log for at least one period and the data represent 18,416 days. The average number of professional and non-professional visitors per day was 0.3 and 0.8, respectively. Whereas the number of professional visitors seemed to increase with increasing herd size, this relation was not seen for non-professional visits. The mean numbers of visitors per day were highest in the summer and in the farm category ‘small mixed farm’. Reports of the visitors’ degree of contact with the animals showed that veterinarians, AI-technicians, animal transporters and neighbours were often in direct contact with the animals or entered the stables and 8.8% of the repairmen were also in direct contact with animals, which was unexpected. In a multivariable analysis, species, herd size and season were significantly associated with the number of professional visitors as well as the number of visitors in direct contact with the animals.ConclusionIn conclusion there was a large variation between farms in the number and type of contacts. The number of visitors that may be more likely to spread diseases between farms was associated with animal species and herd size.

Food, Health and Habitat Security of Rural Women in Punjab

Food security is the basic human right and is achieved if adequate food is available and accessible for all individuals at all times to live a healthy and happy life. In gender inequality, women are poorly nourished , have less access to health care and live in poor sanitary and household conditions. The main objectives of the study were: (i) To measure food, health and habitat securities of rural women in Punjab. (ii) To identify the constraints to her welfare The study was carried out in all three soil zones of Punjab. Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Bhatinda district were randomly selected from each soil zone. Multistage stratified random sampling technique was employed. Two blocks from each district and two villages from each block were randomly selected. All the cultivator households were enlisted in three different farm size groups of small, medium and large.100 women respondents from farm and landless categories were selected from each district making a total sample of 300. Primary and secondary data were collected. Components of livelihood security index (LSI) viz. food and nutrition, health, habitat were assessed by indicators selected from CARE USA/Prog. Div/PHLS. Each of the indicators was measured for availability, accessibility, quality and status on a five point ordinal scale. Food security index points to excellent aggregate mean score of 4.63 for farm category and satisfactory score of 3.61 for landless categories. Diet diversity points to satisfactory score for farm categories and poor score of 2.14 for landless categories. Habitat security points to good score of 3.89 for farm size categories and secured equilibrium with index of 2.86 for land less categories.Water availability and accessibility points to a very good index. Other indices for condition of roof, walls, and freedom of mobility show satisfactory score for both categories. Poor indices for number of rooms, floor and kitchen for the landless were the constraints. Health security points to less than satisfactory equilibrium of 2.86 and fragile equilibrium of 2.53 for farm size and landless categories respectively. Access to government hospital was a constraint in all the districts for both the categories and needs to be improved. Hoshiarpur district performed better in all three indices from all the districts studied.

In-store losses of rice and ways of reducing such losses at farmers’ level: An assessment in selected regions of Bangladesh

The study aimed at assessing the in-store losses of rice caused by biotic and abiotic factors in the storage structures/containers at farmers’ level. The farmers’ suggested ways of reducing in-store losses of rice are also discussed. A total of 96 villages covering 26 Upazilas under 14 civil districts across all the divisions of the country were selected for present investigation. The districts were put under five different regions to capture the dimensions of study. In all, 1360 samples of Aus, Aman and Boro rice farmers were selected randomly and purposively from the study areas and put into marginal, small, medium and large farm category based on their land ownerships. Data were collected through pre-tested questionnaires. Different traditional rice storage structures/containers like Dole, Berh, Inside-house Gola, Outside-house Gola, Steel/Plastic drums, Motka, Gunny bag and Plastic/Polythene bags were commonly used by farmers in the study areas. The storage time of rice varied from 3.05 to 7.24 months irrespective of rice, farm and region with the overall average being 5.5 months. Significant losses in stored rice occurred through the activities of both biotic and abiotic factors. The average in-store losses occurred for Aus, Aman and Boro rice were respectively 3.68, 3.80 and 4.12% with the aggregated average being 3.92%. The average in-store losses of rice in large, medium, small and marginal farmers were 4.48, 3.92, 4.0 and 3.59% respectively. The in-store losses occurred in regions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 were 3.31, 5.23, 3.62, 4.44 and 3.25% respectively. The farmers suggested a number of ways for reducing in-store losses of rice including training on capacity building and awareness for safe storage, credit for constructing durable storage structure, construction of common storage structures at village/union level, preventive measures against biotic and abiotic factors, supplying farmers with durable storage containers and, keeping them well ahead informed about the natural calamities. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbau.v10i1.12105 J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 10(1): 133–144, 2012

Sustainable productivity and profitability of diversified rice-based cropping systems in an irrigated ecosystem

An experiment was conducted at ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Research Farm, Sabajpura, Patna (longitude 85°13′N and 1atitude 25°37′E), Bihar, India for four consecutive years 2004–05 to 2007–08 to develop a diversified cropping system for an irrigated ecosystem in Bihar by introducing pulse/oilseed/vegetables as a second or third crop in 10 rice-based cropping systems. Four crop cycles have been completed for all the cropping systems. During all years of the experiment there were significant variations among the cropping systems. Maximum paddy yield equivalent was recorded in rice–tomato–bottle gourd (40.44 t ha−1) followed by rice–potato–onion (28.47 t ha−1), rice–coriander–lady's fingers (26.79 t ha−1), rice–carrot–cowpea (24.59 t ha−1) and rice–mustard–tomato (24.44 t ha−1). A higher value for the diversification index (DI) represents a higher level of crop diversification. It is evident from the results, that DI varies from 0.299 on a medium-sized farm to 0.903 on a small farm, with an average DI value of 0.643 among all farm categories. A survey revealed that the average DI value for small-scale farmers was highest (0.741) compared with the medium- (0.591) and large-scale (0.626) categories, and the differences were negligible. This seems reinforce the view that the smaller the farm, the higher the level of crop diversification.

An Economic Analysis of Investment Pattern, Cost of Milk Production and Production and Profitability of Commercial Dairy Farms in Maharashtra

Dairying in India has traditionally been a small holders' enterprise. As the demand for milk and milk product is increasing rapidly, milk producers have been adopting dairy farming on commercial scale to tap the market opportunities. The present study conducted on 40 commercial dairy farms in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra (India) in the year 2009-10 analyses their capital investment, cost and returns and the profitability. The farms were classified into small, medium and large categories based on herd size. Small, medium and large dairy farms maintained 10.55, 14.11 and 34.66 milch animals respectively. The average investment per farm was estimated to be Rs. 12.17 lakhs. The share of dairy animals in total investment ranged from 51.28 % (small farms) to 70.12 % (large farms). The average productivity of cross-bred cattle was 9.72, 9.58 and 9.49 litres of milk per day for small, medium and large category of commercial farms; while per litre cost of milk production thereon were Rs. 12.49, Rs.12.58 and Rs. 11.48 respectively. The net return over cost per litre of cow milk produced was Rs. 2.16. All the farms were financially viable earning a net profit of Rs. 1,91,458 per farm per year.

Application of modified compromise weighted multi-objective programming in Fadama farming in Dass Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Nigeria

The application of modified compromise weighted multi-objective programming to Fadama farming in Dass Local Government Area of Bauchi State was the main focus of the study. Samples of 106 Fadama vegetable cultivars were randomly selected from 12 Fadama user’s associations in the study area. The farm sizes were grouped and formed into three categories namely: below 1 ha, 1 to 2.99 ha and 3 to 4.99 ha farms, with sample size of 37, 39 and 30 farmers, respectively. It was assumed that farming could be optimized using four specific objectives (maximization of income, and employment; minimization of fertilizer and ground water use). Modified compromise weighted multi-objective programming technique was used to analyze the four objectives, which were optimized individually and combined. The results disclosed that the 3 to 4.99 ha farm size had the best maximum income level of N302,199.26 (+28.11%) and employment of 1125 man days (+33.61%) and minimum level of fertilizer use of 182 kg (-8.08%) and ground water use of 3962 mm (-17.25%) at their respective existing farm levels compared to the other categories of farms. This implied that the farmers were characterized by preponderance of high level of adoption of agricultural technology, resulting from intensive cropping, leading to a high level of chemical fertilizer and increased use of ground water for irrigation which consequently led to reduction of ground water table in the study area. It was therefore recommended that the farmers in the study area should concentrate in the cultivation of the major Fadama crops like onion, tomato, pepper, okro, cabbage and lettuce instead of spreading out their resources to grow potato, carrot and garden-egg. Key words: Organic farming, irrigation, multi-objective programming, Fadama farming.

Comparison of bulk-tank standard plate count and somatic cell count for Wisconsin dairy farms in three size categories

The objective of this study was to evaluate possible claims by advocates of small-scale dairy farming that milk from smaller Wisconsin farms is of higher quality than milk from larger Wisconsin farms. Reported bulk tank standard plate count (SPC) and somatic cell count (SCC) test results for Wisconsin dairy farms were obtained for February to December, 2008. Farms were sorted into 3 size categories using available size-tracking criteria: small (≤118 cows; 12,866 farms), large (119–713 cattle; 1,565 farms), and confined animal feeding operations (≥714 cattle; 160 farms). Group means were calculated (group=farm size category) for the farms’ minimum, median, mean, 90th percentile, and maximum SPC and SCC. Statistical analysis showed that group means for median, mean, 90th percentile, and maximum SPC and SCC were almost always significantly higher for the small farm category than for the large farm and confined animal feeding operations farm categories. With SPC and SCC as quality criteria and the 3 farm size categories of ≤118, 119 to 713, and ≥714 cattle, the claim of Wisconsin smaller farms producing higher quality milk than Wisconsin larger farms cannot be supported.