Crop Supply Research Articles

Assessment of Domestic Terms of Trade on Oilseed Crops Supply and Demand by Parity Index in Rajasthan: An Analysis

In this paper, the terms of trade between the input and output prices of selected major oilseeds i.e. groundnut, rapeseed & mustard and soybean have been estimated for selected districts of Rajasthan for the period 1996-97 to 2015-16. The indices of terms of trade for groundnut has shown mixed trend whereas for rapeseed & mustard trend remained favourable from 1996-97 to 2010-11. The ratio of index of procurement prices to index of input prices for rapeseed & mustard was more than one during this period reached to as high as of 165 in 2003-04 over the base of 100 in 1996-97. Like rapeseed & mustard, terms of trade for soybean cultivation in Baran was found favourable for about a decade (1996-97 to 2008-09) and afterward had shown mixed trend of ups and downs. The decline in indices can be attributed to relatively higher rate of increase in prices of inputs than of output prices. Based on the study it was suggested to conduct regular studies for better understanding the trend in prices of farm inputs and outputs that will help in revising the existing policies with confidence. To remove the disparity between ‘prices received and paid’, concerted efforts should be made to maintain the parity, which will help farmers in buying inputs and other items of household consumption.

Рroductive moisture and yield of winter wheat in the dry-steppe belt of the Stavropol region

Rational use of moisture by crops in conditions of its lack is an urgent task of agriculture. The research was carried out in the agriculture department of the Prikumsk experimental selection station in 2014–2020 in a 6-field grain-fallow crop rotation. The purpose of the research is to study the moisture supply of winter wheat crops by various predecessors. The main difference in the moisture content of fallow and non-fallow crops was observed in the autumn period. The content of productive moisture in a meter layer of soil before sowing in a pure fallow is 2.4 times higher than in a semi-fallow. In favorable years for humidification (2014–2016), the moisture reserves in the arable soil layer (0–20 cm) by their predecessors practically did not differ (24.6 and 23.5 mm), while in dry years (2017–2020) they differed significantly (10.8 and 4.1 mm). The formation of the yield for pure fallow was significantly influenced by moisture reserves for sowing winter wheat in the arable ( r = 0.86) and 1 m soil layer ( r = 0.80), precipitation in April and May ( r = 0.77), May ( r = 0.75) and the total moisture supply of crops ( r = 0.91), and for the semifallow — the total moisture supply ( r = 0.80). The accumulation of moisture in the cold period depended on its autumn content in the 1st soil layer, had a significant negative relationship for the pure vapor ( r = -0.79 in mm and -0.85 in %) and manifested itself as a tendency for the semi-vapor ( r = -0.70 and -0.69). The greater the autumn reserves of moisture in the soil, the less its amount accumulated over the winter and, conversely, the greatest replenishment of moisture was observed with the minimum autumn reserves. The efficiency of using moisture by fallow crops was 1.7 times, and the yield was 1.9 times higher compared to the non-steam predecessor.

Application of Upstream Open Reading Frames (uORFs) Editing for the Development of Stress-Tolerant Crops.

Global population growth and climate change are posing increasing challenges to the production of a stable crop supply using current agricultural practices. The generation of genetically modified (GM) crops has contributed to improving crop stress tolerance and productivity; however, many regulations are still in place that limit their commercialization. Recently, alternative biotechnology-based strategies, such as gene-edited (GE) crops, have been in the spotlight. Gene-editing technology, based on the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) platform, has emerged as a revolutionary tool for targeted gene mutation, and has received attention as a game changer in the global biotechnology market. Here, we briefly introduce the concept of upstream open reading frames (uORFs) editing, which allows for control of the translation of downstream ORFs, and outline the potential for enhancing target gene expression by mutating uORFs. We discuss the current status of developing stress-tolerant crops, and discuss uORF targets associated with salt stress-responsive genes in rice that have already been verified by transgenic research. Finally, we overview the strategy for developing GE crops using uORF editing via the CRISPR-Cas9 system. A case is therefore made that the mutation of uORFs represents an efficient method for developing GE crops and an expansion of the scope of application of genome editing technology.

ANALISIS DESAIN EMBUNG SEBAGAI PENGATUR SUPLAI AIR IRIGASI DENGAN MENGGUNAKAN METODE WATER BALANCE (STUDI KASUS: EMBUNG KOLAK DESA TEMPUREJO KECAMATAN WATES KABUPATEN KEDIRI)

Embung compote is a water structure that functions to distribute and ensure the availability of water supply for crops or livestock in the dry and rainy season. Located in Tempurejo Village, Wates District, Kediri Regency. Embung is a micro-sized water reservoir (reservoir) around agricultural land that is built to accommodate the amount of rainwater during the rainy season and become a supply in the dry season. The current condition in the reservoir source compote is experiencing a problem of decreasing water resources and part of the reservoir building is leaking.
 The initial step of this research is hydrological analysis to determine monthly rainfall, effective rainfall R80, effective rainfall 10 days. The results of the analysis are then used to calculate water requirements using the Water Balance method and design planning of the compote reservoir. Water Balance / Water Balance is a comparison between the available water debit and the water required for irrigation purposes.
 Based on the results of the analysis and design planning of the embung, the dimensions of the embung are 2.3 m high, round lighthouse type, 1 flushing door with a size (2.14 mx 1 m), a volume of water reservoir is 1.086.84 m3, foundation depth is 0.8 m , the volume of the foundation is 0.217 m3 which can withstand a load of 3.255 tons.

The importance of high crop residue demand on biogas plant site selection, scaling and feedstock allocation – A regional scale concept in a Hungarian study area

In regions characterised by intensive agriculture, livestock manure is a commonly used feedstock for biogas production. Due to its expensive transportation, manure sources are often the sole criteria during biogas plant site selection, regarding feedstock supply. Encouraging biogas plant operators to use larger amounts of crop residues in the feedstock is favourable from an energy management viewpoint, but its spatial projection on resource logistics and its significance on biogas plant selection is less investigated. In this study, scenarios were created with different feedstock compositions considering constant manure and varying crop residue ratios. Based on their potential biogas yields and the location of livestock farms, a manure source-oriented site selection and facility scaling was made in a Hungarian study area. The applied GIS-based feedstock allocation and logistic analysis defined the crop acquisition possibilities and optimal transportation routes, assuming multiple resource-competitive biogas plants. The results indicate that feedstock composition can indirectly impact the site selection procedure and supply security if high crop residue demand is considered. Resource acquisition possibilities and economic feasibility are significantly affected by the location and density of the proposed biogas plants and their relative position to the crop supply areas. Due to the geographical heterogeneity of the supply side and the demand points, the transportation costs of crop residues and the digestate exceed those of the manure in all scenarios, which draws attention to the importance of spatial availability of crop residues during biogas plant site selection and scaling.

Energy Profiling of a Plant Factory and Energy Conservation Opportunities

Precision farming is one of the important areas to ensure food security by coping with climate change and increase farmer’s productivity. Plant factory is one of the aspects of precision farming and recently sought attention among modern farmers in Malaysia. While ensuring continuous supply of crops throughout the year with increased quality and yield, plant factories consume large amount of energy to maintain their micro-climatic condition. This paper presents the energy consumption profiling of a plant factory, owned by Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) in Serdang, Malaysia. This study is important to establish the status quo of consumption pattern of the plant factory towards reducing the energy consumption. Hence, energy audit was carried at the plant factory for duration of 2 weeks. From the audit it was found that the energy was distributed as follows: Air conditioning system - 51%, LED - 36%, pump - 3% and others - 10%. Finally, suitable energy conservation measures were proposed to reduce the energy intensity of the plant factory.

Cover Crop Management on the Southern High Plains: Impacts on Crop Productivity and Soil Water Depletion.

Simple SummaryAgriculture throughout the Southern High Plains of the United States relies on supplemental irrigation from the Ogallala Aquifer because of limited precipitation and high evapotranspiration rates. Unfortunately, extraction rates greatly exceed the recharge rate of the aquifer. This region is prone to soil erosion, so maintaining soil coverage is critical for protecting soil resources. Despite the many benefits of planting cover crops, producers do not readily plant winter crops in the Southern High Plains due to concerns of depleting soil water availability for subsequent summer crops. Based on the results of this experiment, producers can plant rye with a no-till drill to help maintain soil cover and produce high-quality winter forage for grazing livestock without threatening soil water supply for the summer crops; in this case, teff. Light irrigation (up to 25 mm per month) should be applied to supplement rainfall and ensure grazing if the producer is reliant upon the rye and does not have other forage available for contingency. Finally, timely termination of the cover crops is critical. Delayed termination of the cover crops was the biggest factor found to reduce the productivity of the teff.The imminent depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer demands innovative cropping alternatives. Even though the benefits of cover crops are well recognized, adoption has been slow in the Southern High Plains (SHP) of the United States because of concerns that cover crops withdraw soil water to the detriment of the summer crops. This small plot experiment tested the interacting effects—production, soil water depletion of the cover crops, and subsequent teff [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] summer hay crops—of irrigation and tillage management with five cover crop types to identify low-risk cover crop practices in the drought-prone SHP. Dryland rye (Secale cereale L.) produced modest forage biomass (>1000 kg ha−1), even in a dry year, but it was found that light irrigation should be used to ensure adequate forage supply (>1200 kg ha−1) if winter grazing is desired. No-till management and timely termination of the winter cover crops were crucial to reducing the negative impact of winter crops on summer teff production. The results indicated no detriment to soil water content that was attributable to planting no-till cover crops compared with the conventional practice of winter fallow. Therefore, producers could take advantage of the soil-conserving attributes of high-quality winter forage cover crops without experiencing significant soil water depletion.

Examining the Input and Output Linkages in Agricultural Production Systems

This paper conducts a comprehensive analysis of the agricultural sector’s resource allocation and production decisions. This paper uses the differential systems with quasi-fixity to evaluate the complete agricultural production system, which examines the input and output linkages in terms of elasticities. The differential systems are estimated using the maximum likelihood estimation technique based on the two-step profit-maximizing procedure in theory. The results reveal that livestock production requires more intermediate inputs, but crop production depends on all the inputs, such as labor, capital, and intermediate inputs. In addition, the results show that input demand is inelastic, indicating that the agricultural sector has little flexibility in adjusting the demand for inputs in response to changes in input prices. Substitutable relationships among labor, capital, and intermediate inputs exist, which may reduce the pressures on production costs when input prices rise. Regarding the quasi-fixed input, land expansion changes the composition of labor and intermediate inputs, showing that the agricultural sector reduces the intensive margin when it pursues the extensive margin. Furthermore, the results show that agricultural supply is not very responsive to the respective price changes. Along with the inelastic output supply, there exist substitutable relationships between livestock and crop supply, showing that relative price changes can alter output composition in supply. The agricultural sector also reallocates more land areas into crop production rather than livestock production.

Agrogenic transformation (degradation) of chernozems of the Central Chernozem Region

Modern agriculture is impossible without the use of high balanced doses of mineral fertilizers. Mineral fertilizers in the modern volumes of their application are a powerful anthropogenic factor that increases the level of supply of agricultural crops with nutrients, but did not ensure the stability of yields. The long-term use of high doses of fertilizers does not allow to reach a deficit-free balance of fertilizer elements in agriculture and crop production. Studies of many scientists have shown that the long-term use of mineral fertilizers, in addition to the direct effect, causes a number of side effects, and contributes to the development of pronounced acidification of soils. This effect is observed in all agricultural zones, regardless of soil types. It is more pronounced on initially genetically acidic sod-podzolic and gray forest soils, but also on chernozems, which were considered resistant to acidification development. The consequences of soil acidification are manifested in the mobility and, as a result, the availability of fertilizer elements. Nevertheless, the main effect of soil acidification when using fertilizers is the lack of absorbed bases, which causes their progressive degradation. The acidification effect can be compensated by regular (once per rotation) liming.

An integrated strategic framework for large-scale crop planning: sustainable climate-smart crop planning and agri-food supply chain management

Today, the benefits of climate diversity and scaling up farmers' coordination to the landscape are particularly crucial in meeting increasing food demand and planning crop cultivation. The growing population with changing dietary patterns creates a higher demand for sustainable, coordinated agri-food networks, which consolidated the value chain of the agri-foods at both the farmers and the market side. In this paper, a strategic planning framework from a large-scale crop supply chain perspective is presented for National crop Growers’ Associations (NGAs). The proposed framework aims to better equip crop growers, in a complex decision situation in taking advantage of complementary climate and market opportunities, to plan: what, when, and how to produce crops by using water-sustainable cropping plans. The coverage of this framework is at the national level to be able to take advantage of climate diversity and complementary markets in provinces with various climatic conditions. Using a multi-stage model on a countrywide management level and crop evapotranspiration and water requirement estimates, during crop growth in the different geographical and climatic ranges, it provides advisedly estimation for the regional (counties) quantity of optimum cultivation, storage, and transportation at the minimum cost and optimum land and water usage as a reform plan for optimizing existing harvesting practices. Moreover, assurance of total local farmers' income, re-cultivation in the planning horizon, and perishability of crops are considered. These considerations allow the proposed comprehensive framework to support the successful high yield practices and more water productivity in susceptible regions and months by using the regional climatic advantages, including crop evapotranspiration, effective precipitation, and irrigation productivity. In order to illustrate the application of the framework, it was applied to 429 counties and 30 provinces of Iran for potato, onion, and tomato farming systems in 2020. Computational results guarantee small-scale farmers' income, stabilize food demand coverage, and save 397 million m 3 of irrigation water yearly.

Dynamics of soil phosphorus measured by ammonium lactate extraction as a function of the soil phosphorus balance and soil properties

A sustainable supply of phosphorus (P) to agricultural soils should maintain soil fertility without jeopardizing the environment. This study analyzed the change in the soil P as a function of the net soil P mass balance, i.e. the input minus removal by the harvested crop. The P available for crops was estimated by the P extracted by ammonium lactate at pH 3.75 (P-AL). First, laboratory and pot-trial data showed that the net change in soil P-AL was only 68% of the change in total soil P, either when P had been added to soil or when P had been mined by plants for 1–2 years, indicating removal to or release from the non-extractable pool depending on the balance. Secondly, data were collated from 33 field trials in Europe with a wide range of cumulative soil P balances (−1200 to +2500 kg P ha−1) in time spans ranging from 3 to 51 years. The average change in P-AL across the negative and positive balance was only 27% (95% confidence interval 25–30%) of the net balance. The change in P-AL was larger as the net balance increased and as the initial P-AL decreased. The slope of the change versus the balance was smaller as time increased and initial P-AL decreased. The other soil characteristics did not affect these changes, and the model developed was not different for negative or positive P balances. Our results suggest that a steady state P-AL concentration at optimal P supply for crops is obtained at a net P balance of about 1–10 kg P ha−1. The P mass balance of a 51 year-old trial showed that the aqua regia soluble P of the 0–90 cm layer accounted for only 64% of the net P balances at the surface. This still incomplete P balance could be related to upward P transport by plant uptake from > 90 cm soil layers, lateral P movement in the field, and changes in the soil P fraction that could not be extracted with aqua regia. This study quantified the long-term dynamics of P-AL, which is useful for agronomic and environmental purposes and policy, and pointed out the importance of non-extractable P and vertical P movement.

Centralized and distributed optimization models for the multi-farmer crop planning problem under uncertainty: Application to a fresh tomato Argentinean supply chain case study

Imbalance between supply and demand of crops frequently occurs in markets originating an excess or shortage of supply in relation to demand. This causes high volatility and uncertainty in market prices, unmet demand, and waste, especially for fresh crops due to their limited shelf-life. This imbalance is mainly due to the inherent uncertainty present in the agricultural sector, the perishability of fresh crops, and the lack of coordination among farmers when making planting and harvesting decisions. Despite farmers usually plan the planting and harvesting in an individual way, there is a scarcity of research addressing the crop planning problem in a distributed manner and, even less, assessing their impact on the supply chain (SC) as a whole. In this paper, we developed a set of novel mathematical programming models to plan the planting and harvest of fresh tomatoes under a sustainable point of view for multi-farmer supply chains under uncertainty in different decision-making scenarios: i) distributed, ii) distributed with maximum and minimum land area constraints to be planted for each crop, iii) distributed with information sharing, and iv) centralized. Then, for each distributed scenario, the individual solution per farmer as regards the planting and harvesting decisions per crop are integrated to obtain the overall supply to satisfy the markets demand. This allows the assessment of the farmers’ real performance and the impact of their individual decisions to the entire SC performance. We also compare the results obtained for each scenario with the centralized model in terms of economic, environmental, and social impact. The experimental design shows that, when integrating the solutions for the whole SC, significant differences between planned and real results are obtained in each scenario as regards the gross margin per hectare, unmet demand, waste, and unfairness between farmers, being the distributed model with information sharing the most similar to the centralized one. The results show that uncertainty consideration in models improves the gross margin and the unfairness among farmers in all scenarios for both, planned and real evaluation.

Price Volatility and Seasonal Analysis of Tomato, Onion and Potato

The present study was aimed at analysing volatility, and seasonal variation in prices of tomato, onion and potato (TOP) using Generalized GARCH) analysis and monthly centred moving Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity ( average method. Based on the highest market arrivals of produce, the Madanapalle (Andhra Pradesh), Lasalgaon (Maharashtra) and Agra (Uttar Pradesh) markets were selected for tomato, onion and potato respectively. A monthly time series data for a period of 15 years from January 2005 to December 2019 were considered for analysis. The results revealed that among the selected three markets, Agra market exhibited persistent price variation (?+?=1.112) followed by Madanapalle (?+?=0.976) and Lasalgaon market (?+?=0.969). The highest seasonal price indices were observed during November (169.23), October (141.65) and November (132.08) respectively at Madanapalle tomato, Lasalgaon onion and Agra potato markets respectively. A systematic market intelligence network is needed to collect and collate real-time data on crop area, production, demand, supply and prices, to get more stable and remunerative prices at farmer level. Strengthening of post-harvest infrastructural facilities to stabilize the prices and to improve the marketing system for TOP crops is essential for the benefit of both producers and consumers.

Yellow Maize Value Chain and The Role of Agricultural Cooperative Societies

Despite the efforts made to limit imports of yellow corn and try to control the price policy of feed to secure the poultry industry, which is a major source of animal protein, the implementation measures lost their way. In 2015 the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation submitted a proposal approved by the Prime Minister stating the imposition of fees estimated at 500 EGP for every ton of yellow corn imports used in the poultry industry, which achieves a return of about 600 million EGP annually, which is deposited in a fund to balance crop prices. However, the Ministry of Trade intervened and stopped the decision after a complaint it received from the importing companies. This was followed by the state’s establishment of the Contract Cultivation Center in accordance with Republican Decree No. 14 of 2015, which would promote contractual planting of crops and facilitate the marketing of crops, especially strategic crops, but the center is still not activated. Which leads us to ask, is there a role of agricultural cooperatives in marketing the yellow corn crop? Are agricultural cooperatives the entity capable of efficiently marketing the yellow corn crop? What are the marketing policies that stimulate farmers? The research aimed at identifying the role of agricultural cooperatives in marketing the yellow corn crop, through identifying the current status of the yellow corn crop and analyzing the value chain of the yellow corn crop. The research found the following: The relative importance of the cultivated area increased from about 7.3% in 2014 to about 14% in 2018. The average area of ​​the yellow corn crop represents about 10% of the total average area of ​​cereal crops, which is estimated at 7.6 million feddans, during the period (2014-2018). By comparing the agricultural price with the import price in the port of arrival, we find that the import price is higher than the farm price during the years of study, in addition to the high average import price over the average farm price, as it was estimated at 3016 pounds compared to about 2,633 pounds as an average farm price during the period (2014-2018). Domestic consumption of yellow corn also increased from about 6.2 million tons in 2014 to about 11.6 million tons in 2018, with an annual average of about 9.3 million tons during the period (2014-2018), and then the average consumption gap was estimated at 6.9 tons. The respondents from the association directors in the research sample explained that the associations do not distribute any kind of seeds to farmers, and this is not limited to yellow corn but for all crops, and they emphasized that the association’s role is limited to distributing fertilizers only. They attributed this to the lack of financial resources of the associations, the great increase in the price of seeds beyond the capabilities of the financial association, the limited production available from the central administration of seeds, which would not allow covering all the needs of farmers throughout the republic during the season, the lack of financial liquidity to buy seeds from companies for distribution where Companies require sale and payment in advance, not on credit The marketing margin at the wholesaler was estimated at 900 pounds / ton for grains, which represented about 27% of the farm price, while the marketing margin for the retailer was estimated at 950 pounds / ton. By studying the distribution of the consumer pound, it was found that the share of the farmer from the consumer pound is estimated at 57%, while the wholesaler's share is 21% at the level of the research sample in Beheira Governorate, and about 58%, 20% at the level of Assiut governorate. Then, it is noticed that the farmer's share of the consumer pound has increased at the level of the sample governorates, which indicates an increase in marketing efficiency. Where the higher the farmer's share of the consumer's pound, the greater the marketing efficiency. Recommendations: 1. It’s necessary for the state to play an active role in supporting the expansion of the cultivation of yellow corn through the following: · Establishing an official crop supply system, like other strategic crops · It’s necessary for the state to put a protective package to reduce import and support the local product 2. Establishing a qualitative agricultural cooperative societies specializing in the yellow corn crop to support the expansion in the production and marketing of the crop by providing production requirements, providing the necessary information and extension services to farmers and ensuring the marketing of the crop at a fair and appropriate price that achieves a profitable profit margin

Machine Learning-Based Decision Support System for Effective Quality Farming

Although Big data analytics, machine learning and cloud technologies have been acknowledged as better enablers in revolutionizing the quality of agricultural systems, in most of the developing nations like India there is no able system to effectively survey the real grocery needs of the society and accordingly educate the farmers to grow and supply the crops. Due to lack of such process, there is no synchronization between demand and supply of food crops, and hence, most of the time farmers suffer with loss and consumers suffer from high varied prices. In order to address this problem, data about the demand, supply, and price variation of various crops of different seasons of the year have been collected and analysed. The analysis results have shown a huge gap between demand and supply of crops. Hence, this work proposes novel machine learning-based data analytics system that forecasts the demand for different food crops and regulates the supply accordingly by assisting the farmers in growing the crops based on the demand. Implementation results have shown 92% reduction in the gap.

Economic and Standard Analysis of the Wheat Crop Supply Function in Iraq for the period (1993-2018)

The aim of the study is to estimate the display function of wheat crop in Iraq for the period (1993-2018) to determine the most important factors affecting the width of the crop, and the method of (FMOLS) fully corrected least squares method was used, and it included economic and standard analysis of the transactions of independent variables representing partial tendencies that the function is linear and included the function A set of variables affecting the supply of the crop. The most prominent results indicated that the boundary price and the value of its slope (36.18839) illustrate the positive positive relationship with the supply of the crop. As for the price of the substitute commodity (barley), the results showed the inverse relationship between the two variables and the slope value (-0.010780). The barley crop leads to a decrease in the supply of the wheat crop, and the positive results of the moral of the variable of agricultural production support programs and the effect of the relationship between the two variables were evident. Savings for farmers. The results of the positive assessment of the variable of agricultural exposure and the effect of the relationship between the two variables showed the extent of slope (38.61606) This is through stimulating the private sector to trade with global markets and the trend towards the market mechanism in increasing the supplied quantities of the wheat crop, and this matter highlights the positive relationship between the two variables, and the positive results of the per capita variable of the wheat crop indicated that an increase in the per capita share of the wheat crop leads to an increase The width of the crop is by its slope (18.14187) and this shows the effect of the direct relationship between the two variables, and some conclusions were drawn, the most prominent of which is that most of the time series used were unstable or non-static in their level because they are affected by economic and political conditions and because of the presence of a trend factor that affects the same or the opposite direction. The use of traditional methods may lead to shady results (false regression), as well as coming up with some recommendations, the most important of which is to support marketing policies that suffer from many problems through transportation, storage and mismanagement in crop receipt operations.

Relationships of multiple landscape services and their influencing factors on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Constructing a sustainable landscape pattern from the perspective of landscape sustainability is scientifically built on the clarification of the formation mechanisms of landscape services and their relationships. However, the trade-offs and synergies of landscape services have regional heterogeneity, and their influencing factors are largely unknown in polar ecosystem. The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau is a unique but fragile ecosystem, and its landscape services are vital components to the sustainability in this specific polar region. This study sought to understand the landscape service relationships, their dynamics and influencing factors, and achieve a sustainable landscape management in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. In this work, we evaluated the spatiotemporal distribution and relationships of multiple landscape services including soil retention (SR), water yield (WY), habitat quality (HQ), crop supply (CS) and livestock supply (LS). We further identified temperature, elevation, population size, land use and land cover (LULC) as influencing factors on landscape services relationships within specific landscape gradients. Our results show that: (1) SR, WY and HQ decreased significantly from the southeast to the northwest. (2) Regulating services-supporting services are mainly identified as synergies, and CS–HQ and CS–LS are manifested as trade-offs. (3) Geophysical factors (temperature, altitude) have impact on the distribution of CS and the trade-off and synergistic dynamics of WY–HQ, increased population size enhances CS–HQ trade-offs, while between supporting and regulating services show trade-offs in high-coverage grassland and unused land. The quantitative assessment of landscape services and relationships provides the basis for sustainable landscape management in the context of national policies and climate change.

A multi-model approach for analysing water balance and water-related ecosystem services in the Ouriyori catchment (Benin)

ABSTRACT Freshwater supply remains limited in West Africa due to lack of operational governance frameworks. In this study, the Water flow and balance Simulation Model (WaSiM) and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) were applied in the Ouriyori catchment (14.5 km2, Benin) to assess hydrological ecosystem services (HES) in terms of service flow and service capacity using the ecosystem accounting framework. The modelling exercises indicated satisfactory goodness-of-fit coefficients greater than 75% with an absolute bias of less than 25%. The HES capacity was in general higher than the HES flow for crop and household (surface/groundwater) water supplies, indicating that the catchment can potentially supply more water under optimal storage and management conditions. Positive and negative shifts in service capacities of crop water and household supplies were observed over the simulation period. These significant results can support sustainable interventions in securing water and food productions through increasing HES flow and capacity.

Is Co-Operation Missing in Co-Operatives? Uralungal Labour Contract Co-Operative Society Ltd. A Viable Alternative - K Gangadharan

Is Co-operation Missing in Co-operatives? India is a land of farmers. Farming is main part of Indian economy. Cultivator needs up-to-date information to take Operational, strategic and tactic decisions. These decisions directly influence on the yield and price of the agriculture product grown by the farmer. Traditionally Indian farmers take decisions based on expert judgment or their own experience. Very few farmers’ approaches agriculture offices, APMC offices and Agriculture Universities seeking latest methods and practices of farming with respect to fertiliser management, pesticide scouting management, scheduling of water, preparation of soil, selection of seed and management of weed.Due to lack of easy availability, farmers are isolated from the guidance of agriculture experts and scientists. The DSS can be implemented through Android app, web and SMS to provide the up-to-date agricultural information.Agricultural DSS can help farmers to take right decision at right time for enhancing the crop yield, get best prices to their products. This paper initially reviews various DSS in agricultural field. Considering numerous DSS developed in agriculture, we sought systems for enhancing the yield of the crop. The income of the farmer is not only depending on the yield of the crop, but it is also influenced by the price offered in the market for the grown crop. The price of agriculture product is purely depending upon the demand and supply. Most farmers incurred the losses or got substantial lower income due to unfair price for their product. Due to which many farmers have committed to suicide. The number is increasing every year. Government has framed many policies such as subsidy, agriculture insurance, offering FRP to each crop etc, in order to control suicides. This paper present need of DSS that provide the farmers with up-to-date information of present requirement of each crop in terms of cultivation area and actual cultivated area of each crop till the date. This DSS can help farmers to select appropriate crop to be is cultivated based on demand and potential supply.Finally paper concluded with a conceptual model of DSS to provide up-to-date information of present demand and potential supply of agricultural crop in order to choose the best crop to be grown. The importance and recognition of cooperative business has increased predominantly all over the globe. The underground reality for this phenomenon is the capacity and competence shown by the co-operatives to withstand in a sound edifice during the period of financial crisis and even in the recent demonetisation period. The co-operative enterprises are now treated as the basic alternatives for individual development, societal development and equity in the development of different regions. The model of co-operative enterprise developed by the ULCC in construction field, ICT enabled services, corporate social responsibility, rural development, rehabilitation process, academic intervention, skill and human resources development programme, etc. are unique in nature and it is par excellent than the corporate model done in India and European countries. The present article examines the uniqueness of the ULCC as a co-operative enterprise, its success indicators, the trend and progress as a viable co-operative unit in terms economic indicators and finally the societal commitment, responsibility and extent of justice done to the principle of co-operation as co-operation is missing in most of the co-operatives. In this context, the ULCCS act as a viable alternative fostering all the cardinal principles of co-operation in principle and in practice.

Tackling the Problem of Crops Supply Chain in Indonesia using Internet of Things Based on Law of the Farmers

One of the agricultural problems in Indonesia is the crops supply chain that hampers the ability of the farmers to achieve better income from their farming activities. Although the government has issued the Law of the Farmer No 19 the year 2013 to protect and empower the farmer, the problem is still prevalent. It leads to a question of how to implement the law to tackle the problem of the crops supply chain. The study explains that the government has issued an Economy Digital Policy to create electronic commerce in agribusiness (E-Agribusiness) for farmers and to solve their agribusiness problem. However, the use of electronic agribusiness is not yet ample to solve the problem of the crops supply chain. The solution is a suggestion to apply Internet of Things which is using RFID technology to solve the problem of crops supply chain and distribution in E- Agribusiness. The methodology of the study is the normative approach and literature review.