Efficient Farming Systems Research Articles

Ways to improve land assessment methods in Azerbaijan

Motives: The article examines various approaches to improving the assessment of agricultural land in Azerbaijan. The quality, potential productivity, and normative price (value in monetary terms) of farmland need to be determined to increase production and competitiveness of agricultural products, to establish favourable land relations that meet modern requirements, and to promote efficient land use. The existing methods of assessing the quality and economic value of farmland for the needs of the land cadastre and determining the normative prices of land do not fully correspond to reality. Different and often contradictory approaches to land assessment have been proposed.Aim: The aim of this study was to optimize the methods of assessing the quality and economic value of agricultural land, determining the normative prices of land, and evaluating potential land productivity in view of modern requirements.Results: Improvements in land valuation will promote reliable assessments of agricultural development and the establishment of efficient farming systems; they will improve agricultural land-use efficiency and reliable determination of normative prices in market transactions involving agricultural property. These methods can be widely used to plan agricultural production, evaluate the operations of various types of farms, improve remuneration policies in the farming sector, determine the optimal scope of farming operations in view of natural conditions and economic factors, and resolve other issues to promote the development of agricultural production.

Impact of technological innervations for efficient farming systems in village clusters of Redwa district Akola of Maharashtra

Impact of technological innervations for efficient farming systems in village clusters of Redwa district Akola of Maharashtra

Rotation of Triticale and Sweet Sorghum Improves Saline-Alkali Soil and Increases Productivity in a Saline Soil

ABSTRACT Soil salinization significantly restricts crop yield, animal foraging, and biomass production for biofuels. Identifying an efficient farming system to mitigate these concerns has become a major research focus. The present study addresses the potential of rotating triticale and sweet sorghum at various planting densities to alleviate soil salt stress, enhance production, improve agronomic characteristics, and boost soil microbial communities in a saline agricultural environment in East China. Several indicators in 2017 and 2018. Results show that triticale and sweet sorghum planting significantly decreased soil salt contents compared to bare land plots. Multiple agronomic traits were measured for each planting density. For triticale, a density of 180 × 104 plants ha−1 showed the best plant height, tiller number per plant, yield, and lodging rate; for sweet sorghum, a density of 7 × 104 plants/ha showed the best plant height, yield, and lodging rate. High-density planting of triticale (180, 260, 320 × 104 plants/ha) and sweet sorghum (7, 8, 9 × 104 plants/ha) was associated with high counts of bacteria, Actinomycetes, and salt-tolerant Actinomycetes. However, planting density had no significant effect on the counts of fungi or salt-tolerant bacteria. Redundancy Discriminant Analysis (RDA) showed that plant height, yield, lodging rate, bacteria, salt-tolerant bacteria, Actinomycetes, and salt-tolerant Actinomycetes were negatively correlated with soil salinity, while tiller number per plant and stem thickness were positively correlated with soil salinity. In conclusion, a rotation system of triticale and sweet sorghum with planting densities of 180 × 104 and 7 × 104 plants/ha, respectively was established to improve and make full use of saline soil.

English

Agricultural extension is the medium through which external agricultural technologies have been transferred to and transplanted in Africa to improve agricultural performance. Over a period of close to a century, different agricultural extension models have been proposed but their structure and content has virtually been the same: top-down, linear, non-participatory transfer of technology with no feedback loops for reverse diffusion. This presumably explains the poor performance of Africa’s agriculture and the scale of food security challenges facing the continent. In this review paper, we trace the history of agricultural extension and examine various agricultural extension delivery models to identify their major strengths and weaknesses, using Ghana and Burkina Faso as case studies. We then review the most recent literature in the field about the philosophy, scope, content, delivery, and outcomes of agricultural extension. The conclusion that agricultural extension has consistently remained out of sync with the needs and aspirations of stallholder farmers was reached. Smallholder farmers are now calling for new agricultural extension delivery models that are truly farmer-led, indigenous knowledge-based, context-specific, culturally-relevant and environmentally-sustainable to guarantee efficient farming systems into the future. Key words: Extension delivery, smallholder farmers, indigenous knowledge, top-down, Ghana, Burkina Faso, sustainable agriculture.

Minimum sperm dose for optimal fertility after artificial insemination in ostriches

Artificial insemination (AI) in ostriches may present potential solutions to high proportions of infertile eggs commonly recorded on commercial farms and assist in reducing the number of males for breeding purposes thereby leading to a more economical and efficient farming system. Although non-invasive methods to collect semen and to artificially inseminate female ostriches have been developed, the insemination dose for maximum fertility of eggs remains unknown. This study was thus conducted to determine the minimum sperm dose that would promote fertility of eggs following AI in female ostriches. A total of 22 South African black ostriches (7 males and 15 females) aged between 2 and 9 years old were used. Semen samples were collected using the dummy female method and diluted 1:4 (semen: diluent) with an ostrich specific semen diluent. Females were inseminated with various sperm doses of diluted semen from the same male three times a week, every second day resulting in a total sperm dose of A: <2.5 × 109, B: 2.5–5 × 109, C: 5–7.5 × 109 and D: 7.5–9.6 × 109 sperm/week. Eggs produced after insemination were opened to determine the fertilization status of the germinal disc (GD) with an unaided eye. The fertile period was then calculated as the number of days fertilized eggs were laid after the last AI. Furthermore, the number of sperm trapped in the outer perivitelline membrane (spermOPVL) above the GD region was counted under fluorescent light, following staining with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole to determine the rate of sperm loss and the number of days up to when the last egg containing sperm was laid. On average, a mean (±sd) of 35.34 ± 25.72% eggs produced after AI were fertilized. Fertility was lower (mean ± se) when sperm dose A was used (6.71 ± 9.40%), as compared to sperm dose B (46.01 ± 6.71%), C (37.34 ± 6.60%) and D (37.75 ± 8.36%) (P < 0.05). No significant difference was recorded in the latter three doses (P > 0.05). Furthermore, the length of the fertile period and the rate of sperm loss did not differ significantly between sperm doses (P > 0.05). Hence, a sperm dose of between 2.5 and 5 × 109 sperm/week is recommended to optimize fertility after AI in ostriches, as increasing the sperm dose would not benefit fertility. Further studies are, however, needed to determine the frequency of insemination that would maintain fertility throughout the breeding season as well as hatchability of eggs laid after AI.

Assessment of integrated farming system in Haryana

Integrated Farming System (IFS) is the system that integrates livestock and crop production. The crop residues serve as food to the fish and livestock, and the wastes from the fish and livestock serve as fertilizer to the crops. Livestock, birds, trees and crops are the major components of IFS. Crop may have subsystem like mono-crop, mixed/intercrop, multi-tier crops of cereals, legumes (pulses), oilseeds, forage etc. Livestock components may be milch cow, goat, sheep, poultry and bees. The adoption of feasible farm enterprise combinations, efforts should be made to help farmers to adopt more integrated and resource efficient farming systems that maintains agricultural productivity and profitability while protecting the environment and farm family health. The study was conducted in two agro climatic (Eastern and Western) zones of Haryana State. Two districts were selected from each zone. Out of each selected District 30 respondents were selected at random thus a total 120 respondents were selected for the purpose of investigation.It was found that majority of farmers were doing farm allied activities as subsidiary occupation. It was found that prominent farming system adopted by all the respondents were (Crop + Dairy). Apart from Crop + Dairy only 2.5 per cent of marginal land holding respondents, 3.3 per cent of small land holding and 12.5 per cent of semi- medium land holding respondents were practicing (crop + vegetables + fruits + dairy + vermi composting).

Performance of several varieties of maize and upland rice in the intercropping system in Northern Gorontalo

This study aims to: 1) knowing the performance of several varieties of maize and upland rice on the application of monoculture and intercropping system cultivation technology, and 2) Financially analyzing maize and upland rice farming with monoculture and intercropping systems in dry land agroecosystems in Gorontalo Province. This assessment activity was carried out with a participatory approach involving 15 cooperative farmers on 12 ha of land in Durian Village, Gentuma Raya District, North Gorontalo Regency on dry climate dry land agroecosystem with a wavy topography in 2018. Maize varieties planted were Nasa 29, Bima 2, Bima 20, HJ 21, JH 27, Bisi 18, NK 22, and Pioneer 35. The varieties of upland rice planted were Situ Bagendit, Inpago 8, Inpago 11, Inpari 42, Ponelo, and Towuti. The results of the study showed that the average productivity of maize with a monoculture system (5.13 t / ha) was higher than the average productivity of maize with an intercropping system (3.61 t / ha). In the monoculture system, maize varieties with the highest productivity was JH 27 (6.4 t / ha). In the intercropping system, maize varieties of the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (IAARD) of BIMA 2 achieved the highest productivity at 4.83 t / ha. The average productivity of upland rice with a monoculture system (4.46 t / ha) was higher than the average productivity of upland rice with an intercropping system (2.17 t / ha). In the monoculture system, the highest productivity was Inpago 11 variety (5.67 t / ha). Whereas in the intercropping system, the highest productivity was the Ponelo variety (3.95 t / ha). Based on farming financial analysis, efficient farming systems were successively from highest to low, namely upland rice monoculture, maize intercropping systems with upland rice, and maize monoculture.

Microbial taxonomic, nitrogen cycling and phosphorus recycling community composition during long-term organic greenhouse farming.

Understanding the interplay between the farming system and soil microbiomes could aid the design of a sustainable and efficient farming system. A comparative greenhouse experiment consisting of organic (ORG), integrated (INT) and conventional (CON) farming systems was established in northern China in 2002. The effects of 12 years of organic farming on soil microbiomes were explored by metagenomic and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing analyses. Long-term ORG shifted the community composition of dominant phyla, especially Acidobacteria, increased the relative abundance of Ignavibacteria and Acidobacteria Gp6 and decreased the relative abundance of Nitrosomonas, Bacillus and Paenibacillus. Metagenomic analysis further revealed that relative abundance of ammonia oxidizing microorganisms (Bacteria and Archaea) and anaerobic ammonium oxidation bacteria decreased during ORG. Conversely, the relative abundance of bacteria-carrying periplasmic nitrate reductases (napA) was slightly higher for ORG. Long-term organic farming also caused significant alterations to the community composition of functional groups associated with ammonia oxidation, denitrification and phosphorus recycling. In summary, this study provides key insights into the composition of soil microbiomes and long-term organic farming under greenhouse conditions.

Spatio-Temporal Dynamic of Land Use and Land Cover in the Classified Forest of Djoli-Kera, South-Eastern, Chad

This study was carried out in the classified forest of Djoli-Kera found in the South-Eastern part of Chad. It aimed to analyze the spatial and temporal dy-namics of land cover between 1972 and 2013 and to determine the drivers of vegetation degradation. The databases used were made up of 4 Landsat satellite images (1MSS of 1972, 5TM of 1984, 7ETM+ of 1990 and 2010) and a spot 6 image of 2013, supplemented by field studies. Satellite images were processed using ENVI and ArcGIS software. Interview was used to identify the activities carried out by the local population. In 1972, the classified forest consisted of four types of land cover, the most important of which was open forest (51%), followed by wooded savannah (26%), tree savannah (21%) and sparse vegetation consisting of farms and fallows (2%). Gradually open forest and tree savannah disappeared. In 2013, the main types of land cover were shrub savannah (40%), sparse vegetation (28%), wooded savannah (12%), bare soil (12%) and dwellings (8%). Livestock, agriculture, wood collection and bushfires are perceived by local population as main drivers of forest cover change. Awareness-raising, monitoring and regulation of access to resources must be pursued, but also managers of the classified forest must accompany the local populations in the planting of trees and the setting up of more efficient farming systems to reduce pressure on the forest’s resources.

Which farming systems are efficient for Vietnamese coffee farmers?

This paper provides a comparative assessment of the productive efficiency of three common coffee growing systems in Vietnam: mono-cropping, synchronization and segregation. Results from an input distance function approach deliver several important findings. First, the average inefficiency level is estimated to be around 18% although inefficiency varies significantly between the three farming systems. Second, the synchronized system of growing coffee and the other industry crops is found to be the most efficient farming system. Third, coffee mono-cropping is less efficient than synchronized systems due to the presence of economies of scope between coffee and industrial crops. Fourth, the least efficient system is segregated cultivation of coffee and rice. Food insecurity is seen as a primary reason for coffee farmers diversifying into rice. These findings provide empirical evidence of agronomic benefits being derived from synchronized systems, and which are translated into higher productive efficiency. Policy options promoting synchronized farming systems may therefore enhance both economic and agronomic benefits.

Home garden system dynamics in Southern Ethiopia

Home gardens in southern Ethiopia are regarded as efficient farming systems, allowing interactions and synergies between crop, tree and livestock components. However, these age-old traditional home gardens are evolving rapidly in response to changes in both the socio-economic and biophysical environment. Altered cropping patterns, farm size and component interactions may affect the systems’ sustainability. Home gardens exhibit a huge diversity in farms and farming systems, which needs to be understood in order to design interventions for improvement. Dynamics of home gardens were studied over two-decades (1991–2013) based on a survey of 240 farm households and focus group discussions. Farms were grouped into five types: Khat-based, Enset-cereal-vegetable, Enset-based, Enset-coffee and Enset-livestock. Farm trajectories revealed a shift from food-oriented Enset-based and Enset-livestock systems to (1) cash crop oriented khat-based systems, and (2) combined food and cash crop oriented Enset-cereal-vegetable systems. In densely populated, market proximate areas a major trend was expansion of khat, from 6 to 35% of the area share per farm, while the combined area share of enset and coffee decreased from 45 to 25%. Concurrently, the cattle herd size fell from 5.8 TLU to 3.9 TLU per household. In medium populated, less accessible areas the trend was consolidation of combined production of food and cash crops. Enset and coffee together maintained a share of over 45%. Easy transport and marketing of the perishable cash-generating khat compared with traditional crops favoured its cultivation among smallholders located close to markets. The insights in home garden change in response to increasing population pressure, decreasing farm size and market development may help to design interventions to increase system sustainability.

Dates Palm Farming Systems Sustainability and Risk Efficiency in Oman

Date Palm is the most important cultivar in Oman and occupies 35% of total cultivated area and 78% of the total fruit trees area. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries attempted to improve Date production but due to climate change and environmental constrains agricultural production has shown instability in production and generated a desire to build a sustainable farming systems. The study used stochastic model to analyze Date Palm Farming Systems in Oman and identify the most sustainable and risk efficient one. Stochastic Efficiency with Respect to Function (SERF) technique use certainty equivalent concept to rank a set of risk efficient alternatives. The study found Batinah Region is the most risk efficient region and got a positive NPV with a probability of 88% followed by Dakhiliyah Region 77% and Dahirah Region 67%. The study also indicates Batinah and Dakhiliyah Regions which cultivate 52% of total Date Palm area in Oman is located in risk efficient farming system areas. Risk premium analysis performed and shows Dakhiliyah Region farmers can pay up to RO 59 for replanting Date Palm tree and move to Batinah Region farming practices with less risky farming system. The farmer in Dahirah Region is willing to pay RO 144 per Date Palm tree to shift to more efficient farming system practices such as Batinah Region. Date Palm Farming System analysis should be used as a basis and foundation for replanting program and resources and environmental constrains need be considered. A right economic incentives to be given to encourage production of selected Date Palm varieties for each region to increase ecosystem resilience and economic benefit.

A simple evaluation of soil quality of waterlogged purple paddy soils with different productivities.

Evaluation of soil quality can be crucial for designing efficient farming systems and ensuring sustainable agriculture. The present study aimed at evaluating the quality of waterlogged purple paddy soils with different productivities in Sichuan Basin. The approach involved comprehensive analyses of soil physical and chemical properties, as well as enzyme activities and microbial community structure measured by phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA). A total of 36 soil samples were collected from four typical locations, with 12 samples representing high productivity purple paddy soil (HPPS), medium productivity purple paddy soil (MPPS) and low productivity purple paddy soil (LPPS), respectively. Most measured soil properties showed significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) among HPPS, MPPS and LPPS. Pearson correlation analysis and principal component analysis were used to identify appropriate soil quality indicators. A minimum data set (MDS) including total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (AP), acid phosphatase (ACP), total bacteria (TB) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi was established and accounted for 82.1% of the quality variation among soils. A soil quality index (SQI) was developed based on the MDS method, whilst HPPS, MPPS and LPPS received mean SQI scores of 0.725, 0.536 and 0.425, respectively, with a ranking of HPPS > MPPS > LPPS. HPPS showed relatively good soil quality characterized by optimal nutrient availability, enzymatic and microbial activities, but the opposite was true of LPPS. Low levels of TN, AP and soil microbial activities were considered to be the major constraints limiting the productivity in LPPS. All soil samples collected were rich in available N, K, Si and Zn, but deficient in available P, which may be the major constraint for the studied regions. Managers in our study area should employ more appropriate management in the LPPS to improve its rice productivity, and particularly to any potential limiting factor.

Economic risk analysis of alternative farming systems for smallholder farmers in central and north-east Thailand

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate farmers’ risk aversion using the equally likely certainty equivalent approach and the negative exponential utility function to identify risk preference classification.Design/methodology/approach– Stochastic efficiency with respect to a function is applied to determine the risk efficient farming systems for the farmers in central and north-east regions of Thailand.Findings– The study results showed that maize followed by sorghum is the most risk efficient farming system for the extremely risk averse rain-fed farmers in the central region of Thailand. Intensive planting of wet rice and dry rice cultivation is preferred by the extremely risk averse central region irrigated farmers. Wet rice and cassava together with raising small herd of cattle is the most economically viable farming system for the extremely risk averse rain-fed farmers in the north-east region, while two rice crops with raising cattle is preferred by the extremely risk averse north-east irrigated farmers of Thailand.Originality/value– The findings of this study provide useful information to reinforce the empirical basis for risk analysis for Thai farmers. The results will provide more accurate information regarding risk at the farm level to policy makers and researchers.

Livelihood Matrix and Technological Interventions for Efficient Farming Systems in Village Clusters of Gondia District of Maharashtra

Research and development initiatives under National Agriculture Innovation Project implemented in representative villages of Gondia district in Maharashtra are reported in this study. Details of 524 households pertaining to demographic characteristics, land use, means of livelihood etc. were collected through survey. Participatory methods were used for identifying potential technological interventions for bringing positive changes in agricultural productivity and sustainability. The study indicated that irrespective of the size of land holding, the tribal farmers derived less than 50% of their income from agriculture and depended on migration for earning wages or collection of non-timber forest produce. The consumption pattern revealed that almost 80% of the income was spent on meeting food requirement of family followed by expenses on clothes. The results showed considerable potential for enhancing their livelihood by introducing best management practices for the lone possible kharif paddy and augmenting the income with pisciculture which surpassed agriculture in terms of economic benefits. Eco-friendly technology like biogas was demonstrated to protect forest resources and reduce drudgery of cooking. The concept of social security fund was implemented in the tribal villages to meet expenses related to upkeep of machinery provided and also micro-credit requirements. The study area represents contiguous belt home to most of the tribal population living in central India and hence the findings provide an understanding of the reasons for backwardness of the large pocket and will help in formulating policies for sustainable development of the region.

Solving the Crop Allocation Problem using Hard and Soft Constraints

Application tools for the crop allocation problem (CAP) are required for agricultural advisors to design more efficient farming systems. Despite the extensive treatment of this issue by agronomists in the past, few methods tackle the crop allocation problem considering both the spatial and the temporal aspects of the CAP. In this paper, we precisely propose an original formulation addressing the crop allocation planning problem while taking farmers' management choices into account. These choices are naturally represented by hard and soft constraints in the Weighted CSP formalism. We illustrate our proposition by solving a medium-size virtual farm using either a WCSP solver (toulbar2) or an ILP solver (NumberJack/SCIP). This preliminary work foreshadows the development of a decision-aid tool for supporting farmers in their crop allocation strategies.

Identification and characterization of highly expressed genes in suspension-cultured cells of sweet potato

Cultured plant cells have high potential in providing efficient and low-cost molecular farming systems for the large-scale production of commercially valuable recombinant proteins. As an initial aim at establishing an efficient expression system for suspension-cultured cells of food crops, we first obtained 1411 expressed sequence tags from a sweet potato cDNA library of exponential phase cells, and assembled them into 156 contigs and 1039 singletons. Five ESTs were selected as the most significantly abundant genes. These were transcripts for a cell wall development protein (cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase), a carbohydrate metabolite protein (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase), and a cell cycle regulator protein (small GTP binding protein Ran), as well as inorganic pyrophosphatase and cyclophilin. Comparisons were then made with the root and leaf EST libraries of sweet potato. Northern blot and RT-PCR analyses revealed that these five genes were strongly expressed in the suspension cells but not in the roots and leaves, thereby supporting the data obtained from the comparative analysis. This is the first reported comparison of the various EST libraries isolated from different cell types of the same plant species. These genes can now contribute to an applicable promoter for devising an efficient expression system from suspension-cultured cells.

Productivity and economics of integrated farming system in irrigated agro- ecosystem of eastern Uttar Pradesh

An experiment to identify an efficient farming system for irrigated agro-ecosystem of eastern Uttar Pradesh was carried out at Research Farm, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi during 2002-03 and 2003-04. Based on the 2-year study, rice (Oryza sativa L.)-pea (Pisum sativum L. var. arvense Pair.)-okra (Hibiscus esculentus L.) was selected as the most remunerative cropping sequence, with the highest rice grain-equivalent yield (170.98 qlha) and net return (Rs 66,079lha) among all the sequences. Dairy pro- duced considerably higher net return (Rs 3,17,904/ha) than poultry (Rs 39,7681ha) and fishery (Rs 21,2241ha) but had lower benefit: cost ratio (1.28) than the fish component (1.42). The poultry component was found least profitable for every rupee invested. The farming system comprising crop component [rice-pea-okra and sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moenchl-berseem (Tripliam alexandrinum L.)-maize (Zea mays L.)], dairy, poultry and fish- ery was identified as the most suitable and efficient farming system model, giving the highest system productivity, i.e. rice grain-equivalent yield of 1,237.5 qlha and net return under irrigated agro-ecosystem of eastern Uttar Pradesh.

A rationale for permeable backfill placed over pipe drains

. Much field drainage work in Great Britain includes costly permeable backfill material as a connector between mole drains, subsoiler fissures, or permeable subsoil layers and the pipe. This paper reviews the role of the Ministry of Agriculture in sponsoring research and advice on drainage design, as well as providing grant-aid to farmers for the installation of field drainage. As a result of this involvement permeable backfill is now regarded as an essential element in the drainage of clayey soils and springs. The cost is fully justified by the establishment and maintenance of highly efficient and flexible farming systems. These techniques are applicable to many countries where clayey, slowly permeable soils predominate.

Evolution of Grain Legumes. VI. The Future – the Exploitation of Evolutionary Knowledge

SUMMARYThe future evolutionary potential of pulses is determined by the nature and extent of the genetic variability in the primary gene pool. This is extensive in the major grain legumes, notably the groundnut, soyabean, Phaseolus and faba beans, and in the cowpea. It is less extensive in the cultivated lupins and this appears to be a serious limitation to their development as useful crops. The considerable development of isolating mechanisms between related species of legumes has restricted the development of the secondary gene pool. This is most developed in the genus Arachis, where section Arachis provides an extensive secondary gene pool for the groundnut. Tertiary gene pools are potentially quite extensive for many grain legumes but since most interspecific hybrids are inviable this resource would be difficult to exploit with present techniques. The development of sophisticated gene transfer techniques for grain legumes is inhibited by their lack of amenability to in vitro culture. The suggestion is made that genetic resources profiles could be constructed on the basis of an expansion of Harlan and de Wet's gene pool system. These could serve as a guide to the present state of germplasm collections, indicating their strengths and weaknesses, which would be useful in formulating future collection and evaluation strategies.The potential for more intensive exploitation of such legumes as the winged bean and lupins undoubtedly exists. The reasons for past under-exploitation of the winged bean need to be determined.Grain legumes have an assured future for good economic and nutritional reasons. More attention probably should be devoted to exploiting the legume-Rhizobium symbiosis, fundamental to the development of efficient and economic farming systems in the developing world.