Modern Agricultural Technology Research Articles

Biogeochemical characteristics of heavy metals in agroecosystems of Forest-Steppe of Ukraine

According to V. Vernadskyi, life on Earth has existed forever. The academician paid considerable attention to the study of soils. The latter are able to accumulate and redistribute chemical elements entering the biosphere between landscape elements. Heavy metals (HM) and other priority toxicants from various sources eventually end up in the upper soil horizons, where their subsequent transformation is determined by soil properties. The residence time of heavy metals in the soil is much longer than in other components of the landscape; they are also slowly removed by leaching, absorption by plants and as a result of exogenous processes. Due to the unique role played by chemical elements in the biosphere, their content in the soil is one of the essential and equal ecological factors that determine the development of living organisms in ecosystems. In connection with the rather intensive development of agriculture in the Forest Steppe, special attention was paid to the distribution of Zn2+ and Cu2+ in the soil cover of this zone. The study of the question of the majority of scientists regarding the arrival of chemical elements in the agro-ecosystems of the soil-climatic zones of Ukraine proved that the largest amount of them comes with mineral fertilizers in the foreststeppe zone. Considering the fact that heavy metals are one of the main sources of environmental pollution, particularly in Ukraine, a comprehensive study of their migration halos in the soil is necessary for the development of effective environmental protection measures. Currently, conducting intensive agriculture using modern agricultural technologies is impossible without the use of fertilizers. Fertilizers are the most effective means of increasing soil fertility, productivity, and improving the quality of crop production. However, a significant drawback of many mineral fertilizers is the presence of toxic heavy metals. Yes, some of these elements in small quantities can have a positive effect on the growth and development of plants. The effect of systematic application of fertilizers on the fertility indicators of typical and gray podzolized chernozem, as well as their effect on the content of mobile compounds of elements in soils, was studied. According to the data, with the systematic introduction of increased doses of fertilizers, elements can accumulate in the soil in significant quantities, which negatively affects the properties and fertility of the soil, the harvest and its quality. Heavy metals are among the main toxicants contaminating grain products. As you know, the rates of dispersion and involvement of chemical elements in the biogenic cycle have increased significantly over the past decades, and their extremely high impact on living organisms gives reason to classify them as particularly dangerous pollutants of the biosphere. This is due to the fact that heavy metals are characterized by high toxicity at low effective concentrations, accumulate in individual links of the trophic chain and create a long-term real danger to the existence of living organisms.

First report of alfalfa root rot caused by Trichothecium roseum in China.

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is perennial leguminous forage, which is cultivated throughout the world due to its high yield, high quality, satisfactory palatability, and wide adaptability. With the increase of planting area in China, root diseases caused by Fusarium spp., Sclerotium rolfsii, Phytophthora spp. (Yang et al. 2022), and new pathogens have been found that reduce the yield and quality of alfalfa and cause economic losses (Li at al. 2019). In 2021, an alfalfa disease occurred under conditions of high temperature and high humidity at the Jiaozhou Experimental Base of Qingdao Agricultural University (Jiaozhou Modern Agricultural Science and Technology Demonstration Park, 36.33°N 120.40°E, Qingdao, Shandong, China), and about 2 ha of alfalfa were infected. The disease affected up to 35% of the plants and caused grass spots. Infected plants developed black-brown lesions with irregular shapes on roots with yellowing of the foliage; the leaves of the whole plant turned yellow. In the late stage of the disease, defoliation occurred and the plants stopped growing, wilted and died. Ten infected plants with typical symptom were collected for isolation and identification of pathogen. The infected roots were cut into 3-5 mm2 sections and then soaked in 75% ethanol for 30 s, followed by a 3-minute immersion in 2% sodium hypochlorite for surface sterilization. Next, the tissues were rinsed in sterile water five times and then placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium. After three subcultures and subsequent single spore isolation, one representative strain named as DC1 was isolated from the infected roots. Based on morphological observation, the colony of DC1 was flat, granular, and powdery in appearance. Four days after inoculation on PDA medium, the size of the colony were 2.1-2.6 cm. After 8 to 20 days, the colonies were initially white and gradually change a light pink to peach color. The conidia are two-celled (Hamid et al. 2014), elliptic to pear-shaped, colorless or translucent, smooth to slightly rough with thick walls. The size of conidia ranged from 11.3 to 23.5 μm long × 6.1 to 12.7 μm wide (n =30). For the identification, the rDNA--ITS gene of the fungus was amplified using the primers ITS1/ITS4 (White et al.1990), and the EF1α gene was amplified using primers EF1-983F/EF1-2218R (Rehner and Buckley 2005). Then the PCR amplicons were cloned into the pCE2 TA/Blunt-Zero vector. The results of the rDNA-ITS (OM049197.1, 515 bp) and EF1α (OM069381.1, 926 bp) sequences were deposited in GenBank. DNA analysis showed that the two sequences were 100% similar to the rDNA-ITS sequence (MN882763.1) and EF1α sequence (DQ676610.1) of Trichothecium roseum, respectively. A pathogenicity test was done by placing one piece (0.5 cm in diameter) of fungal culture (PDA plug) 1cm below the crown of 40-day-old healthy alfalfa (cv. Zhongmu No.3) plants, 3 replicates and 20 plants in each replicate. PDA plug without the pathogen were used for control. All plants were cultivated in a growth chamber at 25±1°C with a light cycle of 15 h (90% relative humidity). After 18 days, the roots of inoculated plants had dark brown lesions and the leaves of their plants turn yellow, while those control plants had no symptoms. To fulfilling Koch's postulates, the same pathogen was re-isolated from necrotic root tissue of inoculated plants and confirmed by morphology and the rDNA-ITS and EF1-α sequences. Based on disease symptoms, morphological characteristics DNA sequences and pathogenicity, the pathogen of alfalfa disease in Jiaozhou Experimental Base of Qingdao Agricultural University was identified as T. roseum. To our knowledge, this is first report of T. roseum causing alfalfa root rot. The newly emerging disease may pose threat to alfalfa production of central and southern China in future.

Application of Convolution Neural Network Algorithm Based on Intelligent Sensor Network in Target Recognition of Corn Weeder at Seedling Stage

Grass damage in the seedling corn field has always been an important factor affecting the growth and development of crops. The existence of grass not only compresses the living space of corn seedlings but also easily causes insect damage. Therefore, it is essential for weeding in the seedling corn field. The existing weeding methods usually use manual or chemical herbicide spraying, which is not only time-consuming and laborious but also inefficient. With the development of artificial intelligence and modern agricultural technology, the use of robots for field weeding has become an effective means, which has attracted more and more attention of researchers at home and abroad. Therefore, based on the full investigation of the development of relevant technologies at home and abroad, this paper carried out the research on the real-time target recognition and ranging method of field weeding robot and proposed a target recognition method of weeding corn at the seedling stage by using an intelligent sensor network and deep learning convolution neural network. Among them, the intelligent sensor is mainly used for target ranging and obstacle avoidance, and CNN is mainly used for target recognition. Taking the images of corn seedlings and weeds in the seedling stage under natural environmental conditions as samples, the migration training is carried out through the depth network model of the COCO data set, and the convolution features are shared by the CNN depth network model and Fast-CNN depth network model. VGG and ResNet feature extraction networks are compared. The experimental results show that the CNN depth network model based on this paper has obvious advantages in rape and weed target recognition. The target recognition accuracy of rape and weeds can reach 87.64%, and the recall rate can reach 80.23%. Compared with other models, it has obvious advantages, which proves the effectiveness of this model.

Adoption of Modern Agricultural Technologies Transferred through Farmer Field Schools in Bangladesh

Adoption of Modern Agricultural Technologies Transferred through Farmer Field Schools in Bangladesh

Risk monitoring model of intelligent agriculture Internet of Things based on big data

With the development of the times, there is a huge amount of data in every industry. Big data technology is to collect, analyze, process and information from these huge data and apply it to all aspects of our life to improve people's production life. The proposal and development of smart agriculture will play a significant role in the further implementation of the country's rural revitalization strategy. However, the research on risk monitoring in smart agriculture is not yet systematic enough. The purpose of this article is to strengthen the development of smart agriculture under big data, focusing on risk monitoring. To this end, this article studies big data monitoring through data analysis methods and Internet of Things technologies, and discusses the principles of big data and key technology principles of the Internet of Things. Explained, and proposed a modern agricultural technology platform based on the Internet of Things and big data. This platform is established on the basis of precision agriculture and wireless sensor network work, and analyzes the accuracy of various types of light wavelengths for determining wheat rust. The analysis results show that the accuracy of light with multiple wavelengths is not necessarily better than the light with a single wavelength. The accuracy of 600 nm wavelength can reach 100 %, and the accuracy of monitoring with 4 wavelengths together is rather low. However, less consideration is given to the factors in this article, and wheat does not necessarily cause only one disease. Comprehensive analysis is required. With the help of spectral research and aerial photography of drones, the severity of the disease and the outbreak area can be speculated.

Halloysite Nanotube-Based Pesticide Formulations with Enhanced Rain Erosion Resistance, Foliar Adhesion, and Insecticidal Effect.

The incorporation of green and sustainable nanomaterials in pesticide formation is an effective method to lower the use of conventional pesticides without adverse effects on productivity. Here pesticide Pickering emulsions stabilized by halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) were developed for low cost, less environmental pollution, low toxic effects, and better emulsion stability. HNTs were added to chlorantraniliprole (CAP) emulsions, and good stability was exhibited due to the adsorption and aggregation of HNTs at the interface of CAP oil droplets, forming a three-dimensional network structure that prevented the emulsion from aggregation. In addition, Spodoptera frugiperda was used as a pest model and corn was used as a plant model to explore the washout resistance, insecticidal effect, and biological safety of HNTs-CAP emulsion. After spraying emulsion on corn leaves and washing for 10 min, the HNTs-CAP emulsion (5 wt % HNTs) pesticide residue rate was 2.7 times that of pristine CAP emulsion. When the HNT dispersion concentration was 2 wt %, the larva mortality was 83%, which was 1.5 times that of the CAP emulsion group. These results demonstrated that HNTs-CAP emulsion showed good foliar adhesion, rainfall resistance, and insecticidal effect. The tubular clay-based nanopesticide formulations show potential applications in the control of crop pests with modern agriculture technology.

Does combining traditional and information and communications technology–based extension methods improve agricultural outcomes? Evidence from field experiments in Mali

AbstractAdequate flow of appropriate information to farmers is vital for accelerating the uptake of modern agricultural technologies and improving access to markets, all of which are important for the transformation of African economies. Yet there is limited evidence regarding how information should be disseminated to farmers to achieve the needed impact. Should ICT‐based approaches be used together with traditional methods, or should they be used alone? We used cluster quasi‐random and randomized experiments involving 140 villages in southern Mali to study three chains of causality: does farmer training increase knowledge? Does knowledge lead to change in behavior? Do the different actions generate varying economic outcomes? We show that the role of farmer training in the uptake of extension advice may be overstated in some settings; that procrastination and inattention are more binding constraints to recommendation adherence than information per se; and that such constraints could be mitigated by timely voice SMS reminders. Although timely reminders nudged farmers to take‐up recommendations, leading to meaningful improvements in some intermediate outcomes, these impacts were not large enough to generate improvements in output, prices and profits in the short term. These findings must be interpreted within the context of imperfect compliance with experimental protocols, which pose threats to both the internal and external validity of some of the impact estimates.

Ethnobotany of wild edible plants in multiethnic areas of the Gansu–Ningxia–Inner Mongolia junction zone

IntroductionIn recent years, research on wild edible plant resources has become increasingly popular. The Hassan Nature Reserve is a multiethnic area mainly composed of people belonging to the Han, Hui, and Mongolian groups. The utilization of edible wild plant resources in this area is extremely high. However, with the advancement of urbanization and the development of modern agricultural technology, these resources have been seriously damaged, and related traditional knowledge, such as that related to national medicine, has been lost.MethodsBased on a literature study, interviews with village and community organizations, participatory observation, and quantitative evaluation of ethnobotanical resources, wild edible plants in the Gansu–Ningxia–Inner Mongolia junction zone, were investigated.ResultsThe survey results showed that there were 53 species (varieties) of wild edible plants belonging to 24 families in this area. The Compositae and Liliaceae families were the most abundant, with 8 and 7 species, respectively. The young stems and leaves were the most edible parts of the plants, as observed for 17 species, followed by fruits (including young fruits), which were considered the edible part of 16 species. Other edible parts included the roots or rhizomes (bulbs), seeds, whole plants, skins, etc. The edible plants were consumed in two forms: raw and cooked; raw plants, mainly fruit, were typically consumed as snacks. The cooked foods mainly consisted of vegetables, with tender stems and leaves as the main food source. These components were also used as seasoning, in medicinal diets, and as an emergency food source in times of famine. Important (CFSI > 500) wild edible plants used in health care in the region include Mulgedium tataricum (L.) DC., Nostoc commune Vaucher ex Bornet & Flahault, Sonchus arvensis L., Taraxacum mongolicum Hand.-Mazz., Allium schoenoprasum L., Robinia pseudoacacia L., Hemerocallis citrina Baroni, Elaeagnus angustifolia L., Medicago sativa L., Ulmus pumila L., Stachys sieboldii Miq., and Toona sinensis (Juss.) M. Roem., and these plants had high utilization values and rates locally.ConclusionIn summary, the species of wild edible plants and their edible parts, categories, consumption forms and roles in health care in this area are diverse. The utilization of traditional knowledge is rich, and some wild plants have high development value.

Demand and supply constraints of credit in smallholder farming: Evidence from Ethiopia and Tanzania

Credit constraint is often considered as one of the key barriers to the adoption of modern agricultural technologies and low agricultural productivity in low- and middle-income countries. Past research and much of the policy discourse associate agricultural credit constraints with supply-side factors, such as limited access to credit sources or high costs of borrowing. However, demand-side factors, such as risk-aversion and financial illiteracy among borrowers could also affect credit-rationing of smallholder agricultural households. This study investigates the nature of credit constraints, factors affecting credit constraint status, and the effects of credit constraints on adoption and intensity of use of three modern agricultural technologies – small-scale irrigation, chemical fertilizer, and improved seeds. The paper also assesses whether credit constraints are gender-differentiated. Primary survey data were collected from sample farmers in Ethiopia and Tanzania, and Tobit and two-step hurdle econometric models were used to analyze these data. Results show that demand-side credit constraints are as important as supply-side factors in conditioning smallholders’ access to credit in both countries. We also find that credit is a binding constraint for the decision to adopt technologies and input use intensity in Tanzania but not statistically significant in Ethiopia. Results suggest that women are more likely to be credit constrained (from both the supply and demand sides) than men in both study countries. Based on these findings, we suggest that policies should focus on addressing both supply- and demand-side credit constraints to credit access, including through targeted interventions to reduce risk, such as crop insurance, and to strengthen the gender sensitivity of credit policies.

Producing fluorescent plants to lure and trap insect pests.

Producing fluorescent plants to lure and trap insect pests.

Analysis of the Influence of Agricultural Natural Disaster on Farmers’ Technology Adoption Decision

Xinjiang is the main cotton-producing area in China. However, its natural environment is special, and natural disasters frequently occur during the agricultural production process. Fortunately, the application of modern agricultural production technology provides a good tool for cotton farmers to reduce disaster losses. In order to analyze the impact of agricultural natural disasters on farmers’ adoption of agricultural production technology, based on the survey data of 216 cotton farmers in the main cotton production areas, this study uses a binary logistic model to analyze the impact of disaster types and stages on cotton farmers’ application of drip irrigation water-saving technology. The results show that hail, drought, and disease disasters have a significant impact on the application of drip irrigation water-saving technology, considering that the damage to equipment and technology’s control of disasters are the reasons behind; post-disaster remediation in the growth or maturity period also has a significant impact, which can reduce losses; and market price risk for cotton also has a significant impact.

Measuring the Role Performance of Farmer Producer Companies: An Index Development Perspective

Collectivizing the small and marginal farmers via Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) has been considered as a way forward to address various agricultural value chain related challenges. Since the inception, Government has taken several initiatives and issued working guidelines from time to time for maintaining fi nancial and technical viability of the FPCs. In the light of various guidelines issued by the governing bodies, the FPCs are supposed to help the farmers in various arrays of activities ranging from capacity building of benefi ciaries, advisory on various agricultural activities, market integration for both inputs and outputs, enhancing agricultural productivity by implementing modern agricultural technologies, collective post-harvest activities along with marketing of the produce etc. At this juncture the need for an instrument to measure the role-performance of FPCs was recognized. Hence, a standardized index was developed which can delineate the activities undertaken by the FPCs to help the benefi ciaries in achieving the economies of scale and self-sustaining solutions to several farming related problems. The process began with identifi cation of 101 performance indicators classifi ed under seven diff erent dimensions. The indicators were then validated by the experts. After content validation 47 indicators were fi nally selected to constitute the index. And the reliability of the index (Cronbach's Alpha value 0.963) was indicative regarding the consistency of the results.

Yield and Profitability Comparisons of Modern Agricultural Production Technologies Adoption: Evidence From Cotton-wheat Punjab (Pakistan)

Based on the survey data, the study has made yield and profitability comparisons in the contexts of modern agricultural production technologies adopted by the cotton growers of district Bahawalpur. The extent of modern agricultural production technologies adoption was gauged through constructing a modern farming index (MFI). Based on the points scored regarding MFI, the cotton growers were classified into five categories. By applying independent samples t-test, the comparisons of means were made between technologies adopters and non-adopters with respect to per acre yield, cost of production, gross income, and profit earned. On an average, in comparison with the non-adopters, the categories of good adopters and exceptional were obtaining respectively, 17% and 22% higher per acre yield and in the same order, 19% and 27% higher per acre profit. On an average, in comparison with the cotton growers without land laser levelling, those having land laser levelled were obtaining 11% higher per acre yield and 10.6% higher per acre profit. Likewise, in comparison with the cotton growers applying pesticides manually, those applying pesticides through boom sprayer were obtaining about 17% higher per acre yield and 18.2% higher per acre profit. The study concludes that technology adoption in agriculture is pivotal to productivity, production, and profitability outcomes at farm level, hence at national level.

Heterogeneous Effects of Migration and Remittances on Migrant- Sending Agricultural Communities: The Case of Southern Ethiopia

Using household survey data, the paper empirically evaluates the heterogeneous effects of migration and remittances on migrant-sending communities in southern Ethiopia. A multi-stage stratified sampling procedure was used to select sample villages from each survey area and households from each sample unit. To account for several econometric issues and consistently estimate the impacts of migration and remittances, the study adopted a three-stage least-squares method complemented with endogeneity and multicollinearity test. The findings of the paper reveal that the migration of labor out of agriculture has a significant negative effect on a household’s adoption of different agricultural technologies, as well as crop yield. By contrast, the remittances sent by migrants partially compensate for the lost-labor deficit, leading to increased use of modern agricultural inputs and crop yield. Besides, it’s observed that the adoption of different agricultural technology is invariant to the migrants’ gender. Overall, the return of migration suggests that the adoption of modern agricultural technologies and crop yield in migrant-sending communities are found to be higher after migration participation, though the impacts vary for households with different production conditions.

Determinants of Modern Agricultural Technology Adoption for Teff Production: The Case of Minjar Shenkora Woreda, North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Agriculture is one of Ethiopia’s economic cornerstones, although its production remains low. Since then, the implementation of modern agricultural technologies has remained a promising strategy in Ethiopia for increasing agricultural production, achieving food security, and reducing poverty. The objective of the study is to examine the determinants of modern agricultural technology adoption for teff production in Minjar Shenkora woreda. The data were collected from the representatives of 362 rural households. This study employed both descriptive statistics and multinomial logit model. The estimations of the multinomial logit model revealed that sex, age, marital status, tropical livestock units, educational level of household head, distance to market, extension contact, active household members, access to credit, off-farm activities participation, and cultivated land size are the determinants of modern agricultural technology adoption for teff production in Minjar Shenkora woreda, North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Therefore, this study recommended that the country’s federal and regional governments, agricultural development offices, nongovernmental organizations, and donor agencies should collaborate with farm households to improve access to information, access to credit, encourage off-farm participation and provide training and consulting services to increase the adoption of modern agricultural technologies.

УСТАНОВЛЕНИЕ И КОМПЛЕКСНОЕ ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕ КРИТЕРИЕВ ОЦЕНКИ ЭФФЕКТИВНОСТИ РАЗЛИЧНЫХ ВИДОВ РЕСУРСОВ АГРОМЕЛИОРАТИВНЫХ СИСТЕМ

Relevance. Despite attempts to improve the assessment of various types of resources of the agro-industrial complex, carried out by well-known Russian and foreign scientists, to date, general methodological and methodological approaches have not been developed, and there is also no unified system of criteria and indicators that takes into account the level of availability and assessment of various types of resources in agro-melioration. systems. It should be noted that a low indicator of several or even one type of resource will certainly reduce the efficiency of using all other types of resources of agromeliorative systems, therefore their comprehensive assessment is an urgent task that has undoubted practical importance in terms of the impact on the efficiency and sustainability of development of not only agromeliorative systems, but also the entire agro-industrial complex. An object. The object of research was agromeliorative systems in the context of the main types of their resources. Target. The aim of the study was to substantiate, assess and comprehensively use the permanently interacting natural, economic, labor, financial, investment and infrastructural resources of agro-reclamation systems as criteria for assessing their effectiveness. Materials and methods. Using the methods of complex and system analysis, the main types of resources of agro-reclamation systems were identified, a quantitative and qualitative analysis based on a comprehensive assessment of indicators of both the availability of these resources and the efficiency of their use was carried out, the author's approach to assessing various types of resources of agro-reclamation systems and the efficiency of their use was proposed. Results and conclusions. At the first stage, a system of criteria was formed to assess the availability of various types of resources of agro-reclamation systems, taking into account not only the quantitative component, but also the qualitative one, reflecting the efficiency of using certain types of resources, the provision of agro-reclamation systems with these types of resources; at the second, individual indicators of various types of resources of agro-reclamation systems were determined. for each factor of production, which are consolidated into a group efficiency index, on the third, the efficiency of using the resources of agro-reclamation systems was assessed based on the proposed indicators, and on the fourth, the ranking of agro-reclamation systems was carried out and recommendations were formulated to improve the efficiency of using the resources of agro-reclamation systems. A synergistic effect is noted that arises as a result of the joint influence of agro-resource components: modern agricultural technologies, selection and moisture supply, revealed and substantiated by the change in the yield of grain crops (excluding rice) and rice in Russia, as well as the average annual growth rate of the yield of rice and grain crops for the period 1990-2017.

Perceived Evidences of Climate Change and Effects on Smallholders Farming Practices in Edo North, Edo State, Nigeria

Food security and sustainable supply remain a big challenge against achieving key SDGs, and this is especially the case in most Sub-Saharan African countries where extreme poverty, social unrest, terrorism, youth unemployment and corruption remain a huge setback to economic development. Climate change is further compounding these problems, with huge implications for the agricultural sector which has over 70% of the population depending on it for livelihood. Smallholder farmers are even worst hit, owing to their limited capital, lack of modern agricultural technology, little or no government supports etc. This study is therefore aimed to investigate the dimensions of changes in the climatic pattern of communities in Edo north, and the associated effects on smallholder farming operations. Primary data were collected through questionnaires, interviews and focused group discussions with sampled crop famers (SCF). The study found that majority of SCF were migrant farmers (44.6 %), while the indigenous farmers only constituted about 33.4 %. In terms of type of crop(s) cultivated in the study area, 145 (28.4 %) of the respondents cultivated multiple crops (tuber/ plantain/ cereal/ vegetables), 26.6 % exclusively cultivated tuber crops (cassava/yam/ cocoyam/ potato), while 16.5 %) solely cultivated plantain/banana. Other farm types include cereal crop (rice/bean/maize/corn) 14.4 %, and vegetables (pumpkin/tomato/melon/okra) 9.5 %. Most notable evidence of climate change was extreme hot temperature in the day (n 29.5%, while extreme cold at night was 23.5%. Similarly, 19.0% of sampled crop farmers also viewed increased rainfall as notable evidence of climate change in the study area, while another 13.5% linked strong wind to climate change. Others notable evidences were flooding 9.5% and delayed, decreased and erratic rainfall with a total percentage of 5.0%. In terms of effects on farming operations, impact on fertilizer and manure application emerged as mostly affected with a weighted mean score (WMS) of 3.05. This was followed by effect on spraying of farm against pest and disease control with a WMS of 2.92, while weeding of farm and late planting ranked 3rd (WMS = 2.87). In terms of impact on the farming families, reduction in farm income and frequent washing away of valuable soil nutrient were mostly reported with the WMS of 3.56. This was followed by poor quality and quantity of yield/output (WMS = 3.42; rank = 2nd).

Factors Influencing Adoption of Agricultural Technologies amongst African Development Bank Community Based Agriculture and Rural Development Project Beneficiaries in Nigeria

The Nigerian agricultural sector is characterized by low level of technology adoption which in turn contributes to the low agricultural productivity in the country. This is indeed worrisome given the plethora of interventions by successive governments, multi-lateral and donor agencies working to implement several programmes aimed at promoting technology adoption among farmers. This study examines factors which influence adoption of modern agricultural production technologies among African Development Bank-Community Based Agriculture and Rural Development Programme (AfDB-CBARDP) beneficiaries in Nigeria. To achieve this objectives, Multi stage sampling technique was employed where a total of 1020 farmers/Project beneficiaries across the 5 Project Implementing Units were selected. The data was estimated using the logit regression. The use of the logit model for this analysis is consistent with the literature on adoption (see for instance Griliches, 1957). Result of the maximum likelihood estimates of the Logit regression model has indicated that the relationship between income and improved technology adoption was shown to be positive and statistically significant. Farming experience was also positively related to adoption of the improved technologies and statistically significant at 1% level. The study also reveals that adoption of improved farming technologies increases with credit availability. Farm size on the other hand was negatively related to adoption of fertilizer technology but positively related to seed, post-harvest and livestock improvement technologies at 1% significant level. Correspondingly, the coefficients for improved seed and livestock technologies were positively related to the farmer’s age at 5% significant level. The findings of the study further revealed that profitability of the enterprise is the major reason for technology adoption by the beneficiaries and is considered very important (3.7*). Output/yield and product marketability was the second and most important reasons for technology adoption having a weighted mean scores value of 3.1* and 3.3* respectively. Likewise, among the bundles of technology disseminated under crop sub sector, varietal attributes related to early maturity was adjudged to be important motive for the adoption (2.7*). Inaccessibility of the technology or high cost of production were cited prominently as the main reasons for non-adoption of a particular technology (*Reason ≥2.5). These findings have important implication. The availability of modern agricultural production technologies to end users, and the capacities of end users to adopt and utilize these technologies should always be consider when scaling up innovation practices.

Impact of the No-Till technology on erosive degradation of soils in hollows

The present research is aimed at studying the impact of the modern no-till agricultural technology on the development of erosion processes on cultivated arable land in the subzone of the southern chernozems of the Volgograd region. Evaluation of the impact of this agricultural technology was based on the analysis and comparison of soil cover in hollows located in the fields cultivated using either the classic technology or the no-till technology. The research methodology is based on combination of remote, field and laboratory methods for studying the soil cover. Analysis and generalization of data obtained in the course of laboratory studies of selected soil samples made it possible to identify a high degree of erosion processes in the hollows located in the fields, which had been cultivated using the no-till technology for three years. Comparison of the values of the content of organic carbon in the zones of removal, transit and accumulation of fine earth indicates the development of water degradation processes in the middle part of the hollows. Thus, for soil samples taken from a depth of 0-10 cm, the value of organic carbon content in the variant of soil tilled using the new technology is 2.6%, while in the variant tilled using the classic technology, this value is equal to 3.1%. The revealed differences in the soil cover of the hollows can be explained by interaction of the patterns of development of erosion-accumulation processes and the features of the no-till technology in specific natural and climatic conditions.

An innovative digitization evaluation scheme for Spatio-temporal coordination relationship between multiple knowledge driven rural economic development and agricultural ecological environment—Coupling coordination model analysis based on Guangxi

The agricultural ecological environment is the premise and foundation of rural economic development and the rural economy is an important manifestation of the vitality of the agricultural ecological environment. Taking 14 prefecture-level cities in Guangxi as the research object, this paper collects and sorts out the relevant data indicators of rural economy and agricultural ecological environment of them from 2007 to 2019, constructs the evaluation index system, calculates the development index by using the comprehensive index function, and finally uses an innovative digitization evaluation scheme to further evaluate the spatiotemporal coupling and coordination relationship between the rural economy and agricultural ecological environment. The following conclusions are ultimately drawn. First, the comprehensive level index of the rural economy shows linear growth with unbalanced regional development (values from 0.306 to 0.598). Second, the comprehensive index of the agricultural ecological environment shows fluctuating growth with obvious regional differences (values from 0.264 to 0.483). Third, the development of rural economy and agricultural ecological environment is not synchronized, and there is mutual influence. Fourth, the coordination level of the rural economy and agricultural ecological environment is low (coupling values from 0.369 to 0.513). Then, policy inspirations are proposed. First, the investment in agricultural science and technology innovation should be increased and the modern agricultural technology system. Second, agricultural industrial structure should be optimized and the agricultural industrial chain. Third, the construction of agricultural infrastructure should be improved, and the high-quality development of agriculture should be promoted. Fourth, the education of ecological civilization should be strengthened, and awareness of ecological and environmental protection should be established. Fifth, they should strengthen education and training and cultivate new professional farmers. Sixth, they should improve the utilization rate of land and enhance the arable land production capacity.