Small-scale Subsistence Farmers Research Articles

Small Scale Subsistence Farming in Nalbari District of Assam, India and the Scope of Sustainable Development of the Households

Land is the free gift of nature to man for the sustenance of life and sustainable use of land resources is an inevitable choice for sustainable development. Maintaining productive land and healthy soils to ensure food security, sustainable development and restoration of degraded land is essential for the future of mankind. Small-scale farming does not require a large amount of land and this aspect enables the development of various crops and livestock in the neighbourhood. In the present study, Nalbari district of Assam, India has been taken and most of the inhabitants of case study villages in Nalbari district make their income from small-scale farming. Diversified uses of available land is one of the significant strategy adopted by households to remain sustained in their natural and human environment in the district. The sustainable use of land resource in the study area is based on indigenous knowledge systems. To compare various indicators generated from the primary survey of this study, standardization is required and Z-transformation method is used for standardizing indicators. Level of economic sustainability is high in Paramankhow, Mohina village (0.1 and above), medium in Haribhanga, Sataibari, No.1 larkuchi village (-0.25 to 0.1) and low in Tilana, Deharkatara, Paila, kachimpur, Suplekuchi, Sandheli, Barajal, Uttarkuchi, Barkuriha, Bajaliudaypur, Kalardia, Loharkatha, Chamata, Mohkhuli, Dahudi village (Less than -0.25). Based on composite Z score value, level of environmental sustainability is not high in the case study villages in Nalbari district. The type of soils and abundant rainfall are blessing for the commercial cultivation of different subtropical fruit crops such as Banana, Assam lemon, Mandarin orange, Coconut, Areca nut, Jackfruit, Papaya, Litchi, along with spice crops like Ginger, Turmeric, Chilli, Black pepper etc. in the district. The agriculture in entire district is organic by default, due to low use of agro chemicals in field and horticultural crops.

Assessing the Production Potentials of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) using Two Seed Systems (Formal and Informal) in the Buea Municipality, Cameroon

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is the most extensively cultivated fruity vegetable in Cameroon, as its production has the potential to improve food security, as well as income stability for small-scale subsistence farming communities. Most studies on Tomato seed have focused on its response to environmental variations but there exist inadequate information on a comparative study of the use of formal and informal seed systems. This study was thus aimed at assessing the production potentials of two tomato seed systems (T1: Informal seeds, T2: Formal non-hybrid seeds and T3: formal hybrid seeds). Randomized Complete Block Design was used, with three treatments replicated thrice. A sample size of 20 plants were randomly selected from each experimental unit for data collection. T3 had the highest % germination (93%), while T2 had the least (72%). 4WAP, T3 had the tallest plants (69.53 ± 3.07 cm) and T2 had the shortest (50.03 ± 4.31cm), while T1 had the highest girth (8.40±0.75cm) and produced the most leaves (35.93± 6.14). T1 produced the most flowers (73.83 flowers) while T2 and T3 produced 19.83 and 62.93 flowers respectively with T1 producing the most fruits 27.6 as opposed to 4.23 fruits for T3 and 24.43 fruits for T2. T2 had a fruit weight 0.09 ± 0.14 Kg when compared to T1 (6.35 ± 5.67 Kg) and T2 (6.04 ± 4.29) with T1 having the highest fruit diameter (34.97 ± 3.54mm) and highest yield per ha (18.16 ± 16.20 ton/ha). In this studies we conclude that the informal seed system performed better germination percentage, growth and yield component than the formal seed system of tomato.

Does Internet use connect smallholder farmers to a healthy diet? Evidence from rural China.

Undernutrition and micronutrient malnutrition remain problems of significant magnitude among small-scale subsistence farmers, posing a serious threat to their health and well-being. Developing a healthy diet can effectively reduce this threat. Fortunately, the Internet can speed up the process. Based on survey data from 5,114 farm households in nine provinces in China, this study quantitatively assesses the impact of Internet use on the dietary quality of smallholder farmers using OLS regression models and PSM models. (1) Internet use can significantly contribute to dietary diversity and dietary rationality among smallholder farmers, thus optimizing their dietary structure. (2) Internet use significantly increased the average consumption amounts of milk and its products (2.9 g), fruits (21.5 g), eggs (7.5 g), and vegetables (27.1 g), while also decreasing the intake of salts (1.5 g) and oil (3.8 g). (3) The pull of internet use to improve diet quality is more significant for smallholder households with lower levels of education, older heads of households, and higher household incomes. (4) A possible mechanism is that Internet use increases household income and information access skills of rural residents, thus improving their dietary quality. In summary, governments should further promote Internet penetration in rural areas for health purposes.

Satellite-based multi-annual yield models for major food crops at the household field level for nutrition and health research: A case study from the Nouna HDSS, Burkina Faso

Increasing frequencies of climate change-induced extreme weather events like prolonged droughts pose significant challenges for small-scale subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, who rely on the yearly harvest by more than 80 % of their nutritional needs. However, we do not have a good understanding of yield estimates at the field and household level (with a mean field size of < 2 ha) to understand nutritional priorities in vulnerable communities due to their scarcity in the literature, particularly yield estimates that do not require re-collection of in-situ data. Statistical models for estimating regional food crop yields based on high-resolution satellite data at the field level may provide better insights into how to address health risks such as child malnutrition. Especially in low-resource contexts, where the burden is greatest and expected to worsen in future climate projections. Our study developed crop-specific, satellite-based yield models using a novel three-year data set of in-situ yield measurements as exemplified for a rural region in Burkina Faso. The aim of the model is to reduce the need for in-situ field data collection while still assuring accurate yield estimates at the field level. The model employed LASSO regression and was based on monthly vegetation index composites from Sentinel-2 and weekly accumulated Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station (CHIRPS) rainfall data. Our yield modeling results showed that there was less overfitting when there was more training data over three years that demonstrated a wider range of yields, which also led to better model fits. R² values ranged from 0.62 (Maize) to 0.3 (Sorghum) for the three-year yield models, with normalized root mean square error (nRMSE) values ranging from 12 % − 16 %. An additional plausibility check confirmed the validity of our models, as we compared the magnitude of our yield estimation with national yield statistics for Burkina Faso. We demonstrated that our models based on three years of in-situ data may capture some of the inter-annual variability in yields, which could be a step toward minimizing the necessity for in-situ measurements in the future. Our advances in predicting yield estimates at the field level enable a linkage between household-level yields, socioeconomic indicators, nutritional status of children, and the health status of the household members. A further application is linking high-resolution yield data to farmers’ productivity losses from increasing heat under climate change.

A Family Mobilization for Migration to Europe from Casamance, Senegal

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; The ratio between basic salaries in Western Europe and in sub-Saharan Africa is at least of a factor ten. Many young Africans therefore dream of emigrating to Europe. However, the air route remains a privilege reserved to members of elite families: to take a plane one needs a visa for most European countries. Without a visa, the only two possibilities are the sea route via coastal navigation along the African coast and the land route through the Sahara. These are the very dangerous and uncertain routes that tens of thousands of migrants nevertheless take each year. This article examines the case of a family of small-scale subsistence farmers in Casamance, the Southern region of Senegal. It shows how this family of 42 persons decided to send one of its members to try to enter France illegally. How they chose the migrant, how they collected the necessary funds, and what happened during the two attempts. This detailed case study gives an idea of the steps taken each year by tens of thousands of other families in Africa who try sending one of their sons across European borders. &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

Bambara groundnut production, grain composition and nutritional value: opportunities for improvements

AbstractBambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea L. Verdc; BGN) is an important legume grown mainly by small-scale subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, in parts of Thailand and Indonesia. It has a high concentration of seed carbohydrate (55–70%), protein (17–25%), fat (1.4–12%) and dietary fibre (5.2–6.4%). A range of biotic and abiotic stresses together with socio-economic constraints affect its productivity, yield and quality. The changing climate and a growing world population are putting pressure on food production, as world food supply is heavily reliant on few crops. As such, there is a need to broaden crop usage and increase yield of minor crops such as BGN. Improvements in production can potentially be achieved by a combination of advanced phenotyping, genotyping, environmental characterization and overall management approaches. Breeding for advanced lines is complicated by overreliance on landraces. This review aims to provide the current status of BGN production, production constraints and approaches to overcome these, as well as its grain composition and nutritional value. It further discusses and elaborates on potentially available opportunities for overall improvement, so that BGN, like all neglected crops, can play a valuable role in world food security. Efforts should be intensified to improve the overall utilization of BGN and its constituents to make it an economically viable crop.

Gender and entrepreneurship in the formation of family farms during the postsocialist transformation in Hungary

ABSTRACT This paper explores how women and men in commodity producer family farms that emerged during the post-socialist transition in Hungary negotiated gendered and entrepreneurial identities within the emergent gender regime balancing between three entangled and conflicting processes related to globalization, retraditionalisation and state socialist legacies. During this period, the agricultural production structure polarized between units with rapid land concentration and intensified commodity production and small-scale subsistence farmers. Gender dynamics showed to have had great importance for how farms could position themselves on the capital accumulation trajectory. The study is based on a selection from fifty life-history interviews carried out with farm families on the commodification trajectory during the post-socialist transition in rural Hungary between 2000 and 2004 (the years prior to Hungary joining the EU), among which a number of farm families were revisited after three years of the first occasion. Four major types of family farms were identified based on how they (un)done the gender entrepreneurship nexus while reconciling production and care: traditional family farm, semi-equal partnerships in joint farms, feminized one-woman farm, masculinized one-man farm. Semi-equal partnerships in joint farms moved towards different directions over time: farms with separate spheres adjusting to care, masculinization, woman-led joint farm with care mission out-sourced, and farms with dual crises of care and enterprise. The demands for reproducing family farms under globalized market pressure assumed the mobilization of family labour. Women’s inputs were of great importance, while their responsibility to organise care prevailed, putting extra pressure on their health and work burden.

Rural household livelihood strategies and diet diversification in North Shewa, Central Ethiopia

This study was conducted to examine rural household livelihood strategies and diet diversification in North Shewa Administrative Zone (NSAZ), Central Ethiopia. A total of 372 family heads took part in the study. They were selected through multistage sampling procedure. Data collection took place from February to March 2020 using Questionnaire, Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) plus Key Informant Interviews (KIIs).The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, t -test, ANOVA and binary logistic regression model. The finding showed that rural households who diversified their livelihood strategies by combining agriculture with at least one of the activities outside agriculture make up only about 31.20% of the respondents. Out of eight baskets of food items (legumes, nuts and seeds; cereals; vegetables; fruits; milk and milk products; oils and fats; eggs and meat) considered to calculate Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), only 22.60% of the sampled households consumed ≥4 baskets of food items within a 24 h recall period. The remaining 77.40% of the studied households consumed <4 baskets of food items and as such, they were subjected to dietary inadequacy. Results obtained from one-way between-groups analysis of variance revealed a statistically acceptable variation in the mean HDDS at p < 0.01 level among farming, non-farming and both farming plus non-farming rural household livelihood groups [F (2, 369) = 20.94, p = 0.00]. Binary logistic regression model also showed that age of a rural family head, labour size in the household, farm size, livestock possession, extension contact, market distance and access to credit are important predictors for diversification of rural household livelihood strategies. Policymakers and stakeholders should consider these variables while designing intervention mechanisms. • Rural families in low-income nations largely rely on small-scale subsistence farming. • Dependence on subsistence farming alone is not adequate to ensure food security. • Diversifying rural households' economic base enhances income and dietary intake.

The Virtual Fence Dynamic: a Breakthrough for Low-Cost and Sustainable Mitigation of Human-Elephant Conflict in Subsistence Agriculture?

Attempts to deter elephants from entering crop fields and human settlements in Africa have used various barriers (e.g. electric fences, chilli fences, beehive fences or plant barriers), situated on or very near the boundaries of fields or villages, with rather variable success. We explored a very simple new barrier concept based upon re-arranging the layout of foreign stimuli already known to arouse suspicion and fear among elephants. Deterrence involved deploying unnaturally scented objects on and across their pathways of habitual movement leading to crop field clusters. Elephants are suspicious of unpleasant olfactory stimuli, like string or cloth saturated with pungent-smelling chilli oil, old engine oil, or creosote and dislike ‘chilli smoke’. Foreign visual items like plastic bottles, reflective metal strips and cow bells possibly reinforced suspicion of these unpleasant scents and influenced the deterrent effect. These flimsy items deployed over very short distances merely acted as a bluff to ‘problem elephants’ that people were actively trying to impede their progress, and the vast majority chose to turn back or deviate substantially. Thus we coined the term a ‘soft virtual boundary’. We demonstrate that placing virtual boundaries away from village and agricultural lands, forces elephants to encounter them upon leaving their daytime refuges, while still in natural habitat. The suspicion and fear generated here considerably reduces elephants’ determination to proceed onwards to risk crop raiding. When multiple, small virtual boundaries are strategically moved around at intervals, a ‘virtual fence dynamic’ delivers an enduring deterrent effect. In ten study areas in two countries over seven years this technique led to considerable and consistent reductions in crop damage levels of up to 95% in places. Because these methods (i) completely rely on local knowledge, (ii) were exceptionally low cost and (iii) demonstrated rapid results, the ‘buy-in’ from affected communities of small-scale subsistence farmers was immediate and very enthusiastic. So this strategy has the potential to remove the most intractable stumbling block to the sustainability of human-elephant conflict mitigation efforts in smallholder agriculture – reliance upon conservation donor funding for very costly and problematic mitigation measures like fencing, compensation schemes and elephant translocations.

ADMINISTRATIVE JUSTICE AND COMMUNAL SUBSISTENCE FARMING IN FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE CONTROL: THE POSSIBLE APPLICATION OF PROPORTIONALITY AS A GROUND OF REVIEW UNDER THE PROMOTION OF ADMINISTRATIVE JUSTICE ACT 3 OF 2000

As one of the most contagious and economically impactful livestock diseases, foot-and-mouth disease presents South African lawmakers with the complicated issue of animal disease control. The regulation of the disease has a profound impact not only on commercial farmers but on communal subsistence farmers as well, whose stakes in control measures are often overlooked in policy-making. The authors investigate and crystalise the current legislative framework of foot-and-mouth disease control in South Africa against the backdrop of the scientific and epidemiological characteristics of the disease. The application of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000 (PAJA) to the control measures concerning the movement of animals is investigated and it is concluded that PAJA’s administrative law requirements apply to both the Animal Diseases Regulations and the policy documents in question. Thereafter the administrative law concept of proportionality is set out and it is shown that the current control measures fall short of the requirements of proportionality as codified in PAJA. Especially when considering the necessity and balance of the control measures in question, it is found that the interests and rights of small-scale communal subsistence farmers are not adequately considered and that international standards, regardless of their applicability to the South African situation, are often blindly imposed, thus leaving these overlooked stakeholders vulnerable to the adverse effects that arise thereafter.

Techno-economic feasibility of small-scale pressurized irrigation in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Uganda through an integrated modeling approach

Agriculture contributes up to 50% of the gross domestic product in some East African countries and is the backbone of the region’s economy. Most farmers rely on traditional, small-scale subsistence farming with low fertilizer use and low-yield seeds. Similarly, less than 3% of the total cultivated area employs any form of irrigation, mostly non-pressurized. Meanwhile, electricity providers frequently struggle with low and unpredictable demand, challenging their ability to recover rural infrastructure investments. Using electricity to pump irrigation water can increase agricultural productivity and improve the financial sustainability of rural electricity supply. This study evaluates the productive and economic feasibility of pressurized small-scale irrigation systems in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Uganda for three staple crops and two horticulture crops. To study these effects, we develop simplified engineering-based irrigation and hydrology models and combine them with an existing biophysical crop growth model using district-level agrometeorological, soil, and crop physiology data as inputs. Our results indicate that small-scale pressurized irrigation can significantly increase yields for horticulture crops and staples such as maize or potato grown with improved seeds and moderate or greater fertility levels. The sensitivity analysis shows that irrigation may be techno-economically viable in up to 36% of Ethiopian woredas, 67% of Rwandan districts, and 45% of Ugandan districts provided the use of improved cultivars and non-limiting fertility conditions. These results highlight the value of complementing irrigation investments with electricity infrastructure in East Africa.

‘We Are Poor, So We Keep Quiet’

Since 2006, the Rwandan government has been implementing policies to modernise the agricultural sector in a top-down manner. Small-scale subsistence farmers, making up the vast majority of Rwandans, are compelled to leave their traditional farming behind, form co-operatives and take up ‘modern’ farming techniques based on irrigation and state-approved crops. For my interlocutors in a Rwandan village, this policy resulted in reduced crop yields, difficulties in putting food on the table and a visible degradation of their lives. Yet people complied. They did not rise up in protest. They sought to meet the authorities’ demands. Although ‘government authoritarianism’ explains much of the lack of open resistance, Rwandans had their own ideas, values and practices which at times overlapped with oppressive state projects and ended up supporting the state’s agricultural modernization scheme. Here, compliance is part of how villagers wanted to project themselves to others and to themselves and how they pursued their aspirations for the future.

Climate Change Policies in 16 West African Countries: A Systematic Review of Adaptation with a Focus on Agriculture, Food Security, and Nutrition.

Climate change strongly impacts the agricultural sector in West Africa, threatening food security and nutrition, particularly for populations with the least adaptive capacity. Little is known about national climate change policies in the region. This systematic review identifies and analyses climate change policy documents in all 16 West African countries: (1) What are the existing climate change adaptation policies publicly available? (2) Which topics are addressed? (3) How are agriculture and food security framed and addressed? Following PRISMA guidelines, PubMed and Google scholar as key databases were searched with an extensive grey literature search. Keywords for searches were combinations of “Africa”, “Climate Change”, and “National Policy/Plan/Strategy/Guideline”. Fifteen countries have at least one national policy document on climate change in the frame of our study. Nineteen policy documents covered seven key sectors (energy, agriculture, water resources, health, forestry, infrastructure, and education), and eight thematic areas (community resilience, disaster risk management, institutional development, industry development, research and development, policy making, economic investment, and partnerships/collaboration). At the intersection of these sectors/areas, effects of changing climate on countries/populations were evaluated and described. Climate change adaptation strategies emerged including development of local risk/disaster plans, micro-financing and insurance schemes (public or private), green energy, and development of community groups/farmers organizations. No clear trend emerged when analysing the adaptation options, however, climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector was almost always included. Analysing agriculture, nutrition, and food security, seven agricultural challenges were identified: The small scale of West African farming, information gaps, missing infrastructure, poor financing, weak farmer/community organizations, a shifting agricultural calendar, and deteriorating environmental ecology. They reflect barriers to adaptation especially for small-scale subsistence farmers with increased climate change vulnerabilities. The study has shown that most West African countries have climate change policies. Nevertheless, key questions remain unanswered, and demand for further research, e.g., on evaluating the implementation in the respective countries, persists.

Factors Associated with Seasonal Food Insecurity among Small-Scale Subsistence Farming Households in Rural Honduras

In the context of climate change, a nutritional transition, and increased pressures to migrate internally and internationally, this study examined the relationship between seasonal food insecurity and demographic, socioeconomic, and agricultural production factors among small-scale subsistence farmers in rural northern Honduras. Anchored by a partnership with the Fundación para la Investigación Participativa con Agricultores de Honduras (FIPAH) and the Yorito Municipal Health Centre, a cross-sectional household survey was administered in Yorito, Honduras, in July 2014. The study population included 1263 individuals from 248 households across 22 rural communities. A multivariate mixed effects negative binomial regression model was built to investigate the relationship between the self-reported number of months without food availability and access from subsistence agriculture in the previous year (August 2013–July 2014) and demographic, socioeconomic, and agricultural production variables. This study found a lengthier ‘lean season’ among surveyed household than previously documented in Honduras. Overall, 62.2% (95% confidence interval (CI): [59.52, 64.87]) of individuals experienced at least four months of insufficient food in the previous year. Individuals from poorer and larger households were more likely to experience insufficient food compared to individuals from wealthier and smaller households. Additionally, individuals from households that produced both maize and beans were less likely to have insufficient food compared to individuals from households that did not grow these staple crops (prevalence ratio (PR) = 0.83; 95% CI: [0.69, 0.99]). Receiving remittances from a migrant family member did not significantly reduce the prevalence of having insufficient food. As unpredictable crop yields linked to climate change and extreme weather events are projected to negatively influence the food security and nutrition outcomes of rural populations, it is important to understand how demographic, socioeconomic, and agricultural production factors may modify the ability of individuals and households engaged in small-scale subsistence agriculture to respond to adverse shocks.

Determinants of Smallholder Commercialization of Tomato Crop in Siltie Zone, Southern Ethiopia

The productivity of agricultural resources was very low; especially in the developing world where production is common on fragile lands and characterized by small-scale subsistence farming. Commercialization of agriculture provides farm households with a means to alleviate poverty and food insecurity by generating incomes in the rural areas. This paper aims to identify factors affecting commercialization of tomato crop by smallholder farmers in Siltie Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Both structured and unstructured questionnaires and Focus Group Discussion were used to collect data from 175 respondents randomly selected from designated locations in the study area. Descriptive statistics and heckman two stage models were used to analyze the collected data. According to first stage Heckman selection estimation (probit regression) model result, Education, frequency of extension contact, distance to market, market agreement and lagged price played a significant role in smallholder commercialization decision. In the second-stage of Heckman selection estimation family size, education, land allocated for tomato production, frequency of agricultural extension contact, distance to nearest market, productivity, lagged price and inverse mill’s ratio were significantly affect level of tomato commercialization. Thus, the study recommends the need for designing appropriate intervention mechanisms focusing on the abovementioned factors so as to improve the performance of tomato crop commercialization.

Large-scale versus small-scale agriculture: Disentangling the relative effects of the farming system and semi-natural habitats on birds’ habitat preferences in the Ethiopian highlands

While the Western World is facing an inexorable decline of its farmland biodiversity following continuous intensification of production modes, agricultural landscapes in Africa are still largely dominated by small-scale subsistence farming operated by smallholders, mostly harbouring high biodiversity. However, as most African countries are confronted to an unprecedented population growth and a rapid economic development, efforts to intensify food production are widespread, with concomitant potentially negative effects on biodiversity. We conducted a study in a highly contrasted agricultural landscape of the Ethiopian highlands comprising two distinct farming systems: large-scale farming relying on modern, combine machinery and technology (e.g. enhanced crop varieties, application of herbicides, pesticides and synthetic fertilizers) vs small-scale traditional farming. Our objective was to disentangle the effects upon avian biodiversity of the operating farming system and the extent of semi-natural habitat features in the wider landscape. We performed a model selection approach to assess habitat selection by the overall bird community as well as the wintering, endemic and open habitat species, respectively. Our results show that habitat preferences of birds in the Ethiopian highlands were mainly driven by the amount of semi-natural habitats within the landscape, with varying effects depending on the farming system itself. While large-scale farming had overall more negative effects on birds, some typical open habitat species were mostly restricted to these wide-open landscapes. Our findings thereby suggest that both farming systems could coexist as long as semi-natural habitats are preserved and agricultural management maintained in its current practices. We emphasize the urgent need to conduct further studies integrating the socio-economic aspects in order to better predict future impacts of agricultural intensification processes on African farmland biodiversity.

Negotiating Uncertainty in Late-Socialist Vietnam: Households and livelihood options in the marketizing countryside

AbstractThis article makes a case for Vietnam as a distinctive example of late- and post-socialist marketization, a painful experience that has brought widespread immiseration to rural societies within and beyond Asia. Building on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in a northern Vietnamese village, I explore a hitherto under-researched aspect of Vietnam's massive social and economic transformation in the 30 years since the onset of market transition or Renovation (Đổi mới): the surprising ways in which rural households have negotiated both the risks and opportunities of the state's push to de-cooperativize and marketize village livelihoods. The state expects that a minority of rich farmers will rapidly move into large-scale, mechanized farming, while the majority will abandon small-scale subsistence farming to specialize in trade or participate in industrial waged employment. Surprisingly, all village households insist on beingđa gi năng, that is, on retaining multiple livelihood options instead of following the official modernization scripts. Their refusal to follow state plans is not market-averse ‘resistance’, but something rarely documented in the literature on peasant life in marketizing contexts: a local sense of agency and taking personal responsibility for the security and long-term welfare of their families, in the face of highly unpredictable state policies.

Atmospheric Occurrence of Legacy Pesticides, Current Use Pesticides, and Flame Retardants in and around Protected Areas in Costa Rica and Uganda.

Protected areas have developed alongside intensive changes in land use and human settlements in the neighboring landscape. Here, we investigated the occurrence of 21 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), 14 current use pesticides (CUPs), 47 halogenated flame retardants (HFRs), and 19 organophosphate esters (OPEs) in air around Las Cruces (LC) and La Selva (LS) Biological Stations, Costa Rica, and Kibale National Park (KNP), Uganda using passive air samplers (PAS) with polyurethane foam (PUF) discs (PAS-PUF). Significantly higher concentrations of CUPs were observed around LS, while LC had a higher concentration of OCPs. Land use analysis indicated that LS had a higher fraction of agriculture than LC (33% vs 14%), suggesting the higher CUPs concentration at LS was related to pesticide intensive crops, while higher OCPs concentration at LC may be attributed to the area's long agricultural history characterized by small-scale subsistence farming or long-range transport. In Uganda, CUPs and OCPs were generally lower than in Costa Rica, but high concentrations of HFRs were observed inside KNP, possibly due to human activity at research camps near the protected forest. This is the first study that documented the occurrence of anthropogenic chemicals in the air at protected areas with tropical forests.

Resources Use Efficiency of Irrigated Tomato Production of Small-scale Farmers

ABSTRACTThe efficiency of agricultural resources use is a concern especially in the developing world where production is common on fragile lands and characterized by low productivity, small-scale subsistence farming, and acute susceptibility to changes in weather. There is a need for a better understanding of factors influencing variations in efficiency among smallholder farmers. This study was conducted with the aim of estimating technical and economic efficiencies of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L) producing farmers and to identify factors affecting resources use efficiency. A sample of 179 tomato producers who can irrigate their crop were used. To estimate technical and economic efficiencies a Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier model was used; a Tobit model was used to analyze factors affecting tomato production under irrigation. Farmers producing tomato under irrigation were technically inefficient in using inputs of labor and seed and they were not cost efficient in using inputs of land, labor, seed, and fertilizer. Average levels of technical and economic efficiency of tomato farmers were 0.75 and 0.67, respectively. Degree of education, experience in tomato production, and application of pesticides were variables affecting technical and economic efficiencies positively. There are opportunities to optimize utilization of resources by tomato farmers.

Form and Function in Human Song

Humans use music for a variety of social functions: we sing to accompany dance, to soothe babies, to heal illness, to communicate love, and so on. Across animal taxa, vocalization forms are shaped by their functions, including in humans. Here, we show that vocal music exhibits recurrent, distinct, and cross-culturally robust form-function relations that are detectable by listeners across the globe. In Experiment 1, internet users (n= 750) in 60 countries listened to brief excerpts of songs, rating each song's function on six dimensions (e.g., "used to soothe a baby"). Excerpts were drawn from a geographically stratified pseudorandom sample of dance songs, lullabies, healing songs, and love songs recorded in 86 mostly small-scale societies, including hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, and subsistence farmers. Experiment 1 and its analysis plan were pre-registered. Despite participants' unfamiliarity with the societies represented, the random sampling of each excerpt, their very short duration (14 s), and the enormous diversity of this music, the ratings demonstrated accurate and cross-culturally reliable inferences about song functions on the basis of song forms alone. In Experiment 2, internet users (n= 1,000) in the United States and India rated three contextual features (e.g., gender of singer) and seven musical features (e.g., melodic complexity) of each excerpt. The songs' contextual features were predictive of Experiment 1 function ratings, but musical features and the songs' actual functions explained unique variance in function ratings. These findings are consistent with the existence of universal links between form and function in vocal music.