Status Of Agricultural Lands Research Articles

The Status of Agricultural Land as a Natural Resource and the Process of Serbia’s Accession to the EU

This article discusses one specific aspect of the process of Serbia’s EU Accession which refers to liberalisation of the transfer of economic property rights over natural resources, particularly agricultural land. The underlying principles of the free market economy assume free movement of goods, capital and labour. However, there are two existing approaches when analysing transfer of property rights over agricultural land as a natural resource. The first one insists on full liberalisation of the transfer of ownership rights in this area, while the second approach assumes limiting or imposing certain restrictions through national legislation on the free transfer of property rights over agricultural land as a limited national resource and national wealth. Experiences of applying these two approaches within EU member states differ from full liberalisation to significant restrictions on the freedom of agricultural land ownership transfer. In the process of accession negotiations with the EU and in line with a proclaimed interest to join the World Trade Organisation, Serbia has to deal with the issues of liberalisation of trade of agricultural products as well as other national resources including agricultural land. Since the EU regulations do not have any specific requirement in terms of the adoption of a completely liberal approach, it is up to Serbia to decide which model is the most appropriate, considering its own interests. The article defines and discusses arguments which strongly speak in favour of imposing limitations to the full liberalisation of the transfer of property rights over agricultural land as a natural resource in Serbia.

Spatiotemporal changes in agricultural land cover in Nepal over the last 100 years

In order to advance land use and land cover change (LUCC) research in Nepal, it is essential to reconstruct both the spatiotemporal distribution of agricultural land cover as well as scenarios that can explain these changes at the national and regional levels. Because of rapid population growth, the status of agricultural land in Nepal has changed markedly over the last 100 years. Historical data is used in this study, encompassing soils, populations, climatic variables, and topography. Data were revised to a series of 30 m grid cells utilized for agricultural land suitability and allocation models and were analyzed using a suite of advanced geographical tools. Our reconstructions for the spatiotemporal distribution of agricultural land in Nepal reveal an increasing trend between 1910 and 2010 (from 151.2 × 102 km2 to 438.8 × 102 km2). This expanded rate of increase in agricultural land has varied between different eco, physiographic, and altitudinal regions of the country, significantly driven by population changes and policies over the period of this investigation. The historical dataset presented in this paper fills an existing gap in studies of agricultural land change and can be applied to other carbon cycle and climate modeling studies, as well as to impact assessments of agricultural land change in Nepal.

A simple method for mapping woody plant cover in agricultural fields using airborne lidar / Lihtne meetod aerolidari andmete põhjal puitttaimestiku kaardistamiseks mahajäetud põllumaadel

Abstract Information about the status of agricultural land is of strategic interest in every country. In Estonia, different and even contradicting estimates of area of actively used as agricultural land exist. To solve this problem, airborne laser scanning (ALS) data can be used to map the woody plant cover (values range from 0 to 1 corresponding to the no cover and full tree canopy cover) in agricultural land and to provide digital maps for further analysis. Canopy cover was estimated from ALS data by setting reference height to 2 m from ground. Validation dataset was created from ortophotos on 442 rectangular 100 m2 elementary sampling units. The relationship was linear and determination coefficient was high (R2 = 0.795) and the model fitting residual standard error was 0.116 indicating good applicability of ALS for woody plant cover mapping. The method can be easily automated, does not require additional fieldwork and can be applied in all places where ALS data are available

Speciative distribution and bioavailability of metals in agricultural soils receiving industrial wastewater

In order to assess the metal pollution status of agricultural lands of Mandi Bahauuddin receiving industrial wastewater, 35 top soil samples were investigated for the determination of selected metal levels, i.e., Fe, Cu, Cd, Cr, Ca, Ni, and Pb by flame atomic absorption spectroscopy under optimum analytical conditions. The distribution of these metals in different operationally defined chemical fractions was also determined by using the sequential extraction technique. The highest mean total concentration was found for Fe while the least one was observed for Pb. All the studied metals were found to be present at levels much enhanced than national and international standards. Moreover, most of the metals were distributed principally in residual fraction with the exception of Ni which was found to be associated mainly with oxidizable fraction. The significant correlations were observed between Fe-Mn oxide-bound and residual fractions and exchangeable and oxidizable fractions for most of the metals. The highest mobility was exhibited by Ni that evidenced its enhanced bioavailability in the soil. The multivariate statistical analyses in terms of principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) revealed multiple sources for various geochemical fractions of different metals. CA also revealed that the nonresidual fractions of most of the metals were very closely associated while PCA presented a distinctive behavior of Ca in the soil. It was therefore suggested that in order to avoid the metal contamination arising from industrial wastewater, appropriate remediation strategies must be adopted.

Farmers' land management practices and status of agricultural land in the Jos Plateau, Nigeria

ABSTRACTA wide range of land management practices, including application of fertilizers, contour‐plowing, stone bunds, mulching and agroforestry, have been adopted by farmers in the Jos Plateau to control degradation. This study examined the relative popularity of 13 land management practices based on mainly qualitative primary information collected through a questionnaire survey of 150 farm households and group discussions held during May to August 2007. The results of the analysis revealed four practices, namely, application of chemical fertilizers and farm yard manure, intercropping and crop rotation were highly popular. These practices generally need little technical skills, show positive short‐term benefits and short establishment time, suggesting that the benefits of increased productivity can be obtained quite quickly. Practices like agroforestry, mulching, legume cultivation and crop residue barriers were moderately popular as they take time, sometimes up to 3 years, before some benefits could be manifested. For farmers dependent on the farm income without any financial back‐up, this is too long as many do not have the economic capital to apply a practice that will only start showing benefits after a few years. The least popular practices were stone and earthen bunds, grass strips, alley cropping and contour‐plowing. These prove to be more labour intensive, and with dwindling labour force in the area, the adoption trend favours other practices requiring relative less labour. Farmers could not control land degradation effectively, despite their efforts made to manage land. Broad policy recommendations are made in line with findings of the analysis. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.