Farm Survey Research Articles

Directions for improving statistical monitoring of personal subsidiary farms

The article presents proposals to improve the program of observation of a sample survey and household accounting of personal subsidiary farms, on the basis of which it is recommended to make changes to the statistical reporting form No. 2 «Information on agricultural activities of personal subsidiary and other individual farms of citizens» and to the form «Household book». It is proposed to conduct selective monitoring of personal subsidiary farms using typological selection, which requires the development of an official typology of personal subsidiary farms. In order to reduce the number of units of the aggregate of personal subsidiary farms subject to statistical surveys, reduce costs and improve the quality of the data obtained, censuses have been developed for the area of land and livestock.

Antibiotic use in Uganda’s livestock-keeping households: prevalence, patterns, and determinants

Livestock farming is vital to global food systems, but the misuse of antibiotics in this sector has raised concerns about its role in the emergence of antimicrobial resistance - now a public health issue. Addressing the misuse of antibiotics requires an understanding of usage patterns and determinants among livestock farmers. This study investigated antibiotic use among livestock farmers in Uganda, examining the frequency of use and factors influencing usage with data from the 2018 Uganda Annual Agricultural Survey. Descriptive results showed that on average one in every three livestock keepers had used antibiotics in the previous year, with 15% of them using antibiotics at least every month in the previous year. Regression analysis results revealed that, among other factors, production systems (keeping cattle, keeping exotic livestock, and herd size) and keepers’ perceptions of the continued efficacy of antibiotics in controlling target diseases even with continuous use significantly influenced the decision to use antibiotics and the frequency with which they were used. The results of this study confirmed the growing concern that antibiotic use in Uganda is no longer limited to humans but has significantly expanded to the livestock sector too. The results further affirmed that antibiotic use in livestock production has reached significant levels that require streamlining from a public health perspective. The study recommends strengthening veterinary education and increasing public awareness of appropriate antibiotic use to combat wrong perceptions towards antibiotic use and encourage safe use.

Risk Perception, Risk Preference, and Timing of Food Sales: New Insights into Farmers' Negativity in China.

Chinese farmers, especially small ones, always sell their food at low prices during harvest season rather than storing it for a better price. Based on a theoretical framework of expected utility, this paper examines the mechanism by which risk perception affects farmers' timing choices of food sales and the role played by risk preference, utilizing data from the 2019 China Family Database and the China Household Finance Survey of farmers in six provinces of the main wheat-producing regions. This study shows that farmers with a high risk perception are more likely to choose current sales compared with intertemporal sales. The channel and mechanism analysis finds that increased risk perception leads to risky returns from intertemporal sales lower than certain returns from current sales in utility comparisons. It is further found that risk preference has a substitution effect on risk perception in farmers' intertemporal food sales.

Gendered Uptake of Sustainable Intensification Practices among Maize Commercializing Smallholder Farmers in Eastern Districts of Uganda

Commercialization of food crops, such as maize can dynamically shift control over productive resources or accrued income from women to men. This can restrict women’s ability to access or buy productive inputs. However, scanty information is available on how changing gender roles and relations can affect smallholder farmers’ use of sustainable intensification practices. This study described how gender inequalities in access to resources and appropriation of gains affect the uptake of sustainable intensification (SI) practices among maize commercializing farmers in eastern Uganda. Qualitative Survey data collected from a random sub-sample of 72 (36 women and 36 men) maize farmers from 584 maize commercializing smallholder farmers survey participants, was subjected to thematic content analysis. It was intended to follow up four unique profiles of farmers; those who did not use SI practices, the ones who used only intensification (improve maize varieties and fertilizers) or sustainable practices (organic manure and maize-legume intercrop), and those who used joint, one or more sustainable intensification practices. Findings revealed all four profiles to be highly gendered. Only women did not use any SI practice, and only men used intensification practices due to gender roles, responsibilities, and tasks shaped by traditions that give men terminal control over productive assets and gained resources. Both men and women used sustainable and sustainable intensification practices because of the negotiation process and opportunities that gave women more rights over resources. Thus, social-cultural histories and values constrain married women from implementing innovations such as SI practices because these values restrict women’s authority over productive resources. It is recommended that for inclusive transformative interventions to be introduced successfully in rigid patriarchal contexts, it is vital to enhance the negotiation skills of women.

Pesticide contamination pattern of surface water in an urban–agricultural mediterranean watershed (Wadi Guenniche, Bizerte Lagoon, Northern Tunisia)

Two years of monthly sampling and hydrological monitoring were performed at the outlet of a Mediterranean watershed in northern Tunisia to determine the contents of 469 pesticide active ingredients and metabolites in water and evaluate their behavior. Wadi Guenniche is a tributary of the Bizerte coastal lagoon, with a watershed area of 86 km2, which exhibits pluvial cereal, legume, and orchid cultivation and irrigated market gardening. Twenty-nine pesticide active ingredients and 2 metabolites were detected in water. Twenty-four pesticide active ingredients were authorized for use in Tunisia. Among them, 14 had never been mentioned in previous farmer surveys. Five herbicides and their metabolites were the most frequently detected: aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) (100%), glyphosate (94%), simazine (94%), 2,4-D (70%), and deisopropylatrazine (DIA) (47%). The detection frequency and concentration range suggested that the phytosanitary pressure and resulting water contamination are close to those on the northern Mediterranean shore. These results, in addition to characterizing the pollution state, emphasized the need for additional studies on the use and fate of pesticides on the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, particularly in Tunisia.

Field observation and verbal exchange as different peer effects in farmers’ technology adoption decisions

AbstractFarmers’ adoption of novel technologies is influenced by other farmers’ behavior, a phenomenon known as peer effects. Although such effects have been studied intensively, the literature does not clearly distinguish between those that result (1) from verbal exchanges with other farmers and (2) from field observations, including the application of technology, its outcomes, and field conditions. We extend existing theoretical concepts and hypothesize that verbal information exchanges and field observations are two types of peer effects. Using data from an online survey of German sugar beet farmers’ application of mechanical weeding from early 2022, we find that the likelihood of adopting mechanical weeding increases across all model specifications by around 26%–28% if at least one adopter is known and by approximately 30%–32% if at least one field is observed. The two types of peer effects complement and reinforce each other in explaining adoption decisions. The effects increase with the number of adopters known and fields observed but decrease with larger distances to the observed fields. The findings can support designing extension services and future peer effects research that should consider the distinction between peer effects arising from verbal exchanges and field observations.

A RESET of dairy farmer animal health planning behaviour: symbiotic advisory relationships and knowledge brokering in HerdAdvance

ABSTRACT Purpose: To evaluate the success of behavioural interventions designed to improve preventative animal health planning by dairy farmers in Wales. Methods: Interviews of farmers, veterinarians; focus group with extension officers; post-hoc written reflections from project managers; survey of farmers and veterinarians; farmer dropout analysis. Findings: The combination of interventions inspired by the RESET model of behavioural change helped farmers to implement new animal health planning behaviours. Crucial to the success of the project was the brokering role of extension agents and curation of AKIS relationships by project managers. This led to the establishment of symbiotic relationships which helped to deliver successful behavioural interventions. Practical implications: Illustrates the need for strong project and AKIS management to deliver combined behavioural interventions to farmers. It also demonstrates the danger of narrow evaluation methods which fail to delve deeper into the symbiotic relationships needed to deliver interventions in practice. Theoretical implications: Adds empirical evidence to an integrated behavioural change model (RESET) and explicitly connects the concepts of knowledge brokering and social capital with successful delivery of behavioural change. Originality: (1) Contributes novel empirical evidence on how to effect farmer behaviour change based on a large-scale national project. (2) explicitly highlights knowledge brokering, social capital, and good project management as crucial to delivering behavioural change projects, (3) reflects on the value of mixed method evaluations of behavioural change projects.

Pathogenicity of Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella typhimurium Isolated from Ducks.

Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium) is one of the most common Salmonella serotypes in epidemiological surveys of poultry farms in recent years. It causes growth retardation, mortality, and significant economic losses. The extensive use of antibiotics has led to the emergence of multi-drug resistance (MDR) in Salmonella, which has become a significant global problem and long-term challenge. In this study, we investigated the prevalence and features of S. typhimurium strains in duck embryos and cloacal swabs from large-scale duck farms in Shandong, China, including drug resistance and virulence genes and the pathogenicity of an S. typhimurium strain by animal experiment. The results demonstrated that a total of 8 S. typhimurium strains were isolated from 13,621 samples. The drug resistance results showed that three of the eight S. typhimurium strains were MDR with the dominant resistance profile of CTX-DX-CTR-TE-AMX-AMP-CAZ. In particular, the virulence genes invA, hilA, pefA, rck, and sefA showed high positive rates. Based on the analysis of the biological characteristics of bacterial biofilm formation and mobility, a strain of S. typhimurium with the strongest biofilm formation ability, designated 22SD07, was selected for animal infection experiments with broiler ducklings. The results of animal experiments demonstrated that infection with 22SD07 reduced body weight and bursa index but increased heart and liver indexes compared to the control group. Histological examination revealed desquamation of the intestinal villous epithelium, the presence of large aggregates of lymphocytes, and a decrease in goblet cells following infection. Furthermore, the expression of IL-10 was significantly increased in the liver at 3 dpi, while TNF-α was significantly increased in the spleen at 7 dpi. The above results indicate that S. typhimurium may pose a potential threat to human health through the food chain. This helps us to understand the frequency and characteristics of S. typhimurium in duck farms and emphasizes the urgent need to strengthen and implement effective continuous monitoring to control its infection and transmission.

Model of innovation in agriculture 4.0 processes in the department of Cundinamarca, Colombia

Innovation in agriculture plays a fundamental role in the transition of said production towards more sustainable schemes, hence the importance of its study, especially in relation to production processes. The literature shows that although several studies have been carried out that examine the variables that intervene in the innovation processes in the agricultural sector, there is a lack of studies that examine the innovation processes in Colombia. This is why the fundamental objective of this research is to develop a model that explains the main factors that are related to process innovation in the agricultural sector, using concepts derived from organizational innovation process models developed in the literature. The factors identification methodology used a sample of 1,190 Agricultural Production Units (UPA) collected in the National Agricultural Survey, incorporating only producers from the department of Cundinamarca, Colombia. With this sample, and using for the analysis the variables that are developed in the literature, a principal components factorial analysis was carried out, as well as a second-order confirmatory factorial analysis. The factor analysis shows three latent factors, among them “Innovation in Raw Materials”, “Innovation in crops” and “Innovation in management of External Factors”, which, being the most significant for the process innovation process, should be considered as fundamental part of the government's public policies to facilitate its adoption in Colombian agriculture in the future.

Evaluation of the policy program for strengthening local food commodities for sustainable food security in papua

Achieving sustainable food security in Papua remains a significant challenge due to the region's heavy reliance on imported food. The policy program aimed at bolstering local food commodities is designed to promote self-sufficiency and ensure long-term food sustainability. This study evaluates the policy program focused on strengthening local food commodities in Papua, specifically targeting sago, sweet potatoes, and maize. The objective is to assess the program's effectiveness in boosting local food production and its overall contribution to sustainable food security. The research methodology integrates both qualitative and quantitative approaches, incorporating secondary data analysis from government reports, field surveys of local farmers, and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders to gain a holistic perspective. The data analysis techniques included thematic analysis for qualitative data, ensuring detailed insights, and statistical methods for quantitative data to provide robust findings. The results indicate that the policy program has increased local food commodity production by 30% over the past five years. However, significant challenges remain, including inadequate infrastructure, limited market access, and insufficient support services for farmers, which hinder the full optimization of the program's benefits. The policy initiative has positively impacted food production and sustainable food security in Papua. For long-term success, it is crucial to improve infrastructure, expand market access, and provide continuous support and training for local farmers. This will ensure the gains achieved by the policy program are maintained and further developed, leading to a more resilient local food system in Papua

Change Detection Methods for Remote Sensing in the Last Decade: A Comprehensive Review

Change detection is an essential and widely utilized task in remote sensing that aims to detect and analyze changes occurring in the same geographical area over time, which has broad applications in urban development, agricultural surveys, and land cover monitoring. Detecting changes in remote sensing images is a complex challenge due to various factors, including variations in image quality, noise, registration errors, illumination changes, complex landscapes, and spatial heterogeneity. In recent years, deep learning has emerged as a powerful tool for feature extraction and addressing these challenges. Its versatility has resulted in its widespread adoption for numerous image-processing tasks. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of significant advancements in change detection for remote sensing images over the past decade. We first introduce some preliminary knowledge for the change detection task, such as problem definition, datasets, evaluation metrics, and transformer basics, as well as provide a detailed taxonomy of existing algorithms from three different perspectives: algorithm granularity, supervision modes, and frameworks in the Methodology section. This survey enables readers to gain systematic knowledge of change detection tasks from various angles. We then summarize the state-of-the-art performance on several dominant change detection datasets, providing insights into the strengths and limitations of existing algorithms. Based on our survey, some future research directions for change detection in remote sensing are well identified. This survey paper sheds some light the topic for the community and will inspire further research efforts in the change detection task.

Operation Status and Effective Operation Management Model for On-Site Swine Wastewater Treatment Facilities

This study was conducted to examine the operation statuses of on-site swine wastewater treatment facilities through surveys and field surveys on pig farms and to propose effective operation models. Field analyses and surveys of pig farms indicate that technical and financial support systems are required for both farms and on-site swine wastewater treatment facilities. Public environmental services have been proposed as an effective support system, in which private sewage treatment facilities are entrusted to professional environmental management agencies, and the costs are shared by local governments and facility owners. However, securing a stable budget represents a challenge to implementing public environmental services. Thus, this study proposes a collaborative manure management model composed of individual farms, professional environmental management agencies, and local governments to address the shortcomings of public environmental services. To effectively manage pig manure, the flexible application of discharge standards, diversification of pollutant reduction management techniques (e.g., feed management), and periodic review of permits must be considered. Additionally, the reinforcement of discharge standards for individual purification facilities, control of the livestock density and number, and impacts of livestock manure discharge on riverine ecosystems must be considered.

Investigation of small-scale farming status of Tire track eel (Mastacembelus favus) in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Tire track eel (Mastacembelus favus) is an economically important freshwater fish in the Mekong Delta. However, there is a lack of academic information about the current farming status, feed, and feeding related to this species in the region. Therefore, a field survey of small scale farming of tire track eel was conducted in An Giang, Dong Thap, Hau Giang and Kien Giang provinces of Vietnam. The objective of the survey was to determine the current farming practices information on households, especially the feed and feeding status of tire track eel in order to improve and develop a suitable feed for this fish in the future. The results showed that most of the small-scale farmers cultured fish in earthen ponds with or without plastic liners. Tire track eels were fed with feeds of other species and typically fed 3 - 5 times/d during the fingerling stage, and twice per day during the grow-out period. In terms of feed ingredients, crude protein contents in the feeds were 39.5 - 45.5% while crude lipid contents were 7.7 - 12.7%. Feed conversion ratios of tire track eels were 2 - 5. The farming periods of fish were 11.8 - 14 months when the fish reached the harvesting sizes of 318.2 - 421.4 g/fish, with the survival rates of 40 - 80%. It took 2.5 months to cultivate the fingerling stage (around 3 g/fish) from the fry with the survival rate of 55.7%. It was reported that this species was raised with a simple technique and got less illness compared to other fish species. However, the main reason of fish deaths during farming period related to management factors such as poor water quality due to decomposition of uneaten feed in water or lacks of dissolved oxygen due to high stocking density or power supply failures.

Fall armyworm (S. frugiperda) an Emerging Risk for the Expansion of Maize in the Coastal Zone of Bangladesh: A Survey of Farmers’ Perception and Practices

Fall armyworm (S. frugiperda) an Emerging Risk for the Expansion of Maize in the Coastal Zone of Bangladesh: A Survey of Farmers’ Perception and Practices

The effect of cadre–farmer relationship on farmers’ willingness to treat domestic waste: evidence from China

The construction of an ecologically livable rural environment requires treating rural domestic waste. Farmers, as key participants in rural domestic waste disposal, can improve the rural environment by disposing of domestic waste in an environmentally friendly manner. Few studies have examined the cadre–farmer relationship and its impact on rural waste pollution. Using a questionnaire survey of farmers in Shaanxi Province, China, this study estimates the effect of cadre–farmer relationship on their willingness to treat domestic waste. The findings indicate that a positive cadre–farmer relationship significantly increases farmers’ willingness to treat domestic waste. This positive relationship can also strengthen the positive effects of institutional rules on waste treatment willingness. Further mechanism analysis shows that a good cadre–farmer relationship mobilizes farmers to protect the environment and to comply with national ecological laws and regulations, enhancing their willingness to treat domestic waste. These findings enrich research on rural domestic waste management.

Expanding supporting land to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from livestock farms: Case studies in northern China

Livestock farms in China are equipped with supporting land, which is a key factor in promoting the optimal combination of crop and livestock systems to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural production. However, there is still a research gap on the process of carbon flow at the farm scale in China and the mechanisms by which supporting land affects GHG emissions. In this study, we used an agri-environmental impact assessment framework created through an extensive farm survey based on a localized database. GHG emissions from livestock production were accounted for on a farm-by-farm basis. The impact pathways of GHGs were also analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results showed that the completed coupling farms (consuming agricultural waste and supplying fodder) were 2840 kg CO2e/$1000 USD, which was approximately 13.1% lower than those from incomplete coupling farms (consuming agricultural waste or supplying fodder) and 20.2% lower than those from non-coupling farms. GHG emissions are positively correlated with the pig–land ratio (R2 = 0.62, p < 0.001). Assuming that China's farms could be fully integrated by 2030, it could reduce GHG emissions by 12–22% of current levels, or about 45.5–84.5 million tons CO2e. Our findings provide new insights about expanding land to improve manure and feed management, which can help stakeholders develop strategies to reduce GHG emissions from livestock production, contributing to the achievement of sustainable agricultural development across China and globally.

Promoting sustainable smallholder farming systems in China

CONTEXTHundreds of millions of smallholder farmers account for 84% of farming households globally. Owing to the limited access to knowledge and resources, smallholder farming systems under sub-optimal management are facing multiple challenges such as adverse environmental impacts and difficulties in meeting growing food demand. Although substantial advanced techniques and practices have been developed, applying these practices on the ground at a large scale remains a great challenge. OBJECTIVESThis study aims to assess the sustainability of typical soil-crop management practices in order to recommend best practice bundles. The study also deploys a farmer survey in order to identify barriers hindering the adoption of sustainable practices and propose ways to overcome these barriers. METHODSTo achieve these aims, we develop a generalizable framework combining technical innovations and social realization pathway for sustainable transformation of smallholder farming systems. We apply this framework in the North China Plain as a case study, propose target-oriented practice bundles and subsequent realization roadmaps from smallholder farmer's perspectives and interests. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSOur results show that nitrogen reduction has the greatest positive effect on the overall sustainability of smallholder farming systems (12–14%), followed by formula fertilizer (6–10%) and optimal crop practices (2–4%). Thus, our recommended practice bundles include reducing fertilizer inputs and optimal sowing date and rate. However, our farmer survey shows that the implementation of these recommended practices faces barriers associated with economic costs, labor requirements, and farmer's preferences and acceptance. We suggest ways to overcome these barriers, including multi-stakeholder platforms better connecting smallholders, scientists, government, and industry. SIGNIFICANCEOur framework can be amended to fit different contexts and targets, therefore it can be adopted and tweaked by other regions worldwide dominated by smallholder agriculture to promote sustainable transformation.

Farming system archetypes help explain the uptake of agri-environment practices in Europe

The adoption of agri-environment practices (AEPs) is crucial for safeguarding the long-term sustainability of ecosystem services within European agricultural landscapes. However, the tailoring of agri-environment policies to the unique characteristics of farming systems is a challenging task, often neglecting local farm parameters or requiring extensive farm survey data. Here, we develop a simplified typology of farming system archetypes (FSAs), using field-level data on farms’ economic size and specialisation derived from the Integrated Administration and Control System in three case studies in Germany, Czechia and the United Kingdom. Our typology identifies groups of farms that are assumed to react similarly to agricultural policy measures, bridging the gap between efforts to understand individual farm behaviour and broad agri-environmental typologies. We assess the usefulness of our approach by quantifying the spatial association of identified archetypes of farming systems with ecologically relevant AEPs (cover crops, fallow, organic farming, grassland maintenance, vegetation buffers, conversion of cropland to grassland and forest) to understand the rates of AEP adoption by different types of farms. Our results show that of the 20 archetypes, economically large farms specialised in general cropping dominate the agricultural land in all case studies, covering 56% to 85% of the total agricultural area. Despite regional differences, we found consistent trends in AEP adoption across diverse contexts. Economically large farms and those specialising in grazing livestock were more likely to adopt AEPs, with economically larger farms demonstrating a proclivity for a wider range of measures. In contrast, economically smaller farms usually focused on a narrower spectrum of AEPs and, together with farms with an economic value <2 000 EUR, accounted for 70% of all farms with no AEP uptake. These insights indicate the potential of the FSA typology as a framework to infer key patterns of AEP adoption, thus providing relevant information to policy-makers for more direct identification of policy target groups and ultimately for developing more tailored agri-environment policies.

Sustainability analysis and decision-making strategy for swamp buffalo (Bubalus bubalis carabauesis) conservation in Jambi Province, Indonesia

Abstract The objective of this study is to analyze the sustainability of swamp buffalo cultivation and develop decision-making strategies. Data were collected through focus group discussions with key informants in swamp buffalo cultivation and surveys of buffalo farmers in three regencies in Jambi Province. This study examines 37 attributes contained in four dimensions: ecological, economic, social, and technological dimensions. Data were analyzed using multidimensional scaling through the Rapid appraisal for buffalo technique and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) The results showed that the sustainability index of swamp buffalo cultivation in Sarolangun Regency was 59.39%, Batanghari 58.23%, and Tebo 55.93%. This study identified 12 leverage attributes obtained from 37 attributes that affect the sustainability of swamp buffalo, i.e., forage feed, agricultural waste, land use, agricultural infrastructure, land ownership, buffalo manure, buffalo ownership, livestock motivation, environmental impact, agricultural waste treatment, land processing, and post-harvest technology. Then, from the results of four-dimensional weighting with 12 attributes using AHP, there are 5 alternative strategies in decision making, namely, (1) build internet network infrastructure, (2) determine the number of livestock that can be raised in an area, (3) establish buffalo farming institutions, (4) prevent land use conflicts, and (5) increase farmer participation in raising buffalo livestock. This research provides input to policy makers to develop swamp buffalo cultivation by considering ecological, economic, social, and technological dimensions.

Awareness and adoption of a nurse sow management system among small-scale pig farmers in Nakuru County, Kenya

This study aimed to assess the level of awareness and adoption of nurse sow management strategies among small-scale pig farmers in Nakuru County, Kenya. The research included a survey of pig farmers who visited the Nakuru Agricultural Show in July 2023. A total of 139 farmers were interviewed within 5 days of the show. The corresponding author interviewed the respondents in a face-to-face engagement, where questions on nurse sow management were initially drafted in English and translated into Kiswahili, i.e. the second language in Kenya. The obtained results indicated that farmers came from two main regions of the county: the northern part (54.7%, 76/139) and the southern part (45.3%, 63/139). Levels of awareness and adoption were insignificant between the two groups (χ2, p&lt;0.05). A major obstacle to the adoption of this strategy was identified as feed challenge at 77.7%; (108/139) and market issue at 59.7%; (83/139). This study identified important aspects and limitations that should be considered when developing sustainable productivity development strategies for Kenyan pig farmers. To assist the sustainable growth of small-scale pig production, the authors suggest government measures that shield farmers against exploitation of feed and marketing components, as well as advocating for effective breeding to increase live born.