[en] characterization of farming systems based on resources endowment was done in five districts of north rift in 1997/1999. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select districts, divisions and villages. The villages were randomly selected from each administrative agricultural division in 15 major agro- ecological zones. Key informants, who were mainly village elders, were the respondents. A total of 360 respondents were interviewed during the survey. The households were grouped into high, average and low resource groups based on key indicators of wealth status. These were: farm size, off-farm employment, number of livestock, use of external purchasable inputs, use and ownership of farm machinery. There were distinct similarities and differences in farm types based and major producer of agricultural products. Therefore these categories of farmers form favourable target groups for technology for perceptible impact on increased crop and livestock productivity

[en] This article is about increasing yields for smallholder farmers in the Peruvian Andes.

No abstract available

[en] Based on field survey data of 366 traditional households (THs) and 364 family farms (FFs) from Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, a discrete-time cloglog model for parameter estimation was constructed to reveal factors that affect the two types of farms’ duration from the awareness to the adoption of green control techniques (GCTs). Differences in the influencing factors affecting the duration of the two types of farmers were also discussed. The research results are as follows. First, the duration from awareness to adoption of GCTs is significantly shorter in FFs than that in THs. Second, a higher degree of education, risk preference, family financial status, perceived ease of use and usefulness of the technique, and extension of media and supervision of agricultural technique extension departments of local governments significantly reduce the duration from awareness to adoption of GCTs by THs and FFs, whereas a male head of household prolongs the duration. Third, the age, farm size, and number of laborers exert different impacts on the duration from awareness to adoption of GCTs by THs and FFs.

[en] The main purpose of this study was to analyze the perceived outcomes of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) technologies adoption in order to sustain citrus farms in Mazandaran province, Iran. Study population consisted of all citrus growers in the villages of 12 counties of Mazandaran province, which a sample of 290 orchardmen were selected through a proportional random sampling technique. A questionnaire was designed to collect data which was both valid and reliable according to expert opinion and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient respectively. The results of the factor analysis showed that “market access and safe product exports,” “consumer’ health and environment-friendly behavior,” “safe production and public demand,” and “information sharing and strengthening local associations” were the four perceived outcomes of GAPs technologies adoption in citrus farms of Iran. These factors explained 65.02% of the total variance. These four perceived outputs of GAPs support economic, environmental, and social sustainability dimensions respectively.

[en] Four main aspects of embryo technology are dealt with in this paper. The first analyses the reasons for the poor selection of recipients for embryo transfer, the second relates to inaccurate evaluation of embryos at least under tropical conditions, the third proposes alternative methods to evaluate embryos for selection and freezing, and the fourth analyses the feasibility of establishing this technique as a biotechnology approach for improving production in small community tropical farms. (author)

No abstract available

[en] This study explores Knowledge Brokerage (KB) aspects of an ex-post Impact Assessment (IA) for the Rural Development Programme (RDP) measure of setting up young farmers, under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), at the regional level in Northern Greece. The measure supports the entry of young farmers in agriculture by moving land from older to younger farmers. The aim of the study was to test a set of KB tools for improving the interaction between researchers and policy makers. Our analysis mainly focused on a suite of IA Support Modules to guide practitioners, and on a technical tool kit, a web-based contextualisation platform, to support the IA of the specific test case. Offering a structured approach towards IA, both the Support Modules and LIAISE-KIT allow framing the context, organisation, scheduling and method selection in the light of KB objectives. The evaluation of how IA Support Modules influence the Science Policy Interface (SPI), in the case of the ex-post assessment, demonstrated the high relevance of KB activities for facilitating the interaction between researchers and regional policy makers. The assessment bridges the gap between knowledge producers developing scientific output to be applied in a specific context, and knowledge users, who want clear messages regarding the policy challenges they face. Other conclusions include the need for specific guidelines and training for knowledge users, especially with regard to the use of tools. According to our findings, a consequent application of KB activities is a crucial pre-condition for successfully implementing IAs in future RDP measures.

[en] In this article, we calculated methane emissions from enteric fermentation in ewe farming in 2015 and 2016. Subsequently, we investigated the causes of differences in their amounts in the observed years. We used established methodology (2006 IPCC) for calculation and we also accepted country-specific conditions of sheep farming. The amounts of methane emissions were dependent on their emission factors and the number of ewes in that year. In 2016, the average value of methane emission factor reached the value of 10.21 kg per ewe and year, which was 0.12 kg per ewe and year less than in 2015. We kept 155,828 ewes, which was 4,107 less than in 2015. The decrease of these parameters caused a decrease in amount of total methane emission in this year. The total methane emission from enteric fermentation represented 1,591.5 t of methane in 2016, which was 60.2 t less than in 2015.

[en] Food safety of milk and dairy products is a prerequisite for consumption, which must be free from physical, biological and chemical contamination. Chemical contamination of heavy metals Pb (Plumbum/Lead) and Cd (Cadmium) is generally derived from the environment such as from water, grass, feed additives, medicines and farm equipment. The contamination of milk and dairy products can affect quality and food safety for human consumption. The aim of this research is to investigate contamination of heavy metals Pb and Cd on fresh milk, pasteurized milk, and dodol milk compared with the Maximum Residue Limits (MRL). The methods of this researched was through case study and data obtained analyzed descriptively. Milk samples were obtained from Bandung and surrounding areas. The number of samples used was 30 samples for each product: 30 samples of fresh milk directly obtained from dairy farm, 30 samples of pasteurized milk obtained from street vendors and 30 samples of dodol milk obtained from home industry. Parameters observed were heavy metal residues of Pb and Cd. The results showed that: 1) approximately 83% of fresh milk samples were contaminated by Pb which 57% samples were above MRL and 90% samples were contaminated by Cd above MRL; 2) 67% of pasteurized milk samples were contaminated by Pb below MRL; 3) 60% of dodol milk samples were contaminated by Pb and Cd above MRL. (paper)