Author: Place, Frank
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN: 0896291448
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 178
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Book Description
It is widely accepted that food production benefits from agricultural research, but whether that research benefits the poor is less certain. In 2000, the World Agroforestry Centre and the International Food Policy Research Institute began examining the impact of soil fertility replenishment technologies on the poor in western Kenya. This report is one of seven case studies that comprise a broader IFPRI-managed study designed to determine how agricultural research is benefiting poor people. The goal of this broader study is to identify the conditions under which agricultural research reduces poverty and to improve the targeting of research to the changing needs of the poor. The study develops methods for evaluating the impact of agricultural research on poverty in the context of different agricultural technologies and within different country, social, and institutional settings. It also establishes a foundation that allows agricultural research centers to assess the impact of their work, identify research priorities, and guide technological design to increase future impact on poverty.
Author: Frank Place
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
This case study explores the relationships between agroforestry-based soil fertility replenishment (SFR) systems (improved fallows and biomass transfer) and poverty reduction in rural western Kenya. It further examines the role that different dissemination approaches play in conditioning which segments of society gain access to information to the technologies and then uses them. The study made use of many different qualitative and quantitative data collection methods and samples from both pilot areas where researchers maintained a significant presence and nonpilot areas where farmers learned of the technologies through other channels. Adoption processes were analyzed quantitatively using almost 2,000 households while changes in impact indicators were measured for just over 100 households. Qualitative methods included case studies for 40 households, where researchers lived in the villages for six months, and focus group discussions involving 16 different groups. The findings showed that poverty is rampant among households and appeared to worsen during the study period. The poor were reached by many different information providers and liked certain aspects of almost all types of organizations, from government extension to community group-based methods. Access to information is mediated by social relationships of wealth, gender and status; nevertheless, poor farmers acquired a significant amount of knowledge about soil fertility management. Adoption rates are not outstanding but they are encouraging, with about 20% of all farmers using the technologies on a regular basis, and a sizable percentage of farmers newly testing. Unlike some agricultural technologies historically, SFR was found not to be biased toward people controlling and managing resources above a certain threshold. The study also found that the poor were using the agroforestry technologies to a much greater extent than they were fertilizer (about 33% of farmers not using any other soil fertility practice were trying the new systems). The technologies were almost always at least doubling yields of maize. Despite these promising signs, the systems were not found to be linked to improved household-level food security or poverty indicators, primarily because the size of the fields under the agroforestry systems was, on average, quite small.
Author: Frank Place, Steve Franzel, Qureish Noordin, and Bashir Jama
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 63
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Book Description
Author: Ruth Meinzen-Dick
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN: 0896295281
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 31
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Book Description
Author: Adato, Michelle
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN: 0801887216
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 418
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Book Description
Those who study global poverty and ways to reduce it face a perennial set of questions: Do advances in knowledge, research, and technology make a real difference in the lives of poor people? What effect does research have on the poor? Who benefits? The contributors to Agricultural Research, Livelihoods, and Poverty shed light on these questions through a collection of case studies that explore the types of impact that agricultural research has had on livelihoods and poverty in low-income countries.
Author: Peeyush Sharma
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 9533077875
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Book Description
Crop production depends on the successful implementation of the soil, water, and nutrient management technologies. Food production by the year 2020 needs to be increased by 50 percent more than the present levels to satisfy the needs of around 8 billion people. Much of the increase would have to come from intensification of agricultural production. Importance of wise usage of water, nutrient management, and tillage in the agricultural sector for sustaining agricultural growth and slowing down environmental degradation calls for urgent attention of researchers, planners, and policy makers. Crop models enable researchers to promptly speculate on the long-term consequences of changes in agricultural practices. In addition, cropping systems, under different conditions, are making it possible to identify the adaptations required to respond to changes. This book adopts an interdisciplinary approach and contributes to this new vision. Leading authors analyze topics related to crop production technologies. The efforts have been made to keep the language as simple as possible, keeping in mind the readers of different language origins. The emphasis has been on general descriptions and principles of each topic, technical details, original research work, and modeling aspects. However, the comprehensive journal references in each area should enable the reader to pursue further studies of special interest. The subject has been presented through fifteen chapters to clearly specify different topics for convenience of the readers.
Author: Nkonya, Ephraim
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN: 0896291685
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 132
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Book Description
Most African countries strive for both poverty reduction and sustainable land management, yet information on the exact relationship between these goals is limited. This report seeks to fill the gap by demonstrating a strong linkage between poverty and land management. Using Uganda as a case study, the authors show that certain policies, such as investments in soil and water conservation and agroforestry, may simultaneously increase productivity and reduce poverty and land degradation. Other strategies, including development of rural roads, non-farm activities, and rural finance, may reduce poverty without significantly affecting productivity or land management. Some policies, however, will likely involve trade-offs among different goals and will need to have their negative impacts minimized. Those in government, NGOs, the private sector, or academia who are concerned about sustainably reducing poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa will benefit from this analysis of how to pursue these key development goals.
Author: Rattan Lal
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 146659859X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 420
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Book Description
Nearly two billion people depend on hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers for food security. Yet, these farmers' lives also hang in the balance due to their extreme vulnerability to the risks of soil degradation and depletion, soil exhaustion, climate change, and numerous biotic and abiotic stresses. Soil Management of Smallholder Agriculture
Author: Norman Uphoff
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000891089
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 630
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Book Description
Agriculture in the 21st century will need considerable modification to remain both productive and sustainable. Greater production is needed to meet the needs of our still-growing populations and to combat hunger and poverty. Declines in soil health and the pollution of water sources are making many of our production systems less tenable. These adverse trends are exacerbated more and more by the impacts of climate change. There are, fortunately, alternative methods available for agricultural practice that can countervail these constraints. Biological Approaches to Regenerative Soil Systems brings together the work of both researchers and practitioners to map out better approaches to contemporary agriculture that draw upon both old and new knowledge. It presents the science that underlies more biologically driven strategies as well as contemporary innovative experiences in diverse parts of the world. Both accepted research and these varied experiences encourage confidence that these approaches, not relying primarily on the introduction of new varieties and on exogenous inputs, can succeed. This book updates and revises a preceding volume Biological Approaches to Sustainable Soil Systems published by CRC Press in 2006. So much has been learned and done on this subject in the past decade and a half that a second edition was warranted. For instance, the first edition was published, knowledge about plant-soil microbiomes, which are a frequent focus in this book, has mushroomed. Because sustainability is a broad term and an end-state, the editors preferred to assemble expertise regarding regenerative agriculture, which is concerned with the means for achieving sustainability. The concept of regenerative soil systems, entities that are more complex and multifaceted than "soil" alone, also incorporates a concern with having more resilient agricultural systems, ones that are better able to cope with the multiple stresses of climate change that are foreseen for the decades ahead. The book’s chapters representing a wide range of disciplines were contributed by 84 scientists and practitioners from 20 countries. Although they come from persons with in-depth knowledge of their respective fields, the chapters are written to be accessible to readers who are not trained in the specialized subjects. Taken together, the chapters provide students, researchers, practitioners, planners, and policy makers with a comprehensive understanding of both the science and the steps needed to regenerate and sustain soil systems around the world for the long-term benefit of humankind and the environment.
Author: Stephen Whitfield
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317534735
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 210
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Book Description
Future climatic and agro-ecological changes in Africa are uncertain and associated with high degrees of spatial and temporal variability and this change is differently simulated within divergent climate-crop models and in controlled crop breeding stations. Furthermore, uncertainty emerges in local contexts, not just in response to climatic systems, but to social, economic, and political systems, and often with implications for the appropriateness and adoption of technologies or the success of alternative cropping systems. This book examines the challenges of adaptation in smallholder farming in Africa, analysing the social, economic, political and climatic uncertainties that impact on agriculture in the region and the range of solutions proposed. Drawing on case studies of genetically modified crops, conservation agriculture, and other 'climate smart' solutions in eastern and southern Africa, the book identifies how uncertainties are framed 'from above' as well experienced 'from below', by farmers themselves. It provides a compelling insight into why ideas about adaptation emerge, from whom, and with what implications. This book offers a unique perspective and will be highly relevant to students of climate change adaptation, food security and poverty alleviation, as well as policy-makers and field practitioners in international development and agronomy.
