Toward a Simple and Generic Approach for Identifying Multi-Year Cotton Cropping Patterns Using Landsat and Sentinel-2 Time Series

The sustainable development goals of the United Nations, as well as the era of pandemics have introduced serious challenges for agricultural production and management. Precise management of agricultural practices based on satellite-borne remote sensing has been considered an effective means for monitoring cropping patterns and crop-farming patterns. Therefore, we proposed a simple and generic approach to identify multi-year cotton-cropping patterns based on time series of Landsat and Sentinel-2 images, with few ground samples that covered many years, a simple classification algorithm, and had a high classification accuracy. In this approach, we extended the size of training samples using active learning, and we employed a random forest algorithm to extract multi-year cotton planting patterns based on dense time series of Landsat and Sentinel-2 data from 2014 to 2018. We created annual crop cultivation maps based on training samples with an accuracy greater than 95.69%. The accuracy of multi-year cotton cropping patterns was 96.93%. The proposed approach was effective and robust in identifying multi-year cropping patterns, and it could be applied in other regions.

Profitability of various cropping patterns among arable crop farmers in Niger State, Nigeria

Descriptive Statistics and Net Farm Income model was used to analyze data collected from 120 Arable Farmers who adopted various cropping patterns in Niger State, Nigeria. The study specifically examined the socio-economic characteristics of arable farmers, profile the cropping patterns adopted, examined the profitability and highlighted the constraints to crop production among arable farmers in the study area. Results obtained from the study show that crop farming in the area is a male dominated. The mean age of farmers was 33years, 98.3% were married, 80.8% had one form of education or the other and 68.4% adopted a three-crop mix pattern in their crop production. Two and three crop mixes enterprise were profitable than sole cropping when gross income per ha was used as an index of profitability. Profitability was higher in single crop enterprise when returns/man day was used as an index but was higher in a two and three crop mix enterprise when net returns per ha was used as a measure of profitability. Bad roads, drought, theft of farm produce, poor extension per farm advisory services and lack of credit facilities respectively were the constraint to crop production. The study concludes that mixed cropping enterprises was more profitable than sole cropping. We recommend the promotion of mixed cropping among arable farmers for increased profitability and income to farm households, that the constraints identified be addressed by all concerned authorities so as to sustain crop production, reduce food insecurity and eradicate hunger and poverty among arable farmers in the area and Nigeria as a whole.

Determinants of Food Security Status and Coping Strategies to Food Insecurity among Rural Crop Farming Households in Ondo State, Nigeria

This study examined the food security status and coping strategies to food insecurity of rural arable crop farming households in Ondo State, Nigeria. Primary data were used and a multistage sampling procedure was used to select 150 respondents. Food Security Index (FSI), Probit regression model and Coping Strategy Use Index (CSUI) were employed to carry out the analysis. The empirical findings revealed that (54%) of rural arable crop farming households in the study area were food secure based on the recommended minimum calorie of 2260Kcal. Furthermore, the empirical analysis revealed that gender of the household head, household size, farm size and farm income of the household head had significant influence on the household food security status. The most widely employed coping strategy was withdrawal from personal savings as indicated by 14.82 percent of household and while reliance on less expensive food and purchasing food on credit were ranked second and third respectively with 13.66 and 12.85 percent by the food insecure households. In other to ensure sustainable food security among the households, the study recommended effective household size management, and enlightenment programmes on family planning in the study area. Farmers should increase their farm sizes. Farmers should use more inputs and technologies to increase output. Farmers should also be encouraged to have additional source of income towards attaining food security in the study area.

Implications of Climatic Stressors on Agro-Pastoral Resources Among Mbororo Communities Along the Slopes of Kilum-Ijim Mountain, North West Region, Cameroon

Mountains are rich in pastures and water for agro-pastoral resources and supports rain-fed farming that sustain the livelihoods of many indigenous communities. This work seeks to examine the implications of climatic variability on agro-pastoral resources (pasture land, water) and food security within the Mbororo communities. To ascertain this, 350 household questionnaires were randomly administered in four Mbororo Ardorates and in-depth interviews conducted with local authorities. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of data collected revealed that the link between climate, land and water is paramount in animal rearing and crop farming in mountains. Cattle rearing and crop farming have been the main source of livelihoods for about 90% of the Mbororos as they depend on it for food and income. Climatic perturbations characterized by frequent dry spells, rainfall anomalies and other environmental stressors predicted degrading pastoral resources and the independent variable explained the outcome variable at R = 0.787; R2 = 0. 623; ΔR2 = 0.622; p < 0.01. This implies that 62.3% of degradation is accounted for by environmental stressors. As such, the carrying capacity of grazing have gone above the authorized number of two cattle per hectare, leading to overgrazing and degradation. Encroachments into grazing lands by crop farmers, invasion by unproductive grass species and farmer-grazer conflicts are aggravated by climatic stressors. The Fundong council and traditional authorities of the Kom Fondom have been working together to demarcate grazing land and provide water for cattle rearing. Mbororo communities are equally diversifying their activities to ensure food availability.

The Role of Agricultural Extension Programs On Crop Farming Technical Efficiency

Extension services have become the gold standard for agricultural development programs to spur farm productivity and enhance farmers’ livelihood. Scholars from distinct strands of research have contested the virtues of these programs as systematic reviews failed to disentangle the different causal paths. We aim to unpack the relationship between these two constructs, and more specifically explore the main determinants causing systematic variabilities of the technical efficiency estimates from well-known published crop-farming studies. A meta-regression analysis is implemented by collating 335 observations from 199 farm-level studies to review the direct impact of agricultural extension activities on farming performance. While the implementation of expansion programs tends to be non-randomly distributed in our sample, we employ the inverse probability of treatment weighting to correct for potential selection bias. The absence of a publication bias in found studies our meta-analysis is empirically identified. Our empirical findings are robust when multiple imputation method is employed to mitigate the missingness of observations. Consonant with the theory of agricultural extension, we find that extension significantly improves technical efficiency by 4.8% to 7.6%. Farm productivity significantly differs in country level characteristics, type of crops and model specification.JEL Classification: Q16, O18, C14, C29

Greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sink potential in Eastern Africa rangeland ecosystems: A review

Many activities from livestock husbandry contribute to emission and concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) gases to the atmosphere; activities such as grazing, manure and urine deposited or stored on land as well as crop farming practices such as tilling, burning of biomass or crop residues. A better understanding of the extent of emission sources and carbon sequestration potential for Eastern Africa rangelands is vital for developing mitigation strategies. In this article, we review the sources of emission with a focus on land conversion for crop farming, livestock husbandry, wildfire/burning and biotic processes such as soil biota activity in the ecosystem. The trade-offs of using rangeland with an emphasis on enhancing carbon sequestration potential are also addressed. This review revealed that many practices that enhance carbon capture process show promising benefits with sink capacity of −0.004 to 13 Mg C ha−1 year−1. However, given multiple land-use and environmental dynamics in Eastern African rangelands, it is imperative to generate more data across various land management and climatic zones in order to ascertain varied sink capacity. Improving carbon sequestration in rangelands through appropriate land management is a promising cost-effective strategy to mitigate climate change. Through improved farming or grazing management practice and restoring of degraded areas, there are significant benefits to enhance carbon sequestration. As rangeland resources are multi-faceted, engaging trans-disciplinary approaches is necessary to allow analyses of co-benefits of improved management or trade-offs degrading.

Impact of socio and demographic factors on multidimensional poverty profile of smallholder arable crop farmers – evidence from Nigeria

PurposeThis paper evaluates the impact of socio and demographic factors on the multidimensional poverty of smallholder arable crop farming households in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachData were drawn from the second wave of the LSMS-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture General Household Survey Panel 2012/2013. The methods adopted in analysing the data were descriptive statistics, Alkire and Foster Method (AFM) and logit regression model.FindingsThe result shows that 84.34% of the households were headed by a male while 80.26% of the respondents were married with a mean household size of seven persons. The multidimensional poverty of arable crop farm households in Nigeria is 0.60, while the adjusted headcount ratio (MPI) is 0.27, with an average intensity of 0.45. We found that deprivation in the dimension of living standard accounted for 45.5% of the overall multidimensional poverty index (MPI). The result of the logistic regression indicates that household location, gender, household size and non-farm income are negatively correlated to poverty. The factors that increase poverty among households are the age of the household head and access to extension services.Originality/valueThe study presents an alternative means of assessing poverty among smallholder arable crop farming households in Nigeria. This study recommends that policymakers should focus more on improving the living standard of arable crop farming households to reduce poverty in rural areas. Similarly, concerted efforts should be made towards providing adequate health care and improved sanitation, supply of electricity and educational training that goes beyond primary education for farming household members.

Impact of heat and moisture stress on crop productivity: Evidence from the Langgewens Research Farm

We investigated the effect of heat and moisture stress on total factor productivity in crop farming under experimental farm conditions. Heat stress is the number of days during the growing season during which the maximum temperature exceeds 24.9 °C. Total rainfall is treated as a basic factor of production and periodic moisture stress, or lack thereof, is the number of rainfall days during the growing season. All models controlled for the cumulative soil benefits arising from minimum tillage, which is the main objective of the experiment. Model specification was evaluated using likelihood ratio tests and three are worthy of note. The study site received 329 mm of rainfall on average on 22 rainy days per season during the period 2002–2015, while the maximum temperature typically rose above 24.9 °C on 33 days per growing season. The average efficiency of the plots in the long-term crop rotation experiment increased at 3.4% per year from a base of 60% to the most recent level of 78%. Neither heat nor moisture stress changed significantly over the study period. Heat stress was found to reduce efficiency by 1.75% per hot day and rainfall increased efficiency by 1.45% for each additional rainy day. However, the interaction of heat and moisture stress lowered productivity overall.

Determinants of Technical Efficiency in Smallholder Corn Crop Farming: Application of Stochastic Frontier Production Function

Agricultural expansion such as corn expansion is often associated with extensification and resulting land acreage loss. Best input practices could increase production and yields and thus potentially reduce land expansion. This study aims to investigate the ability of input, such as land and other factors to affect production in terms of technical efficiency, and investigate the best input practices on corn technical efficiency. Primary and secondary data are used to answer the research objectives. In this study, corn data were used in the 2019 Planting Season. A sample of 120 farmers was taken randomly by applying stratified random sampling that based on land area. Appropriate qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods are used which are distinguished based on their research objectives using the empirical model of production functions, and the technical efficiency model. The results show that all input has an effect to increase corn yield, and support technical efficiency increasing the effect of input using. However, the effect of input using on yields appears to operate through other methods but technical efficiency increases.

Farming, Pesticides, and Brain Cancer: A 20-Year Updated Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

Twenty additional years of epidemiologic literature have become available since the publication of two meta-analyses on farming and brain cancer in 1998. The current systematic literature review and meta-analysis extends previous research and harmonizes findings. A random effects model was used to calculate meta-effect estimates from 52 studies (51 articles or reports), including 11 additional studies since 1998. Forty of the 52 studies reported positive associations between farming and brain cancer with effect estimates ranging from 1.03 to 6.53. The overall meta-risk estimate was 1.13 (95% CI = 1.06, 1.21), suggesting that farming is associated with a 13% increase in risk of brain cancer morbidity or mortality. Farming among white populations was associated with a higher risk of brain cancer than among non-white populations. Livestock farming (meta-RR = 1.34; 95% CI = 1.18, 1.53) was associated with a greater risk compared with crop farming (meta-RR = 1.13; 95% CI = 0.97, 1.30). Farmers with documented exposure to pesticides had greater than a 20% elevated risk of brain cancer. Despite heterogeneity among studies, we conclude that the synthesis of evidence from 40 years of epidemiologic literature supports an association between brain cancer and farming with its potential for exposure to chemical pesticides.