The potential of fragipans in sustaining pearl millet during drought periods in north-central Namibia

Sandy soils with fragipans are usually considered poorly suited for agriculture. However, these soils are cultivated in Namibia as they can secure a minimum harvest during droughts. In order to understand the hydrological influence of fragipans in these soils, Ehenge, their soil moisture content was measured for 4 months. These data were then compared to a deep soil without fragipan, Omutunda, which is more productive during normal years but less productive during droughts. The results illustrate that the combination of sandy topsoil and shallow fragipan has beneficial effects on plant-available water during dry periods. Three reasons can be determined: (i) high infiltration rate in the sandy topsoil, (ii) prevention of deep drainage by the fragipan, and (iii) limitation of evaporation losses through the sand. Consequently, transferring these findings to other dry, sandy areas with fragipans, with respective consequences on farming practices, crop productivity, and food security, should be possible.

Economics of wheat as influenced by natural farming, organic farming and recommended package of practices

A field experiment was laid out on split-plot design with two uneven controls viz. four foliar concentrations of cow urine and jeevamrutha under natural farming which were compared with Organic farming (OF) and Recommended package of practices (RPP) given by UAS, Dharwad. The treatments were replicated thrice. The study revealed that RPP recorded significantly higher grain yield, straw yield, gross return, net return and B:C ratio than OF and natural farming practices. The grain yield reduction in the best treatment (cow urine @ 50 % + jeevamrutha @ 100 %) was 16 % lesser than RPP and 2 % higher than OF. However, the cost of cultivation in natural farming with cow urine @ 50 % + jeevamrutha @ 100 % was lesser to the extent of 6.91 and 30.42 % than RPP and OF. Our study indicates that the irrigated wheat can be grown under natural farming conditions profitably.

The Potential for Sustainable Organic Farming in Nagaland: A Case Study

In 2015, Sikkim, a North-Eastern state of India, achieved the state of being fully organic. Later, states like Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Goa and Kerala have declared their intentions to be fully organic. In Nagaland, more than 47% of the population is engaged in agriculture and entirely dependent on the traditional mode of farming and has used organic manure like cattle dung, dried leaves-litter and crop residues for enhancing the capacity of soil from time immemorial. Also, studies have shown that the state of Nagaland has negligible use of inorganic supplements in their fields. Thus, Nagaland has a high potential to be converted into an organic state without making any significant shifts in their existing farming practices. Shifting cultivation, locally known as Jhum-kheti, is one of the oldest forms of the agricultural process in practice in Nagaland. However, some studies regard Jhum cultivation as harmful to the environment, but there is a scope to reinvent this farming method and move towards a more sustainable form of agriculture there. This study explores the relation between traditional farming and organic farming and the benefits of state-induced organic farming methods and their effects on the farmers of Nagaland. A survey was carried out in the Mokokchung district of Nagaland to understand the role of farmers in attaining sustainability.

Straw Material: End-of-Life Cycle Analysis Scenario

Bio-based materials end of life is analysed from straw builders and farming practices. This paper proposes a classification of constructive straw systems according to their selective disassembly processes. According to EN 15804 standard, end-of-life (EoL) cycle analysis scenarios are used to create Environmental Product Declarations (EPD). These data will be used: - for architectural projects conception in respect to“RE2020” new French regulation. - as an awareness-raising approach for the long term design of constructive systems.

Farming-as-a-Service (FAAS) for a Sustainable Agricultural Ecosystem in India

Agriculture being the prime means of livelihood, there is a basic need of re-inventing the farming best practices, combined with tech-driven innovations in this segment to ensure sustainability and eliminate poverty and hunger. In this chapter, the authors focus on introducing relevant technology-enabled services that will ensure economic sustainability, enhance food security through data-driven decision making by various stakeholders like farmers,agri-business and agri-tech start-ups, farmpreneurs, government, agronomists, and IT suppliers. The analyzed information will be used as a vantage by farmers to select precision farming practices to aid productivity to empower personnel to provide timely assistance and industries to implement real-time monitoring using sensors and devices. The chapter will help formulate concepts, methods, practices, benefits, and introducing several case scenarios to effectively propagate the service mode of farming that will imbibe pay-as-you go model ensuring cost optimization and operational ease.

Evaluation of land cover changes and secondary ecological succession of typical agroforestry landscapes in Phu Yen Province

The study of land cover changes as well as landscape succession has theoretical and practical significance. Determining the characteristics, causes, and trends of the changes and succession of a landscape allows for assessing the natural and human characteristics of the territory. On this basis, appropriate solutions and policies in resource management, socioeconomic development, and environmental protection are available for each locality. Applying and integrating remote sensing data with field investigations and surveys improves the accuracy and reliability of research results. From the establishment of a land cover change map based on land cover map data collected in 2010, 2015, and 2020, variations in the land cover types of Phu Yen Province were observed. In the period 2010–2015, the area of natural forests and grasslands, shrubs, and bare lands decreased rapidly, whereas the covered areas of intentionally planted forests, industrial trees, and crops increased significantly. The secondary ecological succession of the agroforestry landscape of Phu Yen Province in the last 50–60 years occurred under the strong influence of human activities. Under the impact of chemical warfare and policies and farming practices of the local people, several evergreen broad-leaved tropical forest landscape units have undergone four to six stages of succession, with the interweaving of the economic development policy of Phu Yen Province and farming practices of the local people, making the structure and length of each period and succession very different.

Effectiveness of the Multimedia Training Module on Farmer’s Knowledge in using Bio-control Agents : An Experimental Investigation

The present study aims to analyze the effectiveness of the multimedia training modules in terms of knowledge gain among bio-control user’s farmers. The study was purposively conducted in Chhattisgarh where, a total of 200 biocontrol user’s farmers were selected randomly and divide into eight groups equally. Bio-control agents was selected as farm technology based on new and need based one. The Barsch learning style inventory was used to access the learning style of farmers and results showed that majority (67.67%) of them were preferred visual learning style. The knowledge was assessed through in-build knowledge test on the specific aspects. From the result, at Dhamtari district, the Group-I (Katalboard) has highest (144.37%) knowledge gain and in Raipur district Group-V (Baronda) has lowest (37.60%) knowledge gain. The overall knowledge gain ranges from 37.60 per cent to 144.37 per cent in the study area; this variation indicated that the farmers having different level of knowledge aspects in the biocontrol agents. There was also statistically significant gain in knowledge (t-test 23.91) from pre to post exposure mean scores which can be interpreted that the multimedia training module had significant effect on the knowledge gain on bio-control agents farming practices. The results of the study clearly indicate the importance of multimedia training modules in transfer of knowledge and skill on scientific farming practices.

An Eco-Friendly Proposal by Integrating Chromatographic Fingerprinting and Multivariate Control Chart in a Non-Target Analysis to Evaluate Grape Juices from Different Farming Practices

A potential eco-friendly method without organic solvents is presented by integrating a chromatographic fingerprint and multivariate control chart based on Q residuals to differentiate grape juices from different farming practices. The sample preparation was only water dilution, and the mobile phase was water acidified with sulfuric acid, which can be readily neutralized before its disposal. The proposed method is shown to be a simple way to distinguish between organic and non-organic grape juices in a non-target way, successfully evaluating an external validation data set, where organic and non-organic samples were correctly assigned. Through the chromatographic profile, it is possible to suggest that one of the species responsible for this distinction may be from the anthocyanins class.