Targeting Irrigation Expansion to Address Sustainable Development Objectives: A Regional Farm Typology Approach

Sustainable water management is a core sustainable development goal (SDG) that also contributes to other SDGs, including food and water security, ecosystem health, and climate adaptation. To achieve these synergies, policies must target efforts to regions that best correspond with development objectives. This study designs a targeting strategy for irrigation expansion in southern Mexico—a region long considered to have strong potential for sustainable irrigation development. We use an integrated farm typology and decision tree approach to identify priority municipalities for irrigation expansion. We use multivariate statistics to examine the relationships among farm characteristics in 933 municipalities, classifying each according to four farm types: lowland, midland, midland-irrigated, and highland. We then partition municipalities into 11 farm-type subgroups, each ranked by priority level for receiving irrigation interventions following Mexico’s National Water Program guidelines. Results identify a ‘highest-priority’ subgroup of 73 municipalities comprised mostly of midland and highland farm types. These types are characterized by low irrigation use, small farmland areas, high vulnerability to climate, high marginalization (poverty), strong representation from indigenous communities, low maize yield, and high rates of subsistence production. Findings provide a crucial first approximation of where irrigation expansion would best address water policy priorities and sustainable development objectives in southern Mexico. This study also provides a useful framework for scaling organizations tasked with targeting development efforts across large spatial scales.

Typology of Management of Transhumant Sheep and Goat Farms in Greece: Proposals for the System Continuity

Transhumant farming system is one of the earliest agricultural activities in Greece having an important role in the conservation of biodiversity, the preservation of rural tradition and cohesion of the rural population. The objective of this study was to construct a transhumant farm typology that could be used as a tool by the decision makers or farmers to improve the management of the farms. The required information was obtained from totally 551 Greek transhumant producers. A Principal Component Analysis gave five components related to the production cost of the farms, the intensity of management, the evolution of the extensive character of the system, the type of herds and the future of the system. Using multivariate techniques, a farm typology was established with four categories. The three categories, were characterized by lower production cost and intensification rate while preserved generally a more extensive character. Among them the first group defined as “evolution of the farming system” bred mainly sheep and producers were significantly more adaptive to some kind of innovations, the second group was constituted mainly by large goat herds while the third one by small sheep herds’. The fourth group, defined as the “intensive one” meaning high production cost, intensification rate and working hours per female as well as limitation of time spent grazing. Besides the definition of the character of the transhumance nowadays the results interestingly, highlighted the future of transhumant farms that tends to be doubtful for a number of farmers originated mainly by the last group.

Intestinal Strongyle Genera in Different Typology of Donkey Farms in Tuscany, Central Italy

Intestinal strongyles are common helminths of donkeys, in which they may be responsible for disease and poor performance. This study aimed to identify intestinal strongyle genera in 55 naturally infected donkeys from three different farm typologies in Tuscany, central Italy, using morphological and metrical analysis of third stage larvae (L3) obtained from faecal cultures. Larvae were identified using two previous reported morphological identification keys. Moreover, eggs per gram (EPG) data were also evaluated to assess differences, if any, according to the farm typology, sex, and age of the examined donkeys. The results showed that small strongyles were prevalent in all donkey farms. In all examined farms, most (92–100%) of L3 were identified as cyathostomin species of the genera Cylicocyclus spp. and Cylicostephanus spp. Large strongyles of the genera Strongylus spp. and Triodontophorus spp., were identified at low percentage (8%), only in the single organic farm included in the study. A high agreement was observed between the two different morphometric keys used. No significant differences were found for EPG according to farm typology, and sex and age from the examined donkeys. This is the first report about genera identification of intestinal strongyles infecting donkeys in Tuscany, Italy.