Complex innovations in agriculture, environment, and health – the perceptions of rice farmers in the Jequetepeque Valley, Peru

The increased use of water in irrigated rice monocultures in the Jequetepeque Valley, on the northern coast of Peru, has exacerbated environmental, socioeconomic and health problems. The Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) irrigation technique aims to increase water management efficiency in rice cultivation. The objective of the present article is to understand farmers’ perceptions about the benefits and risks of implementing AWD. Data from interviews with 319 farmers showed that they recognise nine interactions between AWD's economic, environmental and health aspects but prioritise economic factors when assessing its benefits. We also identified the main channels and spaces of communication and debate on issues related to agriculture and health that are likely to be effective in promoting the diffusion of AWD. The study demonstrated the relevance of integrated actions to encourage the adoption of agricultural innovations which consider the interactions between environmental sustainability, health issues, and producers' economic priorities.

Participation in farmer organizations and adoption of farming technologies among rice farmers in Ghana

PurposeThe authors examine the factors influencing membership in farmer organizations (FO) and their effects on the decision to adopt farm technologies by rice farmers in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a farm survey of 900 households from Northern Ghana and a recursive bivariate probit (RBP) model that accounts for selection bias and endogeneity.FindingsThe results indicate that the household head’s decision to adopt machinery and row planting increases by 38.4 and 25.3%, respectively, upon joining a farmer organization. Membership in farmer organization is positively influenced by off-farm income, asset value, farmer organization location and farmer location in Upper West region but negatively by males, age and total livestock units owned. Machinery adoption is positively influenced by membership in farmer organizations and respondent being male but negatively influenced by the years of schooling, farm size, farm distance and location of a farmer in Ghana's Upper East and West regions. Similarly, row planting adoption is positively influenced by membership in farmers' organization but adversely by farm size, farm distance and a farmer's location in Upper East region of Ghana.Research limitations/implicationsIt can be concluded that membership in farmers' organizations significantly impacts farm household head’s decision to adopt machinery and row planting in rice production, which potentially enhance crop productivity.Practical implicationsThese results show the importance of agricultural stakeholders in encouraging the formation and strengthening of farmer organizations to support the adoption of modern farming technologies.Originality/valueDeveloping literature has demonstrated that farmer organizations promote the adoption of agricultural innovations. However, most of these studies have concentrated on conventional agricultural innovations and have used methods that fail to account for potential selection bias. This paper fills this important gap.

AGRICULTURAL INNOVATIONS, EXTENSION, FINANCE AND RURAL LOANS IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA: THE CASE OF LOGISTIC REGRESSION

The aim of this article is to examine the impact of the use of agricultural extension, advisory services and agricultural loans on the introduction of agricultural innovations in the Republic of Serbia. Agricultural innovations are incremental changes through which individuals and organizations introduce new or use significantly improved products, services or ways of organizing in order to increase the performance of agriculture. While agricultural extension involves agricultural knowledge, information and skills that are passed on to farmers, their associations and other value chains market actors, agricultural loans are one of the most important financial instruments available to them. In order to investigate the predictive power and influence of these variables, the paper applied the method of binary logistic regression due to the categorical nature of predictors and the dependent variable. Based on the conducted research, the article found that the use of agricultural loans does not have a statistically significant impact on the introduction of agricultural innovations in Serbia, while agricultural extension has. The article concludes that for the further flourishing of agricultural innovations, the development of advisory services, as well as for the development of various fiscal incentives and rural financial instruments, it is necessary to continuously develop the devastated Serbian village and invest more intensively in rural development. This is the only possible way to prevent further waves of rural population emigration to cities, as well as to improve their knowledge, propensity for innovations and livelihoods.

Separate and Joint Interests: Understanding Gendered Innovation Processes in Ugandan Farm Systems

Agricultural innovation is considered paramount in solving poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition in the global south and notably in the East-African highlands. However, processes of change surrounding innovation in agriculture, and potential gender differences in their impacts, are often poorly understood. This paper resorts to principles from Farming Systems Research (FSR) and social gender analysis to study agricultural innovation processes and increase the understanding of the differential ways men and women engage with and are impacted by agricultural innovation(s). We analyze qualitative data from six Focus Group Discussions conducted in each of the two study communities located in Central and Western Uganda. These data focus on the most important agricultural innovations as perceived and assessed by men and women in their community. We list and discuss these most important innovations and further zoom in on one innovation per site: “Use of herbicides in maize production” in Central Uganda and “New agronomic practices for intensified highland banana production” in Western Uganda. Results clearly show that women's and men's domains are not separated as superficially might appear. Women and men have both separate and joint interests and adoption of an innovation by one gender, will affect the other too. The effects are multifold, with positive and negative elements. Women's ability to innovate is constrained as compared to men because gender norms limit women's agency in relation to mobility and financial independence amongst others. The two innovations studied were found to alter some gender roles and relations but did not unambiguously contribute to increasing gender equality.

Exploring Twitter Discourse around the Use of Artificial Intelligence to Advance Agricultural Sustainability

This paper presents an exploration of public discourse surrounding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture, specifically related to precision agriculture techniques. (1) Advancements in the use of AI have increased its implementation in the agricultural sector, often framed as a sustainable solution for feeding a growing global population. However, lessons learned from previous agricultural innovations indicate that new technologies may face public scrutiny and suspicion, limiting the dissemination of the innovation. Using systems thinking approaches can help to improve the development and dissemination of agricultural innovations and limit the unintended consequences of innovations within society. (2) To analyze the current discourse surrounding AI in agriculture, a content analysis was conducted on Twitter using Meltwater to select tweets with specific reach and engagement. (3) Seven themes resulted from the analysis: precision agriculture and digital technology innovation; transformation and the future of agriculture; accelerate solutions, solve challenges; data management and accessibility; transforming crop management, prioritizing adoption; and AI and sustainability. (4) The discourse on AI in agriculture on Twitter was overwhelmingly positive, failing to account for the potential drawbacks or limits of the innovation. This paper examines the limits of the current communication and outreach across environmental, economic, social, cultural, political, and behavioral contexts.

Community Empowerment Post-COVID-19 to Support Economic Resilience through Agricultural Innovations in Karangtalun Hamlet, Wukirsari, Imogiri, Bantul DIY

Community service in Karangtalun Hamlet is carried out by mentoring and increasing the potential of the Turtledove breeder "Sumber Rejo". The local Turtledovedove is believed to be a relic of the Mataram Palace. However, its potential has not been optimized. The availability of feed in the form of barley plants that grow wild has not been cultivated. Turtledovefish disease is difficult to control, the presence of bird droppings has not been used as fertilizer, the availability of water is very limited, and the existence of bitter plants has not been utilized. The method of implementing the activities is carried out through stages, namely, coordinating with the "Sumber Rejo" farmer and livestock group, Dusun Community Leaders, Wukirsari Village Head, Kapanewon Imogiri, Bantul Regional Government especially the Agriculture Service, Environment Service, Industry Service, followed by Focus Group Discussion (FGD), on methods of applying technology, starting from identifying needs, designing and manufacturing organic fertilizers, testing operations, operational assistance, and information technology. Community services that have been carried out are assisting "Sumber Rejo" breeders by providing GB1 profeed probiotic medicine for the immunity of Turtledove Turtledovedove, cultivating Jerwawut, and Sambiloto in parent houses, utilizing bird droppings as organic fertilizer and creating productive economic business embryos.

Have farmers had enough of experts?

The exponential rise of information available means we can now, in theory, access knowledge on almost any question we ask. However, as the amount of unverified information increases, so too does the challenge in deciding which information to trust. Farmers, when learning about agricultural innovations, have historically relied on in-person advice from traditional ‘experts’, such as agricultural advisers, to inform farm management. As more farmers go online for information, it is not clear whether they are now using digital information to corroborate in-person advice from traditional ‘experts’, or if they are foregoing ‘expert’ advice in preference for peer-generated information. To fill this knowledge gap, we sought to understand how farmers in two contrasting European countries (Hungary and the UK) learnt about sustainable soil innovations and who influenced them to innovate. Through interviews with 82 respondents, we found farmers in both countries regularly used online sources to access soil information; some were prompted to change their soil management by farmer social media ‘influencers’. However, online information and interactions were not usually the main factor influencing farmers to change their practices. Farmers placed most trust in other farmers to learn about new soil practices and were less trusting of traditional ‘experts’, particularly agricultural researchers from academic and government institutions, who they believed were not empathetic towards farmers’ needs. We suggest that some farmers may indeed have had enough of traditional ‘experts’, instead relying more on their own peer networks to learn and innovate. We discuss ways to improve trustworthy knowledge exchange between agricultural stakeholders to increase uptake of sustainable soil management practices, while acknowledging the value of peer influence and online interactions for innovation and trust building.

Agricultura familiar como portadora de inovações no desenvolvimento sustentável na região centro oeste

Agricultura familiar na região Centro Oeste tem sido palco de inovações agrícolas no país, que se pautam nas práticas imbricadas da econômica solidária e da produção agroecológica, por meio da mobilização de recursos reciprocitários. Family farming in the Midwest region has been the scene of agricultural innovations in the country, which are based on overlapping practices of economic solidarity and agro ecological production, through the mobilization of the reciprocal resource.

Agricultural Commodity Zakat: Aspects of the Determination of 'Illat Law and Maṣlahah'

<em><br /></em><span id="docs-internal-guid-60b7b5ca-7fff-b45f-1673-026129bfb235"><span>Nowadays, agricultural commodities are experiencing rapid growth and development with new agricultural innovations such as grafted plants and cross-breeding plants to more modern agriculture, namely hydroponics. This condition causes the agricultural products able to increase the income of farmers significantly. Agricultural products in Islamic law are one type of property that is obligatory for zakat. However, the arguments governing agricultural zakat only mention some agricultural products that are obligatory on zakat, including Jawawud, Wheat, Dates, and Raisins, so some agricultural commodities are out of the reach in these arguments, so there are no legal provisions. This research aims to see how to determine the legal provisions of zakat on agricultural or plantation commodities. This research is using literature studies method. The results of this study indicate that the product of agricultural commodities that have high economic value are qiyās on the types of fruits and grains that are obligatory for zakat, mentioned in the arguments of the Al-Qur' ān and Sunnah with various characteristics, and the functions it has, so that the provisions of agricultural zakat can be applied in issuing zakat on agricultural commodities. Then in terms of maslahah and maqasid shari'ah, the obligation of zakat on agricultural commodities can help fulfill the needs of the poor in particular, and mustahik zakat in general.</span></span><div><br /><em>Komoditas pertanian dewasa ini mengalami pertumbuhan dan perkembangan yang sangat pesat dengan inovasi pertanian yang baru seperti tanaman cangkok, tanaman hasil perkawinan silang hingga pertanian yang lebih modern yaitu hidroponik. Di mana hasil pertanian tersebut mampu meningkatkan penghasilan para petani secara signifikan.</em><em> Hasil pertanian dalam hukum Islam adalah salah satu jenis harta yang wajib zakat. Tetapi, dali-dalil yang mengatur tentang zakat pertanian hanya menyebutkan beberapa hasil pertanian yang wajib zakat diantaranya, Jawawud, Gandum, Kusrma dan Kismis, maka secara tidak langsung hasil komoditas pertanian tidak tersentuh sama sekali di dalam dalil tersebut sehingga tidak ada ketetapan hukumnya. Tujuan dari penlitian ini adalah untuk melihat bagaimana </em><em>penentuan ketentuan hukum dari zakat hasil komoditas pertanian atau perkebunan. </em><em>P</em><em>enelitian </em><em>ini </em><em>dilakukan dengan menggunakan </em><em>studi</em><em> </em><em>literatur. Berdasarkan analisis yang dilakukan, hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa </em><em>h</em><em>asil komoditas pertanian yang memiliki nilai ekonomis tinggi di-qiyās-kan pada jenis buah-buahan dan biji-bijian wajib zakat yang disebutkan dalam dalil-dalil </em><em>al-</em><em>Qur’ān dan Sunnah dengan berbagai sifat dan fungsi yang dimilikinya</em><em>, sehingga k</em><em>etentuan-ketentuan zakat pertanian dapat diberlakukan dalam mengeluarkan zakat hasil komoditas per</em><em>t</em><em>ani</em><em>an.</em> <em>Kemudian dilihat dari segi maslahah dan maqā</em><em>ṣ</em><em>id syarī’ah, kewajiban zakat komoditas pertanian dapat membantu terpenuhinya kebutuhan fakir miskin khususnya, dan mustahik zakat pada umunya.</em><p> </p></div>