Conservation agriculture for climate smart agriculture in smallholder farming systems in Kenya.

Climate change is any significant change in climatic conditions. Such changes may negatively affect productivity of the rain-fed agriculture practised by over 75% of the smallholder Kenyan farmers. The effect leads to failure to sustainably provide adequate food and revenue to famers. It is on this basis that an almost 8-year field study was conducted to evaluate and scale climate resilient agricultural technological options associated with Conservation Agriculture (CA) systems and practices (no-till; maintenance of permanent soil cover; and crop diversification - rotations and associations), complemented with good agricultural strategies. The activities involved were targeted to sustainably increase productivity of maize-legumes farming systems while reducing environmental risks. The results showed improved soil properties (physical, chemical and health) and consequently increased crop yields and human nutrition by over 30%. Such benefits were attributed to cost savings arising from NT and reduced labour requirement for weed control. This was further based on enhanced crop soil moisture and nutrients availability and use efficiency leading to over 25% yield increase advantage. Apart from the field trials, the study used the Agricultural Production Simulator (APSIM) computer model to simulate CA scenario with the aim of providing potential quick answers to adopting CA practices for farm system productivity. The results were inclusively shared, leading to over 21% increase in the number of farmers adopting the CA practices within and beyond the project sites. The study's overall recommendation affirmed the need to integrate the CA practices into Kenyan farming systems for sustainable agricultural livelihoods and economic opportunities.

Labour Costs on the Vegetables: A Research on the location effect on salaries in Jiangsu Province, China

ABSTRACT: In this study, the labour requirement and labour cost of common vegetable cultivation were investigated to help agricultural enterprises and family farms establishing reasonable “working hour” management systems in Jiangsu Province. The labour requirement of each step of three type of producers, agriculture enterprises, family farms, and private vegetable growers, in three regions in Jiangsu Province, named north, middle and south Jiangsu, was investigated by on-site observation or questionnaire survey during 2018 and 2019. The labour cost of each step and each vegetable was counted according to the labour requirement and the salary level. The results indicated that “residue cleaning”, “soil preparation and bedding”, “plant regulation”, “auxin treatment of tomato flowers” and “hand pollination” accounted for higher proportions of labour cost amongst the entire vegetable culture process. No significant differences in the labour requirements of the investigated vegetables were reported amongst three regions in Jiangsu Province. However, the order of labour cost is south Jiangsu > north Jiangsu > middle Jiangsu, due to the salary difference amongst three regions. Watermelon, broccoli and chive are more suitable for growing by agricultural enterprises since they have relatively low unit labour and high prices. We established a method to calculate and analyze labour requirement and cost of vegetable production in Jiangsu Province, which also may be instructive for other regions. In addition, our results provided useful data for various vegetable producers to improve their labour management.

Technologies used at advanced dairy farms for optimizing the performance of dairy animals: A review

Superior germplasm, better nutrition strategies, health care facilities and improved dairy husbandry practices have boosted milk yield and its quality with a rapid rate. Per cow productivity has risen up sharply with considerable increase in the population of dairy animals. Recent era has witnessed the extension of large dairy farms around the world. Demand for high quality and increased quantity of milk is of the prime concern for all the dairy farms. With an increase in the size of animals in a farm, the labour requirement also rises up. Availability of skilled labour at low wage rate is becoming difficult. In last couple of decades, the cost of microprocessors has been reduced to an affordable level. The economic availability of engineered processors, artificial intelligence, improved data statistics combined with expert suggestions has created a revolution in livestock farming. Advanced engineered devices have become alternative to reduce high labour cost. This review focuses on latest knowledge and emerging developments in animal’s welfare focused biomarker activities and activity-based welfare assessment like oestrus, lameness and others. Use of enhanced sensors and data technologies with expert based solutions is anticipated to bring out a substantial improvement in existing dairy farming practices.

Impact of Mechanical Transplanting on Rice Productivity and Profitability- Review

Conventional rice transplanting methods are laboured exhaustive and involves drudgery. On an average only transplanting operation takes one fourth of the total labour requirement of rice production under traditional system. Shifting of agricultural labourer towards urban areas for better remuneration creates labour shortage during peak time of transplanting. Lower plant density compared to desirable level under traditional transplanting method habitually farmers force to apply higher amounts of agro-input to compensate as result cost of cultivation has increased considerably and eventually get lesser grain yield. Under such circumstances, a cheap and labour redeemable way of rice transplanting without compromising grain yield is the need of the time. The mechanical rice transplanting is an alternative and encouraging choice for ensuring timely transplanting and also contributes to higher grain yield. Mechanical transplanting of rice is profitable over traditional methods and easy to operate. In spite of having superiority over the conventional transplanting, acceptance in the field level is stumpy due to high preliminary investment and dearth of awareness in growing mat type nursery. Divulging technical skill, confirming timely accessibility and boosting custom hiring may be some of the practical solutions for increasing the adoption rate of mechanical transplanting among farmers. This review focused on the positive and negative impact of mechanical transplanting on productivity and profitability of rice production.

Revisiting the relationship between farm mechanization and labour requirement in India

In many developing and emerging economies, better employment opportunities in the non-farm sector have increased rural wages due to labour shortages during the peak agricultural season. Increasing wages often cause a substitution of labour for mechanical power, but extensive use of labour-saving technologies may cause labour displacement and have serious equity concerns. Using the household and individual fixed effect estimation approach, this paper analyses the relationship between different types of farm machines and labour requirements in India. The results suggest that a unit increase in the level of farm mechanization increases the demand for hired labour by 12%. Moreover, we find that the level of farm mechanization has a positive effect on women’s participation in farm work, while it decreases the probability of children participating in agriculture-related work. Disaggregated analysis based on types of farm machinery suggests that water-lifting equipment, draft power and tractors increase the probability of male household members working on their farms, while all types of farm machines, except tractors, have a positive effect on female farm labour participation. We also find that the effect of farm mechanization on the demand for hired labour decreases as the size of the farm increases.

Performance Evaluation of DBSKKV Developed Fruit harvesters for Matured Nutmeg Harvesting

Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt.) is an important tree spice which produces two different spices. Harvesting should be done at proper stage of maturity in order to maintain their nutrients level as attaining desirable quality. Presently, the method adopted for harvesting nutmeg in Konkan region is done manually. The DBSKKV, Dapoli has developed four different fruit harvesters. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the field performance and check feasibility for harvesting of matured Nutmeg fruits with DBSKKV, Dapoli developed fruit harvesters. The performance of the DBSKKV developed fruit harvesters for matured Nutmeg fruit were evaluated in terms of harvesting capacity (kg/h), damage fruit per cent, total harvesting time (h), labour requirement and economics of Nutmeg harvesting. The average harvesting capacity of Naveen Mango harvester, Nutan Mango harvester, Atul Sapota harvester and Multi fruit harvester foe matured Nutmeg harvesting was found to be 51.33 Nos./h (2.79 kg/h), 61 Nos./h (2.78 kg/h), 51.33 Nos./h (2.92 kg/h) and 144.66 nos./h (5.63 kg/h) respectively. The average damage fruit per cent for Naveen Mango harvester, Nutan Mango harvester, Atul Sapota harvester and Multi fruit harvester for matured Nutmeg harvesting were found to be 25.73%, 25.79%, 17.02% and 7.76% respectively. The cost of operation of Naveen Mango harvester, Nutan Mango harvester, Atul Saopta harvester and Multi fruit harvester for matured Nutmeg harvesting was found to be Rs 18.21/kg, Rs 18.44/kg, Rs 17.53/kg and Rs 9.01/kg respectively. Among the evaluated DBSKKV, Dapoli fruit harvesters for matured Nutmeg harvesting, Multi fruit harvester perform better with minimum damage of fruits.

A Study on Decision Making Ability and Participation in Various Agriculture Activities Performed by Farm Women in Khargone District of M.P

The role of women has always been a multi-dimensional and significant as women have performed well in case of agricultural activities, domestic activities, marketing activities as far as labour requirement is considered. The decision-making process is an important segment of every household because the functioning of family resource management depends on the efficiency of decision-making progress. So, women involvement in decision-making process has been of great importance because sampling method to make a sample of 120 respondents. Hence finally the sampling consisted of 120 respondents. More number of farm women were found to have level of decision making process: the highest decision making behavior in sowing followed by winnowing process, seed processing, irrigation management , collection of harvested crop, storage, field preparation, selection of seed/variety, marketing, Manures and fertilizer application, weeding, harvesting, seed treatment, Pest and disease management and soil testing.

AN ANALYSIS OF LABOUR REQUIREMENTS AND THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON MALAYSIA’S TOURISM INDUSTRY

The tourism sector is expected to continue experiencing a significant increase in tourist arrivals. Meanwhile, the labour requirement especially in the tourism sub-sector has been anticipated to increase. However, the Covid-19 outbreak has interrupted the number of tourist arrivals to Malaysia. Tourism sector’s receipt and the labour requirement will also be affected. The objective of this study is to forecast the labour requirements in the tourism sector in Malaysia. This study provides an initial overview of the labour requirements including during the Covid-19 outbreak which occurred in 2020. The method used in this study was the Input-Output method. The labour requirements were projected for three years, i.e. 2017, 2019 and 2020. Projections were also made based on a 25 percent decrease in Chinese tourist spending in Malaysia. The results showed that the labour requirements in 2017, 2019 and 2020 increased by 2.6 million people, 2.8 million people and 3.0 million people, respectively. However, when there was a decline in Chinese tourist spending, the labour requirement was 2.6 million people indicating a drop by -11.40 percent. The entertainment and recreation services were the most affected sectors when the Covid-19 outbreak occurred, at a rateof-66.31 percent. Discussions elaborated on the importance of labour requirements estimation in the tourism industry in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. Implications of the study are also highlighted.

Auto Seed Sowing Agriculture Robot

Agriculture is the most important field. Many of the lives are dependent on agriculture. It requires a large number of labours, as well as the time required for the process of planting the seed, is more? This system reduces the labour requirement, human efforts, as well as this system, reduces time. This machine has a very little cost. This planter is very simple to use hence, the unskilled farmer is also able to handle this machine. We simplified the design also made it cheaper and affordable to every rural farmer. This system is designed to implement the Seed sowing & weeding process automatically. By using the mobile android app it is simple to operate. This robot moved the front side, backside, left, and right according to the instruction given by us. The seeds fall at a particular distance by giving a specific delay. The weeding is also done in this system. We use a DC pump for providing water after seeding is done. This is IOT based system so from anywhere we can handle this robot. It reduces the time as well as labour requirement and it has fewer efforts.

Design of Automatic Feeder for Shrimp Farming Based on Internet of Things Technology

<p class="02abstracttext">In shrimp farming, feeding is an important activity to achieve good shrimp growth. Manual feeding manually using hand is less effective due to unequal food distribution. Thus, an automatic feeder is required to dispense feed at predetermined time. The advantages of automatic feeder are cost-effective, low labour requirement, and can be applicable for large volumes of feed. Design of automatic feeder machine can influence the capacity and time controlling of the feeder. In this research, the automatic feeder was designed using a controlling time system based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology. During plant trial, The automatic feeding was scheduled at 7 am, 11 am, 4 pm, and 8 pm. This machine could throw shrimp food homogeneously up to 10 m far for 2,500 m² pond area. In shrimp farming, distribution of shrimp food in predetermined time becomes an important rule to achieve good shrimp growth.</p>