The future: towards agenda 2063.

This chapter discusses the foreseeable future of agriculture in Africa, which has a major contribution to make in terms of food security, and also in terms of economic, social and environmental development. The changing climate in Africa already calls for the adoption of the best alternative agricultural production strategy that can deliver both productivity and ecosystem services. This chapter also highlights important findings from the book such as the new expertise and experience in Conservation Agriculture (CA) that has been gained, especially during the last decade. Research, training, farmer innovation and the increasing agricultural investments in institution building mean that CA now holds greater promise of serving as a sustainable pillar in the implementation of Agenda 2063. Also included in this chapter is a transcription of the speech of the Director General of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), Mr Mzamo Michael Mlenganaduring during the official opening of the Congress, wherein he called for a greater contribution by CA and the multi-stakeholder CA community of practice towards Agenda 2063.

The Vampire Lovers and Hammer's Post-1970 Production Strategy

This article firstly examines the artistic and commercial merits of The Vampire Lovers, which was adapted from the Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla. The production of the film was subcontracted by James Carreras at Hammer to Fantale Films, a company established by Harry Fine, Michael Style and Tudor Gates. The article then proceeds by examining various different and competing artistic judgements that have been made about the film, and also the construction of its unusual dreamy atmosphere. It documents both its UK and US box-office performances and goes on to examine Hammer's post-1970 production strategy in more general terms and in relation to the overall financial performance of the company in the period 1967–72, just before and after The Vampire Lovers. Finally, it examines Hammer's receipt of the Queen's Award for Industry in 1968, the effect of its rolling production-line (or ‘pipeline’) model of film-making on the company's general level of profitability, and some of the consequences of Michael Carreras's assumption of managerial control at Hammer after 1970.

Experiences in long-term operation of a green hydrogen production plant using wind power in Germany - a possible model for Vietnam

Hydrogen is considered as "the green fuel of the 21st century" and forecasted to play a leading role in the energy transition. The article introduces the processes of green hydrogen production in Energiepark Mainz, the first wind power hydrogen production plant with a capacity of 6 MW in Germany. The article describes the production, storage, transportation, and consumption (gas, fuel for bus and industries) of green hydrogen through the continuous operation of the plant. Based on that, the author analyses opportunities and challenges when applying Energiepark Mainz's model to the green hydrogen production strategy in Vietnam.

Performance of Multi-Well Exploitation and Reinjection in a Small-Scale Shallow Geothermal Reservoir in Huailai County

The sustainable development of a shallow aquifer geothermal reservoir is strongly affected by the reinjection–production strategy. However, the reinjection–production strategy optimization of a small-scale exploitation unit with tens of meters of well spacing is site specific and has not yet been fulfilled. This study numerically investigates sustainable heat extraction based on various reinjection–production strategies which were conducted in a single-phase aquitard–aquifer geothermal system in Huailai County, Hebei Province, China. The response of the water level and production temperature is mainly discussed. The numerical results show that production without reinjection induces the highest production temperature and also the water level drawdown. Although reinjection in a single doublet well system is conducive to the control of water level drawdown, the introduction of the thermal breakthrough problem causes a decrease in the production temperature. The thermal breakthrough and sustainability of geothermal reservoirs highly depend on the well spacing between the production and reinjection wells, especially for the small-scale field. Therefore, a large well spacing is suggested. A multi-well system facilitates the control of water level drawdown while bringing intensive well interference and thermal breakthrough. Large spacing between the production and reinjection wells is also the basic principle for the design of the multi-well system. A decrease in openhole length leads to an increase in the production temperature and output thermal power. An increase in the production rate affects the thermal breakthrough highly and shortens the lifetime of the geothermal system. Furthermore, the extracted thermal energy is highly affected by the reduction in the reinjection temperature. The results in this study can provide references to achieve sustainable geothermal exploitation in small-scale geothermal reservoirs.

Long Term Production Strategy - Application of a Dynamically Integrated Reservoir and Production Model to Identify Compression Requirements and to Address Production Deferral in a Giant Gas Field

There are several operational challenges associated with a gas field producing in recycle or depletion mode, including a reasonable forecast and a robust production strategy planning. The complex reservoir dynamics further demands faster and reasonable analysis and decision-making. This paper discusses an all-inclusive integrated modeling approach to devise a production strategy incorporating the detailed compressor design requirements to ensure that a consistent production-stream is available in the long-term considering technical and economic aspects. The proposed production strategy is a two-fold approach. In the first step, the process utilizes the current reservoir simulation data in the production-forecast model. This history matched model captures the reservoir dynamics such as reservoir pressure decline and accounts for future wells drilling-requirements. However, the detailed production hydraulics in wellbore and surface facilities is not captured in the model. Further, to consider the declining well-performance and facility bottlenecks, integrated analysis is required. So, in the second step, the reservoir simulation model is dynamically integrated to take the input from the production model, encompassing detailed well and surface facility digital twins. The continuous interaction provides a highly reliable production profile that can be used to produce a production strategy of compressor design for the future. A strong interactive user-interface in the digital platform enables the user to configure various what-if scenarios efficiently, considering all anticipated future events and production conditions. The major output of the process was the accurate identification of the pressure-profile at multiple surface facility locations over the course of the production. Using the business-plan, field development strategy, production-profile, and the reservoir simulation output, reliable pressure-profiles were obtained, giving an indication of the declining pressures at gathering manifold over time. A well level production-profile-forecast helped in prioritizing wells for rerouting as well as workover requirements. As an outcome of this study, several manifolds were identified that are susceptible to high-pressure decline caused by declining reservoir pressures. To capture this pressure decline, a compressor mechanism was put in place to transfer the fluid to its delivery point. As this study utilizes several timesteps for the production forecast estimation, flexible routine options are also provided to the engineers to ensure that backpressure is minimized to avoid a larger back pressure on the wells for quick gains. This solution improves the efficiency of the previous approaches that were entirely relying on the reservoir simulation model to capture the pressure decline at the wellhead to forecast the compressor needs. In this methodology, the pressure profile at each node was captured to simulate a real production scenario. This holistic approach is in line with Operator's business plan strategy to identify the needs of external energy-source to avoid production-deferral.

Ranchers or pastoralists? Farm size, specialisation and production strategy amongst cattle farmers in south-eastern Kazakhstan

Against the global trend towards sedentary, specialised and feed-intensive cattle farming, we explore current patterns of production in Kazakhstan’s traditionally nomadic livestock sector. Experts see considerable potential for output expansion, and the government hopes to promote the sector as an alternative to revenues from hydrocarbons. Which production systems emerge will determine the use of the country’s vast pastoral resources, patterns of economic contribution from livestock and future greenhouse gas emissions. We focus on the beef sector, using original survey data and interviews from south-eastern Kazakhstan to compare rural households and farms by production strategy, generated using cluster analysis from data on livestock holdings, fodder provision and grazing. We examine in particular the relationships between farm size and the characteristics identified. We find that, rather than being specialised and intensive, larger farms tend to be highly diversified in terms of stock species, are more mobile and provide fewer supplements per head than smaller farms. Winter pastures appear to be a key resource associated with larger operations. Many large farms provide fodder mainly as low-quality roughage, although a subset with better access to cropland provide higher quality rations and fatten cattle before sale. Medium-sized farms lack either winter pasture bases or cropland for growing supplements, but proximity to markets enables some to compensate through fodder purchases. Inability to access government support, available only to large farms, hampers their expansion. Farmers’ professional background, distance from markets and environmental conditions are all associated with the production systems observed. In terms of policy, high transaction costs associated with leaseholds and lack of transferability between farmers impede access to land. Current pasture access mechanisms and institutions almost entirely exclude small farms and households. Changes in these systems, combined with infrastructure development, may bring economic, social and environmental benefits for the livestock sector and rural communities.

Novel Propagation Strategy of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for Enhanced Xylose Metabolism during Fermentation on Softwood Hydrolysate

An economically viable production of second-generation bioethanol by recombinant xylose-fermenting Saccharomyces cerevisiae requires higher xylose fermentation rates and improved glucose–xylose co-consumption. Moreover, xylose-fermenting S. cerevisiae recognises xylose as a non-fermentable rather than a fermentable carbon source, which might partly explain why xylose is not fermented into ethanol as efficiently as glucose. This study proposes propagating S. cerevisiae on non-fermentable carbon sources to enhance xylose metabolism during fermentation. When compared to yeast grown on sucrose, cells propagated on a mix of ethanol and glycerol in shake flasks showed up to 50% higher xylose utilisation rate (in a defined xylose medium) and a double maximum fermentation rate, together with an improved C5/C6 co-consumption (on an industrial softwood hydrolysate). Based on these results, an automated propagation protocol was developed, using a fed-batch approach and the respiratory quotient to guide the ethanol and glycerol-containing feed. This successfully produced 71.29 ± 0.91 g/L yeast with an average productivity of 1.03 ± 0.05 g/L/h. These empirical findings provide the basis for the design of a simple, yet effective yeast production strategy to be used in the second-generation bioethanol industry for increased fermentation efficiency.