Panel Regression Models for Paddy (Oryza sativa) Crop Production

The present investigation was carried out to study area production trends of Paddy crop grown in different districts of Tamil Nadu state, India during the period 1998-99 to 2010- 2020 based on Panel Regression Model. The statistically most suited Panel Regression model was selected based on Hausman and Wald test. The study variables namely the area under the Paddy crop (AREA) and the production (PRODN) of Paddy crop were found to be stationary at level. Analysis of variance test indicated that district to district crop productions were highly significant. Highest area under the crops and productions were registered in Tiruvarur, Thanjavur etc., Very lowest were registered in Coimbatore and Nilgiris districts. The fixed effect model was found to be suitable to study the trend and this model explains the 87% of variations in Paddy crop production.

Spatiotemporal Variations in Meteorological Disasters and Vulnerability in China During 2001–2020

Based on the Yearbook of Meteorological Disasters in China, we analyzed the spatiotemporal variations in major meteorological disaster (MD) losses at the provincial scale during 2001–2020 to determine the spatiotemporal variations in MDs and vulnerability in China. Our results suggest that the impacts of MDs, including floods, droughts, hail and strong winds (HSs), low temperature and frosts (LTFs), and typhoons, have been substantial in China. MDs in China affect an average of 316.3 million people and 34.3 million hectares of crops each year, causing 1,739 deaths and costing 372.3 billion yuan in direct economic losses (DELs). Floods and droughts affected more of the population in China than the other MDs. Fatalities and DELs were mainly caused by floods, and the affected crop area was mainly impacted by drought. The national average MD losses decreased significantly, except for DELs. The trends in the affected population and crop area were mainly caused by droughts, and the trends in fatalities and DELs were dominated by floods. Floods and typhoons showed increasing influence in the last two decades relative to other disasters. The annual mean and long-term trends in MD losses exhibited regional heterogeneity and were subject to different dominant hazards in different regions. The disaster losses and their trends in southeastern China were mainly attributed to typhoons. The affected population, crop area, and DELs were all significantly and positively correlated with exposure. The vulnerability of the population, crops, and economy tended to decrease. Economic development reduced the vulnerability of the population and economy but showed no significant influence on the vulnerability of crops. Our findings suggest that more focus should be placed on the impacts of floods and typhoons and that socioeconomic development has an important influence on the vulnerability of the population and economy. These results provide a foundation for designing effective disaster prevention and mitigation measures.

Prospect of development of 2:1 “Jajar Legowo” planting system technology in the development of rice area, Takalar District

Technology is one factor in increasing agricultural production capacity. The use of new technologies will increase the use of inputs, making it possible to achieve production and farm efficiency. The jajar legowo (double row) system is a technological engineering to obtain a plant population of more than 160,000 per hectare. The implementation of Jajar Legowo in addition to increasing the cropping population, is also able to increase the smooth circulation of sunlight and air around the pingir plants so that the plants can photosynthesize better. Assistance in the application of engineering technology for the legowo row 2: 1 system was carried out in Panrannuangku sub-district, Polut sub-district, Takalar district. The technology engineering of the legowo row 2: 1 system is supported by other technologies that are applied through pilot farming models (demfarm) at strategic locations in the development area that have fairly good access, which can be seen by the community in the assisted area. The selection of the demfarm location is determined together with the farmer groups, field officers / PLL and stakeholders involved so that it can be ascertained that the pilot farming model can represent the conditions of the development area to be built. The results of the assistance in the area of rice farming in irrigated rice fields in Takalar Regency, South Sulawesi, show that the development of the rice crop area has a large enough opportunity to be developed with the support of legowo row 2: 1 technology engineering and institutional innovation. The results of the assistance for the paddy farming area with a 2: 1 legowo row technology engineering planting system in the irrigated rice fields of Takalar Regency also provide understanding to the relevant agencies starting from the planned mentoring model to the implementation stages. The rice technology demfarm with the legowo row system technology engineering 2: 1 showed an increase in yield from 4-5 tonnes per ha (local productivity) to 7-8 tonnes per ha.

Risk level mapping of organophosphate pesticides application in agricultural area of Cangkringan Subdistrict, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Farmers in Indonesia widely use organophosphate pesticides (OPPs) to increase crop production, despite their risk to human health and the environment. Objective of this study is to estimate the loading rate and risk level of OPPs based on OPPs characteristics, farmers’ knowledge, and the behavior of OPPs application in agriculture area in Yogyakarta Special Region in Indonesia. Data collected through interview and questionnaire distribution revealed three types of OPPs used in study area; profenofos, chlorpyrifos and diazinon. Data on application dose and crop area were used to estimate loading rate. Risk scores can be calculated by multiplying loading rate with toxicity data of each type of OPPs used. Box-Cox transformation was then used to normalized rightly skewed risk score data to get 4 (four) levels of risk classification range; low, medium, high and very high. It was found that there were areas classified as very high risk in wet season, while it is not the case in dry season. However, in total loading per year, areas with high and very high risk level were found for more than >50% in study area.

The Extent and Economic Significance of Cultivated Forage Crops in Developing Countries

Forage grasses and legumes are the principal source of nutrition for most ruminant livestock in developing countries. Raising yields of forage crops can increase the availability and affordability of livestock products as well as reduce pressure on increasingly scarce land resources by enabling greater herd densities on existing pasture. However, the economic significance of cultivated forage crops in developing countries is not well-understood. We provide estimates of the present area and production value of cultivated forage crops as well as review evidence on the extent of adoption of CGIAR-derived improved varieties of cultivated forage species and their economic impact in developing countries. There are at least 159 million hectares under cultivated forage crops producing yield worth around $63 billion per year (at 2014-2016 prices). Latin America accounts for about 85% of this forage crop area. CGIAR forage breeding programs have developed and helped disseminate improved varieties of Brachiaria, Stylosanthes, Vigna unguiculata, and Calliandra spp., which by 2015 had been adopted on over 12 million hectares producing economic benefits of over $5.8 billion/year.

Trend and Instability Index Analysis in Paddy Crop Area, Productivity and Production across District in Andhra Pradesh, India

Paddy is the important, food grain, cereal crop, and staple food crop of India. India ranks second in production of paddy after China. This establishes the pressing need for the study of vulnerability and trend of paddy cultivation and productivity in India. Andhra Pradesh being one of the largest producers of paddy, the compound growth rate and instability in area, productivity and production of paddy in Andhra Pradesh was assessed after the remainder of the state of undivided Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation in 2014 with the jurisdiction of four Rayalaseema and nine Coastal Andhra districts. In this study, we have analyzed the trend & carried out instability index analysis in paddy crop area, productivity and production across district of Andhra Pradesh to explicate the trend in extent paddy cultivation and paddy productivity, district wise Cuddy-Della Valle-Instability Index (%) for the paddy cultivating area from 1991-92 to 2018-19, using the data collected from Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Andhra Pradesh. We assessed district wise Cuddy-Della Valle-Instability Index (%) in paddy productivity from 1991-92 to 2018-19 and found that in Andhra Pradesh, the area of paddy cultivation, paddy productivity output has changed in the study area over the time. Between 1991-92 and 2018-19, the overall paddy growth rate of the area showed a decline of 0.5%. And growth rate of paddy productivity was 1.31% while the increase of production was 0.74%, which can be attributed to the negative impacts arising out of changing weather patterns.

Weed discrimination based on the spectral response of the corn crop, Manabí, Ecuador

Precision agriculture allows to gain efficiency, sustainability and profitability, since it provides great benefits in reducing the environmental impact of agriculture, economic risks and at the same time contributes to controlling the vigor of crops and improving the quality of their yield. The objective of this research is to discriminate weeds within the corn crop, based on their spectral response. For this, the advanced EBEE SQ agricultural drone was used, with which multispectral images were captured through its Parrot Sequoia camera. The images were processed with software in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). With the multispectral bands, different vegetation indices were calculated such as NDVI, NDVIAS, NGRDI, NDRE, GNDVI, using map algebra tools in specialized programs. A supervised classification was applied to the different indices to discriminate the different land covers, which obtained a precision of 93% and a Kappa index of 0.93. The results allowed to clearly differentiate the coverage of crops, weeds and bare soil. The data showed that both early-growing and developed weeds occupy 38% of the crop area. With this information, it is possible to improve the planning of agronomic practices, adding the herbicide at the specific site of the weeds.

Performance And Exhaust Emission Characteristics Investigation of Compression Ignition Engine Fuelled With Microalgae Biodiesel And Its Diesel Blends

Biofuels extracted from plant biomass can be used as fuel in CI engines to lower a hazardous atmospheric pollutant and mitigate climate risks. Furthermore, its implementation is hampered by inevitable obstacles such as feed stocks and the crop area required for their cultivation, leading to a lack of agricultural land for the expansion of food yields. Despite this, microalgae have been discovered to be the most competent and unwavering source of biodiesel due to their distinguishing characteristics of being non-eatable and requiring no cropland for cultivation. The objectives of this paper was to look into the potential of a novel, formerly underappreciated biodiesel from microalgae species which could be used as a fuel substitute. Transesterification is being used to extract the biodiesel. Microalgae are blended with petroleum diesel in percentage to create Microalgae Blends (MAB) as needed for experimentation. The impact of biodiesel on performance as well as exhaust emission attributes of a 1-cylinder diesel engine was experimentally studied. Compared to petroleum diesel, different blend of Microalgae biodiesel showed a decline in torque and hence brake power, resulting in an average fall of 7.14 percent in brake thermal efficiency and 11.54 percent increase in brake specific fuel consumption. There were wide differences in exhaust emission characteristics, including carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon, as the blend ratio in diesel increased. Moreover, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxides increase in all algae biodiesel blends, but they're still within the acceptable range of petroleum diesel.

The Role of Earth Observation in Achieving Sustainable Agricultural Production in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions of the World

Crop production is a major source of food and livelihood for many people in arid and semi-arid (ASA) regions across the world. However, due to irregular climatic events, ASA regions are affected commonly by frequent droughts that can impact food production. In addition, ASA regions in the Middle East and Africa are often characterised by political instability, which can increase population vulnerability to hunger and ill health. Remote sensing (RS) provides a platform to improve the spatial prediction of crop production and food availability, with the potential to positively impact populations. This paper, firstly, describes some of the important characteristics of agriculture in ASA regions that require monitoring to improve their management. Secondly, it demonstrates how freely available RS data can support decision-making through a cost-effective monitoring system that complements traditional approaches for collecting agricultural data. Thirdly, it illustrates the challenges of employing freely available RS data for mapping and monitoring crop area, crop status and forecasting crop yield in these regions. Finally, existing approaches used in these applications are evaluated, and the challenges associated with their use and possible future improvements are discussed. We demonstrate that agricultural activities can be monitored effectively and both crop area and crop yield can be predicted in advance using RS data. We also discuss the future challenges associated with maintaining food security in ASA regions and explore some recent advances in RS that can be used to monitor cropland and forecast crop production and yield.

Mites alight! Sunflower crop area and pollen supplementation enhance honey bee resistance to Varroa destructor

Anthropogenic landscape changes can affect parasite epidemiology in wild and agricultural animals. Honey bees are agricultural animals whose services are threatened by loss of floral resources and by parasites, most notably the invasive mite Varroa destructor. Existing mite control strategies rely heavily on chemical treatments that can adversely affect bees. Alternative, pesticide-free control methods are urgently needed to maintain effective pollination services. Many flowering plants provide nectar and pollen that enhance resistance to parasites in animals. Enrichment of landscapes with antiparasitic floral resources could therefore provide a sustainable means of parasite control in pollinators. Floral rewards of Asteraceae plants have been shown to reduce parasitic infection in diverse bee species, including honey and bumble bees. Here, we tested the effects of sunflower (Helianthus annuus) cropland and pollen supplementation on honey bee resistance to macro- and microparasites. Our results show that each doubling of sunflower crop area is associated with a 28% reduction in mite infestation intensity. Late-summer supplementation of colonies with sunflower pollen reduced mite infestation by 2.75-fold relative to an artificial pollen. Our findings suggest the potential for sunflower plantings or pollen supplements to counteract a main driver of honey bee losses worldwide.