Climate Variability and Urban Agricultural Activities in Ibadan, Nigeria

Two terms that are enjoying increasing overwhelming global literature advocacy and discussion are urban farming and climate change. While there is increasing advocacy towards the relevance of urban agriculture for urban dwellers and how it translates into a mitigation strategy against climate change variability and adaptation to urban poverty, the effect of some urban farming activities and how it serves as a driver to climate change needs to be investigated. In most of the urban periphery where there is availability of a large expanse of land areas, farming activities are usually practised in form of settlement farm, livestock rearing, or plantation agriculture. The study based on quantitative and qualitative data from urban farmers in Ibadan argues that the location of urban farmlands is dependent on climatic factor such as access to land. The study identified that climate variability as reported by the urban farmers has resulted in the increased use of fertilizer for farming by urban farmers, and the main activity that is pro-climate change and variability is bush burning.

Assessing the Impact of Climate Resilient Technologies in Minimizing Drought Impacts on Farm Incomes in Drylands

Asia is the region most vulnerable to climate change and India is ranked as one of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world, frequently affected by natural disasters. In this study, we investigated the impact of drought on crop productivity, farmer’s employment and income. The difference-in-difference model (DID) and stepwise multiple linear regression (MLR) were employed to quantify the impact of adopting climate resilient technologies (CRTs) on farm household income during a drought. The factors influencing farm incomes were analyzed using MLR. The study used survey data collected from the drought prone district of Telangana, India. Sixty farmers each from a village adopted under the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) program and a control village were interviewed. Primary data on the socio-economic characteristic of farmers, cropping pattern, income composition, productivity of major crops, employment and climate resilient interventions adopted by farmers were collected using a well-structured schedule. The results reveal that income crop cultivation was the major contributor to household income (60%) followed by livestock rearing. Farmers reported that droughts decreased the income from crops by 54 per cent and income from livestock rearing by 40 per cent. The farmers belonging to the climate resilient village had 35 per cent higher incomes compared to those in the control village and it was estimated to be Rs. 31,877/farm household/year during droughts using the DID estimate. Farm size, livestock possession, adoption of CRTs and investment in agriculture were the determining factors influencing farm income. Thus, farmers especially in drought prone regions need to be encouraged and supported to adopt cost effective, location specific climate resilient technologies.

Livelihood Impacts of Smallholder Rubber Plantations: Case Studies of Two Communities in Vientiane Province, Lao PDR

<p>In Laos rubber plantation investment has increased significantly in recent years, supported by the Government. Farmers decide to cultivate rubber trees in order to generate greater income and diversify their agricultural activities. However, rubber planting also creates impacts on the livelihoods of farmers. This research aims to examine the impacts of rubber plantations on two communities in Vientiane Province. Utilising the sustainable livelihood framework, this research seeks to understand how the introduction of rubber plantations affect livelihood activities, the local land use system, and the environment in the case study communities. Key positive impacts include increased income and job opportunities. However, increased rubber planting reduces the availability of land for crops and livestock rearing and also creates some adverse environmental impacts. Overall, rubber production significantly modifies local agricultural production systems and resource use decision making in communities.</p>

Livelihood Impacts of Smallholder Rubber Plantations: Case Studies of Two Communities in Vientiane Province, Lao PDR

<p>In Laos rubber plantation investment has increased significantly in recent years, supported by the Government. Farmers decide to cultivate rubber trees in order to generate greater income and diversify their agricultural activities. However, rubber planting also creates impacts on the livelihoods of farmers. This research aims to examine the impacts of rubber plantations on two communities in Vientiane Province. Utilising the sustainable livelihood framework, this research seeks to understand how the introduction of rubber plantations affect livelihood activities, the local land use system, and the environment in the case study communities. Key positive impacts include increased income and job opportunities. However, increased rubber planting reduces the availability of land for crops and livestock rearing and also creates some adverse environmental impacts. Overall, rubber production significantly modifies local agricultural production systems and resource use decision making in communities.</p>

Livestock Farmer’s Perceptions of How Changes in Climate Variabilities Are Impacting The Production Systems in The Gambia

A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted in six administrative regions of The Gambia, in order to assess livestock owners' perceptions on climate variabilities changes and their impact on livestock rearing in The Gambia. A total of 440 study participants were interviewed and six focal group discussions were undertaken. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's chi-squares analysis and Binary logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Among them 351 (80%) were males, while 89 (20%) were females. This result reveals that, middle-aged farmers from 40-49 years old had (P value =0.035), livestock owners in NBR (P value=0.006), CRR-S (P=0.038), and CRR-N (P=0.001) were the main factors significantly influencing livestock owner’s perception on rainfall. As for temperature, livestock owners residing in WCR (P <0.001), NBR (P=0.006), CRR-S (P <0.038), CRR-N (P <0.001) and Herdsmen (P <0.003) and crop farmers (P <0.004) were highly associated with knowledge on changes in temperatures The research also revealed farmers were faced with low milk production and poor-quantity meat as they attributed it as the cause of climate change. Finally, the research has shown that, livestock owners are very much aware of climate change and the consequences it has on their livelihood.

The economy of the La Tène culture communities based on the example of research from Upper Silesia

The results of excavations show that the La Tène culture community which inhabited the microregion of the contemporary village of Samborowice (Upper Silesia, Poland) in the Iron Age did not differ from its brethren from the area of Moravia and the middle basin of the Danube. Our intention is to try to identify the most important features of local economy based on newly acquired archaeobotanical and archaeozoological sources. The results from Samborowice in the form of a set of cereals characteristic of La Tène culture settlements from Central Europe suggest that the set of remains being analysed comes from a period when changes to the selection of cereals had yet to occur. The population in this period of history applied a model of economy based on agriculture and livestock rearing, with cattle being the most important animals, followed by pigs and small ruminants interchangeably.

Ecotoxicological investigations of milking cow slurry and changes of oestrogenic compounds in the solid and liquid phase

Due to the appearance of intensive livestock-rearing systems since the 1970s, a vast amount of liquid manure (slurry) has been produced. The application and utilization are partly regulated for this special substance, which contains urine, excrement, process water, and other chemicals, such as insecticides and disinfectants. Our research was conducted on a slurry management system of a dairy cattle farm, focusing on the investigation of the presence of oestrogenic substances and toxicity of slurry before and after using a separator technology. Yeast oestrogen screen shows in this study that the separation of the liquid and solid phases of slurry contributes to the reduction in oestrogenic substances. Based on the toxicological studies, the growth inhibition of algae was 93%, and the inhibition of the germination of higher plant seeds was 25%, without separation. After separation of the phases, growth and germination were comparable with the negative control; moreover, some stimulation was detected. Consequently, harmful substances were removed with the suspended solid phase. From the present study, we can conclude that stakeholders should support separation technology in intensive livestock-rearing systems, and ecotoxicological investigations obviously help the risk management of slurry utilization. To our best knowledge, this is the first paper presenting detailed and complex toxicological study on slurry samples.

Pemberdayaan Peternak Perempuan Melalui Transfer Teknologi Pakan Komplit

Feed is still a major problem in the development of the livestock sub-sector. So far, farmers are still relying on animal feed needs from natural grass which causes low livestock productivity and limited livestock rearing capacity. To overcome these problems, the purpose of this community service activity is to provide training and assistance to female breeders to make complete feed and implement the use of complete feed for livestock. This training activity was carried out in Wanasaba Lauk Village, East Lombok Regency. Participants in the training activity were 15 female breeders under the Ridho Ilahi Center for Animal Husbandry. The method used in this study is the delivery of materials and the practice of making complete feeds. The training activity was carried out for 2 days and assistance for the application of complete feed technology was carried out for 3 months. The result of this training is that female farmers gain knowledge and skills in producing complete feed and in terms of capacity calculations, breeders are able to maintain a minimum of 5 heads of livestock which previously was only a maximum of 2 heads. Then in terms of productivity, average daily gain (ADG) of livestock reached 0.42 Kg/day.

The impact of flood in 2018 on the socio-economic conditions of the dairy farmers in Pariyaram panchayat of Thrissur district of Kerala

Climate change poses existential threat on all forms of life on earth. Flood is one of the major fallout of it. Tropical humid zones experiences worst form of rain related disasters in the recent times. Kerala, a tropical humid state of India experienced one of the most destructive flood events of the century during August 2018. It had heavy impact on every sector including animal husbandry. Based on this event, a study was conducted to assess the impact of flood in 2018 on Livestock Farming System of Pariyaram Panchayat in Thrissur district of Kerala. The entire Panchayat was delineated into affected and unaffected wards and detailed survey on faming system and socio economic profile of the flood affected area was conducted. Pre and post flood livestock system of the flood affected area differed significantly regarding herd strength, milk production and feeding pattern. Livelihood of farmers who were depending on the agriculture and livestock rearing for their survival suffered due to the event, suggesting need for better preparedness.

The study of prevalence and factors affecting Anaplasma maginale infection in domestic goats in Chonburi province, Thailand

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and factors affecting Anaplasma marginale infection of goat farming in Chonburi province, Thailand. A total of 182 samples were collected from clinical services records from the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-ok. Moreover, the potential risk factors of A. marginale infection, including vectors infestation, barn-types, preventive medicine protocols using vector-control agents and/or deworming programs, and the farming areas were statistically analyzed. The results revealed that 24.7% of goats were positive for A. marginale infection. The Nhong Yai district had the highest infection rate at 34.1% (15/44). The Mueng, Chonburi and Sri Racha district goats were infected at the rate of 27.5% (11/40) and 24.3% (9/37), respectively. The potential significant factors affecting A. marginale infection were vectors infestation (P < 0.01) and preventive medicine protocols using vector-control agents and/or deworming programs (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the vectors infestation increases the chance of A. marginale infection. Conversely, appropriate consistent preventive medical health management by application of vector-control agents and/or deworming programs can reduce the likelihood of infection. Our study could serve as a guideline for prevention planning and for further study of livestock rearing behavior concerning infection of blood parasites in nearby areas