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The purpose of the paper is to show that land degradation and desertification are threatening the livelihood of more than a billion dryland inhabitants. The paper aims to present traditional and novel approaches for sustainable agricultural exploitation of the arid drylands in Southern Israel and similar climatic zones, and their potential for rehabilitating degraded drylands and increasing agricultural productivity.

The paper analyses the current agricultural activities on the Abu Rabia farm as well as developing experimental approaches and discusses the expected impact on ecological, economic and social sustainability.

The farm investigated consists of about 120 hectares of semi‐desert land 30 km east of Beer Sheva, divided about 50:50 between rocky hill country and plains with deep loess soil. The area receives an average 200 mm of rain per year. The land is used for raising livestock (about 120 head of sheep and goats), wheat cultivation on high quality soil, and agroforestry, mainly olive cultivation in terraces designed to collect runoff water of seasonal streams. These activities provide a basic income and cover a significant amount of the families' food requirements, but can not provide a full income for a family head in a developed country like Israel. Improving the quality of the grazing land by silvipasture, further investments into high value dryland tree crops and simultaneous production of wood for industry and energy can dramatically increase the farm's income, its resilience to drought and ecological sustainability.

This analysis demonstrates the potential of dryland agroforestry for sustainable development while solving a number of economic and social problems of poor dryland inhabitants, and it contributes to fighting desertification and global warming.

This case study demonstrates that sustainable dryland exploitation by agroforestry can establish significant agricultural production potentials on marginal lands often considered worthless. Because of the establishment of significant and permanent carbon sinks, carbon trading may be mobilized to cover the required investments creating a classical win‐win situation.

This study aims to assess how small check dams built across rivers in India’s drylands can revitalize rivers during dry season and mitigate local climate change consequences. The surface- and groundwater resources are increasingly under pressure throughout India. The imminent climate change consequences will further aggravate the crisis and this paper has addressed this difficult issue.

This study was conducted in India’s dryland districts, namely, Dahod in Gujarat and Jhalawar and Banswara in Rajasthan state, to assess the impacts of small dams. Data on dams, sustainability, groundwater levels and benefits to farmers were systematically collected to analyze advantages offered by check dams with reference to climate change mitigation.

The study shows that 356 check dams built during 1990-2012 across the tribal drylands of India, with a cost of USD 17 million, benefited over one million people from farming communities. The dams also increased groundwater levels in villages, revived rivers during dry season and increased forest growth along rivers, ultimately mitigating local climate change-imposed negative consequences.

Data on small dams are limited in India, as public have no access to such data because the work is done mainly by local contractors.

The check dams, the role of which is highlighted here, are simple, eco-friendly and cost-effective. If it is adopted across the vast drylands of India and elsewhere, it has the potential to increase agricultural output; guarantee food security; enhance groundwater resources; and, above all, mitigate local climate change consequences.

If check dams are built in large numbers across India, it has the potential to increase agricultural output; guarantee food security; enhance groundwater resources; and, above all, mitigate climate change.

The highlighted results and discussion will guide scientists, politicians and policymakers to make informed decisions to combat India

s future climate change consequences.

Several farm safety net strategies are available to farmers as a source of financial protection against losses due to price instability, government policies, weather fluctuations and global market changes. Producers can employ these strategies combining crop insurance policies with countercyclical policies for several crops and production areas; however, less is known about the efficiency of these strategies in enhancing profit and reducing its variability. In this study, we examine the efficiency of these strategies at minimizing inter crop year farm profit variability.

We utilized relative mean of profit and coefficient of variation, to compare counterfactually calculated farm safety net strategies for a sample of 28,615 observations across 2,486 farms and four dryland crops (corn, soybean, sorghum and wheat) in Kansas spanning nine crop years (2014–2022). A no farm safety net strategy is used as the benchmark for every alternative strategy to ascertain whether a policy customization is statistically different from a no farm safety case.

The general pattern of the results suggests that program combination strategies that have a high-profit enhancement potential necessarily have low profit risk for dryland wheat and sorghum production. On the contrary, such a connection is absent for dryland corn and soybeans production. Low-cost farm safety net strategies that enhance corn and soybeans profits do not necessarily lower profit risks.

This paper is one of the first to use a large sample of actual farm-level observations to evaluate how combinations of safety net programs offered under the Title I (PLC, ARCCO and ARCIC) and XI (FCIP) of the U.S. Farm Bill rank in terms of profit level enhancement and profit risk reduction.

This paper aims at providing the evidence about how carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems could contribute to the decrease of atmospheric CO₂ rates through the adoption of appropriate cropping systems such as agroforestry.

Stratified randomly selected plots were used to collect data on tree diameter at breast height (DBH). Composite soil samples were collected from three soil depths for soil carbon analysis. Above ground biomass estimation was made using an allometric equation. The spectral signature of each plot was extracted to study the statistical relationship between carbon stock and selected vegetation indices.

There was a significant difference in vegetation and soil carbon stocks among the different land use/land cover types (P < 0.05). The potential carbon stock was highest in the vegetation found in sparsely cultivated land (13.13 ± 1.84 tons ha⁻¹) and in soil in bushland (19.21 ± 3.79 tons ha⁻¹). Carbon sequestration potential of the study area significantly increased (+127174.5 tons CO₂e) as a result of conversion of intensively cultivated agricultural lands to agroforestry systems. The amount of sequestered carbon was found to be dependent on species diversity, tree density and tree size. The vegetation indices had a better correlation with soil and total carbon.

The paper has addressed an important aspect in curbing greenhouse gases in integrated land systems. The paper brings a new empirical insight of carbon sequestration potentials of agroforestry systems with a focus on drylands.

Malting barley is an important specialty crop in the Northern Plains and growers mitigate risk with federally subsidized crop insurance and production contracts. The purpose of this paper is to quantify risks growers face due to “coverage gaps” in crop insurance that result in uncertain indemnity payments when their crop does not meet contract specifications.

A stochastic dominance model is developed to evaluate alternative strategies for growers with differing risk attitudes and production practices (irrigation vs dryland).

The results illustrate how alternative crop insurance provisions affect efficient choice sets for growers. Risk premiums for irrigated growers all point to valuations favoring more coverage, contracts, and malting option B. As the crop insurance industry matures in the functions it performs, it will become increasingly more important to address quality attributes.

This paper addresses quality issues and coverage gaps in crop insurance provisions.

Forestry is an integral part of an economy. It not only maintains the balance of the ecosystem but provides sustainable livelihood to the forest-fringe dwellers, apart from being a huge source of revenue for the government. Hence, proper management of the forest resources is an important concern for the economists. On the other hand, convergence of natural resources is one of the hot cakes of discussion for the economists. In this study, the authors have considered three forest regions of West Bengal; these three being the largest forest areas hold an important position in West Bengal’s economy. Here, the authors have considered the whole of dryland forestry that covers the arid and semi-arid districts of western part of the state. They have also considered the forestry of Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts that cover the sub-Himalayan forestry of North Bengal and mangrove forestry of South 24 Parganas district. The authors have used time-series data for the time period 1980–2019 and performed the Absolute Beta Convergence and Sigma Convergence Analysis as well as Conditional Beta Convergence of the total forest products of these three regions. In this study, the authors have found the existence of both forms of beta convergence but for variations, a divergence has been observed. The authors have also used the data from 2000 to 2019 on various aspects of income from forestry and performed the three forms of tests, like that of total forest products and observed similar type of results, that is, beta convergence of both forms but sigma divergence. The findings of this study ask for serious steps by the government bodies, since the decreasing rates are the causes of worries.

Changing climate has increasingly become a challenge for smallholder farmers. Identification of technical, institutional and policy interventions as coping and adaptation strategies and exploring risks of their adoption for smallholder farms are the important areas to consider. The aim of the present study was to carry out an in-depth analysis of adaptation strategies followed and the associated risk premium in technology adoption.

The study was carried out in the dryland systems of three Indian states – Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan – and was based on a survey of 1,019 households in 2013. The flexible moment-based approach was used for estimating the stochastic production function, which allowed estimation of the relative risk premium that farmers are willing to pay while adopting the technologies to avoid crop production risks.

In all the three states, the risk premium (INR ha⁻¹) was higher for farm mechanization compared to supplemental irrigation, except in the case of Andhra Pradesh. The higher the level of technology adoption, the higher the risk premium that households have to pay. This can be estimated by the higher investment needed to build infrastructure for farm mechanization and supplemental irrigation in the regions. The key determinants of technology adoption in the context of smallholder farmers were climatic shocks, investment in farm infrastructure, location of the farm, farm size, household health status, level of education, married years, expected profit and livestock ownership.

Quantification of the risk premium in technology adoption and conducting associated awareness programs for farmers and decision-makers are important to strengthen evidence-based adoption decisions in the dryland systems of India.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the study of sustainable rural livelihoods by developing a model to measure vulnerability of subsistence communities in dryland regions and identifying the major determinants that contribute to the livelihood vulnerability of these communities.

The author conducted a household survey across three subsistence communities in West Timor (n=627), from June to November 2013. Based on the guideline of the OECD (2008), the author developed a series of indicators and constructed a composite index to measure the vulnerability of dryland communities. The author adapted the livelihood vulnerability index (LVI) measure from Hahn et al. (2009) but refined it by using Shannon’s entropy method in deciding the weights of indicators and statistically tested the correlation between indicators using Kendall’s correlations.

Six major determinants were identified: education (EDU), children’s participation in agriculture (CPA), agricultural income (AI), subsistence food reserve (SUBSIST), social-cultural participation (SCP) and access to water, health clinic and market (ACC). LVI in all communities shows significant and strong relationships with SCP (0.594, p<0.01), AI (0.545, p<0.01) and CPA (0.434, p<0.01). This signifies that constraints to engage in social gatherings, market the harvest and obtain additional labour input are currently the major contributor to the vulnerability in these communities.

Shannon’s entropy is one of the methods for assisting in making decision (ranking) objectively. The results may need to be tested further using other methods.

Using objective weight provides additional information useful for identifying and prioritising areas (sub-components) which require attention and appropriate solutions to prevent households from further impoverishment and increased vulnerability.

Livelihood vulnerability of subsistence community in dry region is closely related to local survival skills and customs. Differences in the level of vulnerability across communities are due not only to geographical location and physical infrastructure, but also the leadership of local customary leaders and village government in looking for ways to improve the livelihoods of community members.

This paper is based on part of the results of a PhD thesis supported and approved by Griffith University. It has not been published before.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse aspects of technological change in rice agriculture, related to adoption of the Green Revolution (GR) in Indonesia. Rice production is selected in this study because it plays an important role in the development of Indonesian economy. Particular attention is paid to the use of agrochemicals that has potentials of contaminating the environment.

The paper uses an econometric model to investigate the impact of different technologies and policies related to rice production. Production function technology that enables non-neutrality of input use is the underlying concept of this paper. Types of land and transformation in policies related to rice production were accounted for to determine biased technological change. National-wide data were compiled from the Indonesian Bureau of Statistics.

The results show that rice agriculture underwent technological progress with biased technological change. The technological change was capital- and labour-saving, and agrochemical-augmenting. Production system in wetland led to technological change less capital- and labour-intensive, whilst the GR led to technological change more labour-saving and more agrochemical-augmenting.

This study only pays attention to environmentally detrimental inputs as a cause of externalities. This is a not full representation of real environmental consequences. In some studies on environmental degradation associated with intensive agricultural practices, however, there are other factors that can degrade the environment, such as soil erosion and soil compaction resulting from certain agricultural practices, and deforestation resulting from agricultural expansion. These are also important environmental impacts. The author expects that these factors are interesting and challenging subjects to be modelled in future research on sustainability of agricultural productivity growth, both theoretically and empirically.

Increase in use of agrochemicals was strongly GR linked. Moving from the GR towards more environmentally friendly policy was a wise step to reach sustainable rice production. After the GR, an act that removed pesticide subsidies and disseminated environmentally friendly technology, called integrated pest management was able to reduce the intensity of agrochemical use in rice agriculture. Further actions to support environmentally friendly policy could be the use of bio-agents such as bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides. Enhancing farmers’ knowledge on the environmental issues and engaging farmers as a part of agro-ecosystem would synergise the actions.

This study uses the concept of biased technological change, estimated econometrically using national-level data. The production function used in this analysis enables non-neutrality of agrochemical use. When the result significantly shows the agrochemical-augmenting technological change, it is a convincing evidence, not just by accident, that the GR really led to environmental problem.

Drought stress can be considered as a dominant factor contributing to degradation of Mediterranean drylands. Therefore, there is a strong need to monitoring the level of water stress suffered by vegetation in the view of relating it to desertification risk of selected areas. In the present paper, some techniques for measuring and quantifying plant water stress are briefly reviewed and the advantages of using the pressure chamber technique to measure leaf water potential (Ψ_L) are highlighted. A new index (water stress impact on vegetation (WSIV)), based on the integral of the diurnal changes of Ψ_L, is proposed and its effectiveness for quantifying the amount of water stress suffered by vegetation is discussed on the basis of measurements performed in degraded areas of Turkey and Lebanon. The usefulness of WSIV as an ecophysiological tool for assessing the desertification risk of Mediterranean drylands is also discussed.