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Due to the recent disruptions caused by COVID-19, global supply chains are stress tested. The affected supply chains have interfered with market tonnage prices for the yield of perishable products like mangoes that are highly dependent on their quality. This research, through empirical findings, thus determines and comprehends the factors influencing mango quality (size).

A framework is developed for finding the potential factors of quality building on the previous literature and studies on the available topic. The data collection included face-to-face interviews comprising 240 farmers, hired managers and preharvest contractors in India's Jangaon, Rangareddy and Yadadri Bhuvanagiri districts of Telangana state. The data analysis is done using multiple regression, and the outcomes form the basis of the design of the experiments model.

The empirical insights support that the quality of mango is affected by factors such as the number of picking cycles, the cost of fertilizer, the variety of fertilizers used, the variety of pesticides used and pesticide application frequency. The direct implications are the benefit to farmers in improving mango quality and maximizing profit per yield cycle.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first research that has specifically focused on holistically improving the quality(size) of mangoes.

The findings contribute to the perishable supply chain literature, specifically to the mango study, to comprehensively showcase the factors impacting the quality of mangoes and provide guidance to farmers regarding orchard practices.

In a context where the promotion of a more sustainable agriculture is clearly aimed at, the paradoxical combination of sustainable agricultural practices (SAP) with chemical pesticides use instead of biological pest management techniques is recurrent in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries like Burkina Faso. Chemical pesticides are harmful to the environment and health. This paper aims to analyze the role of farmer education on the mode of adoption of SAP.

An endogenous treatment effect model is used with survey data on 1,898 rural households in Burkina Faso.

The results show a positive causal effect of farmer education on sustainable and chemical pesticide-free agriculture adoption.

Formal education appears to be general. This research could be extended to consider the role of training or extension services. More detailed results, focusing on spatial effects, could reinforce those of the present research.

Unlike previous studies, this paper addresses for the first time the paradoxical behavior of combining SAP with chemical pesticides use. It shows that farmer education contributes to explain it and is therefore a determining factor for a more sustainable agriculture.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the likely causes of failure of some sections of road pavements in Ajaokuta, Northcentral Nigeria. This was achieved through a geotechnical assessment of subgrade soils in affected areas.

The methods entailed field and laboratory methods and statistical analysis. Subgrade soil samples were retrieved from a depth of 1,000 mm beneath the failed portions using a hang auger. The soils were analyzed for natural moisture content (NMC), Atterberg limit (liquid limit, plastic limit and linear shrinkage), grain size distribution, compaction and California bearing ratio (CBR), respectively.

The results of the geotechnical tests ranged from NMC (12.5%–19.4%), sand (84%–98%), fines (2%–16%), LL (16.0%–32.2%), PL (17%–27.5%), LS (2.7%–6.4%), PI (2.5%–18.4%), maximum dry density (1756 kg/m2–1961 kg/m2), optimum moisture content (13.2%–20.2%), unsoaked CBR (15.5%–30.5%) and soaked CBR (8%–22%), respectively. Pearson’s correlation coefficient performed on the variables showed that some parameters exhibited a strong positive correlation with r2 > 0.5.

Funding was the main limitation.

Comparing the results with Nigerian standards for road construction, and the AASHTO classification scheme, the subgrade soils are competent and possess excellent to good properties. The soils also exhibited very low plasticity, a high percentage of sand, high CBR and low NMC, which implies that it has the strength required for road pavement subgrades. The likely causes of the failures are, therefore, due to the use of poor construction materials, technical incompetence and poor compaction of sub-base materials, respectively.