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This study aims to examine smallholder farmers’ perceptions toward the adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in smallholder farmers in the Upper Blue Nile Highlands of Ethiopia. Available research focused on profitability and economic constraints alone, disregarding the farmers’ perception of the adoption of CSA innovations. There is relatively little empirical work on farmers’ perceptions of innovations. Hence, a critical research gap that will strengthen CSA innovation research and practice includes understanding farmers’ perceptions about CSA innovations and how these perceptions interact with their adoption.

A cross-sectional household survey was conducted among 424 smallholder farmers selected from five agro-ecosystems. A structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data and a review of literature and documents was used to collect secondary data. The study used a multivariate probit model to examine perception factors affecting the likelihood of adopting multiple CSA innovations. The dependent variables were eight CSA innovations, while the independent variables were crafted from the three pillars of CSA.

Major CSA innovations adopted by farmers include improved variety, crop residue management, crop rotation, compost, row planting, soil and water conservation, intercropping and agroforestry. Farmers’ perception toward CSA innovations includes: CSA innovations sustainably increase productivity and income; enhance soil fertility; diversify livestock feed and energy sources; reduce soil erosion, weed infestation and crop failure; enhance soil organic matter, reduce chemical fertilizer use and rehabilitate land. Farmers’ positive perceptions of the benefits of CSA innovations for increasing crop productivity, reducing agricultural vulnerability to climate change and lowering farm greenhouse gas emissions have boosted adoption.

Farmers’ perceptions toward CSA innovations must be enhanced to increase the adoption of CSA innovations in the smallholder agriculture system. The CSA innovation scale-up strategies should focus on farmers’ perception of CSA innovation benefits toward food security, climate change adaption and mitigation outcomes. Awareness of CSA needs the close collaboration of public extension as well as local institutions such as farmers’ training centers.

The study adopts a multivariate probit model that models farmers’ simultaneous CSA innovation choices. Hence, this study contributes to the literature in four significant areas. First, it argues for differential treatment of the perception of smallholder farmers about innovations is needed. Second, it recognizes the interdependence of the adoption of innovations. Third, it directly assesses the farmers’ perception, while others use proxies to measure it. Finally, there are limited or no studies that address the perception of innovations within the lens of adopter perception theory.

The most recent and prestigious scientific research shows that nitrogen leaching caused by over-used nitrogen fertilizer rapidly acidifies all soil types in China, revolutionizing the basic understanding of the mechanism of soil acidification. The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of nitrogen on soil acidity over the long run, which is the shadow price of nitrogen.

In a discrete dynamic programming model, this paper compares the nitrogen application and soil pH between optimal nitrogen control that takes the shadow price of nitrogen into consideration and myopic nitrogen control that ignores that shadow price. Using a five-year panel experimental data on a rapeseed-rice rotation, this paper simulates and numerically solves the dynamic model.

Both theoretically and empirically, this paper shows that the over-use of nitrogen and the decline in soil pH are explained by ignorance of the shadow price of nitrogen. Compared with optimal nitrogen control, myopic nitrogen control applies more nitrogen in total, resulting in lower soil pH. In addition, over-use in the first season contributes to soil acidification and the carry-over effects mitigate that problem.

This paper enriches the literature by extending the study of the environmental impact of nitrogen leaching to its impact on the long-term loss in agricultural production, providing a new theoretical framework in which to study soil acidification rather than conventionally treating soil acidification as a secondary consequence of acid rain, and showing the possibility of using nitrogen control to mitigate soil acidification when lime applications are not feasible due to socio-economic constraints.

The purpose of this study is to measure the effect of land degradation and the environmental changes on agricultural productivity in Somalia, as well as the other factors that affect crop production in Somalia.

Cobb-Douglas production function assumes crop production as a dependent variable and land degradation, labor, capital, fertilizer and climate change as the explanatory variables. In this study time-series data (1962–2017) collected from the Food and Agriculture Organization and World Development Indicators were used. The unit root of the data was examined using Ng-Perron and the Lee-Strazicich methods to explore the unit root property of the breaks. Structural breaks are observed using the Chow test, and the long-run relationship between the variables is examined using Gregory and Hanssen's approach.

This study found that land degradation and climate change have a negative relationship with agriculture production in Somalia. Land degradation leads to the decline in agricultural production as the loss of one hectare of land due the depletion causes agriculture production of Somalia to fall by about five percent. Climate changes and warming of the environment lead to the reduction of agriculture production. One degree Celsius rise in the temperature leads to a three percent decline in agricultural production. Capital contributes immensely to agricultural production as one unit of additional capital raises production by seven percent. The contribution of labor to agricultural production is limited because of land contraction

Land degradation is a significant contributor to the decline of agricultural production. As land degradation continues to worsen, rural poverty increases, which in turn causes the rural migration and the social conflict. The government should develop land improvement programs such as increasing market orientation of the farmers, encourage private sector engagement in agribusiness and establish a regulatory framework of the land uses.

This study examines the structure of the time-series and specifies the break periods to determine when and where significant and sudden changes occurred within land degradation and agricultural production. The study employs advanced econometric methods, namely, Ng-Perron method and the Lee-Strazicich method to test the unit root property of the breaks. It also examines the long-run relationship between the variables using Gregory and Hanssen's approach.

The farm size-productivity relationship has long been the subject of debate among development economists. Few studies address this issue for China, and those that do only with outdated data sets poorly representing the current situation after the past decade of rapid change, which includes the rapid development of land rental markets, village labor out-migration and use of farm machines. Meanwhile, many studies have researched this relationship for Indian, which is undergoing similar changes except for the development of active land rental markets. The purpose of this paper is to measure the farm size-productivity relationship under the situations of rapid transformation in China and India.

Based on the data of 325 Jiangxi and 400 Allahabad rice farmers in 2011, the survey covered multiple plots of each household in one/multiple growing season(s). The authors use the production function approach and the yield approach, and control for farmland quality, imperfect factor markets, and farm size measurement error, to identify the farm size-productivity relationship.

The regressions show that land yields increase with plot size both by season and over the year in China. This may be one of the reasons that farm sizes are growing in some areas. In India, however, the inverse farm size-productivity relationship is observed by the study, despite recent changes. Moreover, land yields increase with farm machine use in both China and India. This result contributes to the debate over whether mechanization improves yields or just expands the land frontier.

The paper empirically estimates the farm size-productivity relationship under rapid agrarian transformation in both China and India based on a unique data set collected by the authors in a detailed primary survey. The paper considers measurement error in the analysis, which adds values to this type of analysis.

Temporary and permanent decline in the productive capacity of the land due to natural and human-induced activities such as soil erosion, changing cropping practices and less use of organic matter (OM) has been the greatest challenge faced by mankind in recent years, particularly in the hills and mountains of Nepal. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of sustainable soil management practices to mitigate desertification process in the hills of Nepal.

Promotion of sustainable soil management (SSM) practices through a decentralised agriculture extension approach by involving all the stakeholders in a participatory way.

SSM practices mainly: OM management, fodder and forage promotion, increased biomass production systems, integrated plant nutrition systems, and bioengineering for soil and water conservation are identified as the most appropriate and relevant technologies in mitigating the desertification process without deteriorating land quality, particularly conserving the top-soils effectively and efficiently in the hills and mountains of the country.

This research is focus on the overall effect of SSM practices due to time and budget constraints. There is scope for doing research on the different aspects of SSM practices and the extent of their effect on different soil parameters (chemical, biological and physical).

SSM interventions clearly indicated that there is significant impact in increasing soil fertility, conserving fertile top-soils and mitigating physical, chemical and biologic desertification processes. These are possible through maintaining and improving the soil organic matter, which is the most important indicator for soil health. SSM practices have resulted in an increase of up to 30 per cent in crop yield compared to yields without SSM practices. This might be due to the improvement in SOC which improves soil texture, increases nutrient supply from organic source and conserves water quality, thus, improving soil quality.

This has created awareness among farmers. Hence, farmers are mitigating pH through increased use of organic manures, where there is less availability of agriculture lime and they are far from road access.

SSM practices significantly contributes to combat soil desertification in the hills of Nepal.

Small farmers, being the primary producers of crops, are the key players in the food supply chain. Yet, they remain the most marginalized in the value chain. The marginalization of small farmers can affect food sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to identify opportunities for bringing more value to small farmers in an agricultural value chain.

This paper makes use of action research, studying the potato value chain, in a developing agricultural country Pakistan. The authors conducted an in-depth study of 37 farmers in four regions, each being a large potato growing ecosystem. The study examined the end-to-end decision-making processes, sources of input (both physical and information), cultivation and sales practices, cost structure, productivity and profitability of the farmers in potato farming.

Large variations exist in the crop yield, cost structure and profitability of farmers within each of and among the four regions due to differences in cultivation practices and approach to sales. There is a significant potential to lower costs, increase yield and enhance overall profitability by using the existing better processes. By addressing the issues faced by small farmers their profits can be potentially doubled. The paper also discusses potential means of recrafting and streamlining the value chain to bring more value to small farmers.

The paper provides a detailed account of how different interventions can increase the value for small farmers. Since the current food supply chain and sustainability are under stress, worldwide, the findings of this study have implications for farmers as well as policy makers.

The literature on streamlining the agricultural value chain and enhancing the share of small farmers is scarce. Improving the value chain and reducing the marginalization of small farmers is an essential step toward increasing food sustainability.

Enterprise diversification is a self‐insuring strategy used by farmers to protect against risk. This study examines the impact of various farm, operator, and household characteristics on the level of onfarm enterprise diversification. Evidence exists that larger farms are more specialized. Also, farmers who participate in off‐farm work, farms located near urban areas, or farms with higher debt‐to‐asset ratios are less likely to be diversified. In contrast, evidence suggests there is a significant positive relationship between diversification and whether the farm business has crop insurance, is organized as a sole proprietorship, or receives any direct payments from current farm commodity programs.

Describes field experiments to determine the effects of previous organic waste composts, using different types and application rates, on sunflower yield. Oil, carbohydrates and metal content were evaluated. Experiments were conducted in the Nuclear Research Centre Farm, in sandy, infertile soil. Results show a remarkable increase in dry matter and seed yields, due to previous single compost additions. A mixture of water hyacinth and biosolid compost showed an improvement. The results of this research indicate that application of organic waste composts is a feasible and valuable recycling method in sandy desert soils.

Construction planning for microtunneling projects is a complex process due to the high level of uncertainties inherent in underground construction and the interdependent nature of decision variables. Simulation is a suitable decision-making tool to account for uncertainties and to model complex dependencies among decision variables. This paper aims to improve microtunneling construction planning by using simulation.

This study proposes a hybrid simulation approach that combines discrete event simulation (DES) with continuous simulation (CS) for microtunneling construction planning. In this approach, DES is used to model construction processes at the activity level and CS is used to model the continuous flow of soil material in the system.

To demonstrate the capability of the proposed approach in construction planning of microtunneling projects, different construction plan scenarios are compared in a microtunneling case study. The results of the case study show suitability of the hybrid DES-CS approach in simulating microtunneling construction processes and the practicality of the approach for identifying the most efficient construction plan.

This study proposes a new modeling approach for microtunneling construction processes using hybrid simulation and provides decision support at the construction planning stage of projects.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the screen printing liquid waste polluted soil physical, chemical and biological characteristics, with the unpolluted soil, and to analyse the application of some types of biochar towards the growth of mustard greens plants and the concentration of heavy metals Fe, Cr on the screen printing liquid waste polluted soil.

This research was conducted in a green house by using fully randomized design, split plot design pattern, with three replications. The main plot is the type of biochar, and the subplot is the dosage of biochar. The biochar consists of four types (B1 = chicken manure biochar, B2 = coconut shell biochar, B3 = rice hulls biochar and B4 = mahogany woods biochar). The dosage of biochar consists of four levels (D0 = control, D1 = 5 ton/hectare, D2 = 10 ton/hectare and D3 = 15 ton/hectare). The tested variable is being analysed by using analysis of variance (ANOVA).

The screen printing liquid waste polluted soil physical, chemical and biological characteristics analysis shows that the soil pH is neutral, a low C organic, a low N total, a high P, CEC and base saturation, while the texture is soft. The analysis results of rice hulls biochar physical, chemical and biological characteristics are quantitatively better in comparison with chicken manure biochar, coconut shell biochar and mahogany biochar. The quantitative application of rice hulls biochar15 ton/hectare dosage can increase the growth of mustard greens, and also, it recovers the soil characteristics by heavy metals total rate of 14.11 ppm Fe and 0.95 ppm Cr from the plant, while 209.05 ppm Fe and 4.12 ppm Cr were found in the soil.

This is one of few studies the biochar to screen printing liquid waste polluted lands. Currently, numerous kinds of chemical substances have been applied in a form of fertilizer and pesticide into the soil. Other activities like transporting the crop residues, and the contamination of irrigation water that is caused by screen printing liquid waste, have also affected the soil. It becomes degraded where the soil becomes compact and losses its nutrients, and it is containing heavy metals material that is toxic for plants. Biochar is applied into the polluted soil to improve the soil, which is hard to decompose and is long-lasting in the soil. These days, both the raw or ready food products are exposed to the heavy metals with a large and concerning number, especially in big cities which most of the soil is polluted.