scholarly journals Wheat Varietal Diversification Increases Ethiopian Smallholders’ Food Security: Evidence from a Participatory Development Initiative

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Gotor ◽  
Muhammed Abdella Usman ◽  
Martina Occelli ◽  
Basazen Fantahun ◽  
Carlo Fadda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Participatory Development ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
Robust Estimator ◽  
Crop Varieties ◽  
Effective Role ◽  
Doubly Robust ◽  
The Impact

This study assesses the impact of a participatory development program called Seeds For Needs, carried out in Ethiopia to support smallholders in addressing climate change and its consequences through the introduction, selection, use, and management of suitable crop varieties. More specifically, it analyzes the program’s role of boosting durum wheat varietal diversification and agrobiodiversity to support higher crop productivity and strengthen smallholder food security. The study is based on a survey of 1008 households across three major wheat-growing regional states: Amhara, Oromia, and Tigray. A doubly robust estimator was employed to properly estimate the impact of Seeds For Needs interventions. The results show that program activities have significantly enhanced wheat crop productivity and smallholders’ food security by increasing wheat varietal diversification. This paper provides further empirical evidence for the effective role that varietal diversity can play in improving food security in marginal environments, and also provides clear indications for development agencies regarding the importance of improving smallholders’ access to crop genetic resources.

The impact of diversification of a rice–wheat cropping system on crop productivity and soil fertility

2002 ◽  
Vol 139 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. K. SINGH ◽  
B. B. SHARMA ◽  
B. S. DWIVEDI
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Green Manure ◽  
Protein Production ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Block Design ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
Cropping Intensity ◽  
The Impact

Field experiments were conducted at the Crop Research Centre of Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar during 1996/97 and 1997/98. Each experiment comprised 10 crop sequences: (a) wheat–rice, (b) chickpea–rice, (c) lentil–rice, (d) pea–rice, (e) wheat–mungbean green manure–rice, (f) wheat–Sesbania green manure–rice, (g) wheat–fodder–rice, (h) chickpea–fodder–rice, (i) lentil–fodder–rice and (j) pea–fodder–rice, in a randomized block design with four replications. The crop sequences were compared in terms of economic rice equivalent yield (REY), protein production, apparent nutrient balances and effect on soil fertility status. Amongst crop sequences involving two crops each year (200% cropping intensity), chickpea–rice gave highest REY and protein production. Of the sequences involving three crops each year (300% cropping intensity), chickpea–fodder–rice and wheat–fodder–rice were superior to others. The P balances were positive for all sequences, whereas K balances were generally negative except for sequences involving green manure legumes. Green manuring with Sesbania or mungbean helped restore soil fertility, indicating the advantage of green manure for higher productivity and sustainability of rice–wheat system. Chickpea–rice and chickpea–fodder–rice appeared promising alternatives to rice–wheat crop sequence.

scholarly journals SHORT COMMUNICATION: ADDRESSING VULNERABILITY OF AGRICULTURE SECTOR TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN PAKISTAN

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-119
Author(s):  
A. Raza ◽  
M. Imtiaz ◽  
Z. Ali ◽  
S. A. Ali
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
Changing Climate ◽  
Ground Water Recharge ◽  
The Impact ◽  
National Food Security

Agriculture sector, being the dominant user of fresh water (70%) is highly vulnerable to climate change in Pakistan. Increase in frequency of floods and drought, rising temperatures and changes in rainfall pattern across the country during the recent years are clear indicators of changing climate. Climate change has serious repercussions for national food security as farmers have limited knowledge and technologies for mitigating the adverse effects of climate change on crop productivity. This situation is expected to decrease yield of major food crops. There exists dire need to make an intensive analysis of situation to identify existing knowledge and technology gaps and suggest doable measures for multiple stake holders like policy makers, scientists and farmers accordingly. This review paper covers the impact of climate change on agriculture and presents strategies to adapt to climate change. Strategies at policy/government level include increased funds for research, improvement of national capacity building (training of trainers) and development of a localized smart early warning system for climate change related events. Key research areas being identified to address vulnerability include development of innovative water use efficient technologies, zone specific agronomic research, applied root research, organic farming to increase soil resilience and research on ground water recharge and quality using simulation models. Farmers shall be sensitized about the issue of climate change through education and every effort shall be made to make proper use of existing farm resources and technologies to live with the changing climate so that national food security is not compromised.

scholarly journals Phosphorus and Zinc Fertilization Improve Productivity and Profitability of Rice Cultivars under Rice-Wheat System

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1085 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanullah ◽  
Inamullah ◽  
Jawaher Alkahtani ◽  
Mohamed Soliman Elshikh ◽  
Mona S. Alwahibi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hybrid Rice ◽  
Oryza Sativa L ◽  
Residual Effect ◽  
Cropping System ◽  
Triticum Aestivum L ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
Continuous Cropping ◽  
Combined Application ◽  
The Impact

Continuous cropping of rice (Oryza sativa L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) deplete soil fertility, reduced crop productivity, and grower’s income. Phosphorus (P) and zinc (Zn) deficiencies are considered important nutritional constraints under rice-wheat cropping system. One strategy to increase crop productivity and grower’s income under the rice-wheat system is the balanced application of P and Zn fertilizers. The objective of this research was to evaluate the impact of sole and various combinations of P (0, 40, 80, and 120 kg ha−1) and Zn levels (0, 5, 10, and 15 kg ha−1) on productivity (grain yield and yield components) and profitability (net returns) of different rice genotypes (cultivars) (fine (cv.Bamati-385) vs. coarse (cv. Fakhre-e-Malakand and cv. Pukhraj)) and their residual effect on the income of the succeeding wheat crop (cv. Siran-2010). The results revealed that both rice and wheat productivity and profitability was higher with the combined application of both nutrients at higher rates (80 and 120 kg P ha−1 and 10 and 15 kg Zn ha−1). The highest productivity and profitability was obtained with the cultivation of hybrid rice “Pukhraj” (Pukhraj > Fakhre-e-Malakand > Basmati-385). It was concluded from this study that application of higher P and Zn levels and growing of hybrid rice increased productivity and profitability under the rice-wheat cropping system.

scholarly journals Insights on Engineered Microbes in Sustainable Agriculture: Biotechnological Developments and Future Prospects

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 321-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Surya Sudheer ◽  
Renu Geetha Bai ◽  
Zeba Usmani ◽  
Minaxi Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Genetically Engineered ◽  
Microbial Consortia ◽  
World Population ◽  
Novel Technologies ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
The Impact

Background: Background: Enhanced agricultural production is essential for increasing demand of the growing world population. At the same time, to combat the adverse effects caused by conventional agriculture practices to the environment along with the impact on human health and food security, a sustainable and healthy agricultural production needs to be practiced using beneficial microorganisms for enhanced yield. It is quite challenging because these microorganisms have rich biosynthetic repositories to produce biomolecules of interest; however, the intensive research in allied sectors and emerging genetic tools for improved microbial consortia are accepting new approaches that are helpful to farmers and agriculturists to meet the ever-increasing demand of sustainable food production. An important advancement is improved strain development via genetically engineered microbial systems (GEMS) as well as genetically modified microorganisms (GMOs) possessing known and upgraded functional characteristics to promote sustainable agriculture and food security. With the development of novel technologies such as DNA automated synthesis, sequencing and influential computational tools, molecular biology has entered the systems biology and synthetic biology era. More recently, CRISPR/Cas has been engineered to be an important tool in genetic engineering for various applications in the agri sector. The research in sustainable agriculture is progressing tremendously through GMOs/GEMS for their potential use in biofertilizers and as biopesticides. Conclusion: In this review, we discuss the beneficial effects of engineered microorganisms through integrated sustainable agriculture production practices to improve the soil microbial health in order to increase crop productivity.

scholarly journals Evaluation of JULES-crop performance against site observations of irrigated maize from Mead, Nebraska

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karina Williams ◽  
Jemma Gornall ◽  
Anna Harper ◽  
Andy Wiltshire ◽  
Debbie Hemming ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Input Parameter ◽  
Model Development ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Crop Model ◽  
Test Model ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Crop Varieties ◽  
Weather And Climate ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The JULES-crop model (Osborne et al., 2015) is a parameterisation of crops within the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES), which aims to simulate both the impact of weather and climate on crop productivity and the impact of crop-lands on weather and climate. In this evaluation paper, observations of maize at three FLUXNET sites in Nebraska (US-Ne1, US-Ne2, US-Ne3) are used to test model assumptions and make appropriate input parameter choices. JULES runs are performed for the irrigated sites (US-Ne1 and US-Ne2) both with the crop model switched off (prescribing leaf area index (LAI) and canopy height) and with the crop model switched on. These are compared against GPP and carbon pool FLUXNET observations. We use the results to point to future priorities for model development and describe how our methodology can be adapted to set up model runs for other sites and crop varieties. The implications of our results on the choice of parameters and settings to be used in global runs of JULES-crop are also discussed.

scholarly journals Integrated Usage of Farm Yard Manure and Urea Improves Wheat Yield and Soil Properties

2020 ◽  
Vol 80 ◽  
pp. 25-33
Author(s):  
Shahbaz Khan ◽  
Syed Adnan Mazhar ◽  
Soahil Irshad ◽  
Muhammad Nawaz ◽  
Saqib Bashir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Particle Density ◽  
Wheat Yield ◽  
Soil Bulk Density ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Growth And Yield ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
Farm Yard Manure ◽  
The Impact

Optimum usage of fertilizers is an important factor that defines the fate of crop yield by confirming the accessibility of nutrients in soil. Imbalance use of fertilizer not only reduces the crop productivity but also adversely affects the soil properties. A one-year experiment was carried out to explore the impact of different levels of farm yard manure and urea on soil properties, growth and yield of wheat crop. Treatments were application of nitrogen at i) 125 kg ha-1 from urea, ii) 80 kg ha-1 of nitrogen from urea + 10 tons of farm yard manure ha-1 and iii) 20 tons of farm yard manure ha-1. Wheat cultivar Sehar-2006 was used in the experiment. All the treatments’ combination affected crop growth, economic yield and soil properties. However, maximum positive impact of combined use of farm yard manure and urea was observed. Results indicated that productive tillers per unit area (16%), plant height, number of spikelets per spike (12.5%) and economical yield (11%) were greatly enhanced by combined usage of urea and farm yard manure as compared to sole application of urea. Combined application of urea and farm yard manure also positively affected the soil bulk density, particle density, percent porosity and soil saturated hydraulic conductivity as compared to either sole use of urea or farm yard manure. Combined usage of farm yard manure and urea are suggested better to produce higher economical yield along with improved soil properties.

scholarly journals A Review of Remote Sensing Challenges for Food Security with Respect to Salinity and Drought Threats

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Wen Wen ◽  
Joris Timmermans ◽  
Qi Chen ◽  
Peter M. van Bodegom
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Salinity Stress ◽  
Vegetation Indices ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Stress Monitoring ◽  
Multiple Traits ◽  
Global Food Security ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Crop Health

Drought and salinity stress are considered to be the two main factors limiting crop productivity. With climate change, these stresses are projected to increase, further exacerbating the risks to global food security. Consequently, to tackle this problem, better agricultural management is required on the basis of improved drought and salinity stress monitoring capabilities. Remote sensing makes it possible to monitor crop health at various spatiotemporal scales and extents. However, remote sensing has not yet been used to monitor both drought and salinity stresses simultaneously. The aim of this paper is to review the current ability of remote sensing to detect the impact of these stresses on vegetation indices (VIs) and crop trait responses. We found that VIs are insufficiently accurate (0.02 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.80) to characterize the crop health under drought and salinity stress. In contrast, we found that plant functional traits have a high potential to monitor the impacts of such stresses on crop health, as they are more in line with the vegetation processes. However, we also found that further investigations are needed to achieve this potential. Specifically, we found that the spectral signals concerning drought and salinity stress were inconsistent for the various crop traits. This inconsistency was present (a) between studies utilizing similar crops and (b) between investigations studying different crops. Moreover, the response signals for joint drought and salinity stress overlapped spectrally, thereby significantly limiting the application of remote sensing to monitor these separately. Therefore, to consistently monitor crop responses to drought and salinity, we need to resolve the current indeterminacy of the relationships between crop traits and spectrum and evaluate multiple traits simultaneously. Using radiative transfer models (RTMs) and multi-sensor frameworks allow monitoring multiple crop traits and may constitute a way forward toward evaluating drought and salinity impacts.

scholarly journals Crop climate suitability mapping on the cloud: a geovisualization application for sustainable agriculture

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brad G. Peter ◽  
Joseph P. Messina ◽  
Zihan Lin ◽  
Sieglinde S. Snapp
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Critical Question ◽  
Climate Niche ◽  
Crop Varieties

Abstract Climate change, food security, and environmental sustainability are pressing issues faced by today’s global population. As production demands increase and climate threatens crop productivity, agricultural research develops innovative technologies to meet these challenges. Strategies include biodiverse cropping arrangements, new crop introductions, and genetic modification of crop varieties that are resilient to climatic and environmental stressors. Geography in particular is equipped to address a critical question in this pursuit—when and where can crop system innovations be introduced? This manuscript presents a case study of the geographic scaling potential utilizing common bean, delivers an open access Google Earth Engine geovisualization application for mapping the fundamental climate niche of any crop, and discusses food security and legume biodiversity in Sub-Saharan Africa. The application is temporally agile, allowing variable growing season selections and the production of ‘living maps’ that are continually producible as new data become available. This is an essential communication tool for the future, as practitioners can evaluate the potential geographic range for newly-developed, experimental, and underrepresented crop varieties for facilitating sustainable and innovative agroecological solutions.

scholarly journals Impact of watershed development programme on farming system of micro watershed Dari of Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 690-694
Author(s):  
Mohammad Imran Khan
Keyword(s):  
Water Conservation ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Development Programme ◽  
Madhya Pradesh ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
Cropping Pattern ◽  
Rabi Season ◽  
Watershed Development ◽  
Kharif Season ◽  
The Impact

The study was carried out in Dari micro watershed under the Integrated Watershed Development Programme in the Tikamgarh district, Madhya Pradesh during 2015 – 16. Study aimed to assess the impact of watershed development programme on change in natural resources, land use pattern, cropping pattern and crop productivity. An area under cultivable pasture land was increased by 233.33%, whereas the area under horticulture and vegetation was increased by 100%, respectively. The construction of soil and water conservation structures improves ground water level, which increases digging of number of wells (50%) and hand pumps (66.67%). As improvement in land and water resources, the livestock population under different categories were increased by 15 to 73 %. Whereas fodder availability was increased by 166.67%. An area under irrigation was increased by 333.33% and average cropping intensity was increased by 135%. Cultivation area under Urd was highly changed by 17.10 ha (88.60%) as compared to other crops in kharif season, whereas Wheat crop in rabi season was secured 41.56% change in cultivation area. Significant higher increase in crop productivity was recorded for Soybean crop (66.67%) in kharif season, whereas Mustard secured 40.00% increase in productivity in rabi season. 

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