Agricultural Transformation and Its Impact on Ecosystem Services and Human Well-Being in Peri-Urban Areas: The Case of Xi’an, China

There is a gap in understanding the relationships between the transformation of agricultural landscapes, ecosystem services and human well-being in the peri-urban fringe of major cities worldwide. In this paper, we use semi-structured interviews, perception surveys, social surveys and field mapping to examine linkages between agricultural and landscape transition, ecosystem services and human well-being in five sample villages in Xi’an metropolitan zone, China. The results indicate that: (1) Agricultural change has increased landscape fragmentation, with a shift from grain to more profitable horticulture and nursery production. The farming system is more diversified and exhibits a multifunctional character. (2) This transformation has had a significant impact on the character of the agroecosystem. (3) The agricultural transformation towards greater multifunctionality has increased the supply of ecosystem services, including tourism-related activities, potentially improving human well-being. (4) Different combinations of activities in the sample villages were evaluated with respect to a well-being index, indicating the importance of combining horticulture and tourism. (5) Linkages identified between agricultural transformation, ecosystem services and human well-being may have significant implications for potential approaches within future studies.

Shocks, Resilience and Structural Transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Evidence of how resilience factors mitigate the adverse effects of shocks on individuals, households and communities is clearly established. However, such evidence at the macro level is limited, especially on the pace of structural transformation. This paper explores whether the growing incidence of terrorism, armed conflicts and natural disasters in SSA impeded the pace of structural transformation. We conceptualize the notion of macro-resilience and test whether resilience factors mitigate the adverse effects of shocks on two measures of structural transformation: agriculture’s share of GDP and of national employment. We find that structural transformation is impeded by armed conflict and terrorism-related shocks but not natural disasters and that resilience factors enhance the pace of agricultural transformation. This implies that, while agriculture is often destroyed in conflict-affected areas, the broader impacts are even more negative for other sectors of the economy. However, surprisingly, we find negative or insignificant interaction terms between the shock and resilience variables, implying no mitigative role of resilience capacities. This may suggest, in the case of conflicts and terrorism, the presence of major, debilitating effects which limit the mitigative capacity of resilience factors. We further explore the implications for future research and possible strategies to address the growing threats from shocks.

Modelling Annual Cocoa Production Using ARIMA Time Series Model

Cocoa is the most valuable tropical agricultural commodity, comes next to oil; a major target in Nigeria’s export diversification strategies. Cocoa production forecasting is important to the Nigerian agricultural transformation agenda. This study attempts to forecast Nigerian cocoa production between 2019 and 2025 using the ARIMA model. The automated analytical procedure implemented in the R software package indicated that ARIMA (0, 1, 1) is the combination with the least Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) and Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC) and hence, the most appropriate for forecasting. The results revealed that cocoa production would fall by more than 20% in 2025 in comparison with 2018. Thus, to guard against the fall, cocoa farmers in the country should be incentivized through adequate financial and technical assistance.

Politics of Seed in Ethiopia's Agricultural Transformation: Pathways to Seed System Development

Seed system development in the developing world, especially in Africa, has become a political space. This article analyzes current Ethiopian seed politics in light of the historical dynamics of national and international seed system politics and developments. Drawing on multiple power analysis approaches and employing the lens of “international seed regimes,” the article characterizes the historical pattern of seed regimes in Ethiopia. While colonial territories underwent three historical seed regime patterns—the first colonial seed regime, the second post-WWII public seed regime, and the third post-1980s corporate-based neoliberal seed regime, Ethiopia has only experienced one of these. Until the 1950s, when the first US government's development assistance program—the Point 4 Program—enabled the second government-led seed regime to emerge, the farmers' seed systems remained the only seed innovation and supply system. The first colonial seed regime never took hold as the country remained uncolonized, and the government has hitherto resisted the third corporate-based neoliberal seed regime. In the current conjuncture in the contemporary Ethiopian seed regime, four different approaches to pluralistic seed system development are competing: (1) government-led formalization, (2) private-led formalization, (3) farmer-based localization, and (4) community-based integrative seed system developments. The Pluralistic Seed System Development Strategy (PSSDS) from 2013 is a uniquely diverse approach to seed system development internationally; however, it has yet to realize its equity and sustainability potential. This study shows that the agricultural modernization dependency and government-led formal seed systems development have sidelined opportunities to tap into the strength of other alternatives identified in the PSSDS. In conclusion, an integrative and inclusive seed sector is possible if the government takes leadership and removes the current political, organizational, and economic barriers for developing a truly pluralistic seed system.

Parasitology and One Health—Perspectives on Africa and Beyond

This concept paper reviews issues pertaining to parasitic and vector-borne infections, of humans, animals, or both, of topical relevance to the African continent as well as to neighbouring and interconnected geographies. This analysis is carried out through the “One Health” lens, being mindful of the central role of agriculture and livestock keeping in Africa’s sustainable development. The possible agricultural transformation that the continent may undergo to fulfil the rising demand for animal protein of its growing population, coupled with the ongoing climate changes, may lead to potentially enhanced interactions among humans, domesticated and wild animals, in a fast-changing environment. In this view, tackling parasitic conditions of livestock can prove being multidimensionally beneficial by improving animal health as well as communities’ food security, livelihood and public health. Accordingly, the value of applying the One Health approach to drug discovery and development in the fight against parasitic neglected tropical diseases and zoonoses, is also underscored. Overall, this article upholds the adoption of a holistic, global, interdisciplinary, multisectoral, harmonised and forward-looking outlook, encompassing both life and social sciences, when dealing with parasitic conditions of humans and animals, in Africa and beyond, in COVID-19 times and further.

Ricing Fortunes

Theories of agricultural transformation commonly focus on changes in the availability of land, and the closing of land frontiers, and on the levels and sorts of technology that the changing availability of land and labour precipitate. However these theories have to take into account changing gender relations which affect the relations of production, as well as injections of capital from outside these agricultural systems. Using the AFRINT database this chapter explores the growth and flourishing of irrigated rice farming in two villages in Kilombero, Morogoro Region. It reports considerable transformations in the productivity of small-holder rice cultivation in these sites. These have followed from technological changes (mechanization and new seed varieties) as well as improved economic returns from rice. A difference emerges from these villages of not intensification driven by land scarcity, or by mechanization, but of divergent causes behind technological change including migration and new market opportunities.

Rural and Agrarian Transformation 1984–2018 in Three Marginal Villages in Njombe Region, Tanzania

When the author of this chapter first visited the region he encountered a place that was characterized by very high levels of poverty. These villages had not been able to benefit from state investment in maize production. However, changes in agricultural production, migration of people outside the area, and remittances, and in particular the explosion of tree farming, tomatoes, and potatoes in a relatively rich area, combined with infrastructural improvements, have been transformative. Change here has been driven by a mutually interlinked set of processes entailing agricultural transformation involving changing farming and rural transformation in a changing rural economy. This is visible in changes to asset ownership as well as relational and social well-being.

Factors Influencing Smallholder Farmers Mechanization Decisions in Nigeria: The Case of Tractor Use in the Fourth Industrial Revolution ERA

Tractorization is crucial in the agricultural transformation of societies with either large farm size or challenged by a severe labor shortage. However, most smallholder farmers still lag in its use, making it necessary to investigate current tractor use by smallholders. This study investigated the factors that influence smallholder farmers’ decision to use tractors in the Delta and Benue States of Nigeria. Specifically, it determined the current level of mechanization (tractor use) in the farming system, estimated the contributions of tractor use among smallholder farmers, and determined the factors influencing smallholder farmers’ tractor use decisions in the study area. Multistage sampling techniques were used to collect data from 280 respondents. Descriptive statistics, a logistic model and odds ratio (OR) constituted the analytical framework. The results showed that poor tractor use still exists among smallholder farmers, with as much as 72% of farmers not using tractor in this modern era. The study revealed that the mean income of tractor users was twice as high as that of non-tractor users. The OR result revealed that educational status, household labor, farming experience, alternative occupation, and farm area under cultivation influenced the decision of the smallholder to use tractor services. It would seem that lack of utilizing the benefits of tractorization is a crucial constraint that calls attention to the need for a holistic campaign among the farming population. The practical applications of family labor are likely to remain high.