Agroecosystem Diversity
Agroecosystem Diversity

Author: Gilles Lemaire

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2018-10-08

Total Pages: 484

ISBN-13: 0128110511

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Agro-Ecosystem Diversity: Impact on Food Security and Environmental Quality presents cutting-edge exploration of developing novel farming systems and introduces landscape ecology to agronomy. It encompasses the broad range of links between agricultural development and ecological impact and how to limit the potential negative results. Presented in seven sections, each focusing on a specific challenge to sustaining diversity, the book provides insights toward the argument that by re-introducing diversity, it should be possible to maintain a high level of productivity of agro-ecosystems while also maintaining and/or restoring a satisfactory level of environment quality and biodiversity. - Demonstrates that diversified agro-ecosystems can be intensified with environmental quality preserved, restored and enhanced - Includes analysis of economic constraints leading to specialization of farms and regions and the social locking forces resisting to diversification of agro-ecosystems - Presents a global vision of world agriculture and the tradeoff between a necessary increase in food production and restoring environment quality

Cover Crops in West Africa
Cover Crops in West Africa

Author: International Development Research Centre (Canada)

Publisher: IDRC

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 088936852X

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Cover Crops in West Africa Contributing to Sustainable Agriculture

Global Livestock Production Systems
Global Livestock Production Systems

Author: Timothy P. Robinson

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO)

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789251070338

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Informed livestock sector policy development and priority setting is heavily dependent on a good understanding of livestock production systems. In a collaborative effort between the Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Livestock Research Institute, stock has been taken of where we have come from in agricultural systems classification and mapping; the current state of the art; and the directions in which research and data collection efforts need to take in the future. The book also addresses issues relating to the intensity and scale of production, moving from what is done to how it is done. The intensification of production is an area of particular importance, for it is in the intensive systems that changes are occurring most rapidly and where most information is needed on the implications that intensification of production may have for livelihoods, poverty alleviation, animal diseases, public health and environmental outcomes. A series of case studies is provided, linking livestock production systems to rural livelihoods and poverty and examples of the application of livestock production system maps are drawn from livestock production, now and in the future; livestock's impact on the global environment; animal and public health; and livestock and livelihoods. This book provides a formal reference to Version 5 of the global livestock production systems map, and to revised estimates of the numbers of rural poor livestock keepers, by country and livestock production system.

Farming Systems and Food Security in Africa
Farming Systems and Food Security in Africa

Author: John Dixon

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-12-09

Total Pages: 896

ISBN-13: 1317332261

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Knowledge of Africa’s complex farming systems, set in their socio-economic and environmental context, is an essential ingredient to developing effective strategies for improving food and nutrition security. This book systematically and comprehensively describes the characteristics, trends, drivers of change and strategic priorities for each of Africa’s fifteen farming systems and their main subsystems. It shows how a farming systems perspective can be used to identify pathways to household food security and poverty reduction, and how strategic interventions may need to differ from one farming system to another. In the analysis, emphasis is placed on understanding farming systems drivers of change, trends and strategic priorities for science and policy. Illustrated with full-colour maps and photographs throughout, the volume provides a comprehensive and insightful analysis of Africa’s farming systems and pathways for the future to improve food and nutrition security. The book is an essential follow-up to the seminal work Farming Systems and Poverty by Dixon and colleagues for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Bank, published in 2001.

Farming Systems and Poverty
Farming Systems and Poverty

Author: John A. Dixon

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 9789251046272

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A joint FAO and World Bank study which shows how the farming systems approach can be used to identify priorities for the reduction of hunger and poverty in the main farming systems of the six major developing regions of the world.

Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century
Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2010-07-25

Total Pages: 598

ISBN-13: 0309148960

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In the last 20 years, there has been a remarkable emergence of innovations and technological advances that are generating promising changes and opportunities for sustainable agriculture, yet at the same time the agricultural sector worldwide faces numerous daunting challenges. Not only is the agricultural sector expected to produce adequate food, fiber, and feed, and contribute to biofuels to meet the needs of a rising global population, it is expected to do so under increasingly scarce natural resources and climate change. Growing awareness of the unintended impacts associated with some agricultural production practices has led to heightened societal expectations for improved environmental, community, labor, and animal welfare standards in agriculture. Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century assesses the scientific evidence for the strengths and weaknesses of different production, marketing, and policy approaches for improving and reducing the costs and unintended consequences of agricultural production. It discusses the principles underlying farming systems and practices that could improve the sustainability. It also explores how those lessons learned could be applied to agriculture in different regional and international settings, with an emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa. By focusing on a systems approach to improving the sustainability of U.S. agriculture, this book can have a profound impact on the development and implementation of sustainable farming systems. Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century serves as a valuable resource for policy makers, farmers, experts in food production and agribusiness, and federal regulatory agencies.

Rainfed Farming Systems
Rainfed Farming Systems

Author: Philip Tow

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2011-09-16

Total Pages: 1324

ISBN-13: 140209132X

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While a good grasp of the many separate aspects of agriculture is important, it is equally essential for all those involved in agriculture to understand the functioning of the farming system as a whole and how it can be best managed. It is necessary to re-assess and understand rain-fed farming systems around the world and to find ways to improve the selection, design and operation of such systems for long term productivity, profitability and sustainability. The components of the system must operate together efficiently; yet many of the relationships and interactions are not clearly understood. Appreciation of these matters and how they are affected by external influences or inputs are important for decision making and for achieving desirable outcomes for the farm as a whole. This book analyses common rain-fed farming systems and defines the principles and practices important to their effective functioning and management.

Integrated Soil Fertility Management in Africa
Integrated Soil Fertility Management in Africa

Author: Nteranya Sanginga

Publisher: CIAT

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 9290592613

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Forward. A call for integrated soil fertility management in Africa. Introduction. ISFM and the African farmer. Part I. The principles of ISFM: ISFM as a strategic goal, Fertilizer management within ISFM, Agro-minerals in ISFM, Organic resource management, ISFM, soil biota and soil health. Part II. ISFM practices: ISFM products and fields practices, ISFM practice in drylands, ISFM practice in savannas and woodlands, ISFM practice in the humid forest zone, Conservation Agriculture. Part III. The process of implementing ISFM: soil fertility diagnosis, soil fertility management advice, Dissemination of ISFM technologies, Designing an ISFM adoption project, ISFM at farm and landscape scales. Part IV. The social dimensions of ISFM: The role of ISFM in gender empowerment, ISFM and household nutrition, Capacity building in ISFM, ISFM in the policy arena, Marketing support for ISFM, Advancing ISFM in Africa. Appendices: Mineral nutrient contents of some common organic resources.

Lost Crops of Africa
Lost Crops of Africa

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2006-10-27

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 0309164540

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This report is the second in a series of three evaluating underexploited African plant resources that could help broaden and secure Africa's food supply. The volume describes the characteristics of 18 little-known indigenous African vegetables (including tubers and legumes) that have potential as food- and cash-crops but are typically overlooked by scientists and policymakers and in the world at large. The book assesses the potential of each vegetable to help overcome malnutrition, boost food security, foster rural development, and create sustainable landcare in Africa. Each species is described in a separate chapter, based on information gathered from and verified by a pool of experts throughout the world. Volume I describes African grains and Volume III African fruits.